Vacation in Progress

We arrived safe and sound in Sarasota. Grandma Barbie and Great Aunt Martha met us at the airport in matching t-shirts.

Ally was soon off to the beach with Grandma Barbie.

Digging in the sand with mama.

Ally loves the beach this year!

Chasing a lone seagull. Becky and I were stunned at Ally's compassion. There were flocks of seagulls sitting on the beach and we encouraged Ally to run and chase them away, but she declined and said "they seemed happy there" and implied it was cruel to chase them away. If she found one by itself she would chase it, so "it would go find its friends and not be lonely anymore"

A new favorite activity is playing with her leapster. Grandma Barbie insisted on getting her one, since cousin Kaitlin has one and loves it.

This afternoon we waited outside to see the shuttle Discovery fly overhead on its final voyage into outer space.

The three of us at dinner.

Aunt Beth & Ally

I just love this photo. Beth is such an awesome Aunt to Ally and we so hope she continues to live near us so they can always have such a great relationship. This trip, for the first time ever, Ally wanted to share her room. She slept on her old crib mattress on the floor so Aunt Beth could sleep in Ally's big bed, and not on the couch.

Love love love the huge smiles.

Ice Skating

When Aunt Beth was visiting recently we went ice skating. Ally's first time on ice skates. We talked about it beforehand and she said she would sit an watch first. Then when we got there that is exactly what she did. It was an outdoor rink, and a typical February day, so about 35 degrees, but she sat and watched for about 15 minutes before we could coax her out on the ice.

Aunt Beth was a pro on skates.

It took mama a while to get her "skate legs" I did not skate.

When she was ready Ally ventured out on to the ice.

She held on to the rail all the way around the rink, Aunt Beth holding her hand the whole way. But one lap was enough for her. After that is was back to sitting and watching with mommy.

But a good time was had by all. And when we got home Ally went right to sleep for a 2 hours nap. Ice skating / ice watching is hard work!

Swimming on her own!!!

On Tuesdays afterschool Ally has swimming lessons. 2 weeks have been canceled due to snow and one week Ally missed when she was sick. So last week was her first week since before Christmas! She did GREAT. And she was so super proud of herself it was amazing to watch.

For the first time EVER she swam by herself, with a noodle. Can you see the huge smile on her face? She was swimming to get that black thing in front of her.

Determined to beat her class mate.


Almost there.

oops it went over the lane

I finally figured out I had to turn the flash off, and by then she had turned around to swim the other way, but you can clearly see that no one is helping her.

When we got home we called Grandma Barbie to tell her, and ask that she have a noodle for Ally to swim with when we go visit her in Florida. It was so cool to hear her tell my mom about it, and have a real phone conversation. She is growing up so much.

Valentine's Day Recap

I came home after work and decorated the house for Valentine's Day. We had rescheduled Ally's gymnastics class so Ally and Becky were out late at class and I had some time to make some special things to celebrate the day.

My girls, all decked out in pink and red and white.

Ally was so excited to open her gift bag.

Its a magic Tinkerbell towel.

Posing with mommy and her new Jessie panties.

But best of all was a Curious George T-shirt. I was so happy to find one that was girly.

Ally then gave us our Valentine's. She decorated and wrote in them herself.

Becky was so touched. A huge thank-you to Aunt Beth for helping Ally with them. We were very surprised to get them.

Ally was so proud to show me that she put glitter in it for decoration. I love the heart she drew.

Becky and I gave each other the same card! So we had Ally take our picture with our matching cards.

I made Ally a dinner of all red food, apples, strawberries and red pancakes. We ate by artificial candlelight and enjoyed talking about our day. Ally was excited to tell us about the new trick she learned at gymnastics; she can now do a flip on the bar. And tomorrow at school she is sitting at the "Table for 2".

I made heart shaped cupcakes for dessert. Ally was so excited.

Becky was too.

All in all it was a nice evening together. We're keeping up some of the decorations for a few days and there are some cupcakes left to share with friends coming over tonight.

