The Nicest Things in Life . . .

 . . . . are shared with friends.

If David's not around for a duet, Alina grabs one of her dollies or stuffed animals and helps them play the piano with her.

Trick Or Treat Town

We took the kids to Trick or Treat town this year. It was in the warehouse at Sam's company, open to the entire town and quite a popular event! The idea is that a lot of local businesses set up booths, and the families follow a pathway through the booths, trick or treating at each window. It's really ingenious for a town that is usually too cold for the small children to be outdoors for extended periods of time by the time Halloween comes around. 

Alina donned our monkey costume, and we added a big pink bow to make it a little more feminine.

Daddy tried teaching her how to make monkey noises, but I think she found the big orange bag a lot more entertaining.

The monkey and her trainer.

She's a little more serious later on in the evening. Is she tired? hungry?

 Nope, she just wants her candy back.

She didn't mind that sugar on a stick one bit . . . 

For this evening of fun, we took a girl monkey and spider man.

There they are!

School Days

A few highlights from our learning time together this fall . . . .

David loves Math! When Grandpa came to visit on September 10, David showed him that he had done 158 pages in his math book already. Whenever I say, "OK David, time to start school!" David goes in and gets his math book and begins working on a few pages independently. He's good with numbers, and Grandpa Chuck can relate with that gift.

We also did a "Grow your own butterflies" kit. I highly recommend it for anyone that has young learners in their family. Such a great opportunity to talk about the life cycle of an insect, and to introduce a few big words like "metamorphosis" and "chrysallis". We hatched all 5 of the Painted Lady Butterflies, which began as caterpillars in cup that arrived by mail.

Birthday Celebration Part III

 The birthday girl dove in to her birthday dinner, and the mission of allowing her to get messy was definitely accomplished.

I threw together the cakes during a short lull where some took naps between activities in a jam-packed schedule while Grandma and Grandpa were in town. They weren't my prettiest work, but they tasted good and gave Alina some cake to taste.

We brought out the cake and she seemed to like what she saw.

Brother joined the pictures and warned her that the flame was hot.

Alina is so sensitive to any kind of correction, particularly from her big brother. That bottom lip quivers when she feels like she's in trouble.

There we are . . . back to a happy, sweet face.

I helped her blow out the flame,

then she confirms that she understands it is "hot" by saying "ha ha ha" over and over.

Finally it's time to dive in.

Meanwhile, David is pleased as punch with his ice cream cone.

Alina is having the time of her life with that chocolate cake.

Once she's decided that she's had enough,

Alina started flinging it everywhere.

Live it up, sweet girl. You only turn 1 once.

She was happy to move on to an ice cream cone.

 Here's the circumference of the mess she made with her flinging. Do you see that computer bag in the upper right hand corner? That is Grandpa's laptop bag. He was sitting in the chair that you can barely see by the bag, and I think he got most of Alina's fun flying his way. Thanks for being a good sport, Grandpa!

We finally got the kids and dining room cleaned up, and sent them back to bed. We had a couple more hours to chat with Mom and Dad before taking them back to the airport. They still had a day of traveling ahead of them--we were just a stop over on their way back from a trip to Fiji. Between the difference in time zones, and the number of hours actually spent on a plane within a 72 hour period, they were ready to settle back into their routine.

Thanks Mom and Dad for making the huge effort to be here for this special day. Your presence was the cherry on top (and the hot fudge sauce, too) of a practically perfect day.

Birthday Celebration, Part II

 Early in the morning on September 10, I picked up my parents from the airport. They had been circling over Anchorage for an hour burning off fuel from the aircraft because the flaps on the wings weren't working to help slow the plane down upon landing. It turned into nothing more than a bunch of fire trucks stationed all along the runway, waiting for their plane to land. We were glad to get them on the ground, even if we were putting them back on the plane 25 hours after we picked them up from the airport. They came for Alina's sealing, and a day was just enough time to accomplish that.

I already wrote a post on the experience we had with the sealing. Here are a few other pictures from that day.

David and Grandpa wait for their turn to be called up to the sealing room. In the background are ward members that came to witness the sealing--specifically Brother and Sister Everett and Brother Clay.

Somewhere between nap time and dinner time, we snuck away on an outing to the Wild Berry Chocolate Factory. Lots of samples at the counter . . . Dad made sure to pick up some of their taffy so they weren't totally out on the samples we enjoyed.

David looks at the chocolate fountain. We've been here before with him, but apparently he didn't remember so this felt new and exciting to him.

Daddy and Alina cruising through the soft "teddies"

While dinner was cooking (spaghetti and meatballs, peas and ice cream salad) we let a little girl open her presents to celebrate her 1 year birthday. We wrapped them pretty loosely so she would be tempted to tear the paper and see what was inside. She was happy to wave them around with or without the wrapping on.

Alina eventually got the hang of it.

She was thrilled with that new soft teddy. She still lights up whenever she comes across him in the toy bin or lying around the house.

Right idea, sweet girl. Wrong mouth.

David helps her figure out the purpose of that bottle.

 Alina shares excitement with her Daddy.

My dolly with her dolly. This girl loves to take care of her dolly, and she'll coo at anything with a face on it.

As per tradition, Daddy got a birthday balloon for the birthday girl.

Of course she was enamored with it.