Hanging with Allie in the Alley

And of course, since Maddie had "special" PJs, she wanted them too.  And they both thought it was HILARIOUS.

31/366

Today is my dad's birthday.  Having kids of my own now makes me realize how much he did for us, how patient he was with us, and how awesome he was.

My dad made it a point to be home for a family dinner almost every single night (that I can remember).  He took my brother and I up skiing every.single.weekend (a feat I now have way more respect for).  He let me crash as many cars as I did (there were a lot) without EVER yelling at me (even when I backed my jeep over the TOP of his recently restored jaguar).  But one of my favorite memories is wearing his giant t-shirts as PJs. 

Seeing her wear my shirts brings back so many happy memories.

30/366

Our friend brought over this cute little idea today...

We'll never have to buy onions again.  Eggs in the backyard, onions in the kitchen.  I'm well on my way to becoming the hermit I've always wanted to be.

29/366

The girls were eating frozen blackberries for a snack today.  They made me pay for not paying attention.  They used the blackberry as lipstick...and then got carried away.

over the hill

Today we went to Whidbey Island for a good ol' fashioned birthday party.  The girls love riding the "fairy" boat so getting to my dad's house is always an adventure.  Now, if we could only shave about an hour off the driving time it would be perfect.




Maddie was reunited with her doll house.  I think she's finally at an age where she would play with it and not destroy it.  Allie is not.  Whidbey it stays.  Not to mention I think we'd need to remodel our house to get a room big enough to put it in.

You know you're getting old when your friends bring diapers for a gift...or maybe you're just young at heart?

A little oreo sandwich love. 

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This guy got to spend the entire day running around my dad's property with three other dogs.  Honestly, I don't think it was heaven on earth for him.  He really wanted someone to chuck his ball.  Fortunately we took pity on him.

27/366

These two manage to find the most annoying videos on YouTube.  And I think they could watch them All.Day.Long.

26/366

Readdddy, settttyyyyyy, Go!

A break from the dreariness

After school today, after the hail ended, we had an hour of beautiful (cold) sun.  I spent a quarter of that picking up about 30 pounds of animal poop.  But then, after a little arm pulling, we skipped the gym and played in the alley.
I love this picture of Allie.  I love seeing her little neck rolls.  She's growing up quickly and I know they're not here for long.

Porky the Pig here has put on a few pounds.  Once again his scooper got switched and we've been feeding him double!  Whoops.  Let's blame Allie for that one.

These two loved racing each other.  It was so hilarious.  Allie always announces her races with "ready, set-y, GO" and then pants her way down the alley.  I love how genuinely happy they are when they're doing it. No forced, fake, smiles for the camera.

And finally, just as we're getting ready to head in, she decides to try the skuut.  And for five glorious minutes she loved it. 

25/366

"Allie. ALLIE!, Wake up!"

This girl is totally a lazy river when it comes to back crawl.  And a cork.  I think she could, and would be, totally happy floating on her back and maybe taking a little snooze for her entire swim lesson.

24/366

Anxiously awaiting the "green light" from me. 

Her favorite game to play while we wait for Maddie to get out of school.

23/366

I think sleep training works.  Just look at my two children...Maddie fights all of her naps and finds every single excuse to come into our bed at night.  Allie will willingly crawl into bed and entertain herself until she falls asleep.  I love hearing the songs and stories wafting through her door.  Even more I love coming in to see what she's stashed in bed with her.  On this particular day there were at least five stuffed animals, four plastic horses, her hairbrush and a book. 

22/366

Today was our first day this year up at the mountain that we had actual weather to contend with.  We made it a half-day and skied with Maddie instead of putting her into a lesson.  It was C-O-L-D and W-I-N-D-Y.  Nothing makes her day more than a bad parking spot that requires a train ride up to the lifts though.

And for the record, this girl can hang.  She will be beating us down the hill in no time.  She was shredding through the powder like nobody's business.  I was really impressed.  Impressed enough to buy her a hot chocolate and then drink most of it trying to warm back up. :-)

21/366

Hours and hours of entertainment

20/366

The novelty of the snow has worn off and thank god it's warming up and the streets are drive-able.  We spent the morning unwrapping the chicken coop, scraping snow off of decks and bushes, gently shaking trees to get the ice off of them (and then feeding the ice to Rudder) and topped it off with a much needed trip to the gym and hot chocolate for lunch.  I am so ready for summer.  I want to complain that I'm too hot.

19/366

little mama

When I went to get Allie from her bed this morning she was already up, feeding her baby.  The lights were off, the house was dark, and she was shhh-ing her baby, rocking her and giving her a bottle. It was adorable.

18/366

17/366

I'm a fretter.  What can I say...  This cold weather has had me a bit worried about our little ladies.  Like waking up at 3AM worried.  I came back yesterday to see that Kip had wraped them up in a nice warm layer of roofing felt.  I think he loves our little ladies too. 

Magnuson Park

School was cancelled today because of the snow so we headed up to Magnuson Park to have ourselves a little photo shoot.  It was a long drive for a short shoot.  It was snow/rain-ing and FUH-REE-ZING.  Maddie finally broke down into tears because her feet were so cold.  We drove home with the heat on the hottest setting...heaven if you ask me.  No one ever lets me do that. :-)

16/366

No school for Maddie because of the holiday. Tons of snow on the roads meant no one showed up for class which meant Mads got to swim with baby Allie today.  It went great.  Until it was time to go...

15/366

The snow is coming down in giant flakes and we're all a little giddy around here.  The house is toasty warm and smells like yummy soup, Maddie and Allie have had about 30 outfit changes to warm up after coming in from the cold and Rudder has had his ball thrown to the point of exhaustion. It's perfection.

14/366

We spent the day with friends.  Maddie and Allie couldn't have been more excited.  Well, that is until we told her that we were going to the train exhibit at the science center.  If you ask me, the trains sucked.  But she was happy. And so she gets the picture of the day.

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My favorite exhibit was the butterflies.  I was a little freaked that they'd touch me though. I am just NOT a toucher.

Kip had an awesome time too.  Shocking. :-)