Mimi's house

We traveled to Mimi and Papa's house on Sunday to cut down on the travel time for Kendall's surgery the next morning. Alley was overly excited about coming to Mimi's house. She didn't care that the reason we were going was for her sister to have surgery. Nope, Alley didn't care one bit, she was just ecstatic to be going. There are several reason she loves going to Mimi and Papa's house, which include playing up at "Papa's church", the delicious food she gets to eat, all the toys that seem so different to her (that's because they don't make toys like that anymore honey, it's called toys that are over 20-30 years old!), and the cats (lord save the cats!). But, the two things she loves the most and talks the most about are Papa's trains and Mimi's books. My daughter loves trains...now she loves dolls and dress-up and shopping, but she loves trains.

"THE" train set - look how excited she is!

wow, now that's some determination and focus:)

and her second love, books...especially Mimi reading her the books.

Alley was trying to look into the other end of the camera while I was taking pictures...all the while saying, "momma I see you"

It was a successful trip, lots of books were read and the trains did not get a break. So for Alley, it was a lovely trip...don't ask Kendall how her visit went;)

"Sweet" Sandals

I am always trying to find fun things to do with Alley. She seems to have endless energy and to be honest, it's making me exhausted! Oh but I love it though! :) The wonderful thing about her is that she's more than willing to try new things out and to work on "projects" with me. She's constantly wanting to help out in the kitchen, so we've started making our own pizza dough (so far all our attempts have flopped and it wasn't because of her!), we make homemade bread at least once a week, we make cookies and many more meals/snacks. Today I decided to try something a little different. After naps we headed out to Walmart to gather ingredients for a "special eating project" (the word "eating" HAS to be involved - it makes her all the more excited!). Today I saw a picture in a magazine of a quick and easy Sandal Cookie - I thought, this would be fun for Alley and easy enough too....

Here is the magazine picture - this is what it's suppose to look like

Alley's interpretation of sandals;) Notice how she mixed the colors to make the sandals more exciting and colorful!

Yeah, umm, try putting these on your feet;)

Personally, I think Alley's are way better and I'm positive she was tons more excited about her's then the actually designer was of his! I did have a hard time keeping her fingers out of the frosting, the cookies from being eaten and the sandal straps from mysteriously disappearing;) And we did end up with frosting all over the table, Alley and the floor, but it was totally worth it!! I've got one proud little chef who went to bed tonight talking about everyone she wanted to give her sandals too:) So sweet...

Wedding Bells

This weekend Andy and I had the opportunity to go to Wisconsin for the wedding of my college roommate, Colleen. My parents kept the girls so that we could spend our time catching up with friends, not kids:) We had a rough start to our trip, but once we finally got there (15 hours AFTER our original arrival time...thanks Continental...) we had a blast! The wedding was amazing, the food was delicious, the company was hilarious, and the bride and groom were gracious. I cannot imagine a better person for Colleen than John and it was an honor for me to stand up for them both at their wedding.

The "blushing" bride getting ready for her big day

Brigid (1 of Colleen's sister) and me helping Colleen into her dress

three of the four bridesmaids (Ang - Colleen's current roommate - me, and Brigid) before the ceremony

hanging out before the festivities

roomies!

the bridal party (Sheila - Colleen's other sister - me, Ang and Brigid)

the whole wedding party

awe, too cute not to post:)

Dude, you can stop kissing now...gross;)

The roomies! Colleen and I shared a room and then Jill had her own (she was an RA)

I loved getting to see and re-connect with old friends and meet new ones. We had a wonderful time celebrating! I can't wait to return for another visit!!!

