5 Things

1. Scotty, Alyssa, and I got to spend Spring break in Colorado with family and we had a wonderful time relaxing, playing video games, going to bed really late, and seeing cousins.
2. Alyssa is finally getting new teeth! Two more on the bottom, for a grand total of 12.
3. Eric spent several weeks working out of town in the boonies. His hours are pretty much just as bad, minus the Saturdays. He's not a very happy camper and I can't blame him!
4. My parents are cruising Hawaii and Eric's parents are cruising the Bahamas. Thanks for the great pictures, hope you're having a wonderful time, next time bring the grandkids! ;o)
5. I'm still sick but less so (I think) and we'll find out whether this water baby is a boy or a girl in just a few weeks. Scotty has made a request for a brother so I'm doing what I can....

I have taken a grand total of 2 pictures in the past month on my camera, so if you have pictures of me or my kids (preferably looking cute and/or happy) send them my way!

Alyssa's Favorites

Valentine's Day at the park

Here are the stats on our little toddler:

weight: 22 lbs (20%)
height: 32" (60%)

learning to use a spoon

favorite foods: grapes, cucumber, strawberries, crackers, juice, milk, raisins, corn, goldfish, clementines
no longer likes: hot dogs, yogurt
favorite animals: monkeys, elephants, fish, dogs
favorite character: Elmo. There is serious excitement for Elmo around here.
favorite activities: slides, swings, climbing on chairs, pushing her baby stroller, playing with scotty, sorting/dumping things out, reading books
favorite book: Goodnight moon, Mommy Kisses, Barnyard Dance
least favorite activities: getting dressed, not getting to put on her own shoes, not seeing daddy every day, doing anything that wasn't her idea
new phrases: "nope", stated very emphatically, usually accompanied by head shaking and sometimes stomping
"I go" when she wants to get out of the house and do something fun

pigtails!

things I love about this age: she's still a great cuddler, she tries to imitate and sing along when I play with her, and her hair is long enough to pull back in a pony tail or pig tails (she looks so much older with her Donald Trump mullet!), she seems to find a new word everyday and is working hard to communicate with me and tell me what she's frustrated about

she picked this outfit out herself

things I DON'T love about this age: it's her way or the highway. Sometimes getting dressed to go out the door takes an hour because when she doesn't cooperate I can't just pin her down and get the shirt on her faster than she can take it off again. Most of the time she's great with baby sitters and being away from me, but she's unpredictable so I never know when to anticipate chaos or clingy behavior. Also, she's suicidal, in that she is physically capable of lots of things that her brain doesn't register as insane...

she likes treats....

A Special Delivery

Well, it looks like you can order just about anything online these days...

Click to see this bigger :o)

Alyssa the Toddler

Ok, I have to accept it. My baby is no longer a baby, except for being the best snuggler in the world. She yells. She throws toys. She says coherent words all day long. She wants to do things by herself. She refuses to eat if I don't give her a utensil of some sort. She's in nursery already! With Scotty I was counting the days until he hit 18 months and I could enjoy some semblance of church again. Alyssa is feisty but not quite as crazy as Scotty was, and she's always in Eric's care as I spend my Sundays chilling with the primary kids and jumping around like a monkey.

A few months back I started posting some words and signs in the sidebar and I'm just realizing that the lists are hopelessly out of date. It seems like she picks up a new reasonably intelligible word every day. Here are some of my favorites:

elephant (el-la-la, with lots of sticking her tongue out)
monkey (mon-ey! usually with emphasis and pointing)
Scott (sot)
flower (flow-ah)
car (ca-vroom with sound effects)
jump (juh, while bouncing)


She still signs some things, usually to save time. For instance, her mouth will say "food mama!" while her hand signs please. I suppose it counts...

She loves to find my phone and babble, always telling me she's talking to Dada. She takes him on tours of the house pointing out everything she knows. It always starts with each individual shoe and sock, as those are some of her favorite things.

She also loves to play with Scotty. She brings books to him and he shows her the pictures and asks her to make the animal sounds. When he's playing on the floor, she'll come lay down close by and wait for him to come tickle her. Some of my favorite moments each day are hearing these two play. She is a happy kid (sweet and spicy) but she saves nearly all her giggles for her big brother.

Pictures to come, as recently I've been the one running around instead of holding the camera. Fortunately my mom documents our adventures :o)

Life Like This

So, it's busy season. Eric is on day 12 of working 19 days straight, Saturday and Sunday included, so that about sums it up around here. The kids have been great and well behaved despite suddenly losing their dad to the work abyss. Because Eric had to work last Sunday, he wasn't able to come to church. Of course, it was Stake Conference and I just wasn't feeling up to chasing two kids around the wood floor for two hours by myself, so we had mini primary at home. A few days later, I was reading Scotty a story from the friend about a girl who discovers that her new friend doesn't go to church. After a little tension, the story resolves by the girl deciding that she can be friends with people even if they don't go to church. I asked Scotty what he thought about the story and about being friends with all kinds of people, and he thought for a minute before replying, "I think that's a good idea. I will still be friends with daddy, and he can still be my daddy, even though he doesn't go to church."

You miss one day and you're out around here, apparently!

Fortunately, Eric had two weeks off for Christmas before busy season kicked in so we had time to do lots of fun things.  Like the train park (complete with 2 different playgrounds, a carousel, a train museum, and a train ride).

And the zoo, where the bear was actually moving around. And then trying to break the door down....

And of course, Eric and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary in best way we know how: college football. The Insight Bowl (Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Oklahoma Sooners) was played in Tempe on the 30th so we took it as a sign.

ASU stadium

We ended up sitting on the Oklahoma side. Up in the boonies :)

Cadets from the Air Force Academy did pregame jumps

Some of the few who stayed till the end! It wasn't a very even game....

Thanks to mom and dad for watching our kids overnight, Grandpa Woodhouse for the giftcard for dinner, and Grandpa and Grandma Gould for the extra Christmas cash to help with the tickets :) I'd also like the thank the Iowa Hawkeyes for finally scoring in the fourth quarter to make it more resemble a bowl game. we had a great time!