A busy week- LOVING it!! :)

This week is jam packed with activities and fun times! Between swim class, park dates, school and MOPS, this week is proving to be a busy and fun time for Allison and me. The weather is in the 60's, making it an even more wonderful week for yours truly. :)

Thanks for asking how school went for Allison and for ME! I did just fine. Teared up a bit on the way to the car, but then I was fine. I listened to some 80's music on the radio, turned up really loud, the whole way home. It was a wonderful break from nursery rhymes!! Allison had a wonderful experience and was full of stories in the car. I arrived a bit early and watched through the glass for a bit. She was busy with her new friends and teachers and didn't even notice me. I was thrilled and can't wait to take her back tomorrow for more good times.

Thought I'd provide a couple of stories along with today's post.

1. Every once in awhile Allison will ask about her adoption story in one way or another. One thing she's been focusing on lately is her Chinese name. She likes to say, "When I was in China my name was Wei Feng Lu, right?" It's sooo cute the way she says it. The other day she finally asked, "Mommy, why did you and Daddy name me Allison Faith?" Now mind you, I think it's just fine that other folks have incorporated their child's Chinese name into their American name, and I understand and support their choice to do so. We chose not to, however, and the way I explained it to Allison was by telling her that we wanted her name to be given to her by people who truly loved her and would be her mommy and daddy forever! She liked that answer. For those of you not in the adoption community, here is how the naming works.

Wei- a first name given to her by the nannies in the orphanage
Feng- She was brought to the Nanfeng orhpahage, thus the Feng
Lu- the last name of the orphanage director

What was funny about the story was that she then turned to me and asked, "Mommy, what was YOUR name when YOU were adopted?" Uh, Uh, Uh... stammer, stammer, stammer...


2. We've been reading a book lately called China's ABC's (great book- thanks, Nana!), and Allison just loves it. The "C" is for calligraphy, and she keeps asking if she can write like that someday. I say, "Sure!" Well, the other day I saw her writing with a black marker. I asked, "What are you drawing?" She said, "I'm not drawing. I'm doing calligraphy." I said, "Oh, you're writing like the people in China write?" and she said, "No, I'm doing it my own way. I'm doing the St. Louis kind of writing." :)

That's all for now. :)



I've heard from the BTDT crowd that soon I will be VERY sick of all these papers coming home from school, but I sure loved seeing them on this first day. It was just neat to see all they did in such a short time. Of course the teacher in me came out- I went over the work with her and talked with her about each paper. :)



A new game before swim class- pretend to be stuck in the lockers. How cute is that smile?



Just a pic from swim class- still loving it!



Showing off her 1st "homework" assignment. She had to find things around the house that started with "F" for show and share time tomorrow. How I wish I could be a fly on the wall. I had her practice taking each thing out and telling me about it. I'm going to make her hate school before she's 7, aren't I? Ha!! Notice how beat up my kid looks. The rug burn on the chin looks a lot worse than it did the day it happened, and she has some new bite on her neck that's made her look all rashy for 2 days. Poor thing.

School Days, School Days...

It's official. My baby is in pre-school! The morning went splendidly, although I did not get ONE good picture of her. She was either being silly or not smiling, but oh well. At least I remembered to take the pictures! :) When we walked into her classroom she went right away to a little table and started playing with another girl while I talked to one of her teachers. She had no problem with me leaving, which was great! I pick her up at noon, and I can't wait to find out how she liked her first day!

Meanwhile, it is VERY strange to be here all alone in this VERY quiet house. What WILL I do with myself???

An Apple a Day!

YUM! YUM! Check out Allison's latest boo-boo- a nice little rug burn under her lip. She rolled off her big ball and fell flat on her face. It'll make for lovely first day of preschool pictures tomorrow!


We wanted to do something fun today and my friend Beth had just been apple picking with Katie so we thought- that would be FUN! And it was! Allison and I had never been apple picking before, or at least I don't remember ever going, so it was new to us. After picking for a little bit Allison started getting very fussy, complaining she was hungry, which she probably was cause it was past lunch time. I said, "Well, if you're hungry you can eat an apple!" At home she has to have the apples peeled (no skin showing!) and cut into slices. I guess she really was hungry cause she bit into that thing and ate it all! Then she was happy as a clam the rest of the trip. :)





Allison and Mommy at the apple orchard



Collecting apples from the bucket



"I can pick one all by myself!"



