Forget Cheerios...she wants an oatmeal cookie!

Aliza went to the pediatrician Wednesday for a check-up and the second part of her flu shot. She cried very little, Anna was so proud that Aliza got to have a Dora band-aid on her thigh! Aliza weighs 19 pounds and measures 28 1/4 inches long. For her age she is right under the 50% group for weight and height! Her doctor discussed several things with us this visit, among the topics was starting her on table/finger foods. He said, Cheerios were a good thing to start her on. (She's already had several finger food things- like those veggie puffs, etc.) That night at church we found Aliza just chomping away at a homemade oatmeal cookie that Anna left on the kids' table- which was right at her level in the walker. We then watched her as pieces just crumbled perfectly into her mouth. She handled it well, and didn't take bites until she finished chewing what was in her mouth- OUR BIG GIRL.

What makes Mommy cringe, makes Anna want more!

Halloween has NEVER been one of my favorite holidays...the dressing up and trick-or-treating is fun, but that's it. I love the fall scene, the pumpkin and mulled cider smells from the candles burning in my home. I love the pumpkin patch, sweet black kitties with smiles, or a leaf poster with a cute grin. I don't like the creepy stuff. ANNA, on the other hand, is very much into it ALL. As we walked down the halls at Abigail's school this morning, children's Halloween art was scattered down every wall. There were poems, short stories, paintings, and other crafts...the teachers and kids are pretty creative! Awe Anna, look at the cute friendly scarecrows..."Whoa, scary WITCHES!", her voice cracked as she playfully ran her fingers over them. Sweet, the kids did apple printing Anna- look! "oooh, look at those skeletons, Mother!" (she has begun calling me this). We turned the corner, there were friendly little pumpkins...very SWEET! "Mama, BOO! Here's some "ghost-es"! It's like there are blinking lights flashing on every spooky thing, saying "C'Mon over here Anna". And at Wal-Mart, the weird blow up things...she's there! And that gross mechanical hand in the Halloween bowl that moves towards unexpecting little hands as they reach in for their treat...yep, she reaches in over and over! The rubber monster faces- "Try it on me, Mommy- HURRY, it's funny!" She loves it all, she will be a "Spider Queen" we are calling her for Halloween, which suits her Halloween-mania infatuation!

Puttin' on the Ritz

For her-

Dress from the past: 5 minutes with a warm iron

shimmery jacket: 1 hug of appreciation to mom

jewelry: 1 text of thanks to baby sis

special treatment with hairdo: $35

For him-

black suit: 30 seconds of time in the closet

Tie and shirt: a search in 3 stores and $28

haircut: 10 minutes with his wife and the clippers

Catered dinner w/lights, music & decorations: a donation to the Theater

babysitter: a smile and banana bread for the coveted favor

The chance to be child-free with your favorite man:

PRICELESS!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Singin In the Rain

Or maybe just stompin in puddles but the title was catching and now you know what song I have been singing!!! I am SO excited we found these raincoats for the girls...I have only been looking for like 3 years but didn't want to pay the $30 for 1! I spent just $4.00 total on them at the "50% off everything sale" at the Goodwill Store. One is a London Fog and the other is from The Disney Store! The girls love them!!!

Monkey See, Monkey Do...Whoa Monkey!

Today for Playgroup, we played at the Sunset Marina playground and had a picnic. While others played on the equipment, swings, or on the beach, some of the bigger boys took turns on a riding toy. They'd push it all the way to the top of the sidewalk hill and would ride down with feet extended plopping themselves into the sand at the end...they were so amused! I NEVER expected Anna to follow suit! I saw her pushing the riding toy around, but was busy with Aliza when all of a sudden I heard the worst sounding scream of fear (and "Mommy, HELP ME!!!!), I turned just in time to see the riding toy rocking side to side out of control down the steep sidewalk with Anna screaming and legs flailing, before suddenly halting at the bottom. I stood jaw-dropped and lifted up a silent prayer of God's intervention!!! She walked away with a her baby toe all skinned up and of course was frightened...but all the moms commented on how brave she was. I was glad it was over!

