Bowling

Tonight Dave and I took Alaina and Leo bowling for the first time. Alaina had a blast! She loved pushing the ball down the lane. For some of the time Leo hung out in his stroller and for the rest of it he hung out with me in his sling. I was actually able to bowl while holding him in his sling. I even got a strike while he was helping me bowl. Alaina managed to pick up a couple of spares. Dave, of course, managed to blow both of us out of the water. The only reason I passed 50 was because we had the bumpers up for Alaina. It is nice to finally have an excuse to use the bumpers. I dread the day when our kids grow out of them.

Yesterday I took the kids to the park. Alaina had a blast running around. Leo was content to hang in his stroller. We also got out the baby walker this morning. Leo is actually able to touch the ground with his feet. He hasn't figured out how to walk though.

Here is Alaina helping Leo with his new toy. When he wasn't in it, Alaina crawled in.


Alaina decided that she was done running around and sat on the bleachers to watch the boys skateboarding in the skate park that is right next to the playground on post.

She helped Leo go down the slide. Right after I took this picture they both fell face forward and landed at the bottom of the slide.

Here we are bowling. Leo was content for the most part just sitting around in his stroller. He was able to catch a quick nap there during the first game.

Alaina getting ready to bowl!

She would put her bowling ball on that contraption and push it down.

I thought this was pretty cool how the camera focused on her face and blurred everything else. She was running to tell us that she knocked over pins.

Dave bowling..

And here is how I did most of my bowling...

Dave, being the technology savvy person he is, was able to take 4 pictures quickly while I was bowling. Here are the action shots:





I'm feeling sore already from tonight and we only bowled 2 games. On top of that I let Alaina bowl for me quite a few times. I guess that means I'm really out of shape. I think we may hit up the park tomorrow. I believe Dave is going to be going to the driving range for a while as well. He is looking forward to doing some golfing. Next weekend he is going golfing at the golf course on post. Hope you are all enjoying your weekend! I hope all of you in Minnesota are enjoying your snow!

This last week

Well, it has been about a week since I have last blogged. It has been crazy busy lately and I have taken pictures but not had the time to post them. Last weekend Laura and Josh came to visit. It was so much fun, but kind of sad because this is the last time they will visit before we move. I have grown attached to their monthly visits. They came up on Saturday and left on Sunday. Dave took a four day weekend so he also had off on Monday and Tuesday. Monday was spent steam cleaning. Dave steam cleaned the whole house and the car. How great is my husband!!! Tuesday we just hung out around the house. We had Rob, Maria, and Madison over for a grill out on Wednesday night. Now it is Friday and almost the weekend again. Next week is Dave's last week of actual work. The week after that is when he out-processes from the army deployment to Texas and then we leave for Wisconsin!! I can't believe how fast that is coming up! Without further ado, here are the pictures:


Dave and Josh were playing copy cat with Alaina. She was laughing so hard!!!

Josh helping Alaina fly with her fairy wings.

Josh, Laura, and Leo hanging out on the couch.

Josh is going to be such a good Daddy! Look at how well he does with Alaina!

I was reading Alaina her princess book.

Alaina loves to pick flowers now. Here she is in our front yard:

Giving some flowers to me.

Picking more.

Running to the house to give them to Daddy.

Leo's first try at eating cereal. He did really well.

Here was Dave making Alaina do his chores. Just kidding...Alaina wanted to help Dave take out the garbage. She took the bag away from him and drug it to the garbage can herself.

Leo passed out in his swing with all of his toys. He is getting a lot better at being able to grasp, cuddle with, and suck/chew on his toys.

On Wednesday night when we had Rob, Maria, and Madison over, Alaina wanted to hold both of the babies. Madison was born about a week before Leo was. I can't believe how much smaller than him she is!

This morning Alaina took over Leo's bouncy chair.

After she got up, I put Leo in the chair and he started watching cartoons. He stared at the TV for at least 20 minutes.

I am going to attempt to take both kids to the park by myself this morning so I should get going to get them ready. We have to go early because it is starting to get really hot during the day. Yesterday was upper 80s and very humid. Hope you all enjoy your Friday!!!

