Valentine's Day 2012

Ally's babysitter Lauren texted me this picture of Ally in the morning before school:

Ally had been so excited for Valentine's Day - of course we do gifts! We usually do something small, but this year we went a bit bigger because some of the things are for our trip to Florida.

New markers! And on the couch is a new game for her leapster.


Mommy picked out some cool cupcake fleece fabric and mama sewed an edging around it to create a new blanket for Ally.


A kiss for mama as a thank-you for the new blanket

Becky was really busy sewing - I got new pillow shams for our bed. We have roman shades in Becky made a while ago out of the red flower fabric in our room.

Ally opened her package from Grandma Debbie and Poppy. A very cool handmade paper weaving heart - brought back memories for Becky.

And tucked inside was a pencil, a small pad of paper and a dollar bill! Ally was thrilled to get actual money!

After gifts were opened Ally got a pillow, laid down on the floor and coverred herself up with her new blanket.

And proceeded to eat there - apples, french fries, string cheese, and water while watching the rest of an Olivia episode on my phone.

Then it was time for more cards.

Ally made our cards at school.

I love it.

In case you can't see it in the first picture here is a close up.

I Love Yoo

is what it says

Becky got one too

Ally got a really scary shark bookmark from Aunt Beth.

Becky made pineapple heart lollipops!

I made heart cookies and decorated them myself the night before.

After much perseverating Ally chose a medium size red sprinkled one to eat.

Guess who chose the BIGGEST cookie?

Becky

I ate a very small one

After dinner we all donned our homemade Valentine Heart Shirts and used the timer on our camera to take a picture of us as a family.

I could not decide which one I liked best.

Another Birthday Party

Ally went to a birthday party on Sunday - and it was at her gymnastics gym! It was a blast for all of the kids. Ally loved showing her friends how everything worked and what neat things they could do. She was not a show off at all - it was great to see how much fun she had. Parents were not allowed into the gym (just like in lessons) so we all watched from behind the glass. I enjoyed watching Ally interact with her friends on what is basically "her turf". Its kind of rare to get to watch your kid in that way, forced to observe and not participate. It was an hour of gym time and then pizza and cake. Her friend Selin's mom is a cake baker and she created the most amazing Tangled (Rapunzel) themed cake:

The front has Rapunzel and her hair at the top of the tower.
And Flynn the prince was climbing up the back.

Inside the cake tasted even better than it looked. And I was impressed with the colors!

Here is Ally with her friend Willow - these two are pretty tight this year - and have such a good time together. Its a riot now too to see them together, as Willow has grown several inches this year and even though Ally has grown too, Willow now towers over her - at least 5 inches! But it doesn't bother them at all.

Walking home with a friend

Last Monday Alice came home from school with Ally and I. The girls had fun playing at the school playground afterschool and then we also stopped at their favorite park for more playing.

They looked so cute I had to take a picture, front and back.

They even have matching backpacks!

So Excited!

This is Ally's excited pose - as in "I am so excited I can hardly stand still" pose She is wearing her new sun hat and just finished counting the days until we leave for Florida

Florida - Ally drew the picture of the plane so she would know that is the day we leave

The F of course stands for Florida - so Ally knows how many days we will be there.

And the huge red heart is of course for Valentine's Day.

So excited and so adorable in her pajamas with her sun hat on. She wouldn't take it off!

I was shopping and saw it and just had to get it - and she LOVES it. She put it right on and said "look it shades my face" and then leaned her head over mine and said " I can shade you too with my hat" so cute!

Park in February

It has been such a mild winter this year. We have been to the park almost every weekend, and some days after school we stop and play.

Ally even went for a bike ride recently. She was quite thrilled to try out the new doll carrier she received as a hand-me-down.

And this one was just too good to pass up. The light was in my favor.
We were at the park because Ally asked if we could "do something as a family" so I suggested a park visit. It was colder this day - about 35 degrees and Becky and I were quite cold, but Thora and her family came out and joined us and the girls had a blast running around and being outside. After an hour we finally went in to get warm.

Lately I find myself even more grateful for my family and friends.

Valentine Craft

Ally is quite excited about Valentine's Day. Actually she is excited about all holidays right now - she is so into the calendar - she crosses off a day every day in a count down until we go to Florida to visit Grandma Barbie. Swimming, the beach, Grandma, an airplane ride she can hardly wait. She looks at the calendar every day and knows that when there are pre-printed words in a square it means something so she keeps asking me about the holiday when are going to be in Florida - will we celebrate that too? Its hard not to laugh at the idea of celebrating President's day! I keep trying to explain that its a day where we remember some famous leaders (presidents) of our country on their birthdays. I worry though - Christmas is Jesus' birthday so I am worried about the inevitable question about why we celebrate our birthdays and Jesus' birthday but not the Presidents. She wants a party. I have a feeling we may be having the first ever President's Party in Florida - watch out Grandma Barbie!

But Valentine's Day come first so we thought we should work on some craft projects. We saw this one on the cover of a magazine. You sponge paint a doily onto a t-shirt.

Ally was hard at work.
But always ready with a smile

Now the pink T-shirt.

Becky and I made them too so on Valentine's Day we'll have someone take a picture of the 3 of us in our Valentine T-shirts.

The finished pink one. We used pink paint on the pink shirt.

Ally wore hers to school the next day.

Superbowl Sunday

It was Superbowl Sunday yesterday! And WOO WOO the Giants won. I felt bad that they beat the Patriots, which is Becky's team, but mostly I was happy my team won.

Oh and its Ally's team too.

Here is my big confession. Becky and I agreed before we became parents that our child would root for the Yankees, but that Becky could have other sports. Becky gave in to my huge family history of Yankee obsession, and besides being a Yankees fan in Boston is huge character building!

But last night we told Ally that mama and mommy's favorite teams were playing each other in the final game of the season. Ally had been watching some of the play off games with us and knew which team was red and which was blue and would help us root for our teams. She asked which team she should root for, and Becky told her she could choose. But then I told her my team was in red. That clinched it! She was rooting for red, which meant the Giants!

We made her go to bed at half time and I missed the entire 3rd quarter in her room, but I promised that we tell her in the morning which team won.

Becky called me this morning on her way to work and confessed she forgot to tell Ally. So I promptly texted Lauren the babysitter and asked her to tell Ally that mommy's team won. She texted back that there was a huge squeal of glee.

Maybe its better Becky did not have to suffer that this morning.

Here is Ally watching the game. We made her take a bath and get into pjs before the game. Then we all ate dinner in front of the TV - such a special treat. But no special game food for us, Ally ate roast chicken, an orange and of course a bowl of her "shredded wheat".

Here we are reading books before bed.

But the bed - check it out!!!!!

Ally asked to take her bed rail down and she LOVES it. She is such a big girl now.

Then she asked me to take pictures of her doing funny faces. I swear you can see her tonsils in this one.

Silly Ally

Smiling Happy Ally

I call this one Pretzel Ally.