Trick or Treat!

Yesterday was another fun Halloweeny day.

First we went to gymnastics.


Then we got some groceries and played for a while. After AK had a nap, we ran a couple more errands and headed over to the Huys for a party! I didn't take any pictures there - but the kids painted paper plates orange and then glued on eyes/nose/mouth to make pumpkins. Then we made spiders by painting each hand with paint and pressing down to make the spider body and legs. Those got decorated with stickers and stamps too.

We then headed over to Camana Bay. It was much busier than Grand Harbour was! We saw lots of people there, even if we just said Hi to a lot of them. There were lots of opportunities to say "trick or treat" and "thank you!". There was also a pumpkin patch where these pictures were taken.




I am finding it hard to keep myself out of the candy tonight! I am not expecting any trick or treaters at my door, it's already after 8pm and no one has shown up.

ps - I also got to go to a Halloween party last night - don't have any good pictures of me dressed up but I'll certainly share if I can find one! xo

Happy (exhausting) Hallowe'en!!!

Oh goodness...

Grand Harbour held a trick or treating event tonight. I told people to come over here beforehand if they wanted to try to get a picture of the kids together. I picked AK up from daycare early, and got her in her Dora Princess costumer. That was the first exhausting part.

1. AK is scared of the feather boa. Yep, scared of feathers. This bodes well, doesn't it?
2. AK put on the dress and started pulling it off 5 mins later.
3. AK fought with me when I put the headband on her, I finally got her to agree to sit on the bathroom sink while I put it on her so she could see how cute it was. She smiled and giggled and agreed that she looked very pretty and promptly pulled the headband off.

Then Jenni, Kevin, Matthew and Gracelyn showed up. Jenni fed Gracelyn, gave her some medicine that's supposed to help with acid reflux, but didn't tonight as Gracelyn then threw up all.over.Kevin. Change of clothing for Kevin and Gracelyn.

Then Matthew got his dinosaur costume on... I should have been prepared as this costume scared AK when Luci put it on last year. AK started crying and shaking from fear. So we hid in the bedroom until Jenni and her family left. I asked AK if she wanted to stay home and she said "NO" and I asked her if she wanted to go trick or treating and she said "YEAH". Of course all this was in the midst of big huge crocodile tears.

So we get to Grand Harbour, AK is walking along merrily, getting treats, then she sees Matthew and freezes. From then on, I pretty much carried her for the next 45mins. She eventually warmed up to Matthew, didn't cry at least, but wouldn't play with him or be near him. She started to get scared of a kid wearing a wolf mask but I got her away from him quickly. Disaster averted :)

It was great to see the kids... just wish I hadn't been so worried about AK freaking out again. Oh well... she (we?) got a bit of candy for our efforts!

AK did very well saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" at the appropriate times. What a smart cookie she is.

I've asked a couple of friends for their photos from tonight, I didn't take ANY... it's hard to take any pictures when your kid won't leave your arms!!! xo

Playing outside after daycare

Most days after daycare, we head out back to blow bubbles...


And blow bubbles...


As you can see, AK enjoys it very much!


Here's also a video, a bit long, but it is fun to watch.

Playing outside

Fun hair!

AK got into a drawer in my bathroom and wanted me to put every.single.thing in her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror after and had a good giggle :)

What a gas

Gave AK a bath tonight and she had a huge fart when she got out of the water. Funny stuff. Told her she should have farted in the tub, then she'd have had bubbles coming from her bum. She thought I was joking, that bubbles only come from her mouth. I'll show her one of these days, ha!

I thought taking the kids to the beach was supposed to tire the KIDS out... I was so tired this morning, that when AK woke me up, I literally could not open my eyes. I went to bed early and had a great sleep so I'm not sure why I was so tired out!

Back to daycare today for AK, she cried for a second when I left her but I think she was quite happy to get back to her normal routine today. Apparently her class is having a dress-up day on Friday - I have to dress her like Mommy or Daddy dresses for work. Seriously? I have no idea what to put AK in. The only thing I can think of is to put her in a nice dress. But how exciting is that?

I roasted my pumpkin seeds tonight after drying them since Friday night (they really didn't need to dry that long, I just didn't get around to roasting them until tonight!). I did one set with butter / worchestershire sauce / salt / pepper and the other with cumin, chili powder, salt, peppe and seasoning stuff. Both turned out pretty good. Salty!!!

