Balloon glow

The freedom festival balloon glow is held annually just across the street. I always wanted to go but every year there has been some reason that I couldn't. This was going to be the year, no matter what! As luck would have it, it was a perfect night to spend outside. Maren and her parents came out with us and even with the combination of the music, balloons, sugar and late hour both girls were very well-behaved.

The only picture I have of them looking the same direction! This is right when the first balloon went up.

Alena enjoyed a raspberry smoothie. She had to have gotten an ice cream headache at the pace she drank it, but she worked through the pain.

Down close to where all of the action was.

The balloons are glowing! The one in front was unfortunately the worst glower of all.

Yummy soup

Alena is known for using unconventional ingredients in her soup. Golf balls frequently are on the menu. No matter what, the soup is always hot.

Totally 80s

Off the shoulder shirts and teased hair is back according to "Baby Fashion" magazine.

Eating and cooking

Alena has been doing a lot of eating and cooking lately (as usual.) She is quite the foodie. Last night we went to an Indian restaurant and she had curry for the first time. She loved it--almost as much as the homemade ice cream with black raspberries that we ate on Saturday!

Preparing a soup in her kitchen. Watch out, it's hot!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

You are the best dad in the world! Let's play!

For Julianne

Ruby likes to take up as much room as possible when relaxing.

Playing in the rain

Alena loves playing with the hose and filling up the watering can so she can water the flowers. Monday night she wanted to water flowers but I told her it had been raining so much that the flowers didn't need water. We decided to go for a walk with Daddy instead. Two blocks from home it started raining. It was a warm night so we decided to play in the rain for awhile.

Taking shelter under the garage roof. See how well the grass has come in?

Swimming lessons

Alena had her first swimming lesson yesterday. They covered many topics on their first lesson: walking in water after a ball, splashing, kicking, blowing bubbles, floating, and putting their heads under water. Alena loved the pool! Her favorite part was chasing the ball and blowing bubbles (Daddy blowing bubbles, that is. She would blow, and when Daddy put her face towards the water she would open her mouth and take a drink.)

Lessons are over, but Alena heads back into the water.

Proper blowing technique

Brielle is taking lessons, too. Here they are discussing the mechanics of splashing.

So serious

Alena is pretty serious a lot of the time, but she also likes to laugh and have fun. She laughs the most when Daddy is doing silly things, when she is being chased around the yard, or when she is told to stop doing something dangerous or destructive. It is hard to get a picture of her smiling face during those times so I set the goal the other morning to get a picture of her looking at the camera and looking happy. Easier said than done. She played in this laundry basket for nearly an hour that morning with only a brush, a blanket, and a ball for toys.

So serious!

Hanging out with cousins

Everyone likes to go for rides in the side by side.

Cooling off with wacky wildflower

Playing in the new sandbox. It is Alena's new love.

Brushing Tillie's hair

Looking good!

Coloring

Alena was coloring with sidewalk chalk at Tillie's house today, so we got hers out after we got home. Alena likes to color.

I told her to smile for the camera. This is the face she makes when she says "no." Needless to say, she did not smile for any pictures.

Bad baby behavior

Showing Daddy (or how she refers to him, "Dayee!") how to color on paper

Garden Baby

The other day while Alena was napping, I brought the garden gnome out of his hibernation in the basement. That afternoon Alena was playing in the backyard while I was weeding and I heard her say "baby." I finally realized that she was talking about the gnome. Every day when she goes outside now, she points to him and says "baby." She loves him. He is so cute, don't you think?

See the little pea?

Mandy's bridal shower

Alena and Mom headed down to Grandma Dee's house today. She was hosting a bridal shower for Mom's cousin Mandy. Two other kids were there: Christian and Taylor. The three of them had fun playing the piano, riding the fire truck, and pushing the baby stroller. And of course feasting on shower treats and resisting naps. Alena took the opportunity to wear her flower skirt, glitter leggings, and kitty shirt. It was an outfit that could really get a baby noticed. So what was Dad doing? Playing with Alena's toys with his friends. He is going to have to break the news to Alena that the batteries are now dead in her remote control car (will he have it running again by tomorrow morning?)

