The Life of Ally

Regular Ordinary Fun

2012-01-28T08:21:00.001-05:00

One day Ally said "take a picture of me" as she held on to Bryce and forced him to hold still for the photo too.

I made cookies for the guys I work with and Ally wanted to make something too. Her creation was quite sticky.
She and mama had a blast.

January Guat Girls

2012-01-27T05:30:00.002-05:00

Our January Guatemala Girls Group met at Julie and Rosa's new house. Lots of dress up, crafts projects and some exploring outside. All in all a fun time.

Rosa and Alice - getting ready for the "show"
Ally was more into arts and crafts than drama.

Gabi

Roxie getting into costume.

We continue to be grateful for this group. Its always a fun time, and so important for Ally to have these special friends.

1st Party of 2012

2012-01-26T19:58:00.001-05:00

Ok so it was the first Birthday party for a real person. I admit Baby's was the first party.

Ally was all dressed up in her red twirl dress and fun matching tights and even wore some bows in her hair. She worked on her card and ate lunch before we left.

I love the castle she drew for Olive.
FOr the 3rd year in a row Olive's party featured the animal show. Here Ally is holding the alligator!

Then it was time for the pinata and cake.

It was nice to see a few neighborhood friends, but also to meet some different school parents and see Ally interact with some different kids. Olive and Ally are in the same grade, but different classes at school, so Ally was invited because they are friends, but most of the kids there were in Olive's JK class, and not Ally's usual cohorts.

It was a fun time as usual, and a relief that this year I did not have to handle any of the animals!

Ally is pretty amazing - she is a rule follower. All the other kids crowded the animal and handler. She sat calmly and waited her turn. Every once in a while she would look for me and give me an impatient stare or sigh, because she was behaving herself. I was so proud. And afterwards I gave her lots of love and praise for being such a good girl.

Evidence here:

School Concert

2012-01-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

Today was Ally's first ever school concert. The entire Jr Kindergarten and Kindergarten - 4 classes were up on stage together to sing. After them grades 1, 2, 3 & 4 sang as well. I left work for a while to go see the concert. Ally was super excited about it - they sent home a letter saying all the students should wear dress clothes - no sneakers and no T-shirts. Ally picked out a dress, tights and she wore her party shoes! She was afraid she would get cold, and so I wore a dress and tights today out of solidarity! Its not that cold today though, about 40 degrees. But she also has her hair done in a French Braid. Ally has been growing it out a bit and the other night I put in a braid for her - see the last picture here - but Lauren is much better than me and she can French braid and so she put one braid along the crown of Ally's head. Yesterday when I picked Ally up it was all un-done and she has crazy post-braid waves in her hair. But today Lauren did it again and Ally looked so cute. She was so happy I could come to the concert.

I am very grateful to have the flexibility to do that.

There she is - sitting next to her friend Erik. They looked glued together - I think whenever the class goes and does something outside the normal routine these two stick together - they are always field trip buddies, and now this. Erik would not look at me, but as you can see Ally would.
Big smile!

But then when they stood up to perform I realized - Ally was sitting next to Erik - who is a tall kid, and her very tall friends were then standing in front of her as well. That circle is Ally's hair - that is all I could see of her during the performance!

Except the one time she peeked her head around Sofia (girl in front of her) to look for me.

Personally I thought it was pretty funny, there she is standing with Erik, in back of the tall 6 year old girls!

The concert was adorable - and I recorded it on my phone so we can listen to it at home, and then Becky can hear it as well!

Now the braid pictures from earlier in the week:

Silly smile so you can see the front One side.

Now some more pictures from after school today. I picked Ally up and she had kept her braid in all day - and its still in at 5:00 PM

So cute!

Ally wanted to play outside on the playground at school. She was all dressed up but not afraid to spin and run and have fun on the tire swing.

Lately Ally smiles so nice and big when I take her picture. Such a good sport.

When we got home I realized she got a sticker from her teacher - it said !Fabuloso!

Ally said all her classmates got one.

At the movies

2012-01-25T16:22:00.001-05:00

After our playtime in the snow on Saturday Ally and I went to the movies - Beauty and the Beast in 3D!! Ally was so excited and I was unsure of the roads with the snow so we left really early and got there 30 minutes early! We had the whole theater to ourselves!

Ally thought it was wonderful
So of course we took each others photos

And one of the two of us! Our self portrait.

Eventually Stella and her mom and little sister came to join us and a few other people came to see the movie as well. But Ally and I had fun by ourselves in the big theater for a while. Ally could do this hilarious trick of moving the glasses on her head without moving her face. I was in stitches. I think she wiggles her ears. But it was soooo funny and I am smiling now just thinking about it.

Baby's Birthday Part 2

2012-01-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

This is Baby's Birthday Party Part 2 - continuation of the day. After the Ally lead games and such inside we went to the park.

Ally of course brought her camera. (Because that is what moms do - we bring cameras to take pictures of our babies!)
We used Ally's little backpack to create a carrier for baby to ride on Ally's back to the park.

It was Baby's first time on the slide.
So much fun

Even by herself - Baby was very brave.

Then it was time for the swings. I thought this was a very creative way for Baby to sit (lie) in the big kid swing.

Ally let her ride on her lap for a bit.

They had so much fun.

Then it was time for Baby to ride in the baby swing.

Before we left Ally had to show Baby how much fun it is to wind up the swing.

And then get all dizzy and the swing unwinds and spins you around and around

It was really pretty interesting to be there with Ally and Baby - Ally seriously made sure that Baby got to experience everything at the park. I did not get a picture, but they even did the monkey bars.

Then it was back home - Here is the garland that Ally made for decorations. Remember it was a butterfly theme - Ally drew, colored and cut out all of the butterflies herself. Then she had mama help her attach them to a ribbon. Just like when we make a banner or garland for our celebrations.

Finally it was time for cupcakes.

We sang happy birthday to Baby.

Such a good baby and Ally.

After cake they made forts - see how Baby has her own fort under the chair right next to Ally's?

Finally it was time to open presents. Ally and I picked out that messenger bag for Baby, and it came with markers and sparkles for Ally to decorate it - she worked on it all afternoon one day until it was complete and ready for Baby's gift.

Baby's other gifts - a picture of Ally in a frame:

A card Ally made all by herself.

And some butterfly pictures that mama and Ally made.

Finally it was time for Baby's friends to get their goody bags go home.

Becky and I were relieved - it was a very long party - 4 hours or so.

This make believe / imaginative play continues - play dates for Baby, and this weekend there was even a sleep over!

Chinese New Year

2012-01-23T18:26:00.006-05:00

Happy Chinese New Year!!!!

Its now officially the year of the dragon.

Ally has been learning about this at school. She has Chinese class once a week - there is a Chinese Immersion School that shares her building this year and its a nice enrichment and way to learn about another culture. She asked on Sunday (yesterday) what we were doing to celebrate. I said not really anything. Then this morning she asked if we could please do something to celebrate. How could I say no?

So I did a little research on my lunch break and came up with a craft project, a cooking project and decided we would have veggie fried rice for dinner.

Here are Ally and mama working on the fortunes.
For the home made fortune cookies I made! Becky had to fold them - I am pretty origami challenged.

Then mama and Ally colored in their Dragon Masks.

Aren't they fierce?

Then they played a game Ally made up - it entailed cards with animals and a spinner. It seemed very complicated to me. I finished making dinner and then I colored my dragon.

Me sporting my dragon mask and showing off the yummy dinner.

Our fortunes!

Ally decided to color symbols for the ones she did - the yellow and red symbolize favorite color (mama's), the grey is for snow.

The written ones I did to surprise Ally and Becky - I am so very hopeful they will come true soon!

Ally with her "fortune teller" that is what she kept calling the cookies.

It was a pretty fun time.

Friday drawing, fun with friends and fashion!

2012-01-23T15:08:00.001-05:00

Becky has been sick for weeks - 5 weeks to be exact. She has been to the doctor 5 times! And still her cough is bad, and she has a multitude of medicine to take and she is taking time off from work every week to rest and try and get healthy. But Phew - we are all tired of sickness and coughing around here. One good thing that came out of it is that she created this really pretty tunic for Ally.

Becky made the pattern herself and it is adorable. Ally said it was "so cozy" she even wore it to school on Friday!

We were quite impressed to open Ally's backpack and see her latest masterpiece. Its a cat!

And we also thought it was neat to read who Ally was sitting with when she made her cat picture:

Grant, Adalis, Ally, Willow, Lily

It was a fun Friday - I picked Ally and Willow up after school and we went to the library for a about an hour while Willow's mom ran an errand. Then Ally and I went to their house for a bit. Its kind of nice that when Ally makes a new friend I get lucky and make a new one in the mom too. It doesn't always work out that way, but sometimes, and its always neat when it does!

First Snow of 2012

2012-01-22T17:53:00.003-05:00

Saturday was the first real storm storm this year. We got about 5" over all. It started in the morning, which meant we went to gymnastics during the storm. We were t he first ones there, and Ally was so good, she ran right into the gym when class started and did the warm up running all by herself until the other kids started to arrive. The coaches were all smiling at her running in her blue sparkly leotard all by herself with her signature smile. It was great!

Then we came home, and Ally had a play date with her friend Adalis from school. The girls played well and after a couple of hours Adalis mom picked her up, and Ally was so excited to go outside and play in the snow.

First up was making snow angels!

Then it was time for the work - snow shoveling. Ally was a huge help - it was light fluffy snow and she has her own shovel. More than one neighbor stopped to comment on her work ethic!

Once the driveway and sidewalk were clear, Ally started shoveling the street so she could try and get enough snow to make a big pile.

scoop, carry

dump

the pile never got as big as the one from last year that she could actually sled down

But it was fun anyway - and here she is all cold. She is so funny, she said "remember last year when I got cold I could drink something?" Of course I had to ask if that was juice or milk or what? And finally I said "hot cocoa" and she smiled really big and asked if we had marshmallows.

Here she is putting an ice cube in her luke warm cocoa. But she loved the experience, and we had fun calling Grandma Debbie and Poppy to tell them about our day.

Cat Salon

2012-01-21T08:57:00.001-05:00

This sign has been up in our living room for a couple of months now. One morning Ally and her babysitter Lauren were playing.

But this past Sunday Becky decided it was time to finally tackle some cat grooming issues:

First up was a manicure for Carl. It requires a full body squeeze and hold in order to clip his nails.

Ally decided to be the receptionist. She found her "computer" its the piece of paper that looks like a laptop. She got her chair from her room, and pulled over the footstool. The area next to her was the waiting area. You see she wrote Carl's name on the sheet, that was because he was the first appointment. I think its obvious she spends enough time at the actual hair salon that she knows the set-up and procedure.

Thanks Aunt Martha for the book - Ally said it was perfect - just like at the actual people salon where you can look at pictures of other people. She had a book with cat pictures.

But it can get boring being the receptionist.

So she had to go tell the technician to be gentle.

And when you disturb the tenchnician, you might be asked to help.

And put to work.

When the real cats were done, Becky was ready for a shower, but Ally was not ready for the Salon to close. So she made Becky the receptionist and then Ally was the stylist for her play cats.

Kitty got a bath and then it was Manx Cat's turn.

But Ally had to stop several times to make sure mama was doing her job.

Finally all of the real and pretend cats were groomed, and the stuffed animals stayed with me while Ally got dressed for the day.

It was pretty neat pretend play.

Baby's Birthday

2012-01-19T15:45:00.001-05:00

Did you know that Jannuary 7 is Baby's birthday? Well it is, and this year she turned 4 years old. Ally spent most of her free time between Christmas and Jan 7 planning Baby's party. It was quite a lot of planning, Ally did most of the work herself. She said it was "hard work". Baby's party was butterfly themed.

We made cupcakes the night before the party, because that is what you do the night before, make the cupcakes!

Like the grown up girl she is, Ally frosted a lot of the cupcakes.

And decorated them. The one below was baby's special cupcake!

The gifts were all in a pile. Ally made some, and one special gift was bought, but personalized by Ally. It required a trip to Target one day suring vacation, to shop for Baby's gift!

The day of the party Baby was so excited for her friends to come.

Ally let her sit in front of the window to wait for her friends.