Picked up AK's Scholastic book order at school today. I was disappointed as the Eric Carle Trio I wanted most was sold out. Oh well, I got my money back. One of the book is a (scary) parody of the "Good Night Moon" book, I suspect it will scare AK. Not a bedtime story, unless I want AK to have nightmares!!! xo

Sunny-day

As you can see in yesterday's post, the Princess likes to read while she sits on the Throne. Apparently she thinks the Queen must like to read on the Throne as well, as she brought a book to me while I was going to the washroom today! Ha!

AK slept til nearly 8am for me today! What a treat! I actually woke up before she did, which is a rare occurrence. We bummed around until it was time to church. AK wore her pretty pink polka dot dress. Sounds like she had a great time in childcare today. We came home and AK had a two hour nap, while I made some lazy cabbage rolls and a quiche for this week's breakfasts. I still haven't roasted my pumpkin seeds, that'll be tomorrow night's business, along with the sugar cookies perhaps.

We headed down to Governor's Beach for a swim, the waves coming in weren't huge but you could definitely feel them. AK had a great time "swimming" in the "big ones" and playing with the kids. We headed over to the Huys for supper - I have been craving shish kebabs on the bbq, and the Huys were kind enough to bbq them as long as I brought them over and shared with them - it was a win-win situation for all of us! I did some kebabs with chicken and beef, and experimented with tofu as well. I didn't marinate the tofu, just asked Kevin to brush some bbq sauce on them, but wish I had marinated them. There wasn't enough flavor with just the brushing. AK had some good times playing with Matthew, including having a bath with him and building some race tracks for cars. We headed home around 730pm and AK was pretty quiet as soon as I got her into bed.

She's still got a bit of a runny nose and a cough. I gave her some cough medicine before bed, but none for her naps the past three days. She did cough a bit during naps but it wasn't enough to keep her from sleeping. She'll be just fine to go back to daycare tomorrow. I have to drop off her picture order and pick up her book order. xo

The princess on her throne...

This is too cute to not post :)

Dinner talk

Stories from lunchtime today:

- AK has a Dora placemat that teaches colors. When I want her to pay attention to it, I say "show me your colors!". Now AK will take everything off the place mat and say to me "show me my colors!". Pretty cute.

- AK was using a spoon to eat her noodles, then for whatever reason, she stopped using the spoon and started to use her fingers. I asked her to use her spoon, so she used the spoon to push the noodles into her fingers. Not exactly what I was going for...

- AK was eating her noodles out of a Dora bowl. As she ate the noodles, the picture of Dora on the bottom of the bowl started to come into view and she pointed at it and said "Dora". There are also butterflies around Dora on the bowl, and so I asked AK what else was on the bowl with Dora. Her answer? "noodles!"

- AK is starting to count things appropriately. Before she would recite her numbers, or count randomly, but now she is pointing at things on the page and ceasing to count at the right point. Smart kid!

I'm thinking I should seriously be considering getting rid of the soother...

Much much better!

I asked her to finish eating her two crackers. She shoved both of them in her mouth. That's not exactly what I meant...

My little sous-chef

The pumpkin!

The happy face jack-o-lantern

The two "artistes" hard at work!

We had a great time with Jess, Hunter and Jess' grandma tonight. Jess had pumpkins for the kids to carve, which the adults did 99% of, although the kids did dab them with bingo dabbers and paint them. We had a chicken pot pie for supper and I tried to make sugar cookies for the kids to decorate but the dough was too sticky. I'm not sure if the dough was bad or if it warmed up too much but I'll try again to roll the dough out tomorrow. We had chicken pot pie for supper and AK actually ate a good portion of it! I think she is over the worst of her cold. She was having a ball playing with Hunter tonight and stayed up far past her bedtime!!!

