I love my family

I am back from my trip. It was a long 11 days and nights away from Ally and Becky. It was a great trip, my mom, my Aunt Martha and her daughter, my cousin Katy and I went to England, the Isle of Man and Ireland. Over 600 pictures were taken of the many sites and places we saw. It was an amazing trip, but I am so happy to be home and happy even to be back at work.

Yesterday I took Ally to the park. I know Becky blogged about Ally swinging - but she was so cute doing it and so happy I just could not resist snapping a picture of her. She swings all the time - yesterday we were spinning around in a circle and she just picked her feet up so I could swing her. Becky swears she did not teach Ally this new trick.

Rainy Rainy Week

It has been crazy weather. Cool and wet. Rain and grey skys for what seems like a month now. We made a big puddle outing yesterday afternoon before Ally's bath. She had a blast until in a major jumping session she fell onto her hands and they got quite dirty and, well, that was too much trauma. Here's a quick segment of our fun! Some still shots are below because, well, she is too darn cute in her rain clothes!

More Time with Grandma Debbie!

Grandma Debbie and Ally are finding new levels of silliness! Grandma Debbie, Ally and I went to meet Aunt Beth for a Sunday mall day this weekend and Ally was a lot of sillyness. She got to take her first ride on a carousel! She was a bit tenative, but had a blast. We talked about how her horse went "so fast!"We also had some fun as I tried some clothes on in the dressing room...Ally had been having a blast wearing this hat and had found a pair of women's socks to try on. She was absolutely hilarious walking around in these socks that got pulled up her entire legs! She doesn't look so hot in this photo, but that's mostly because she didn't want me taking any pictures of her then at all, but she was hysterically laughing for most of the time we were at this store.

Then yesterday (Monday) Grandma Debbie and Ally made some birthday cupcakes for me as today is my birthday! They had a good time, and Grandma Debbie taught Ally the most efficient way to eat the frosting/sprinkle combo - a good finger dip into the frosting, then stick that frosted finger into the sprinkles!

Grandma Debbie is Here!

Grandma Debbie is here! As soon as we got home from the airport, she wanted Ally to look for the goodies in her suitcase - there were a bunch of animals and some sidewalk chalk! Grandma Debbie remembers when her grandma came to visit she always had goodies in her suitcase.


As soon as they found the toys, Grandma and Ally went to play! They made an elaborate zoo/circus train with the new animals.

We moved on from the train and put all the animals together for a meal! As I write, the gorilla is eating some spaghetti and meatballs.

Suprise Park Day!

It was due to rain today - but Ally and I managed a long morning at the park before we had to come home for lunch. When Ally was eating breakfast this morning, I asked her what she wanted to make sure we did today. She said:

• Color
• Play Basketball
• Play

All of which we did today! Also at breakfast, I took photos of Ally in PONYTAILS that MAMA DID for the first time. She didn't want pictures taken, so she tried to hide.

I just put the camera under the table! I love how her ponytails match Abby's! (Abby is the character on her bib).

Anyway, we soon made it to the park - she got there and really wanted to go on the big girl swings.

Which she did - for 45 minutes! She was enamored with the older little girls swinging next to her. They were 4 and 5, and were pumping on their own. A mom can hope that skill develops early...

Anyway, she then got her first ride (ever!) on the see-saw.
We then spent a lot of time practicing swinging like a monkey on various playgroup apparatus...


We did see some friends and did a few other things, then we had to go - and ran ALL the way home together in case it started to rain. And running was good motivation to go home for Ally.
Gee, I wonder why I feel tired!

Sara's Playgroup

Once a week, Ally gets to go to "Sara's Playgroup", which is through a local community organization. It's a very structured playgroup, and Ally and I have been going for almost a year now. I finally took pictures this week!

This week, one of the tables was set up with shaving cream mountains to play with - I think this was the first time Ally touched the stuff!

WHAT is this stuff on my thumb??

But she did actually play with it!

Some quality pretend time with the animals on the farm

Then I challenged her to take the sheep down the slide!

After time in the playroom, the kids go to wash their hands and then sit at the table for a snack. Once snack is over, they move on to the gym room. They brought out the platform swing! Ally played on this pretty much the whole time. It can spin, and you can see what Ally thought of spinning...

The other kids would come over, get on with Ally for a while, then get off while Ally stayed put.

Then Ally found the trampoline!

After gym time, we all sit in a circle and sing three songs that the kids choose - this day Ally was in heaven. We sang the Duck song (I never knew it before, but she LOVES it), Ring around the Rosie (loves it!) and the ABC's (loves it). But then again, Ally loves most songs.

Ally knows that once we sing bye bye, she gets to go and have a drink at the water fountain - an absolute favorite thing. We'll get to go to "Sara's Playgroup" (Sara is the adult that runs it) for the rest of the summer. It will be tough to say goodbye!

Jumping Rope

Its not exactly rope, but it is a string. Becky thought she would see if Ally could jump over it.

Encouraging Ally to jump

In the air - check out that height!!!

Shocked mama and excited Ally!

Two Years!

Can you believe it? Today Ally has been home for 2 years. We celebrated Ally's Forever Family Day today. We were pretty low key, and had a great time.

After a playgroup afternoon, we went out to ice cream with a playmate then went off to dinner.

At dinner, Ally insisted that we pretend her cup of water was a swimming pool and that we all should be swimming. We intermittently ate, swam, and splashed in the "pool".

Then Ally drank it up!

Someone asked us today if the last two years were fast or short, and we said it was both. While it's hard to believe those years have passed us by, it feels like we've been together for much longer forever.

Sticker Book

More pictures from last month when we went to my parents' house for Mother's Day. Things are so busy now we're having a tough time taking pictures of Ally. She is doing great. Her language and communication skills are amazing us!

Grandma Barbie bought Ally a sticker book and Toy Story stickers.

Woody!

You have to be really careful pulling the stickers off.

Mother's Day picture of Ally and Grandma Barbie.

Egg-celent

So, Julie and I love breakfast. We don't skip it, and on the weekends we love to cook breakfast at home or sometimes go out to eat. We started trying to get Ally to eat eggs as soon as she was old enough (was that at 1? I think so...). She didn't actually let any enter her mouth until she was close to 2 - it took almost a year of trying, and she had lots of opportunity.

Now, she loves eggs. She loves to crack eggs (yes, we'll let her!), she loves to play with pretend eggs, and she loves to eat eggs. Julie has started making them less scrambled and more like an omlette, so it is easier for Ally to eat. Now Ally has figured that she can cut them with her little toddler knife, too!

Sidewalk Chalk

Another set of older pictures from a few weeks ago when we were at Grandma Barbie's and Grandpa Frank's house. My mom works hard to have lots of activities and things for her grandkids. Its so much fun to see my mom as a grandma.

Ally coloring in the windows of the house I drew.

Work in progress

Barbie's masterpiece