While Ally and I put together the goody bags. (because after all you can't have a birthday party without goody bags! Thank goodness again for Target and the dollar section)

Assembling the bags.

After we loaded them up and closed them with twist tie, Ally then drew a special shape and attached one to each bag - she said that made them "extra special" and the friends would like that.

Finally the friends arrived. Ally introduced us to each friend as she came. We had:

Ee-essa

O-essa

and a few other "essa" friends.

Ally read a book and lead some activities, we all learned how to use the triangle, and the magnifying glass and took a turn using the Aquadoodle shown above.

It was extremely rigid in that Ally dictated the order, and all of the activities. Each guest and her mom had a turn with everything.

Then we went outside to the park - that and the rest of the party will be in the next post.

So tired

2012-01-18T19:45:00.000-05:00

One night Ally was so hungry after bath - too hungry for a book beofre hair drying until she had a snack. So Cheerios it was.

eating them out of a bowl with no hands - she was too cold to get her hands free from her towel. She thought she was so funny. After a few mouthfuls she was ready for a book, then hair drying, then lotion and then pajamas. (That is our routine).

And the best thing about winter is it means fleece footie pajamas. Ally says she feels "all cozy" in them, and she loves it!

Can you tell those Cheerios gave her some energy?

Looking Older

2012-01-16T09:10:00.002-05:00

Lately it seems like Ally has grown up some more. I was looking at pictures I've taken in the past couple of weeks and these really struck me:

Working on a project at her craft table - she is so into drawing and coloring and making projects. Of course none of them can ever be thrown away.

At the park

My happy 5 year old.

Several people have asked about our schedule change.

It is a very good thing that we stopped After School. I pick Ally up every day at the end of the kindergarten day, and she is so tired. And she sleeps for 11-12 hours every night. It is so clear to us now why staying for After School was "too long" for her. Just the 6 hour school day is long. She is working so hard at her Spanish and with the social aspects of school - who knew all the social issues in Jr K? But it turns out there are a lot. And learning in a structured environment is more challenging than pre-school. Ally is thriving on her shorter day. She is happier, has less anxiety in general and is actually sleeping more now than in the fall. I think the transition to the After School Program was just tough for her - she was tired, and she knew she had to do it so she did, but it took away some of her enjoyment about school, and in a way made her more tired. I think sleep was harder because she had less time at home to play, but now she is ready for bedtime when it comes, and unless its a bath night there is very little argument or procrastination from her.

We're still doing gymnastics on Saturday morning. Ally has made some friends in the class and said she did not want to switch to a different class. And the Saturday morning is now a routine for us so we'll stick with that for now.

Sunset at Target

2012-01-15T21:22:00.001-05:00

After school one day Ally and I went to Target for supplies for Baby's Birthday Party. When we came out the sunset was GORGEOUS - I could not believe it. I just had to get out my camera and take a picture.

And of course one of Ally too.

Ally and I have been spending tons of time together in the afternoon and weekends. Becky has been sick for weeks - literally, since before Christmas. She finally seems to be on the mend after 5 days off, but we'll see. We're all ready for mama to feel better, stop coughing and have energy to play and run and laugh again!

Last Day of Vacation

2012-01-10T16:57:00.002-05:00

On our last day of vacation we took Ally the Aquarium. We asked if she wanted a friend to join us and she said yes, Erik.

We saw a baby anaconda snake ready to shed its skin.

The sea lions were all asleep

But Becky still liked them!

The green eel was a big hit and they both were quite enthralled at the big tank. Erik said his favorite thing was the electric eel, and Ally's was touching the sting rays.

After the aquarium we went to the park by Erik's house - it was the "new park" from earlier in the week.

Becky and Erik climbed all the way to the top!!!

It was a fun way to end the week.

Then back home, a stop at our local park, and lots of playing and crafting in the afternoon.

Chalk in Winter

2012-01-09T15:44:00.001-05:00

One day Ally asked to play outside in our "small yard" so I grabbed the soccer ball and some new sidewalk chalk and we went outside for a while. We kicked the ball back and forth for a bit and then started drawing with the really bright chalk.

a rainbow

Our finished masterpiece!

New Year's Eve

2012-01-08T15:14:00.001-05:00

This New Year's Eve we decided to go downtown to check our First Night. There was a big Family Festival at the Convention Center, and our favorite singer was playing. (This would be the 3rd time we've heard E. M..itchell perform live). It was fantastic as usual and Ally's friend Willow and her mom came and joined us. Ally was so into it this time, she actually got up and danced and she sang along to every song.

After the show we met up with Olive and her mom and made New Year's hats.

After the crafts we ventured outside to see the ice sculptures.

Ally and Willow had a blast running around the Common.

The 3 girls (left to right) Ally, Willow and Olive on the Make Way for Ducklings statues.

Which were all decked out with party wear for the celebration.

Becky was feeling so sick she went home and missed out on the ducklings, dinner, and the parade. But Ally and I had fun with Willow and her parents.

Ally is such a grown up girl now. We took the bus downtown and back, and she sat in the seat all by herself. Hard to believe she will turn 6 in 2012. I tell her she will always be mu little girl no matter how big or old she gets.

As I said in a prior post 2011 was a great year. They are all in The Life of Ally and I'm 2012 will be amazing and special and wonderful too.

Literary Christmas Trees

2012-01-07T16:37:00.001-05:00

One day during vacation we went to a local museum and visited the Christmas Tree exhibit. It was 30 trees all decorated to mimic children's books.

The Yankee Doodle tree
close up of the cannon, minute men and drums

Ally and I at the Lady Bug Girl tree

Ally at the Dinosaur Bones tree

I loved this book as a girl The Hundred Dresses

At the

tree they had paper and pencils for kids to write or draw how much they loved you as and Ally wrote "as much as bubbles"

I thought that was so cute.

It was a really fun time.

I think we'll go again next year.

New Park

2012-01-06T16:46:00.000-05:00

One day over vacation Ally and I checked out a new park. Becky had to go to the doctor (for the second time - she was sick all of vacation).

There was a huge climbing structure. Ally started climbing immediately and made it all the way to the top, then was scared and had trouble figuring out how to get down. I actually had to climb up and help her. Her little legs don't reach the next level down and at that height she was a bit frightened to balance with her arms on all her weight and lower her body down. Here she is at the bottom.
New swings

no hands

cool super fast slide

so fast its hard to get a whole face picture

so Ally humored me and posed

such a happy girl

Then she started a circuit

climb down the rope blanket

switch her weight to climb forward

stretch out

and climb up the other side

to the top

reach for the adjoining structure

and climb down

loving it

all the way to the bottom

ready to start again

Mommy take a movie to show mama

So I did.

Day After Christmas

2012-01-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

The day after Christmas we had everyone back at our house for brunch. Gruncle and Aunt Suzie were there as well, since Ally and I picked them up at the airport on Christmas night. They came in for the wedding!

Ally had one more gift to open, it was from our relatives in Hawaii.

A Dora flower girl doll. Ally was in charge of the rings at our wedding, we did not have flowers.
Here she is all dressed and ready to get in the car for the event.
It was quite a feat to get her happy and smiling.
After all of the excitement of the previous few days, Ally was exhausted and begged for a nap. We finally agreed, but then she slept a long time. The wedding was at 430, we needed to be there at 330 for pictures, and at 230 Ally was still sleeping. I did my makeup while she slept, and got everything ready. At 245 I woke her up, put her in a bath, the whole time she cried. Poor thing was wiped out and grumpy at being woken up. All I could think of was that she would have red puffy eyes for the pictures. For years to come she would look sad and pitiful in our wedding pictures. Finally I said STOP - you need to STOP CRYING. She looked at me, and did it! Then we got her dressed, she watched me dress, Becky started the car, we all got in the car and drove away.
I suppose bribing her with a candy cane helped lift her spirits.

The cake. I wanted chocolate and I certainly got it! Chocolate cake with ganache frosting. It was yummy.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-04T18:15:00.000-05:00

Christmas Day 2011 was pretty amazing.

Ally slept until 830 - we actually woke her up so she would have a chance to settle in before all of the company arrived from their hotels.

Santa came!
I carried Ally into the living room to show her the stockings all filled and the presents left under, around and next to the tree.

Then she changed and settled in with her chocolate milk and cheerios for everyone to arrive and open presents! But first some photos.

Look at all of these stockings!

Uncle Frank looks like Rudolph!

Ally loved opening her stocking. She got lots of fun stuff in it, a handmade crayon holder/roll, some legos, 2 candy canes, a new toothbrush and toothpaste, a head lamp, and a new book, just to name a few of the things in there.

Family - it was so nice to have so many people visiting for the holiday.

Ally waited patiently for all of the adults to open their stockings

Becky and I got matching paper rings - so we could practice for the wedding the next day!

Ally poised to open her big gift!

a new doll house!

Aunt Beth got a new luggage set

Uncle Frank got a dog blanket that Becky made for him

Uncle Phil got a personalized T shirt

So did Aunt Martha

and Grandpa Frank

and Grandma Barbie was so pleased with herself for the matching / personalized T shirts!

Becky got a new Kindle

Ally was very excited to get a new rocking chair for Baby and Kitty

But she tells everyone her favorite gift was her new camera. Thank-you Uncle Frank.

We all received such wonderful and generous gifts, and having so much family present was a present all in itself.

The funniest thing to me is that Ally received 4 jump ropes this year:

1) from Lauren

2) in her stocking from Santa

3) from Aunt Beth

4) from Grandma Debbie & Poppy

she was quite excited to get the one from Lauren - it came first before Christmas, and Ally was so pleased to know she was getting one - she kept it under the tree until Christmas. Having 4 means she can share with her friends.

Christmas Eve 2011

2012-01-03T16:31:00.000-05:00

Christmas Eve brought more company to our house; Aunt Beth, Grandma Debbie & Poppy and Great Aunt Martha and Uncle Phil.

Aunt Beth and Grandma Debbie
The grandpas eating our Christmas Eve tamales, rice and beans.

Becky and I and tons of cookies!

Ally telling Aunt Beth a secret.l Beth was as usual an amazing Aunt. She knows just when to play with Ally, when to give her space, and when we need a break. Thank you for all of your help. We are so lucky that you live relatively close and that you and Ally are so close.

Ally made her own pick to play the ukulele with.

My mom and her sister, Aunt Martha

Mama and Ally

Grandma Debbie and Ally made reindeer food.

we had a bit of an accident when the container opened up while being shaken and reindeer food sprayed all over the kitchen!

After putting out the food for the reindeer, Ally watched Rudolph one last time with Grandma and Beth on our bed.

Then it was time for a sing a long

Aunt Martha brought some carol song books and we sang just about every Christmas carol we could think of. Ally loved it!

Then Poppy read Twas the Night Before Christmas

All of the family left then for their hotels, and Ally posed with all of the stockings. Yes there were 11 stockings - one for every person who would be at our house Christmas morning.

She also put out cookies for Santa and an ornament that she made him. She dictated the note to be left for him.

Happy New Year & Ally-isms

2012-01-02T14:00:00.001-05:00

It's January 2, 2012 and wow 2011 was an amazing year.

Ally turned 5, started in junior kindergarten an public school, where we hope she'll be thru 8th grade, and Becky and I got married. At the wedding several people commented on how much this blog means to them, and how it helps friends and family who live far away stay in touch with us and know what is going on in our lives and with Ally. I contemplate ending the blog every once in a while. It is a lot of work. And sometimes I wonder how Ally will feel about it when she gets older. But I like it, I like documenting her childhood and sharing it with people I care about, and who care about us. I hope she'll be happy to have this record of her life. She's the only child we're going to have and since I know I won't remember all the fun, boring, exciting, trivial, amazing things about her, by blogging I at least know that I can always look back and be reminded.

Now its time for some Ally-isms:

Stampler - this is what Ally calls a stapler. I think its genius - since a stapler is something that you stamp (or press) your hands down on.

Aminals - this one actually kind of grates on me, but Becky loves it and its pretty cute.

