Mark's Birthday - Toddler Style!

 Mark's Birthday was over a week ago.  We had a busy but fun day.  We had our little friend and neighbor, Benji over for the afternoon.  One thing I LOVE about Benji-boy is he associates my house with 'CAKE!'  (We often have Benji's family over if we're having dessert to we can spread the calories over more people).  I think our house will also now equal 'ROCKS!'.....

 and 'GLASSES!'....

 And he certainly doesn't know what to think of the crazy girl who bosses him around at our house!

These two toddlers are so much fun.  Mark was glad they were around to make his birthday exciting!

SpRiNg!!

We finally had a sunny spring day in Oregon! It just so happened to be the day Jodi and I had scheduled to take the girls to a local high school's performance of 'Cinderella.' The girls enjoyed it, although it wasn't as fast paced as 'Annie,' the first show we took them too. We were all ready to be outside in the sun when the show was over - and since the girls were dressed so nicely I had to get some pictures!

Allison was actually getting into posing for me! What a silly girl!

Of course the 'posing' stopped when we tried to get Bekah to join her. Here Allison is telling Bekah to look at the camera and say 'cheese.' Bekah did do that but Allison then promptly quite looking! Oh well. These are definitely two fun girls to spend an afternoon with!

Kite Flying

We had dinner with our good friends, the Wagners, on the first full sunny spring day. And the Wagners just so happened to have a kite which they brought out! Jodi and I would not have been surprised if it had taken the guys a few hours to put the kite together considering they were choosing to ignore the directions but.....

They had the kite up and flying in just a few short minutes!

The girls loved watching the fairy fly around.

Well, at least Bekah did, Allison enjoyed playing with the box!

And Nate was the kite master. We're thinking we may need to track one down before we head to the beach this year!

A Saturday Morning Breakfast

On a recent Saturday morning Allison decided she wanted to take care of breakfast herself while we were getting up. She finally called for our help and we went out to see what she was up to. She had managed to get a box of frozen waffles out of the freezer...

And she was quite proud of herself. BUT as it was a brand new box......

She wasn't able to get the plastic bag open and had to call reinforcements in. Mark convinced me to scratch the french toast I had planned on for breakfast and let her eat frozen waffles - hopefully that won't encourage more of these incidents!

Tulip Farm 2012

Last Friday I took the morning off and Allison & I went to the tulip farm with our friends, Tana & Annie. Annie is one of Allison's favorite friends from Sunday School and the two girls were happy to go on an adventure together.

First we rode the cow train around the tulips. I think Allison was a little nervous, she kept looking back at me, but she never made a peep. I can't quite tell but I think she might have been giving me a 'thumbs up' in the picture above.

Once we got back she was not patient while I tried to take a picture!

We played with the duck runs, of course. Thankfully we were there for a dry morning - but the girls did get a little wet here, digging for their ducks as they fell off!

Then we ventured out into the fields to try to take pictures. Two-year-olds are not the most cooperative for pictures. But we tried.

Allison liked to run around and try to smell the tulips.

On our walk back to the play area Annie had some dirt in her shoe. Allison, of course, had to be in the middle of helping her clean out her boot. It was pretty cute!

And one picture of the two of us, myself and the 2-year-old who was ready to be done with pictures (and in her defense she had slipped and fallen right into a mud puddle near the end of the walk back - she was a good sport walking around in wet & muddy pants but she was ready to be done).

Happy Easter (Just a Little Late)!

We had a wonderful Easter, celebrating that 'Jesus is Alive!' with good friends. Allison managed to have three Easter egg hunts over the weekend - the first at daycare, then one in Sunday School and finally, one at Jack & Mel's (where we went for Easter dinner). Allison was such a pro by the time she was done she was hiding eggs and having Mark find them. The funniest part of it all was she didn't really care what was in the eggs, she just loved hiding them and finding them. Oh the simple delights of a 2-year-old!

Allison was quite the cheering section when Mark was 'hunting.' Interestingly enough, when Allison hid the eggs all of the pink ones were hidden together and all of the purple ones were hidden together. The remaining colors were just dumped in the middle of the lawn. Literally. This girl knows her favorite colors and gives them quite the special treatment!

Easter Cookies

Allison was very excited to help me make Easter cookies this year. Mark loves frosted sugar cookies and I don't make them very often because they are so much work. Mark was up close and personal for the process this year and decided they were definitely a lot of work. Of course the work is more fun when you have a 2-year-old ready to help every step of the way.

We made the cookie dough one day and wrapped it up and tucked it away in the fridge.

Then, the Saturday before Easter we baked the cookies and decorated them after dinner. I learned that it is best to give Allison a knife pre-loaded with frosting, that way she doesn't just keep adding more like she did on her first cookie (the one I took pictures of).

Of course she had to eat that first cookie!

Yum!

By the time we were done she was quite good at spreading frosting and we had lots of pretty cookies to share.

Spring Bubbles

On a recent rainy morning (there have been quite a few of them of late) Allison & I headed to the new Walmart in town to get out of the house. She saw packs of bubbles and immediately latched on to them. I hadn't planned to buy bubbles but I knew we were out and I figured they might just coax the sun to come out. Well, as luck would have it, the sun did come out briefly that afternoon. And we headed straight outside even though it was nap time! We have to make the most of the sun when it decides to make an appearance around here! I was definitely glad I spend $2 on that pack of bubbles - it was a worthwhile impulse buy.

Pistachio Lover

Awhile back our friend, Miss Jodi, shared some pistachios with us. Ever since then pistachios have been one of Allison's favorite snacks. And trust me, there is nothing cuter than hearing this little girl say 'pistachios' so we give them to her almost any time she asks (it helps that they are a pretty healthy snack food, too!). Allison has started wanting to shell them herself. So she'll usually work on her pile until she can't open any more and then ask me to come finish them up.

Egg Dying 2012

Last weekend we decided we'd introduce Allison to Easter Egg decorating. I cannot remember the last time I dyed Easter Eggs - I don't think it was something my Mom was a big fan of. But I do love egg salad so I decided we should try it. Mark was actually the egg artist extraordinaire - he took care of all of the dying. Allison was actually so fascinated she didn't even really try to touch (except the plain white cooked eggs that she kept tapping on the bowl!). We decided it was definitely a worthwhile family activity. Until Allison decides she wants to be more involved, I suppose!