Monday, August 31, 2009

A Date with Papa and Grandma!

Last Saturday, Frank and I went to a Rough Riders game with our Sunday school group. We had a blast because a) it was GORGEOUS weather, b) We love our group (half of them are our neighbors!), and c) we were childless that night! The last part of that equation was made possible by my parents who jumped at the chance to spend an evening with Allison. They took her to the park, to Chick-fil-a, and then back to their house for some more fun.

We gave them her sleeper tent to try out for the first time in hopes that she would sleep a little there. My parents have a crib, but she is terrified to be left in it for some reason. She eventually slept in her tent after thrashing around for an hour, but that's progress, right?? Frank and I are taking her with us to Phoenix this October to visit her Aunt Jen and Uncle John, and I wanted proof that she could be induced to sleep while we are there!!

Anyway, they took about 100 pictures at the park, and it is incredibly hard for me to pick so you get all of them! (or at least as many as I can upload before I get tired of waiting for blogger to import the images). Isn't she the cutest?? You don't have to think so, but I sure do!





































Thursday, August 27, 2009

Holiday Card Time!

Can you believe it's almost September? This month has flown by! In photographer terms, September is code for "holiday season", so here I am announcing my holiday card special.

Please let me know if you'd be interested in booking a session! I won't be accepting sessions for Christmas cards past the first week of December - and that's cutting it pretty close! I will have about 20 different Christmas card templates for you to choose from, and they are all SO cute!! I'll post those as soon as they are available.

All of my contact information can be found on my website.

Holiday Card Special - $125*

30 minute session
8-12 proofs on secure gallery
25 Holiday cards and envelopes
20% off print prices

Tell your friends!

*Price quoted is for a family of 4. For each additional person, please add $10. Session must be held in Collin County.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

A Kiss

Allison just did the sweetest thing to date, and I just have to share. Of course, I've been meaning to blog for days now anyway, so this works out.

She was sitting on my lap holding her favorite sheep while I read her "Are You My Mother?". Side note - I learned yesterday how much she associates reading with being in my lap. I was at Amy's house sitting on the floor reading to her while she played and she walked over and stood next to me and pushed the book away and said "sit down" while trying to crawl into my lap. I pulled her in my lap and we finished the book together. Isn't that precious?? Every time I read to her now when I finish the book I sit and wait, and sure enough she will start the book over herself and "read" to me out loud! Anyway, I digress... back to the sweetest thing ever. So I finished reading her the book and instead of her reading to me, she turned over and said "a kiss?" and planted one right on my lips. This was followed by her laying her head on my shoulder and cuddling up with me and her sheep. I seriously melted right there. I had to say a quick prayer thanking God that I have the best little girl.

We are currently trying to reconfigure nap-time because she has recently been trying to drop a nap. I think that with a little effort on my part she could make a full transition in a couple of weeks, but I'm honestly not ready to give it up. I feel like I depend on her morning nap so I can get ready for the day and do some work around the house. I also know that if I let her take just one nap a day then I lose any chance of ever getting one myself - unless I want to blow off my to-do list. I was actually planning to really try the one nap today and we were going to hit the grocery store so she would be stimulated enough to stay awake. I had everything ready to go and was in the process of putting on her shoes and I lost all energy. So here I am blogging instead while she naps. Yes, I see I'm the problem here. I have to say, though, that I'm sure part of my resistance on this occasion is resting on the fact that I loathe the grocery store. I would rather do just about anything then go shopping for groceries.

I have a lot of fun pictures to share. I'll start with the ones from a couple of Friday's ago. Allison's Mimi (Frank's Mom) finally made it to the Heard Museum. It looks like they had a great time! There isn't much Allison loves more than having freedom to run and explore. Here are the pictures she took for me...



















My mom got Allison some pink Ug (sp?) boots for the winter. I tried them on her yesterday, and she LOVED them! She went stomping around the house in them. We couldn't get her to stop roaming the halls. She has never worn anything with a thick rubber sole, so this was a whole new experience. So I know the outfit doesn't go with the boots, but maybe that makes this moment just bit cuter? :)







The rest of these are just fun pictures of her around the house. The first picture is of a new game she plays where she leans on her head and looks at me upside down. This is apparently really funny to her!



I'm not sure what she's doing here. Maybe checking to make sure I didn't stick a bow in her hair. That's not allowed, you know!



Allison has figured out how to climb into her stroller. She can even pull the tray down in front of her. Problem is, she is stuck once she gets there. I often find her whining in it because wants me to rescue her.



I'll leave you with the infamous "scrunchy face". It had taken leave for a few months, but it has returned! I can't figure out which emotion deserves such an expression, but she uses it often!



Oh! One more cute story before I have to go do actual work. We were house sitting for our neighbors last week while they were in Mexico. They also had a cat named Cricket that we were asked to visit and check on. One day I went over there to make sure he had food and water, but he didn't greet me at the door like he normally would. I started calling out "Cricket!, Cricket" and while I was waiting for him to show up I hear Allison saying "E-it! E-it!". So cute! That was the first time she has copied my language. Obviously she says stuff already, but she usually hears it a few times first and processes it. This time she just went ahead and took a stab at it. I'm such a proud mom!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Picture Post

It's been so long since I've posted pictures of Allison! Franks mom was missing the pictures on the blog so she has loaned us her point-and-shoot till we get our own. Since last Friday we've taken about 100 pictures! I would love to post all of them, but that would take forever. Here are the highlights.

Every Friday Frank's mom (Jackie) picks up Allison and takes her on an adventure. Last week they had plans to go to a museum, but got turned around and ended up at Chuck E Cheese instead. Allison loves watching other kids play so she had a blast! I asked Jackie to take the camera along so I could see some of the fun, too. They turned out great!

Here she is staring at people...

Checking out the games...

Pushing buttons.

Now this looks like fun!

Hold on, sir, this could be a rough ride.

Blow!


Taking a break for a good snack and a book. That's my girl!

Those big brown eyes are my favorite.




On Tuesday Shannon brought Christopher over for a play date. They had a great time together!









The rest of these are from last night. Frank put Allison's shoe box on her head and she thought it was big fun. She walked around with it on her head for a while and then would pull it off and want us to put it back. She would try to put it on herself which consisted of holding it up next to her head! So cute!






I think for once I posted enough pictures to rival Emily Malone! :) I'm pretty proud of that!! I'll post more after the weekend!