Happy Birthday Daddy!

Daddy celebrated his 32nd birthday last night (one night early due to his work schedule.) Alena helped me make a mint cake with chocolate frosting by Daddy's request. All Alena could talk about all day was the mint cake. Needless to say, she was not disappointed, especially when it was paired with chocolate ice cream! There were a lot of candles on the cake--fortunately there were two little helpers on hand to get the job done.

Daddy wasn't allowed to even help unwrap his gift. Oh well. Earlier he asked Alena what it was and she replied "shirt." Yes, it was a shirt. Alena is also sporting her new Hello Kitty nightgown, which she feels is much superior to the one piece pjs that she is used to. She sometimes refers to it as a "nap dress."

Here she is

Ok, here is the new 'do. Alena was an excellent toddler waiting for her haircut and sat very still while she got it cut. She looked down when she was supposed to and was rewarded with some pretzels and a balloon. She is excited to get it cut again but said she doesn't want to get it washed (that seemed a little too scary).

Getting ready for the haircut.

Missing mullet. This is the first time Alena hasn't sported her famous mullet. She looks very grown up now. This picture doesn't show it, but she has one curl in her hair in the back that makes her look like a wood duck.

Alena was too busy putting away silverware to pose for pictures.

What is Alena up to today?

Here is a video of Alena telling everyone what she is up to. I don't have any good pictures yet but I'll get a couple after she wakes up from her nap.

Valentine's Day treats for Mommy

Alena is cooking up something very tasty for Mommy to eat when she gets home! And look how cute she looks in her Valentine's jumper Grandma Diane sewed for her. Daddy and Alena had a lot of fun today at Kinder-music class. We sang, played with music sticks, hoops, and a parachute - whoa! Alena turned on the charm and got a free slice of cheese at Hy-Vee today (Mr. Cheese wasn't even working).

Snow day

What do you do when you get almost a foot of snow? Send Daddy outside to dig out the cars, hang out in pajamas, and cook.

Looking for good recipes

Alena rolled up some sushi. She and the cats really like imitation crab. Alena calls it "ham." Maybe a Finn-icky ham lover would even like it. Yes, there was rice stuck all over the kitchen after this.

It wasn't all fun and games, though. Alena cleaned the bottom half of the tv with her new dusting mitten...

...and scrubbed out the sink after supper.

Matching pants and a haircut

It had been quite awhile since my last post, but hey, there is really no excuse. Here are some of the highlights of what Alena has been up to:

• Alena is really into pretending. She recently really understood how to do it. She and Daddy play a game where an imaginary snake is slithering across the living room floor. They use the cats' mice and an oatmeal container to trap it.


• Alena almost exclusively will read Mo Willems books right now. She is really into Piggie and Gerald the Elephant books.


• Alena loves monsters. Her favorite Piggie and Gerald book has a picture where Gerald is imagining Piggie was eaten by a monster. She wants to read that page over and over. When I say, "Piggie really didn't get eaten by a monster because monsters aren't real," she says "no." Of course I don't think monsters are real!


• Alena is really talking now. She will try to repeat anything we say and is getting better at trying sentences. She can make the "s" sound, but not at the beginning of words. Then she replaces it with a d or b sound or just eliminates it completely. Sleep=peep Snake=nake Soup=poop Sick=dick Monster=moner Snack=nack


• She loves watching videos of herself. "More Alena, more Alena!" as soon as one is over.

Matching pajama pants we got from Grandma Diane for Christmas. Alena loves wearing matching pants but wonders why Daddy doesn't have any that match.

Before her haircut (check out the ball pit pictures for her new 'do). Friday night Alena and I were bored so I asked if she wanted her hair cut. She said she did so I cut her bangs. She wanted me to cut them a little shorter so the hair wasn't in her eyes so I did. She sat pretty still but I am worried (even though I told her that only adults use scissors) that she thinks she might be old enough to try cutting hair by herself.

Happy birthday Tillie!

We had a good time celebrating Cousin Tillie's birthday on Sunday and Monday. Today we went to the Playstation to...play! They had tunnels and slides and most importantly the ball pit. Alena fell off a some inconveniently located stairs and wasn't feeling too happy until Aunt Melissa brought out the Elmo cake. That worked to smooth things over.

Today we also had our first music lesson thanks to Grandma Dee! Alena and Mommy pretended to be dogs and there were a bunch of different instruments to try out. Alena met some fun new kids and got to dance with them. After all of that, the day was a little too much fun so Alena hit the hay at 7 pm.

Tillie using a fork while Alena shoves an entire piece of cake in her mouth in two bites.

Alena knows better than to trust Tillie with all of those balls around. She has a good arm!

Daddy decided to go down the black slide head first. Seemed like a good idea, I guess. It wasn't. Good thing he has his fine beard to protect his chin!

Snowman

Alena and Daddy spent a fun day in the snow last week before it all melted away. Yes, playing did revolve around eating snow. The snowman is now melted, but as we recently learned while watching "Frosty the Snowman" he will be back again some day.

Here comes the nose

Purple wiffle balls for eyes. It is a little freaky.

