Happy Birthday, Baby!

Alyssa turned 1 on St. Patrick's Day! We had a nice evening with Gammy, Papa, and Uncle Kevin (No-No). Alyssa loved the corned beef and I was so happy to have an Irish dinner, having missed it last year. Alyssa received a Newborn Cabbage Patch Kid, a Bucky horse, and a Little People boat. She also had her first bit of cake--green cupcakes. She loved it and started to fuss when there was no more left.

Alyssa had her one-year well visit on Monday. She weighs 18.14 lbs and is 27.25 inches. She's doing great and starting to take a few steps at a time. Give it a couple of weeks and she'll be running!

Samantha is being assessed for Pre-K today. We're keeping our fingers crossed that she gets into Pre-K. She really wants to go to school every day. She is sad when it's Mon, Wed, or Fri and she doesn't get to go to school. UPDATE: Samantha has been accepted into Pre-K with Ms. Tina!

Teeth

Samantha had her first trip to the dentist today. She was so excited. She took some music to listen to in case she got nervous and she also brought Baby Sister. She did very well letting the hygienist polish her teeth, take pictures, and even floss. She checked out just fine.

Samantha clutched her toothbrush and dental floss until we got home. Shortly after she decided she wanted to try and floss herself. She pulled out the entire container of floss and was trying to figure out how to weave it between her teeth. I should have taken a picture!

Happy Valentines Weekend

Friday morning, 8 a.m. meeting with no coffee. Ugh.

The kids did well and got off to Tanya's early today for said meeting. Samantha got to eat her first "cinnamon" toast this morning. Ugh oh, did I create a monster?

Samantha got quite the loot at her valentines party yesterday. There were way too many stickers in her bag and she covered herself with them as soon as she got home. Shortly after Alyssa was choking and threw up a sticker. Needless to say, that was the end of covering our clothes in stickers. Now I regret getting rid of my sticker album from when I was a kid. I guess I'll just have to have Samantha create her own book.



Samantha's class went on a field trip to the Fire Department this week. Most of the kids were nervous, but the firefighters did a great job at gaining their trust.

Samantha was less than thrilled about the trip. She was worried that the siren was going to sound. Despite my reassurance, she was never quite comfortable.

At any rate, Mommy had fun and took lots of class pictures.

Daddy Day

Today was Daddy's Day at Preschool. For 45 minutes the kids got to play with dad, make artwork and dinosaur prints. Then they shared circle time. I went too since I had to take class pictures. It was awesome to be a fly on the wall. I think I was grinning ear to ear watching the girls and boys play with their dads.

Samantha and Al spent their time between dramatic play (aka dress-up) and the library. At the end they all had circle time. The dads sang and danced to the freeze game.

I think Al was sad when it was over.

I'm hoping to put up some pictures of Samantha and Al in the next week.

Bean-a-bag-aphobia

What do you call a fear of beanbags? Bean-a-bag-aphobia?

Samantha is hilariously afraid of beanbags. She gets squeamish, giggles, and generally has the heebeejeebees. So what do we do: quietly toss the beanbag in her lap or put it down her shirt. Poor kid, she laughs so hard.

BUT, she's not afraid of the pellets that are now put in stuffed animals, just the bigger beans or pellets that were put in older toys. She has a collection of Sesame Street characters but is afraid of Grover all because his hands and feet have beans.

When Samantha is in a rotten mood all we need is the little beanbag that Erin's Grammy made to put a smile on all of our faces.

Happy New Year

It's the last day of our vacation. We've enjoyed the time together as a family. We went to visit Grandma and Big Papa in Arizona and had a wonderful time. Samantha keeps asking to go back as if we lived just doors down. I keep trying to explain that it just isn't that easy.

Alyssa is cruising now and into everything. She loves to follow Samantha around the house.

As for Samantha: Move over Dan Zanes, Samantha has a new crush and his name is Rod Stewart! She borrowed a concert DVD from Gammy and Papa. She even slept with the DVD case last night.

Happy Christmas

It's been a wonderful two days. Kevin came to town to see the girls . . . the rest of us, too. We had a great time and shared lots of laughs. Erin's mom, Kevin, Erin and the girls visited Grandpa on Christmas eve. He was really happy to see us. He hadn't seen Alyssa in about four or more months. Samantha was excited that she was able to wear her black velvet dress and shiny shoes. She danced and sang for Grandpa, too.

We spent Christmas Day at Mom and Dad's and enjoyed a delicious and simple dinner. Thanks, Mom and Dad! (Now that four of us received cookbooks for Christmas, we'll have a whole new year to cook things up for each other.)

Happy Christmas and lots of Love from all of us: Al, Erin, Samantha, and Alyssa.