Saturday, January 28, 2012

Buggy in the Park

Family day!
We spent a little time at the park and brought Alison's doll Baby Abby and her little doll stroller. 

Ali spent almost the entire time at the park pushing her doll around.



Although we did talk her into going down the slide!

"wheee!"

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Hike at Torrey Pines

I got a new baby carrier! I know Alison is 2 isn't that a bit old? Absolutely not!
It holds up to 45 pounds and Alison is only 26 pounds and we plan on having another kid someday in the future. Anyways its a BabyErgo, Alison loves it and I LOVE it!
I got it last week and wore it around the mall and it worked so great I thought we would do something I have been wanting to do for a long time, hiking at Torrey Pines!
As you can see I can carry Alison like a backpack and almost all her weight was on my hips instead of on my back, yea it was awesome and allowed us to spend around 3 hours or so hiking around.

It was so beautiful, I wish these pictures could properly convey how lovely it was.

We did take a hiking break for about 30 minutes to let Alison run around and stretch her legs.
There was a nice flat area for Alison to run around near the visitors center.

They have scenic resting places along the way.


There were a bunch of these little lizards all over the place as well as some really fat ground squirrels. 

Yep, couldn't have done this with a stroller! 

All the paths looked pretty much like this. All of them dirt but some had fencing when the drop was particularly steep.

I wish this picture could include the sound of the waves, feel the warm sun shining on you and the cool breeze coming from across the ocean.

Large sand rock formation called 'Lions Paw'
They had a lot of signs telling people to stay away because the sand stone is too fragile for people to be messing with it.
It was a really good time! Alison was worn out and after about five minutes of being in the car she passed out.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Reading with Daddy

Alison loves being read to.
We probably read between 3-6 books to her everyday.
She will spend hours reading books on her own.


Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Mommy's Little Helper

When Alison is in her high chair I like to give her a normal, albeit child sized, glass.
At first she would dump it all down her front, but now only a few dribbles.


You can see her left hand fingers are a little purple-blue, Alison really likes freeze dried blueberries.
Unfortunately they make a little bit of a mess so its a high chair or mommy super supervision only food!
She is proud of herself for drinking out of a big girl glass and really seems to enjoy doing it.

I ordered a doll high chair and a doll buggy for Alison, both in natural wood. They were deeply on sale and I was thrilled to get them for Alison. She has some serious baby doll love, especially May and her stuffed dog Buddy (who you can see was stuffed first, white fur, into the top part of the high chair).
Alison was very excited about the doll high chair and wanted to help mommy put it together. It took a little longer with her help but she sure was proud of herself.  
Oh yes also since we visited Claudia in Naples Alison has necklace love as well, its so cute! Claudia had a box of necklaces for Alison to play with when we visited her and Alison loved it! So now she has some at our house to play with (supervised of course) as well.

Testing out the high chair!
The doll buggy unfortunately was missing a wheel in the packaging so I will show a picture of that when its complete. I put it together minus one set of wheels and oh goodness Alison was so excited about her new doll buggy!! She could hardly keep her hands off while I was putting it together. It's also natural wood in more of a 'cradle on wheels' style so its easy for her to put dolls in; but without the fourth wheel it only had one axle of wheels and Alison was so heartbroken (a nice was of saying had a melt down) that it wouldn't work that its now shut away in the spare bedroom awaiting the new wheel to come.

These slight disappointments are sent to prepare
For what may hereafter befall;
For seasons of real disappointment and care,
Which commonly happen to all.
JANE TAYLOR, The Disappointment

Monday, January 23, 2012

Play-doh!

Chris' friend Rusty sent Alison and him a care package entitled "Dad's Survival Kit while Mom's Away" it was full of so many fun things (markers, coloring books, magic fairy wands) that Chris didn't even get to everything before I got home! So today I thought it would be fun to pull out the play dough they sent.
 
They sent us a BUNCH of fun sized tubs so we had lots of colors to choose from!
We used a spoon and a fork to make different patterns in the dough.

Alison was concentrating very hard when....Baba called to Skype!

Alison got to show off her molding skills to Baba and Baba was very impressed.

So overall our first experience with play dough was a roaring success! We probably spent an hour sitting there at the table playing and rolling out little balls and making all sorts of little things. AND no play dough was eaten during the process.
Thank you Rusty and family for the wonderful gifts!
 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Tea for Two, and Two for Tea!

Once upon a time I bought 3 mini teacups before Alison was born when we lived in Pacific Beach. My brother Justin was here for a visit and we went to a little tea shop where they had finger sandwiches, little treats and of course tea. They also had a little gift shop where I spotted the little cups and knew they had to be mine.
I don't normally collect little mementos but they were so cute I couldn't help myself! For the longest time I had them by each of my sinks (bathrooms and kitchen) to put my ring in. When we moved to our house I never really got around to putting them back out, since I don't really take my ring off. BUT I did have one in a kitchen drawer and pulled it out while I was cleaning and Alison saw it sitting on the edge of the counter top just perfectly in reach and claimed it as her own and has treasured it ever since keeping it always displayed on her shelf in the playroom.
I thought I would save the other two for a special occasion but Alison was being such a good girl today I thought 'what the heck? why not?' and gave her a second tea cup.