We'll go to gymnastics in the morning then we'll take it easy for the rest of the day tomorrow. xo

Much better

I'm off work today to be with AK and she seems to be doing much better. Her nose is still runny and she's coughing in her sleep while she naps and she seems a little low on energy but she seems fine otherwise. I'm grateful to have her with me today. I think we'll go ahead and keep to our weekend plans, we don't have a lot on the calendar so it should be okay. xo

Poor little booger

Wee Care called me this morning to let me know that AK was crying and not playing with her friends :( I picked her up and took her home with me for a few hours. Jeremy was able to get AK in to the Dr at 215pm so he took her. Here's his update:

"The doctor's visit went really well. He thinks there may be an ear infection and has sent a culture of her boogers to test that out. Should get the results on Friday.
She received 4 medications. One is ear drops, one is an antibiotic, one is chest decongestant, and the other is nasal decongestant. He also mentioned giving her panadol. So, she should be feeling good the artificial way soon. "

AK was in pretty good spirits when I had her so I'm hoping the worst of it is over and the meds help get her back to normal.

We read an awesome "I Spy" book together before naptime. AK is starting to love her books more and more. She sits on her little Elmo potty with a book on her lap :) will have to shoot a picture of that soon. xo

Talk talk talk

Every time I mention one of AK's little friend's names, she shrugs her shoulders and repeats the name, as if she's saying "where's so-and-so?". I told her she was wearing Molly's dress today, and she wandered around saying "Molly?". When we got home from daycare, she looked across at visitor parking and asked "where's Hunter?". She really is starting to form quite the attachment to her friends.

She actually ate some supper tonight - guess leftovers were better than the first time around? Whatever - I'm just happy she ate! We were talking about what to have as a snack when we got home, and I suggested edamame beans. AK said "yeah!". I asked her what her favorite thing about edamane beans was and she said "Mommy!". Hee hee.

I'm glad we held off on visiting the Huys yesterday. AK coughed off and on throughout the night, and had a poopy bum when we woke up today. That is unusual - she rarely poops when she's in bed. So she is a wee bit under the weather. She's still coughing a bit but the runny nose is way better already. Not sure about the bum, I guess we'll find out through the night!

AK can tell me where to turn to get home from daycare. What a crackerjack she is. Very smart. She listens pretty well. Sometimes she totally spaces out and it can take a bit to get her attention but she's pretty aware the rest of the time. She had a great time "pop"ping bubbles outside after supper. She tells me that she is "sitting", "standing", "up here", "down there". She is constantly narrating what is going on.

I got lots of hugs and kisses from AK today... love it. xo

Pooped!

I'm tired!!!

I spent all day asking AK if she had to poop, in hopes that she would go on the potty. I let my guard down after supper for 2 mins while I changed my clothing and AK pooped in her diaper. Gah. All that effort for nothing!

We had a much quieter day today. AK was up around 630am, no sleeping in but that's okay. We had a nice bath together, the slippery soap was the cause of many giggles. We both felt a lot better after washing yesterday's beach sand and salt water off. We were ready for church quite early and I was able to hear most of the choir today. AK colored a picture and filled in a picture of a lamb with glued cotton balls. Very creative and fun! She was very proud of her picture today.

Today's nap was over 3 hours long :) what a nice break for me! I put together a quiche for my breakfasts this week and got some of the supper prep done while AK was down. I got some other chores done then rested too.

We went for a quick swim before supper and then tried to head out to the playground after supper, but it got dark too quickly so we detoured to Dairy Queen and bought some treats to share with the Mosers. We looked over all the Moser baby stuff and AK played in the crib for a bit. We came home and I had to read a couple of stories to unwind AK for bedtime, but she went down after playing with her musical animals for a bit.

Today wasn't a big eating day :( kind of frustrating actually. I guess I have to remember she will eat when she's hungry but I feel like she's missing out when I make a good supper and she takes a handful of bites and then she's done. Sometimes she just can't get enough food, other times she eats like a bird. Guess today was a bird day.

AK asked for Hunter over and over again. She was quite happy to see him at church but not happy to come home and find out that he wasn't coming over! She wanted him to come swimming and to the playground as well. I'm sure we'll see him next weekend :) but it appears that Matthew has competition!!!
xo

Spectacular Saturday!!!

AK and I had the most wonderful day together today!!!

