Aly's Favorite Things

I love posting pictures that remind me of how much Aly has grown. She has developed this incredible little personality all her own and I am reminded with each new milestone that she, along with every child, is truly a miracle.

These are a few of Aly's favorite things now that she's a big girl:

Art

Thankfully, I think Aly inherited Daddy's artistic talents. Her fine motor skills have always been far more advanced that her gross motor skills. She has held a crayon the right way since she was tiny. (She does hold it on the "wrong" finger, though, just like Mommy!) She loves to paint, color, draw on her chalkboard, and sculpt lots of snakes and snowmen with her Play-doh. A day never goes by when she doesn't "create" something!

The Ocean

Aly's fascination with the ocean truly began, believe it or not, the first time we went to Florida when she was only about seven months old. We took her to the Gulfarium and we had never seen her so interested in anything before.


After that she responded so much differently to anything she saw in books or on TV having to do with the ocean. I know all children love staring into a fish tank, but Aly's love for all creatures of the sea goes far beyond that. She knows the names of fish I didn't know until we discovered them together. She can point out and name a sea anemone, starfish, seahorse, octopus, squid, pufferfish, clownfish, dolphin, ray, sea cucumber, angelfish, several different kinds of sharks and so many more I can't remember. I would actually say she has an obsession with the ocean with an emphasis on sharks. She sleeps with (what I would consider) a pretty scary nonfiction shark book.

Here she is pointing out a leopard shark to Daddy just before bed.

The Little Gym

The Little Gym makes Aly happier than anything we have ever done for her. I can not put into words how much she loves going every Saturday to see "Miss Stesnee" (AKA Miss Stephanie, her teacher). They sing songs, play with all kinds of fun things like bells, sticks, hula hoops, a big parachute, a miniature rock climbing wall, balls, bubbles, and so much more. They have lots of time for free exploration on all of the gymnastics equipment that is just her size and learn basic skills on the bars, balance beam, and floor. She is also learning so much about following directions, listening, sharing and taking turns. Any time we ever ask her to guess where we are going or what we are going to do, her answer is ALWAYS "Little Gym!" We even play Little Gym at home because once a week is just not enough! If you are interested, you can try it for free and they do not put any pressure on you to sign up. It's worth every penny.

Singing

In the car, in bed, during meals, on the potty. This kid sings her way through life.

A Caring Spirit

I caught my second stomach virus of the year this week. Unfortunately, it comes with my job. Donny and Aly went to the store to buy me the usual Gatorade and saltines that are needed with this sort of illness. While they were in the car on the way there Aly said to her daddy, "Let's get Mommy a lemon for feel better." A lemon. I have no idea where she got the idea that lemons make you feel better when you are sick, but of course Donny went along with it. He said she held the lemon through the whole store and all the way home. When they got home, she came bursting through the door and proudly presented me with the lemon "for feel better". The funny thing is that just having something in my hand that I knew was straight from her little heart did make me feel better. Then she told me to smell it and you know what? It actually cured some of my nausea. She knew what she was talking about. For the next couple of days when she saw me lying on the couch or looking like I didn't feel good she would say, "Mommy, where's your lemon? I go get it for you. Be happy. Smile." She also picked some flowers for me outside, which are in the picture with the lemon.

Donny told her to pray for me so I would feel better. This was her prayer:
"Dear Jesus, thank you for the day. Thank you sooooo much for good sleep. Help Mommy feel better. Help Aly feel better. (She's had a cough.) Amen."

Wow!!! She's really starting to get it. I am so thankful that at such a young age she is already learning that when something is wrong, you ask Jesus for help and you believe that he will make it right. We all need to be reminded of this every now and then.

Aly's Friends

This is the most recent picture of Aly and her BFF, Caroline.
Thank you for giving us mommies a night out, Mimi!!


My, how they've grown...

Aly also loves her cousin, Holly.


More friends...


I am so thankful for all of the "friends" Aly has. They learn so much from each other and are so happy when they are together. I hope Aly is already learning the importance and the joy of spending time with friends who love her.

Easter 2009

What a wonderful Easter! Aly was so much fun this year and she loved everything about it. Aly's friend, Averie, had an Easter egg hunt for her second birthday. I was so happy we had the chance to spend a whole day outside hunting eggs with her friends since it rained all day on Easter. Aly got to decorate her own "basket" which turned out to be a job that she took very seriously. She was the last kid at the table, still sticking stickers on her can, when everyone else was ready to go outside.

Patiently waiting to start the hunt...


When it was time to run out the door, I told her to go find some eggs. She ran straight to the first one she saw and said, "I found one!" I couldn't stand to tell her it was a decorative item. I just told her she did a good job and took her picture.




Everyone else ate cake at the table. She was also the only kid who wore those bunny ears the entire day. She marches to the beat of her very own drummer.


What a fun day!



Baking Easter Cupcakes with Mommy


SO messy, but SO fun!



Time to color Easter eggs!




Easter Morning

When I was a kid, the Easter Bunny would make a trail that led from our beds to our baskets. I thought I would keep the tradition alive this year. Aly was so excited to wake up and find a trail of eggs that led to a table full of goodies just for her. She was actually more excited about the Nemo fruit snacks than anything else, but at least she was happy. She is so easily pleased.

