Different ways to play with a door

It has been a super hot day and a rainy evening, so Alena had to find ways to keep herself entertained inside. She discovered the tv stand's doors and practiced opening and closing them. She is really reaching for stuff now and can get down to almost crawling position but after she grabs what she wants she sits back up.

Open

Closed

What is inside? Diapers!

Trying a new angle (Mom helped)

Happy Father's Day!

Alena wanted to wish Dad a happy father's day. He is such a fun dad!

Alena had a big day learning how to wave bye bye yesterday. She was so tired from her full day hanging out with Grandma Dee that she wanted to go back to sleep soon after waking up this morning. She has been sleeping for 2 hours, which is a long time for the little girl. Dad went to play golf, which leaves Mom to do 15 loads of laundry. Watch out Dad, tomorrow isn't father's day and there will be plenty more clothes to fold!

Garden tour

Alena and Mom go for the "garden tour" every day (we invite Dad along, too.) Alena likes to see if any new flowers have bloomed since the day before, and she also likes to check up on some of her favorites. Here are a couple of highlights to the tour:

Lily corner with bee balm. Alena likes to grab the leaves of the bee balm and try to get them into her mouth before Mom catches her (they taste kind of minty.) The big storm this afternoon was kind of rough on some of the flowers.

Clematis growing on the trellis. I planted it last year and really took off this summer.

Inspecting the flower: is it edible? (Of course!)

Snap peas. The peas are coming on late this year, but they are really flowering on the tops of the plants. They have grown to over 6 feet tall.

We played outside for awhile and inside for awhile. About an hour after the garden tour it was time for bed. Alena was ready for her evening meal when Mom noticed a leaf in her mouth. She had it stored in her cheek for an hour. She has been watching those chipmunks too closely!

Pajamas

It has been very hot and humid for the past couple of days, so we thought Alena would be more comfortable sleeping in her onesie. Wrong! I tried to put her to sleep as usual, but she started to cry soon after getting in her crib. I fed her some more and tried to put her down again--to no avail. I gave up and turned her over to Dad. He noticed that when he put her in her crib she put her wrist up to her mouth as usual. But instead of the cloth of her sleeve to suck on, she found only skin. Dad put her in a sleeper and she went right to sleep. Will Alena be in long sleeves all summer? We'll see.

Making noise

When Alena gets on a raspberry kick there is no stopping her (as Grandma found out.) She takes her noise very seriously--there is no laughing when baby raspberries are going on.

Another blog with Alena swinging? Yes!

I wouldn't have put another picture of Alena swinging on, except this time she is swinging on her very on swing set! It was a productive weekend at garage sales. Dad snagged this cool set, and then Grandpa Steve found a good sale down the street that had a wagon and a kitchen set. Alena has been a little cranky the past couple of days because she has a cold. But she perked up when she got to play with her new toys!

Grandpa Ed pushing the swing on the pilot journey

Hanging out with Grandma

Wearing Grandpa's hat

Riding in the new wagon (for 30 minutes, up and down this little sidewalk. Do not stop to talk.)

Walking and riding

Grandma Diane got Alena this cool new toy so she could work on walking (since she is showing no promise in crawling.) It converts into a car so she can ride it as well.

Alena's balloon

This morning we went to the downtown farmer's market. It was raining the whole time, but there were still plenty of people to see (and even a few dogs wearing raincoats!) Alena got a cool balloon from a radio station. She wasn't too interested in it at first, but when we got home she got to play with it for awhile.

Can you see the enthusiasm in her eyes?

Long day

Grandma and Grandpa hosted a fish fry last night with all of the Ossmans, Kaufmans, and some neighbors attending. Alena loves a good party! She was so busy visiting with people that she didn't get tired until 9. We got home at 10:30 and figured she would surely sleep through the night. Unfortunately, that was not the case as she was up at 2:30. In her defense, there was massive diaper failure and her clothes and sheets had to be changed. She did go back to sleep and is currently starting to wake up (9:00 am). She was tired! We haven't gotten many pictures lately because Aunt Angela is in town and she takes the best pictures. So that means there are some good pictures of the cousins on Lily and Finn's blog. But that means that there are no pictures of Aunt Angela. We were lucky to snap this one the other day.

Angela trades Finn for awhile for the lighter Momma Kitty

Alena and Lily swinging

Alena, Lily, and Finn headed to Bever Park to play on the playground and check out the ducks. Finn isn't quite big enough for the swings so he watched the girls. As you will see, Lily is pretty tough: you have to be when your uncle is Uncle Ben.

