My Little Indian

I dropped Lys off for school on Friday not knowing what was planned for the day and when I went to pick her up, this is what she looked like! So cute!




Then she sang me her indian song in the car and again at home. I love it!

Halloween

This kid was so excited for Halloween she could hardly stand it. She asked how many days left until Halloween EVERYDAY!! When it was over, she kept asking, "Why is it over?" over and over and over again.



Alyssa and I made this shirt that we had found on familyfun.com. She colored all the faces so carefully and would say, "This one is going to be perfect!" before coloring each one. She was trying so hard to do a good job and I thought it was too cute.

Alyssa was a "nice" Cruella de Ville. I was even able to get her to take a nap before trick or treating (2 hours!!). I told her she would get to stay up later to trick or treat. She liked that idea.



As for little Addi...she was our sweet strawberry. She was a little cranky and never wanted to be put down to walk to the doors to trick or treat. What's new? Actually it turned out that she just wasn't feeling too good and was really thirsty. Aww, that makes me so sad! I can't wait until she can finally communicate with us. (We made an appointment with a speech therapist on Monday for an evaluation at the direction of a few doctors!!! Can't wait to get started!)







Quite a few people told us that the black part of Alyssa's hair wasn't going to wash out. Steve was soooo nervous! He couldn't wait to get home to wash it out to see how it was going to turn out. But there was no problem at all!

Putting the Couch Joke to Rest

This is dedicated to my family, but especially Caitlin and Tracy (and also to Alyssa whose doubted her Dad in the first place).

Baking with Mom

I always have a partner in the kitchen, especially when it comes to baking cookies. Alyssa has to dump, sprinkle, and stir all the ingredients, but the most important part is licking the beater. She constantly asks me throughout the whole process if she can lick the beater. Even right after I mix the first two ingredients which is usually butter and sugar. I'm tempted to let her try it. Maybe she won't be so eager to lick it until the end!



We recently made Rolo cookies which are to die for! I received this recipe from Summer a couple years ago and now it is a family favorite! It takes a little extra time to wrap the dough around each rolo, but I have a more than willing helper and it is so worth it in the end! They taste so good!









Here's the recipe if you'd like to try!

Chocolate Rolo Cookies

2-1/2 c. flour
3/4 c. Cocoa
1 tsp. soda
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter softened
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
48 rolos
extra sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, cocoa and soda. In a large bowl cream butter and both sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs then slowly mix in dry ingredients. Shape 1 Tbsp of dough around each rolo and roll around in extra sugar. (You may need to add more flour if the dough is too sticky to work with.) Bake 7-10 minutes until slightly cracked and let cool.


While we cook, Addi is usually busy getting into my cupboards, or playing with her favorite toys. Her usual rounds in the kitchen include taking out my veggie steamer piece by piece, pulling out the tupperware lids, then pulling out a few sterilite drawers in one of the cupboards that hold bibs, and other baby items. I don't know why I even bother picking them up ten times a day!


I cannot believe how much she loves these trains. I don't know what else she'd get into if we didn't have these trains to keep her attention while we're downstairs.



One more thing...I found these cute pictures on my camera that I never downloaded back in June. Thank you Kathleen for these adorable dresses!!

Addi

Emily tooks these adorable pics of Addi. I just love them!! I swear, Emily is the best photographer! Here are a few recent ones.








And these were taken back in June at the cabin and I just love them!







You can check out more of her beautiful work here

Alyssa's First Day of Preschool

Alyssa had her first day of school on Wednesday. I was actually so excited for her because I knew how much she would love it. After 2 and a half hours, I couldn't wait to pick her up to see how her day was. The moment she saw me, there was no greeting because she burst out into song. She started singing the new song she learned in class. It was the funniest, and cutest, thing ever. She sung it over and over again. Sorry the video is sideways...





Addi is just enjoying being outside for once while we take pictures.




Show and tell was on the first day too. She chose to show off her Belle Barbie doll. Lys told me that the "naughty" boy said he wanted to hit it and break it. Wow. Sounds like a fun kid to have in class.

Meeting some of the kids




And one more video just for fun. Lys has probably watched this 50 times now.

How we've been spending our summer time

Reading. Just like Alyssa, Addi loves to read! Addi will sit in her room for up to an hour flipping through the pages of her books. Occasionally I will hear her laughing at some of the pages. I love when they sit in the room together and read. This is so nice for me!




More Reading (and some playing too!). Steve has had a lot of reading to get done this first year of his Derm Residency. Addi just likes to be next to him waiting for a break when he'll play with her (which comes often cuz he just can't resist!)




Basket Rides. After I'm finished with laundry, sometimes I'll give the girls a quick ride in the laundry basket. This time, after I was worn out, Alyssa decided to give it a try and Addi loved it! She just kept laughing!



The Ball Pit. After seeing how much Clark loved his ball pit, I had to get one for Alyssa and Addi. We already had a tent that Dave and Cindy gave to Lys for her birthday, so I used that and added a few bags of balls, now it's the perfect ball pit that they play in every day!



Art Musuem. We recently went to the Children's Art Museum too. We went late in the afternoon and were basically the only ones there. Addi found this tiny couch that she just loved to sit on because it was just her size. She probably sat there for 10 min, then left for a min and went right back to it.






Alyssa got to do her favorite thing... arts and crafts in every room! She made a hat, colored plates, did rub drawings with crayons, and a few other things too!



At the Table Manners exhibit, one of the places they taught etiquette was in Japan. Alyssa loved trying to use the chopsticks. You can tell how hard she is concentrating here and she was so proud that she was able to pick some food up with them.

Alyssa and Addi have been tagged!

Of course Addi couldn't really answer the questions, but here are the answers that Alyssa gave...


What does Mommy always say to you?
I don't know. (me: can you think of something). I love you? (ok that's a good one)

What makes Mommy happy?
Cleaning up (well, maybe when it's all done!)



What makes Mommy sad?
Not cleaning up. (Gosh is that I do?)

How does Mommy make you laugh?
By doing silly things. (me:Like what?) Squirts me with the water bottle, does my hair silly in the bathtub.

How old is Mommy?
3. No, you're not three. Yeah, 3.



How tall is Mommy?
So tall!

What does Mommy like to do?
Clean up. (me: what else?) Sing and Eat. (I don't know where singing came from, but she got the last one right!)

What is Mommy's job?
Cleaning up. (Gee, You'd think my house would be a lot cleaner!)

What is Mommy's favorite food?
Sandwiches. Ham and Cheese ones. (I have one for lunch almost everyday!)



How do you know that Mommy loves you?
This much. (no, how do you know? what do I do to show you?) Then she spreads her arms out wider...This much!

Thanks Leah for this fun tag!!! I tag Tyler, Dave, Carter, and James Nelson, and Derek, Mason, and Aaron Marrs, and Blake, Grace, and London Sanders and Saylor Slade.