16!

(A big thanks to my sis in law for some great pics www.photographybymaryalison.blogspot.com)

***

Not sweet 16. Thank goodness!

16 months, that is!

At Ali's 15 month check up, she weighed a whoppin' 18 lbs (even though that's not what the pic shows).

That would be BELOW 5th percentile.

Her height?
Yup, below 5th percentile as well......28 inches.


What is our lovely little Aliyah up to these days?
*Still takes a good morning and afternoon nap.
*Still loves to play in the toilet.
*Loves to pull treats out of the garbage. Oh, yum! And she's still so teeny after all that wholesome goodness?


*Loves to be outside and tries to bolt out any chance she gets.
*Will not leave any cute clips or bows in her hair. Yes, it was torture for her to keep this orange flower in and she kept ripping it out.
*Trying to slowly get rid of the bottle

*Blows the sweetest little kisses.....with or without her cute little tongue.
*Has 3 bottom teeth.

*Is very capable of walking by herself but is too afraid. On several occasions she has taken multiple steps. She much prefers to hold onto a finger to walk around all. day. long.

*Still loves her brothers and sister.
*Her brothers and sister still love her..... a lot.
Except they get very tired of walking with her. :)
***

Amazing how one little soul can bring so much love and laughter into a home.
I'm very grateful that it is our home she has brought the love and laughter to.

If books could walk...

You would see this multi leg beauty roaming around our house!

Lexi informed me, as she was flipping through the pages for the 20th time, that she doesn't need ALL of the stuff this Christmas. I can wait to buy some for her next birthday and next Christmas.

Phew!

Too bad none of my kids are getting anything from this catalog!

Today, I was fortunate enough to go here....


It was a cold and foggy day on this mountain top.


I went to see a family seal their adopted 6 month old baby boy to them.
Such a neat experience.



Yesterday we came home to this.....


I love finding treasures on my doorstep!

Merry Christmas!

Rich

Dylan brought home a book order today. He wants to buy a book that is $3 so he ran upstairs to count his money.

"I have one dollar. I'll have to save my money."

"Mom! I used to be really rich!"

"You, did!?"

"Ya, a long time ago, when I was 4."

"How much money did you have?"

"Hmmmm. Like 10 dollars. AND 100 cents!"



5 is such a fun age. Dyl is such a fun boy.

One of my faves...

The Nutcracker!

Today, Alexia and I met Gma Akina (Rob's mom recently remarried!!) for a fabulous time.

The Nutcracker has become a yearly tradition, that I love.

We go to this beautiful theatre....

Ellen Eccles

Complete with an orchestra pit!

Then we always follow up with a good ol' fashion treat at...

My oh-so-lady-like daughter, thoroughly enjoyed her banana split.
My mom would tell me I deserve a not so lady like daughter...

On the way home, in our comfy toasty van, Lexi asks,

"Mom, how old do you have to be to date?"


"16."


"Wow!"

Hmm. What's the wow about?


"Parker will be able to date in 5yrs!"

Please don't remind me.

"How old do you have to be to like someone?"

I like this question!

"25."

"What?!!?? Is that the law?"

Oh, my goodness this is far too much fun.




"Cute Lexi, there is no law that says what age you have to be to like someone."



"Oh, then what age do you say we can like someone."

"25."

"Mom!"

"Ok, 16. :) Why do you like someone right now?"

"No."
Good! Keep it that way!

Thanks to Gma Akina and my lovely Alexia for a very enjoyable day.


Thank you to my dear sister for helping me out with my other kids.....again.
Rob is on his way home from Hawaii. Yup, it's true. More details to come.

A sample of Dylan's prayer tonight....

"Thank you that we could find the puzzle pieces. They blended into the puzzle."
"Please help me and Lexi to learn lots of Spanish. "
They are both in the Spanish immersion program at school. Love it!

"Please help us to be good for mom and dad. "
Yes!




Sure love my kiddos!

Drip, Drop, Splish, Splash!

Dyl, Ali and I took advantage of a sunny break in the clouds one rainy afternoon.

LOVE this pic....
Rob gave me a hard time, "What?! YOU took Aliyah out to play in the dirty puddles in the street?"
"Nope, we were in the cul de sac." :)
**
It's true.
I have a thing with dirty germs. Eck.
Ya know, my babies crawling on dirty public floors
OR
dirty public roads!
**
I set my eckish feelings aside this day and let her have a grand ol' time.
**
She sure threw a fit when we went inside.
Mad, Mad, MAD!
Griped at me all through her tubbie
and until I got her down for a nap.



As soon as Dylan boots came off his feet.......they went on Aliyah's hands!

