Recital

Today my mom and I took Allison to watch Scarlett's first dance recital. I was so nervous for Scarlett but she's really outgoing and took the stage with gusto. She did a great job in her little pirate outfit and we were all so proud of her. The recital was for the entire dance school and the concert was about 3 hours but we left an hour in since we had 4 kids under 4 with us.

 

When my mom and I got home we did errands around the house - hang the laundry, cut the grass, and cut the rhubarb that grows behind the shed. Next weekend is the annual Shedden Rosy Rhubarb Days. Shedden is a small town 15 minutes away and it is the rhubarb capital of Canada. My mom gave Allison a stalk of rhubarb while she was harvesting and Allison really liked it!

May Shower

After having a great night's sleep in the guest room (my old room has been turned into a kids room), Allison and I spent the day getting settled into Boxall life.

Allison likes to have eyes on me so it was a tough day because my parent's house is bigger (and has two levels) and when I moved to a different room she would start to cry.

Tonight was my good friend, Ashley's, bridal shower. Ashley is getting married in two weeks! I'm so thankful that the shower was pushed to a late date so that I could attend. The shower started at 7pm and I thought that it would be perfect since Allison goes to bed at 6:30pm. I brought a pack-and-play for her to sleep in at the host's house but she was not happy. I think all the traveling and different beds just stressed her out because she cried for an hour straight! She's a great sleeper and doesn't fuss much when it's time to go to bed so it was really stressful. I really wanted to get out and see my friends but Allison kept me by her side until 7:45.

Once she cried herself out, she slept for the remainder of the shower. We all had a great time, with great food, and great conversation. Ashley got some amazing gifts and I loved being able to catch up with friends.

Cousins

The hardest thing about living in KC is not getting to see my nieces and nephews grow up. They are all such beautiful kids and sometimes pictures aren't enough!

This morning, Nathan's sister, Heather, came to visit and brought her 3 kids - Calvin, Ben, and Sydney to visit. Sydney came to visit Allison in the hospital but the boys had never met her.

I think Allison was overwhelmed by the loud little people who looked just like her but by the end she was trying to steal toys and play with the group.

Heather and I took the kids for a short walk, followed by a snack and visit before my mom came to pick me up to take me to Boxall.

 

 I love taking pictures of Allison (obviously) but I think I could spend days shooting this beauty. Sydney is so cool and adorable and didn't care that I was snapping tons of pictures of her.

 

Travel Day

Today was the day I've been dreading for weeks. I was so nervous to travel with Allison because she's become a mover in the last couple of weeks and she's not a cuddly baby so I worried that she'd keep trying to get away from me.

Thankfully Nathan had the day off and he was able to take care of Allison while I mentally prepared for the trip. After rearranging my luggage (trying to get my suitcase under 50 pounds) we were ready to head to the airport at 3pm. We were waiting at our gate by 4 and the flight left at 5:10pm.

Before we got on the plane, a woman sitting a few seats down from me in the lounge, turned to a friend (who I had earlier heard boasting about his great-great grandfather being a clansman) and said, "ugh, I hope that woman has a bottle for that baby." As she gave me a sneer. It was so mean! And it made me even more nervous.

The plane was completely full and as I was walking to my seat, I heard, "Hey Amanda!" I looked to my left and who was sitting there but the Venugopaul family! The Venugopaul's are the family we visited with on Friday night and they're heading home to Philadelphia. I felt a little better that there was another baby on board!

I made my way a few rows back and discovered that their oldest daughter, Nelanie, was sitting beside me! She immediately told me that she would help me in any way she could. It was so sweet and she was really helpful in picking up everything Allison threw on the floor and holding her when I needed another set of hands.

I had a one hour layover in Minnesota and I was lucky to have it because it took me the entire time to run to my next terminal. I went directly from one plane to the next but I was still the last person on the flight.

The second plane was much smaller (2 seats instead of 3) and I sat next to a young woman who was traveling for business who told me that she had 2 young children and she would help me with whatever I needed. She was so kind, she helped to soothe Allison (showing her photos on her phone) and held her while I prepared an epic diaper change in the world's smallest bathroom. The woman, Alli, even helped me fill out my custom form because I didn't have a free hand. It was funny that my new friend was named Alli, even more strange that her children's names are Nathan and Faith, and her husband's name is John Michael. I'm not kidding. I didn't tell her of the coincidences but it was bananas!

