Allison's 3rd Birthday Party Weekend

We celebrated Allison's 3rd birthday on Saturday. The entire weekend was extremely busy beginning Friday morning when Allison decided to give herself a haircut!! I was upstairs making all the beds and straightening up the rooms when Allison came into my room. I looked at her and said, "What did you do to your hair? Did you get it in a ponytail?" Well upon closer inspection she had cut her hair. The left side was cut right at the bottom of her ear. The right side was cut above her ear. All I could say was, "Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness!!!"  These first two pictures almost remind me of mug shots!!!  I think Allison was quite proud of her new hair cut, but I just could not believe how MUCH she cut!  She cut her hair another time, but it was just a small amount and you couldn't really tell it, but this time, she cut almost all of it. 

                                   

I called my friend Krissy who lives close by and asked her for a recommendation for someone to "fix" Allison's hair.  I was afraid to take her to just any place because I didn't want her to come out looking like a boy, or like she had a bowl on her head.  Krissy was kind to call Kelly, the person who cuts her hair and got us an appointment for 1:30 on Friday.  I didn't get a picture of Allison after Kelly cut her hair, because it was nap time and Allison was about to fall out in the floor while she was getting her hair cut.  She did fall asleep on the ride home and after that I wasn't thinking about pictures.

Friday evening I cooked dinner for brother Bill,. fixing one of his favorites, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and peas.  I made him a yellow cake with chocolate cream-cheese icing.  The girls were so excited to help Uncle Bill celebrate his birthday.  We had a fun evening!

Then Saturday morning I made Allison's birthday cake.  She picked the Little Mermaid theme for plates and napkins.  So I made her a chocolate cake decorated with Ariel and Flounder.  She was pretty pleased with the results.  I am NOT a cake decorator.  I keep telling Bill I'm going to start buying their birthday cakes instead of trying to make them. 

Allison's cake

We had Allison's birthday party at Fountain City Park.  The girls were both so excited to have a party at the park.  It was an extremely hot and humid day for mid May, but we had a nice picnic table in the shade and enjoyed eating cake and ice-cream and opening presents.  Allison, Lauren, and cousin Parker loved playing and swinging.  Bill and I loved it because the grandmothers chased after them at the park!:)

Allison ready to cut the cake

Lauren, Allison, Parker and Grandma getting for the candles to be lit

Allison with blue icing on her face

More blue icing

She was ready to start opening presents after we finished cake

Allison got a Snow White and Cinderella doll and a princess book from Aunt Jen & Uncle Dave

Allison giving Lauren a kiss for her birthday card from Lauren

Allison got a new bike helmet, an Ariel dress up dress, a camera, a Croquet game for outside, a new baby which she has named Haley, a couple of princess dolls, clothes, pajamas, a hippity hop ball, a bubble bucket, an Ariel water slide for the bath tub, and money.   We all had a wonderful time celebrating my baby's 3rd birthday.

After the party, we rushed home, got the girls in the bathtub, and then Bill and I headed off to his High School reunion.  The grandparents kept the girls while we were gone.  It was a long day, but we had a good time.  Bill really enjoyed seeing his old high school friends.

Catching up on recent happenings

I am a little behind in blogging things that have been going on.  I am posting pictures of things in reverse order as to when they happened.  The first set of pictures are from Lauren's end of the year picnic for her preschool class.  The entire school went to a really nice park in Oak Ridge and enjoyed playing and having pizza for lunch.  The day for the picnic could not have been more beautiful.  The sky was blue, the sun was shining and the temperature was perfect.  We had a wonderful time.  I really enjoyed visiting with all the parents of the kids there this year.  It is hard to believe that this is my baby's last year of preschool.  It just doesn't seem possible that she will start "real" school in August.  Seems like just yesterday I took her for the first day of preschool in Mrs. Jackie's class.

Lauren and Allison at the park

Allison on the slide

      

Lauren and Brooke have been friends for both years at WEK

        

Lauren and Sam have become good buddies this year

        

Allison and her friend Lindsay (Brooke's sister)

           

Allison, Lindsay, Lauren and Brooke

          

The next pictures are from Lauren's class field trip to the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge.  Our friends Cindy and Sam rode with us on the trip.  There was lots to see and do at the museum and we only got to see and do a small fraction of those things.  But what we saw we really enjoyed.  We will definitely have to go back another time.

Allison standing at the front door of the life size doll house at the museum.  The girls really loved the house. 

Lauren, Sam and Allison in the house

Lauren and Allison sitting in the living room of the house

Allison and Lauren in the kitchen

Lauren cooking up something delicious....love that sweet face

Lauren in the puppet room

Allison on the caboose at the train section of the museum

Allison and Lauren with Big Bird at the museum

These last pictures are from our first trip to Dollywood this year.  We became big fans of Dollywood last year after getting season passes.  Both girls got in free last year, but this year we had to get Lauren a pass.  Thanks to Uncle Bill and Granny who purchased her pass for her.  Our first visit was great fun.  Even Daddy went with us and got a pass this year.  The girls were so brave and tried lots of new rides this year.  I was so proud of them.  Last year they stayed on the same rides every time we went.  Some of the new rides they tried this year were the swings, the shooting star, the Ferris wheel, the scrambler, and the bumper cars.  Allison couldn't get on all of those because of height restrictions, but she loved the scrambler!!! 

