Alyssa is Two!

Isn't amazing how time flies? Our Alyssa is now two years old! I really wanted to plan a great party for her birthday, partly because it is so close to Christmas. And partly because we didn't really want to acquire more stuff, so her party was her main present. She chose a ladybug theme.

I wanted to have as many ladybug activities appropriate to two year olds as I could think of. First we colored ladybugs on leaves. In the back you can see the "tree" that we taped our leaves onto.

Everyone loved decorating this cute bug with some spots.

This is the first time I have really attempted to decorate a birthday cake. But how could we have a ladybug party without a ladybug cake? I have to admit, I really had a lot of fun making the cake and decorations.

We got the book "The Grouchy Ladybug" for Alyssa to go along with our theme. We also made ladybug antennae to wear at the party. Alyssa was really funny. She loved them on everyone else, but refused to wear them herself. Anytime I prompted her to put them on, she would choose someone else, declaring "Momma wear them", or my favorite, "Daddy wear them". I wish I had gotten a picture of that. Happy birthday Alyssa!

Our Little Abigail

Here are more pictures of our little Abigail.

She is saying hello to the stuffed tiger she gave her big sister Alyssa as a gift when she came home from the hospital. She loves to stare at it.

Abigail and Sophia together...Sophia loves to lick Abigail. Abigail likes Sophia, as long as she isn't licking her.

How sweet is this? Abigail is hanging out with her big sister Alyssa on the blanket Dan's mom made for her. Strange to think Alyssa was once as small as Abigail. My girls are so sweet!

Growing up Fast

Alyssa has recently begun to mandate what clothes she wears. One day she found a shirt of mine, and insisted on wearing it. It actually looks pretty good on her, almost like it was meant to be a dress. Here she is modeling it for me. She didn't want to take it off all day long. It is so sweet that she wants to wear my clothes. Someday she really will be grown up enough for them to fit her. I hope that day doesn't come too soon.

Halloween Fun

Halloween happens to top Dan's list of best holidays. Unfortunately for him, this year he was leaving for conference on top of having a very pregnant wife. While we always seem to have grandiose plans for celebrating Halloween, we fell quite short this year. But we were still able to do a few things to make the holiday special for Alyssa.

We asked her for several weeks before acquiring a costume what she wanted to be for Halloween. She consistently said "a doggy". When asked what mommy and daddy should be she also said "doggy". Dan and I didn't dress up, but we did have an adorable little dalmatian complete with tail.

This is Dan's handiwork. Several months ago he bought a cupcake decorating book for me. It is safe to say he has used it more than me. He made these werewolf cupcakes for his fellow residents and for his Sunday school kids. Everyone was notably impressed. Some people didn't believe he had made them.

Here we are at the ward trunk or treat. I think she was annoyed that we kept asking her to say trick or treat. But she did like the decorations, and of course, the candy.

Connecticut in the Fall

It seems like since we returned from the West our blog posts have dried up somewhat. Dan went back to work, I went back to work, and I have been rather sick on top of being near the end of my pregnancy. But we have still managed to get out and enjoy some of the things that we love about autumn in Connecticut.

This first picture is from Lighthouse Point. Alyssa seems to have gotten over her aversion to sand and being dirty. I think she played with her little bucket and shovel for over an hour and a half.

We love Bishop's Orchard. They have various pick your own seasons throughout the year, and a great little store. This is our first visit to their pumpkin patch. After reading a story about pumpkins and Halloween from the library, Alyssa has been enthralled with pumpkins.

She had a really hard time choosing just one pumpkin to take home. We asked her which one she liked. She ran to one close at hand, and then continued moving her way up the row, pointing out about every other one. She was a little sad to only be taking home one pumpkin.

Dan loves to take Alyssa raspberry picking. I unfortunately have not been able to actually go with them, but here are some great pictures of Alyssa enjoying the time with her dad.

The first time they went, she did a really good job of putting the berried into the bucket. Now she tends to just eat them as soon as she picks them. Maybe that's why she is sticking her tongue out, in anticipation of the delicious juicy taste!

Phoenix Childrens Museum

One of our favorite things to do in a new place is to take Alyssa to the Children's Museum. Her favorite part of the Phoenix Children's Museum was the room for 3 and under. It was a busy day when we went, and I think she felt a little overwhelmed in the areas with the older children. Here are pictures of some of her favorite activities.


Alyssa is always happy with dogs around. Pressing the button resulted in a dog barking. She loved it.


Balls. Another of her favorite toys. Notice that balls and dogs also go together.

Her exclamations of "Pretty! Pretty!" rang out as she "planted" the flowers outside the child size house.

At this point, I think the San Antonio Children's Museum was still our favorite.

Simple Pleasures

I really try to find new and interesting things to show Alyssa, both to keep her entertained and to introduce her to new experiences. Not that I feel my efforts are wasted, but it is interesting to see the fun that she creates for herself. Here is one game that she loves to play at the condo we are staying at in Scottsdale.

She has also invented a game we call "run to dolphin". In its simplest form, Dan or I sit on the couch holding her stuffed animal dolphin, she backs up as far as she can, and then runs top speed to collide with the couch and her dolphin. She has also recently invented "walking backwards" and "walk like a dinosaur". Stay tuned for images and video!

Paper Crown Princess

Alyssa seems to be drawn to jewelry at a very young age. Even at Target when we walk by the jewelry counter she runs over, presses her face up to the class, and declares, "Pretty! Pretty!" So I thought it would be fun to make some paper jewelry at home. For whatever reason, the only thing she actually wanted to wear was the crown. Here she is surveying our living room from her perch on the couch, studying up on different kinds of dinosaurs. I love what an eclectic mix of interests she has!

Baby scientist/movie star

Ever since Alyssa was a couple of months old, Marie has been taking her to the Yale infant cognition center where they study how babies think. They basically watch puppet shows and have the babies choose a toy. Alyssa likes it and Marie thinks the experiments are interesting. When Alyssa was 9 months old, a camera crew came by for some educational shows they were making. Here is a clip of part of that program with Alyssa in it. What is not on this clip is the time she hugged the "good" toy, and then threw the "bad" toy to the ground. I hope to see that clip in the future.

New York Trip

Dan is still doing a rotation in New York. He gets to come home for the weekends, though, so Alyssa and I went down a little early on Friday to have some fun before bringing him home on the train. We randomly found this statue on our walk from Grand Central to the Central Park Zoo. Alyssa recognized it as a rabbit, amazingly enough. And since it spouted water, she had to go check it out.


Here we are at the zoo. Alyssa is studying our map very closely.


I was surprised how much she wanted to watch the monkeys. I have always found them to be a little creepy.


She just looked so beautiful among the flowers. Here she is getting quite tired. I ended up taking her to some swings to help her fall asleep for her nap. While she was sleeping we went to Columbus Circle and looked at Williams Sonoma and Borders. It has been quite some time since I was able to browse books without interruptions.

After she woke up, we went to the fountains out front to wait for Dan to meet us. She was again mesmerized by the water. Which was a good thing, since she was still a little groggy and really hungry. We went to Bangkok House for dinner. It's a restaurant that we used to eat at when we lived in New York. It is a slightly different experience with Alyssa, but we still enjoyed it. There was a couple eating a couple of tables away that made us reflect somewhat on how different our life is now. It will be interesting to see what changes the next year brings with the end of residency.