Victory!!!

Today we not only mastered the bottle, we mastered the nuk as well!!! It just goes to show that perseverance pays off. We have been trying since Leo was 6 weeks old to get him to take a bottle and since he was born to get him to take a nuk. Today he not only took a bottle, he held it up himself. Also, he wouldn't go to sleep without his nuk.

Over the last few days, Alaina has mastered signing "I love you". Here she is signing I love you to the camera:




This morning was crazy. Alaina got into my makeup in the 30 seconds that I left her alone. Literally 30 seconds. I just ran from the bathroom to the living room to re-cover up Leo when he kicked his blanket off. It took a good 5 minutes of scrubbing to get it off.

Leo had his first banana today. He is eating it out of this nifty contraption. It is like a net bag that the banana goes in with a handle. It keeps him from getting chunks that he could choke on. He really enjoyed it. Alaina hated banana's at his age. They are now one of her favorite foods. I don't know what that means for Leo in the future. I guess we will see. Today when I offered Alaina M&M's for going to the bathroom, she says, "No! Banana!" I guess banana pieces are her rewards now instead of M&M's.

Leo rolled himself over and was laughing.


I can't believe my baby was holding his own bottle up--especially when he has refused all bottles for months! Alaina wouldn't hold her own bottle until she was at least 8 months old, and then she still preferred not to.

Here is Leo with his nuk. It is attached to a teething blanket that he loves. It has a couple of rubber corners to chew on and a little elastic piece to attach a nuk to.

Helping Mommy

Today I was carrying around Leo in a new sling and vacuuming. Alaina decided she was going to help and put her baby in a bag and vacuumed using the new vacuum she just got from Grandma Jane.

Alaina's 4-wheeler

Dave took Alaina out to ride her 4-wheeler today. She had a blast! Here is a picture and a video of it.

Everyone loves a sleeping baby!

And I can't resist taking pictures of him! He looks so peaceful when he is sleeping. Here is Leo on Friday when he was rolling around in his blankets and fell asleep:



Tonight when Dave, Alaina, and I were eating dinner, Leo was rolling around on the living room floor and fell asleep. Now that he can roll onto his side, it is his favorite way to lay.

Yesterday Alaina was being a ham for the camera. She wouldn't let me get a really good picture of her, but this was cute. She is in the dress that her Great-Grandma Anita gave her for her birthday. She loves wearing this dress!

Hanging out with DJ

Yesterday afternoon we had a grill out with Jodi and DJ. DJ and Alaina came out with sunglasses. Alaina put her's and Leo's on upside-down. It was really quite cute.

Leo's 3 Month Pictures

Here are Leo's 3 month baby pictures! I put in one black and white for you, Mom.

Peanuts

Hello everyone. Things here have been pretty busy for the last couple of days. Potty training is still going strong. Alaina is doing wonderful. We have had our fair share of accidents, but I expected that.

On Tuesday Alaina and Bandit fell asleep together! They were so cute!! I took pictures before I brought her up to bed.


Then Leo fell asleep on the way home from the store in his car seat...

Yesterday Alaina and Leo went with me to pick up Daddy from work. One of the guys that Dave works with said that Leo looked like Linus. All I could say was, "Oh my gosh he does!" So this morning I put him in a red shirt and gave him his blanket and he did the rest.

Dave has off on Friday. I love it how the army gives you a long weekend almost every month! I am going to miss that after we get back to the "real world". Hopefully the weather will be nice and we will be able to go to either the drive-in or to the zoo. Alaina really enjoys both. I am also really going to miss the drive-in movie theater when we go back to Wisconsin. With the drive-in, Dave and I are able to have a cheap date night. You get to see 2 new releases for $10 a car load. The first is a kid's movie, so Alaina loves watching that. She falls asleep by the time the second movie starts so we make a bed for her in the back of the car. Then Dave and I get to watch a new release on the big screen while the kids are asleep. Also, because it is a drive-in, we can pack our own snacks which really makes is a lot less expensive. You usually spend $10 on popcorn and soda. I'm sure that we will find something to do. Hope you all have a good weekend!