Saturday, April 28, 2012

Zoo Day

Chris' good friend Michael came into town for work and stayed with us.
He and Alison got along really well, they played and played and played.
Here we are going to Target to get some snacks and water to take with us to the zoo!

We also stopped got some ice cream at Cold Stone.
Alison was more excited after she got the ice cream.
I had my root canal yesterday, pretty quick turn around huh? One day they tell me I need one the next I am in the chair getting one. It went really well and as long as I chew softly and avoid eating on that side of my mouth it doesn't bother me.

Here daddy and Alison at the zoo talking about the animals.


Our little monkey!

Two cute Koalas sitting on a branch.

It was really crowded at the zoo but we had a good time.There were lots of animals to see and Chris took some pictures as well....I might have to sneak some onto the blog.... :)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Dentist

Alison and I had dental appointments today!

 
Alison and Baba waited in the waiting room while I had my check up.

Alison and monkey checking things out



Alison's appointment was as expected. She was not happy and we had to hold her down, luckily she was being very vocal so the dentist had a good view into her mouth. Everything looks great but she is getting her far back teeth a bit early. Poor thing just can't get a break from teething.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Ali and Mommy Carrot Muffins

Chris started the slow carb diet from the 4 Hour Body book so I thought I would look up some fun recipes to help make the diet easier!
Alison was on board with making daddy some carrot muffins!
 To make them slow cab we used almond meal instead of flour.

Don't worry, except for a few pics Baba was holding Alison.

Alison really enjoyed mixing the muffins!

Alison is getting some back teeth and cuddling with Baba.


The muffins turned out well. They are really hearty! One muffin fills you up. They are not sweet but will make a good breakfast for Chris to grab in the morning on the way to work.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Time for a Tent!

Alison told me she wanted a "bubble tent"...I wasn't sure exactly what she meant by that so I just made her a normal tent with chairs and she seemed very happy!
I put her alphabet quilt on the floor of her tent and we invited some of her favorite friends as well,
 her dog Buddy and her little friend May.

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Of course you can't have a tent without a bunny cup (on the left) of ice cold water 
and a stack of books (on the right) to read!

Alison's favorite part of the tent is running in and out of it and yelling "Bubble Tent!!"

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Pony Tail

 
Alison's hair is long enough for a pony tail!
It's amazing watching her grow and change into a little girl.


Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Shopping with Ali

We went to toys r us to look at tricycles, I didn't bring my camera but I still took some cute pics with my phone!


Near the bikes were the power wheels, Alison found "Boompa's Tractor!"
Her favorite car was the big pink Cadillac.
She thought they were pretty neat and she looked pretty cute trying them out. 

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Big Girl Bike!

Early in the morning and we are getting ready to leave, another work trip for daddy.
See you in a week daddy-pants!

Trying out the balance bike! 
Helmet-check
Bike- check
Legs long enough to actually use the bike- not quite!

Well I think we might have jumped the gun on the balance bike, it says its for 2 and up but Alison is kind of a shorty and her legs are not quite long enough. She loves being pushed around on the bike and loves wearing her helmet but I think we might consider getting her a tricycle in the mean time!
For now we will have fun spinning the wheels! I bet by the time we are in Japan she will be just the right size.  

Monday, April 16, 2012

Bye Bye Baby

A few things happened today, it started with Alison getting her balance bike. Unfortunately when we tried to put it together we weren't able to. 

Our dear sweet Marty cat is starting a new adventure of his own.
 Our move to Japan forced us to make some hard choices. Apparently the pet military housing is an hour away from where Chris is going to work so we knew that taking Marty with us would be a hardship. We thought about sending him to live with my brother, who readily agreed to help us bless his heart, for the three years we are gone. But then we started to really think about what was best for Marty.
Marty does not like Alison and Alison LOVES Marty. 
The older Ali gets the more interested she gets in Marty. She is constantly trying to pet him and really enjoys chasing him. We started thinking that it was only a matter of time before Marty bit her or scratched her with his back paws. It was this that made us decide that it might be better for us to find Marty a permanent new home. Luckily for us at Easter we talked to our friend Nancy about our situation and she told us that she has been thinking about getting a new cat for awhile and might be interested in taking Marty in.
She lost a cat to old age about a year ago and has been thinking about getting a new one since.
She has a closed in patio so Marty would be able to spend time outside, which he loves, and she has another cat so he wouldn't be alone while she was at work and best of all she's a big cat person.
Well she decided to give it a go and today Marty is moving in.
I have to say that although we are sad to see our little furry baby go and we are already missing him its a very soothing balm to know that he is going to live somewhere where he will be happier. Where he will be able to lay out on the floor without worrying about a 2 year old running in and trying to play with him.
Marty, we are going to miss you but we hope you find your own kitty happiness in your new home.


After our good byes with Marty we took Alison's balance bike to A&A Muffler in Poway and this guy, I'm sorry I don't remember his name!, was nice enough to help us get the little bike put together!
In Oklahoma, if you have a metal issue with a toy there is a muffler shop that fixes toys for free so we figured that's where we would start.
I didn't take any pictures today of Alison on her bike but I promise I will get some posted!