First off, we slept til 7am... perfect start to a perfect day! AK watched the movie she picked out at the store yesterday while I snoozed for another half hour. Then we got up and hit the ground running!!! AK had some juice, yogurt and a bit of toast/cheese for breakfast. We headed out to gymnastics, which was amazing. AK, for the first time in memory, actually followed the obstacle courses rather than just doing her own thing. I was very impressed. I haven't been with her for a while as Jess and Ben have taken her the past few weeks for me, and I have to say some of AK's skills are greatly improving. She is doing so well on the balance beam and uses airplane arms for balance. She climbs like an old pro and is pretty good about waiting for her turn to do something. She also did a really good job of jumping on the big trampoline and with all her forward and backward rolls. She was pretty pumped to chase some bubbles and get her stamps on her hands, feet and tummy at the end of class. Cindy had both Molly and Jake there with her and I took Jake for a few minutes. AK was showing off for him! She kept swinging back and forth on the rings, several times in a row! Matthew, the new big brother, was also there with his nanny, and he sure had a LOT of energy to burn off!!! Poor Lanie could hardly keep up with him.

We then headed over to Cindy and Brent's for pancakes and bacon! AK didn't eat a whole lot but we did buy a cupcake from the older gymnasts who were raising money... AK was hilarious with this cupcake. She licked the icing and said "Mommy, I licked it!". Then "Mommy, I licked it AGAIN!". She ate most of the icing and pretty much none of the actual cupcake. Needless to say, AK didn't really eat much of the pancake breakfast. It was yummy though. After breakfast we headed to the pool for a swim. AK and Molly both did really well with their water wings. Cindy noticed how well AK kicks her legs and how much it propels her through the water. Neither of the girls is keen to jump in the pool or get their faces wet. Must be a girl thing?

We headed home for a nap, well for AK anyway, I watched a movie. She slept for over two hours. She was in a sweet happy mood when she woke up (actually I don't think she's ever grumpy when she wakes!) and we played outside for a bit, mostly with bubbles. We also played with some puzzles... AK is starting to really get into puzzles. She doesn't always get the piece in the spot but she knows where it goes and she can tell me what things are too. I think AK may have even somewhat counted to ten in Spanish today... I don't know past five in Spanish so I'm not sure plus it didn't sound exactly like what Katie did last night. Dora is useful for that!!!

We then got organized and headed to the beach with Hunter, Jess, Ben and Jess' grandma. The beach we went to had a long dock and you could see the water between the slats. AK walked very carefully and was more comfortable holding my hand. I guess because she could see the water, she was a bit uncomfortable. She wouldn't jump in the water, but she did swim out to the ladder on the dock, climbed up the ladder, and ran back down the dock to the water's edge to swim out again. When we put her shorts back on at the beach, (twice!) we put both legs in the same hole. Lots of giggles, AK thought that was pretty funny!

She was so excited to go see Hunter that she had her shoes on long before it was time to go. She loves that kid :) she actually fussed when we left the beach and was quite pleased to see him pull up here (we all came back here to change) and then was quite pleased once again to see him pull up at the Doghouse where we went for supper. She is not doing so well with good-byes with friends these days. She doesn't want the fun times to end!

The Doghouse was a lot of fun. There are a couple of play structures for the kids, and a surf park and skateboard park to watch as well. It's pretty family-friendly. We had a nice supper too. AK ate some fries and not much else. She drank all her chocolate milk and then complained about her tummy so I asked if her shorts were too tight. She said yes, so I loosened them, but when she ran to play with Hunter, the shorts fell down :) giggles all around. I was telling Jess' grandma how much AK enjoys Jess and Ben, and to prove my point, I asked AK who she liked better - Mommy or Jess and Ben. Her answer? "Jess and Ben!". Ha! It is really lovely how much she enjoys other people though. She makes so many people smile.

As you can guess, the little miss went straight to bed after supper - what a busy day - gym, swim, beach, playground!!! If that doesn't tire a kid out, nothing will. I hope she'll want a bath in the morning as she's still a bit sandy and definitely salty. I told AK tonight that she is the best daughter ever... and she truly is xo

Great TGIF!

First of all, I'd like to welcome Gracelyn Mary Huys! Jenni had her just before 11am today. AK and I were able to pop by for a quick visit tonight before visiting hours were over. She is beautiful, her facial expressions are priceless. AK gave her a few kisses and stroked her head "gently". I think she will be a good friend to Gracelyn!