Han-i-tizer - again, love this one - Hand Sanitizer - frankly I think we should all call it Han-i-tizer

My ear exploded - this is a recent one to describe the feeling of her ears popping

Hand of it - there was a blog post on this a few months ago - instead of "hang of it"

Can I tell you something? ARGH - if I could eliminate this phrase from her vocabulary I would. She asks this all the time "Mommy, Can I tell you something?" Sometimes I want to say no just to see what her reaction would be. But to be honest since Ally is not a big talker, I am always so glad to hear what ever it is she wants to tell me.

Again....Again....Again - this is when we do a trick she wants it again...again...again. 3 is usually my limit and then I say last time. But one of the perks in having a small child is that I can still lift her way above my head, and twirl her around in my arms and flip her and such. And she squeals with glee.

Grandma Barbie's Birthday

2012-01-01T18:45:00.000-05:00

December 23 was my mom's (aka Grandma Barbie) birthday. She loves having a birthday so close to Christmas because it means she almost always gets to spend it with family. We were happy to have her, my dad and my older brother over for mom's birthday celebration.

Ally made her a card. She drew the butterfly and the Happy Birthday words all by herself. Lauren (her babysitter helped with the spelling). The first time Becky and I saw the card was when Ally gave it to my mom.
The inside of the card is particularly special. Its a picture of Ally and Grandma Barbie.

Please note that Ally has darker skin than Grandma and that Ally made sure to use blue (the correct color) for Grandma's eyes. Lauren said this was all Ally's doing.

It clearly shows us that Ally is aware of how all of us look different.

Grandma brought "goody bags" for all out of town guests, and made sure to have one for Ally as well. Ally was pretty excited.

They were trying to open a card without ripping the "special" sticker Ally put on it.

My mom and her birthday dessert - Coconut Cream Pie.

Wedding

2011-12-27T09:31:00.003-05:00

Quick set of pictures for family and friends who were not able to join us yesterday. We had a wonderful wedding celebration.

The table in the room - we had a small celebration, the 3 of us and 24 family and friends.
In our finest.

Becky and her mom - doesn't Debbie look fabulous?

The ceremony itself.

Ally - with Michelle's daughters.

Of course its not a wedding without dancing!

We had a photographer who took over 1500 pictures, but it will be a while until we get those. These are some Beth and Debbie took with their cameras and we're grateful to be able to share these right away.

It was a wonderful evening.

Tree Decorating

2011-12-23T06:17:00.001-05:00

We've had our tree up for a few weeks. It was fun as usual to decorate. We have a lot of ornaments and small tree. So one thing we've done is only hang up unbreakable ornaments. It means no shiny balls, but with 3 cats who like to bat at things its much safer this way. Ally was excited about putting up the tree and hanging ornaments. She likes to look at all of the different ones and talk about them. And this year she did a great job spreading the ornaments out all over the tree.

It took Becky a few weeks of hard work at night after Ally went to sleep but she did it:

Ally's ornament for 2011.

Its Buddy the T-Rex! It seemed quite appropriate as the ornament for the year.

To recap the last few years:

2010 - a chick (because Ally's preschool class hatched chicks that year)

2009 - Ernie (he was Ally's main lovey and is still a cherished possession)

2008 - a Gorilla (Goodnight Gorilla was Ally's favorite book, and she loves to see them at the zoo)

Here she is hanging Buddy up - in a good safe spot where the cats won't get him.

Breakfast with Santa

2011-12-22T06:01:00.001-05:00

Sunday morning we went to Breakfast with Santa with Alice and her parents. The girls were both very excited about it in advance I must admit it was a great time.

Ally was a bit unsure about going to see Santa right away.

But mommy and mama went right up and followed Santa's orders to sit on his lap.

Mrs Claus went and got Ally, took her by the hand and brought her over to us and Santa.

Once there, Ally was all smiles. She sat calmly and told Santa she wanted a dollhouse for Christmas. She has told us she'd also like a jump rope and rocking chair for kitty and baby to share. I have it on good authority that she will get all that she asked for.

The 2 friends with Santa.

The whole gang!

Ally and Alice were adorable holding hands as they walked around the restaurant. They went to get cereal on the buffet together, and over to Santa several times.

It was a great event - Santa sat in his chair in the center of the room, so kids could go talk to him when they wanted and ask questions or whatever.

And this is all of the kids who were there, so it wasn't very crowded at all.

Eventually Santa turned on his boom box (yes a tape deck) and played a few Christmas Songs and danced and led a sing a long to:

Dominick the Donkey

Christmas in Killarney

Winter Wonderland

Jingle Bells

Ally especially wanted to dance, but only if I went with her so here I am dancing with the girls and Santa. I must say it was a little surreal.

Then it was like the kids started to stalk Santa - they followed him around and were stuck to him like glue. I love the look on Ally's face. We think she was fascinated watching him pour and then drink a glass of water.

Seriously this Santa was fabulous.

After Santa left Ally took a break.

Right before we left the girls sat in Santa's chair for a picture.

Daisy Girl Scouts

2011-12-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

For the past 8 weeks Ally has attended a Daisy Girl Scout program on Monday nights with her old friend Stella and her new school friend Adalis. It is right in our neighborhood, literally across the street from my office and across from a local watering hole. Stella's mom and I, and sometimes Becky drop the girls off and have a drink while the girls attend the hour long program. It was a blast - for the girls and for the moms!

On the last night of the program parents were invited to a brief presentation the girls did of what they had learned and the girls were awarded their badge. Above we are all squished in on the couch for a picture with their certificates of completion.

Ally and Stella told us about their poster.

Each week they did a craft or project that pertained to the badge curriculum "5 flowers, 4 stories and 3 cheers for animals"

They colored pictures of animals and talked about where they lived and how they ate.

This was a flip book they made one week

A nest with eggs and a chicky

flowers in a flower pot

The session ended but the volunteers have agreed to run another session starting the end of January. Becky and I were both girl scouts and have fond memories of it growing up and its really neat to pass that along. One of the things I really appreciate about this was Ally looked forward to it each Monday, and she did it without us with a couple of her existing friends and some new friends she made. She is already excited about the next session.

Light Show 2011

2011-12-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

Saturday we went on a local light tour. We rode a trolley bus around a neighboring town and looked at some amazing Christmas light displays. We went with some other families in our neighborhood group and it was a blast. We also went two years ago, but Ally and the other kids were at a perfect age for it this year.

Ally sat with Becky on the tour and if you can't tell they had a fun time together.

This is a group shot of all of us.

Gingerbread House

2011-12-19T08:35:00.006-05:00

Last weekend Ally and attended a gingerbread house decorating event with Erik and Stella and their moms. It was a lot of fun.

When we arrived the house was assembled for us and there was a bag of frosting and a tray of candy waiting at each station.

Our work in progress.

Stella and her mom Shannon.

Erik and his mom Deb.

In addition to the tray of candy at each shelf there were 2 tables full of additional candy for the kids to choose from.

Ally loved it.

A memorable blip was when she asked if she could eat a jelly bean and I said yes, and then she wanted some more and I said yes she could eat whatever she wanted it was fine. All of sudden she has this awful look on her face and is starting to salivate and I look at her and hold up my hand to her mouth and she spit out a small red candy. She grabbed a red hot thinking it was a jelly bean! Yuck - she looked so funny and confused. I explained what happened and encouraged her to take another jelly bean. She was very careful after that.

I wanted proof that Ally actually did some of the decorating.

Please note our one car driveway behind the house. (like at our house).

Ally with the finished creation.

Just had to point out the blue hose that leads to the flower garden. All Ally's idea. She saw the licorice strings and immediately wanted it to be a house so we attached it to the house, and she created a flower garden for the hose to water.

The 3 kids with their gingerbread houses.

After the decorating we ate lunch outside - it was pretty cold, but no room to eat indoors. The kids ran around the grass the whole time.

Silly girl, Ally who I love spending time with.

Spontaneous Santa

2011-12-09T06:54:00.001-05:00

It was 2 days after Thanksgiving and we were driving past our local supermarket and Ally says "I see Santa selling things" from her car seat. Becky and I give each other puzzled looks, ask a few more questions and agree to drive around the block so we can circle back and check it out. The girl has keen eye site and she was right: Santa was selling Christmas trees and giving out candy canes (Ally's favorite Christmas candy) to all the kids who walked by.

As excited as she was to get a candy cane and see Santa Ally did get pretty nervous when we asked her to pose with him. She refused and asked me to pick her up. So I did and it turned into the 2 of us with Santa picture!

And in typical Ally fashion she feels this was sufficient for a visit to Santa - she has said there is no need to go to the mall or anything else. "Remember mommy, I saw him at _____" Sigh - I want our traditional Santa Portrait. Maybe a candy cane bribe will work?

Day After Thankgiving Part 3 - Forts, Parade, Rudolph and Poppy

2011-12-07T17:47:00.001-05:00

Ally is really into forts right now - a fort, a tent - a cave - anything that she can play and hide under. Grandma Debbie worked really hard rigging this one up - it even involved securing a blanket with the window closed on it! (Ally thought that was very creative)

Excuse the blurry - but its Ally and Grandma under the tent!

We went to the parade! Its the annual Christmas Tree lighting and Day after Thanksgiving Parade in the town where Dave and Debbie live. Love this picture of Beth, Becky and Debbie.

Ally was so excited for her first parade.

There is a large Hispanic population in their town and there were several marching groups in elaborate traditional costumes.

The highlight of course was Santa - and I couldn't get a great picture, but you get the idea - it was Mr & Mrs Santa.

Back at home after her bath to ensure she was tick-free watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and wearing the light-up red nose!

Ally asked poppy to read her a book before bed on her last night.

It was a quick trip - only 3 nights and 2 full days. But it was really wonderful to spend the Holiday with Becky's family. Thank-you to everyone for making it so special for Ally.

Day after Thanksgiving Part 2 - Bamboo Forest

2011-12-06T16:15:00.001-05:00

In addition to tree climbing in Grandma and Poppy's backyard Ally constructed a fairy house and ventured into the Bamboo Forest.

That is the fairy house. I did not see any fairies though.

Racing up the hill with mommy.

building a giant fairy house outside with old bamboo pieces

the 3 master builders; mama, Ally & Aunt Beth

contemplating the forest

at the edge

" can I go in?" Ally asked

far deep into the forest

loving it and the instrument she made by banging two small pieces of dried out bamboo together

very tall bamboo

Rolling down the hill.

It was a "super fun" time. But then the negative part of the outdoors - ticks! Yes - ticks! We found 4 on Ally over the next several hours we were inside. We changed her clothes and combed her hair very carefully and one still crept over her face during dinner! YUCK. Becky disposed of it quickly and I remained quite calm and Ally was not actually afraid or freaked out. But then we decided she should have a bath so we could wash her hair and dry it and be completely sure she was tick free for sleeping and the trip home. She was not happy about a bath, but with some marshmallows and a second viewing of Rudolph offered she agreed.

It was really a very special time playing outside. It reminded me very much of my childhood, I grew up in a house with a large acre yard and several acres of woods and creek behind the house. Becky's childhood home was even more secluded than where her parents live now. So both of us had a very different environment than what Ally has. It was nice to share the outdoors with Ally and remember firsthand the non-urban way of life. I'm happy walking all over and going to parks and no school bus and such, but there are pros and cons of each way. I guess what I mean is its quite gratifying to be able to expose Ally to so many things. I feel fortunate to be able to do that.

Day After Thanksgiving Part 1 - Tree climbing

2011-12-04T20:40:00.002-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving Becky and I went shopping and out to lunch while Grandma Debbie watched Ally. We came home and found out Ally learned to crack walnuts!

She kept saying "I can do it Mommy" and she could.

Ally really likes eating nuts and she had a fun time getting them out of the shell.

Then it was outside to show off her tree climbing skills. While we were gone Aunt Beth and Ally climbed a tree.

Very cool fun tree

Ally loved it! Loved having a tree the "perfect size" for her to climb. She did keep looking for a branch to swing from.

Up so high

" look at me"

Such a happy smiley little girl.

I picked her up at kindergarten on Friday and as we walked out she said "I love school".

It just made me smile and my heart swelled. Ally is like a sponge soaking up new experiences, new friends and her new school.

Ally has a bit of a cold has was not sleeping well this weekend so I spent a lot of early morning hours in her room sitting with her. I could hear her counting in Spanish to try and get to sleep. It was music to my ears.

