Swimming Lessons

Ally is still taking swim lessons. Now she does them on Fridays after school with Erik. I pick them up after school and we drive over to the pool. They have a lesson for 30 minutes and then swim together for fun while Erik’s little brother has his swim lesson. Then Ally takes a shower in the locker room (her least favorite part of the whole thing). And then we head home for movie night.

One week we were early for lessons and I let them play on my ipad. Erik was pretty enthralled with the American Girl Doll balance beam game. He asked how come there wasn’t a boy one!

Sometimes Ally wears her goggle so tight her eyelashes stick to the glass! Standing on the rock has always been a neat thing.

 

Cuddled on the couch with popcorn watching a movie.

HUGE milestone–First tooth lost

Ally lost her first tooth.

One of her bottom front teeth had been getting really wiggly. One night at dinner I took a few pictures -  to remember what Ally looked like with all her baby teeth. Ally was a very willing participant in the documentation.

You can see her adult tooth coming in behind it.
And 3 days later her tooth came out – at school! I picked her up at a friend’s house that day and she was so excited to tell me.  Her friend Max and his sisters were all excited to be a part of the momentous day as well.

The tooth came home in a baggie with a very nice note from her teacher who documented the event.

On January 9, 2014 Ally P__ lost her tooth during Math class. We were just about to count backwards from 100 when she announced “I lost my tooth!” Congratulations Ally, you’ve lost the 30th tooth so far in in your first grade class! (Since the first of the year)

The new smile!



After dinner Ally wrote a long note to the Tooth Fairy it said:
I don’t care if you leave it or not can you bring something because it is my first tooth can you leave a note to me. I was waiting for my tooth to fall out I’m excited for you to come. Love Ally

That night she put her tooth and the note inside her (my old, from when I was a little girl) Tooth Fairy pillow.

I was a bit afraid she would  never go to sleep. But she fell asleep very quickly, and in the morning Ally was very excited that the she got some money and a note from the Fairy.



The note told her that since she was so patient for her first tooth that she got $5.oo but in the future she could expect a gold coin.

There are currently 3 other wiggly teeth. My how grown up Ally is!

New Years Eve

Stella’s family hosted a new years eve party for us and a couple other families.

Nancy was so hungry – she sat with the kids while they ate in the first shift. Liem, Andy and Erik had a “big boys table” and no Andy is not that small – but he was sitting on a step stool.

Andy, Stella, Ally and Charlotte on Stella’s bed. And Andrew hiding with Ally and Charlotte during hide and seek.

Group shot – on the left is the normal and on the right is the silly faces.
Top row – Nicky, Kai, Charlotte and Stella.
Middle row – Violet (in the mask), Erik, Ally & Liem,
Bottom row – Andy (in a mask too).
It was a really fun, relaxing, enjoyable party. No kid melt downs, lots of adult conversations, good food. All in all a wonderful way to celebrate a new year.

Scratch Art

 

Our cousins in Hawaii sent Ally a really neat scratch art set for Christmas. Ally worked on a sheet for a long time. Then she gave it to me – she write “for mommy from Ally” on it and said it was for my office. So that is it hanging up in my office.

Quick Post for Aunt Martha

I need to do a more complete recap from Christmas. But because she asked here is a new post and expect a few more the next couple of days.

On New Year’s Day Ally made a list of what she wanted to do that day:

 

It took most of the week but we did the “puzzle of Ally:

We did have a Connect 4 competition – Becky won – the score is shown on the left on the white board above (the tally marks under the bunny)

We made snowflakes – that is me with the snowflake on my face.

 

Legos were constructed – Thank you to Aunt Suzie and Gruncle – Ally used a gift card to get a Dolphin Cruise lego set.

We had a lengthy “American Girl Doll Gymnastics Competition” practice session – but the actual competition is TBD at a future date.

We did not change out the tree in Ally’s room.

Snow Day

 

We had a pretty big snowstorm right after New Years. It was so bad Becky had 2 snow days! Ally went to school one day, and had the 2nd day off. Aunt Beth was trying to get to Philadelphia for extended family Christmas at Aunt Pam’s house, but she got stranded in Boston. Good news for us (especially Ally) but the rest of the family was bummed to not see her. Aunt Beth played with Ally all morning in her room and  then they went outside to shovel, play in the snow and go sledding!

All bundled up for outside.

Being silly with Aunt Beth in the snow.

Then it was off to the sledding hill.

Aunt Beth is such a trooper she rode with Ally in the sled over and over again. She didn’t even get upset when Ally crashed them!

It was a fun day.