AK gave me the greatest, best running hug when I picked her up from daycare today! She was playing in a toy car when I came walking up, and her face just beamed when she saw me. She scrambled to get out of her car, and absolutely launched herself towards me. She grunted when she flew into my arms, she was going so fast! What a great "hello"! AK worked very hard on her artwork this week. She painted a Number 1, did some cutting and pasting with newspaper, and colored with blue and orange crayons. Her class had some sort of water play day, she had to take a bathing suit and a towel in with her today.

We hit up the movie store quickly and I let AK pick a movie for herself for the first time. She was very excited and told me "going to the MOFIE store to get a MOFIE!". She amazes me eveyr day with the improvement in her vocabulary and speaking. She picked a Tinkerbell movie first, then got distracted by Spongebob (ack!), then got distracted by Diego, but then we settled on something that has Barney, Thomas, Bob the Builder AND Angelina Ballerina! AK then carried her movie all through the grocery store. She only put it in the bag when it was time to give my savings card and money to the cashier! She is so charming and people all around her smile when they see her.

We got to party hard tonight - we had playtime and dinner with the Ruddicks! Chaz and Katie were very happy to see AK. They played together for a while, then we had a great supper of tortellini and sauce, with angel food cake, fruit and whipped cream for supper. Ellie slept and hung out in her swing while we were eating. She is a very easy-going baby and AK had some kisses for her too. AK got to have a bath with the twins too, which was good as she was ready to go straight to bed by the time we visited Jenni and came home.

We've got more fun times planned for tomorrow, so don't forget to check in again soon! xo

Hurricane Paula

Bring on the jokes...

Just a quick note to let you know that I am aware of this storm (loads of rain and lightening this morning!) and am keeping my eye on it. Don't worry about me or AK. It is far from us right now, but may be approaching over the next few days. xo

Celebrations!

Celebration #1 - AK's Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving dinner on a Halloween plate with a Halloween pumpkin for decoration. What?

Looks yummy, hey?

AK picked at her supper and ate a bit of the turkey and corn. I sent the leftovers for lunch the next day, not sure if she ate them or not :)

She had the phone at the table with her and wanted to "call grandma and grandpa" to tell them that she was "eating turkey" and "eating corn". She is starting to enjoy using the phone more and more.

Celebration #2 - I'm done the yoga challenge! I did my last class today :) and it was a wonderful class. It was very challenging and inspiring, and the best part was my newly painted red toenails :) Jenni and I had a lunch date to get pedicures in hopes that the foot massage might put her into labour (due date tomorrow!).

I'm so glad I did the challenge. I only missed one day, therefore had to do two classes one day to make up for it, and only got 3 babysitters for weekend classes. Not too shabby. I am happy to have learned a few things about myself. 1. it is hard to get out of bed sometimes for yoga but it is always worth it, 2. it will get challenging when my energy starts to lag but all I can do is continue forward and 3. I have learned so much and I have so much more to learn yet :)

The challenge has also reignited my cooking creativity. The detox diet was really interesting for me to follow and I had to get a bit creative. I'm also leaning towards trying more vegetarian recipes for a few different reasons. I bought a block of tofu ages ago and finally got up enough courage to cook it - two different recipes that both turned out wonderfully. AK loves beans, so why do I not feed them to her (and me!) more often? I definitely can't imagine ever giving up meat completely but it certainly wouldn't hurt to explore other protein alternatives, and even other grain alternatives.

Anyway... thanks to everyone who followed me along this yoga journey. Perhaps it may inspire one person out there to try it for themselves :)

Good night xo

Happy Thanksgiving!

The turkey is no longer stuffed but I sure am :)

Friends of mine cooked a turkey today and hosted Thanksgiving dinner. What a great meal. What a great Cayman family I have. We had turkey, potatos, stuffing, gravy, corn, cauliflower/broccoli bake, two salads and cranberry sauce. Desserts were pumpkin pie, pumpkin torte and chocolate cake.

I called dibs on the turkey bones and am currently simmering half of them in the crockpot for soup. I put the other half in the freezer for another batch of soup (this was one big turkey!).

I've also got leftovers so that AK can have Thanksgiving with me tomorrow night xo

Nothing else to tell, weekend was pretty quiet. I visited with Jess and Hunter on Friday night, then went to Margaret and Tony's on Saturday to see them and Isabella and meet Leo, who was born at the beginning of August. He's a cutie!

