Cinderella in training

I was mopping the floors this afternoon because the missionaries were coming for dinner, don't go thinking this is a regular occurrence :0) Of course our sweet little curious missy had to come investigate. She was adamant about it too, she climbed thru and over daddy ( who was supposed to be distracting her for me).She ran over grabbed the rag right out.....
And started "mopping" and giggling the whole time. Maybe I am onto something here..mopping sure doesn't make me giggle, isn't it depriving her joy to NOT let her do it for me??


I wish I got a picture of the serious face she got as she honestly scrubbed one area for 10 minutes. Instead, when I get out the camera she starts making faces like this:



CHEESE!! What a goober! She really is into" helping" mommy right now though. If I get out the broom, she has to sweep, she has to vacuum( but she only goes forward and doesn't understand that I have to bring it back), and she climbs up on the dishwasher and empties them for me no matter if they are clean or dirty. If only I can get her doing things the right way.....hmm..maybe we need to watch Cinderella a few more times......

4th of july shirt

I can not remember where I saw this idea on the web somewhere and thought I'd try to be creative ;) I started with these supplies:


And one hour later ( with breaks to stop my daughter from writing on the chairs) I came up with this.


The best part of this cute little number was that the only sewing was ruffling the ribbon, the material was wonder-undered on. AND the shirt was a dollar clearance, fabrics were scraps and ribbon was on hand too. Total cost : $1 Woo HOO! Super easy and cheap but still cute and girly. My kind of project.

Close up of the flag. Next time I definitely need more ruffles and closer together, but I don't think Alianna will mind :0) I have leftover blue star fabric and I'm thinking of making bottoms. What do you think, shorts or skirt?

Scariest morning ever!

*Warning* This is very lengthy but not nearly as long as the morning felt

The premise to this story is that ArJay started the swing shift yesterday and should have been home at 2 am. You will understand the should have been shortly.

I woke up-ish at 5, rolled over and saw ArJay was not there. Sometimes he sleeps on the couch when he comes home late not to wake me and to fall asleep to the couch, so I figured that was it and went back to sleep. I woke up at 6:15, came downstairs to no ArJay. So at this point he is 4 HOURS late. This is not normal, 1-2 hours normal if a last minute call out, 4 made me worry. I automatically called him and got voicemail, about 4 times.

At this point I start freaking and call dispatch. THe dispatch lady was NOT helpful. I identified myself, asked if my husband was on a call out. She said " Umm.....yeah...I think he might be..." I asked if she was sure and she must have sense me annoyance because she said hang on. I heard her in the background radio his badge number and a bunch of police number gibberish. I didn't hear his voice but another officer say a bunch of gibberish back. She gets back on adn sounds less sure " UMm.yeah..I think he's on a call out" ME:"Do you know when he will be back" her: "Um.. no...I have no idea when he'll be back". So at this point I am thinking that other officer informed her he was dead or gravely injured and she just doesn't want to be the one to tell me.

So I hang up, took a deep breath and said an impromptu, informal prayer. I believe it was more along the lines of "please no" and " Help me calm down". I instantly thought "OK he is fine, that lady is just dumb and thought she didn't need to tell me details" Not the most christ-like thought, but that's honestly what I thought :0)

Alianna woke up late, of course when I actually wanted her up to distract me she slept in! When she did wake up I was actually in a zen-like state of calm thinking, whatever comes, we (Alianna and I) will be fine. DOn't think I still wasn't seconds from calling the hospitals though.

I got a call at 8 am( 6 hours late) from ArJay's number. The first thing I heard was" I'm alright" from my sweet husband's voice. I think that was the first deep breath I took all morning. Turns out he was way out in the boonies-with-no-cell-service-area of the nation all night. He had tried to call multiple times but could not get through and was nowhere close to areas where he could drive real quick to call. He tried to come home 3 times but kept getting calls he was sent to or felt he had to answer for his own conscience. A quick rundown includes: A car with nearly 400 pounds of marijuana, a guy tried to catch a car on fire with his fiance and the girl he hit on in it, and the first one he stayed after shift for was a guy who kidnapped his 1 month old daughter.

HE was exhausted and did not have to go on that call but wanted to and told me that was why he became an officer, to stop guys like that and protect innocent people. Sometimes he makes me soo proud I can't believe how blessed I am to be married to someone like that. IF only he could be superhero when it doesn't make him 9 hours late and make me hyperventilate......

Swim lessons

I'm not sure if I've said anything about swim lessons yet. We just finished the first 2 week session. IS anybody surprised that Alianna is LOVING it?! They sing a lot of songs "the kids in the pool splash"( instead of wheels on the bus). The whole point is getting the kids used to the water ( not a problem for us) and starting the basics of kicks and strokes. The hardest part of class is right before class starts trying to keep her from taking a giant leap in when no one else is in there to catch her! Our friend Dallin Petty is in her class and they high five and give each other knuckles after they get dunked or other tricks. I really wish I had pics, but since it is parent child and I am obviously in the water holding her, taking pics are not a possiblity.