Picking the leaves off her apple



Mommy and Allison picking apples



Daddy- the master picker! :)

My little budding artist

No stories today- I think I told enough yesterday. Just a few fun pictures. My little artist has been drawing pictures day in and day out this week. SO much fun to hear her interpretation of each picture. Today I issued Allison a challenge. I told her she could get any ONE thing she wanted out of the dollar bin section at Target if she'd try to write the whole alphabet. She'd never tried that before, so I wasn't sure how she'd do. About 5 minutes later she called me in to show me her alphabet. She was pretty proud of herself. She then said, "I've decided I want something from the dollar store instead. Is that okay?" I said, "SURE!" I was so proud I think I'll let her get TWO things. :)



Allison's first alphabet!



A flower garden



Allison talked to her Nana the other day via ichat, and she wanted to follow it up with a note to her. So sweet! This is for you, Nana!



Drawings have not been limited to paper. This is her "praying mantis in the dust". In my defense, we had just moved the television backwards on the table. :) I started to dust it today and she said, "Don't dust off my praying mantis!", so I promised I'd take a picture of it. The things we do to keep our children happy!



There are many reasons I love my husband- one of them is that he's a good teacher. Instead of just gluing together something of Allison's that broke, he brought her out to the garage with him this morning before work and had her help him with it. Sweet.

Feeling fine, thank you for asking! :)

Thanks to those of you who have asked how Allison is doing. You're so sweet. She is doing just fine. The dentist ended up filling in her tooth, although he said it would only last a matter of weeks. I'm sure if we wanted to go fill it in every month we could, but it was not that big of a chip, so we'll probably just leave it as is and maybe fill it in when we have formal pictures taken? :)

Anyway, she is feeling just fine. Her tooth area never hurt- just the initial fall. She was quite the trooper at the dentist's office- I was very proud of her.

Today we hung out at the mall and then met Daddy for lunch- our typical Wednesday. To show just how typical it is, the other night we went out to dinner and got recognized by the lady who runs the carousel at the mall!! I guess there are worse places you could get recognized from, but still. I guess we really do ride that carousel quite often. We ate at a new bbq place today and I can't imagine going anywhere else on Wednesdays for awhile. It was delicious!!

A few stories/updates:

1. The caterpillars have been released to the wild. The day we bought a nice new container in which they could flourish, they bit the dust, so we told Allison they wanted to go be in nature again so they could make their cocoons. She was just fine with this, telling them, "I'll see you when you're butterflies", as we put them outside.

2. Today we were in a toy store and Allison wanted to buy a Panda. We have WAY too many stuffed animals as it is, so of course I said no. Then she says, "But my panda at home needs a mommy!" I am SUCH a sucker! I'm like- oh, poor little panda doesn't have a mommy, of course we can get this one.

3. My child is turning into quite the negotiator. If I say, "You'll need to eat more of your chicken before you have more whatever", she'll say, "Okay. I will eat 3 more bites and then eat my..."

4. Today when we were trying to decide where to go eat lunch with Daddy, Scott asked her, "Allison, where would you like to eat?" and she said, "I'll give you 3 choices- Red Robin, St. Louis Bread Company or the barbecue place where you put smiley faces on my hand." I think she's heard us play the 3 choices game a little too often.

5. She has the cutest phrase now that pops up quite often. Like today, during lunch she says, "I was thinking that after we finished our lunch we could have a dessert". Or last week when we were shopping she said, "I was thinking that when we were done shopping we could play hide and seek at home" She's really thinking ahead and letting her feelings be heard, which is nice. OH, and playing hide and seek with her is hysterical!! I'll yell, "Ready or not, here I come!" and she'll yell back, "I'm READY!!!" Ha!!

6. My latest stress (which in the scheme of things life hands us is NOT a stress, but go with me) is when toys from upstairs find their way downstairs and vice versa. I have now become the toy nazi. If it's an upstairs toy it stays upstairs. So far so good. It's been a day.

7. It's really the little things that make me smile. Today I told her I wanted to take a picture of her looking so sweet. She said, "How about I stand over here by the beautiful fall decorations?"

