Recent Funnies

Our girls have had us doubled over in laughter lately with their newest antics.

Sophia is the main culprit because she'll totally catch us off guard. She walked in the room the other day while Will was doing push ups, and she said flatly, with a perfect valley-girl accent "Dad....what....are you...doing?" And it's not uncommon to hear her use the same accent and say "Dad....look....what your wife....is doing."

Another time Sophia surprised me is when the girls were playing "family" in their playhouse, and I overheard Sophia saying "Oh no! We're broke, and I haven't learned how to fly an airplane yet. What are we going to do?" I'm assuming she was playing the role of Daddy, and I'm assuming Ally's babbling could be interpreted as "I know! Why don't you stay home home with the kids while I work.";)

And although our entire household has been ridden with sickness of varying degrees, Ally's been by far the sickest. There is nothing funnier to Ally than to see her big sister fall down, so our sweet Sophia spent 20 minutes straight running into walls, throwing herself onto the ground, and pretending to slip, all to help her little sister feel better. The best part was that it worked, and Ally was laughing so hard she had tears running down her little chubby cheeks!

Later that same night, Sophia was struck by a bought of diarrhea, and as is often the case, it was accompanied by lots of gas. She was laughing so hard at all the sounds coming out of her little bottom that I was afraid she was going to fall right off the toilet!

For the first time, Sophia also made up a joke that is actually kinda funny. Sophia: Knock knock Me: Whose there? Sophia: I DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS!

We were watching old videos of Sophia and found an old clip of her "Excited Face" (http://catxfamily.blogspot.com/2008/09/face.html). Ally has already developed some of her own faces, like the Stinkerpot Face and the Evil Face (which was first seen after giving her a fat free Fig Newton instead of a chocolate chip cookie), but we coached her to do a few more.



Sophia loves to try and get Ally to do all of the "faces" during dinner time, which has us all giggling by the end of the meal.

Christmas Card Outtakes

I'm planning on eventually getting together a Christmas blog, so I was sorting through our pictures and found some adorable outtakes from when we were getting pictures for our annual Christmas card.

This is the picture we used for the card:
But these ones were awfully darn cute too!

"The I Love You Book" by Todd Parr, as read by Sophia

Cowboys Stadium

During our Christmas trip to Dallas this year, we took a guided tour of the Cowboys new stadium. Although not everyone in the family are huge Cowboy fans, we all had a great time and were truly impressed.

The girls loved the colored fountains in one of the "standing only" sections, and somehow they were able to resist the temptation of climbing in.

The retractable ceiling was closed when we there, and it was hard to imagine that such a large ceiling could actually open up.

The biggest LCD screen in the world was indeed huge.

Our favorite part of the tour was the football field itself. We all had a great time running around...



...and practicing our touchdown celebrations.

We ended the tour in the locker room. They had Tony Romo and Miles Austin's helmet and uniforms available to try on.
Since I'm a sucker for blue eyes, I walked right past Romo's locker.

Our tour guide told us that someone reserved the locker room for their fantasy football draft last year and I've never seen Will's eyes get so wide. I have feeling I know what he's going to be asking for his birthday next Fall!

Santa Parade

This year we decided to to go see Sacramento's Santa parade for the first time. Since Will was recovering from getting his wisdom teeth pulled and Ally still takes a morning nap, that meant it was a special Mommy-Sophia date. For some reason, Sophia believes all the kids that go to nearby Natomas High school are "mean kids," but I think her opinion changed a little when she saw their marching band.

This little car was able to shoot fire out the back with a huge bang that made Sophia cover her ears and several other nearby kids cry.

He's a mean one.....

What's a Christmas parade without a llama?

This was a prison marching band. I'm guessing it must have been one of the low security prisons.

I thought some of the kids costumes were adorable

We got to see some cheerleaders to do some impressive aerial tricks.

This CHP mascot was a huge hit as he popped, locked and threw down several other popular hip hop moves.

And finally........SANTA!!!!

The parade was about an hour long and there's no way Ally could have sat still that long, but hopefully we'll be able to go as a family next year.

16 Months

Ally now weighs 21lbs, which puts her at the 25th percentile, and measures 31.75 inches, which puts her at the 75th percentile. I'm a little skeptical about the height measurement because a lot of her clothes are still pretty long on her, but she's definitely much smaller than Sophia was at this age.
She's still a goofball and has become much more of a snuggle bug. And I think it's safe to say her separation anxiety has officially ended. YAHOO!

There has been no change in her vocabulary (which is limited to Mama and Daddy), and she's actually not saying "thank you" much anymore. Her pediatrician said she officially has a speech delay, but that it's not time to worry yet. The doctor gave us a few suggestions to help motivate her and we've also started teaching her some sign language, which she is learning quickly.
Ally still loves playing with Trent and Sophia. One of them has a little more patience with her than the other, but they both enjoy making Ally smile.

We've been letting her participate in more arts and crafts and she does really well. She loves to paint and use stickers, but she has to be VERY closely monitored with crayons and markers because she still can't resist the temptation to eat them and draw on everything within reach

She's become more of a picky eater and has become rather sneaky about it. She'll clear her plate, and when we get her out of her highchair, we find a good portion of her meal stealthily hidden.

She's still quite the dancer and is always learning new moves. We often have living room dance parties before bedtime because it's a guaranteed way to end the day with a smile.

Stinkerpot

Stinkerpot is Ally's new nickname, and I think the following series of pictures explains why:

In Gramma's backyard I have found a sponge and a water fountian. Hmmm....what sort of mischief can I get into....
I know! Since mom just dressed me 15 minutes ago, I'll use the sponge to get myself soaking wet

Mom isn't that frusterated with me yet, so what else can I do.....

I know! I'll drink out of the fountain just like the doggies do, and every time Mom tells me "No," I'll run over and do it again, and again, and again

Mission accomplished!! Now to celebrate with my Stinkerpot face