Really, Daddy lives here!

The picture is from last spring, but I thought it was darling, so I posted it to go along with my stories today. Each day my sweetie says something worthy of writing down, and today I wanted to share it with the masses- or all four of you out there who read my blog. :)

Daddy was all ready to go to work this morning, so he says to Allison, as he does every morning, "Allison, it's time for Daddy to go to work", to which she replied, "Okay, thanks for coming over." After a long pause where we were both trying not to crack up, Scott says, "Uh, I LIVE HERE!!"

Allison is going through a little stage where she says Daddy is mean, but what she's saying is that he's mean because he leaves to go to work. One night Scott tried to explain to her why he has to leave every day. When I later asked her, "Allison, why does Daddy go to work?", she replied, "Because if he didn't, we wouldn't have any money and we'd have to live in the street." I'm sure he gave her a more lengthy and true explanation, but that's what she got out of it. I'm quite sure we wouldn't be in the street- my dad did pay for a nice little education for me, but I do SO value what my husband does every day and am thankful it allows me to spend every day with this little angel of ours. :)

Trying out a new mall

Beth and I decided to take the girls to a new mall today. It's an outlet mall, but it's not typical of what I'm used to seeing in an outlet mall. They have lots for kids to do including a carousel, a train ride, and a huge play area. The pictures make it look like we all had a good time, but really, it wasn't so great today. They say pictures don't lie, but in this case they kinda do. The girls were NOT on their best behavior today- very whiney and just kinda cranky in general. Then I got a splitting headache (I wonder why), so I wasn't in such a good mood most of the time. The good thing is that Beth and I are going through the same issues with our girls (they are just 2 days apart!), so we understand that it won't always be fun-filled- just most of the time. :)

Allison LOVED her first experience on the tea cup (maybe that's what started my headache?) as well as her first little train ride. I didn't get in with her on either one of them- the tea cup was dizzying, and the train was just way too tiny for my comfort. :) She also had fun playing with all the little rides (love her pose in the big car!), and we didn't even pay for them. The girls just climbed all over them- cheap entertainment, huh?

I'm off to bed now to try and get rid of this headache. Wish me luck! :)

Too priceless not to post!

Okay, my kid cracks me up! I just had to share this picture with friends and family. Today she was playing with Daddy and got all dressed up in a "costume", with his help. She came to show me her "costume", then said she had to potty. I immediately thought- grab the camera- this is going to be good! She'll hate me for this when she's 13, but it was just too cute to pass up. Enjoy! :)

And please, scroll down a bit and check out our Thanksgiving weekend pictures! :)

Giving Thanks!

We hope you and your family celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday together. We invited my parents to visit us for the holiday, and thankfully, they accepted and came to St. Louis to hang out with us for a few days. We had so much fun, and Allison loved having them here.

Highlights included:

Learning a new card game (I complained it was too hard and I didn't understand it; then I won!)
Going out to eat at yummy places
Strolling through historic St. Charles, MO (cold but still fun!)
Listening to Christmas music while putting up the tree (okay, the guys put it up, but I decorated it!)
Watching my dad read to my child
Watching my mom listen to my child read her Snow White
Being cold and needing a coat- finally!
A GREAT Thanksgiving day feast, even though my dish was a failure (I tried something new- big mistake!)
Bringing up all the Christmas decorations from the basement (not the actual step climbing- just seeing it all again!)
Shopping for the family we adopted for Christmas
Napping!
The incredible turkey stew my husband made today with our leftovers- YUM!
Listening to my child tell us what she was thankful for and making the list- of course her sippy made the list too!
Just "being" with family without a lot of plans and stuff to do


As a family we have so much to be thankful for- the list is really endless. But at the heart of the list is our family and our ever growing faith in Jesus and His plan for our life. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Laughter EVERY day!

I keep an ongoing document on Word that is full of funny stories about my child. They may not be funny to anyone else, but they were funny to me, so I wrote them down. My child is 2 1/2 and my document is almost 30 pages long. Either I laugh easily (and I do!) or my child is really funny (which I think she is). I decided to share a few of my recent entries. I hope they will make you laugh and remind you of things your child has said or prepare you for things you might hear in the future. :)

1. After church last week we went out to eat. During a quiet time (these are rare) Allison looks at us and says, "Hey, how was church today?" We were kind of taken aback, and then Scott proceeded to tell her what the sermon was about. :)

2. For months Allison has been using the phrase "You can count on me" in appropriate context. Well, last week in Wal-mart she said it again. Then I said, "You know, Allison, you can count on me too!" She proceeded to reach out from the cart with her fingers and literally COUNT on my shirt. :)

3. Last week we were out shopping and I took her to the bathroom- she said she didn't have to go, but I wanted her to try since we were heading out. While on the potty she said, "I don't have to go, Mommy. My potty is still sleeping in my tummy!" Where do they GET this stuff? Once home, she got on the potty and began to go, saying, "It's awake now! My potty is awake!"