8. For the past month or so we have not had any "bathroom issues". She used to tell me she had to go potty or ask me to come with her all the time. All of a sudden, just this week, she's been saying, "Excuse me please, but I have to use the bathroom" and she walks off by herself. YAHOO!!!

9. Today at lunch they didn't have milk (whatever!), so Scott put some water mixed with a tiny bit of Sprite into her cup. She tasted some and said, "Is this pop?" I said, "Well, it's water mixed with a little bit of lemonade- like pop. Do you like it?" (she's never had pop, by the way). She said, "No, I don't. I'm not really old enough to have lemonade pop- just lemonade."

10. We have chocolate kisses out in our candy jars. Yesterday I noticed Allison walking to her room, kind of licking her lips. I said, "What are you eating?" She said, "I'm just teasing!" I said, "No, really, what are you eating?" She said, "A kiss!" I said, "How many did you have?" She said, "Just one". I said, "Allison, really, how many did you have?" and she said, "Well, actually, I had two"

11. In the car the other day she said, "Mommy, when we get home will you put your hair in front of your face, just to be silly?" I said, "Sure". She said, "I'll do it too!" I said, "Okay, what about Daddy?" and she said, "No, Daddy can't do it. His hair is too short. It doesn't have move!"

Okay, that's all for now. My favorite thing to read on other people's blogs is stories about their kiddos, so I figured it was time to post a few of the latest ones in our world.

Thanks to everyone who made fun comments on my 100 things about me post- I really hope some of you will do that post and let me come read it! It really is fun to do!

A Not So Happy Swim Day!

Looks like we won't be waiting until late October to visit the dentist! :(






Today Allison went to her 2nd swimming lesson. GOOD times. She loved it again, and as you'll see from the video was a little less nervous when it came time to jump in. :) After class was not so fun. I decided it was time for ME to use the gym, not just Allison, so I dropped her off in the kiddy care place and went to work out upstairs. When I came back to pick her up she was crying (this is NOT normal for her). I concluded later that she just all of a sudden missed me and wanted to go home, but that took awhile to get out of her.

She was crying REALLY hard when I walked in, and when she saw me she was in a hurry to get to me, and she fell on her face, hard, on the tile floor. Poor thing! When she got up I could see she had a bloody nose, but that was no biggee to stop. On the way home I could see her using her tongue to play with her tooth, so when we got home I checked more closely, and sure enough, she has a nice little chipped tooth. I called the dentist and he's going to look at it this afternoon. Like the title of the blog, just a Day in the Life! :)

I hope you are all having a less eventful Tuesday.

100 things...

I read a blog today where the author challenged herself to write down 100 things most people wouldn't know about her. I am always up for a challenge, so I thought I'd try. Plus, I haven't taken any pictures the past 2 days. :) I print these pages out as a diary of sorts, so I'm sure this will be fun to look back on several years from now. If you do this on your blog, let me know so I can come read about you. :)