Two more yoga classes and the challenge is done :) so close!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone... xo

Wipeout at Wendy's

First, a couple of cute photos - not sure who's cuter, AK or the teddy bear? xo

Showing off her pretty minidress xo

We have both been feeling a bit peckish lately so I decided we'd go to Wendy's for supper tonight. AK picked out a table for us to sit at, crawled onto her chair... and promptly wiped out. I'm not sure what happened but she's got a bit of a boo-boo on her chin! Some french fries helped her feel better quickly! AK wouldn't eat her cheeseburger, and when I took a bite of it, I understood why - it was gross.

AK loves for me to use the bathtub crayons to draw flowers so that she can wash them off the side of the tub. I drew a flower on her belly and that was pretty funny :)

More singing in the truck today - twinkle twinkle how I wonder, and repeat. She was singing along with Barney tonight too. Smart kid.

One of the ladies at daycare commented on how much AK likes her milk. She said that's a good thing - milk is very important as they're growing!

Doing laundry again - I have only five yoga outfits so I must do laundry every five days! Five more days of the challenge left - so this load of laundry will do me until the challenge is over! For my rewards, I've ordered a new outfit online that my friend will bring when she comes to visit next month. So then I only have to do my yoga laundry every six days, as long as I buy another towel. Ha.

Feeling very tired tonight - hope to sleep in this weekend. Doubtful though, I seem to wake by 630am, no matter what. xo

"I got you!"

AK's new favorite game is called "I got you!". Basically it consists of her catching you, either your clothing or pinching your skin, and saying "I got you" then laughing hysterically. Very fun, and hours of (free!) entertainment!

She has a placemat that has lots of colors on it and she is starting to enjoy pointing out all of the things that are the same color. She seems to favor blue and yellow.

We were sitting next to each other on the couch, then she crawled on top of my legs and sat down and told me "I'm sitting on you!". She tells me about things "over here" or "over dere" or "dis way" or "dat way" or "up dere" or "down here". Her sentences are usually 3-4 or more words now.

AK wanted to call Grandma and Grandpa tonight, so we did. Grandpa was outside so we just talked to Grandma. AK said hello, love you grandma and bye. She thought it was pretty funny that Grandma was trying to get her to sing on the phone by singing herself!!! I tried to take some more video of AK talking and singing tonight but all she does on command is cry :)

Day 24

24 classes done! I am looking forward to the workshop on Saturday - looks like we'll be working in partners to help each other. It will be a good experience. The dizziness seems to be going away, which I'm very grateful for.

AK ate a bit of egg yesterday! What a coup! She hardly had any yummy lasagna for supper last night so I hope she will enjoy eating leftovers for supper tonight! Funny, she wouldn't eat the lasagna but was asking for watermelon, unfortunately I didn't have any. That was the first time she really asked for something out of sight - she'll ask for things to drink, and for things if she catches a glimpse of them in the fridge but I can't recall her ever asking for something she hadn't laid eyes on. Perhaps I'll pop by the grocery store on the way home for some watermelon!

AK and I were tired and grumpy last night so it was a perfect evening to put some videos on. There's nothing like a good cuddle on the couch with my little cutie.

She had fun this morning showing Miss Mearl how she got dressed and put her shoes on like a big girl. I think Miss Mearl really enjoys the weeks she gets to see AK for a bit :) She was up around 615am and I had a hard time getting my eyes open - it was a bit dark out and started raining before we left the house.

Not sure what we'll get up to tonight... hopefully not another case of the grumpies! xo

More weekend stuff

I got so distracted with the video stuff last night that I didn't get around to typing up more about the weekend!

We were up around 7am on Saturday, just had some breakfast and then got ready to go to gymnastics. I took AK as a drop-in but the lady at the desk gave me a bit of a hard time. She said the 915am class is pretty full and she may have to turn AK away at a future date. So I am not sure if I should just pay the money to sign AK up or take my chances with drop-in. I haven't decided yet. Jess and Ben took AK to gymnastics and to the Teddy Bear Clinic so I could go to yoga. I did a wonderful detox flow class. I really felt wonderful after it, the timing of it was perfect.