Abigail got to go to her 1st jammie party Saturday night...it included all the perks of a sleepover- playing with friends, eating popcorn, watching movies, and staying up late (like 10:30 P.M.)...only she came home to sleep in her own bed! She was so excited to tell me all about it!

On Labor Day weekend, the girls and I drove to PA for my Granny's 70th birthday and we were able to once again get a 5 generation picture, this time with Aliza! It was so neat to spend some time with our extended family and get to introduce Aliza to them. Being up there brought back a lot of fond childhood memories and it was neat to get to share stories with Abigail and Anna and be understood!

Sweet Potato Head

"And Jesus said unto them, follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19...my heart just beamed today as I watched Abigail and Anna recite their Bible verse today during church with the other kids. We've been working on it a few weeks now at home and Ms. Doris told them, as well as the others in their Bible Class, that once everyone had it down, they'd get to pick something from the Treasure Chest. Anna picked out a Mrs. Potato Head, whom she calls Sweet Potato Head, lol. Abigail picked out a bubble wand. The next memory verse, John 3:16 is a little longer, so we might be working on it a little more often!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Aliza Beth grows on

Aliza is a busy body these days! She climbed all over me last night while I was trying to read...she must have had an energy boost right before bed! At 8 1/2 months, she has 2 teeth, is on the go "army crawl" style and gets into whatever she can reach, and has made it from lying on her tummy in her crib to the sitting position...she is growing and growing! She is quick at pulling Anna's hair and loves it when I push Abigail and Anna on the swings with her on my hip. She just giggles so hard, she is too cute! I love this stage of her: belly laughs and baby babbles...no longer is she that quiet baby in church, she is always competing with her daddy while he preaches!

Table for 5 on the patio

All 5 of us went out Saturday night for dinner at Grider Hill Dock Restaurant on Lake Cumberland in Albany, KY. While there, Anna tripped over a little chained fence, got a big knot on her head, and bruised both knees pretty badly while trying to pick some berries. Abigail kept bugging us to eat inside most of the time! We laughed at the "entertainment of the night" agreeing this would be a great date night place! The ribeye and half chicken were the best we'd ever had and the peanut butter and chocolate pies were out of this world! We had enough food between our two plates to feed all 4 of us, as well as 2 more! We loved the atmosphere, the views, and the chefs (the husband & wife team go to our church). It was the "Nice place to eat" I was looking for!

Homemade Play-doh

I came across the recipe Julie and I used to make our own play-doh with when we were little and so the girls and I attempted it last night. They took turns adding the ingredients and stirring...and like magic- it was functionable! Goofiness prevailed as they made pizzas, cookies, letters, and shapes! They especially liked using the rolling pan, and cookie cutters!

back2scool

There are 22 kindergartners in Abigail's class. She knew two other students in her class from church. Her teacher is very organized and nice too! She ate a burrito for lunch, dropped all of her supplies on the floor a lot, her teacher said, and came home telling about "Racoon's 1st day" with some activities that went along with the story. She seemed to have a great day!

Make a Smilebox photobook

Monsters and the Wups

Tuesday we went to Crossville and saw Beauty and the Beast LIVE with a group from church. The play was awesome and the cast was FULL of talent and was hilarious at times! The songs and dances performed were amazing! Abigail and Anna were so well behaved. Aliza hummed along with some of the songs...but all in all was quiet too! Anna says she loved Beauty and the Beast but didn't like the "monsters and the wups" (the beast's loud roars and the wolves). It was a fun time!

Would you like FIRE with that?

