A Family that Plays Together

We've been focusing on getting all the decorating and odd jobs in our house done.  We've almost succeeded!  We are just waiting on some picture frames and ribbon so we can finish decorating.  Woohoo!  I even finished making one curtain panel.  Three more to go.

Can't wait until they're done.  They will brighten up our walls a lot.

Allan moved the curtain rods and then filled in holes and painted.  When we moved in there was a bunch of paint splatter on the floor in the living room, and we cleaned all that off so now our floor actually looks clean when we clean it.  Allan cleaned the decorative shelves so I could decorate, and then cleaned behind all of the appliances, and also hung some shelves in the laundry room.  There is still a bunch we want to do as far as decorating goes, but we're out of money for that so we have to wait until next year.  Now, Allan gets to do our yard.  Hopefully soon our front yard will be xeriscaped instead of dead grass.

Cute hand-me-down from cousin P.

We went to a Renaissance Dance night at the college here.  It was fun to learn something new.  We had so much fun we went to the class the following week and are going to sign up for it.  I love to dance but have had a hard time finding something that works for me.  The last couple of dance classes I've taken have resulted in old injuries flaring up, and I don't want to have to be nursing an injury when I need to be taking care of little A.  I'm excited about this one though because the intensity level is so low I'm very unlikely to have a problem.

Having a conversation with Daddy at the end of the day.

Little A is getting so big.  She cut her first two teeth!  A day apart from each other.  It went pretty easy for her.  She was just kind of clingy for a couple of days and had a rough time eating but was otherwise fine.  I love those two little teeth, they are adorable!

Snuggling with Daddy after a long day at church.

 She has really started reaching more with her arms and body.  She's started to dive for things a little bit.  I've enjoyed setting her toys just out of her reach to see what she'll do to get them.  She still usually will sit patiently and stare at them and then play with her feet or hands, but more and more she'll scoot or reach until she can get them.

Reaching for Mommy.

I had a really fun lesson in my Primary class the other day.  The week before we had a lesson about how Jesus loves all the children all over the world.  This week I was supposed to that we should love people like Jesus does.  Unknowingly, I taught both lessons the previous week.  So, instead of teaching the lesson again I did an activity that was in the manual.  Each child would take a turn sitting in a chair in the middle of the room.  The other children would tell this child one reason why they loved them.  After everyone took a turn I crowned them a prince or princess.  When everyone was done we decorated the crowns.  They loved it and did such a good job.  I though I would mostly get things like "I love him because he's nice" or "I love her because I love her", but they did really well about really considering everyone.  Here are some of my favorites:

"I love her because she's my sister in the Lord and she chooses the right"
"I love him because he always chooses the right even when it's hard.  And he does it without even wearing his CTR ring!"
"I love her because she always tries to be friends to everyone"

I have a really challenging class of 5 year olds, but they are such good kids.  This day showed me some of the talents they have and reminded me of their great potential.

Today in class we talked about prayer.  One little boy told me a story about how one time he lost his bouncy ball and prayed for help to find it but he never found it.  I told him that sometimes Heavenly Father doesn't answer our prayers like we expect him too.  Sometimes he gives us a surprise instead, and the surprise is always something better because it's what we need.  Then he told me how the next day he got a big box of bouncy balls, so Heavenly Father answered his prayers after all.  Lol! They are too funny.

Feeding little A before bed.  She is to the point that she can hold her bottle but she will only do it when she wants to.  Usually she prefers to cover her eyes.  I'll start her holding it and let it drop three or four times before I actually hold it for her.  By then about 3/4 of her bottle is gone.

Little A can also stand.  She's been able to do this for a long time but her balance is getting better and better.  She still prefers to sit though.

Allan is such a great dad.  He is always finding new ways to play with little A that either challenge her or make her burst into giggles.  She loves to bounce on his belly while he makes big belly laughs.  I love coming into the living room to hear their laughter.

The other day Allan told me he wanted to give me a pamper day.  This means that I get to do whatever I want; he is there to serve me.  Usually this consists of breakfast in bed, a good massage, Allan makes all the meals, frozen yogurt, etc.  But this time I had a few things that I've been wanting to do for a couple months, and we haven't been able to make time for.  I wanted to have a play date at the park with Allan and little A so we could take her down the slides, and I wanted to do some baking.  I used to bake 2 or 3 times a week.  Now I do it once or twice a month and I've really missed it.  So, we headed out to the park bright and early to beat the heat.  Little A was tired so the slides didn't go too well, we still had a lot of fun though.

