Alison Plays Around

When Grace was a little over a year old, she got this Leap Frog play table as a present; now it's Ali's turn for fun! We brought the table up from the basement this weekend because she seemed a little bored and needed some new forms of entertainment. She gets pretty talkative (for her) and gives off lots of smiles.....

Home Improvement

There were some busy beavers around the house early this morning.....crack of dawn, early......Matt was still sleeping, early......Dad and Ashley did a lot of stuff around here this morning, and here are some photos of the results:

This is the new ceiling fan in Grace's room (Alison has the same one) and her display shelves from her old room are up in her new room....
New blinds in the front living room along with a mirror hung above the couch....
Close up of the new blinds in the dining room......you can almost feel the relief on the utility bill looking at the picture, can't you?.....
A new decorative piece that Ashley got from Vicki and Ted for her birthday a couple weeks ago....
Everybody stand back, she's got a cordless drill and she knows how to use it.....This is Ashley installing some new hooks to hold back the curtains on the patio door......Dad's arm makes a cameo appearance.....
The picture and the candle-holder-thingies ('nother gift from V & T) on the family room wall.....
This is what the crew looked like by the end of all the work.......
We also pulled a lot of the nails out of the walls left from the previous owners and patched/painted those too.....Now all we need is a painter to return our phone calls, do an estimate, and actually paint the girls' rooms....we haven't had a painter that could do all 3 yet.

Alison 7 months old!

Alison turned 7 (count'em 7) months old today.......time flies when you're having fun! As you can see, she's starting to sit up on her own now......you have to put her in place, but she's been doing good about not flopping over or backwards.....she'll even push herself back into positions sometimes. Anyway, 5 months and 3 days until Christmas!

Even MORE Photos

Here's a few more photos to enjoy:

Here is Alison before her bath tonight.....she's modeling the latest fashions from the seaways (as opposed to runways) of Ontario, Canada. The outfit was gift from my mom and dad from their trip to Canada.....As you can see, Ali's a big fan!

Ashley came up with an idea to incorporate the name Storm with all our first names....she bought wooden letters and then spray painted them the colors she wanted.....this is kind of a rough draft of it. This is currently located out in our hallway that connects all the bedrooms upstairs...(I like it because it looks like one of those signs that people take to sports games to use network names like ESPN and FOX to get their signs on TV....I think it's osmosis from me having all those football games on in the fall. She's not buying it.)

Ali gets Goofi

Alison has been trying to practice sitting up a little bit.....really she'd rather stand, so I guess I should say we've been having her practice it. I put some new batteries in the Goofy Giggles remote control toy to see if she'd like to play with that while she sits.....

As you can see, at the end of the video there's an upcoming tragedy.....

Girls hang out in the backyard

A quick video clip from Michigan......Alison is swinging pretty far for her, and Grace is riding the lawn tractor with Papa.....

Random Photos

Here are some photos from the weekend.......

Nana and Alison have an evening snack attack......
Gracie rowed the boat ashore......(music not included).....

Papa Charlie and his namesake, Alison Charley....
Alison wears a big ol' baseball cap.....she thinks it's funny.....
Dad's cousin Shari Storm came up for a visit to see the girls; here, she and Grace "reflect" on the pond.....
Here's Shari and Alison taking a stroll through the yard.....one of them was being a little fussy that night......I'll let you guess which one......
Here's Grace modeling a new outfit Nana and Papa brought back from their trip to Canada....

Playing with sparklers near open fire......not dangerous at all.....what you can't see in the picture is the 4 adult women trailing Grace as she was playing with the sparkler.....I forgot to set the camera on panoramic......
Uncle Ted and Aunt Vicki pose with the girls......every time Grace got up from her nap this weekend, she'd ask, "where's Vicki?".....she knows there's going to be food and/or shopping when the two of them get together.....

Apparently Michigan didn't get the memo.....

....that it's July! Cruised up to MI for an all too-brief weekend trip.....and Ashley hit a new milestone birthday head-on while we were there. Here are some photos with Ashley all "growed-up" with her family....

As you can see it was a little chilly for Ashley and Alison Saturday night.....for you Killian Cardinals, yes, that is a Detroit Tigers fleece Ashley has on.....hopefully this is a good omen for the Tigers to take the trophy that threw away last year......
Here's Ashley and Grace smiling for the camera......
Grace wanted to take a picture in the "baby swing"....she told Papa he didn't have a big girl swing for her yet....
The family photo......what a motley crew!