4. Sometimes her choice of words is what makes me laugh. It's not really funny, just funny coming out of a 2 year old. She was eating lunch and I asked, "Do you need more chicken?" to which she replied, "No, I don't. I have plenty of it." Tee Hee!

And in the featured picture- she had just come up to me and said, "I'm having a tea party in the play room- won't you join me?"

Big Girl Bed!

UPDATE:

Last night went relatively well. She was so excited to get into her big girl bed. Within 5 minutes of putting her down we hear a THUD!!! I went running in there to find her standing by the bed, crying. I said, "Did you hit your head on the bed when you fell or did you just fall right off on the floor?" In between her cries, she said, "I just fell RIGHT OFF on the FLOOR!" I tried not to laugh and put some pillows down on the floor in case there was a next time. There wasn't, but she did wake me up at 4:00, after wetting her panties. No biggee- she went potty to be sure she was done, we put a new blanket on the bed, and she fell back asleep. Yeah! She's in there now for her 1st nap- so far no thuds! :)


Yes, you heard right. My "baby" is now in a big girl bed. And yes, I am the one who asked for advice about this a few months ago and firmly decided she would be three before I'd do it. Looks like I changed my mind. :) She is just such a big girl now, on so many levels, that it just seemed right. We can always put the crib back together if it doesn't go well, but based on her continuous squealing when we set it up, I think she'll follow the rules in order to keep it. She just stood there yelling, "My BIG GIRL BED!! My BIG GIRL BED!" It was adorable. We thought how we should have gotten it on tape, but sometimes you just want to enjoy the moment.

Last night Allison spent the evening with Katie while we had "date night", and when we got home she informed me that she didn't want to wear a diaper to bed- that she was ready for panties. Seriously, she's going to head to college tomorrow- this is all happening WAY too fast! I figured, what the heck, and put her in panties. She said, "I'm going to stay dry all night, Mommy!", and she did. :)

Later I will do a post with pictures of Allison and Katie. Beth took a few priceless ones that just have to be shared, but for now I'm going to show you my big girl in her "new" bed- really we just took down one part of the crib, but if you asked her, she'd say she has a new bed.

Enjoy!

TGIF

I really do love Fridays. Why? Because it means Saturday is right around the corner, and that's the day we get to spend with Daddy! :) Daddy signed Allison up for some music education classes and they start tomorrow. Our little one is very interested in music and loves to play around with different instruments. With her amazing memory, we though music would be a good thing for her to get into at a young age. The class meets every Saturday morning, which is great because Daddy can go with us instead of another just Allison and Mommy deal.

Today for lunch we went to Daddy's work for their annual Thanksgiving lunch. YUM! Allison behaved herself very well and had a good time. She had her first taste of pumpkin pie and loved it. :) I took a picture of her before we left- not the greatest picture, but I sure love the outfit. When I was in KC my friend Lori told me about a new store (I forget the name now) I just HAD to go to. I asked her, "Will my husband be mad at you for telling me about this place?" She smiled and said, "YES!" I knew I'd love the store!

Tomorrow is also date night for Scott and me. Yeah again! We're still not sure what we're doing, but we'd have fun if we just sat around and looked at each other- kind of sad, but true. :)

Interview with Allison

Before I write up the interview, let me just tell you that ""circle the things" refers to the pages of a workbook we've been using where she has to circle the thing that's the longest, smallest, etc. She LOVES doing this, and I tell her it's like what she'll do in school, so she likes it even better. :)

On to the interview:

1. What is your name? Allison (I'm done with this question cause she looks at me like, DUH!)

2. How old will you be on your next b-day? Three (sounds more like Free!)

3. What do you want on your birthday cake? Dora and Boots!

4. What makes you a big girl? Eat, circle the things.
4a. What else do you do that makes you a big girl? Those are all the stuff I need. (ha!)

5. What are your favorite things to eat? Garlic and Herb fish
5a. What else do you like to eat? Angel hair pasta

6. If we went on a plane, where would you like to go? Disney Land and Disney World

7. What should we do today? Circle the things!

8. Who's your best friend? Shay Shay (sorry, Katie- maybe next time!)

9. What do you like to do with your best friend? Suck my thumb.

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? A pumpkin (she is still VERY into Halloween!)