Taking A down one of the big slides.

Allan going fast.

This is how she felt about going fast, lol.

Playing peek-a-boo in the tunnel.

Playing with the rubber chips.  She did manage to taste one too and wasn't very impressed.

Daddy getting her to smile again.

Allan and I took turns helping her go down the slide by herself.  She didn't like it.

We wanted to let her try the swings as well but they were full.  We'll have to go back another day.  We went home, and I started baking.  First I made rolls.  We had some BBQ beef in the freezer we needed to eat up, and I wanted some rolls to go with them so we wouldn't have to buy any.  When I got those baking I still had some time so I made bread too!  I made a very big mess in the kitchen and because it was my pamper day Allan cleaned up all the dishes by himself while I played with little A.  What an awesome husband I have!  He said he'd love to do that every weekend if it meant he could eat all the food I made, lol.

Messy kitchen, rolls cooling, and bread rising

More rolls cooling.

Trying to clean up a little while the bread rose.

When we got little A down that night I did some sewing and that is when I finally patched and finished my first curtain panel.  The patch is on the back of the pocket so you can't see it. Phew.

Cute outfit from a friend here.

This sweet girl loves to be on her back.  I always put her on her tummy, and the first thing she does is roll over.  Sometimes we play a game where I'll roll her back onto her belly over and over again by pulling her arm.  That never lasts very long though, she really hates being on her belly.

Story time.

Heading to bed.

Little A is starting to get up on her knees a little to roll over.  She used to scoot like this but as soon as she figured out how to roll over she stopped scooting. I think I need to start taking her to story time at the library again so she is around kids that move.  Maybe that will give her some inspiration. Ha!

She loves to suck on her toes.  I love watching her do this, it is so adorable!  Her toes are some of her favorite toys.  If she has thrown all her toys out of reach, or I put them out of reach, she just plays with her toes instead and is content. 

We also like to wrestle in this house.  Allan says when I do it it's more like partnering in modern dance, lol.  We lean up against the couch, lay her on our bellies and she'll wiggle and grunt to her hearts delight, until she rolls off and we catch her.  She especially loves doing it with Allan because he grunts back. :)

We went to our ward party this weekend and had a lot of fun.  Little A enjoyed riding in the stroller.  I spent the majority of time running the cake walk.  I love watching kids playing and figuring things out.  They were only allowed to win a cupcake once but most of them just wanted to walk in the circle.  Little A got her first bruise while we were there.  She dove for some food and got the metal picnic table in the forehead instead.  It didn't leave a bump, but there is a little golden bruise on her forehead.

Little A's favorite thing to eat is her strap.  We'll either put food or toys on her tray but she would rather chew on the strap. Funny girl.

August in a Nutshell

We've been working on having people over more often, and going to visit people more often.  In August we had dinner with friends several times.  Little A is a very social baby and loves to have visitors, but when she's tired she likes to be at home in the quiet and go through her normal bedtime routine.  She's gotten better this month about dealing with noise when she's tired and going to sleep somewhere other than home.  We had family home evening with some friends one night.  My friends husband doesn't really enjoy playing games so he snuggled little A while the rest of us played.  He must have been a good snuggler because she eventually settled down and went to sleep!  Usually she fusses unless I have her at night.  It was nice to play a game without holding her in my arms. 

A loves to be laid down in her crib when she's tired, and then she'll play until she goes to sleep.  Sometimes she'll lay in there and giggle herself to sleep.  That's my favorite.

We also got to play one of our favorite games with some other friends, The Construction Game.  Usually Allan and I lose horribly when we play games with other people, me coming in dead last and Allan second to last.  We must have had some good luck that evening though because I came in first and Allan second.  Ha!  While we played their little boy discovered what was in the kitchen cabinets.  They don't let him play in the kitchen at all so he was extremely thrilled to finally get inside some cabinet doors.  I really enjoyed watching him figure everything out.  He especially loved the sandwich bags and the plastic lid to one of my aluminum pans.  Little A loved their little boy and screamed happily at him until it was time for bed.

Play time with Momma.

One of Allan's former co-workers, who we became good friends with, sent little A a gift.  A pewter silver cup with her name engraved on it.  It's so pretty and goes perfectly with the pewter plate and mug handed down from me.

Little A loves to wrestle with Daddy.  She's really good at getting him right in the throat.