Becky and I have made the decision that Ally will no longer attend her after school program starting in January. It has been 3 months, Ally does not like it, and is a much happier person when she does not have to go. I've cut back my hours at work so I can pick Ally up at school everyday. We'll go to music class one day, and possibly gymnastics another day, so we don't have to go on the weekend any more, and we'll have play dates and fun and more time. Our whole family is looking forward to it. Ally is so happy and frankly she seems relieved to know she won't have to go much longer.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-03T18:20:00.001-05:00

We flew to Pennsylvania with Aunt Beth to spend Thanksgiving with Becky's family. Travel was super easy, no stress and quick trips both ways.

Upon our arrival Grandma Debbie and Poppy had belated birthday gifts for Ally to open.

An I Spy book and a really cool marble tower game thing:

Reading books with Grandma and Aunt Beth before bed.

Thanksgiving Day - Ally was a little intimidated by all the people - there were lots of adults:

Grandma Debbie

Poppy

Mama

Mommy

Aunt Beth

Aunt Louise

Aunt Cindy

Uncle Denny

Aunt Polly

Uncle Jim

Aunt Pammy

Uncle Tommy

Cousin Mandy

Cousin Jake

Cousin Jake's wife Kim

so Ally spent most of the before dinner time playing in her room with a rotating array of relatives playing with her one on one. Above she is playing with the whistle Uncle Denny Made for her.

Grandma and Aunt Cindy helped Ally build a fort.

The big table!

After dinner there was lots of coloring and playing with the marble run.

Ally and I taught everyone the "Ally ABCs" it was pretty fun.

Grandma and Aunt Beth really liked the marble run.

Aunt Polly, Cousin Mandy and Poppy

It was a fun day and we were all grateful to Debbie for hosting and for everyone coming to visit it was pretty special to see so much family at one time.

Typical Weekend

2011-12-01T16:00:00.001-05:00

I have a whole series of Thanksgiving posts, but they are taking a while to put together, and when life slows down a bit I hope to post a big recap of Ally's birthday party. But I don;t want to get too behind on my blogging so here is a simple post.

After the Thanksgiving Holiday we flew home early Saturday morning and spent a very relaxing weekend at home. Playing, cleaning, organizing and shopping.

Ally is modeling a new tunic we bought her at a huge sale in PA. I just happened to have matching pants I bought last year on clearance! I love a bargain.

Ally and Becky played school for a really long time.

In the morning it was time to organize Ally's book shelf. It was a mess in there for a while, and eventually Ally lost steam and it was left to Becky to put them away. But Ally helped for a while, and as always is loathe to get rid of anything. I think she gets her pack rack mentality from me.

Ally spent some time with her babysitter on Sunday and Becky and I went shopping - we got this hat and matching coat for Ally to wear on the 26th. She loves it - and how could one not love it - I think I am more excited about Ally all dressed up than I am about the event.

A truly Ally story:

Ally's old preschool teacher Jill was working at a local toy store wrapping gifts for charity - a homeless shelter for women and children she works with. We thought it would be nice to go and say hello. Ally had been so very well behaved all through Thanksgiving and our travels that I told her she could pick out a new toy at the store when we went. She looked me in the eye and said "I don't want a new toy" at first I thought it was a way to get out of going to the store. But a few minutes later she stopped what she was doing and looked at me and said "mommy, I don't need any new toys - there are lots of toys here (in the living room) and my room is kind of messy with all of my toys" I told her OK - she did not have to pick out a toy, and instead we would make a donation to the charity. Donations are a hard concept for a 5 year old but I tried to explain it.
It's so Ally to refuse a new toy. At the store, she looked at a dinosaur puzzle and had Becky read her a book, but she didn't ask for anything or really look at anything else. And it was a TOY STORE. She was most happy to be with us and enjoy the nice weather.

5 Year Old Physical

2011-11-30T21:15:00.002-05:00

Tonight we took Ally to the pediatrician for her 5 year old check up. We all already knew this but the doctor made it official "Ally is perfect...you are both (the moms) doing a fabulous job..." The appointment was late in the day - 5:20PM and we were there for over an hour, and Ally was pretty tired by the end when it was time for her flu vaccine. We asked for the nasal one, but Ally kind of panicked after the first nostril. Lots of tears, a bathroom break (so I would not get peed on for the 4th year in a row) and a sticker and lollipop bribe later I finally held her face while the technician sprayed it in. I think most of the vaccine was then wiped/slobbered on my sweater, but at least it was over. The doctor said maybe next year we should just do the needle shot. Becky and I agree that would be simpler. But Ally has been worried all week about getting a shot in her leg, because then she couldn't run at recess if her leg hurt, and apparently those boys are still chasing her and it hurts her throat to roar at them too much. To add to the drama Ally has a make-up gymnastics class tomorrow, and she was concerned that the shot would make her leg hurt during gymnastics. Phew - a nasal spray and the leg was safe. But did you know that the nose spray is tickley? I do, now that it has been screamed into my ear. But seriously - Ally was a champ at the doctor - she had 2 exams, one from the resident and one from her regular doctor. We all talked about how important it was for Ally to eat lunch at school and meals at home. Dry skin is still an issue so we were told to keep up with the lotion twice a day.

Ally is officially 35 pounds and 40 inches tall. This is about 15-20% for both height and weight. Our doctor showed us how on the chart how Ally continues to grow and that is what is most important - continued and consistent weight and height gain.

We treated Ally to ice cream after dinner, mint chocolate chip.

Then it was craft time before bed.

I saw in a magazine a way to make a Christmas Card display using a tomato cage. So before the doctor while Ally was at after-school program Becky and I spray painted one of our old cages silver. Then while Ally finished her dinner Becky made the cone for the top.

Ally of course wanted to help so she traced the circle tree skirt, which I cut our with decorative scissors and then she and Becky made a star for the top, and Ally is shown here cutting out the star.

Silly face posing with the finished project.

Very quick project - now I just need to get binder clips to attach the card to the holder. Of course we also need to receive some cards.

It was a busy day, and its been a busy week:

Monday - it was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and sunny so I picked Ally up early and took her for a walk. Then Ally had girl scouts in the evening.

Tuesday - music class for Ally after school

Wednesday - Ally's physical and craft project

Thursday - make up gymnastics class

Friday - play date at a local paint your own pottery with Ally's friend Willow

Saturday - gymnastics and Roxie's birthday party

Sunday - swim lessons with Stella start up again

Busy Busy Busy but fun busy and happy busy and thriving and healthy busy. Ally has been sleeping really well at night and waking up in a good mood every day.

Life feels pretty good.

Cooking Class - November

2011-11-29T06:48:00.005-05:00

River and his mom Summer hosted cooking class in November. It was a huge success and lots of fun. The kids made Zucchini Sticks, Pizza and Banana Ice Cream.

Ally seasoned the bread crumbs for the zucchini sticks.

breading the zucchini - dip it in egg, then into the bread crumbs. They were then baked in the oven and served with marinara sauce for dipping. The rule at Cooking Class is that Ally has to try things - she tasted a bite of the raw zucchini - declared she did not like it, but she tasted it.

Getting ready to put topping on her pizza.

Mia made her pizza into a face! Summer had put together all kinds of different toppings - raw spinach, roasted red peppers, raw green peppers, olives, artichokes, tomatoes. It was great.

Ally decided she wanted just cheese on her pizza but...

She tried eating some raw spinach! And she liked it. She literally ate handfuls of it.

Banana Ice Cream was the final dish. Did you know you can just blend frozen bananas and it makes ice cream?

From left to right; Auric, Ally, River & Thora tasting the frozen bananas - we try and have the kids taste things in different states, so they each had a piece of the actual frozen banana, and this was a taste of the bananas blended together to a mashed state, but not yet ice cream.

It was pretty funny to see them all gathered around a food processor watching bananas get pulverized.

Mommy and Ally

Thora's mom Sarah holding Auric (her son) and River's sister Lila.

Thora and her pizza smile. (That is Aiden's grandmother behind Thora. Aiden was camera shy and refused to have his picture taken).

River's pizza smile

Ally's pizza smile

The absolute best part of the cooking class came the next day. Becky and Ally and I were shopping at the supermarket and Ally asked "can we get some of that green stuff I liked at Cooking Class?" Of course we said yes and went to the produce aisle and found some organic baby spinach, brought it home, washed and dried it and put it in a bowl.

Turns out the girl loves her some spinach - plain, not cooked, no sauce or dressing.

Thank-You Notes

2011-11-28T18:45:00.001-05:00

I was really proud of Ally for writing all of her own thank-you notes this year:

They are short and to the point. But she wrote every single one herself, and there were a lot to write - 12 of them! We got them all done one morning in a couple of sessions.
Ally received a dew more gifts since then so we'll work on the others this week.

Tire Swing

2011-11-25T10:58:00.001-05:00

I pick Ally up from school about 4pm. Lately that means it is almost dark. But she always asks to play for a while on the playground. Its tough now with the darkness, and our 20 minute walk home. But I usually agree for a few minutes. One day this week she has the whole tire swing to herself. Ally has a long love of tire swings - for about 3 years now she has loved them and looks at them longingly in other people's yards and on TV. She is pretty psyched that her school playground has one!

look mom - no hands - she hasyou push and spin the swing and then lets go with her hands and keeps her balnce by holding onto to the inside of the tire with her feet

so high

and the finale was standing on the swing

Then she was pretty tired for the walk home and I ended up carrying her on my shoulders.

"I roar at them"

2011-11-24T11:06:00.001-05:00

The story about these pictures is one of my favorites of all time.

I picked Ally up at school, and as usual she needs to use the bathroom. I have to go into the bathroom with her to push down the water - its an old school building and she cannot push the faucet down to get water by herself - she does not have enough leverage. But I digress...we are in the bathroom and she says "mommy, the boys were chasing us at recess again today" this has been a common statement about recess. So I say "oh - did you try asking them to stop" "yes I did and they don't stop and I don't like it ... but I know how to scare them away" big pause and I wait and Ally follows that with "I roar at them" and she said it with such aplomb and so matter of factly as if that was a perfectly normal solution. I asked if it worked and she told me yes, they were scared of her roar and so then they stopped.

Oh my - I am so proud of her. My amazing, strong, little girl who loves gymnastics and coloring and dinosaurs. She roars at the boys to get them to stop chasing her and her friends. I just love the non-violent solution to her problem.

So later that night we asked Ally to show us her roar.

It is very fierce

the angry eyes

wide open mouth - look closely at Becky in the background

And for Ally the roar is a full body move - she can't stand upright and roar - its a chest forward back arched mouth open eyes squinted or shut mouth loud roar.

Its an impressive sight to see and hear.

And way to go little one learning how to defend yourself.

We are still talking about asking boys politely, and she claims to have tried that and one agreed during classroom time not to chase her and then out on the playground he gave in to peer pressure and chased Ally and her friends anyway. So typical. And so appropriate for this age. But oh so funny.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're happy to be celebrating with Becky's family this year.

Hand of it

2011-11-23T16:10:00.000-05:00

For those of you who don't know Becky can juggle. This weekend Ally proclaimed "mama, mommy, come see, I got the hand of it" Hang of what Ally? "Hand of it - see I can juggle"

It was so adorable and she was so proud of her ability to juggle and a balloon and that she used the phrase "hand of it" which makes super clear sense in relation to hitting something with one's hand. We just did not have the heart to correct her or try and explain why the saying was actually "hang of it".

waiting the out stretched hands

hand on it - look I've got the hand of it!

Its so cool to see her tackle new things.

And for those who want to know - that is Ally's dress and sweater hanging in the background for a special celebration on December 26!

Birthday Night

2011-11-22T06:45:00.000-05:00

Ally's actual birthday evening was fun too! We invited her friend Stella and her family over for dinner. Ally received a Rapunzel doll from Stella.

Becky and I got Ally a play tent - its a Princess Castle Tent. We thought it would mean less fort building. Not necessarily true, but Ally loves it.

Shannon (Stella's mom ) and I thought Becky looked very "bad witch in the Wizard of Oz" in this picture. For those of you who know me and my opposition to all things Wizard of Oz it was a bit freaky. Turns out Shannon doesn't like that movie either!

