Almost Blizzard of 2010

Today is a snow day! Becky and Ally are on school vacation this week, but we got so much snow here that we closed my company for the day, so I am home too! We have about 12" in the past 24 hours and a few more predicted to fall today. This morning Ally demanded to go out and play in the snow. She was very patient while we got ready and dressed to brave the weather.

Ally hates wearing mittens, but even she did not resist too much this time.

She loved the snow!

A huge pile of snow right outside our house. Ally started to sit on her shovel and slide down on that. I am standing there to show you how tall the pile was.

So we got her sled out.

And with help from mama

Ally had her first sledding experience! Gotta love the city...sledding into the street, I know its not the safest, but I was actually standing in the middle of the street and there are virtually no cars driving in this weather, so we felt it was pretty safe.

All of our neighbors were out shoveling as well, and I think Ally's squeals of delight warmed us all up. They kept pausing in their work to lean on their shovels and smile at us, and Ally. Then there were words about remembering the joy of snow from our childhood. It made digging out from the storm a pleasure.

Ally and I walked around the house - this is our side yard. I wanted to show how deep the show was on Ally.

She worked so hard to walk - she'd get about 3 steps and then fall, and laugh and then get up and do it again! After this walk Ally was very cold, and we had finished shoveling and clearing off the car so we went inside.

And promptly drank hot cocoa!

For the record - the post says Almost Blizzard, because the meteorologists have carefully explained on the news that a snowstorm has certain qualifications it has to meet to be officially a blizzard. We came close, but our winds were sustained at 33 mph and a blizzard has 35 mph or greater. Blizzard or not, it is an awful lot of snow!

Traditions

For Christmas we usually give Becky's family a holiday themed puzzle. We can't bear to throw them out, and last year's puzzle was a Rudolph scene. When Ally saw it this year she insisted on putting it together. It was a fixture on her craft table for about 2 weeks. Ally was quite determined to get it completed.

working the puzzle with mama (I'm not a puzzle person)

Love the sly smile

But this is my favorite - Ally takes a puzzle piece and holds it up to the picture of the puzzle to try and figure out where on the puzzle it goes.

Here is the last picture I took of them working on it. They did finish it but I did not get a picture of it completed before we took it apart and put it away for next year.

Another Christmas tradition for us is that Becky makes Ally an ornament each year. This year it was a Chickie - since Ally had such a wonderful time with the chicks she hatched in her classroom last Spring.

Ally loves her mama

The trio - Goodnight Gorilla from 2008, Ernie 2009 and Chick 2010.

Winter Sing

Ally is now on school vacation for two weeks! Grandma Debbie is here taking care of Ally while Becky and I finish out our work weeks. But Friday it was the Winter Sing at preschool. I took an hour off work to go and see Ally and the whole school sing songs.

She was pretty happy to see me. The boy to her right is Liem, his mom made Ally the dress she is wearing. We've known then since Ally and Liem were about 8 months old. This year they are in the same class at preschool.

I know I posted the picture already - but Ally's picture was the background for the words on the Winter Spring slide show at school!


After school we made cookies - this is Ally's creation!

Becky and I are sleeping on the air mattress in the living room with Grandma visiting and Ally was super excited to try it out:

Drawing & Cuddles

Ally has been drawing some amazing pictures lately:

She drew this one at school. The Winter Sing program is coming up, and one of the songs the class is singing is "Miss Polly had a Dolly" this is Ally's picture of the song. I am just fascinated that they are not typical stick figures, but that they have an actual body and feet and stick legs and arms, its such a more realistic representation of what human body shapes look like.

There is a fabulous sun in the upper left corner, with blue sky around it, a tree in the middle with green leaves at the top of it and a person standing next to the tree.

Cuddling with mama.

Our girl has been very affectionate and cuddly lately. She asks us to come sit with her to watch TV - usually Rudolph, its shown about every other day in our house, or it might be Curious George, which is Ally's favorite TV show right now. Its hard to resist when Ally asks you to "come sit with me please?" Here she is with her typical sippy cup of chocolate milk and bowl of Cheerios.

A Visit with Santa 2010

First - I need to apologize to Grandma Debbie. We took Ally to see Santa already. I am sorry. I did not realize that Becky told you we would wait and do that next week when you come to visit. I asked Ally out loud if she wanted to go, and there was no taking it back or talking her out of it once I asked. So we took her. But I did get some good pictures.

2007 with Santa - before she could walk - so we just put her on his knee and walked away to take the picture.

2008 - she cried even with him just standing next to her, so we did not bother to get her out of the stroller.

2009 she would not sit on his lap and would only let a picture be taken if we did it with her.

2010 - she did it! All by herself. She was so proud of herself, and we were proud of her too.

He asked if her if she wanted anything for Christmas, and since we don't talk about Santa that way she was a bit confused. So he quickly moved on and offered her a lollipop.

Ally likes to point out that both she and Santa are wearing red pants.

Here we are - just after the Santa picture, and of course Ally chose a red lollipop.

Eating the gingerbread

Last night I got a picture of Ally and Becky eating a gingerbread man!

Ally is such a silly one sometimes!

holding up all that remains - the legs!

Gingerbread Cookies

These may not be the best pictures we've taken but I wanted to capture the first gingerbread baking at our house ever. (I don't like gingerbread so I never make it, and Becky usually takes pity on me and does not make it either, even though it is one of her favorites). But this year Ally has been enjoying the "Gingerbread Man Story" you know the tale about the Gingerbread man and the little song "Run, Run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man". She has us read it to her every night from her book A Treasury of 3 Year Olds. Every year Great Aunt Louise gives Ally a book of traditional stories, so Ally has A Treasury for 1, 2, 3 & 4 year olds. This is the first year she has really gotten in to them. For a while, the 3 Billy Goats Gruff was a favorite from the 4 year old book, but now its the Gingerbread Man. Personally I think she really likes to sing the chant in a high squeaky voice like Becky does it. But who am I to argue with a 4 year old's preferences in stories?

The other thing these pictures represent is amazing restraint by Becky. To her gingerbread men are plain cookies with traditional white icing outlined on them. But I got involved and starting cutting raisins for the eyes (like the story says) and I even got out m-n-ms for the buttons. Then Ally had to decorate all of the cookies with m-n-ms, she said "they have to have colors". Becky was a good sport and went along with it. But I know she really wanted to do them her way, and not the Palmer way. I really appreciate that she was flexible, and Ally had fun.

When Ally got tired of it, Becky did get a few plain ones made.