Allison screamed for about 5 minutes on the flight (it was past her bedtime) and then fell asleep on me and was quiet until the bright lights came on upon landing. So for 3 hours of flying, she cried for 5 minutes. It wasn't SO BAD. My arms were tired from keeping Allison contained but thankfully Martin was waiting at the gate to take all my bags.

Martin drove us to his house in Brampton were I gave Allison a warm bottle (she went back to sleep) and I had a cup of sleepy-time tea to wind down after a busy afternoon.

Family Portrait V

 

 

We'll call this- Canadian Gothic.

We weren't sure how to put Allison in the picture so I put her in a cloth diaper and let her play in her prune baby food (since it looks like dirt) and then I held off on giving her her bath until after we shot this picture.

We were inspired for this American Gothic parody when Nathan found a pitch fork in Annie's shed while he was doing yard work a few weeks ago. We bought a bald cap for Nathan but I could still see his hair outline so instead we Photoshopped him bald.

Home Fun

FRIDAY

Nathan and I had plans to visit the Lake of the Ozarks with our friends April and Ryan this weekend but our plans didn't work out. Ryan generously offered to travel the 3 hours to attend the visitation of Phoenix with a fellow pastor, and Griffin was a little under the weather (plus it's a rainy weekend). We decided to postpone for a better time.

Nathan and I planned out his vacation so we didn't know what to do with our unassigned time!

Yesterday we started out by going to the outlet thrift shops just north of the city. I've been wanting to go, but the outlets are so intense that I knew I'd have trouble with Allison. Nathan had never seen how the outlets work and he was amused. It's a big warehouse full of about a dozen bins, and every half hour, these alarms go off and 3 of the bins are taken away and 3 new ones are brought in. People stand around like third graders waiting for the gym teacher to blow the whistle for a dodge-ball game to begin. Then the pounce on the bins and things start flying.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular ( I wanted some jeans to cut off) but I was taking my time and I could tell I was starting to irritate the serious shoppers. In the end, after 2 stores, I spent a total of $5.69, and bought:
- 4 long sleeved tops (3 still with tags from GAP)
-1 skirt (JCrew price tag - $129.00- still attached)
-1 pain of skinny jeans
- brand new Baby Bjorn carrier (black)

After our thrifting adventures we decided to take some back roads for an afternoon drive. We ended up in towns called Parkville, then Waldon. Parkville was the size of a small village but it had a small town feel.

 Waldron, which consisted of a few dozen houses situated on a a flood plain next to railroad tracks was a little eerier. It had a few abandoned buildings and the smallest post office I've ever seen.

 On our way back home we found a gun range so we pulled in and watched a few rounds. It was really loud and when Allison started to get upset we left. 

Our friends, Christa and Kumar, who moved to Philadelphia a couple of years ago were in town visiting but we didn't think we'd get a chance to see them because of our over-booked holidays. I tracked down the couple at a mutual friend's house (the Henke's) and promptly invitied my family to the party. Sarah and Brian didn't mind and we had a short visit, complete with s'mores and ice cream, before we headed home to put Allison to bed.

 

 

 

SATURDAY

Today was a drizzly, cool day and we decided to scrap our plan to go to a local park because we wouldn't be able to explore. However, by 2pm, the rain had eased and we decided to take a drive since we were running out of vacation. We explored the Shawnee Mission Park. It's a huge park, full of trails, a beach, boat rentals, shelters, playground equipment, small lakes, and rivers. It's gigantic and we didn't know how we hadn't discovered it sooner!

There were a lot more people at the park than I would have guessed (do to the gloomy weather) and we drove around until we found a cool lookout tower. The stairs were really narrow and I had vertigo climbing up the steps but the view was great!

 

 The Shawnee Mission Park connects with 4 other parks (there are trails that connect them) and we explored down the roadway to 3 of the parks but they were small and didn't extend beyond a few acres.

Even though we didn't get our Ozark trip, we really enjoyed being at home and doing some Kansas City exploring and spending time with our friends.

It's been a great week and a perfect send-off for Allison and I when we leave for Ontario this week!