Around Here

We've been pretty low key recently.  I think January is a hard month because the days are short and cold and we don't have a lot of activities going on.  Thankfully Allie's birthday celebrations lasted almost a week, so we had fun things to do.

Allie got some presents from Great Grandma and Aunt Sue.  She loves the veggies and plastic knife that cuts through the veggies for her kitchen and the birthday cake that she can decorate herself.

I found this table and chairs at Home Sense here in Saskatoon and thought it was adorable. My parents gave it to Allie for her birthday.  Here she is eating lunch (yes, she's still in her pajamas) and loving her table.

This is the one picture that I took at Allie's friend party.  She had so much fun and I guess I was too busy to take any photos.

All of our activities start back up this week and next week, so I'm sure I'll have more to blog about soon. And, today is the last day of January, which means our trip to Florida is only about six weeks away!

She's Two!!!

Today is Allie's birthday and we are so happy to have such a healthy, happy girl. At two, Allie is sweet, spunky, talkative, independent, funny, at times moody (what two year old isn't?) and so lovable I can hardly stand it!

I'll blog soon about all the things Allie is doing these days, but we had her birthday party last night and I thought I would blog about that first. We had three families over, each with two kids, and a woman Dan works with at Cargill, so it was a full house. Allie had a blast with all her buddies (as she calls her friends) and it was so fun for Dan and I to watch her enjoy her party so much.

Allie LOVES Thomas the Train and wanted Thomas balloons for her party. When I looked for party supplies I could not believe that almost 100% of the options for girl birthday parties were princess or barbie, with a couple butterfly themes thrown in.  I'm not really against princesses, or barbies, and Allie will have her fair share of each I'm sure, but she's only two, and she loves Thomas.  I want to encourage her to like anything not princess for the time being because I know that Disney will have a firm hold on her soon! :)

Allie's balloons that she loves!

Waiting patiently for her guests to arrive.

The "big" kid table.  

Allie and Maya sat at the head of the table. Maya is six weeks younger than Allie, so they are at the exact same stage, which is really fun to watch.  I also think they look so much alike they could be sisters. 

We moved the Thomas pinata so that baby Lucas could sit in the middle of the table in the bumbo chair.  He was a much cuter centerpiece for sure!  Allie is obsessed with baby Lucas and talks about him all the time.

We got Allie a Coldstone birthday cake.  I know, an ice cream cake in January in Canada might not make the most sense. But, we just found out Saskatoon had a Coldstone, and Allie loves ice cream, so it was a huge hit.

We thought Allie might not like all the attention of people singing happy birthday, but she did just fine.

But, she did need Brogan's help to blow out the candles. She looks upset in the photos below, but she was just trying to blow out the candles. 

I had to include these next photos, even though they aren't that great of me.  We were trying for a family photo, and these are what we got! Oh well, you win some, you loose some.

I do kind of like this one, even though none of us are looking at the camera.

Daddy and his girl.  

Anna and Nicholas waiting for cake.

I also got some cupcakes.  Somebody liked the frosting. :)

Allie is a big girl now, and wanted to cut her own cake.

Check out her concentration. 

Love these two together!

After dinner, we didn't think the kids had enough junk food with mac and cheese, ice cream cake, and cupcakes, so we did the Thomas pinata.  It was so much fun!

Allie got her stash of chocolate and was not concerned about the raisins, balls, or toys that were also in the pinata. She just wanted the chocolate. When Dan took her chocolate away, she had a MEGA meltdown.  Luckily she recovered and could enjoy the rest of the party.

Just before leaving everyone had to pay a bit of extra attention to baby Lucas. He is such a happy, smiley baby and I love watching Allie with him because she is so sweet and gentle.  

It was a great birthday for our girl. Tomorrow I am hosting a VERY casual play date for her birthday as well. So, Allie is getting three days of celebration this year. Hopefully she doesn't expect this every year! :)

Happy birthday sweet Allie.  Thank you for bringing such joy to our lives!

Almost....

This little one....

Is almost TWO!  I cannot believe it. Last night she sang the ABC's to me.  She regularly sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,  Jesus Loves Me and a couple others to me, but I didn't even realize she could sing the ABC's.  I guess a sign that your "baby" is almost two is that you no longer sing to her, but she sings to you.  

I'm struggling to believe that Allie turns two a week from today and that we have been in Canada for almost two years. Where has the time gone? One thing is for sure...I've had the BEST job for the last two years as Allie's mom!  I am so very blessed.

My Little Minnesotan

I wish I had been counting the number of times Allie talked about wanting to go to Minnesota this week.  She had so much fun over Christmas with family that she just can't stop talking about going back!  We don't know when our next trip to Minnesota will be, probably not until this summer. In the meantime, Allie has been wearing her Minnesota hat that Nana got her.  In the picture below she is literally screaming NANA as she smiled. She loves you Nana! :)  Thanks for the hat!

My aunt Robbie, Uncle Art and cousins Christina and Alyssa gave Allie this puppy for Christmas.  It came in a purse, with a leash, comb, bowl, and dog treat. This gift is one of Allie's favorites.  She named the puppy, that I'm pretty sure is a girl, Joseph and she loves to walk Joseph and pick up his poop.  It is hilarious to watch. 

A Quiet Night

Tonight Dan and Allie went to a birthday party for one of our friend's daughters.  I stayed home because I'm sick.  It is a strange feeling to be alone in the house without the pitter patter sounds of my little toddler running around, but I am enjoying the peace and quiet as I try to get better before Dan goes back to work on Monday!

I thought I would take the time to blog about Allie's two big gifts from Santa (with a little help from Poppy and Gagu and mommy and daddy).

Here is her all time favorite, the kitchen. She calls it "Allie's own kitchen" and she is right about that!  Her daddy was SO sweet because he put the kitchen together while Allie and I were in MN. And then he went shopping to fill each cabinet/fridge door/microwave/oven with a special gift for Allie.  Allie loved seeing the kitchen and finding all of her surprises. I loved the fact that Dan took the time to make Allie's Christmas even more special. He is such a great daddy!

She loves to cook in the microwave.  As she hits the buttons, she says "beep, beep, beep". So cute.

It's ready mommy!

She loves to call Gagu and Nana on the phone.

And wash her dishes.  I am crossing my fingers she'll still like washing dishes when she's old enough to help us! :)

And washing her hands.

She loves her own kitchen!

She also got an easel and takes her artwork very seriously.

This is the look I got when I asked her to smile for the camera. She looked at me like this and said "no picture mommy, come color with Allie". As much as I wanted a smile, I was more proud of her 7 word sentence, which is becoming more and more common.  It is so fun to really hear her opinion on everything...and I mean that...everything! :)