Playing the piano

Pushing the "Go big red" ball in the baby stroller

I had to put a picture of the bride on! Aunt Kathy, Grandma Dee, Mandy, and Aunt Renee

Hot

It is the end of April and all of a sudden it is cold again. We decided to light a fire in the fireplace to take the chill off. Alena loves having a fire. Her job is to carry the kindling over to Dad. Here she is also showing off her favorite word: hot. Near the end she is holding her hand out and saying it. She always has to hold her hand out when she says hot to emphasis it should not be touched. Other things that are hot are cars, grills on display at The Home Depot, our air conditioner, and all food (including fruit straight from the fridge.)

Introducing Dr. Bear

When Daddy was in second grade he had his tonsils taken out. To help him recover, he was given Dr. Bear. Dr. Bear hibernated in a cedar chest for many years until he heard that Alena had to go to the hospital. He rushed over to the house to make her feel better, and now he is one of Alena's favorite stuffed friends.

Dr. Bear shows off his cool shades

Wiping the doctor's nose

Now wiping her own nose. Alena loves wiping her nose, which makes her having a cold much easier to deal with.

Back home and back to work

So, most of you know that Alena had to spend a couple of nights in the hospital. She was in a lot of pain Tuesday and wouldn't eat or drink so we took her to the doctor that evening and she recommended going to the hospital. She had an iv put in for fluids and had a lot of tests done which all came back negative or inconclusive. She slept all day yesterday until 4 pm when she woke up, started pointing at things, and then running down the halls. She all of a sudden started chugging water and pointing to Daddy's carrot cake (which unfortunately she was not allowed to have.) She did get a ham sandwich, green beans, and cantaloupe. Today she is feeling even better: just tired and with a limited appetite. Which is good, because she is on the brat diet. We are all happy to be back home!

The good part of our hospital stay was Alena said two new words: car and dadda! She also learned how to unscrew lids. She has loved taking lids off and putting them back on for almost a year, but had never figured out the screw kind before. Good job, Alena!

So here are a couple of pictures from this afternoon.

The weather was so nice while we were cooped up. So many flowers started blooming. Here is Alena's new watering can.

Putting on Mommy's gloves

Ben in London

Just so everyone knows, Ben is not in London. His email was infiltrated! Send money to us if you want, though.

Chicago

This weekend Alena got to spend the night with Grandma Dee and Grandpa Ed. It was her first night away from me and it seems like she took it well. Why was she there? Ben and I were in Chicago for a little vacation. Highlights of our trip: exploring Millennium Park, visiting the Art Institute, going to the musical Billy Elliot at the Oriental Theatre, and going to the Garfield Park Conservatory with Kristina and Max. The gps led us to where we wanted to go (and got mad at us when we chose our own route. She is very bossy.) The biggest hiccup of our trip was Saturday night after the musical. Our hotel rooms were arranged so our headboard was across the wall from our neighbor's headboard. And he was snoring so loudly that Ben couldn't sleep. So we ended up changing rooms at 11:30 that night. And we slept like babies.

Cloudgate

Us and the skyline

We both agreed that this Van Gogh was one of the neatest paintings we had never seen before. It was much cooler in person.

Taking shelter under a giant palm at the Conservatory

This picture is for Alena's enjoyment: Daddy planting flowers

Max had his eyes closed in every picture I had of him. But isn't it a cute picture of Kristina?

Spring is sprung

It has finally been warm enough to play outside. Alena has helped in the garden plenty already. She has watered plants, picked flowers, picked rocks out of the lawn, and tasted dirt (repeatedly). Ben has been helpful as well and fixed the garden fence and mowed the lawn.

Water the peas

Spinach and peas are up

Picking hyacinth. She would destroy flowers all day if you let her.

Happy Easter!

Alena loved meeting the Easter Bunny...