Worth it

In a few weeks Becky and I are going to a wedding and as it turns out I don't have a dress I like that I want to wear. I've been searching and even have a couple possibilities that I need to return, but nothing that I felt good about. So one day this week after school I suggested a trip to a local mall that has some outlets. I was feeling optimistic and ready to do something different for the afternoon. Becky was game and interested in shopping (a rarity) but Ally was not really interested in going to the mall with us so I told her if she would go with us, and be good and not complain or whine I would let her ride the ride at the mall. She finally agreed.

It was a success - I found a dress - on super sale and Becky got new jeans for $17.00. How often does that happen?

But the best part was this:

Can you see how happy Ally is ? She had this HUGE smile on her face the entire ride. She was so delighted. And it was so worth the $1.00 to have a happy trip to the mall and to see this smile.

And a new milestone was achieved because on the way home we stopped at McDonald's and got Ally a Happy Meal for dinner and she actually ate all of it. For the first time ever she ate the entire thing -the apple slices which she loves, the kid fries, and all 4 chicken nuggets and the chocolate milk. GO ALLY!!!!

And in other food news this week Ally ate a turkey burger and she tried wheat germ when we made banana bread (its in the recipe) and before I knew she was eating the wheat germ with a spoon like it was oatmeal. Seriously she has some kind of healthy food radar. It was hilarious to me. She loved it.
I love her.

Birthday Party #9

Ally's friend Stella's little sister Violet turns 3 on Easter day this year. We attended a very nice small party for her on Saturday. Ally loves to play with Stella and Violet and the girls all get along really well most of the time.

The party was right after gymnastics, so Ally worked on the card in the car on drive from gymnastics to Violet's house.
Ally and the birthday girl!

Shannon, Violet's mom makes the best cakes and this was no exception. The chicky and egg were just adorable!

Ally and Stella.

It is so nice to see Ally have such good friends.

Birthday Party #8

River, a good friend from our neighborhood group turned 5 (2 days after his mom's birthday which was party #7). His birthday was a paleo-gymnastics themed party. 2 of Ally's favorite things; gymnastics and dinosaurs - how much better does a party get?

Ally wore her triceratops t-shirt to the party.

Ally drew a picture of her and River on the card.

The party was at Ally's regular gym and they let parents come in for the free play time. River's mom took this picture of Ally and I.

Ally is getting so much more confident and brave. Here she is hanging from the high bar of the uneven bars.

Check out this awesome table scape! River's mom Summer made the dinosaur eggs - each guest got one, and they cracked them open to find a dinosaur inside.

Ally was happy sitting with Liem - his sister Kai is to the right and that is River next to Liem.

It was a great party.

Birthday Party #7

Lately I have been feeling extremely fortunate for friends. Its really nice to have friends to get together with, whether its a mom's night out for drinks and appetizers, a book club, family dinner after swimming lessons, or a low key family get together to celebrate a birthday. A mom birthday that it is.

We were happy to join some other families at Summer's house (River & Lila's mom) to celebrate Summer's birthday. Pizza, salad, drinks and cake. A movie in the playroom for the kids while the adults enjoyed adult conversation. I hope Summer had as much of a good time as we did.

Ally drew this picture of herself in a boat on the card for Summer.

Ally and mama waiting for cake!

Easter 2012

Happy Easter 2012!!!

We had Easter at home this year, like we have the past 3 years. This year it was just the 3 of us in the morning and then we had some neighborhood friends over for our 3rd annual Easter Egg Hunt and Pot Luck dinner.

Saturday night we dyed easter eggs. This year the Paas kit came with 9 colors! Thanks to our fiestaware we had a coffee cup to match each color!

Ally was so excited to eat an egg - we had to crack one before it was even dyed. She is cradling a hard boiled egg white in her hand. She ate 2 egg whites while we colored the other 22 eggs.

So excited!

This year Ally drew some pictures on the eggs. Here is a butterfly.

A smiling face on the one above

EASTER MORNING!!!

Ally was thrilled to get a glue stick in her basket.

Lion King 2 was also in there along with a yoyo, some peeps, a small chocolate bunny and new markers.

Kitty and Baby got presents as well. Kitty got a new book; Lady and the Tramp and Baby got a play sewing kit!

After opening her Easter basket it was time to hunt for eggs. Ally was so excited to get a peep bunny in one of her eggs she asked if she could eat it right away. Of course we said yes!

Becky made bunny pancakes for breakfast. They were yummy.

