Ali Would Like to Tell You a Joke

Twenty-one.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-three.
Twenty-four.
Twenty-five.
Twenty-six.
Twenty-seven.
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-nine.
Twenty-ten!

Happy New Year!

(Yes, this is actually verbatim from her earlier today.)

I want YOU

to see my new haircut! Does it make me look older or younger? Mom says older but Dad says I look younger. I can't decide. Tell me what you think!

Merry Christmas

Ali checking out her loot from Santa...the most exciting thing in her stocking? Dora underwear.

Josiah's favorite thing about his stocking? The food that was inside.

With his new musical lamb from Ali.

Opening is complete!


And just because I never post pictures of me!

Hope all had a wonderful Christmas!

They have skills-updated!

Yes, our children have amazing skills.

Ali is mastering her hint giving skills.

Here are the hints she gave us about our presents.

Jed: "Daddy, do you remember that store we went to as a family with all the bikes? We got you something there. It goes on your hands. But, I can't tell you what it is."
Surprise! It's a pair of biking gloves!
My hint: "Mommy, it's a trash thing."
My trash thing....a french press. Even after I opened it, Ali still thought it was for the trash. When I told her I was picking up, she asked if I was going to use my new trash thing. I guess it looks like a little trash can?

The present she made at school for both of us: "It's has lots of colors and you can shake it."
It does have lots of colors, and she did the shaking....

We will have to reveal what the presents are after Christmas, but you can place you guesses now.

Josiah has skills too. Remote control skills. While he was playing downstairs today, I ran upstairs to do a few things. I come back down and he is sitting on the couch smiling and pointing at the TV. I look at it and realize that he has managed to order a movie off of the On Demand menu. This is a process that takes several steps and requires you to push several different buttons. He was quite proud of himself. I just had to laugh.

Yep, my kids have skills.

Proof that I'm not crazy...

Bailey is the camel that lives on Bailey Road. We saw Bailey last winter, and then she seemed to just disappear. We didn't think we would see her again, and I was bummed that I never took a picture. She reappeared again a few weeks ago. You never know when she will choose to be seen and I never seem to have my camera at the right time. Many people doubt that Bailey really exists. Here is our proof. Driving home from church and lunch today, we see this:
She was right down by the road! She is real!

We've been doing Christmas stuff too, like decorating the tree and make decorations for the house. Ali loves counting down the days until Christmas, and Josiah loves eating all the Christmas treats in the house!

And, for all of you that couldn't be at Ali's Christmas program, here she is singing for you:
The words: "1 little, 2 little, 3 little angels; 4 little, 5 little, 6 little angels; 7 little, 8 little, 9 little angels; watching baby Jesus"




Oh, and Aunt Carrie, thanks for the blocks. Josiah (and Ali) love them!

What we've been up to

Jumping to our hearts content at birthday parties.

Helping Dad paint the Master bedroom.

Attempting to take a Christmas picture where we both are smiling.

Playing ball with Dad.

Trying to avoid big hugs from my sister.

What have you been up to?

Tinkerbell and the Dragon

Are you ready to go trick or treating?

Let me fly away and get some candy.
Did I hear someone say candy?

LET'S GO!


I don't know what happened. The car just ate me. I guess I'm stuck with this bag of candy.

ONE!

Ali was convinced that Josiah wanted "a book about sheep" for his birthday. She went to the bookstore with me and picked out "Sheep in a Jeep". She had to give to Josiah first thing in the morning. He held on to it for most of the day.

Here Dad, try some cake. Mom says it's banana chocolate chip.

Hmmm, what is this on my hands? It sure tastes good.


Maybe I can suck the last bits of chocolate off my plate.

I LOVE CAKE!

Yes, yes, a year has passed. Josiah is now one!

How to pick a pumpkin

Check each one to see if you can pick it up.

Pick up every possible pumpkin, even if you think you have one picked out.

Consult with your best friend.

Rejoice when you find the right one!

Teach your brother to do the same.

The Terrible Twos are Nothing Compared with Three

Daddy: Ali, go ask mommy if dinner's ready yet.
Ali: (shouts) Mommy, is dinner ready yet?
Mommy: It's almost ready.
Daddy: Ask Mommy how soon.
Ali: How soon!!!
Daddy: Ask Mommy how many more minutes it will be before dinner.
Ali: That will be twenty more dollars.
Daddy: (Can't talk anymore he's laughing so hard.)

Later...

Ali: I'm going to step over here, and then (as she's crouching to jump off the toilet)...watch this Daddy, it's gonna be sweet!

Anna: (on multiple occasions lately) Guess what YOUR CHILD did today!

In case you haven't heard

Ali is now three! She was very excited to have a birthday, although she was a bit bummed when she discovered that she had to be three for an entire year before she turned four.

Her day in pictures:
Helping to bake her cake.

Getting ready to blow out the candles on her cake. She decorated the cake by herself!

Checking out her birthday balloons.


Showing Daddy her presents.


Opening more presents!

Let us count the ways...

that we love Oregon. We went up to visit the Strand family for a short little trip, leaving Sunday after church and coming back home on Wednesday. We packed our days with fun and we all fell in love with Oregon.

Our love affair with Oregon included:
blueberry picking

visiting the windy coast


as well as eating seafood, playing at the pool, and enjoying wonderful company.

Now, we are preparing ourselves for a birthday...and a little girl very excited about turning three.

Get Down

Ali had a blast at VBS this year. One of the songs she learned was "Get Down". She was amazed when I told her I had the song at home. So, thanks to my "Underdog" CD, Ali had her own little dance party the other day. The video fun to prove it...sorry it is sideways; it was my first venture with video on my camera and I've yet to figure out how to turn it.


Josiah is growing and is as cute as ever. He's a crawling machine and now sports four teeth. His favorite food right now is blueberries, as shown in the following picture.
Okay, you can't really see the blueberries, but you can see those cute teeth!

More to come, but I hope this satisfies you for now!

Birthdays and Beaches and Princesses, Oh My!

Having our birthdays so close together does have its benefits. On June 25, we headed down to our old stomping grounds in the OC for some birthday fun. We stayed with our wonderful friends, the Merciers and Cooks, who were wonderful hosts and hostesses. Ali loved seeing her buddies, Patrick and Cassidy, and was super excited to have some quality time with Miss Melanie.

However, the main reason the trip occurred when it did was take advantage of the "free ticket on your birthday" at Disneyland. Since kids are free until they turn three, this was the perfect time to go. We felt like quite the rock stars when every employee we ran into wished us happy birthday (after seeing the birthday pin we were given). We rode rides, danced in the parade, and most importantly (in Ali's mind, at least) met SIX princesses (Ariel, Jasmine, Mulan, Snow White, Cinderella, and Belle for you princess lovers out there). We also saw Alice (which Ali was VERY excited about as well). The teacups were a family favorite. And Ali left with a crown that flashes colored lights (leave it to our daughter to pick the tackiest crown of the bunch).

We also spend time at the beach, where we were able to catch up with our friends, the Darts, buying some new Rainbow sandals, eating many meals with great friends, and going to the beautiful wedding of Jenn and Kris (which happened on a great day; July 3--our fifth anniversary!)

All in all, a great vacation. We were sad to leave. Here's a pictorial guide to the trip:

Ali super excited to see her buddy Patrick


Having a blast on the teacups.


Our friends, the Darts (Jason couldn't make it to the beach)



Josiah LOVED the beach. He could have spent days there!


Ali and Cinderella. She was so excited to able to meet and talk to the princesses.



Ali and I "doing the twist" with one of the parade dancers.