Grandma H made A this Strawberry Shortcake quilt and Aunt K3 gave her this Strawberry Shortcake bib.  They are made from the same fabric and go perfectly with her strawberry pajamas!

Strawberry quilt, strawberry bib, and strawberry pajamas - you can't see but there is a big strawberry on her bum.

She loves to get her toes when she's sitting up.  For a long time this was the only way she would play with them. 

 Little A has started moving her right arm a lot.  She's never been very big on using her arms.  That's been nice in some ways because she doesn't pull my hair and isn't very grabby, but I've been trying to encourage her to use them more.  Her favorite thing to do is move her right arm up and down as fast as she can.  Allan calls it her karate chop, lol.  She has always loved her rattle, but I took it away from her because she would wave it up and down in her hand and hit herself in the head over and over again.  I got a little worried that she was going to hurt herself.  So now her new favorite toy is the keys.  They're softer so she can hit herself without too much pain, they still make some noise, and she can chew on them. 

Hawaiian dress from Nana and Pops handed down from cousin P.

One Sunday in August my hair must have been especially curly because the class behind me just couldn't stop boinging my curls!   This used to happen me a lot in our last ward but this was the first time it happened in this ward.  It cracks me up when they do it, especially when I hear a little whispered "boing!".

She's wearing a shirt with an owl on it and playing with her owl taggie.

A loves to sit in her high chair and play with toys while I work in the kitchen. 

We've given her some baby mum mum's and some puffs.  She liked them both at first and would feed herself the mum mum's, but now she hates them and just throws them on the floor. We gave her a lick of BBQ sauce.  That was probably the funniest face I've seen her make.  She was totally horrified.  I wish we'd had our camera with us.

Snuggling A at the end of the day.  She wiggled around until she was in this position and then fell right to sleep.

A friend gave us these adorable overalls.  I think she looks like a boy in them.  A very cute boy.

So we added a bow so she'd look like a very cute girl. :)

One of the outfits from the baby shower, I think from K5.  Love it.

I often read scriptures while little A plays on the floor.  She'll play really well for a long time as long as I'm near by, and this allows me to have a good scripture study before Allan gets home from work.

Blowing on her cheeks.  She LOVES this!  It makes her giggle more than anything else.

One of the cute outfits from K1.

You can't see them in this picture but this outfit has the cutest plaid shorts.  I love them.

Another cute outfit from a friend here.  These are some of the shorts I made for her.

Reading stories.  A loves to be read to and has just recently started helping me turn the pages.  She likes to touch the pages where I touch them and rarely bends or grabs them.  I'm hoping this will last and we won't have to worry about ripped books.

The Return of Captain CTR

One of the boys in my class at church moved recently.  He is such a sweetie and I am so sad that he's moved.  Here's one of my favorite moments with him.

I was talking to his mother telling her how good he always is in my class.  He popped up and said that he is a superhero. 

Me: "Whoa! That is awesome! What's your superpower?"
Him: "Super speed, super strength, and I can fly!"
Me: (laughing) "I'm sure you can! Those are awesome powers.  Guess what?! He's a superhero too! (pointing to Allan)"
He looked at Allan sceptically.
Me: "Guess what his super power is."
Him: "What?"
Me: "Choosing the right!"
Him: "That's not a super power."
Me: "It is.  He helps people make good choices every day.  That's so important because we have to make good choices to help us return to Heavenly Father.  He even has a cape."
(Looks at Allan slightly impressed.)

So sad to see this little guy go.  I hope he's doing well in his new home.

Summer Vacation

To wrap up the summer we took a much needed trip to see our families.  While we were there we finalized little A's adoption, sealed her to us in the Temple, and gave her her baby blessing.

K6 let us borrow her fly baby for the trip.  It was great!  It's basically a hammock you can hang between you and the tray in front of you on the airplane.  A loved it.  She played happily in it until she fell asleep.  I highly recommend it if you have an infant and a long flight.

A had diarrhea from some baby food that she responded badly to.  Pretty much every time we would feed her she would have a big blowout.  We fed her as soon as we got on the plane and while we were taking off she pooped.  Sure enough, it was a blowout.  I changed her diaper and clothes on my lap in the middle of take off, and somehow managed to not get poop on me!  That's right, I am amazing!  She isn't usually very stinky.  Most of the time I can't smell it.  This time was VERY stinky though. The man who sat next to us commented on how cute she is, after she pooped he looked at her like "Why did I have to choose to sit by the stinky one...why!"  Poor guy.