The girls immediately started playing in it.

Our traditional photo under the birthday banner.

Ally and her own cake.

5 years old!

I told her she could cut it herself. She stood up to get enough leverage.

super excited silly face

Stella and Violet eating cake

Violet liked it so much she licked the plate!

After our friends left Ally opened some more gifts. Thank-you Aunt Martha for the new pillow.

Aunt Louise sent Ally a new book "Treasury for 5 year olds" Ally was so excited - she gets one from Louise every year and she seemd expecially thrilled with this gift, its kind of a right of passage to move up to the next year.

It was a great day.

School Party

2011-11-21T18:48:00.007-05:00

This year, now that Ally is in kindergarten she could have a party at school. That means bring in cupcakes for her classmates, and they have a small party for her. She was pretty excited. But that meant we had to make cupcakes, and a cake for her actual birthday, and we had just made fish cupcakes for her party, oh and we made cookies for to celebrate with her afterschool program. Lots of baking!

Ally decided for her actual birthday she wanted a little cake. She requested white frosting and vanilla (white) cake and red decorations on it.

I decided in the interests of my sanity to buy the pre-made colored frosting in a tube. If you can't tell Ally was all over it.

Decorating her own cake at 5 - maybe at 6 she'll bake it too?

I made a small single layer cake of the same kind to share with Stella and her family.

Then the school cupcake decorating factory began. Becky iced.

Ally applied sprinkles

and ate some too

I put them in the carrier.

At school on her birthday. It was pretty cool to walk in and see Ally so engaged in her classroom activity. She didn't even see me come in and even after one of her friends ran over and said "Ally your mom is here" she kept working at her table on her project. I went and sat with her for a while until it was gathering time.

On a student's birthday gathering time is about the birthday child. The teacher says something nice about him/her and then passes a talking object (it was a wooden door knob on Ally's birthday) around and each student who gets the knob says something they like about Ally. It was really neat to hear what they said:

Sofia "I like that when I played a game with Ally and I won and Ally lost, Ally did not cry...she is a good sport"

Simon "I like that Ally is not that mean to me"

Lily "I like to play with Ally"

Joanne (one of the teachers) "I like Ally's smile"

Noelle (the lead teacher) "I like that Ally plays with all different students"

Nathen "Ally is nice to me"

Erik "Ally is not mean"

Then it was time to eat the cupcakes! The class sang Happy Birthday in English and Spanish. Then after cupcakes each student made a birthday card for Ally.

It was really very sweet to see each them each make one and bring it to her. Ally had such a nice time. A special treat for Ally was that then we went straight home and she did not have to go to afterschool.

5 years old today

2011-11-16T11:49:00.007-05:00

5 year retrospective and sneak peak of her 5 year birthday party:

The first picture we ever saw of Alejandra.

Ally on her 1st birthday.

2nd birthday opening presents

Ally celebrating her 3rd birthday with a Pinkalicious Party

4th birthday was Olivia themed

Ally about to turn 5 so excited for her 5 year old Fish theme party

Months ago Ally decided she wanted a fish theme for her birthday party. I admit I groaned - its not that easy to find fish party goods or decorations. But the Internet is my friend and I am not one to shy away from a design or party challenge. This was the party display in Ally's room. A big fish and lots of smaller glitter fish.

The cupcake & food table in the dining room.

A sample of the fish swimming around the dining room.

Becky counted and we made 86 of the large fish, and Becky, Ally, Aunt Beth, our babysitter Lauren and I decorated each and every one of the larger fish on the walls.

I put all the fish up the night before the party while Ally was sleeping. She loved waking up and seeing all of the fish.

They are still up, and we'll take them down this weekend.

We hung balloons from the ceiling to make it feel as if you were under the water with the fish. Ally is waiting for her friends to arrive for her party.

And its not a birthday party without cupcakes that match the theme. Becky and Beth were up late working on these.

Ally and mommy.

It was a great party with Ally's Guatemalan Girls group on Sunday.

Last night we made cupcakes to bring to school today. I'm leaving work early to deliver the cupcakes and celebrate with her class. She is excited to have them sing Feliz Cumpleanos to her.

Then later today for dinner Ally's friend Stella and her family will come over for pizza for dinner and low key birthday (on the actual day) celebration.

Every year for 3 years now Stella always wants to have a party for Ally, so I thought this might be a nice way to liven up the actual day, when its usually just the 3 of us.

It's hard to believe Ally is 5. The past 5 years seem to have flown by, but at the same time I know they did not. I tell Ally all the time that I love her "oodles and oodles and bunches and bunches" and that she is "beautiful, smart, funny, strong, brave, silly" and that I am so glad she is my daughter.

Happy Birthday Ally.

I love you.

The Party Recap

2011-11-10T20:37:00.001-05:00

It's not quite 2 weeks late, but here is my Halloween Party recap post.

We asked Ally's former preschool teacher Jill to come help us out for the party. She even came dressed up as a mad crazed Patriots Fan.

I just love how excited Ally was before the party started.
For the record we were forecasted to get snow and ice and a bad storm the night before the party. I could not sleep, I was so worried we would have to cancel the party, and I just hated the thought of disappointing Ally. All week she would tell me how excited she was for the party.

The food table - we had simple snacks, animal crackers, grapes, some homemade cookies, a candy corn party mix I made and juice boxes and water.

Becky made the banners pictured for decorations.

One of my co-workers made us the giant pumpkin for a bean bag toss. We also had a Candy Corn relay race that was a huge hit. The kids had a small scoop that they used to get candy corn out of a giant bucket and carry the full scoop about 10 yards and empty it into a cup. The person who filled his/her cup first won. I think they just loved the idea of free access to all the candy corn and playing with food is always fun for this age group.

The tables were set up for crafts and then we had our ipod and speakers set up for a dancing area to the right.

We made and hung up signs to direct friends where to go in the community center to find the party.

Our family waiting for guests.

Ally working on her scratch art - this was one of the crafts.

Becky gathered us all in a circle to explain the games.

Ally was not thrilled at all to wear her costume during the party. She was embarrassed about being a dinosaur and afraid of what her friends would think. She kept saying "what if they laugh at me" She cried when we made her wear it, and everyone of her girlfriends came up to her and told her how much they liked her costume and that they thought it was "cool" or "neat" and "not silly at all". She basically refused to look at the camera once with it on and kept her head buried into my backside the whole time we made her wear it at the party.

Friends enjoying the party.

After the costume came off Ally was back to her happy cheerful self. Here she is with Adalis (in the red & black), Willow (blue & white cheerleader) and Alice (who was a unicorn but no longer has her costume on) running and then gliding on the gym floor on their knees.

Me, Cheryl (Alice's mom) and Becky

Ally loved the craft table - here she is again with her friends, Willow, Adalis, and that is Stella as a princess with her back to us.

After the party, Jill came home with us and kept Ally occupied while we unpacked and put everything away. It was kind of stressful to host a party not at our house, but at the community center, but it was also nice too, to not have to worry about much clean up or set up.

Later that day Ally requested a fort to take a nap in. Well she did not want to take a nap, so we compromised by setting up a fort for her to rest in.

She slept for over 2 hours in the fort - such a nice "rest time"

While Ally rested I baked. I saw these cookies on the Internet and could not resist making them. It is orange colored cookie dough cut into a candy corn shape. Then dip the small end in white chocolate, and the large end in yellow colored white chocolate. It was pretty easy and the cookies were adorable. I brought them to our friends to Halloween night, and gave some to my friend who made the pumpkin cut out for us.

Day of the Dead

2011-11-09T16:51:00.001-05:00

On Saturday we attended a Day of the Dead festival at one of the local museums. We were quite surprised to find out that this museum also has a very nice Latin American cultural exhibit with lots of artifacts and history from Guatemala. We brought Ally's friend and classmate Erik with us and they both had a lot of fun.

Día de los Muertos is a Latin American holiday that celebrates ancestors. It is a celebratory holiday in which we remember our departed loved ones. There was an altar to commemorate children who had died, and Ally and I had a long conversation about death, dying, remembering. We were done and started to walk away when she said "wait...can we talk about this some more?" So we sat on the floor and repeated our conversation. We talked about my grandma no longer being alive, and that everyone would die sometime, usually, and hopefully after a long life, but sometimes children or adults get sick or have an accident and die before they get old. At one point Ally said "I am not going to die anytime soon" with such confidence and innocence of youth.

We have been hit with some difficult news recently, a very close friend, and fellow adoptive parent with 2 young daughters has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the older brother of one of our Guatemala Girl's was diagnosed this past weekend with ALL (a form of childhood leukemia) and will be in the hospital for at least the next month undergoing treatment.

All of this has me feeling a bit shaken and so very grateful for our health and happiness.

The exhibit featured a variety of crafts for children - here Ally is working on a hat, and wearing her tissue paper flower.

The 3 of us with our hats.

Erik and Ally coloring their masks.

The masked friends!

It was definitely time for lunch and we headed outside for a picnic in the courtyard. I asked them to make silly faces at the camera. I think they look kind of angry - but I guess they do look silly.

They were so happy to be out in the fresh air, they chased each other around the tree and played for a while.

Then we went back inside to decorate our sugar skulls.

Sugar skulls represent a departed soul, and traditionally have the name written on the forehead and are placed on the home altar or gravestone to honor the return of a particular spirit. Sugar skull art reflects the folk art style of big happy smiles, and are very colorful.

It was a fun day.

Like Mama Like Daughter

2011-11-08T12:48:00.002-05:00

Sunday morning Ally asked if she could play a game on the computer. She chose to turn off the TV and play on the computer! I was amazed. PBS has lots of great games for her age group and she was completely happy and entertained for quite a while:

The title of this post is because Becky (mama) would play computer games all the time if we had an amazing computer and she had the time available to do so.
Ally has computer class at school and plays educational games there, and they have one computer in the classroom that they can use sometimes and so she has become quite interested and adept at using one.

How to roast pumpkin seeds

2011-11-04T16:00:00.004-04:00

Our well established (after 4 pumpkins) recipe and method for toasted pumpkin seeds:

Have a really adorable little girl reach in to a pumpkin and pull out as much of the guts as she can.

Smile big for mommy to take a picture (and use a special scoop to get every last string and seed out of the pumpkin).

Wash the seeds in a strainer at the sink to remove all the bits of orange pumpkin from them.

(It helps to get really excited about the seeds).

spread the seeds out on paper towel

pat the seeds almost dry between paper towels

put the (almost) dry seeds in a clean bowl

add salt to the bowl of seeds

stir the salt and the seeds up so the seeds are somewhat coated with salt

dump then on a foil lined cookie sheet

spread them out

Roast in the oven at 300 degrees for 45-50 minutes.

The roasted seeds are delicious and "oh so yummy" as Ally says.

Pumpkin Carving Takes 2, 3 & 4

2011-11-02T05:36:00.001-04:00

Pumpkin carving take 2:

We had Ally's friend Olive over after school one day and I bought them each a small pumpkin to carve. I thought it humorous that Ally made the exact same face on this one as she did her first one (take 1). But the big difference here was that Ally drew a spider web all around the top hole, and ears on this one.

Spider web at the top.

Saturday we did take 3. This time I insisted on a shape OTHER than circles.

So we got a triangle nose.

Becky carved this one - we have a system. Ally draws the face, then we scoop it out (and the face gets all messed up from the guts and holding and such). Then Ally re-draws the face and either Becky or I cut it out.

On Sunday (for take 4) we talked about something different. Ally decided to create a sad face. Here she is modeling the sad face.

Becky even carved out the tears.

All 4 jack o lanterns!

Lit up in the dark with my family as bookends!

They were a big hit on Halloween on our front porch while we handed out treats.

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T21:30:00.007-04:00

It was another fabulous Halloween for us.

Becky picked Ally up right after kindergarten, so no After-school program for Ally (which she was thrilled about) so that Ally could rest up for the evening activities with our neighborhood friends. I came home to find them sprawled out and cuddled on the couch with Nali watching Clifford on TV.