Ice cream

Lily really wanted Alena to try ice cream. We finally gave in and went to the Dairy Mart. Alena tried some strawberry ice cream and liked it even more than sweet potatoes!

Grandma and Alena enjoying their ice cream. I put this picture on for Julianne, who loves pictures of people blowing out birthday candles; I assumed she would like a picture of people eating. Isn't it strange how my arm is coming out of nowhere with the spoon? It is kind of like Thing, or that Lolo Jones Iowa Lottery commercial.

Cousins

How hard is it to get cousins to all look at the camera at the same time?

Aunt Liza with Alena and Tillie. Maybe people think they are twins because they pose the same way. But I don't think they look too much alike past that.

Alena met Finn for the first time this week. She thought he was a cool dude. And of course Lily is always fun. She tells really funny jokes.

Hanging with Dad

Alena and Dad have been having extra fun together the past few days. Alena seems to enjoy saying "dadadada", which gets her whatever she wants with dear ol' Dad. Seven months, and he's already wrapped around her little finger.

Alena loves the outdoors. When she's not actually outside, she likes to keep tabs on what's going on out there. Here is the "throne" that Dad constructed so Princess Alena could keep watch over her squirrel and sparrow subjects.

On a beautiful Friday afternoon we went to Daniels Park, near Mount Mercy (as a reward for being so good while I unloaded the gas kiln) and went swinging. Alena loves to swing, but does not yet say "wheee" like big cousin Lily. She did however enjoy watching another little girl play on the slides nearby.

Playing the piano

Alena had a busy weekend: she went to two graduation parties and an art fair. She was a good sport about everything and even stayed up until 9 on Friday night. There were plenty of kids to observe and play with. Monday she went to the park with Mom and Grandma Dee and went swinging for the first time. And we don't have a single picture of any of it.

Dad took Alena to the store and told her she could pick out one toy. She chose this little piano. She is very good at playing it. Soon she will have mastered "Hot Cross Buns." As there are only 4 notes, there are not a lot of other song options. When she graduates from this piano she is going to collect on Kirstin's promise to give her lessons on a real one.

Grooving out

A pause for applause

Alena working her way through a teething biscuit. It was her first one and she really enjoyed it. After eating it, she enjoyed a bath.

Mother's Day gift

It has been a week since Mother's Day, so I guess I am a little late with this. But here is a picture of Alena giving Mom a slab with her hand prints. What a big girl to stick her hands in the clay without eating it! Thanks to Dad for helping Alena fire her artwork.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms from this award-winning mom! (Thanks for the nomination, Angela!) All I want for today is good baby behavior. That isn't too much to ask, is it?

Pinned!

Mom sat Alena down on the floor while she was getting the stroller ready for a walk. When she came back in it was to this terrible scene! Alena was trapped under the bars of her play mat, and was not too happy about it.

Crawling lessons

Alena has the arm motions down, but she needs some work on the legs.

Yard work

It has been a busy weekend so far. Friday night Mom and Dad went out and left Alena with Molly and Amanda, two of Dad's art students. They all seemed to have a good time, and Alena was sleeping like a log when we got home. Saturday's project was to remove a cement pad next to our garage. The perfect opportunity to rent a jackhammer! After Dad woke up all of the neighbors, Grandpa Steve and Uncle Andrew helped load the broken cement onto a truck to haul away to the dump, to the dump, to the dump dump dump. More than 2 1/2 tons of concrete were taken out of our yard!

Dad and the rubble

Everyone came over to play! Is Alena sharing her toys or commandeering Tillie's?

Safety first!

Grandpa wielding a pickax

Good job Dad! Now all you have to do is fix the siding on the garage, scrape it, paint it, plant some grass...

More power!

A video for all of the tool men.

Looking out the window

Alena loves looking out windows. She likes to watch cars, dogs, people, and stationary objects.

She also likes to lick the glass if given a chance

Did I hear a camera? I better give my tradmarked "smile."

Alena and Mom having fun

FORE!!!

Alena just started to say "dadada." She says it when she is happy and when she is mad. It is definitely not a word, but it gives Dad hope that her first word will include that new consonant vowel combination.

Dad just got a new putter so he set Alena up as the hole. He putted her the balls. If he hit one close enough, she would put it in her mouth. Then they got Alena's clubs out so she could work on her swing.

A nice athletic stance. Dad tells Alena, "Let the big dog eat!"

Alena misinterpreted the instructions.

Club selection is everything.