We went to visit Allan's family first.  We had so much fun with all of them.  Allan's family is pretty loud.  Little A isn't used to having a lot of noise and usually gets pretty fussy and scared when we're in a place that is loud.  We were really worried that she would have a hard time with all the noise.  She did great though!  She seemed to love every minute of it.  It actually made me worried that we would get home and she would be fussy because it was just me and her, and she was bored, lol.

Several of Allan's family were able to make it to A's adoption finalization and to her sealing and blessing the following day.  After the blessing we had a party to celebrate.  AG was there as well as mine and Allan's families.  More on that day in another post.  We love having our families together.

Allan's parents watched little A for us so we could go on a much needed date.  We went out to eat at Iggy's and stuffed ourselves.  Then we had frozen yogurt and walked around some shops for a little while to try and un-stuff ourselves a little.  After that we played miniature golf.  We love mini-golf, but there isn't one where we live, so it was a fun treat to go and play.  We try to find as many different was to hit the ball as we can, and as many different paths to the hole as we can.  It makes for some pretty entertaining moments.  When we were done we weren't ready to go home quite yet so we stopped at a mall and did some window shopping.  We had a great time flirting and talking with each other.  It was so nice to be alone together and kindle our relationship a little.

Grandma H made this cute Strawberry Shortcake quilt for little A.  I love Strawberry Shortcake!  It's an adorable quilt, and the perfect size for A to play on. 

I love this ruffle romper.  Still one of my favorites!

 Little A absolutely loves her Grandpa.  He can make a lot of funny noises and expressions, and she got the biggest kick out of all of them.  She loved to lay like this and blow raspberries at him while he entertained her. 

Little A had a rough time sleeping while we were on our trip.  Usually we can just lay her down in her crib or bouncer, and she'll go right to sleep, but there was too much going on.  When I could tell she really needed a nap I took her into our room and lay down with her so she would go to sleep.  It was a nice way to get some time with her and a great way to read my scriptures for the day! 

Little A loved spending time with her cousins.  She thought they were hilarious!  While we were there we made a quick stop to see A1 and F's new home.  Their girls were so excited to show me their house.  It's a beautiful home.  They've done a lot of work on it already, and it's looking great!

Cousin G with Little A

After visiting with Allan's family we headed to Grandad and Grandma H's house to visit with them, K1 and B, K4 and J, and Gram.  As Allan brought in our suitcases Grandad introduced A to the dogs.  A wasn't sure what to think about them, but she didn't cry.  They more or less ignored her.  They are very good dogs.

A with Lulu Bell and Mary Jane

K4, J and little A

J is a hoot.  He has such a fun personality and is a tease.  Just like his mom, ha!  We had a lot of fun playing with him and he was really good with little A.  One of my favorite conversations with him over the trip happened when we were walking down the stairs.  He was going down the stairs on his bottom.  He said "I'm going down on my bum!"
Me: "Yep! You're doing a good job!"
J: You go on your bum too!"
Me: "No, my bum is too old."
J: "Oh.  Ya, your bum is old.  I don't have an old bum, I have a BIG bum!"

Poor Gram was sick while we were there so we weren't able to do much with her.  We had a short visit so Allan and Grandad could give her a blessing.  She got to see little A for a couple minutes.  We wish we could have spent more time with her.  We're relieved that she has recovered and is doing well.

We spent some quiet evenings with Grandad and Grandma H and went to the Zoo with K1, B, J, and J's dad C.  It was pretty hot but we had a lot of fun there.

Allan and Little A with the monkeys

K1 and B with the crane.

A vulture showing off it's wings.

Me and A with one of the cats.

The boys in their jeep. They loved this thing, especially finding the most dangerous moments to climb in and out of it.

B, me, A, and J with the lion.

The gang in the jeep. Not sure who that little girl is, she was waiting her turn very patiently.

The boys with T-Rex.  Possibly their favorite thing at the zoo.

J and B outside the bat cave showing us how stinky it was.

This is my favorite picture from our zoo trip.  The bat cave was VERY stinky and the boys got a big kick out of going in and plugging their noses.  They made sure that everyone went inside so they could tell them how stinky it was, lol!

Little A and Allan going down the Giraffe slide.

Allan took Little A for her first slide.  She was tired and hot so we got no response whatsoever.  Her facial expression didn't even change.  I think she would have loved it if she had been more alert.

A and I with the gophers.