Thursday, April 12, 2012

Playtime at the Park

I had to go on base today for a prenatal doctor's appointment. We decided to see how Alison handled going to the doctor's office with mommy (in hopes that she can go to the May 1st ultrasound where they use the good machine and will hopefully be able to tell us if we are having a boy or a girl), so Baba and Alison came along too! End result, Alison hates going to the doctors office and really didn't like them taking my blood pressure and checking the baby with an ultrasound. Bad news Alison won't be going to the May 1st ultrasound. The good news is otherwise the appointment was great! The doctor said everything was perfect, baby has a strong heart beat and both of us are doing great! The due date was moved to September 11th and that makes me 18 weeks pregnant. Things sure are moving along!

 After the appointment we stopped and got Ali an ice cream cone and took her to the park on base.

Alison sitting with her ice cream watching the other kids playing.
It was a pretty nice day, a little chilly but there were a lot of kids out!

Baba holding Ali's hands as she slides down the slide!

Brave Alison walks up the stairs to the slide!
She went down the slide several times and really seemed to enjoy taking turns with the other kids.

She didn't mind going up the stairs but she needed someone to hold her hands while she slid down!
Maybe when she's a little bigger she will be running around the playground with the best of them! 

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Put Your Little Foot...

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Alison loves to put on mommy and daddy's shoes and walk around in them!
She sure loves shoes!

Reading! Alison just keeps getting better and better!
She spends a good portion every day just sitting in her playroom reading her books.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Backyard

Outside! Alison loves being outside. She seems to enjoy playing with her big pink ball the most but likes the bubbles and her slide as well. I hope when we move to Japan that we will have a nice backyard so we can continue to enjoy a little sunshine everyday without leaving the house!

The backyard is looking better. Chris hired some gentlemen to come and work on it twice a month and they have done a really great job! They trimmed all the trees and bushes, cleaned up the flower beds and Chris is fertilizing the lawn trying to get it to perk up a little. Things are looking pretty good around here!

I'm getting bigger! This pregnancy has been making me pretty tired but everything is progressing really well. Alison will occasionally come up to me and put her hands on my stomach and say "baby in mommy's tummy!" 
I think she is looking forward to having another kid in the house to play with. I am really looking to having another kid in the house too! We should be finding out the sex of the baby on May 1st. Do we want a boy or a girl? Well, I love having a little girl so much that I would love to have another but a boy would really shake things up around here! Chris wants a boy but he agrees with me that it would be nice if Alison got to have a little sister too! So far on names we like Lilian Juliette and Eric Grayson.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter!

Easter was so much fun! Alison was a little older this year and was able to wear a dress that Baba had made for me when I was a little girl, and she of course looked very cute.
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Alison looking at the egg in her basket, she was more interested in the one egg in her basket (that our dear friend Nancy had put in there) than actually looking for any!

"Well look at this"

Alison didn't want to hug the Easter bunny this year but she enjoyed watching him hug the other children and she even showed him how she hopped liked a bunny and thanked him for her Easter gifts.

The egg hunt after most of the eggs had been collected

Alison still admiring her egg.
The lady who was putting out eggs noticed that Alison wasn't actually collecting eggs and put an egg in her little basket. It was very nice of her since we were not going to collect any more eggs for Alison since she seemed happy enough with just the one and the other kids were having so much fun collecting them. Alison was very excited about having 2 purple eggs! 

Alison got some jelly beans in one of her eggs!
"Look mommy!"

Daddy and Alison hanging out enjoying watching the other kids.

Our Easter family picture, with Alison sneakily making a funny face!
Of the two eggs Alison got, one of them had a "come to the front desk for a special prize" piece of paper in it.
We did and they gave us a envelope (worth $350!!) with a parking pass and 4 park hopper tickets for
 Legoland!! I am really excited to go back to Legoland especially their aquarium which we didn't have tickets for the one time we went. Since there are 4 tickets we invited Nancy to come with us, she is from California but has never been!

After the egg hunt and before brunch the country club set out a craft area for the kids.
Daddy and Alison worked on a coloring page.

Daddy opens a sticker up for Alison
Alison put the yellow egg sticker in the basket and colored the baby chick red.

Nancy made Alison a bunny crown!

Cutest Easter Bunny there!

Alison really liked Nancy. At home she had shown her all her toys and at the event Alison enjoyed Nancy holding her hand and wanted to be picked up by her. As you can see Nancy was very pleased to have such a small fan.

On our table, they folded the napkins to look like bunnies!

Alison sat in a chair like a big girl!
Baba sitting by the window enjoying her food

Alison ate really well! There was bacon and pigs in a blanket, chicken nuggets, fruit and french fries!

Walking home with her little basket!

Down the hill!

Nancy got Alison a tube of jelly beans so we poured a good amount in her Easter basket and boy was Alison happy about that!!

Chris got me some flowers this week and most of them had bloomed just in time for Easter!
I hung some little decorations from the flowers and it made a very fun and festive table centerpiece.
Thanks Chris for the pretty flowers!
I didn't get a picture of her Easter basket before it was all taken out but here is what was in her basket!
Some bubbles, 3 little baby chicks, a Peter Rabbit chocolate bunny (just like the one she got last year) and two spring time bunny Big Little Golden Books!
 

I stitched up the little baby chicks myself using a pattern I found here.
Although in the pattern they add wire legs but I thought they would be more toy like without them.
Alison really seemed to like them and had them hop around saying "peep peep peep!"

I hope everyone else had a wonderful Easter!
I hope the blessing of Christ is in your heart and that this year we can all strive to be a little more worthy of his sacrifice and the miracle of his resurrection. Happy Easter!