Regular Ordinary Fun

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

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

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

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

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

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!