Rounding off the day with a good time on the swing.

Sleep eating

Eating supper New Year's Eve after not being able to nap all day.

Big girl bed

The time we were dreading is here--Alena is done with her crib. Christmas day she escaped a pack n play at Grandma's house. Two days ago she escaped another pack n play at Aunt Kristina's apartment (evidenced by the rearranging of drawers, sticker relocation, and the consumption of one stick of coconut chap stick.) I guess it was only a matter of time before she figured out how to get out of her crib. That day was yesterday. She fell out with a bang but quickly recovered. She was eager to try a nap out in her new room which was decorated by Daddy and Grandma. She just looked a little too excited to actually sleep. Twenty minutes after going to bed, she was at the top of the stairs, happy as can be (she also figured out how to open her bedroom door for the first time.) Will anyone in this house be able to nap again?

Holiday Clay Work

Guest Blogger: Daddy

Over the Holiday break, Mommy, Alena, some Pennimans, and a few Ossmans joined me at The Ceramics Center for a clay-filled afternoon.

Lily was a natural and made a beautiful bowl. She also glazed another bowl that I had lying around with some colorful Italian majolica colors. Notice the little hand trying to "help out".

Alena is also showing off some natural aptitude for the wheel as she didn't need (or wouldn't allow) any guidance from her father.

She quickly moved onto more advanced techniques like one-handed throwing. I may sign up for a class with her next year. Mommy thought it looked great and joined in for some dirty fun herself!

Shoveling snow

Alena loves to help out around the house. Monday night we had 2 inches of new snow to clean off the sidewalks so we gave her her very own shovel!

After shoveling, Alena took a break to eat large amounts of snow.

Fun stuff

Today was a fun-filled day! We started off by visiting Santa at Hy-Vee, our holiday tradition. Sparkles the clown was there making balloon animals and employees dressed as elves were making pipe cleaner candy canes. If only every grocery trip were as exciting! Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house to make cookies. Tillie and Alena bundled up and went for sled rides down the snowy street and ate snow to cool down.

Sitting next to Santa is best. Still a little scary. Yes, for some reason Santa's chair is in front of the lottery machines.

But Sparkles isn't scary at all? Whatever. He could make a lot of cool things out of balloons and he made his first ever owl for Alena.

Owl!

Sledding down the street.

New carpet

After years of trying, Ben finally convinced me it was time to get new carpet on the stairs and upstairs. I admit--it is pretty nice. Alena likes to roll on it and I like to go into the closet and not see a giant stain on the floor.

Alena removing door hardware. Yes, this is the infamous stain.

One last crawl upstairs before Daddy and Grandpa remove the old carpet

A celebratory dance. Yeah, pictures of carpet aren't too exciting. You really have to experience it in person.

Blizzard

We really lucked out this time. We got less than two inches of snow and the blizzard that Joe Winters kept warning us about doesn't seem too menacing. It is really cold and windy, but we are warm and cozy in our house. It is too cold to play outside today. This afternoon we will venture out to go to White Christmas.

Christmas tree

We kicked off the Christmas season this weekend with playing in the snow, a horse-drawn carriage ride, and the lighted holiday parade. I even managed to get some shopping done. I guess all we need to do for the rest of the month is sit around and eat cookies.

We put up the Christmas tree yesterday. We decided to go with a white pine this year, just to mix it up. Either the tree or the cats are drinking the water, so we'll see how long the needles last. It is going to need a lot of strength, because it is well loved by the cats and Alena.

Hanging an ornament. It is in there somewhere.

Putting up the lights--Alena do!

Alena finally lost interest in the tree when she found these scented tea lights. She spent the rest of the decorating time disassembling and smelling candles. Let's face it--she probably took a couple bites out of them as well.

Baby

Alena is getting excited to be a big sister. Here she is practicing putting a diaper on her doll. Make sure you place your vote for whether the baby will be a boy or a girl on the right hand side of the screen--the gender with the most votes wins!

Monkeys jumping on the couch

It was fun to see cousins Lily and Finn over Thanksgiving. We can't wait to see the whole P family for Christmas! Other big news: Alena finally can say "mommy" instead of the name she was using for me--something that sounded like "bye." Now that she can say it she has been saying it repeatedly. Don't worry, she still says Daddy plenty! Also, Daddy got to feel a kick from the bean for the first time last night. Bean is getting pretty strong!

Where did he get those jeggings?!

Cheese!

Alena has never liked to get her picture taken, and usually does her best to turn away or scowl at the camera. But recently, she has decided that I should take her picture whenever she sees the camera out. She hands it to me and gives her fake smile; the fake smile currently includes squeezed shut eyes.

OK, now take a picture of blankie...

and baby.

This was the best fake smile yet!

What is missing?

Answer: Our tree. The tragic story is as follows: A couple of weeks ago on a windy night, one of our sad looking trees had the top half blown off, striking an RV parked across the alley. We decided to have the other dying tree in our backyard cut down at the same time as the remaining half of the fallen one. Imagine my surprise when I came home Wednesday night and they were gone with only little stumps in their places.