Early Birthday

When my parents were here for Christmas, they wanted to get Allison a kitchen set. There is a great one at IKEA but it was sold out for the holidays. Allison was still a little too young for it then but she’s been really interested in watching me cook lately so my mom and I headed to IKEA to see if it was in stock. We’d already been once this week (just to window shop) but we didn’t think about the kitchen set. When we came during the week the store was completely empty. There were maybe 20 people in the store and no cars in the parking lot. But today it was swamped. Honestly, the store would do better if it was only open on the weekend.

 We found the kitchen set and waited in a very long to check out. My Dad started putting it together right away and finished it by the next morning. Allison loves it – especially because it lights up and has a pretend microwave. She keeps trying to warm up her snacks.

 

Cuddles

I’m so thankful that Allison has warmed to my parents so quickly. I was worried that she was going to play shy. I’m beginning to think she doesn’t like the church nursery (or she’s trained herself not to like it) because even when she knows the people in the nursery she still doesn’t want to stay. I like to think she remembers my parents or at least recognizes them from the pictures I show her nearly every day.

Allison loves to play with my Dad. He gives into her every whim- which he does with all of his grandkids. A few minutes after Allison wakes up, she looks around, finds my Dad and then goes to the shoe rack to get his shoes. She puts his shoes at his feet, then goes to pick out her boots so that they can go outside. Still in their pajamas, coffee in hand, he takes her out.  I would never take her out before I could eat, change her, and get settled for day but the second she points to the door, my Dad is right behind her.

 Allison loves to cuddle with my Mom. Allison will sometimes put her arms around me when she cries or when I’m putting her to bed, but she never cuddles me, puts her head on my shoulders, or wants to be close to me for comfort. But she loves to cuddle with my Mom. My Mom likes to joke that she has more “curb appeal” than me and Allison has more to snuggle with. Whatever it is- Allison will lie down on my mom and read books and chat while she would never do that for me!

In Bloom

Our entire yard is showing the signs of spring.

The grass is green, the trees are flowering, the hostas are popping up, and the scent of our neighbor's lilacs have flooded our yard.

It's wonderful.

 

Family Reunion

My parents arrived at 8pm last night. They made the long drive (14 hours) in one day! I think they were just really excited to see Allison.

Nathan had to go to a meeting at the church so he wasn't able to be here when they arrived. When Allison saw my Dad she ran away and got really scared until I told her that it was OK and that these were the people I've been talking about for the last week!

She quickly warmed up to my parents and within a half an hour she was pulling my Dad by the hand to go play with her.

When she woke up this morning, she was happy to see that her visitors were still here. We had a relaxing morning and then headed to Costco to pick up groceries for the week at 10am. I couldn't believe how relaxed I was- having someone to entertain Allison while I do my hair or pick out food was amazing. I enjoyed being around Allison because her full focus wasn't on me (to entertain her).

The weather was amazing today (29 degrees) so we spent nearly the entire day outside.

My parents brought Allison a swing and this afternoon he hung it on a tree in our front yard.

 

 

 Allison spent the majority of her afternoon in the swing (with Grandpa pushing her) while my Mom and I sat on the porch and chatted.

After Nathan got home, we had a big meal together. Nathan cleaned up while my parents and I took ALlison in the backyard. I gave her some water to mix in with her dirt pile because she was due for a bath anyway. She threw the dirt, shovelled it, packed in, and rubbed it in her hair, and she wasn't happy when I told her it was time to go inside.

 

 

Bath time USED to be her favorite thing.

Happy Easter

Today we celebrated Easter by going to church at Wornall Road. Nathan read during the service and after he finished, he relieved me in the nursery so I could take a few pictures of the service- then we switched back. It was so nice to see everyone in their Easter outfits. The families that coordinated their outfits were my favorite. I didn't dress up because I was with the kids and always leave with a new stain and Allison refused to wear her dress this morning.

After the service the kids had an Easter egg hunt. Nathan and Kyle hid the eggs near the end of the service but the kids quickly found all their spots. Allison wasn't interested in the eggs- even with one right in front of her, she didn't care. She just wanted to run around and enjoy the excitement and buzz around her.

This picture tugs at my heart- all the girls were sitting on the steps counting their eggs and Allison kept inching closer and closer with her hands in her lap like she just wanted to play too. Then she snuck her hand into Rosalie's basket and stole an egg (she didn't want the candy- just wanted to play too).

 

We didn't get home until 1, so Allison was almost an hour past her usual nap time (by the time she ate). She was so miserable! After a nap her spirits were up so I put on her dress (she resisted) so I could take a few pictures. This was the dress I made a few weeks ago from a shirt that I cut apart.

 

 

 

 

KC Lock Bridge

I follow a woman I've never met on Instagram because she lives in KC and always finds cool spots around the city. Today, however, she lead me down a boring path.

Nathan was recovering from two weeks of the night shift (a stressful time for every member of our family) but after a short sleep wanted to enjoy the gorgeous weather so we headed to a new park (that my Insta-friend posted pictures of a few weeks ago). It's called Minor Park and it was a 15 minute drive from our house.

It was the strangest place. It looked official when we first entered, but then it all fell apart. It looked like there was a plan for a park but they ran out of money. There was one shelter, one basketball court, a walkway (with a bulldozer parked on it) and a brand new bridge that it labelled as a Love Lock Bridge (a copy of the bridge in Paris where lovers write their names on a lock and then lock it to the bridge). There were quite a few locks but besides the teenagers getting high while eating their Subway sandwiches, there wasn't anyone around. After the bridge the trail just stopped and turned into an empty field. We didn't know where the park was and where private property began (it was clear that my Insta-friend was much more willing to push the boundary than I was).

 

The outing wasn't the long walk we envisioned but we saw something new and can check that park off our list.

Twenty-Three Months

I saw this flower pillowcase dress on pinterest and decided to make it for Allison for this photo. Allison refused to go without pants under the dress so we compromised with yellow pants. I made the flowers from paper rolls and tissue paper.

While I was taking her picture our neighbor, Lois, came over and said, "It's such a shame you won't have many pictures of Allison growing up." She laughs because every time she sees me outside I'm taking more photos of Allison. I can't help it- first because she cute, and second because she moves so fast that I have to take a million to get one or two that I like. 

 

 

My Little Spring Flower.

Bath Girl

 Allison's bath time is now up to a whopping 45 minutes. She loves to splash in just a little bit of water. I'm always nervous about her slipping- which she has done twice- so I need to look into getting a shower mat.

Allison is no stranger to getting scraped up- this morning she had a bloody mouth before 9am (she was pushing a chair and it went faster than she was walking and fell forward) so I'm trying to limit her injuries since she's had 3 bloody lip incidents and it's only Thursday.

She didn't want to get out of the tub and even when all of the water was gone she was still walking around and playing with her toys.

Kansas April Fool's Day

I found this Witchita April Fool's joke from 1906 and wanted to share.

The Witchita Daily Eagle posted this headline on April 1, 1906. They broke the news of an astounding natural event that was going to occur that morning. The newspaper reported that there was a gigantic eleven-foot high wave that was moving south along the Arkansas River. At the same time there was a vast migration of millions of frogs moving north up the same river. The two were expected to meet in the city at 10am.

Thousands of Wichita residents gathered by the banks of the river and stayed there for three hours waiting for the collision, and they slowly realized that they had been pranked.