After TV Ally went to work making Baby a pumpkin basket of her own to take trick or treating. I was pretty amazed that she constructed it all by herself and drew a jack-o-lantern face on it. (Seriously - she cut our 3 circles, glued them together at the bottom with glue stick, folded them upright to create a bowl or basket shape, then taped a strip of paper handle to it to form the handle. Becky and I were running around getting our costumes on, warm clothes and some things to bring to our hosts' house for dinner, and the only thing we did was open the glue stick and rip the tape to help her.)

Ally and mommy on our way to Liem's house for dinner. Baby is in Ally's pumpkin. Ally was afraid Baby would fall out so she moved into my bag for the rest of the night, and then there was plenty of room in Ally's pumpkin for her candy.

Had to get a picture of the smiling girl in front of the only patch of snow we have left. It snowed here a bit a few days ago. Ally loves snow.

Poised and ready to enter our friend's house. 3 dinosaurs and one more time for the record Becky is a stegosaurus, I am a corythosaurus and Ally is Buddy the Tyrannosaurus Rex from the PBS show Dinosaur Train.

Trio of tales

It took Ally a bit to warm up, but after dinner she, Liem and Thora terrorized Becky. I think the 3 kids were carnivores trying to eat Becky.

Becky said she was afraid she would go deaf between Thora and Ally's screams.

Outside after dinner ready to go trick or treating.

From left to right - Ally, Lila (who is slimer from Ghostbusters), Thora (in a black wig as Wonder Woman), Auric (Superman behind Thora), Liem (Spiderman) and River (Lila's older brother as Brinkman one of the Ghostbusters).

Then the fun began - trick or treating!

We met up with some other neighborhood friends so eventually our group was the 6 above, plus Kai (Liem's little sister as a Superhero), Olive as a punk Mermaid in the pink wig, Maya as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Max as a dragon and his sister Millie as a chicken. It was quite a group.

Eventually we started to split up and go home. Ally and Liem hit one last house together.

Ally and Liem at our house. Liem headed home with his family and we stayed outside on our front porch to hand out treats. We gave out pretzels, no candy from us.

My favorite picture of the evening.

Ally loves to hand out treats. Here she is all set for kids to come. She picked out a piece of her candy - a dum dum lollipop - her favorite.

We spent an hour trick or treating and then another hour outside handing out our treats. We gave our about 100 pieces and then ran out so we went inside and got in bed.

It was a really fun evening. And an interesting twist this year was running into a few of Ally's friends from school while trick or treating. I feel so fortunate to have such a wonderful community of friends to share nights like this with, and to live in a place that we can safely enjoy it.

Halloween Preview

2011-10-30T18:15:00.000-04:00

Becky has been extremely busy sewing costumes for herself and me and a new dress for Ally.

Its a dinosaur dress for Ally! Becky and I really like to shop for fabric, but Ally does not. About 2 months ago when we were visiting my parents Becky and I went out by ourselves and of course Ally wanted to come. So we told her we were going fabric shopping and she could stay and watch the Dinosaur Train movie with Grandma Barbie. We asked if she wanted anything and she said a "dinosaur dress" we scoured the store and found the green fabric above with dinosaurs on it. Ally was a bit bummed that it did not have Velociraptors on it but the yellow fabric has dragonflies on it so I think that helped.

Side view of Becky's costume. She is a stegasaurus.

Ally immediately asked to put on her costume to play with mama.

Ally is a Buddy the T-Rex. She loves to roar in her costume, and one of the best things to her is that a T-Rex is a carnivore and the stegasaurus, and the corythasaurus (what I will be) are herbivores. So that means she can pretend to eat us!

They had so much fun playing until Ally's nose got bonked and she got a bloody nose. Becky and I managed to extracate Ally from her costume and her special dress without getting any blood on them. Phew. But a bloody nose is so traumatic for Ally - she screams and shakes and hates it so much. She told us "bloody noses is so scary...I don't like to get a bloody nose". It was rough for a while.

She got another one the next day, and it was just as traumatic. But since then she has been fine. We've talked a lot about how they happen and what we can do to prevent them (humidifier at night, vaseline on your nostrils, gentle nose blowing etc). But Ally was still so spooked about getting another one that she begged Becky to write her teacher on Monday morning to let her know that if Ally got another one at school she would need help. She did not, and it seems for now that her nose is back to normal.

And not to be missed is my costume. You get bonus points if you know what kind of dinosaur I am:

These were taken at our HUGE Monster Halloween Bash this morning. We had 60 people there and it was a lot of fun. I'll get more pictures and the story of that posted soon.

Friendship in art

2011-10-29T09:00:00.001-04:00

One night Ally was working diligently on a project. Becky was out and it was just Ally and me. I let her keep working on it for a while, when I should have been getting her ready for bed, but sometimes its hard to stop her creative process in progress. I finally let her know it was going to time soon for bed and looked at what she had put together:

She made index cards with her 2 close friends from Pre-School's names on them, and one for herself. Then she taped them together and put the tape loops on the back so she could hang them up.

The pink flower is Ally's interpretation of a rose. I asked her about the project and she told me what the names were (she knows how to spell her friend's names!) and then said she needed to do cards for Adalis and Willow, her 2 new friends in kindergarten! I explained she would need to do that another night, since it was bedtime. She didn't protest much, just hung the 3 cards together above the couch in our living room.

They stayed that way for about a week. Then this weekend she completed the project:

2 new flowers - 1 for Adalis and 1 for Willow.

Thank-you Grandma Debbie for the adorable Halloween cat shirt!

Its fascinating to me that Ally works so independently sometimes and then other times seems incapable of doing anything at all without Becky or me to do it with her. But I realize that is part of being 4 and an only child. Its also really neat that she can start a project and then a week later remember that she wants to finish it and then actually complete it. Love that follow-thru!

Pumkin Carving- Take 1

2011-10-28T16:30:00.002-04:00

I called this Take 1 because we have lots of pumpkins to carve. Ally has been asking so nicely if we can carve a pumpkin. I usually say its too soon, and we want to wait for Halloween. But jack-o-lanterns are popping up all over the neighborhood and she has noticed. She told me "some people have them" she was right. And when she asks so sweetly "please can we carve our pumpkin and eat the seeds" its hard to resist. So one night this week we did.

Ally got a marker to draw the face.

She likes happy faces.
She asked me to "make a jack-o-lantern" out of it.

Scooping out the guts.

smiling with mommy

Separating the seeds with mama.

The finished product! I cut out the pieces while Ally worked on cleaning the seeds. She was seriously motivated to eat the pumpkin seeds she remembered how yummy they are.

All lit up.

Being silly at dinner with her pumpkin for trick or treating.

We ate by the light of the jack o lantern.

Such a silly girl!

Rosa's Birthday Party

2011-10-27T10:10:00.004-04:00

It was Rosa's birthday on October 22 - she is the 2nd in our Guatemala Girls group to turn 5. Ally is next, then Roxie in December and Gabi in April.

The main excitement was the butterfly pinata!

We started with it inside hanging on the door.

Then Rosa's mom Julie held it as Ally tries to break it.

Then we went outside and Rosa tried to break it there. All the girls tried but no luck.

So finally a couple of moms took turns at it. Here are the girls all lined up watching.

[l-r Alice, Rosa, Ally, Roxie & Gabi]

Julie finally did the deed.

And the girls all rushed in to get their loot.

I love this picture of all 5 of them huddled down.

Alice took a picture of all the moms!

[l-r Cheryl (Alice), Julie (Rosa), Julie (Ally), Becky (Ally), Kim (Gabi) & MaryBeth (Roxie)]

It was a beautiful Fall day and we had a wonderful time at the party.

For the record that was our 7th Birthday party in 7 weeks, and we have 1 more to attend this Saturday! Then I think we have a break for a couple of weeks and then its Ally's birthday. We will be having a small fish-themed birthday party for her Guatemalan Girls group.

To thank all of our friends new and old for all the parties we have been at, and to celebrate. We are hosting a HUGE Halloween party on October 30 at our local community center's gymnasium. So far we have almost 70 people coming! From all of our circles; preschool, neighborhood, adoption groups, and kindergarten.

Wish us luck, we are very excited and hope the party is a success.

One last picture of mama and Ally.

School Work

2011-10-26T21:12:00.001-04:00

Yesterday when I picked Ally up at school we took a couple pictures of the bulletin board outside her classroom.

Ally in front of the display of art by her class.

The red one is Ally's

The fish with the yellow and black bumble-bee striped fin is Ally's.

Description of the work on the board. Ally was very keen to tell us that her fish had lots of stripes - the yellow and black bumble bee fin and then other parts of the fish were colored in in different stripes as well. I think its clear she understood the idea of pattern fish!

Any guess what this picture is of? It was not done at school.

Its a bunch of grapes! What is so cool about this, is that there was a bunch of grapes on the table in front of Ally when she made this picture. I thought it was pretty neat - her first "still life drawing" like an artist!

Super Busy Weekend

2011-10-16T19:22:00.009-04:00

This was possibly the busiest weekend I have ever had. And after attending going to college in New Orleans and attending 4 MardiGras that is saying a lot. But Ally and I went to 5 parties, gymnastics class and swimming lessons and Becky ran a 5k. Yes we did all of this from Friday after school until tonight, Sunday. Here are the photos and information. It was lots of fun, but I am pretty tired.

Friday after school, Becky had to work at the museum, so Ally and I attended the Grand Opening celebration of a new children's store in Brookline (The Tiny Hanger) some friends of ours own the store and we were quite excited to check it out, and Ally had fun playing with Olive at the party.

Saturday morning I took Ally to gymnastics. For the very first time she did a flip on the bar ALL BY HERSELF - it was awesome. And she got to swing from the high bar of the uneven bars. But that is not all, she also did a forward roll on the balance beam. It was such a great class.

After gymnastics we stopped at one of my work projects - its a 250 year old church that we just finished an exterior renovation and I needed to hang up pictures on a bulletin board before the 250th celebration gala that night.

After that stop Ally and I attended a Sukkah party at some neighborhood friends' house. Ally had fun doing crafts to decorate the Sukkah with, tissue paper flowers, a mural, a painting etc.

Then it was home for a 2 hour nap for Ally before we attended our 3rd party of the weekend.

Ally all dressed up for the birthday party. Becky came with us to this party, it was a princess theme and was hosted at a local children's theater.

In the car Ally decorated this card for her friend Mia. I was pretty impressed with the castle. Ally liked the apples she drew in the tree.

The party was fun, and after that we went grocery shopping for the week and back home for some play time before bed.

Next up was Sunday.

Here is the card Ally drew for Stella. Yes this picture is Ally's signature drawing. I thought it was amusing she made a picture of herself in the card.

Becky all ready for her 5k. She was running with some members of our neighborhood mom's group and they had T-Shirts made that say "C-port moms run..." on the front

"like we're chasing our kids into traffic" on the back.

Ally and I loaded up the stroller with birthday gifts, a pbj sandwich, and water bottle ready to attend our first party of the day (weekend party #4)

It was Stella's and her is Ally with Stella and Semi on the swings.

Sack races with Stella.

they were adorable!

Then it was 3-legged races. Ally is with a friend of Stella's and Semi and Stella ran together the first one.

Then they switched partners. Ally and Semi were impressive - they had it down right away.

These 3 girls are such good friends. Even though they go to 3 different schools now, they played and had fun and enjoyed being together. It was great to see. (from left to right, Semi, Stella and Ally)

When the party was over Ally climbed into her stroller and we headed off to our final party of the weekend - Luca's birthday! (his card has train tracks on it)

There were tons of friends from pre-school at the party, but Ally was kind of overwhelmed by the crowd and had more fun trying to push and pull this tree than anything else.

The highlight of this party was that there was a grilled cheese truck serving lunch for everyone. So you went to the truck and ordered your lunch. It was pretty cool. Ally of course just ate potato chips (half her pbj on the way there and half on the way home!)

She was so cute

Becky texted me while I was at the party that she finished the 5k and was home. Ally and I are so proud of her for running and finishing the race. Go mama!

On our way home from the parties we stopped at Ally's school and she played on the playground:

climbing the spider structure

rolling around on the field

We hurried home just in time to pack our bag for swimming lessons and hit the road again with the stroller on our way to the pool. I seriously don't know what I would do without the stroller on days like this. It is truly the most efficient means of travel around town.

