Our Little Musician!

Allie LOVES music. She loves to sing, to dance, to play instruments, and go to Kindermusik.  She especially likes playing the piano, which means she will be ready for her lessons from Nana when we move back to Minnesota. 

Here she is playing the piano at our MOMs morning with a couple of her friends.  

I'm Back!

It's been awhile since I've done a blog entry because we spent two weeks in Florida and this past week has been so busy getting back into the swing of things!  We spent the first week in Florida with Dan's entire family.  After they left my parents came back down and just Allie and I stayed a week with them.    It was a wonderful vacation, but it is nice to be back home. Especially since spring has arrived in Saskatoon!

I was terrible at taking pictures, so I need Deanna and Barb to send me some of theirs.  But, I'll share the ones that I did take.  

Allie in her pajamas for the second flight to Sanibel.  She was SO good on all of our flights.

The view that never got old!

The beach!

We rented bike carriers so that we could go on bike rides with the kids. Allie did not like going alone!

Luckily her cousin Brennan was able to cheer her up!

Playing with poppy and gagu's toys. She liked to play right by the door with her babies so that she could keep her eyes on the lizards outside.

Playing water guns with poppy.  

 Allie and poppy washed the car and Allie is still talking about it. She can't wait until it is a little warmer here so that she can wash mommy's car!

We spent most of the week in the pool. 

Thanks for a wonderful trip poppy and gagu!  It was so kind of you to leave your house for a week to give all the Mauer's a vacation that we'll never forget and Allie and I will never forget our week with you. We love you!  

A Girl at a Party with Lots of Frosting!

Allie and I went to a birthday party today for her friend Maya who turned two.  Here Allie is (wearing a butterfly hat) with Maya (the cow) and Maya's older sister Anna (the tiger).  

A girl after her mama's heart, she went straight for the frosting off the cupcakes! :)  

It was a GREAT party and fun way to celebrate sweet little Maya!

Two

This is a very belated post about Allie turning two.  I started this right around her birthday, but just haven't finished.  I'm volunteering my time with a couple of organizations and Allie isn't napping every day anymore, so it has gotten a bit harder to post. I just talked to my younger brother and was told I was slacking a bit on the blog, so I thought I had better get this post up.  At two her stats were:

Height: 33 inches

Weight: 29 pounds

This is a new way for me to do marker post because I could actually ask Allie what I should write and include her input. So fun! At two Allie likes to:

--Count to 13 (she can get to 15, but always forgets 14)

--Sing her ABC's.  It is cute because when she gets to the end she sings "Now I know my ABC's (pause) D, E, F"...all they way through the song again.  It is the never ending song for her.

--Sing Jesus Loves Me (although instead of singing little ones to Him belong, she sings "little monsters to him belong".  Close enough!).

--Play with her baby dolls.  She feeds them, changes them, and sings to them.  Very, very cute.

--Body slam her daddy and practice other wrestling moves with him (we hope she doesn't try these moves on the other kids in the church nursery!).

--Hug, feed, play with, and torture Bella (some things never change).

--She regularly is saying 6-7 word sentences and pretty much communicates with us this way.  It is really fun to hear her thoughts so much.

--She loves to talk about Minnesota. Every plane is coming from Minnesota, every bird is flying to Minnesota. At least a few times a week she tells me she is going to take her suitcase to Minnesota. I just tell her someday we will be back...hopefully sooner rather than later! :)

--She LOVES to go to church. Most mornings I go to get her up and she sits up in her crib and says "Allie is ready for church!"  I love that about her!

--She loves for me to sing her He's Got the Whole World in His Hands at night. We have to sing about every family member, every friend, and every friend's mommy before I can put her to sleep. The song takes awhile to get through, but I don't mind because I get to snuggle with Allie.

--She loves to pick out her own clothes (especially socks) and HATES to wear a coat. This has caused some issues considering we live in Canada. 

Allie is a really wonderful little girl.  She is very particular and likes things a certain way (I wonder where she gets that from!) and now that she can communicate so well, I have some interesting (frustrating?) conversations with her each day.  But I wouldn't change her personality one bit. She is a little bit sassy, but a lot sweet. A little bit stubborn, but also compassionate.  A little bit cautious, but overall very independent, social, and ready to explore her world.  Every day I tell her she's my favorite girl, and she is.  My little buddy and the joy of my life.

If you ask Allie how old she is, she'll say "I'm TWO" and hold up her fingers like this:

My little big two year old!

Happy 2 years Allie! We love you!!! 

Canmore and Banff

Last weekend we took a family vacation to Canmore and Banff.  Dan and I went to Banff about four years ago and it is one of our absolute favorite places we have ever visited.  We stopped in Drumheller, land of the dinosaurs, for dinner.  

Allie was tired after a long drive.

For Christmas Allie and I gave Dan a full day of dog sledding in Banff.  We went with our friends Jordan and Chris because Jordan gave Chris the same gift for Christmas.  On Saturday while the boys were dog sledding, Jordan and I took Allie to the top of Sunshine mountain for lunch and then we went shopping in Canmore.

Allie and I at the top of Sunshine mountain. 

Allie's first gondola ride. She loved it!

View from Sunshine mountain.

Dan and Chris dog sledding.

Dan's favorite dog (she reminded him of Bella).

We spent Sunday in Banff and went to the Fairmont hotel in Banff springs. This hotel looks like a huge castle.  We walked around inside so that Allie could look for Belle and the Beast (from Beauty and the Beast, her favorite movie).   Unfortunately we never found Belle, or the Beast, but had a great time wandering the beautiful hotel and hotel grounds.

It was a great trip! Dan said the dog sledding was an experience of a lifetime and it was just fun to get away for a quick trip as a family. Soon we have another trip planned for FL. I can't wait to get to the warmth and sunshine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 Just like every holiday throughout the year, Valentine's Day was about 10 times more fun with Allie.  I woke up this morning and found some beautiful roses and a very sweet card from Dan.  Not a bad way to start a morning!  

Our table was looking very festive.

Allie (with a little help from me) made Dan this card. I realized we spelled Valentine's wrong on the card. This is what happens when you sort through literally hundreds of letters, while your toddler is getting angry that she can't stick them on...oh well! :)

 She also picked him out a stuffed dog for his gift.  It is actually not very cute, but it fit the under $10 price tag that I gave her at the store. I basically told her she could pick out anything she wanted to give daddy, and the stuffed puppy is what she picked. It somehow ended up in one of her toy boxes! :)

She also colored a picture for him and we moved her easel to the back door so he would see it right when he walked in. She was SO excited and it was SO cute!

Since the temperature was about 32F today, and since we are mostly Canadian now, we ventured to the park with Bella. 

I love how Bella is waiting at the bottom of the slide every time. One of the many reasons that she is the best dog in the world!

Then we had dinner as a family and Allie opened her cards and gifts. Nana and Boppa sent a gift from MN and I wanted to post some pictures so they could see her opening it.

We had a wonderful day and I couldn't help but reflect on how much love is in my life every day, not just on Valentine's day.  I am so very, very blessed!