1. The first pet I had, that I can remember, was a dog named Bingo- he died after being sent away to live on a farm.
2. My favorite kind of ice cream is Moose Tracks- lots of chocolate!
3. I have a Masters Degree in Special Education
4. My parents have been married over 45 years
5. The first car I ever bought by myself was a Ford Contour- looking back, it was pretty ugly
6. Right now I drive a blue-gray VW Touareg (yes, I had to look up how to spell it)
7. Once I cheated on a driver's test and was caught. I was in my 30's. I knew better. :)
8. The room I grew up in had red shag carpet in it.
9. We used to use a big rake to "brush up" our shag carpets
10. I used to play basketball- I was the tallest girl on the team, in 5th grade, at 5'4. I am still 5'4. I do not play basketball now.
11. My first kiss was at 15 years old, to my brother's best friend.
12. I love the color taupe
13. I am 4 years older than my husband (he is not my brother's best friend)
14. My spiritual gift is faith
15. I wear my mother's wedding ring as my wedding ring. She got a new one!
16. I love lima beans
17. I gag on peaches!
18. I have a very large fear of flying
19. I have an even larger fear of birds- but most of you know that!
20. I like sheets made of Egyptian cotton
21. I use 3 pillows at night. My husband uses more- I won't say how many more
22. We have a queen bed
23. We are large boned people. :) I'd like a king bed
24. I take one prescription medicine
25. I iron almost everything. And I don't like to iron
26. I met my prince when I was 31
27. I met my daughter when I was 40
28. I will meet my son when I am 43, which I am not YET! :)
29. My favorite feature is my eyes. I get them from my mom
30. My least favorite feature is my stomach. I get it from too much chocolate!
31. I LOVE fall weather.
32. I love to pray, but I hate to pray aloud
33. I have gotten stitches once- I ran into the corner of my grandma's trailer home when I was 2
34. I was born with VERY blonde hair. I now pay for blonde hair
35. One year my husband got me a box of chocolates, and instead of chocolates in the little wrappers, he put pairs of earrings
36. I have suffered, enough to write a book, from generalized anxiety
37. I VERY RARELY suffer anymore
38. I had my first panic attack at age 29. I remember exactly where I was and ALL the details
39. I have one sibling- an older brother- he is a police detective
40. My first apartment was nicknamed "the box". It was TINY. The kitchen had one drawer. It was also brand new and adorable!
41. I have never smoked- anything!
42. I love to type. Sometimes when I'm just thinking I'll be typing out the words in my head
43. My worst nightmare ever was about a fire in my house. I could not run for help. My feet stood still. It was horrible. I was 8.
44. I was really good at dodgeball in elementary school
45. I was really, really bad at math after 7th grade. Once letters came into math I was LOST!
46. I got a D in Spanish and a D in French. I can't "do" foreign language!
47. I taught 7/8 grade English for 12 years. I really liked my job!
48. If there is a fire in the fireplace I have to stay up until it's all gone out
49. I honeymooned in Maine. It was beautiful!
50. I never learned how to dive. Belly flops were my specialty!
51. My favorite flower is the tulip
52. I do not care for massages. They hurt me. You can scratch my back all day, though.
53. One of my favorite memories is being at the Eiffel Tower on their Bastille Day- VERY cool!!
54. My dad is the healthiest person I know. I wish I took after my dad.
55. My brother is also very healthy. I wish I took after my brother.
56. My mom likes cookies and cake. I take after my mom. :)
57. I really like football- watching, not playing
58. One time K-State (my team) beat Nebraska (Scott's team), and he left the house!
59. I went through fertility treatment for three years
60. I am still sad that I will never give birth.
61. I love my daughter more than I ever thought it possible to love someone
62. I have worked with kids in some fashion since I was of employable age
63. I used to be pretty good at tennis. We used to practice on a huge green piece of foam in our basement!
64. I used to have crushes on Sylvester Stallone, Shaun Cassidy, and that guy from Battlestar Galactica- what was his name?
65. I HATE shows like Star Trek
66. I am not a risk taker.
67. I really love The Carpenters. I can sing in her range the best!
68. My mom and I used to watch shows like Magnum P.I. and Dallas religiously!
69. I used to watch soap operas. I haven't in years. I cannot believe Victor Newman is still alive
70. I have called myself the Queen of Good Intentions. I have lots of good ideas. I'm not the best at follow- through.
71. I'm really bad about calling people back.
72. I'm really good at emailing people back.
73. I am intimidated in Williams-Sonoma
74. Today I had a grilled peanut butter sandwich. See #73
75. When I was 15 I went to Europe with a group of kids. I got grounded when I was there for having boys in my room! Innocent, we were all innocent! :)
76. I enjoy public speaking. I get nervous about it, but I enjoy it
77. I love to play cards. My favorite game is canasta. My brother and Dad always beat my mom and me. My husband refuses to play with us!
78. One year the geniuses in the California teaching system appointed me to teach GEOGRAPHY! I can't find my way out of a paper bag, read a map... really, I can't! It was a long year- for me, AND the kids!
79. I actually like job interviews.
80. I could watch You've Got Mail every month.
81. One of my favorite books was She's Come Undone
82. I was never really popular. I always had a friend who was, so I kind of slipped in the group. If they had to vote someone out, it would have been me.
83. My best friends in high school were Cynda and Cheryl. They were both popular! :)
84. I graduated in 1984. Thought that was fun for #84
85. I have ridden a horse once. It took off and I couldn't make it stop. It was scary. I think I was 8 or 9 years old.
86. I don't think Brad and Angelina will last.
87. I used to think it would be fun to be famous. I don't think so anymore
88. I saw Kevin Bacon in concert (yes, he sings, and his music is fun!) in Sausilito.
89. My first concert ever was Donny and Marie.
90. My favorite concert was Chicago. They came to K-State when I was there, and my "I wish he was my boyfriend but he wasn't" friend came up to see the show with me. A GREAT night!
91. I watched the space shuttle disaster from the basement of my dorm. I remember where I was standing.
92. I also watched Matlock and a whole lotta' Cosby from the basement of my dorm
93. I am just now running out of things to say....
94. I miss the close neighborhoods of my youth. I used to know all my neighbors. Not anymore. :(
95. I used to think people who were in their 40's must know everything.
96. I recently learned that you don't have to weigh every time you go to the doctor. You can just say "no thank you".
97. I no longer dread going to the doctor like I used to
98. Laughter really is the best medicine. I've been doing a lot of thinking/worrying lately (mainly about Aaron), and making this list helped me forget about it and laugh a lot
99. It would make me SO happy if even ONE of my readers made a list of their own. It really was fun, and I really would love to read someone else's list.
100. If you are even reading #100, thank you! I hope you had a little bit of fun getting to know me better. :) It's 12:30, so I am going to bed. Good night!

