Allyson Turns Two!

Today was the second anniversary of the day I was forced to give birth without an epidural. Thankfully we got our beautiful and unpredictable Allyson. Today was truly a celebration since there have been times, thanks to her curiosity, we weren't sure she'd live this long!

We spent the night in Branson at Lilley's Landing on Lake Taneycomo. Since it was going to be a full day I decided to let her wake up to presents and have breakfast be the "party". She didn't really understand what was going on but Nicole was ecstatic! (Until she realized Allyson was going to want to play with her new toys.)

We were going fishing this morning so I just made some french toast.

Being silly.

Her new favorite pose. Notice the candle fallen over into her french toast. I forgot the matches but this one was musical. (Unlike her father.) We'll have to have a cake later. Fortunately, she got some real singing later in the day.

Suddenly I realized we were wasting an amazing deck and view. So we quickly moved breakfast outside. Sooo beautiful! And the weather was perfect.

Oh, and of course, we had to have jewelry for our "party".

Even Charlotte, the spider, joined us for breakfast. (Britt took this close-up!)

Then it was time for fishing. The owner of the marina took us out on a pontoon. We kept him very busy baiting our hooks for us. He was so patient with the girls, too.

Mommy and Allyson caught the first fish!

Next was Nicole!

I don't remember what Britt said this was (blue heron??) but I thought it was pretty cool-looking.

Another fish for Nicole!

The girls thought the worms were cool.  (Yuck!)

Daddy finally caught one!  In all, I caught three, Nicole two, and Daddy one. Mr. Lilley's nephew, Ryan, even cleaned the fish for us!

For lunch we went back into Branson to the Grand Village and ate at the Hard Luck Diner. This is a 50's style diner where the waiters and waitresses sing.  Jason Yeager from American Idol was singing today. Here they all sang Happy Birthday to Allyson.

I don't know why I ordered spaghetti for Allyson. I just know she likes it and it's her birthday and, shouldn't she have her favorite on her birthday?

Maybe not.

Nicole loved the birthday dessert!

One of the singers decided to serenade Allyson. But he just wasn't her type.

She sent him packin'.

We saved a couple of presents for Allyson to open at the restaurant. One of them was a Dora backpack with wheels. She loves Dora and she loves Nicole's rolling suitcase. This was her favorite gift of the day and everywhere she went the suitcase was being pulled right behind her. (Later, when we went to a different hotel, Allyson put the tiny suitcase on a bell cart and started pushing it with just her little backpack! It was adorable. She was a little scared of this giant rocking chair at the Grand Village, though.

Japanese Festival

A park just a mile or two from our house has a beautiful Japanese garden and, every year, they have a festival. Unfortunately, Britt was working but I decided to take the girls anyway. Our friend, Jadine Romagnoli, gave the girls kimonos when Allyson was born and I was so excited that they fit perfectly!

We took a walk around the beautiful surroundings

Nicole wanted to get her face painted. She decided on a tiger and picked out the colors she wanted. The lady doing the face painting said it was her favorite color combination. I couldn't believe how good it turned out.

There was also a kids area where the girls learned how to use chopsticks, had their names written in Japanese, and got to pose for these pictures. Fortunately, we had made some friends while having a Japanese dinner and one of them held Allyson up in order to take this picture.

We also enjoyed Japanese dancing and storytelling. It was a very nice evening!

Sand project

A friend we helped with a garage sale "generously" gave Nicole a box with sand art projects. I was mortified at first but then realized how much my daughter loves art and, really, what's a little sand mixed in with all the other stuff on the floor? So while Allyson slept one afternoon Nicole and I made our masterpieces. She was so enthusiastic and we both loved every single minute. She did the bigger pieces and I did the shell necklace. Yes, hers are prettier. I never claimed to be an artist.

Playroom

Finally! I made a decision about what I wanted to do with the girls' playroom (actually a dining room but we use it as a playroom). It had been a combination of browns since we moved in and I was never happy with it. I finally decided to keep the brown on the bottom and do pink stripes on the top.  We are so happy with it!  More pics to come.

Nicole Loses Her First Tooth!

The other day Nicole was complaining of a loose tooth. It seemed too early to actually lose a tooth. Doesn't that happen when you're six or seven? But she was pretty upset about it and afraid when I explained to her that baby teeth will all eventually come out. Several days later I let her have an apple for a snack (not even thinking about her tooth). That really made it loose. But Nicole didn't seem upset about it. The next day at school it came out with no pain (yeah!). Unfortunately, she lost the tooth in the school hallway. But we read about the tooth fairy that night and hid a note in her tooth fairy pillow. Sure enough, there was a dollar there the next morning. Nicole's pretty excited about the whole thing now and losing teeth doesn't seem to bother her one bit anymore.