Cupcakes

We have been hanging out with Copa for a few days while he recovers from his horse accident. It has been a lot if fun. I was making cupcakes in ice cream cones for a dinner I made for a family in our ward having twins and of course she had to taste test for me.

She was showing me that it got up her "NOOs". She had chocolate boogers the rest of the day. You would have thought she had some weird medical condition.


This is the face I get when I ask "Say Cheese". Don't you wish we could still devour chocolate like a 19 month old. Sometime I do anyways, but only when there aren't any witnesses :0)

Grandma visits

Grandma Weir came for a quick trip this weekend. We had a lot of fun at swim lessons, the splash park, Savers, and "walking Clifford" the stuffed animal in her stroller. And that was all before 4 on Friday! I'm pretty sure that's her favorite part of visits from grandma, we never stop moving. Grandma also introduces us to all kinds of new toys and experiences. She brought this paint with water coloring book that was obviously a big hit. Thanks grandma, now she thinks we have to paint everything:0)

What a difference....

A Day makes!
I don't know why or how but I went from this girl yesterday.....




To this one today! I think she realized what a pill she was too, she kept coming up randomly and and hugging and saying "I woov woo" (I Love you in Alianna-ese).

I'm sure I was just extra cranky because I was being a brat and wanted to spoiled on my b-day, but there is nothing like a beautiful little toddler to keep your pride in check and remind you what is truly important.

Blessed

It has been kind of a roller coaster birthday. The long and short of how the day went was Alianna was awful. It was just one of those days where she didn't want to do anything and screamed and yelled about everything. I love that girl but couldn't seem to fix anything for her . Plus I was already upset about my car fender bender last night....

BUT THEN

I got online to check everything and was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and birthday wishes. I can't even express how blessed by good friends and family I felt. You'd think I was preggers I seriously cried at all the simple "Happy Birthday"s. Thanks for reminding me that I'm not a total screw-up even if I can't keep my baby happy. I guess I don't make you all want to scream and throw tantrums whenever you see me :0)

primping and b-ball

We went to Copa's basketball tonight after my birthday dinner and obviously had a lot of fun dancing to the "music" and balls bouncing....


Yelling "Go GO GO!" while punching her fists because she saw someone else do it...


Putting lipgloss on Daddy when she got bored with the game...


And giving up on putting on herself correctly and chomping down instead. ( Note to self: NO need to buy teething rings, just keep a steady supply of lipgloss tubes on hand)

Fun organizing, not an oxymoron

Today was laundry day and as I tried to stuff more of Alianna's clothes in her dresser, the bottom of the drawer nearly feel out. I guess it's time to weed through huh? So I also took down all the baby clothes that where in small tubs at the top of the closet and put all the clothes in 2 big Rubbermaid tubs and into the garage. Can I tell you how helpful Alianna was with folding clothes nicely into the tub. NOT!! So as tiny dresses and sleepers( which by the way made me tear up seeing how little she was!) started flying around the room, I decided to join her. Way more fun and I only get so many years of those sweet baby giggles. We pulled out clothes and had an impromptu fashion shoot.

Now before you start ordering me fashion magazine subscriptions or asking if I am colorblind, she picked out this particular ensemble. Although with the fashions I've seen lately, she could probably walk in Bryant Park like that.


Such a HAM! Who's kid is that, certainly not mine. ;)
And yes the clothes did all get put away snug in the garage tubs,an hour later than I intended. But I'll tell you, it was the funnest waste of time I've had in ages.

Summer Fun

Oh boy are we going to have a busy fun summer! We are doing Kids movie at the theater Mondays at 9:45, swim lessons Tuesday thru Friday at 10:15, walking at 7, play groups on Tuesdays, Library on Wednesday. Sheesh, hold onto your hats folks! Is it strange that I am super excited for all this? Alianna is so cute and expressive right now, I can't wait to see how she well react to all of it.

Example A: Last night Alianna went to her first church softball game. I was really nervous because it started soo late I figured you'd be crabby the whole time. She proved me wrong. She played ball with some little kids and became super excited every time she saw Daddy. As he went to bat the first time, She screamed and ran up to the fence. He swung and missed and she cried "Oh NO Daddy!" When he hit it she squealed and clapped. Sometimes I can't stand it how cute she is!

Water fun!

We went to the splash park with our friends Devon and Dallin on Friday. Can you tell how much fun we had?? Thanks to Michele's Mom for the awesome pics!
Isn't it funny how kids make everything a toy? We were at the park the other day and one of the sprinkler heads must have been broken and created a huge puddle. Dallin, Devon, Alianna, and
Lowe were all over it. At first we all kinda cringed thinking of the muddy car seats and handprints. But really, you are only a kid once and how do you say no to those faces!