Cool Chick

Its winter, the mall is warm so shopping is a frequent activity for us. Its no secret the Gap is a favorite place to get good bargains on kids clothes. The whole outfit is from there, and we already had the shoes from Target. Ally usually refuses to wear the shoes because they are black, but with red tights she agreed. The skirt is a skort and its actually size 18-24 months, and still big on her. We measured her this weekend and she has grown an inch since her birthday she isnow 38" tall. But no more weight, if anything she has lost a little. But she keeps growing and is healthy most of the time, so no worries. Aunt Beth was visiting this weekend and commented on how much Ally was eating at mealtime, and Becky and I beamed with pride. Mealtimes and bedtime have not been much of a battle lately, its like some kind of "grown up" switch has been turned and Ally rarely fights going to bed and when she is tired asks for a nap. She is still a pretty particular eater, but she eats when she is hungry and resolutely stops when she is full. We've been working on portions for her and she works hard to eat everything on her plate, or everything in her lunchbox. Of course, what comes home not eaten are cookies. But the orange, the strawberries and pb-n-j sandwich are all eaten. Gotta love the girl who eats her real food before the treat and then does not eat the treat because she is full. She practically beams telling us she ate all her lunch. Its so great to see how she has changed. This time last year she was basically only eating cereal and we sent that for lunch everyday. We're seeing hope for the future, since she tries new food sometimes and is eating different and more food on occasion.
Here she is making silly faces at me

Valentine

Thanks Grandma Debbie and Poppy for such a cute outfit for Valentine's Day. Ally wore it to school last week.

She unwrapped the gift at home. Becky and I loved the homemade Valentine - so Trax of you!

I snapped a picture of Ally in the new dress after school - it was her idea to pose with Iggy (the class lizard)

We usually stay and play at school for a while, this winter its in the basement since its just too cold outside, but Ally has a blast riding bikes or jumping on the mat.

Playing with Kitty

Ally is such a homebody sometimes. This past weekend she declined every offer we made to get her out of the house. A strategy we use to each get a break is to take turns taking Ally with us on errands, I go grocery shopping and Ally goes with me, so Becky can stay home and grade papers and fold laundry. Then Becky might take Ally to the library so I can prep dinner and straighten the house for example. But sometimes Ally wants nothing to do with it. Finally we said she could stay home, but she had to play by herself, no playing with mama or mommy (or which ever one of us stayed home). She agreed and proceeded to get out her Ladybug board game and play with Kitty! Its not the first time we've seen her playing a game with her Special Kitty, but it was the first time I got a picture of it. Later on she got out Candy Land, but the camera battery died and I missed getting a picture of that. It's awesome though to see her playing so securely and confidently by herself.

She had 4 play dates this weekend, so its not like she didn't play with other kids, or doesn't enjoy having friends over, or going to their houses. But she enjoys playing at home with her stuff by herself too.

Our very own Napping House

There was a couch, a cozy couch, and on that couch there laid a mama, and on that mama was a daughter and on that daughter was a cat....

Its good to have friends

It was another Friday night dinner / play date with Alice. The moms wanted to talk so we let the girls watch Curious George on TV. I thought it was so cute how close together they were sitting, so of course I got the camera out.

Which lead to the 2 of them hamming it up for me.

Of course - they couldn't miss a second of Curious George!

After dinner we went to Chocolate Fest at our local grocery store. The girls shared a little cart and walked all over the store looking for chocolate treats to try out.

I only had my iphone with me, but had to snap these pictures. They walked along side each other pushing the cart together the whole time, no pushing or fighting. It was awesome to see. And if you can't tell, they had a great time doing it.

Early Dismissal

We got hit with another snowstorm today - about 8" and more due to fall tonight. The snow started around 8AM, so school was not canceled, but dismissed early for Ally at 1230. So I went home, packed a bag of Ally's favorite things, her movies, the portable DVD player with her headphones, snacks etc. Drove to school, picked her up and went back to my office. With all of these storms I am way behind, and payroll was due today so I needed to get my work done. At my office I set Ally up in an empty cubicle and she loved it! Here she is watching Beauty and the Beast.

The view of her all sprawled out.
Smiling for mommy, but really hoping to get the picture taking done quicky so she can get back to the movie.

After Beauty she wanted Tinkerbell, turns out I turned it on in Spanish and she watched about 25 minutes of it before I told her it was time to go home! When we got home we re-started the movie, in English this time!
Ally was amazing - such a trooper at my office and it helped me so much to get my work done. Now it's ok if I stay home some tomorrow with more snow in the forecast. Both Becky andAlly have a snow day, no school tomorrow.

I also wanted to say thanks for all the healthy wishes for Ally. She was back at school yesterday and her fever has been gone for a few days. She started getting bloody noses last week, we've had 3 at home, and 1 at school today. The doctor says its the dry air (probably too because she has been inside so much from being sick). We've got the humidifiers going and Becky and I are getting better on not getting freaked out by all the blood.