Trick-or-Treat

We had our first (now to be annual) Trick-or-Treat party last night and it was so much fun. We had quite the crew of Ally, Dylan, Ryan, Alyssa and Jillian all out on the streets collecting candy! All the kids were wonderful (no complaining, fussing, fighting, etc.) and even the littles made it to at least 20 houses. We weren't even planning on taking them, except to a few neighbors, but they were in to it and ready to go so we forged on.
Ally would not let go of her candy bucket, to the point that I thought we might have to let her take it to bed with her (and then steal it away after she fell asleep). She had a great time and ate too much candy!
David got his fill of scaring all the kids in the neighborhood (he is really quite good and funny when he does it) and we had lots of laughs and ate yummy pizza and snacks.
What a fun night!
Trick-or-Treat!!

Are You Going to Take a Picture of That?

Our conversation tonight:

Me: Ok, Ally has her Halloween party tomorrow at daycare. Her costume is all ready to take and is hanging on the door.

Him (as he looks towards the door): Are you going to take a picture of THAT?? I guess I need to get used to this kind of stuff (he loves the pink that has invaded our home in the past year and a half).

Me: You know I am and yes, you do...


Happy Halloween!

A Few Things I Would Like To Remember:

Ally says some of the funniest things as she learns to talk more and more. She is a very verbal child and a good percentage of things she says actually come out coherent, but it is still so cute to listen to a child who is learning to talk. I keep saying to David that we need to get her on videotape more, but life seems to always get in the way and we forget. Well, there are a few things in particular that I don't want to forget, so I thought I would put them down in writing here. It's not the same as actually hearing her say them, but at least it will help me remember some day. :-)

• Gobbee, gobbee (that's Ally talk for gobble, gobble...like a turkey)-this is one of my favorites! It is so cute the way she says this and when you ask her what a turkey says, she always answers, gobbee. She knows pretty much all of the animal sounds and between gobbee and her southern version of neigh (comes out Naaayyy, with a southern drawl), she keeps us in stitches. So far, Ally can tell you what a cow, turkey, cat, dog, pig and sheep says. She usually will say, grrrr, when we ask her what a bear says and an interpretation of 'roar' when we ask her about lions, but we haven't perfected these yet. We are working on duck, because when we ask her what a duck says, she says, "Duck"...funny. She recognizes most animals and will say either the sound they make or their actual name. Smarty pants!


• She loves Dora for some reason. I say "some reason", because we have NEVER had Dora on the TV at our house (in fact, we don't watch a lot of cartons at all) and the only thing Dora we own is a pair of her pajamas that were given to her for Christmas last year. The babysitter doesn't let them watch TV very often, but I guess she must have seen Dora there and feel in love. :-) Anyway, she recognizes Dora regardless of what she is on and how she is dressed and when she sees Dora she calls out her name. It is so cute and comes out like 'Dowra'. Sometimes she gets stuck on the 'D' and it takes a few seconds for the whole thing to come out, but she says it and it makes me smile every time.


• Rocka bay-bee! The other night when I was rocking Ally at night, the room was quiet and dark and I thought she had fallen asleep. All of a sudden she blurts out, "Rocka bay-bee" and I about busted a seam! She is funny, that kid. That's what she says now when she wants you to sing Rock-a-bye-baby to her. She also says it when she has her dolls clutched under her arm and rocking back and forth. She loves her babies!


• Ally can not only say, "Buckeyes", very clearly, but she also can recognize them too! She points to the logo and says, "Buckeyes" and the other day when the team was running onto the field she turned around and saw them on TV and yelled, "Buckeyes" and when you ask her what her favorite team is, she (without hesitation) hollers, "Buckeyes". No, we did not brainwash her, but apparently when we bleed scarlet and gray, so does our child...and that's the way we like it! Go Buckeyes!

These are just some examples of the funny things Allyson says right now, that I want to keep fresh in my mind. I will try to post some other funny things as the come along and I will see what I can do about getting an actual video of her posted, so you can hear it for yourself. So cute!

As Seasons Change, So Does Our Book Basket!

I have decided to "steal" an idea from my Aunt Carey (thanks, Carey!) and start a seasonal/holiday book basket for Ally (and future little Truitts, wherever they may be).