I really do think these interviews are a hoot! I print off all my blog pages to serve as a diary, so I know it'll be fun for her when sh'es a teenager to read these answers. :)

Back to the mall!

This morning we met Beth and Katie at the mall, and we had a fun time, as usual! We both left without any shopping bags, which is rare, but just goes to show you that fun can be had without spending money. Well, we had lunch, so I guess we spent a LITTLE money. :)

The girls did a great job whether in their strollers or walking around. They are just now starting to talk to each other a little bit, and that's fun to watch. So many things have changed since we first took them to the mall together. They can do so much more on their own and are developing such independence. They walk along side each other (darling pictures of them holding hands, huh?), eat much better and more neatly, tell you when they need to potty (LOVE that one!), talk in complete sentences, and just participate in the experience so much more. I really love having a toddler.

Allison is now able to understand what I mean when I say, "Tomorrow we're going to.....". This morning when I went in to get her out of her crib she began jumping up and down yelling, "KATIE!! KATIE!! Today we get to go to the mall with KATIE!" I'll have to be careful from now on what I promise we're going to do the next day. :) We have a pretty low-key week ahead, with Date Night this Saturday. I'm not sure what we're going to be doing yet, but we're looking forward to it, none the less.

Fun at The Magic House

The Magic House is a REALLY cool place in Kirkwood, MO (about 40 minutes from us) where kids of all ages can go to learn new things and just have fun. They have several rooms and open areas dedicated to different disciplines of learning (science, math, nature, reading, banking, domestic skills, etc.) There is something for everyone, even the adults! Allison has been begging us to take her back there to "go fishing with Daddy". You'll see some pictures of her doing that- it's her favorite thing! Scott's nervous she won't like fishing in real life since you don't catch a fish every 30 seconds- or at all. :)

We had a busy day today, so Allison didn't get a chance to nap (just cat naps in the car), and by evening she was a bit emotional. Her latest deal is that she doesn't want to wear pants when we're in the house. Well, we keep our house pretty cool, plus I just don't want her to run around in panties all the time. To quote Seinfeld "Not that there's anything WRONG with that!", but I just don't like it. So we talked to her about the weather changing and how we really need to wear all our clothes in the house. Well tonight she came running out to the living room after going potty, and she didn't have her jeans on. I told her to go put them on. A few minutes later I hear this loud crying, and I ran in to the playroom to see what was going on. She was standing there with her jeans pulled up about 1/2 way, crying, "It's TOO HARD!! It's TOO HARD!!" Bless her heart! I felt so bad for her. Of course jeans would be tough for her to pull up. :(

Parents as Teachers Fall Event

Last night we attended an event put on by our Parents as Teachers group, and once again, they did a super job putting together fun activities for the kids to do. Allison would have spent all night in the book corner if we didn't "gently encourage" her to go to the other centers. :) We went home with lots of new artwork and a very happy little girl.

Today we had another MOPS meeting, and it was great. Our speaker was our spirtual leader, Teresa, and she did a fantastic job bringing us the message of the Proverbs 31 Woman. I can't wait to go get a book on it this weekend to read more. Her talk was very insiring and uplifting, and I want to learn more. Just reading Proverbs 31 didn't really do anything for me- I needed to have it interpreted, and Teresa did a great job with that. We also collected boxes for Operation Christmas Child- what fun! I bet we hauled about 30 boxes out of the church, and that felt great- just thinking about all the kids who will open those boxes on Christmas morning brought me such joy! MOPS really is a great organization- check it out in your area if you aren't already in a group- it's a wonderful support system for mothers of preschool children.

This is the 2nd time I've left Allison in her MOPS room with big girl panties on, and she did just fine. I can't seem to bring myself to the realization that she will now go when she has to go. It just seems impossible that I might have bought my last box of diapers? Where did my baby go?

MY SELF!!!

I've said before that this is the most popular word in our house, usually spoken in a pretty nasty tone by you know who! Last night after bath she had to use the potty. Afterwards, she came into the living room, very proud of herself for putting her panties and pants on HERSELF!! I just HAD to take a picture of her efforts. :)

Morning fun with Katie

This morning we headed over to Katies's house, and you could tell the girls had been apart for awhile because they were both SO excited to see each other. Although they are still not at the "go play in your room for a little while so the big girls can talk" stage, Beth and I did manage to hold some conversations, although we each said, "What was I just saying?" a few times. I'm sure some of you reading can relate. When you have a preschooler your sentences are always interrupted and it's hard to remember where you left off. Or really you're just testing your friend to see if she was listening to you in the first place! :)

The funniest part of the morning was when Beth and I were sitting and visiting in the living room when all of a sudden we hear the toilet flush. I guess my child is no longer even telling me when she needs to go- she's just going. Then you hear Katie just trying to be helpful but Allison very clearly NOT wanting the help (shocker!). Beth said, "Wouldn't it be funny to have a camera placed in there so we could watch them?" Ha!