All dressed up and ready for church

I don't know if I let her eat too many chocolate covered marshmallow bunnies or what, but she was acting so silly, I couldn't really get a great picture of her with her Easter dress on. (She calls it her "ballet" dress.)
With every new holiday and every new experience we get to share with Aly, our lives just become so much more fun, exciting, and enjoyable. It's like we are getting to experience life all over again by getting the opportunity to watch it through her eyes. We love you, Baby Girl!!

This is a short clip of our sweet Aly cooking with Mommy.

New York!!!

I have waited so long to get my picture taken in Times Square and here it is!

In January, I bit the bullet and met Donny in New York! He was there on business and I'd never been, so I actually left Aly at home (as hard as it was) and made the trip. It was everything I had hoped it would be and so much more! Donny really made an effort to make it special for me. We packed so much into four days, (which turned out to be five because of the ice storm) but it was still pretty relaxing because we just did what we felt like doing each day rather than sticking to an itinerary.

We stayed at the Helmsley Parklane on Central Park South, which is the tall buildingjust two down from the actual Plaza Hotel!

We spent an entire morning just wandering around Central Park in the snow. It was my absolute favorite part of the trip.

We got up extra early on our last day and went to see the Today Show. We made a sign for my class and were on TV for a long time! Unfortunately, a catastrophic ice storm was hitting Arkansas as we stood there, so no one back home had power. No one got to see it, much less record it for us. A couple of my students got to see it, but actually lost power during the show. We had a great time though. Meredith spent some time talking to us and even wrote a note to my class on my sign. We didn't get to talk to Matt, but Donny scored a photo op' with Al!!

This was a great find and probably one of my favorite restaurants we went to. If you know me at all you know this is a Robyn kind of place.

If you know Donny and me at all you know we are truly obsessive coffee drinkers, so this was another great find. It was as "New York" as you can get.

We had an incredible time reconnecting as a couple, but were so ready to come home and see our baby girl!

Another simple, yet unforgettable day

Today was an unusually stressful and tiresome workday for me. As Aly and I pulled into the garage late this afternoon, I have to admit the words that were beginning to creep out of my exhausted mouth were, " Aly, do you want to pick a movie?" But before I could say anything she said in an excited little voice, "Cook in Mommy's kitchen?" It was almost as if she had made her own plans for how we would spend our evening and was just now sharing them with me. "Wear my apron?" she asked. "Do you want to cook in Aly's kitchen?" I said, hoping she would take the bait and pretend-cook in her pretend-kitchen. "No, cook in Mommy's kitchen," she repeated. When we walked through the door, she ran over and grabbed our mother-daughter matching aprons that my mom got us for my birthday. "Mommy, here's your apron. I'll get the cinnamon!"Aly knows her mommy well. I put cinnamon in everything. How could I even think of saying no?

I frantically searched through the pantry trying to find something easy to bake or we were going to have to commit to something from scratch like we usually do. (I've tried slice-n-bake cookie dough. She requires the dumping of multiple ingredients into a bowl and continuous mixing.) I found a package of banana nut muffin mix that only needed milk and as I glanced at the brown bananas in our fruit bowl, I knew we were in business. Aly and I try to cook together at least once a week. I do most of the work and again, leave the ingredient dumping and mixing to her. Today I decided to let her have free reign. I got her started and then let her tell me what she wanted to add. Then I let her do it. It was amazing to watch.

She mashed her bananas (she's a pretty experienced banana masher), flung the mix all over the cabinet as she dumped it into the bowl, decided it needed cinnamon and sprinkled to her heart's content, grabbed the sugar canister and asked me to open it, added a reasonable amount of sugar, and then asked me as she mixed it all together, "Mommy, where's the 'nilla?" (Yes, "vanilla"! She's a true little Racheal Ray in the making.)

(Notice the overflowing cup in the middle. She was very concerned about it and kept saying, "that one is too big!" When they came out of the oven it was obviously the biggest one. When Daddy got home and asked for one, that was the one she chose for him!)


When she was done, she put all of the muffin cups in the tin and then scooped every bit of the batter into the cups herself. This is a step I would normally never let her do, but it made her day. When she finished she said, "Put it in the oven!"

While we were waiting for the muffins to bake, Aly decided she wanted me to braid her hair. Now I was REALLY in heaven!! I usually have to beg her to let me put braids in her hair. It was like she was returning the favor of letting her cook by asking me to do something she knows I love to do!

She is always proud of the goodies we make together, but she had a little extra twinkle in her eyes tonight when she really felt like she was the cook and I was the helper. She ate four of them and asked for more. I let her spoil her dinner. It was all so worth it. I'm so glad I didn't convince her to "pick a movie" instead of spending this time with her. I am hoping this sweet memory will serve as a constant reminder to pay attention to all of her little suggestions, drop what I am doing to be a good mom, and that she is capable of so much more than I give her credit for. Her confidence and self-worth grew a little bit today as she shook that cinnamon. I fell in love with her a little bit more as I watched her do it.