Mommy's birthday comes early

Well, we have an ominous birthday coming up in the house coming up on Monday. I'm not going to tell you how old Ashley is going to be early next week, but think "rhymes with flirty." Anyway, we will be out of town on a long weekend this weekend so the girls and I gave Ashley her presents tonight. Here are a few pictures.......

Ashley opening her card from the girls.....Grace drew a picture of mommy on the back of the card....check out Alison's smile at the bottom of the pic.

Alison watching mommy open up her first present.

The girls help Ashley open up her next present....excuse the mess in the background, but we live here.

The picture doesn't do this justice, but Alison was crazy with the wrapping paper and tissue paper....she would cover herself in it and start kicking her legs furiously....the sound was really funny.

How I spent my summer vacation.......Part II

Our friends Kenneth and Susie (with Wyatt and Dylan), and Aaron and Sandy (with Bella and Marley) came over for a cookout on the Fourth. Grace, Bella, and Wyatt are all within 12 months of each other with Grace being the oldest. Alison, Marley, and Dylan are all within about 4 months of each other with Dylan being the oldest of the 'next' generation. The kids had a lot of fun playing together and practicing sharing........next year, we're getting a couple of sitters to watch the 6 kids. We figure we'll go stand on the barge that launches the Chicago fireworks display.......it'd be quieter and less hazardous for the adults than this year's cookout.

Marley and Alison have a cute contest.....

Marley practices a little-known ancient baby martial art, Yi Poo Mi; Alison is amused.....

Dylan joins the feet in the air contest......

Ah, here's the older bunch getting ready for the backyard water park......

Grace hogs the slide while the others bow in reverence......

Wyatt sprays Grace with the hose.....

Mommy flips Grace down the slip and slide.....

Here comes Crash....

How I spent my summer vacation.......Part I

After lunch on Fourth of July, and before our friends game over for a cookout, we loaded up the van and made a quick trip to the mall for horsies and an ice cream:


Ladies in Red........

Mommy and Tough Eddie.....


Alison checks out some ice cream....

I think she's got a bit of an ice cream problem.....

A fuzzy Grace shows everyone she can ride the horsies by herself these days (and she's also a licensed bubble gum chewer, thanks to Daddy and a quarter)

Alison Smiles

Alison was in a pretty good mood after her "dinner" tonight......she had a fun day.....a trip to the pool before lunch (she floated around in her float ring, and she watched Grace jump off the diving board several times)......and then a quick trip to the mall to walk around after dinner.

Anyway, here are a couple of photos of her lounging in our bed, and then one snapped after bath.

Walker, Kitchen Ranger

Alison loooooooooooves to be in her walker these days, especially when any of us are in the kitchen or at the kitchen table.....she can go forward, sideways, backwards.......but, she can get herself stuck in corners, but she waits patiently for a tow truck (a parent) to "un-stuck" her. She loves to look at herself in the oven door and, unfortunately, she wants to try to mess with the garbage can/bag......so that gets put away whenever she's walking. Here's some video of her walking to the family room. Later!

Good Gracious, It's Her Fourth Fourth

Grace dressed up in her 4th of July shirt this morning and is ready for some fireworks tonight....the only fireworks she remembers are from trips to baseball games, so she thinks that we are going over to Peoria for a Chiefs game tonight......I'm guessing I won't have her convinced until 9:00 tonight that we AREN'T going to a baseball game.

Anyway, Grace continues to do well too......I'm guessing she's going to be a teacher, because she tests us all the time....our patience, our sanity, etc.........seriously though, tomorrow it will be 2 months until her fourth birthday, and we can't believe how fast the time has gone and how much she's grown. She also will be starting her first day of pre-school at Trinity on her birthday (mental note to myself, pack extra kleenex). She makes us proud every day.....she can throw her fits and tantrums from time to time, but her love of books, crayons, puzzles, cartoons, swimming, Sunday school songs and prayers, and her little sister is energizing for us as her parents.

Here are some photos of Grace and one of the girls together......take special note of the polish on her fingernails.....Happy 4th of July!