Hey, hey, little fishy....

Yesterday we headed to our rec center twice- once for swimming class and once for dance class. Good times! The swimming class was great. Last year we did the "Mommy and Me" class, which was also fun, but it was more enjoyable for me to watch her be independent and have a teacher show her the ropes without my help. There were 5 kids in her class, and she enjoyed every minute- until the end. Here is where I'll explain the swimming video....

All the kids lined up at the edge of the pool and she described a "game" to them. The "game" was where the teacher would sing some little song and then tag you with the cute little alligator. If she tagged you, you jumped into the water and she dunked you. Everything was peachy until Allison saw how the game worked. As soon as that first kid got dunked she started backing up away from the line, pacing back and forth, VERY worried. I know I should have been compassionate, but it CRACKED ME UP!! I've never seen Allison so nervous before. She looked back at me once and I just said, "It'll be fine", with a smile on my face. When it was her turn, the teacher had to reach a bit to tag her, but she jumped in, got dunked and came up just fine. She wasn't thrilled about it, and I'm not sure she'll do it again now that she gets what's going to happen, but it sure was cute. This video will make me laugh for years to come!

The other video is of her speed singing her ABC's. Just darn cute!

Update: both caterpillars are still living. :)






More and more this is the image I see at "rest time". Hey, whatever works!



How cute is this? Allison with her new little friend, Lauren, at swim class



All the kids lined up. I did want pictures of their faces, but I was the only one there with a camera as it was, so I didn't want to be obnoxious! :)



Getting ready to head out for dance class, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching this time. Allison is still obsessed with picking clover, flowers, weeds, whatever.

RANDOM thoughts and pictures...

Sixty five and sunny. This, in my opinion, is the BEST weather of all! And it is today. REJOICE!! :) Now, on to my post....

Nothing too exciting has happened this week. Just normal life around here. However, I was very inspired by my blogging buddy Jodee to get my fall decorations out, so I did that yesterday and took a few pictures. Fall is my favorite time of year- the start of school, family b-days, pumpkins, fall festivals and the like. I just love it all!

I felt the need to write about how my angel is not always an angel. I do brag on her an awful lot, I know. But seriously, she really is an angel on most days. HOWEVER, she does have her moments, and I feel the need to come clean with a few of them. This is really for Missy,another blogging buddy , who thinks Allison is too sweet for words. She really is, Missy, but once in awhile I must expose her dark side.

Example 1: She is enjoying the "repeat game", where she repeats everything you say. This is fine if you are in the mood. She will not stop, no matter if you are in the mood or not, so sometimes I'm quiet for long periods of time. What does she do? Follows me and mocks my actions. GRRRRR!