Ally LOVES books, can't get enough of them and we have a giant pile of them that we keep in a large basket on the floor, so she can get to them (pretty much all board books at this stage in life, though). We read everyday day, multiple times a day. She really does love books.

Over the years (long before I had Allyson), I gathered a very nice collection of books, some signed by the authors (thanks, Mom!), some hardbacks, some older books from relatives...my children will always have plenty of books, which I am thrilled about. Ally also received many very nice books at one of my baby showers.

We don't let Ally "play" with some of the nice books yet, because they have more delicate pages and I don't want them to get all ripped up, but we do read them to her and she loves them.

My aunt keeps a basket on the bakers rack in her kitchen and in it she displays books for her kids to read about the current season or holiday. I love this idea, because not only will Ally get to learn something about the different times of the year, but this is a good way to display a lot of the really nice books we have that we usually keep tucked away on a shelf away from toddler fingers. I put the basket on the table next to our couch, so the books are handy when we want to read one to Allyson, but still out of her constant reach, so they stay nice and neat. As she gets older, the idea will be for Ally to be able to read the books in the basket as she pleases and put them back when she is done. I will change the books out as the seasons/holidays change. It also makes a nice decoration (especially once I get some festive ribbon to add to the handle of the basket).

Here is our Autumn/Halloween selection currently being displayed and a picture of Ally checking out the books:

Way Behind

I am WAY behind on posting to my blog lately and I apologize to those of you who check in on a regular basis. I have, as usual, taken on trying to do way too many things and this time of the year is crazy enough as is. I will be making an effort to get caught up some here and there in the next week or so, so please scroll through or check my archives for older posts I may have snuck in there that you missed.
Thanks for reading my little online journal and don't be afraid to leave me comments (nice ones, though, as I don't like meanies. :-))

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today is my papa's birthday! He is on a boys only trip through the Bourbon distilleries of Kentucky and Tennessee, so although I am sure he would love to see us all on his birthday, he's probably having an OK time without us, right? :-)

Hope you have a great time on your trip, Dad and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We love you and can't wait to celebrate with you when you get back!

It's Paw-Paw's Birthday!

Today is David's step-dad's birthday and although we already had fun celebrating with him Saturday, we hope today is a special day for him! We love you, Dan! Happy Birthday!!!

Welcome Fall!

Making Applesauce

Ally was up bright and early this morning (like 6am bright and early...UGH!), so I decided to make applesauce with the apples we picked yesterday and have Ally "help" me. She did a GREAT job...such a good helper and she REALLY enjoyed eating the finished product. I love that she is getting old enough to start doing little crafty projects with me. So fun! :-)

First, I peeled and sliced the apples and put them in the crock pot (I used a variety of apples).

Next, I put the ingredients (sugar, cinnamon and water) in little bowls that were easy for Allyson to pick up.
Then I put Ally up on a chair at the table and let her pour each ingredient on top of the apples. She did a great job and only needed help with the sugar (She was close to the edge of the dish and started pouring backwards...only minimal amounts of sugar was lost.). She is really into pouring things or throwing things away, so this was right up her alley!

Next, it was time to stir up the apples and get them all coated with sugar and cinnamon. Ally liked being in charge of the wooden spoon!

Once the apples were all stirred up, I put the lid on and turned the crock pot to let it do it's magic!

Several hours later, this is what we had! Yum!

Ally's favorite part was testing her work at the end of the day. She is getting better with using a spoon, although you can see from the pictures that some ended up on her shirt and pants. Oh, well, it was the end of the day. :-)

Ally liked the applesauce so much that when David tried to take it away from her to give her a bath, she started crying and stayed mad at him until bedtime! Must have been some good applesauce, 'cause that girl loves her Daddy! So much fun for this little girl and her mommy!

Pigeon Roost Farm

Today we went to a WONDERFUL place called Pigeon Roost Farm. It was a lot of fun for the kids and adults and a great day to spend with family. I have never seen so many pumpkins! We had excellent weather. The skies were beautiful and the air was crisp. Perfect fall day. I highly recommend this place, if you have never been. It is a bout 30 minutes east of Columbus and a nice little roadtrip. It is the perfect fall fun!

Caution: Crazy mom (aka: Me) yielding camera took a TON of pictures, so don't be alarmed by the length of this post! I love fall pictures...the colors are amazing. Enjoy!