Summer Reading Program

I signed Allary up for the Summer Reading Program at the library this summer. We got her into the same class as her cousin Paige. Last week, they had a sort of kick-off party with games and activities and popsicles. The theme is "Make a Splash at Your Library," so the games all had something to do with water or fish or pirates or something.

Here are the two girls with their pirate eye-patches and their best pirate grimaces. They made those little necklaces which were also supposed to be their pirate names. Allary's was "Wreck Stub Bob" and Paige's was "Blind Wreck Sam."


Here they are tossing bean bags to sink enemy ships... at least I think that's what it was.


Digging for treasure.

After all that, we really did "make a splash." We went over to Trisha's house to play in the wading pool for awhile. I love Allary's face in this next picture... pure enjoyment. :)


Paige kept saying, "Let's sit down and enjoy." This would last for about 3 seconds, followed by more squealing and splashing and giggling.

Rice Krispies Treats

Allary and I made Rice Krispies treats together last week. I'm always looking for fun things to do and ways to entertain her and myself and to just get out and do something to stay busy. But sometimes, I find so much joy in just taking time out to be with her and enjoy her fun personality. This was a really fun afternoon of making treats, listening to music, silly dancing, and just giggling together.

(Notice the Rice Krispies treats are pink. When getting the marshmallows at the store, she would not allow me to get the boring white ones once she saw pink was an option.)

Her cute feet dangling off the kitchen counter. Just cute. :)

Zoo

As a sort of kick-off to summer, we took advantage of Jason's day off work and went to the zoo on Memorial Day.

Last Day of Preschool

This is a picture of Allary and her preschool teacher Miss Jenny on the last day of preschool.

Allary had a fantastic time at preschool this year. She learned a lot and it was so great for her to get to be around other kids her age. Most days, I would ask her what she learned and would instead get a full report on who said what and who was wearing what and who she sat next to and what they had for snack time. I feel so lucky that we got her into Miss Jenny's class, not just because she lives only two houses away, but because she is fabulous! I've already got Allary signed up again for the fall. She has one more year of preschool before she starts Kindergarten. I'm very proud of my smart girl.

Weekend Away

Jason had to go out of town for the weekend for work and invited Allary and I to go along. He knew he would be getting a nice hotel room but also informed us that we probably wouldn't see him at all the whole weekend because he would be working non-stop. Allary and I decided to take advantage of a weekend away from home. She and I had a great time just relaxing in the hotel room, playing at the pool, soaking up some sun, shopping, and eating out.

The first day we got there, Jason headed right out to work, and Allary and I went to hang out with Jason's cousin who lives nearby. We went with her and her little boy to a splash pad that was so much fun. Allary loves anything involving water. And, Chelsea and I had a great time visiting while the kids played.







After the splash pad, we went to a really fun pirate-themed restaurant. It was not only really fun, but really yummy too. It had an arcade and a playland for the kids as well as all the neat decorations and talking skeleton pirates and cannons shooting smoke rings and all kinds of things.


I don't know why Allary looks all pouty in this picture, but I like it anyhow.

Thanks Chelsea and Braxten for hanging out with us! And thanks for letting me steal some of your photos. :)

We also did a little bit of shopping when we first got there on Saturday. I let Allary pick a few things to play with at the pool. She picked a beach ball and a wacky noodle. She was so excited when we got to the hotel that night about everything, her big giant bed, watching the Disney channel in bed, taking a bath in the hotel tub with the little hotel soaps, etc etc. She was so excited about going to the pool in the morning that she wanted to sleep with her new wacky noodle. Sure, why not?


On Sunday, Allary and I spent pretty much the whole day at the hotel pool. The pool was fun and the weather was perfect.





Monday morning, we got up and went swimming again. Then we picked up some lunch to eat back at our hotel room, got all packed up, and drove on home. I really enjoyed the weekend away from our regular routines and I truly enjoyed having all that time to just have fun and hang out with my sweet girl. I really do enjoy being with her and I love that she is so fun to take shopping and eating out because she enjoys it as well. She is a girl after my own heart and I love her so much. What a fun weekend!

Feelin' the Love

Jason gave me these beautiful flowers for our 6 Year Anniversary/Mother's Day. Our anniversary was actually May 1st, but we kind of passed over it because we had other things going on and Jason was working like crazy. Finally, this last weekend, we went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate.
Allary is holding her little picture she drew for me in primary for Mother's Day. It has her handprints on the front and she drew a picture on the back of her favorite thing to do with mom, watch movies together.
Between all the things Allary made for me at home, at church, and at preschool, combined with these gorgeous flowers, I was feeling very loved.


After Mother's Day and as a follow-up to my last post, I was thinking a lot about things I can work on improving as a mom. So, I asked the person who knows me as a mom. I asked Allary what I could do to be a better mom, fully expecting something like, let me eat candy for breakfast or don't put me in timeout, etc. She thought for a minute and said, "maybe we could make more cookies together." What a relief to hear that that's all my sweet girl expects me to do to be a great mom. I am working on a few other things I'd like to do to be a better mom and sometimes it's overwhelming trying to do everything and be everything and do it all with love and grace and kindness and patience....but making more cookies is definitely something I can handle. :)

Happy Mother's Day!

I had Allary finish these sentences...

I love my mom because she... makes the yummiest cookies.

My favorite thing to do with my mom is... watch movies together.

I like it when my mom gives me... tickles!

My mom likes it when I give her... kisses!

My mom always says... "I love you!"

My mom spends a lot of time doing... work, like cleaning up the floor, and cleaning the house.

My mom makes me laugh when she... makes funny faces.

I can make my mom laugh when I... tell her I'm stronger than Mr. Incredible and I show her my muscles.

I'm glad my mom is my mom because... she loves me.


Oh my sweet Allary, I'm so lucky to be your mom and I love you more than words can say. You bring me so much joy and adventure and love and laughter. I love you little Boo, always.