Valentine's Day

Allyson had a very eventful Valentines Day. She had a party at day care that included cookie decorating and passing out monkey valentines to her friends. Parents were asked to bring in items for their cookie party and Ally did an excellent job making us two giant hearts. When we got home, Karl made us a delicious dinner and we opened lots of cards. Karl and I each got Ally a new book and she also got some new hair clips and extra special dessert- chocolate covered strawberries. She was very excited about the new food at first but once she bit into it she really decided she liked to squeeze it more than eat it. Ally likes opening mail and was having fun opening all the cards that were sent to her. Thanks to our parents, grandparents and friends!

A Good Use of Space

Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Henry came to visit this weekend and brought Ally a new toy. We set up the tent and tunnel in the loft area above the stairs and she loves it. She loves to crawl through the tunnel and peek at us from inside. We put a couple things in the tent and she thinks its a fun place to hang out. Yesterday after her nap I changed her diaper and put her down while I was cleaning up a few things in her room. I came out of her room to find her sitting quietly in her tent reading a book. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Snowpocalypse

We are now buried in 15 inches of snow and the city has been shut down since mid-day Tuesday. Karl was sent home early Monday and planned to be working from home for a few days anyway. Ally's day care was closed on Tuesday so she and Karl played at home all day. The university shut down at noon on Tuesday and our 7pm game was moved up to 3pm so we could be sure people got home before the major part of the blizzard hit. We all enjoyed our snow day yesterday and Karl had the big job of clearing the 3 foot tall drifts from our driveway. Once he got that down, the plows finally came through in the late afternoon and dumped another 4 feet at the end of our driveway. Hooray for snowblowers!

Happy 30th Birthday Karl

Karl turned 30 on Monday, January 31! We celebrated over the weekend with a trip back to West Lafayette to visit family and watch some Purdue basketball. We had a nice family dinner out on Friday and saw Purdue vs. Minnesota on Saturday while Ally stayed home with grandma and grandpa. So nice of them to do that for us! Karl wanted to have one good trip to Harrys before he hit the big 3-0 so we did that as well on Saturday night after Ally went to bed. Karl and I have both been fighting illnesses- bronchitis for him and sinus infection for me but we enjoyed the trip anyway.

Monday we both had to work but I had planned for Corey to stay with ally for a few hours so we could enjoy a nice dinner out at one of the fancier places in town together. Of course, mother nature had other plans and the weather started to turn very bad in the afternoon. Karl ended up coming home from work in the early afternoon and I rushed to pick Ally up and get home before it got too bad. We thought it was not a good idea to have Corey out driving so we just did a quick dinner at Chilis by our house and headed home. Hopefully we can reschedule our nice dinner for another time.

16 Months Old

16 months and not much new to report these days. I have been really bad about taking pictures but during the week we don't get to spend much time together and the winter weather has kept us at home on weekends.

One thing I have tried to capture on film but have failed at so far is Ally's new found desire to become Evel Knievel. She is definitely a very curious little daredevil lately. It started last weekend when all of a sudden she decided to stand up on the seat to her little toy horse on wheels. The seat is barely big enough to get her two feet on but somehow she managed to climb on the seat and stand up with no hands. Karl and I looked at her balancing perfectly on the seat and were more amazed than anything else. She thought this was hilarious and was sure to show Uncle Corey when he came over too. She has always loved to climb on the couch and chairs but this was a whole new game. She then decided to test her balancing skills at day care by performing the same trick on the top of a sit and spin. Again, the area she stands on is barely big enough for both of her feet but she just stands up like its no big deal! The toy has since been taken out of the toddler room thanks to Ally's new obsession.

Ally has done great adjusting to the toddler room at school and nap time both at school and at home has improved a lot. We try very hard to keep her on the same daily schedule with lunch and nap time and that has really helped. She plays and plays and loves to read books. She can now point out many pictures and say a few words to go along with it. Animal pictures and sounds are her absolute favorite. She talks about lions, monkeys and dinosaurs all the time.

Table foods have improved as well and she has been baby food free for quite a while now. Her favorite foods are any kind of fruit, corn dogs, buttered noodles and cookies. We still give her a bottle before bed but its more a habit than an actual need at this point. We know that its time to get rid of the bottles for good so thats something we will work on. She has no issues with milk from a cup so we just need to form a new bed time routine soon. Day care really tires her out so when we pick her up, its dinner immediately, play for a little while then she starts running out of energy around 7:30 p.m.

We are looking forward to cheering the Packers on in the Superbowl this weekend and will make an effort to get more pictures!