Ally had a fantastic time at the pool and a bit of a breakthrough. We go early and swim together first, then she has a 30 minute lesson with Stella and their instructor. Ally has been making pretty good strides, but has been really hesitant to let go or swim at all without aid from a flotation device or an adult. But today she started to push off the wall towards me without help and had to actually swim a little on her own! Then during lessons she put her face in the water a lot and floated all by herself for a bit. I was so proud of her. She swallowed a ton of water and was coughing up a storm a few times, but she was ok, and it was great to see how much she has improved and how brave she could be.

My favorite picture of the weekend.

I love Ally so much. We had fun together celebrating with friends all weekend. I am so proud of how she handled herself, no meltdowns, and big steps in gymnastics and swimming.

At a couple parties she was pretty clingy - but there were a lot of people - and eventually she would play and join in.

Oh and on Friday night I laid down the law about whining - there was to be absolutely no whining or pouting the weekend. No groans or moans. Or it would be an immediate time out - no 3 strikes. We talked about what that meant and what would happen.

It worked. Once or twice I got a look, or started to hear the start of her "Ahhwww" whine and all I had to say was "remember what we talked about...timeout" and it immediately stopped.

We are going to continue the zero tolerance for now. It really did make our time together much more enjoyable.

Ally and Mommy

2011-10-14T16:31:00.002-04:00

I came home from work one day and found this picture on Ally's art table.

On the back it said this:

My heart melted a bit and I immediately put it in a frame and hung it up (after I took a picture for the blog)

I love my Ally girl.

I have always called Ally nicknames like Ally Pumpkin Pie P_____ and Ally will say Pumpkin Pie Stuff P_____. Lately she is Ally Apple Avocado Peanut Butter Pickle Pumpkin Pie P_____. She laughs every time I say it.

Surprise Project

2011-10-13T17:23:00.001-04:00

This post is edited to show the "great reveal" to mama and the finished project:

Original post:

Ally is forever working on "a project" of some kind or another or "a surprise" for one or both of us. The other night she had a master plan to create a tall building with letters as a surprise for mama. It was also combined with playing school. First she set out a small piece of paper and a paint brush for 6 people in a circle. Then she carefully colored 4 pages and put a letter of the alphabet on them and taped them together one by one. (they are lettered A, B, C, D in order with A at the top). She was very proud of her ability to rip and cut the tape herself, a skill she has been working on for years! Cutting paper is easy, but not tape, and ripping tape has not been possible, but I think all of her gymnastic skills and strength are now aiding her crafting.

Ally banished Becky to another room and screamed NO MAMA every time Becky came close to the living room. (it was pretty funny to me).

Here she is putting the sky at the top of the building. Be sure to look closely at the bottom of the D page and you can see Ally drew in 2 doors to get into the building.

It was bedtime before Ally was finished so we stashed the project under the couch where it would be safely hidden until Ally has some more time to work on it. I suppose when I publish this page Becky will see it, but oh well.

I am constantly fascinated with the concentration and attention span that Ally has. She worked on this project for well over an hour, without assistance from us. She had a plan for it, and she executed it. And she will continue working on it again.

The Wedding

2011-10-12T15:10:00.002-04:00

This weekend we attended a wedding of one of my dear friends from High School. He was getting married to his long time partner, and the wedding was at a swanky resort on Cape Cod. It was a "kid friendly" wedding so we brought Ally with us and made a weekend of it. Ally was excited to wear a fancy dress and get dressed up, and have us dress up too, since we never get dressed up, well at least I hardly ever, and Ally was really excited to see mama wearing high heeled shoes!

I told Ally a few days before the wedding that there were only grooms, no brides in this wedding, and we talked about how there were all different kinds of families and weddings and such. She was fine with it, and continued to be excited about the whole event.

Ally and Becky took a swim in the pool before the wedding.

All dressed up and waiting in the receiving line after the wedding and before the reception.

Ally was so well behaved. Lots of people commented on it. We would say thank-you and explain that this is her 3rd wedding in 3 years! We brought headphones and she watched some Olivia on my iphone during the reception for a while, and she ate the peanut butter and jelly sandwich we brought with her instead of the kids' chicken finger meal. But she played in the game room for a while and she loved the dancing. loved it.

She has even asked if we could have a dance floor at the Halloween party we're hosting in a few weeks.

Becky and Ally as we waited for our car from the valet. It was a beautiful day and evening. When we left the venue to walk out to our car Ally was so excited to see the stars and the moon. They were so bright we had shadows. And of course Ally had to try and step on mama's shadow. When she succeeded she asked if it hurt. Becky and I were confused at first until we realized Ally meant "does it hurt you when I step on your shadow?" What a sweet sentiment. We explained no it does not, but we were both pretty tickled at the idea.

The next day we went to the beach for a couple of hours before we headed home.

It was a relaxing, enjoyable time.

When I picked Ally up at school on Monday I saw she only ate one bite of her lunch, and I asked why. She told me she was "chatting with Willow" during lunch. I ask about what and she said "the wedding".

How cute - and how grown up to be having conversations with friends about what she did over the weekend.

Visit from Grandma Barbie & Grandpa Frank

2011-10-07T15:01:00.000-04:00

Last weekend my parents came to visit. My mom came with me to pick Ally up at school (so Ally was able to skip after school program) on Friday. Ally was so excited to see us at school. Hard to say if her excitement was more about us or about not having to go to After School. But either way she showed Grandma the cafeteria, the school garden, the 2 playgrounds and Grandma got to meet some of Ally's classmates as well. Then I went back to work and the two of them (with Grandpa Frank napping) had fun together at home for the rest of the afternoon.

For dinner we met Uncle Frank at Legal Seafood.

Group shot at the restaurant.

The Franks ordered a seafood feast! Ally was brave enough to touch the lobster body. We talked bout how they turn red they are cooked. Ally also thought it was funny that Grandpa and Uncle had to wear bibs to eat.

After dinner we went back to our house for homemade apple pie, and a belated birthday celebration for Frank.

Grandma Barbie brought a dinosaur puzzle for Ally. The 2 of them tried on Friday to complete it, but on Saturday mama worked on it with Ally.

Ally was so excited to finish it. She insisted we call Grandma and tell her.

Bike

2011-10-07T08:36:00.003-04:00

So we did it. We bought Ally a 2 wheel bicycle! It has training wheels of course but she loves it!

Here she is tasting the last tomato from our garden.

Turns out late season tomatos are not that tasty!

Bowling Party

2011-10-05T17:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend it was a birthday party for one of Ally's new friends from school. Turns out Maya lives around the corner from us, but until the girls started JK we had never met! They go to after school together everyday. I did not get a picture of Ally with the birthday girl. But here she is with her new friend Willow. They are in the same class at school, and have become fast friends. This week Ally is going to Willow's house after school for a play date! Watching the girls bowling together and having fun - it was so cool - Willow's dad and I were commenting on how they were like 2 peas in a pod.

It was so cute to watch them bowling at the same time - one would throw the ball and then the other, but the balls would go down the lane together! Occasionally the machine would kick a ball back down the lane and we would have to catch it. So funny. And Ally got a strike. But she was not impressed with her fab skills, she was concentrating on bowling.

Can you tell they were having fun?

Guat Girls September 2011

2011-10-04T14:44:00.004-04:00

Its birthday party season for us. Since school started we have attended 3 parties, and we have 4 more to attend before Halloween! This month's Guatemalan Girls group celebrated Alice's 5th birthday!

Ally and Gabi were getting ready for a dance party.

Rosa loved doing art projects with Mae Mae (Alice's grandma, visiting from Tampa)

Roxie always has a smile for me.

I tried to get a great shot of all 5 of them. Here they were looking at Alice because I asked who's birthday it was. I was thinking they would say Alice instead of cheese, but no luck.

only Gabi cooperated on this one

4 out of 5 not bad - and Alice's stern face is actually pretty silly.

Its hard to believe the girls are turning 5.

The Series - Ally's Masterpieces

2011-09-30T13:31:00.006-04:00

Here it is - Ally's series of pictures. Every day for a week she came home with one.

This is Ally at our house with a tree that has a regular swing and a tire swing.

Not enough time to add the swing this day.

This has Kitty and Baby's swings in it as well - but not our house or Ally's lower body!

Full body but no house

This is almost my favorite one of all - it is the last one in the series. Every day I ask her to tell me about the picture and she said on this day "I ran out of time"

Turns out that this new school thing is tougher than we thought on lots of fronts for our family. But one thing is for sure - Ally has a good time while she is there and continues to be creative!

Growing Up

2011-09-24T10:30:00.001-04:00

Sigh.

Ally is growing up. She is navigating Jr Kindergarten and dealing with the transistion to her new after-school program. She is making new friends, without any help and assistance from us. She is learning Spanish, she is growing, in more ways than just size.

I won't say its been a seamless transition to her new school. But it is going well. We're all still working on getting into the rhythm and swing of a new year and new routine.
I think the hardest thing for me about Ally's new school is not knowing. In preschool we are fortunate enough to get an email almost daily with written description and pictures of what they did that day. I also picked Ally up at the end of the day in her actual classroom with her teacher, so I had a chance to see things and speak with her teacher. This year Ally attends an afterschool program in a different room with different teachers and I pick her up there. Since Lauren, her babysitter takes her to school everyday we don't get to see first hand much of her class or activities during the day.

Its also tough because Ally has had a few tough moments with crying and missing me. We've talked about it and she says she just "misses me so much" so I talked about how missing me isn't fun and crying isn't fun and that maybe she could try not to miss me so much, and try hard not to cry. Because she has fun at school, and missing me takes away from the fun. It seems to be working.

But she is 4 (not quite 5) and its hard to tell how much she takes in. All of the teachers keep reminding us that its a HUGE transition this year. And I try to remember that it has only been two weeks. And of course, Ally does have fun. She does enjoy school and her afterschool program. She has made friends, and is already asking for a playdate with one.

I pick Ally up at school everyday, and we walk home together. Sometimes a friend will join us, but I secretly like best to walk with just Ally. She holds my hand, and we talk about her day. Usually I ask lots of questions and probe to learn more about her day. Sometimes she answers with information, sometimes she says "I forget or its so confusing or I don't remember" but every little kernel of information is fun to hear. And sometimes, she volunteers stuff. Like yesterday when she told me she "did observations" I asked of what and she told me she observed the fish and 2 turtles in the class room. She kept notes and drew pictures of what she observed! She told me it was her favorite part of the day. On Wednesday she proudly reported to Becky that she "did Math today" of course (math teacher) Becky was thrilled to hear that and they talked at dinner for a few minutes about what math Ally did.

Of course the highlight of one day was that there was a dead mouse on the playground at recess! Ally told us one of the teachers put it in the trash can.

There are lots of "specials" - each day they have at least one - gym, music, art, library, computer, gardening, music and Chinese. Plus they go outside 2 times a day, eat lunch and a snack, have rest time, math time, language arts and gathering time each day. Last night Becky and I went to an Open House at school and had a meeting with the teacher and other parents. It was fun to see her classroom again and meet some other parents and hear what their kids are saying about school.

Growing up is inevitable, and someday soon she won't hold my hand the whole walk home, and then it will be not at all. So for now I'll keep enjoying where we are at right now.

Because life with Ally is pretty spectacular.

Artwork

2011-09-23T08:05:00.001-04:00

Ally's drawing and coloring skills are improving and it remains one of her favorite things to do. Here are some samples:

She wrote her name in the bottom of the bathtub with a special bath crayon.

A huge rainbow on the wall of the tub. Yes it was hard to clean, but Ally insisted on wiping it all off by herself.

A rainbow in paint - for some reason I can't get the picture rotated and I have tried about 10 times. So just turn your head!

Ally had an idea to trace Baby's body.

Above - Ally was so proud of the finished work. And Below is a close up.

Ally's chalk drawings on our front walk way - these stayed for a long time.

Dinosaurs are a huge interest right now - Ally worked on this page from her coloring book for days, making sure it was "just right". She would ask "where is the Corythosaurus paper?"

But my favorite is the series she is working on at school. That will be the next post.

More time at the orchard

2011-09-21T17:00:00.001-04:00

Aunt Beth came to visit this past weekend and requested that we go apple picking. So off to our favorite orchard we went. Yes this was our 3rd weekend in a row fruit picking!

