Polar Express

This weekend Allison got a chance to go to the North Pole via the Polar Express. Her Grandma found out about the ride and bought tickets for herself, Allison, and me. We had to drive up to Horseshoe Bend and catch a train. We rode on the train for about an hour and when it stopped, we were at the North Pole! We got to get out and walk around. We got some cookies and milk, saw Santa's workshop and even saw the big guy himself. Allison sat on Santa's lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. It snowed all day so everything was white. It was so fun and Allison had a blast!

She is anxiously waiting to board the train. Love the cheesy grin!

Allison and Grandma standing in front of the Polar Express.

They had this little blow up decoration at the train station and she kept asking me if she could ride on Rudolph. She settled for a picture by him.

Sitting at the table on the train, waiting for Grandma to come back with HOT CHOCOLATE!

Holding her train ticket

Shaking her jingle bells while the carolers sang with everyone

Here's Santa's workshop. She wanted to go in, but we had to settle for peeking in the windows.

Not a great picture but here she is on Santa's lap

The sign above the door says "I believe in Santa Claus"

Look Who's 4

I am a terrible, horrible blogger. But even worse than that, I stink at taking pictures - or remembering to take pictures anyway. Allison had a birthday - SHOUT HOORAY! I had every intention of taking lots of pictures and really capturing the day for her. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera with me everywhere we went. I got a couple of pictures with my cell phone, but they're pretty lame. Anyway, Allison turned four and had a crazy, fun, and busy day.

We started by going to Build-A-Bear Workshop where she got to pick out whatever she wanted. She decided on a pink sparkly unicorn that she promptly named Polly. Then Grandma took her to the Disney store and let her pick out some princess toys. My parents took her out to lunch where she was sung to and got some free ice cream. The ice cream part she loved, the singing not so much. She had an expression on her face that said, "what are you doing and when are you going to stop?"

The next stop was to pick up her cousin and 'best friend' Anondi. We hung out at home for awhile so McKenna could get in a nap (party pooper). Then we went to Pojo's so Allison could play games and ride the carousel. She wanted to ride it over and over again, but unfortunately we're not made of money. So after the cash ran out, we headed home for some cake and ice cream. And with the camera already being there, I was at least able to get a couple pictures of the birthday girl with her M&M cake. She insisted that she have them sprinkled on her cake. Crazy kid!

Waiting to blow out the candles as we sing "Happy Birthday"

She blew out all four in one try. Great job Alli!!

Halloween

Quick story before I post pictures of my super cute kids in their Halloween get-ups. About a month ago TJ's mom took Allison to the Disney store to look at princess outfits. It just so happened that they were having a sale on all of their costumes, plus if you got the costume - you got an accessory for really cheap. So, being a sucker for a cute girl, Cindy told Allison she could pick out any costume she wanted. Allison decided on Jasmine and got the outfit, matching shoes and matching tiara.
Fast forward a week. Allison went to Grandma and said, "I need to talk to you about Halloween." She told her Grandma that she wanted Thomas (her 13 yr old cousin) to be her Aladdin. So Grandma got Thomas on the phone and handed it to Allison, where she proceeded to ask him if he would be her Aladdin for Halloween. And like any good 13 year old boy looking for an excuse for one last trick-or-treating hurrah before he's deemed 'too old,' he consented.
A costume was made for Aladdin and he and Jasmine were all set for Halloween. But something was missing. Anyone who's seen the movie knows that Aladdin never goes anywhere without his best bud Abu. So we tossed aside the other costumes we had and ordered a monkey costume online for McKenna to wear.

McKenna DID NOT like the monkey ears.

And Ican't forget Anondi in her giant pumpkin outfit.

Pumpkins

Halloween is just around the corner and of course we all know that means the annual carving of pumpkins. We decided we would do it as a family home evening activity. Allison was especially excited because I found some templates of all her favorite tv characters. We had the pumpkins, the carving tools, and a lot of newspaper spread out on the table. We started out with high hopes of lots of family fun.





Unfortunately, it quickly turned into a chore as one by one we all became a little bored with the task at hand. Allison helped for as long as her short attention span would allow. TJ got a little upset after she left because we were doing this mainly for her. As you can see, McKenna was not happy from the get-go.




So what did we do with this catastrophe of a family activity? WE didn't do anything. Instead, I stuck with it and finished all 5 pumpkins by myself. I'll give credit to Allison for helping me scoop out some of the "goopies" on each one, but the rest of the work was done by me and only me.