Notice in one of the horse pictures that Katie is trying to put a shoe on Allison's foot. She is SO sweet and loves being the mom to her little babies and animals, but Allison is going through a lovely stage of not wanting anyone to help her with ANYTHING, so poor Katie- all we kept saying was "Allison's doesn't want your help with..." or "Allison wants to do ...... by herself."

Another pictures clearly shows the differences in their personalities. They are playing with super balls in the front entry way of Beth's house, and you can see how my child carefully drops the ball to see what happens, where Katie throws the ball with total abandon, excited to see where it will land. It makes me wonder if these traits will always be with them or will change over time. Or maybe I'm just too cautious and Beth is the fun mom??? I'm guessing that's pretty close to the truth. :)

Until next time,
Laurie

Allison's first leaf book

Did I mention that I LOVE fall! I think I did. Anyway, Allison has always been excited about falling leaves, their colors, etc. I saw another blog where a mommy helped her daughter make a leaf book (thanks for the idea, Becky!), and I thought- what a fun idea! So today we ventured out in the back yard to collect some leaves in a bag. Then we came inside to make a book. After putting the leaves in the book I thought it would be fun for her to color the pages around the leaves. Then I thought one step further. Why not have her write the book. So, on each page I'd ask her, "Tell me about this leaf" or "What do you like about this leaf?" or other leading questions. In the end, each page has a different, albeit similar, comment. The last page says, "It's almost dinner time" I guess she was getting hungry? Ha! I read it to her a couple times and then she had it memorized (freaky, this kid!), and when Daddy came home she ran to him with her book and said, "Read it to me!" My child is an author and I couldn't be more thrilled. Now I must come up with new ideas for her to write more books. Any thoughts?

And just in case you thought my motives were pure, they weren't. I thought her outfit was pretty darling and I didn't even put her in a coat when we went outside even though it was 45 degrees. When she started shivering we came inside. BAAAAD Mommy! :) But hey, the pictures are pretty darn cute if i do say so myself. I know some of you reading this would have done the same thing- you know who you are! :)

Back to "normal"?

Greetings from St. Louis! We arrived home safe and sound Sunday afternoon, just in time to watch the Chiefs lose AGAIN! It was not a happy sports weekend in our family. Regardless, it was wonderful to be back home as a family once again. Allison and I spent Monday just hanging out at home. I spent the day doing laundry and all that other fun stuff that comes with being out of town for two weeks. We were both still in our jammies way past noon, and that was fine with both of us! You can see our living room in its normal state- books strewn about, a child in the middle of the room adding stickers to every appendage, scissors and workbooks being used- just an average day for this stay at home mom.

We did have to venture out to Walmart because we had NO food or drink in the house- I have no idea how Scott survived! I think he ate, drank and slept W O R K for 2 weeks. :( Allison had no desire to leave the house because she was enjoying getting re-aquainted with her toys, stuffed animals, etc., so I had to bribe her by telling her she could ride the Snoopy ride at Walmart if she'd come with me. :)

Little Miss Independent is really throwing me for a loop these days. All of a sudden she wants to do it ALL by herself, not just some things. Thanks to her little friend Olivia's example, she is now practically dressing herself, pulling on her pants, getting her own shirt off if it kills her in the process, telling me to leave her alone in the bathroom- that she can do it HERSELF, etc. Every time I try to lend a helping hand I am met with a very stubborn little girl with her hand up to me like, GET AWAY! Tell me this is typical??? It's so hard for me not to help and to watch her struggle with things, but I know that's how she's learning, and I'm trying SO hard to keep my distance.

The best news about this independence is that she is pretty much potty trained. It's been almost a month without any accidents and just wearing a diaper at night. On the way home from KC we had just passed a rest stop when she says, "I have to potty". The tough part is that with this age you have no idea if they have to go RIGHT THEN or 10 minutes down the road. Well, you can't take a risk, so we pulled off at the very next available stop. She's so funny- we get into the bathroom and she grabs at her pants and says, "I've been holding it!" :) Tonight she went into the bathroom to take care of business and we hear her yell out to us, "Please clap and say good job!" We were rolling! This kid has a very healthy self esteem!

Okay- I'm off to do another post or two about fall weather and the fun that goes with it.