Too Sweet

It's nap time and Allison will not stay in her bed and go to sleep.  After several trips in to my room where I am working on a Vacation Bible School lesson, I tell Allison to get in her bed and stay there.   When I finish the lesson plan, I take it downstairs and put it on the counter so I will remember to take it to church.  Bill is not downstairs where I last saw him.  I check upstairs in the bonus room where Lauren is and he is not there.  I look out in the yard, not there.  I check to see if his car is in the driveway and it is.  After another look upstairs, I peek in Allison's room, because she is finally quiet, and this is what I saw!!!

I love these two!!!!

Allison turns Three

At 6:45 p.m. this evening Allison turned three years old.  I don't really like having birthday parties on a different day than the real birthday because it seems like the actual birthday is kind of a let down.  But after celebrating with her party this past Saturday, we enjoyed the day doing what Allison wanted.  I offered to take her to the Bounce House, which is where she wanted to have her birthday party, but she chose to go to the park today instead.  We enjoyed the morning playing at the park and then had Chick-fil-a for lunch.  After taking her nap, she got to eat the last of her birthday cake and ice-cream.  That girl loves sweets!!!!

I can't believe she is getting so big.  Today we got rid of her booster seat that she has been sitting in at the table.  She thought she would not have to take her nap, but I kind of used the cake and ice-cream to bribe her into napping.  She may be trying to give up her nap, but when she doesn't sleep, she has a really rough time in the evening.  (So does Mommy)  For the past couple of weeks, she has been sleeping without a pull-up, so I am thrilled to say we are now a diaper/pull-up free family!!!!  Woohoo!!

I would like to write more about things Allison is doing, but it's really late and I wanted to get a post ON her actual birthday.  Here are some pictures of when Allison was born.  Since Allison came by emergency C-section, we did not get a many pictures of her right away.  It seemed like forever before I got to hold her.   By the time I got out of recovery from the C-section and in our room, it was getting late.

The first one is of my grandmother holding Allison when we first got settled in our room.  I love this picture.  My grandmother didn't want to even look up for the picture.  She was so enthralled with baby Allison.

This was the first time Lauren got to meet her baby sister.

My Mom, Lauren and Allison

The grandmothers with the girls

Sweet baby Allison with her dark head of hair

Uncle Bill with his new niece

Lauren Graduates from Pre-School

Lauren celebrated the end of her preschool years last night with her  Pre-K graduation.  I can't believe  she has completed two years of preschool and will be ready for kindergarten in August.  The four year old classes and the Kindergarten class presented a wonderful program, complete with receiving diplomas for their accomplishments.

 

Here is a picture of Lauren coming into the auditorium for the program

Lauren sitting with her class waiting for their turn to sing.

Lauren singing with her class.

More singing....I love her friend Darrah's face in this shot!

A group shot of the program......there are a lot of four year olds at WEK

Lauren receiving her diploma from Mrs. Cheryl

Allison, Lauren and her friends Esther and Ariel.....they have been together both years of preschool

Allison, Darrah and Lauren

What a wonderful first experience for school Lauren has enjoyed at WEK.  I am looking forward to teaching there next year with my friend Cindy.  Allison is more than ready to begin her school experience there in August.  I had to carry her out of Lauren's class every morning because she wanted to stay at school with Lauren.  I'm so thankful that both girls really love to go to school.  I pray that love for learning continues with them all the way through college and throughout their lives.

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!!!!