Kiawah 2010

Kiawah (sigh), I already miss it. We've been home for 14 hours and I am already wanting to return. Our family has been going to Kiawah Island, SC for many years and we absolutely love it! Not only is the beach and Island incredible, but the company is not too shabby either;) We had such a wonderful time. We spent most of our days out on the beach digging in the sand, jumping waves, walking along the beach, eating Blue Bell ice cream, having fabulous meals, eating more Blue Bell ice cream, playing cards, eating even more Blue Bell ice cream...you get the picture;) My girls loooved getting to spend time with each member of our family. Alley made immediate bonds with everyone and insisted on each of the guys coming out into the ocean with her. The quote of the week was, "(insert Winston, Daddy, John, or Papa) come. You come to da ocean? Me like waves!" That girl couldn't get enough of the ocean and even enjoyed being hit by the waves. While Alley was enjoying the ocean, Kendall napped on the beach like a champ and spent all of her waking moments smiling at everyone and everything. Truly a wonderful week:)

Here is a picture of everyone in attendance this year. We were very sadden by the fact that my older brother and his family could not join us due to a VERY recent move to Washington STATE (I don't think I okayed that move!). We are hoping they will be able to join us next year!

I photo-op for the McPherson clan

Kendall was rolling around like crazy this week! She started rolling over several weeks ago, but rarely did it until this week. She does it non-stop. Here she is clearly very proud of herself.

Alley hiding behind a tree playing peek-a-boo

My girls...I can't get enough of them:)

sisterly love (for now!)

A classic, Alley in her own little world

Kendall getting some love and attention from Marion

Alley asking people to go into the waves with her - or giving the camera a little attitude;)

John and Marion arrived halfway through the week, due to John's summer school classes. They arrived just in time to celebrate John's 23rd birthday...is my baby brother really that old??!! Couldn't pass up a photo of John in our family birthday glasses.

This was too cute to pass up! I'm not quite sure what is going on here, but when I went in during her nap time to take her books and let her know it was time to sleep, this is how I found her!

looking for "cawabs" (crabs for those of your who don't speak Alley's language)

My big girl

she spent so much time in the water that her feet were super wrinkly

so determined to make a sandcastle...in the water

Alley helping Uncle Bruce play solitaire

Kendall using her stroller as a teether (sp?) - the poor child is teething like crazy and can always be found in a puddle of drool! But she's so adorable while she's "leaking";)

Granny and Kendall in matching hats

Alley with her helpers looking for fish - she actually held the little minnows in her hands when she caught them...I was amazed she held them! I really wish I got a picture of it!!

Alley found a crab hole and kept sticking her finger in it and yelling "cawab house, look, cawab house!", all the while waving at us all to come over and see.

trying to capture a fish/minnow

strolling back from the ocean

My three favorite people:)

digging in the sand

checking out the sand for shells and crabs

What a great time was had by all! As Uncle Bruce says, "51 weeks until we return!". I can't wait!!

Highchair fun

Kendall loves to sit in her high-chair. I'm not sure if it's because we all hang out in the kitchen (even though it's the smallest room in our house...go figure!) or because we play music when we are in there or because it means food is coming. Whatever the reason is, Kendall is extremely happy to hang out in her chair. Alley took it upon herself to make Kendall even happier about being in the kitchen by providing Kendall with a few things...

"few" is an understatement here!! I think she took all of Kendall's toys and put them on her tray!
You know Kendall is a McPherson because she loves to eat! And boy does Miss Thing eat;) We have been blessed to have two good eaters. Alley has always had a healthy appetite and rarely ever turns food away (only if it's tomatoes). It looks like Kendall is following in her big sister's foot-steps (praise the Lord!!). I started Kendall on baby food when she was 4 months old. We only did a few days of the rice cereal, really only enough to get her use to eating off a spoon, and then we went straight to jar food. I like to make my girls jar food, basically because it's cheaper, healthier and I know what's going into it. I also get to see them try new foods, like avocado:) Kendall looooves avocado. Here are some pictures from tonight. Apparently I'm not feeding her fast enough so she took matters into her own hand!

All I did was put the food on the spoon, she did the rest! She directed the spoon to her mouth!

A little tilt to the spoon to make sure she got every little bit off the spoon...waste not;)

A little teething break...who knew spoons were great teethers;)

more avocado...yummy!

Kendall is definitely a joy to have around! I can't believe she is already 5.5 months! Time has flown by. She has definitely enriched our lives in so many ways. We love our smiley little butterball!!