Friday Night Picnic at the Park

We all got our haircut Friday after work and then we went to the park with a picnic for dinner. As you can tell Ally was in a great mood.

Ally woke up with an upset tummy so I stayed home from work with her. She seemed much better the rest of the day but we were glad we kept her home. After nap time I painted her toes, red to match mine. Here is our "same same" picture.

Silly food faces.

Weekend at Grandma Barbie's

It was a couple weeks late but we finally made it to my parents' house for our annual Mothers Day Weekend mini-golf tournament. It was a rainy week, and supposed to be a rainy weekend so we quick tried to get our game in before the rain on a Friday afternoon. We only got 11 holes in before the rain started, and Ally proclaimed "I'm all done" we agreed to we headed back to the car before we got soaked.

Grandpa Frank was giving Ally tips on her golf stroke.


Ally watched him do it.

Grandma Barbie had a rough game.

Ally contemplating the angle of her next shot.

My winning form. Yes, winning, for the first time in many years I won the tournament!

Group shot out of the rain.

Then it was off to Jumpin' Jacks for dinner.

When did she get so grown up looking?

Grandpa Frank and Grandma Barbie - thanks for a such a nice weekend.

Mommy and Ally

Our family Mothers' Day picture!

It wouldn't be a visit with Grandpa Frank if he didn't read a book. One of Ally's current favorites is "Let's Get a Pup said Kate" Any book about dogs is a good one for Grandpa to read!

Monthly Get Together - May 2011

Rosa, Ally, Roxie & Gabi.

Alice's mama was sick so they could not join us but the other 4 girls and moms had a great time.

Cooking Class

In December some of the neighborhood moms started a cooking class. We meet once a month in each other's house and the host mom plans a meal and the kids do most of the cooking. This month it was veggie lasagna and home made ice cream!

Only 3 kids cooked - Ally, Mia and River - plus Mia's little sister Lily and River's little sister Lila were there as well. Each of the big kids made their own lasagna in a small casserole dish.

Then it was time for making ice cream - much more fun than the lasagna! First we filled a bag with ice and salt.

Then we added the ingredients to a smaller bag and put that inside the big bag of ice and started to shake it up!

Shake shake shake

As a special drink Lisa had chocolate straws - which you put in a glass of plain milk and as you suck the milk up the straw the milk is flavored chocolate. It was pretty neat.

The finished lasagnas!!!!

Ally did eat one bite.

And all of her ice cream.

Cat Pillow

No it's not a new toy its an actual cat for a pillow - Nali to be precise. He is so starved for affection he let Ally use him as a pillow!

The sight in our living room.

Ally loves her cats and its such a good thing that they love her too.

Painted Nails

Ally is doing a crazy face and showing off her freshly painted finger and toe nails. Becky and I were out and so Ally was with Lauren her babysitter. We suggested painting nails as an activity and Lauren let Ally paint them herself - she also painted Lauren's nails!

I thought it was hard to see her painted nails so I snapped a few more photos while Ally ate an apple before bath time.

After bath she posed for a couple more pictures.

She kept telling Becky during bath and bedtime how much she liked the paint on her nails.

Friends

River, Thora, Ally and Auric (Thora's little brother) watching some Curious George after dinner one night. We've been doing lots of entertaining lately!

Piggy is Full

"Piggy is full" Ally said the other day. Remeber I said she has been "feeding" him every day. Finally he was full and could take no more coins.

Ally holding her full piggy bank.


dumping out the coins into a container

She loved doing this.

Showing off all of Piggy's food. It is safely in a container and now she is back to feeding him every day again.

Belated Mother's Day Post

This is over a week late but the warm glow from it is everlasting...

I bought Becky a gift (a small Keurig Coffee Machine) for Mother's Day and wrapped it in plain brown paper for Ally to decorate. I explained to her that it was a gift for mama for Mother's Day and we talked about how Mother's Day was to celebrate moms and do something special for them. She colored the card I got her to give Becky and wrote her name on it and had a good time decorating the package. Here is Becky with the wrapped gift.

The next day Ally asked me how to write my name. I thought she meant Julie but she said she wanted to write mommy. So I wrote it down. Then she asked how to write Happy Mother's Day. So I wrote that down too.

And a warm feeling just filled up my heart.

I ran to get the camera and started taking pictures of Ally writing.

All on her own she thought of this. Becky did not prompt her. I just could not believe how thoughtful and caring she was. There was a gift for mama and Ally wanted Mommy to have a gift too. (the envelope she wrote it all on was a "gift" she made me earlier in the week. She made me a picture and Becky crafted an envelope/wrapping for it. Then on Saturday morning before Mother's Day Ally asked me to get the gift, so she could then address it to me.) Is that the sweetest story? Gosh how I love her. And wow she is growing up.

Another Milestone Reached

We reached another milestone this weekend. One Becky has been trying to accomplish for weeks now. I am a bit worried I will jinx it by blogging about it but NO MORE PULL UPS!!!!

Ally has been dry all night for months - since February - and we talk a couple of times a week about how it seems she is ready to not wear pull ups anymore, but every time she says NO.

Finally she was ready and said she would try it.

This is Ally in the morning. She was so proud of herself and so happy to have me take a picture of her.

This picture also shows our official weekend morning routine. I get up with Ally whenever she wakes up and I get her a sippy cup of chocolate milk and a bowl of dry Cheerios and turn on a PBS show for her to watch; Curious George, Berenstain Bears or Cat in the Hat are her current favorites. On Saturday morning I call my mom and chat with her while Ally watched 2 shows and then on Sunday I read the paper. 2 shows is our limit. I have to admit I never realized how educational these shows are. At least once a week Ally says something and Becky and I ask where she learned that and the source is always Curious George or Cat in the Hat, for example we were walking down a street recently not near our house and there was bamboo in a yard and Ally stopped to touch it and I said "that is bamboo" and she replied emphatically "I KNOW THAT" both Becky and I were giggling silently and asked how she knew that and she said "Cat in the Hat". Who knew?

Our Saturday

A fairly typical Saturday for us:

Birthday party in the morning. There was an entertainer who made balloon animals for all the kids- Ally chose a turtle bracelet.

After the party it was nap time and then we took the T downtown. Becky and I did some Spring clothes shopping and afterward Ally rode on the Carousel - her first of the season!

Ally started on a horse - pictured above but before the ride started she switched to a bunny. Becky took this picture while the ride was in motion!

Ally was delighted to discover a field of dandelions.

She has been waiting for them to turn white so she can pick them and blow them.

Here she is trying to blow the "white stuff" off.

We are having a great month of May. Mothers Day last weekend, school is good, Ally is doing amazing gymnastics, work is good for me, we've been healthy. Life is moving along so fast and I am trying to take some time and enjoy the normal and the wonderful and everything in between.