Tonight as we were eating our desserts at Golden Corral, alarms sounded off and water began spraying down on the hot bar nearest the kitchen...we were a little unsure of what to do as employees scattered around. We smelled smoke, but all we could see of the kitchen was the massive amount of water 'raining' down. Our server assured us everything was fine as 3 firetrucks and a fire squad explorer arrived within minutes, and 2 firemen ran in. Apparently, a small grease fire began, and when they couldn't extinguish it quickly enough, the sprinklers went off, then a water line broke. Luckily, no one was injured. Anna LOVED seeing the firemen in action and was so excited about the firetrucks! Abigail requested that we not go back!

Dora paste & Hannah Montana gloss

Today the girls had dentist appointments. While I was putting Abigail's hair up, we were talking about going and she said, "But we already went there once". That time Anna did great, but it was pretty traumatizing for Abigail and all the dentist got to do was count her teeth. It's no wonder the dentist wore ear plugs! But TODAY they were EXCELLENT! The new dentist and assistant were very patient, and were absolutely amazing with kids! The girls got to see the pictures of their teeth, and were given choices between Dora paste, (which Anna picked) princess paste, or Hannah Montana paste (which Abigail preferred). All three choices were good ole light brown! (They didn't know the difference, and enjoyed having a say so!) The only time Abigail whimpered in fear was when they used the tube to suck out the paste/water. After I got up in the chair and had Anna lay back on my lap, she did GREAT too! The dentist was so impressed with her! He said typically with 3 year olds, all he can do is count their teeth. He never is able to get films, clean them and do the fluoride treatment! They each got to pick out Hannah Montana gloss and enjoyed having their teeth "painted". We were thrilled to have a positive dental experience this time!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Can it be time for school already?

We've had a ton of fun this summer! We all attended VBS the week after we moved in and got to make some new friends. We have taken advantage of being just 2 minutes from the lake! We swim, have picnics, fish, feed the fish and ducks, play at the playground and eat ice cream in rocking chairs on the dock at Sunset Marina. We are getting to know people at church and have gotten to go out on a couple of boat rides. We went to Be-Bop on the square, got to jump in our neighbor's jump house FOR FREE, played putt-putt, decorated the bikes and rode in a bike parade, saw an awesome fireworks show with friends from church, participated in a 4 week Summer Reading Program at the library, were in the 1st Pickett Co. Fair's pageant, went to a horse show, had movie nights with popcorn, spent the night in the camper some, visited with cousins, aunts/uncles and grandparents, helped wash the car, shucked corn, and played on our swingset. The slideshow includes some pictures.

Can we live here?

A couple of weeks ago, a couple from church invited the five of us to dinner. It wasn't to be just any dinner though. Yesterday, when the girls chattered and sang for more than an hour of their naptime, I decided to let them get up. They were just way too excited to sleep! We met the rest of the Sunday school class on the dock. One by one they got onto the pontoon boat along with their covered dishes. Our pasta salad, diaper bag, 4 life jackets and carseat carrying Aliza seemed like half the house! We set out on the lake! The wind whipped our hair as Aliza cried...couldn't figure out if she did not like the wind or her life jacket (maybe a combination of the two). After about 7 minutes, we spotted the houseboat from a distance...we were going to have dinner on a houseboat! The houseboat had 4 bedrooms and was huge! It even had a dishwasher and trash compactor! Abigail asked me when we were going up to the top deck after we'd been on it for a while, "Can we live here?"

Anything Goes

blank box needing words! Thanks Amy! Always been curious about this but never actually did it! So Anything Goes is what I've titled this today, really because of Anna, my 3 and a half year old daughter. We have been unpacking to feel more settled into our new house. Among the chaos of stuff here in the kids' playroom is the potty chair. So she's been playing, and I was trying to organize the desk area which is near the toys. The potty chair is just another object here in the basement that doesn't have "its" place yet. She plays. I organize...I sit and think of what to do next...organize some more, unpack a couple of boxes and set contents aside. Down comes Louis, calls attention to Anna being bare from bottom down (of course, I hadn't been paying attention). She directs Louis' attention to the potty chair...and yes, she has gone potty! She's been going in the regular toilet for about 10 months now..."anything goes" I thought to myself and laughed!