When I went to pick up AK, I found a wonderful goody bag full of stuff from the Clinic! Crayons, coloring books, bubbles, a teddy bear and some snacks! Sounds like the Clinic was a lot of fun. AK and I went home for a nap, then we hit up Camana Bay, pictures in another post. We then headed over to Cindy and Brent's for the evening. We had a little swim, then played with the other kids all evening. I was able to put AK down in Jake's room in the bed and she went down very well and slept until it was time to leave.

Sunday, AK hung out with Christie while I went to yoga, then we went to church. AK did really well in childcare this week. We then headed home for a nap, then had a swim. I made porkchops in mushroom soup for supper, and added some veg to the soup. I now know that AK doesn't care for celery! We took some bread to the duck pond, then headed to DQ for a treat.

AK sure has a lot to say these days. It is amazing how her vocabulary, comprehension and communication improve every day. It is apparent in her singing and in her conversations. We had this conversation yesterday:

me: You are the best little girl I know!
AK: I know!
me: And you've very pretty too, you know!
AK: Yep!

She asks questions all the time, tells me things all the time, it is very fun. I've also noticed how her physical coordination is coming together better all the time too. She doesn't hesitate before going up a step anymore, nor does she need to hold my hand to step up either. She'll jump off a little ledge without help now too. She's getting more and more comfortable in the water each time we go swimming, although she's still reluctant to get her face wet or jump in. She's very stubborn and won't do something she doesn't want to do! She tried a pull-up this weekend for the first time and though it was pretty cool :)

I had contemplated taking AK's soother away this weekend but just wasn't strong enough. I know. I didn't even try. I think I need someone to come over with a big bottle of wine and help me drink it while I listen to AK cry! Ha!

AK singing!

Christie looked after AK for a bit this morning. She told me later that AK had sang the ABCs for her... not sang along with but sang for. So I was at attention for the rest of the day to see if AK would do it again! Luckily I caught it on tape! Follow the link to see it... for some reason I can't upload video to this site.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTobVOa4SOk&playnext=1&videos=GB6HRQfYd84&feature=mfu_in_order

I also heard AK singing in the truck this evening. She kept singing the ABC song over and over, as well she was singing parts of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder, twinkle twinkle little star...). What a cute kid xo

Playtime at Camana Bay

AK and I spent some time at Camana Bay yesterday with Jodi and Mason. Unfortunately I got no pictures of Jodi and Mason. But they were there! AK had loads of fun playing in the fountains. She got scared at the big fountains when they shot out really high... but I was scared too so I can't blame AK! The red on her face in the pictures below is blackberry juice. They were the biggest (and messiest) blackberries I've ever seen!!! It was a really fun time and AK sure had lots to tell me. xo

"Mommy, fill it!"

"There's water in my bum, Mommy!"

"That's a big one, Mommy!"

"Let's go dis way!"

"And den let's go dat way!"

TGIF!!!

Day 19, 19 classes down! This morning's class was tough. I was feeling a bit dizzy plus didn't sleep well last night. I caved in tonight and went off of the detox diet for one meal. I will get back on tomorrow except I will start having coffee in the morning again.

AK and I went outside after we got home today to find some stuff blown around because of the storm. AK told me that the "chairs fall down!" as the chairs on the patio are plastic and blew over quite easily in the wind. I put them all back upright and then turned my attention to the tote that had toys in it. The lid wasn't on properly so there was some rain water in there. I took all the toys out and found three frogs! One frog got out via a toy I was taking out and the other two swam around until AK and I decided to dump them in the grass and let them "hop hop hop away away away"!

Cindy came by with Molly and Jake, and Jess came by with Hunter. The kids played outside with bubbles for a while, and Molly hung out in the playhouse for a long time. AK shared some "mommy beans" with the guests but ate the large majority of them! Somehow AK managed to get into a marker and drew all over her legs, arms and shirt! I'm not sure if you can really see the marker in this picture but look at her knees at least.

AK fell right into bed without a bath... will have to give her a good scrub before gymnastics tomorrow! I'll be able to take her to a bit of gymnastics as we have switched to the 915am class and then leave AK there with Jess and Ben while I go to yoga. If I can get through the remainder of the days like I've planned, I'll only have needed a babysitter 3x in 30 days! Not too shabby of planning.

Bedtime soon for me too! xo