The Binky Fairy

Well, sad to say, it was finally time (maybe way past time) that Alyssa needed to give up her Binky. Thanks to my ingenious sister-in-law, D'lonna, she told us all about the Binky Fairy. She saw the idea on Nanny 911. That show has a lot of great ideas! Anyway, the binky fairy comes at night and takes all your binkies and brings them to the little babies who are so sad and don't have binkies. Then she leaves a little gift in return to thank you for your binky contribution. So we built this story up for about two nights before the night of her visit. On the big night, we gathered all her binkies, put them in a baggie and hung them from the doorknob. (The Nanny hangs them from a tree outside, but our trees dies last winter!) Alyssa was so willing to "help all the poor babies" and was so excited for her to come. I think it was harder for me than for her!

Now that the binky is gone, there is no more incentive for her to take naps and now naps are quickly dwindling! The good thing, though, is an earlier bedtime :). She's done a great job transitioning and hasn't even asked for her binky and it's been about two weeks now. The binky fairy also left lots of fairy dust behind and a little kiss on her forehead. When I told her the binky fairy kissed her, she replied, "Oh! That was so nice of her!" and ran to the mirror to admire the glitter on her forehead. (For those of you that have little boys, the binky pirate comes to plunder your binkies and he also gives them to the poor babies in need and then leaves some kind of treasure behind. Props goes to Dave and Cindy for that little twist.)

The Binky Fairy came! (Sorry for the blurriness)

Careful not to touch the fairy dust! Mom doesn't want to clean up a mess!

Ok, just one little touch...

Happy with her new prize


As for Addi. . . Last month she all of a sudden started crawling and pulling herself up within one week. She also loves to make this silly face that Alyssa also used to do (well, I think lots of babies do it, but it's still cute). Her screaming is also becoming less and less (thank goodness!) and she is so much happier now that she can get around on her own. Life is good!

About Alyssa

Alyssa turned 3 last week and I can't believe it. She makes me love being a mom. We have so much fun together. She is very helpful, easy-going, so silly and sweet.

She is always concerned about everyone in the family and has to know where they are at all times. One example is when we were at the park. I was trying to carry everything back to the car and couldn't carry Addi at the same time, so I left her on the grass to play for a moment. When Lis realized I was leaving Addi, she wouldn't leave her side. She kept telling me that we couldn't leave her. I have never seen her so worried. Once I reassured her that we would come back to get her, Lissa's expression changed from one of concern to relief. I thought it was so cute that she is already taking care of her little sister.

At the moment Alyssa has three jobs around the house. She empties the silverware from the dishwasher, always has to carry her plate to the sink, and has to make her bed in the morning. She never complains (but it takes a little persuasion sometimes with the silverware!) and is so willing to do her part and be a big girl.

She still loves reading, watching Charlie and Lola and Max and Ruby, bubbles, digging in the sand, dressing up, and dancing and listening to music, especially music from the Disney movies. During the instrumental parts, she always lets me know what is going on during that part of the movie. It cracks me up. If it's a sad part, she pretends to be very sad. It is a dramatic moment.

Alyssa brings so much joy to our family and is always making us laugh. She is such a blessing in our lives and we love her so much!

Alyssa's Birthday

I was probably just as or more excited for Alyssa's birthday as she was. I love planning events like parties and holiday stuff, especially when presents are involved. I love buying toys! Alyssa got to choose what she wanted to do on her birthday. She chose to go to the library (over going to the zoo!) and then have a picnic at the park. For dinner she wanted a quesadilla so we went to Rubios (one of my favorites!). Then she requested cupcakes for her cake since we were having a big cake for her party. We had a fun day! We waited for Dad to get home before we opened presents and went out to eat. He was sad he couldn't be there with us all day.



Addi enjoyed her own cupcake too, but she is still working on picking food up and putting it in her mouth.


Alyssa's favorite gift from mom and dad was a chest of dress up clothes. She loves to dress up!


On Saturday was Alyssa's Princess Party. She invited her friends from her playgroup and a few more from nursery. We had lots of fun with bubbles, decorating tiaras and wands for the girls and swords and crowns for the boys, searching for the Kings treasure which was candy hidden in Easter eggs buried in the sandbox, eating pizza and cake, opening presents and then we dropped lots of balloons from the loft down on everyone as the grand finale.



Digging for the King's Treasure


I attempted decorating my first cake which was fun and stressful at the same time. I wanted to make a castle cake. I found one online and was planning on making that one until I went to Michaels and found the perfect Princess Castle Cake! Mine didn't quite turn out the way it was suppose to, but if you never saw the picture it looked ok!

The Cake!

Thank you Tracy

My heart skipped a beat when I checked my blog! Those were some of the grossest pictures I have ever seen! For those of you who saw my blog you can thank my sister Tracy for those pictures. I guess it's time to change my password! Just kidding. Tracy's right...I'll start posting pictures again...

Santa's Park

We recently went to Santa's Park which is like a state fair with carnival rides and all that other fun stuff. (Had I known this is what Steve was taking us to, I would have probably objected...but we had fun, especially Alyssa). It was hosted by the Mayo Clinic that night, which they do every year and Steve had heard from everyone that it was a lot of fun. So we thought we'd check it out! Mel and Rob came with us too! We saw elephants, tigers, and the largest Christmas tree in the nation, they claimed. There were also plenty of spinning rides and carnival games too. My favorite.

Here's a few pics of Lissa on the rides.



Lissa was a little afraid of this snowman guy. There was really someone inside it which, I think, made her a little nervous.


Addi enjoyed herself in the baby carrier the whole time so we didn't take any pictures of her, but here is one we took a few days earlier that I just love!

Halloween

Alyssa couldn't wait to go trick or treating this year. We had shown her pictures from last year and told her what to do again. She kept saying, "First knock, and then, trick or treat!" She also repeated that phrase before knocking at each door.

I had so much fun getting her ready. When we put on her makeup, which consisted of a little mascara and tons of eye and body glitter, she could not stop staring at herself because of all the shimmery glitter. She was prancing around and turning me into different animals with her magic wand.





I couldn't wait to put Addi's costume on her. I just kept squeezing her and laughing because she looked so dang cute and she was so squishy and soft.




Me and my cute girls!



We went to the ward party first where she bounced away in the blow-up bouncer the whole time and then we went trick or treating. We missed Steve so much because he had to work all day and night. Thank you Kent and Kathleen for helping take the kids around the neighborhood! I'm so glad you went with us. I couldn't have done it without you!

After trick or treating, we visited Ivan and Gladys, Steve's grandparents. They we so excited to see the girls.




It was an eventful and exciting night. We just wish Dad could have been there! We missed you, Steve!

Pumpkin Patch

On Tuesday we enjoyed Steve's day off at the pumpkin patch. It was fun but really hot!




While Alyssa was walking through the hot hay maze, I guess she decided she needed a break.