Example 2: Bath time. Usually bath time is nice, no issues. At the end of bath time she is allowed to play with the sprayer, but she is told EVERY time to be careful to keep it in the tub. She ALWAYS keeps it in the tub. Until this week. She takes the sprayer and AFTER hearing the warning proceeds to point it right at me. I am wearing my glasses, so now I can't see, my clothes are wet, water is going all over the floor, and I am trying desperately to turn the water OFF. The worst part? She thought it was funny. She spent the next 30 minutes asking, "Are you still mad?" I think I said yes about 5 times before I said, "Not anymore." Then she says, "Next time I will not point the sprayer at you." NEXT time? Uh, I don't think so. Not for a LONG time! :)

Example 3: Would you like some cheese with that WHINE? Not for long periods of time, and not every day, but oh this child can whine with the best of them. She can also talk back pretty darn well too. Her latest is when I call to her. She'll YELL back, "JUST A MINUTE!" or "I'M BUSY!" We do not tolerate that in our house, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

So there you go. That should hold off the "you brag about your child too much" folks for awhile. :)

Okay, the rest of this is really random, so if randomness bugs you, come back another day.

1. I think Squiggly (caterpillar #1) might be dead. The question is- do we just say it was time for him to go back to nature and put him outside, or do we explain the death of a caterpillar to her? I vote for back to nature! You?

2. We are starting to sell Allison's clothing on ebay. If you are looking for little girl clothing, sizes 9 months - 2T, look for a post coming soon to show you how to get to our sales.

3. We have not heard anything new about Aaron, nor do we know when we'll be traveling to China. My best guess is that we'll hear something by the end of this month or in early October that will let us know WHEN we might travel. Stay tuned. Believe me, when we know, you'll know. I can't wait to post his picture. He really is pretty darn cute!

4. My blog will be getting an updated look as soon as we hear about Aaron. YAHOO! I'm working on its design right now, and then of course I'll hire my buddy Danielle to make it all pretty for me! I can't wait! I'm going to add lots of things to it, including a bigger list of blogs I love to read- the list has grown a lot since I first started this one.


5. And lastly, a note about blogging. I have SO much fun updating my blog every day or so. And I really enjoy the comments. They are just fun to read, and they often make me laugh and smile, something we all need to do every day. So thank you!! I appreciate the comments so much, and I love commenting on other people's blogs too! The thing I don't like is when I hear that people have had negative comments left on their blogs- really hurtful, negative comments. I have recently changed a setting on my blog so that I can view comments before they hit my blog. Sure, I'll still see the comment, but at least it won't get any attention, which is what these people want- attention. Some of my friends have done the same, or have not allowed anonymous people to comment. Either way will work to shut down those people out there who enjoy being hurtful.

Okay, on to the pictures- enjoy! :)








Allison asked if I would take a picture of her book and craft "for the blog". I obliged. :)



A couple days ago Allison was writing messages on paper after paper after paper. She finally brought one to me and said, "This is a picture of how I need to tidy up. :)



I know. I take pictures of the weirdest things sometimes, but this cracked me up. Each night she can choose 2 books for us to read. Last night's picks- Jesus and Barbie. All I can say is that I'm the lucky one- she chose ME to read about Jesus. Hearing Scott read the Barbie book was quite humorous! :)



Fall decorations



Someone was very excited to put candy corn into the dish. :)

The Very Hungry CaterpillarS

Oh, what a day! We had so much fun! Scott decided today would be a good day to visit Hermann, MO, the town we've been meaning to check out for some time now. He knew the Tour De Missouri was going through there today, but he didn't know it was a starting point for leg 6 of the race. The place was packed with people, bikes, camera men, radio and tv stations, etc. We walked around a bit and took a LOT of pictures because my dad is an avid bicyclist and we knew he'd appreciate the photos. :) At lunch time Allison and I ducked in a restaurant while Scott watched the start of the race and took more pictures. NO ONE was in the restaurant (duh!), but five minutes after the race started there was a line out the door to get in. My hubby, he's soooo smart! We enjoyed a lunch and then headed home.

The most exciting part of the day for Allison was when Daddy bravely went into the street not once but twice to pick her up a caterpillar. We found a nearby store and bought a little bin to put them in. Then we added leaves, sticks, grass and a bit of water for them. She "took care of them" all the way home and said, "These are our first pets!" She named them squiggly (the black one) and Bally (the orange one, who was all balled up when she first saw him), and she is very excited to have them in her room. I heard her reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so I went to her room and found her reading the book TO THEM. Come on- how cute is THAT? :) I took pictures and video- I really wanted to remember how special this day was for her. Scott has been researching how to keep them alive. :)

Life is good. :)





She held on to the bin the whole ride home (about an hour) to make sure they were okay.



Reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to her new friends



She returned a few minutes later just to "check on them"

Itty Bitty Ballet and Tap

The post I promised- enjoy! :)

FINALLY drawing & a visual of our bookworm

Not that I was worried, but I really wondered if Allison was ever going to get into drawing real things. Just last week she decided that drawing was pretty fun, and now she can't stop. Yeah! I love looking at all her drawings and asking her to tell me about them. I learned a long time ago not to ask, "What's that?" but rather to say, "Tell me more about that" Ha! :) Subtle, but it works.

When I was a kid I LOVED to color. I could do it for hours! So far Allison has only been interested in coloring if I'm doing it with her, and even then she'd want to turn the page every 2 seconds or bully her way over to my page so I couldn't color. That's when you'd see me turn into a 2 year old and go, "Hey, this is my page. Color on your own page." I'll admit it. I sometimes go to the dark side. I don't like to share my coloring page. Sue me!

Anyway, this week Allison started requesting crayons and coloring books, and she'll sit there and color an entire page, or multiple pages by herself. LOVING that because I want her to enjoy it as much as I did when I was little...okay, and still do now. :)

Last night I went to check on Allison before going to bed and caught her with TONS of books in her bed- she was allowed to take in ONE. When Daddy snapped a picture she half-way woke up, turned over and gave him an even cuter shot. Enjoy!




This is a caterpillar on grass with the sky and clouds above him



In the center is Allison inside the Magic House (our local Children's museum), waiting to go outside in the sand. The sun it starting to set outside the house, and there are trees all around.



Some morning coloring time. Caterpillars are very popular these days.



The first picture Daddy took of her surrounded by her books



The picture he took when she flipped over after the flash woke her up. :)

The Loves of my Life!

Before meeting Daddy for lunch today we did some window shopping at the nearby strip mall. Allison chose the stores- Pet-Smart and the Christian Bookstore. Of course we read books in the bookstore, and one she chose was The Bearnstain (sp?) Bears count their blessings. Now mind you, the bear books never mention God, but the lesson was still a good one- to pay attention to what you HAVE (family, a roof over your heads, love, etc.) and to not worry too much about what you don't have (like all the new toys your friends have). I couldn't help but think how all of the B. Bears books we have teach lessons that we as adults could learn from too-like messy rooms, too much junk food, tattling, etc. But I believe the blessings book to be the best one yet. So today I am counting my blessings, and among them are my two very favorite people in the world- my wonderful husband, and my precious daughter, who both bring me more joy than I am deserving of on a daily basis. I love you two SO much! Thank you for making my days and nights so incredibly blessed.

A weekend in pictures- and video :)

I couldn't pick just one event to blog about tonight, so I decided to do a "weekend in pictures" post. We didn't do anything "special" this weekend. It was very typical, yet fun. The mall on Friday night, the park and church on Saturday, playing at home and the outdoor shopping area on Sunday. Good times. I hope you'll enjoy our weekend pictures. And I hope your weekend was equally relaxing and fun!



Another trip to the Apple store. This time we played an Arthur game, and it was SO much fun! She loved it!



Swinging at the park. Even though it doesn't show her face, I just loved the action shot- and trust me, she was smiling!



This did NOT make me smile! I could write a LOT about how this made me feel, but I try to keep my blog as sunshiny as possible. So I'll just say that in my opinion, a crowded public park is not the place to bring a toy gun. Enough said- moving on.



Today our church had what they call "Celebration Saturday". For a couple of months they have special events going on in the parking lot before and after Saturday church- a way to outreach to the community. Today there was a car show. We walked around a bit, but Allison preferred playing in the jump houses. :)



This morning Daddy introduced Allison to a new activity- magnets! She was in HEAVEN! He set it all up downstairs and then called her down to play. I've had people ask me if Allison is always well put together with matching bows and all. UH, NO, she's not! :)



Tonight Allison felt like making a pretend bed in the living room. She really is a creative little girl. After reading her book she got on her pretend phone and called us for a chat.



This picture is a teaser for a post coming later in the week. I bet you can't wait! Me neither! :) Oh, and for those of you who have BTDT with tap class, answer me this- inside her shoe box were these 2 little bands with black circles on them. What are they for?



This video has no words and nothing is really happening- I just thought it was sweet. She LOVES to play in the center of the shopping area. She calls it adventure land. Cracks us up!