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.