Ice, Ice, Baby

On our trip to Utah this summer, we arranged to meet up with the Tingey's for a morning. We decided to drive up one day early so that we could spend a little time with our friends (and Allie has been begging to see Madison since we moved, so we had to make time). When we got together we decided to do the most toddler friendly thing we could think of, ice blocking! While this was a little treacherous at times, they caught on quickly and had a great time.

 At the top of the hill getting ready for the first run of the day.

Making our first trip down the hill 

(this was dad's first time ice blocking too so we were a little cautious).

 Rach saw how much fun we were having and had to get in on the action

 (Hadley wanted a ride too, even though there was not much lap room).

They made it all the way to the bottom of the hill (with Allie close behind in pursuit).

Then they all decided to do other stuff like roll down the hill and eat the ice blocks.

Thanks for the fun time Tingeys. All the girls had a blast.

Swimming Lessons for Allie

Allie has been in swimming lessons for the last 4 weeks and can now officially swim all by herself!  The first lesson or two she was afraid and wasn't so sure about it, but once we got some fast goggles, she quickly learned how to swim.

Kristen Sweeney taught her lessons Monday through Thursday for 4 weeks and by week 2 she got the hang of it.  She swims with her head in the water and can now take a couple of breaths in-between.  

Allie in her super-fast goggles.

These pictures were from her last day of class, showing off her speed.

Allie could float on her back, but always quickly got out of it, wanting to swim fast.

Every Thursday they got to go down the little slide or big slide.  The first time they did the little one, but after that, Allie was brave and went down the big slide into the deep end. 

Allie had a little friend named Carson who was the same age and started at the same time, so they would race at the end of class.  Carson usually won the first leg where they would jump in from the side,  and Allie would win the second one where they were already in the water.  Allie is a little more timid jumping in, but has quick little kicks in the water.

Allie still asks to go back to swimming lessons all the time.  Next year we'll do it all again!

Brown paper packages tied up with string

Our girls love to get any package in the mail (they even get super excited for a box of diapers!), 

and we got a HUGE package this week. Inside the mountain of packing peanuts we discovered a desk. And it's not just any desk, this is my desk from when I was little. Handmade with love by my grandpa Pagel. It's so fun to see the girls get enjoyment out of the same things I used to love when I was little.

Allie enjoyed making snow angels in the packing peanuts.

These are probably the only snow angels she will ever make at our house.

Unpacking made a big mess.

Note the GIANT trophy in the foreground (proof for my children that I was AWESOME!!). 

Allie loves it, she likes to color and draw at her very own desk.

 

Hadley liked to spend time in the box more. 

There was at least as much fun with the box as with the contents.

Father's Day 2013

This year for Father's Day, the girls were very prepared and made Dad some pretty awesome cards for the big day.  Breakfast started with Costco muffins (Mike's fave) and was quickly followed by a scavenger hunt.  Mike's family does a Christmas scavenger hunt every year, and Allie decided that Mike needed a Father's Day scavenger hunt to keep things exciting. 

Allie did it all by herself and created a color scavenger hunt by hiding different colored items and making a treasure map of which color to find next.

Hadley helped choose the wrapping paper, snowman is quite logical, and they were so excited to give it to him.

Nothing says happy father's day like a new alarm clock.  Love ya babe!

Pops and Blocks

Per Grandma Shaw tradition, we have popcorn and lemonade every Sunday evening, which the girls are all about.  Yummy!

 We were playing with blocks the other day and Hadley built this tower all by herself, quite the feat for a barely 2 year old. 

 Allie went for the quantity of towers over height.  I think she got up to 18 all in a row.  Sometimes it is the little things like playing with wooden blocks that are the most fun.

I Want to See You be Brave!

This summer we had brave charts to try and help us do things that we were afraid of doing.  The girls got heart stickers on their chart when they did something brave and when it was full, they got a prize!  Well, Allie went from being afraid of the deep end of the pool to swimming all by herself and when she completed her chart, Daddy took her out and they got hot pink flowers and ice cream cones.

 Hadley was just a fan of the ice cream :)