Ally's Photo Book

Every year for Ally's birthday I put together an actual photo album / scrapbook of pictures of Ally from each month of the year. Its fun on her birthday to look at past years and to see how much she has grown over the year.

This year Ally wanted to help with the book. She helped chose what pictures and what color paper to mount each photo on. But most importantly she wanted words. To Ally a book should have words. In years past I just date each photo, frankly its hard enough to get the photo album completed by the day of the party much less journal each photo. So this year I started about a month before the party and made time for Ally to help.

This is the cover page of the book.

Ally took this picture of me writing one of the pages. She asked how I could "write so fast" She so much wants to write and is just fascinated with how easy it is for grown ups. She dictated the caption for every page.

An example of one page before the text- this was January, that is Special Kitty in pristine condition!

The Party Day

Before the party Beth took this great picture of the 3 of us. Yes we planned on all wearing red. It was fun to coordinate with the Olivia theme!

After the party Ally and Alice went to the park for a short while. How could we deny Ally the swings and the monkey bars on her party day?

Alice so wants to do the monkey bars like Ally. She tried super hard. Here Ally is telling her she needs to practice and keep working at it and then "she can do it too"

The girls perched on top of the monkey bars!

Walking back to our house.

We had dinner at Legal Seafood (another tradition)

Then at home Ally opened some more gifts. Aunt Beth gave her Toy Story 3. I think Ally has watched it 5 times in the 2 weeks since the party.

Uncle Frank sent an animatronic dog. It barks, walks on a leash, pants etc. Ally was quite excited!

Bryce liked the box.

Later that night Ally, Grandma and Becky watched Toy Story 3.

Ally was pretty tired after a long day. Here she is with her new Olivia doll.

In the morning I took picture of Ally and Grandma Barbie.

Birthday Party Prep

Note: It has taken me a long time to get Ally's birthday posts complete. Sorry about that. But in the next week I'm going to try and catch up on that and be on time for Thanksgiving.

The night before Ally's party we did a lot of party prep.

Becky baked the cupcakes in the afternoon while Grandma, Grandpa and I took Ally to gymnastics class. Then after dinner it was time to decorate them. Ally wanted to try and squeeze out the frosting.

But after the 1st one she was happy to stick with decorating them.

This girl loves her sprinkles.

After the cupcakes it was time to make "party sandwiches" these were pb-n-j or turkey sandwiches cut out with mini cookie cutters into a variety of shapes. It was tricky to get the cutter through 2 layers of bread but Grandma and Ally did it.

One the food prep was complete it was time for a bedtime story read by Grandpa Frank.

After Ally went to bed Becky and Beth assembled the party poms.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year Ally helped me bake things for Thanksgiving dinner. We brought Pecan Pie and Sweet Potato Casserole to Grandma Barbie's house.

Pouring the pie filling into the pie crust. Seriously - Ally basically made the crust with just a little supervision from me. I love "pat in the pan" crust - so easy, even a 4 year old can do it!

The finished pie ready to go in the oven.

This year we made a lighter version of sweet potato casserole - it was delicious. Ally enjoyed putting on the crumble topping.

The traditional matching pajama picture with her cousins, Jackson, Meredith and Kaitlin.

Preschool Pictures

Fridays are Dance Class day at school. The school has a local dance teacher come in about every other week and she does a dance class with the kids. Its more a creative movement class and they love it. We never end up parent helping on a dance class day so we have never actually seen it. Last Friday the parent helper, is a professional photographer and she took these amazing pictures (actually she took lots more, but these are the ones that feature Ally). If you live locally and want her contact information please email me.

The Blue Otters all in a line.

Baton fun

Ally dancing!

And running out on the playground.

Also - Thanks to Aunt Martha for the great tunic top Ally is wearing. We love it!

Birthday Party

Ally's 4th birthday party was an Olivia theme. (Olivia the precocious pig.) My parents, Beth, and Ally's Guatemala girls group came to the party. It was a blast!

Can you tell Ally had fun? I took the picture above half way through the party. I just love how happy Ally looks, and its proof that she had a good time. That was really our goal, that Ally have a good time at her party. I think we accomplished that.

With her birthday cupcakes - that she decorated.

Grandpa Frank brought a special puppy dog stuffed animal.

Aunt Beth set up a "balance beam" (tape in a line on the floor) and Grandma Barbie even tried it out. It was a huge hit with the girls.


Every year I get a picture of the 3 of them under the banner.


Grandpa Frank sitting in the decorated living room.

The Olivia banners Becky and I made one night last week. I just loved how they turned out.

The dining room all decorated.

The coloring station.

red sparkly play dough that Becky made.

Ally made a dog out of it.

I made a memory game of Olivia in different poses. Here the girls are playing it with me.

Becky read Olivia to them, and here is a shot of all 5 on Ally's bed. Roxie, Alice, Ally, Rosa & Gabi.

After the party we went to the park for a few minutes.

The birthday girl had a blast. She loved wearing her red and white striped dress "the same as Olivia".

I have lots more pictures to post and blog about but I wanted to get this up to share with family who were unable to attend the party. Tomorrow is Ally's actual birthday and she's excited about that.

Its Fall!

Its fall, crisp cool weather. That means, waterproof shoes, jeans, sweater, down vests and a stocking hat to keep us warm.

I love this picture of Ally and Becky.

Silly girls

Grandma Debbie - do you remember making this chef's hat and apron for Ally's 2nd birthday? It still fits and she still does play with it.

Ally and Alice were hard at work one night in the kitchen.

They kept bringing Alice's mom, Cheryl things to eat.


Then it was time for dress up.

such silly faces

and a dance party

check out the moves!

Ally took this picture of Alice.

Alice's took this one of Ally.

It was a great way to spend a Friday night!