I handed her the little cup and she ran it over to where her first cup (the one on the left) was sitting and with a big smile and repeatedly saying "teacup! teacup!" she placed her second mini teacup in its new home to start its new life as a beloved toy for a two year old little girl.


Friday, January 20, 2012

We really like Banana Republic so we were pleased when Chris got an email at work saying that for the weekend they were going to be offering 50% off of three items each to military and their dependents.
Of course we went in to take advantage! Chris wanted to get some 'grown-up' clothes.
The handsome hubs shows me a possible outfit!

Alison and I are having fun with the little mirror and the stool as we wait for daddy to try on his cloths!

Alison was a really good girl but started to get a little restless, we will have to come back again some other time so mommy can get some new clothes too.
Little cutie isn't she? 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Let's all go for a walk outside now...

It was a little chilly outside but we were tired of being cooped up and decided to go for a walk and see what we could see!
 
I stopped to take a picture of Alison hanging out in her stroller with a flower we found along the way and one of those spiky sweetgum tree balls (I think its the seed pod?)
Both were very interesting and were added to the nature table when we got some. 

Alison had fun looking around as we walked through the neighborhood! 

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Welcome Home Mommy!

Most often its Daddy getting picked up at the airport by the little family but this time it was me!
I was so happy to see my little family! I won't say I was homesick but I was family sick for sure!
s
My little bat-girl was very excited to see mommy and gave me a big hug and kiss and sang the whole way home!

Daddy and daughter in matching Batman shirts, surprisingly Alison had her batman shirt first.
We decided to get some take out Chinese since I was tired and didn't want to make dinner and Chris was tired of making dinner!

We also needed to stop by the Stride Right Store at the mall and get Alison some new shoes.
Of course we had to make a stop in Pottery Barn Kids so Alison (and mommy) could check out their cute little kid stuff.

Alison really liked sitting at this vanity and looked so cute I had to take some pictures!
I love PBK they have the cutest little kids stuff!

Just my size!

I was very happy when the day was finally over and we were all going to bed. I was happy to rock my little angel and put her to sleep.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Baby Shower!

I had the wonderful opportunity to throw a baby shower for my good friend Jean Ann.
She lives in Texas and I have known her for about 10 years now. We met the first day of school our freshman year of college at the University of Oklahoma and have been friends ever since.
Jean Ann and her husband Jacob are expecting their first child a little boy they plan on naming Jacob and but calling him Jake. I arrived on Thursday and the shower was Saturday and I left on Tuesday so I was able to spend some time with the parents to be.
Jean Ann has been watching a lot of cake shows and wanted to try and make her own cake.
This is her first ever fondant cake and I think she did a really great job!
They decorated the baby's room with the Giving Tree and so we carried that theme through the baby shower.

My lovely mom! 
My parents drove down to see Jean Ann and me.
Mom was so helpful setting things up. I just handed her the stuff I had picked up at the store and she make the table look beautiful. (apples for the giving tree and blue for baby boy!)
The pieces of paper are for Baby Bingo! A game where you fill in the blocks with things you think the mother will likely get for her shower and as she opens them you cross off your square and the first to get a bingo gets a prize. It was a fun game and everyone got to talking about what they should put in their squares.

Mary, Jean Ann's step mom and her half sister Marina made this baby buggy fruit bowl!
How cute it that?
Jean Ann's Aunt Betty expressed her interest in helping with the baby shower and she organized some of the family members to make food to bring in. It was so nice of her to want to help out and I really apprechiated it!
Planning a baby shower out of state is no joke!
Jean Ann!

My mom had a good time. The room was in a really cute cafe called The Mix. They had a boutique store and a little French cafe in one as well as this room they rented out for parties.

I didn't know hardly anyone there but everyone was really friendly.
Jean Ann has a wonderful group of people she is surrounded by in Texas!

This little 4 year old girl won one of the baby shower games where you pull a piece of crape paper the length of what you think would wrap around the mommy's pregnant tummy.There was a tie but both guesses were dead on. Since we bought prizes with adults in mind my mom thoughtfully put a $10 bill in an envelope and gave her that, she was thrilled. So both winners got a prize!

Jean Ann and her half sister Marina

Jean Ann and her half sister Kelsey.
Kelsey's crape paper guess was a bit off.
Jean Ann got a lot of really lovely gifts.



About to cut the cake!
It was almost a shame to have to cut her work of art.

Thanks again to everyone who helped and Thank you so much Jean Ann and Jacob for having me in your home and apart of your lives.