I recently hung this in my bathroom.

L.o.v.e. it.

Remember this my dear children!

Remember, remember...

Enjoy the journey.

**

Keep your heads up.

**

Keep your hearts open to your Father above.

**

Dance your way through life's storms....

Today

Dylan's lunch request today:

Half a hot dog

peaches

celery with ranch

A well balanced meal, right?
Well now, let's take a closer look at that hot dog...

Is that lettuce on your hot dog, Dyl?
AND pepperoni?
*
Well yes, yes it is!
*

Dylan's special hot dog toppings.
Anyone else want to try?
*
He's requested lettuce on his hot dog several times before.
Apparently, the professor on "Letter Factory" has lettuce on his hot dog.
Fine by me! More veggies!
*
*
*
Tonight, after two soccer practices
(@the same time and same location thanks to Rob being Dyl's coach)
The girls stayed in the van to jam to Hayley William's and B.O.B's Airplanes.

Parker and Dylan deserted us.
*
What no dancing fun for you boys?
***

*
*
Later, I was upstairs getting Aliyah ready for a tubbie.
Then I was summoned to the kitchen by Lexi, she was doing dishes.
*
While Aliyah waited, she found herself a snack.

Hmmmm. Does food taste better when you're naked?
I wouldn't know!
*
This girl needs to eat more, so GO. FOR. IT!
*
And she DID!
*
Funny how at such an early age, they WANT the entire package
AND they want to get it ALL by themselves.
Yup, that would be my Ali.


"Hmmmm. How many can I grab at once?"

Goin' in for the grab.

Of course, plenty of fish ended up on the ground.

Thanks Dyl, for helping to munch all those loose fellows up.

*****

Sweet dreams little ones, sweet dreams.

******

Decor

Can't forget to mention.....

Aliyah's special birthday decorations.

The day before her birthday, no birthday decorations could be found.

They are in our Neverneverland basement.......somewhere.

Well, Lexi being the detailed planner that she is, thought it wasn't right for her only sister to have NO birthday decorations on her very FIRST birthday.

So she enlisted the help of her brothers and they got to work.

Alexia even had her daddy draw caterpillars for them to color and coordinate Aliyah's caterpillar cake.

I have to say, I think we should keep the regular birthday decor in Neverneverland.
They are not nearly as fabulous as these creations.
Aliyah's special birthday decor was up way past her birthday.
Rob asked, "Can we take these down yet?"
"No, just a little longer."
Alas, they are no longer beautifying our home.
Until the next birthday.......
That would be Lexi.
Let's see what she comes up with for her very own special decor.

1

It's already happening.

My Lovely Little Aliyah is being disobedient and not listening to me.

No matter how many times I ask her nicely to stop growing up, she does NOT listen.

Pics taken by Mary Alison www.photographybymaryalison.blogspot.com
*

*

She turned the BIG 1!!

*

I have to confess.

I am always sad when my babies turn one.

It's amazing within one year, 365 days, how much their little minds and bodies change.

A-mazing!
*

The big day started off right with M & M pancakes. I did sneak some white wheat in them. Shhh.

(Notice there's no bib? She absolutely will NOT wear them. Pull, stretch, cry, scream.....you get the idea.)

Then, there was lots of fun with fingerpaints.

However, little Ali was more interested in the wash bucket.




Hmmmm.

We've got paint and water......what's missing.

Oh ya!

Sand!






That afternoon the festivities continued and we headed to the Zoo.

But not without earning some free admission tickets first!

*
Hogle Zoo was doing a promotion with Cache Valley dairy products.

For every 4 empty packages that were brought in=1 free admission, up to 4 admissions.







Needless to say, my freezer if FILLED with Cache Valley butter.

We only had to buy ONE ticket=7 dollars.

AWESOME.





Aliyah loved it.



There was lots and lots of pointing and Aliyah talk.







These bats were the creepiest animals at the zoo. Eck!

They were also by far the smelliest!

So glad I am not an elephant!

9 months is ENOUGH torture!

Good thing 9 long months=blessings.

4 crazy kiddos.

Or should I say 4 crazy monkeys.

We said goodbye to the zoo and left with 4 crazy monkeys.

*

Next up, presents and cake!

Aliyah was SO exhausted.

Our birthday girl did not appreciate our singing talents.

She did decide to taste her cake.

So many things to love about our little princess.

I pulled the kids aside and individually asked them what they love about Ali.....

Parker: "She's funny! I like her laugh."

Lexi: "I love everything about Aliyah......except for when she wakes me up at night crying!"

Dylan: "She's funny! She makes funny noises and does funny things."

*

*

Little Aliyah is definitely a keeper.