Just some different photos

Some random photos from the weekend....

These first few are Alison on her actual 9 month-birthday......
Caught her reading a book......
Big smiles........

This Alison getting ready to head out for the school fall festival.....
She wasn't sure if the hat matched the shirt.....
At the Fall Festival, Grace had a lot of fun on the big inflatable obstacle course.....
I helped her the first time, but she didn't really need me to help.....I tried this myself and ended up with a charlie-horse in my "upper thigh".......
Grace sliding down on the opposite side of the rope climb......

Alison got a tattoo while we were there......doesn't she look tough?
Grace was a kitty-cat.......

Storm Photos

We went to the phot studio last night and had a bunch of pictures taken.....it was Alison's 9 month pictures, Grace's 4 year (!), and we wanted to do a family photo, too. We had done a family photo when Grace was 9 months old, so we wanted for comparison. We thought they turned out pretty good, but we'll let you decide......these are the top 8 that we actually got prints of. They took 60 and then we had to pick out the ones we liked the best. The prints are actually edited a little bit, so like the second to last one, you wouldn't see Ashley's arm.

Alison takes a class

Alison and her LB (little buddy) Katelyn took a mommy and me class at the children's museum last night. She had a lot of fun and there was a lot of fun stuff to do.


Alison and LB Katelyn hangout in a swimming pool full of toys....
Alison poses for the brochure for next month's activity........

Katelyn takes a break for some thumb.....
Alison plays with some soft blocks.....
The girls play with the new rattles the moms made them......
Alison's learning to take the cap of a bottle the easy way.....

Tune into tomorrow for our pictures from Portrait Innovations.....we got Alison's 9 month photos, Grace's 4 year photos, and a family photo......they turned out really good, but they forgot to put the cd in our picture envelope! So, we called and they had it, but they were closed, yada, yada, Grace and I will pick them up tomorrow on the way to the mega-lo-mart for groceries.

All wet behind the ears

Grace and Alison took their first bath together last night......as you can see, they had a lot of fun! Grace even helped wash Alison's hair.

Side note - Alison was really fussy on Wednesday and had not slept well the night before. We checked her gums after day care and tooth number 2 has broken thru the gums!! It's still pretty flat to the gum line, but you can feel it and see it from the top.

New Outfits

The weekend flew by but here are a couple pictures from the last couple days....


Here's Alison showing of the new smile....if you click on the picture and look really close, you can kind of see her new tooth sticking out......
Here's Grace sporting a new shirt from her birthday.....complete with lip gloss......


It's supposed to be 92 here today so here's Alison in a new outfit.......
The sisters showing off their new clothes together.....while Grace helps Alison stand up in the kitchen.....

I've failed already.......

The #1 modern-day rule for father's with daughters is to keep them off the (stripper) pole......and as you can see, I've failed with Alison......

Here's Grace yesterday morning in one of the outfits she got from her birthday.....
And, here's a picture of the bedspread that Aunt Vicki made for Grace ......it's actually in Alison's room in this picture because of sleeping arrangements while we had family staying with us......

Grace throws a birthday party!!

Grace had her 4th birthday party yesterday and it turned out really well. We rented the play area of a preschool here in town that rents out for birthday parties. The kids seemed to have a really good time and were able to run off some of the sugar from the cake and juice boxes before they went home. Some pictures.....


A set up of the cakes and the balloons, etc......
Close up of the cakes.....Ashley made the Barbie cake in the middle (as well as the cupcakes). The dress is an actual cake that she made with a special pan that came in a kit with the doll. It was really challenging to get it to turn out just right, and Ashley did a great job with it! I was impressed.....

Because of the challenges briefly mentioned above, we did get a "back-up cake"....

Close up of the cake......
One of Grace's pals from the old neighborhood, Braden.......
Alison had a good time at the party too......her forehead's a little beat up from ramming the side of her crib this week.....

Grace plays at one of the computer stations......
Grace gets ready to blow out the candles......
Braden, and The Gorrell Boys (Nick and Griffin, l to r).......

Alison and Katelyn (they were born two weeks apart) have their first conversation about boys....

And that conversation ends with a joke about infant boys with commitment issues being attached to their mommies.......
Grace opens a present from a Sunday School buddy.......
Even Alison got in on the present action.......
Grace holds up a couple outfits from her Aunt Vicki.....
Grace wears one of her new dresses for church this morning.......

Alison's haircut

Here's some video of Alison's first haircut.....she does pretty good.....enjoy!

Curious Grace Turns Four and Goes to School!

Grace had her first day of pre-K this afternoon PLUS today is her fourth birthday!!! Two huge events in one day; she could barely contain herself. She started off the day by getting a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday from Mommy, Alison, and Daddy.....she popped and said, "I'm 4!"

She did awesome on her first day of school......she wasn't shy or nervous at all (at least outwardly).....they had a one on one orientation last week for each kid to see the classroom and get to know the teacher (Mrs. Mikesell) a little before the first day of school. Grace also got to take cupcakes into the first day of school for her first day of school.

When we picked her up this afternoon, Mrs. Mikesell said all the kids did really well all day.....she said it was one of the better first days that she'd had. Grace told us that she got to hand the cupcakes out to each kid (10 kids including her; 7 girls, 3 (poor) boys) for snack time.....they had PE out on the playground.....they sang songs and had story time....she also got to wear a special crown as the birthday girl. I think the 2nd day of school might be a little disappointing after all that. Here's a few pictures of the day......


Grace this morning before we headed off to Miss Nichole's and then to pre-K! She doesn't look excited at all!
A picture of Grace outside the school.....
Another picture of Grace waiting to go inside; she got to pick out a special book bag to take to school each day that she goes.....
We've moved inside the school at this point....this is a photo outside the school office....let's hope that's where she stays throughout school.....OUTside of the principal's office. The principal did go up to her to wish her a happy birthday today.....

Grace swinging her book bag around....
Mrs. Mikesell brought out markers and coloring sheets for the kids to color while they waited for all their classrooms....

Grace and Mrs. Mikesell pose together for a quick picture....Mrs. Mikesell has been super nice so far....she's really good with the kids.....

Grace wearing the birthday crown.....she got to take it home!

Grace opening her birthday presents.....she even was nice enough to pick ESPN to watch while she opened them.....

Alison was really interested in the tissue paper.....she loves napkins, paper towels, or any other paper.....straight in the mouth....
Grace was super excited to get a Barbie camera......
more Barbie camera......
Grace showing you (or maybe more like herself) her new Disney Princesses watch......