I'm not a very good artist, but I think they turned out pretty good. Allison of course wanted her picture taken with the finished product.



Bonus points if you can name all the characters. (I won't be offended if you guess wrong because of my not so awesome art skills.) Oh and remember, Allison picked them out and she is 4. ;-)

So proud

McKenna is now 17 months old and she is starting to pick up little words here and there. She knows a lot of signs, but more and more she's starting to say things with her mouth, mostly just parroting what she hears others say. Well flashback to last week when we were sitting around the tv watching the Boise State football game. During one of the many long runs by a Bronco player, there were 3 of us yelling at the tv, "Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" When all of a sudden I look over at little McKenna and she puts two little fist up in the air and with all the cuteness she could muster, she yelled "Go!" It was so stinkin' cute. But if that wasn't enough, later in the evening after hearing us talking and cheering throughout the game she again raised her little fists and said, "Go Bawcos" (go broncos). I'm glad she understands at a young age that we cheer for the Broncos in our house!

Cute little girl in her pink Bronco jersey

The blahs

Blah. Blah. Blah. This is how I feel and this is how exciting life is right now. Maybe I need to find a new hobby.

It's back!

That's right folks! College football season is back. And in case you didn't already know, we are HUGE Boise State fans at our house. TJ especially has been waiting for this season to start ever since the final whistle blew that ended the 2008 season. So I'm posting a picture of my cute family in their Bronco gear. Blue and orange never looked so good!

It's just a phase. Right???

This is what my little girl looked like when I got her ready this morning. So sweet!

About an hour later, I walked into the kitchen to find this:

And then I turned the corner into the living room to find this:

Last night I was filling up the tub so the girls could have a bath before bed. I started the water, left to get McKenna down from her high chair, and then went outside to take the trash out. When I came back inside I heard Allison laughing hysterically and trying to say something in between giggles. I couldn't understand anything she was saying, so I just followed her and found this.

Swimming

The girls and I just finished a 2 week session of swim lessons. I say the girls and I because I got to do Mommy and Me lessons with McKenna. (No pics of that though, sorry) Anybody who's lucky knows that we have the best swim instructor in town. My sister-in-law Lindsey does group lessons in her parents' pool every summer and she is awesome! She is so good with the kids and talks them through everything. Even when Allison was scared to try something new, Lindsey was gentle and calm, but she still made Allison try everything. She wouldn't go on to the next kid until everyone did what she was asking them. Allison learned a ton and progressed so far in just 2 weeks. McKenna learned to be really comfortable in the water too. Almost too comfortable by the end - she kept trying to get out of my arms to go do her own thing, and she didn't seem to care that we were in the middle of the pool.

The kiddos in the pool: Allison has her back turned to the camera

Working on her front float

Now doing her back float

Allison leading the train around the pool

Sandy Point

With temperatures over 100 degrees this past week, Saturday was a perfect day to get out and take a dip. We went with some friends up to Sandy Point Beach for a bbq and some fun in the sun.

As usual, McKenna went straight for the food, trying to get something to eat.

Success!

Sitting in the boat, finishing lunch.

My cute hubby!

ELAINE AND ALLISON
Allison picked out these Hannah Montana sunglasses because quote, "They look just like Elaine!" ( I would have to agree)

Done swimming, ready to dry off and go home.

Look Who's Walking

It may only be a few steps now, but she's on her way and we can't wait to see more. I'm tired of lugging around this chunky monkey!

Tee-Ball

A couple of months ago, i was cruising around the web and happened upon the Meridian P.A.L. website. It was advertising baseball sign-ups for their U5 league. U5?!? They actually let kids younger than 5 play baseball?!? I was very surprised and even more excited to sign Allison up. The teams are made up of 3 and 4 year olds and she just had her first game today. It was a riot! They let every kid on the team hit the ball and run the bases. Then they switch sides. Most of them still don't quite understand what to do after they hit it. But the best part is when they are in the field and someone hits the ball, you see at least 6 kids run in from all over trying to get the ball first. Once they get it, they don't quite know what to do next. Luckily there are coaches all over the field helping them out.

Team picture. Allison is second from the left, with the purple glove.

Most of the time, Allison is off in her own little world. She seems more interested in picking grass or kicking dirt than what's going on in the game. But she's definitely not the only one. Notice the ball on the ground off to the left? She didn't!

Here's a quick video of her first ever base hit!