The gophers are always a favorite.  There is a tunnel you can crawl through (or walk through if your a small child) and poke your head out.  The boys loved running through and poking their heads out of all the holes they could.

A and I sitting on a tiger.

B and J riding a lizard.

B and J in the dinasour eggs.  B popped up and said "I hatched!"  J was just thrilled to get his feet wet.

Me, J, B, and K1 in a nest.

Little A on Allan's shoulders after her nap.

We also walked through the butterfly exhibit while Allan stayed outside with everyone's things.  I forgot to grab the camera before I went in so I don't have pictures.  A slept in my arms through the whole thing.  I love butterflies and really enjoyed seeing so many at once.  Some of them were huge.  If you stood very still they would land on you.  B tried so hard several times to stand still so one would land on him and was so upset when the time was up and no butterflies had landed on him.  Just as we got in line to go out the door a brave little butterfly landed on his back.  He was SO thrilled!  Two very large blue butterflies landed on A's arm.  At first she didn't notice, but then they started moving and it must have tickled her because she suddenly started shaking her arm back and forth to get them off (she was still asleep).  Thankfully no butterflies were hurt. :)

Next we made a trip to visit with little A's birth mom and her family.  We always love seeing them.  They are so much fun and remind me so much of my family.  I love watching them with little A.  It is obvious how much they love and adore her.

For the last leg of our trip we headed to Nana and Pops to visit with them K3, K5, K6 and her family, and have a baby shower/family reunion.  We hadn't had a reunion since my Grandma passed away a couple of years ago, so it was really good to see everyone.  My sisters put on the shower for us.  They did a Cabbage Patch theme because I love Cabbage Patch dolls.  It turned out so cute!  They used green tissue paper to tuck around cabbage patch dolls in baskets to look like a cabbage patch and Nana and Pops tucked in some money.  I don't have pictures yet, but I'll post them soon.  Everyone was very generous with their gifts, and A got so many cute things.  So many that we thought we would have to mail them home. Thankfully, our extra suitcase and our talent for stuffing things in worked out, and we were able to fit everything in our luggage and keep it underweight.

Aunt A and cousin J couldn't make it to the shower so they made a special stop to see Little A.  I was so glad we got to visit for a little while.  These two ladies are so talented and so generous.  They are always making something to gift to someone.

Aunt K came to the shower as well.  I don't get to see her too often so it was great to have a visit from her.  She brought little A the beanie and booties in the picture.  They are SO cute!  A is going to be very styling in the winter time!  She also brought that adorable dress for P.

There was a craft fair going on the same weekend and K3 had a lady crochet a Cabbage Patch beanie for little A.  It's hilarious and adorable and I can't wait until it gets cold here so she can wear it!  After the lady made it she set it in her display until K3 could come pick it up.  So many people liked it that she took special orders for them and ended up selling a lot!

Nana, K3, and K6 had a booth at the craft fair.  They did really well there.  K3 sold all of the furniture she refurbished and Nana and K6 sold a lot of their things as well.  I have some very talented family members and wish that we lived closer so they could help me with my house. ;)

We also went on a walk with K3, K4, and J and had our traditional late night Canasta tournament ... at which I beat everyone, ha!  Allan came in second!

A had her first sickness while we were there.  The night before we left A woke up in the middle of the night screaming because she couldn't breathe through her nose.  We tried using the nose syringe but there was so much it just kept coming and coming and only made her cry harder which then made her have more snot.  Poor girl.  Allan went to the gas station (the only thing that is open in the middle of the night) to see if we could get some decongestant for her only to find out that you can't give infants decongestant.  So we went to the ER.  Nana and Pops literally live two houses down from the hospital which was very convenient.

The doctor diagnosed her with allergies.   The pollen there has been VERY high this year and pretty much everyone has had problems.  He gave us some saline solution to put up her nose and told us to have her sleep propped up.  Both things helped a lot, and she was able to sleep through the rest of the night.  We had to continue this for about four days after we got home and then she was fine.  She only had problems at night, otherwise she was fine. 

We had an uneventful travel home which was nice.  A did have another blowout but we were in the airport on a layover so it was fine.  Much easier to take care of than mid-take off.  We enjoyed the long ride home.  It gave us time to talk and catch up after being with family for a couple of weeks.  A was thrilled to be back home.  She slept in the car most of the time.  When she woke up and saw her room she immediately started giggling and squealing.  She kept looking at Allan and I with wide happy eyes, then looking around, looking back at us and squealing with delight.  We had to agree with her, it was really good to be home.