Scouting for a good tress to start on.

Becky and Ally show off their pears! Yes we picked Bosc Pears!

It was so cool to see so many hanging from the trees.

Ally loved to climb the ladder to pick the ones up high. She would then hand them down to Becky who would pass them over to Beth to put in the bag. Becky did get nailed in the head with one pear, but no harm was done to her head. I think the pear was bruised.

After a while Aunt Beth climbed the ladder to reach the really high ones.

We saw a dragonfly on one of the pears.

Grandma Debbie & Poppy - Ally said it was not Power, since this one was red and Power is Green. Power, is Ally's imaginary pet dragonfly that traveled with her Debbie & Poppy's house this summer. Whenever we see a real dragonfly we wonder if its Power of a friend of Powers.

Eating our apples. And I seriously hope this is the last "Ally on mommy's shoulders while picking fruit" picture of the season.

"flying" between Aunt Beth and Mama

Becky gnawing on a caramel apple.

Between these sisters the apple was gone before Ally even finished her cider donut.

Becky and Beth went to finish picking apples while Ally and I looked at the bees making honey. We them attempted the hedge maze. We were lost in the maze for about 15 minutes and never did find the flag at the middle. Its kind of difficult to navigate a hedge maze with a four year old!

But it was fun.

On the way home from the orchard we went to the fabirc store and purchased the supplies for Ally's Halloween costume!

I am thrilled to report that Becky has completed sewing the costume and it is FABULOUS. Ally loves it, I think its AWESOME and Becky rightfully so is very proud of her work. We're not going to unveil it yet but leave a comment or send me an email with your guess.

(Beth is not allowed to guess, since she already knows.)

We are all so excited now for Halloween, I can't believe we have to wait over a month now.

Visit to Grandma Barbie (and Grandpa Frank)

2011-09-20T10:49:00.003-04:00

Recently we went to Grandma Barbie and Grandpa Frank's house for the weekend. Lots of fun for all of us.

Ally came home with TONS of jewelry to play with. Please take note of the Velociraptor dinosaur socks on her feet!

Gotta love the fall themed cut-outs at the local store!

We attended my childhood church fall festival.

I thought this game was hilarious - you toss a roll of toilet paper into the toilet seat!

There was a bouncy house!

Then it was off to pick apples. It seems this year that every time we pick apples Ally is on my shoulders. I guess its good that I have been working out with a trainer and my muscles can handle it!

Tasting an apple with grandma and mommy!

PS - thanks Aunt Martha for Ally's cute outfit! Ally received lots of compliments on it all day long.

Gymnastics

2011-09-15T17:23:00.001-04:00

This has been a gymnastics filled summer for Ally. I know I've posted about it earlier in the summer, but since we spent so much time at this gym this summer, and it was such a part of our life I wanted to write out some more about the experience. The pictures here were taken thru the plexiglass window and therefore are not that great, but Ally is the one with the short dark hair in the blue sparkly leotard.

Doing somersaults up and down the mat on the line.

stand up with hands up at the end to finish it.
hand stands next

the bar was by far Ally's favorite piece of equipment. The beam was also neat to watch, and tumbling and she progressed really well in vault practice. But the bar is what she likes best.

I was telling some friends recently that the best thing about gymnastics this summer has been watching Ally thrive. Every Monday and Wednesday for 8 weeks we went to gymnastics at 4pm and stayed until 530 or 6 (it depended on the coach) and then for 3 more weeks we went once a week. Ally was pretty tired at 315 when I would come pick her up from home (I brought her most days and Becky had some alone time.) Sometimes we had to wake Ally up from a nap and coax her into the car. Then we'd get to the gym and teachers and staff would greet her. Ally was so grumpy and non-social it was embarrassing. Until we got her changed. Ally likes to get changed at the gym, so we go right into the bathroom and change into her leotard. Its like magic. We get in there and she becomes engaging and silly - makes me read the same sign every time about healthy eating and we look at the posters of the Olympic gymnasts (yes these are posted in the bathroom). When we leave the bathroom she might be a little clingy until class starts, but then when they open the doors and announce "Stars Practice" she was off like a light. Huge smile on her face as she ran around for warm up and then they moved into stretching and other activities. No matter how hot it was or how tired she blossomed in the gym.

Her personal success in the gym has given her confidence. After each class she would be so excited and wound up - it was often hard to get her to sleep before 9PM. But that was a small price to pay for such enjoyment. She made friends, all on her own, and asked for a playdate with another girl from class.

Now that school has started Ally will attend class once a week. We tried a Thursday afternoon class, but the other 2 girls at her level were 9 years old! Not a good fit for Ally. So this week we start going to a Saturday morning class.

Gymnastics is such a confidence boost for Ally and as her mom it is really amazing to be able to facilitate that for her. I can tell her she is bright and strong and beautiful, but in gymnastics she gets to see that she is good at it, she can feel and experience her success.

Fun at the toy store

2011-09-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

Ally and I had a blast at the toy store recently. She discovered the joy of riding a bike! It was pretty cool to watch.

At first learning how to push the pedals was a challenge, and understanding that every time she made her feet go backwards the brakes engaged was tricky. But after while Ally got the hang of it.

This Pinkalicous bike with the built-in seat in the back for Baby or Kitty was her favorite. Ally did ask if we could buy it. I said maybe sometime - I just did not have the heart to buy a bike without Becky. Ally understood and agreed we could come back another time with mama.

Current Favorite Book

2011-09-11T11:03:00.000-04:00

Ally is a budding scientist. She must get that from Becky (electrical engineer turned math teacher). Ally loves nature (so do I) snails, worms, bugs (but just not stinging bees), birds, squirrels, farm animals, zoo animals etc. Dinosaur Train is her favorite show right now and her favorite book is "See Inside Your Body" Ally calls it "Look Inside My Body". Its a lift the flap book that Becky bought her at the Museum of Science this summer. It is pretty neat - it talks about all the different parts and functions of the body. If you come visit Ally asks you to read it to her - here are our friends Paul and Charlo pouring over it with her.

Desks

2011-09-10T10:59:00.000-04:00

Recently Ally has been very into working at her "desk" She set herself up at one of her craft carts and pulled up a chair to create a desk:

Then she asked us to work at our desks too. We had to get creative in locating desk space. Becky's is at the game shelf and mine is at a bookcase.

Fun all around.

First Day of JK

2011-09-08T10:04:00.004-04:00

This is it. The start of elementary school or "big kid school" as Ally calls it!

On Tuesday Ally and I attended orientation. Above Ally is posing in front of her classroom. It was a one on one meeting with her teacher(s). Noelle is the teacher and Joanne is the assistant teacher and there are 19 students in the class. It was actually supposed to be one on one, but another family we know from preschool needed to reschedule so they doubled us up. It was fine and kind of nice to hear some other parents' questions. Ally loved it. When we left she proclaimed "that was really fun".

But today was the big day. Her first day. Here she is in our annual spot at the front door for the "first day of school picture".

With her babysitter Lauren - can you believe this is the only picture have of Lauren? If you can't tell Ally and Lauren get along wonderfully and we are very lucky to have Lauren in our lives. She will taking Ally to school again for the second year in a row, and since her grad program is 3 years, we're all hoping she can do it again next year!

Mommy and Ally.

The only hitch about today is that it is pouring. Raining buckets. So no first day of school walk for Ally. She agreed to ride in the stroller and stay nice and dry.

At school with her teacher Noelle.

(At Ally's school all of the teachers go by their first name only.)

When the bell rang signaling that we could go into the classroom. Ally grabbed her coat and led us into her cubby (that she picked at orientation). We put away her stuff. Her stuff is a lunchbox, backpack, extra clothes for emergencies, a blanket and a lovey for rest time. This year Ally's lovey for rest time is a Pooh doll - its an extra one we had at home. We wanted something replaceable in case it got lost. Manx Cat, her stuffed animal lovey for 2 years at preschool is basically irreplaceable until we go to the Isle of Man again and since that is unlikely to happen anytime soon, Becky and I encouraged Ally to choose something else for this year. It is likely Ally will decide to bring home Pooh and not keep him at school, but since lovey/comfort items are something she likes we thought it would be good to start the year with one.

After we crammed everything into her cubby she went to the activity area where Joanne showed Ally she could chose to color, do play dough or use blocks. Ally said blocks. Sat down and started in. I kissed the top of her head. Said goodbye, Lauren said goodbye, I told Ally to say bye to Lauren so she barely turned her head to look at Lauren, mumbled Bye and that was it.

Lauren and I left.

I took the picture below with my phone as I left the classroom.

We were certainly the first ones to leave, and there were only a couple of other students there yet, and their parents were hanging around. But I know that with Ally its best to get her involved and let her be, make a quick exit.

I hope she wasn't upset later when she realized I was gone. But I am sure not - she is tough and brave and she was so excited and ready for this.

I am so proud of her.

Then I walked the empty stroller home in the pouring rain and got even more soaked.

I'll pick her up after school today and take her to gymnastics! It will be her first class in 2 weeks and with a new coach. I can't wait to hear about her first day at her new school.

Transitions

2011-09-06T08:30:00.001-04:00

Transitions are tough. Its been a rough few days at our house. Ally is amazing. But kindergarten starts in 3 days and her whole life is in transition right now. And that is hard. The past three weeks while fun filled and fabulous have been bumpy. No routine for a child who thrives in a routine is confusing. No power for any child is difficult to come to grips with. Yes power. It dawned on me this weekend that the past few weeks Ally has basically had no control in her life. We tell her (or ask or demand) when she eat, when she sleeps, and for the most part what she does with her time. We say when she can or cannot watch TV. We arrange all of her play dates and social time, so she has no choice in who she plays with when and where. We eat all of our meals and snacks with her so she has no control over what she eats. And since I've had a lot of time off, and Becky does not start back at school until tomorrow we have had a bizarre few weeks. Lots of together family time, but we eat at all different times, bed time is at different times, wake up is at different times - whenever Ally wakes up. Nap is not even consistent, since we're trying to help her give up naps.

This weekend its all coming together - at least for me - Ally has been acting out, which for her is very unusual. And her acting out is really nothing I can complain about, and it hurts my heart that she is confused and nervous and anxious about all of the changes coming her way.

Below is a piece of what is coming up for her and some of the ways we've tried to prepare her. She is definitely ready for her new school. But even when we are ready for change it can still be "scary" as Ally says.

Last May we attended a kindergarten orientation at her new school. Here is Ally with her friend Erik. Erik and Ally have been in the same class the past 2 years at preschool.

They walked from room to room holding hands most of the time.

Ally got to visit the kindergarten classrooms. There are 4 in all. 2 classes are just for kindergarten (children 5 and up by Sept 1) and 1 Jr Kindergarten Class (children 4 by March 31) and one mixed age class of half JK and half K.

Of course the sensory/water table was a favorite for Ally.

Making books with Erik

Posing in front of the cafeteria.

After the open house Ally drew this picture at home. I just could not believe it. One of her babysitter helped her with the spelling, but she did it all herself. (and yes the school is a yellow building).

This summer we received our class assignment and Ally will be in class with her friend Erik (YAY) and another preschool friend, Grant. They are in the mixed age classroom. Her neighborhood friend, Olive - pictured above and her friend Alice will be in the all JK class together. Olive's mom and I set up a play date at the school this summer so the girls could walk around and play a bit and get used to the new school.

Of course Ally found something to swing on!

On Friday of last week we met up with a whole group of incoming Jr and regular kindergartners and their families at the playground. Ally and I met several new friends and I am excited about the new school community we are joining. The school is a Spanish Immersion school, and has a very dedicated parent base and strong school community. Ally had fun at the play date and was able to put some faces to the names on her class list.

Today on our way home from our morning walk we stopped by the school for Ally to show Kitty and Baby her new school. We looked in her classroom and then Ally had fun on the "big kid" (the upper grade) playground.

Ally thought this was like being on a tight rope.

I know things will go well this week. I know they will. But the anticipation of it is getting to all of us.

Tomorrow Ally and I go meet with her new teacher for orientation.

On the way home today Ally and I talked about the new schools that Kitty and Baby are going to this week. They are both going to preschool, but in different classes, because Kitty is older than Baby.