Allie 21 Months

Here are Allie's up-to-the-minute top 10:

1. Allie loves to yell "Run!" and run around the island in our kitchen waiting for someone to chase her or to pop out in front of her to catch her.

2. She repeats whatever she is excited about with everyone's name in our family:

"Allie shoes, Daddy shoes, Justin shoes, Tyler shoes, Gram-pa shoes, Mommy shoes!"

3. She loves to go swinging at the park and still cries and says, "Swing all done!" over and over when it is time to come inside.

4. I don't worry about her climbing on the furniture anymore for the most part.

5. Allie got her own big container of popcorn tonight while we watched "The Lion King" as a family. She stayed in a low squat on the floor the whole time happily eating her popcorn. That girl has some serious balance!

6. She loves to look at books and have us read to her. Favorites are "Katy Duck" and "Green Hat, Blue Hat".

7. Favorite foods: bread, yogurt, bananas, frozen peas, popcorn and pretzels. She loves to play with her play food, too.

8. She is learning the ABC's and I catch her singing the song sometimes. "j,k,o-o-o-o-p,q,r,s..."

9. Whenever Allie is wearing anyone's sunglasses, the boys make rap music noises and Allie dances as they chant, "I'm a cool girl!"

10. Allie likes to dance to the music on Travis' iPhone. She loves to watch Curious George ("Monkey show!") and Martha Speaks ("Doggy Show!")

We sure do love this girl!

A little bit of this and that

I can wear earrings again!!! Allie doesn't yank them out anymore. But she does still have her eye on my accessories. Last Sunday she just HAD to wear my necklace to church because I was wearing one too. I let her because it did match her dress. It hung to her knees! Ha! Ha!

Peppermint essential oil is the ticket to no more ants! Seriously! A few weeks ago Justin discovered ants all over the floor of the kids bathroom. Must have been 50 of them...10 minutes later, no more ants! I mixed 15 drops of oil in a spray bottle with a cup of water. Just sprayed it around the baseboards since they aren't calked and I assumed that was how they got in. Then I sprayed in the door threshold for good measure. So easy and smelled amazing like a candy cane.

The next week they appeared downstairs in the kitchen. I did the same thing but it took a few days and some wadded up paper towels soaked in the spray and stuffed along the edges of the dishwasher and oven. No more ants in the kitchen either! Oh, I am thrilled! Anybody want a candy cane?

We just watched Captain America the other night and I'm looking forward to seeing The Avengers.

I am a weed-pulling machine! Just in case you were wondering. I noticed we have some sort of hole-digging, tunnel-creating rodent in our yard. And I'm pretty sure that's a not good thing. Yep. Oh boy.

Speaking of church. (Was I?) I just got a calling in our new ward...1st Counselor in Primary. My boys are so excited to have me in Primary with them. I am looking forward to it, too! I will be over activity days, nursery, nursing home sacrament visits and music. I will be teaching a sharing time lesson to all the children under 12 once or twice a month, conducting the meeting when it is my turn, planning activities for the entire group of kids and making sure the separate age-group classes are running smoothly each Sunday. Piece of cake, right? I'm ready to jump in!

Popcorn and orange juice is calling my name. You, too?

Travis is has been running almost every day now. He is doing such a great job! I am amazed how he can run up and down all these hills in our neighborhood. He is my superman!

Just a little nap time blogging...

A Weekend Visit

Let's go fly a kite!

Wait till you hear this...

Meet our 20-month-old Allie Mai:

She wakes up with a smile and is really a happy-go-lucky baby. She takes one nap a day and is learning to go to sleep on her own instead of being held or rocked. I don't know what to do with all my free time now!

We have been doing some projects around the house. As our construction worker friend, Mark Stokes, left one day, Allie waved and said, "Bye, Sweetie!"

Counted to 10 today by herself for the first time. She totally picked it up on her own. I didn't even realize she knew her numbers!