After breakfast Ally and I went for a walk. Later we took a nap and then Ally watched her new movie Lion King 2 while Becky and I finished the party preparations.

we had cupcakes with peeps on them and several "bouquets" of cookie pops

I used jelly beans as filler to hold the cookie pops upright

Ally posing with her Easter basket and new Easter dress that mama made her.

Yes Becky made the dress! It is adorable. It was a chilly Easter day here, only about 50 degrees so Ally wore a long sleeve shirt and leggings under the dress.

My beautiful girl .

Yes more cookie pop displays!

Once everyone arrive Thora's dad Sean and I hid the eggs.

We had 76 plastic eggs and 19 hard boiled ones.

There were eggs every where!

When I went inside to get the kids for the egg hunt this is where I found Ally. The big kids were playing hide and seek.

That is River's little sister Lila playing with Ally's toy dinosaur.

The obligatory group picture:

Top row left to right is Kai, Auric and Ally.

Middle row on the right hugging is Lila and her brother River

Bottom row is Liem and Thora

Then the hunt began in earnest

Ally paused for a picture with her full basket

At one point all 4 big kids were searching for one egg it was the last one. Can you see Ally wedges underneath Thora and Liem.

One tradition we have is to write each kid's name on an egg. Then they trade to make sure everyone gets their egg. Here is Liem with his.

Ally is holding up her Ally egg

It was so chilly we all went inside to open the eggs

Then it was dinner time. Most of the kids sat together at the kids table.

After they ate dinner it was time for dessert! Here they are with their cookie pops!

It was a great day. Lots of fun together and with friends.

Writing Celebration!

This week at Ally's school was the long awaited Writing Celebration. It was AWESOME. I was so thrilled to finally see one of the book's Ally was working on at school. The set up was such that the parents were able to meet with several students and hear each student read their book to us one on one. It was really neat to see 5 and 6 year olds writing actual books. Some of Ally's class mates' books were in Spanish! One trend several of us noted was that most of the boys tended to write about Star Wars or Cars or trains or tornadoes but the girls books were about vacation or school or an actual experience. This was not the rule, but the trend.

Ally and I at the start of the event.

Each student had a spot and parents rotated around the room to listen to different stories.

Here is Ally's book:

I took pictures of each page - so I could share it with Becky (and the blog). The book had to stay at school and the teacher said we would get them to take home at the end of the year.

Ally and Willow

I was playing in the pool with Willow.

Remember Willow is one of Ally's friends from school who she takes swimming lessons with.

It was time to swim.

I love the picture on the page above. Ally and her friend Stella (who was blond hair and in the swim class too) are on the side of the pool and Willow is in the water. Willow is tall and can stand in the pool. So the picture itself is a very accurate dipiction of what swimming class looks like.
I was catching rings with Willow

I was on my noodle
I was getting out of the pool

After the book reading we all watched a video of the students working on their books over the past few weeks, and had some special snacks. Then centers were open and the kids could paint or color. Ally has been really into painting lately.

It was a very special experience to share in this with Ally and her classmates.

Ally was so proud of her book.

One of her most proud achievements is that the day before the event the class rehearsed reading their stories with their reading buddies in 5th grade. (Once a week a 5th grade class comes and works with the students on reading and writing skills - its a highlight of Ally's week.) So the reading buddies came and the class practiced reading their stories and Ally told me "the reading buddies could read my story...they knew what the words were without me telling them...isn't that great?..." As you can see from the book - this level of writing is about the concept and trying not about the technical correctness. Ally's teacher calls it "kindergarten right". Ally was so proud that even is her book was kindergarten right it is still understandable by other people without her having to tell them every word.

Now the not so special part of the day was after the celebration on our way home. Ally was not feeling well, said her head hurt and she was tired. So I carried her on my shoulders. About 2 blocks from our house Ally suddenly cried out "I'm going to throw up" (yes while she was sitting on my shoulders)

I immediately grabbed her, pulled her over my head and held her in front of me trying to put her on her feet as she puked!

Yes puked on the sidewalk, but not on me and not on herself! A couple of heaves and her stomach was empty. She looked up at me and I got out her water bottle, gave her a sip and told her to wash her mouth and spit it out - she did that a couple of times. Then I grabbed my water bottle and poured it over the throw-up to wash off the sidewalk.

Then I picked her up, and finished walking home.

Becky pulled up in car when we were about 10 feet from our house.

I told her what happened, sent her back out with more water to wash off the sidewalk, while I held and snuggled with Ally.

She fell asleep snuggled in to me for two hours that afternoon.

When she woke up she felt better.

I need to say that was an experience we both could have done without!