This and that

Alayna is in such a great phase right now! She is getting to be just a little more independent and I think she's pretty pleased with herself about it. One thing she is especially good at is eating. She will eat anything! In this picture she's chowing down some turkey meatballs. But her favorite food is likely the same as your kids--pizza! She has 7 teeth to help with the chewing but since they're all in the front, she has become an expert gummer. And now that she is so proficient at feeding herself, that is what she prefers. No more baby food for her, please. I still give her baby food occasionally when I don't want to have to bathe her again after letting her feed herself canned peaches or something equally sticky and messy.

Ian just finished his first year of preschool. He loved going to school and really soaked up all they were teaching him. I have learned from experience that sometimes the reports I get from my children about what they've done at school or church or a friend's house, etc. might be slightly less than accurate. Not so with Ian. He would tell me some of what he'd done at school and when I got an email from his teacher telling about school that day, he was always right on. He just explained it differently. His teachers gave him a glowing report of how smart he is, how much he learned and how much they loved having him in their class. He's really looking forward to pre-k in the fall.

Although Alyana is only 10 months old, her doctor said she can have cow's milk already. Something to do with her iron count or something? I don't know, but I was really glad to find that out beause I was getting ready to wean her off breastmilk and she wanted absolutely nothing to do with formula! And she won't drink from a bottle so we're skipping them and going straight to sippy cups. I think it's so cute how excited she gets when I give her a cup of milk in the morning.

Madeleine with her friend, Liz, at the final Honor Roll breakast of the year. Madeleine stayed on the All A's Honor Roll all year long. Great job, Maddie! Do you like the powdered sugar on her smile? So cute! I bet what you really love are her beautiful accessories. She really scored on her birthday with the headbands and such. She wore a fancy headband and that necklace everyday this week.

I've already mentioned before that Alayna loves climbing the stairs. What's funny is that she knows we don't want her to do it (for fear of her getting hurt, of course) and she thinks it's a fun game. When I see her on the stairs and call her name, she squeals and giggles and tries to go up even faster till I come catch her. What a goof!

She loves the trampoline too. We don't let her on very often, but it was the perfect place to let her play around while the rest of us played bocci ball in the backyard one evening.

I got these chairs to go with my breakfast table in place of the folding chairs there before. I admit that a windsor chair wasn't my top choice, but since I got six of these chairs and a table (that I will turn around and sell) for $50 I decided to go for it. They were so filthy and gross. And rehabbing them was a MAJOR pain! But I am happy with the finished product.

I know, I need some flowers or fruit or something to brighten this room up. That's beside the point. Anyway, I'm not in a hurry to refinish chairs ever again, but I am so glad these are done. I really like the look of them with the table. At any rate, it's a huge improvement over the folding chairs.

That's all for now. Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!