Rode around on her "mom-push" tricycle on Saturday for the first time.
She cried when we went inside. It had been nearly two hours. My back cried, too.

Allie has smile contests with her brothers. As if that smile could get any bigger! She tries so hard she shakes and her face turns red.

When "sharing" a seat or couch with one of her brothers, she says, "scoose me" over and over as she pushes them off do she can have it all to herself. At least she is polite!

Whenever she hears a lawn mower she says "vacuum!"

Allie loves to pick up the boys from school and waves hello and goodbye to all five buses. If the bus drivers notice her they always smile and wave back.

Allie is so cute. She fell out of the toy bin she was balancing in and told herself to be "be careful!" lol!

She had Travis' old phone on the stairs and I asked her who she was calling. She said "second"...as in "just a second". She was busy making a call!

Has to say "Bye" to something in her room before going to bed. Usually it is the light on the ceiling.

Favorite food: sweet peppers and spelt bread.

Sweet

It is beautiful today. Drizzles of rain mixed with sweet, fresh air. Allie and I went on a walk this morning after stopping off at the school for a minute. We headed down the path at our park to watch the water spill over the rocks in the creek.

I could just drink it all in! I love springtime and all the plants and flowers poking up. It is like a treasure hunt in our yard to see what plants will bloom. I'm looking forward to getting my hands in the soil this weekend. Time to plant some flower pots!

Happy Easter!

Today the weather was amazing! The kids had fun with their Easter baskets and an egg hunt in the morning. After church, we enjoyed a yummy dinner of corned beef and cabbage. We had never eaten it before so Grandpa Davis made it for us to try. It was a hit!

We decided go celebrate this sunny Easter Sunday by walking around the new Visitors Center at the Portland Temple in Lake Oswego. It has been open to the public for about a month now. The temple gardens were in full bloom. Gorgeous!

Remember it

Tyler walked into the kitchen at midnight last night. He looked half asleep. I was loading the dishwasher. I asked him if he needed a drink of water. He said, "yes", grabbed a kids' cup out of the drawer and took a big gulp of the empty cup. Then looked at me with a confused look. It was all I could do to keep a straight face as I said, "How about we fill it up with water first?"

We were driving in the van tonight when Allie says, "Hello?" I looked back and she had pulled her sandled foot up to her ear to call someone.

I got a haircut today. Same-ish style but shorter in back. When I picked up Allie later tonight, she wrapped her arm around my neck and started giggling when she rubbed on the super short hairs. "Scratchy!"

Let's go fly a kite!

During Grandpa's visit, he kept his eyes peeled out the window to watch for a kite-flying breeze. He even brought his awesome trick kite from Utah. Luckily, the kids got to enjoy several kite-flying adventures with Grandpa Davis outside in our big "backyard".

A Weekend Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Davis came from Utah to visit this weekend. They flew in on Thursday night and my mom left Sunday afternoon. My dad is staying for two more weeks to help with projects around our house. He'll be a busy guy!

The kids had fun with Grandma and Grandpa playing board games, reading stories, cuddling on the couch watching General Conference, playing at the park and going on walks.

Tyler tricked Grandma and Grandpa for April Fools by stuffing their shoes/slippers with paper towels and toilet paper. Tyler tricked Grandpa again by sticking a post-it note to the bottom of his computer mouse so it wouldn't work. Got ya!

Life is just better up here!

Allie just turned 19 months and with that earned some super climbing skills. Keeps me on my toes, she does. And she's quick, too!

I turn my back for 10 seconds and she is crawling across the kitchen table. We leave the bedroom door open and sure enough, she's cruising up the bunk bed ladder. Or she is bouncing on the couch in the family room. Lots of head-over-heels tumbles down our carpeted stairs. It makes me smile when she tries to climb the stairs of her dollhouse. Little cutie!

She needs a body guard to follow her around all day. Lucky for us, this weekend we have someone better than that to help. Who's better than Grandma and Grandpa? Allie is on cloud nine today along with her big brothers! And that, my friends, is the highest place to be.