 The girls on the beloved bees

On the ducks

Daddy and Allison on the scrambler....what a sweet picture

Uncle Bill and Lauren on the scrambler....she didn't like it as much as Allison did

Mom, Lauren and Uncle Bill on the swings....Uncle Bill didn't like the swings as much as Lauren did!:)

Daddy and Lauren on the Ferris wheel

Mommy and Allison on the Ferris wheel

Allison giving Granny a kiss.....she sure loves her Granny

Allison driving Pawpaw in the cars

   

Mom, Allison, Dad and Uncle Bill strolling through the park

   

We have been in our new house for six weeks today.  The girls have done an amazing job getting settled in and feeling at home.  I've been busy trying to decorate.  The hardest part is finding curtains for the girls' rooms.  Lauren's room had black curtains already in there, and they look terrible, but I've tried a couple of different things in there and had to return both!!  I've also tried some in Allison's room and didn't like those.  Mom bought Allison a new quilt and she is going to get a friend of hers to make curtains and a dust ruffle for Allison's room.  We have decided to paint their rooms.   Shockingly, they both want pink!!!  Imagine that!  

Bill has been busy putting up shelves in the garage, and hanging things on the walls.  His favorite thing he hung was his new flat panel tv.

We love our new home!!!!

Our Little Geniuses

We have always been so proud of our oldest daughter and how smart she is.  She recognized all of her letters by the time she was two.  She knew her address and phone numbers by the age of three.  She can tell you when her birthday is, as well as her sister's, mine, her dad's, her Granny's, her Pawpaw's, her Uncle Bill's, her cousin Parker's, and her Grandma's, just to name a few.  She can "read" (recite) quite a number of books that she loves to hear.  Just in the past couple of weeks she has learned to add and subtract and has already memorized a number of those Math facts, namely all the doubles up to 20......1+1, 2+2, 3+3.....all the way to 20+20.  Bill enjoys doing the Sudoku puzzles in the paper and has even had Lauren in his lap explaining how those work.  Bill really enjoys Math, so I'm hoping that sticks with Lauren. 

Well, Allison is not one to be left out in the family, so my brother took this picture of her over  Easter weekend while we were at my parent's house.  Allison is working the crossword puzzle from the daily paper.

I love these pictures of Allison.  I think her hair is absolutely beautiful in each one.  I think she had just finished her bath before they were taken.  Allison is just as smart as her sister.  She is enjoying learning to use sign language and finger spell her name.  One of her favorite names to finger spell is her friend Josiah's.

OK, if you are really wondering, Allison is not really working the crossword puzzle, but she was writing the letter "O" perfectly in each square.  Needless to say, we are very proud of both of our daughters.

 

Kindergarten Round-Up

Today I walked in to Brickey Elementary to register my baby for Kindergarten. The school place has always been such a comfortable and familiar setting for me as a teacher, but today, I felt like a total stranger in this school that I will be leaving my daughter at beginning in August. Thank goodness my friend Krissy came by to take us with her for registration, or I would have been totally lost. She showed Lauren and I around the school a little bit while we were there.
Filling out the Knox County School enrollment form was such a foreign thing for me as a parent. I have read so many of those enrollment forms for the children I have taught, and now I am the parent filling it out.
I was very impressed with the school. I think it will be a wonderful place for the girls. The classrooms looked beautiful and the school itself seemed very inviting despite it's large size. I look forward to getting to know the people at the school and becoming a part of this wonderful community we have become part of.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend is always a special tradition for me because Bill went up to my parent's house for the first time seven years ago while we were dating. We have been able to go back each Easter since then. I enjoy spending that time with the family.
Here are a couple of pictures of the the girls playing outside at Mom and Dad's house Friday evening.
Allison jumping off the patio to Daddy

Lauren taking her turn jumping to Daddy

Here are the girls sleeping together in Mom and Dad's bed Friday night. It didn't last long. When Mom and Dad actually got in bed, Allison woke up and came in to the room where Bill and I were sleeping and kept us awake for a long time.

Saturday morning Mom and Dad took the girls to Warrior's Path State Park to play. They had a wonderful playground the girls enjoyed. I didn't get any pictures at the park because Bill and I actually shopped at Lowe's and Target while the grandparents played with the girls.
Saturday afternoon we colored Easter Eggs outside on the side walk.
Lauren with her pretty orange egg.

Lauren and Allison checking on their eggs.

Allison checking out her pink egg. Unfortunately she dropped several of her eggs on the side walk and cracked them.

Daddy put Allison to bed Saturday night and fell asleep with her.

Allison showing off her Easter dress on Sunday morning.

Sweet kisses

I love this picture of Lauren

Sweet sister hugs

More hugs

Bare feet in the grass. I was so glad the weather was so beautiful for Easter.

Outside picture with their Easter dresses

Hunting for Easter eggs

Allison looking for eggs

Lauren was so tired from the busy weekend that she fell asleep on the ride back to Knoxville. You know she is really tired when she falls asleep anytime other than bedtime.