Girly Girl

I'm not too much of a girly girl, but I do like to get pampered once in a while and always have my toenails painted in the summer. So today, I used a gift card at a spa nearby to get a manicure and pedicure and when I got home, realized that Alina should also have her toenails painted for the summer. Alex helped me hold her little feet, so we wouldn't have polish everywhere, but Alina seemed to enjoy getting her nails "done." Now she's ready for summer!

Lake Day

Saturday we went to the lake for a day of fun with our friends from church. That morning Justin and I went with some people from church to take flyers about VBS door-to-door in the blazing heat, so going to the lake was such a great follow-up. Alina took a nap at Ted and Sarah's until we got there at noon. Everyone brought snacks, the kids played in the lake and pool and even the mommies had some fun on the boat while babies took naps:)

Here's Alina waiting to get in her pool, she's getting so much better at sitting up!

Sarah had this great float that she used with Burton for us to borrow. Burton was a bit disappointed that Justin was playing so much with Alina, he's used to his friend Justing playing just with him, but he worked it out later.
Matt and Patrick also enjoyed the float in the lake.
I got some wake-boarding in while Alina took a nap. It was a lot of fun to get back on the water, I only got to wake-board once last summer since I was pregnant. I had to give up pretty quick though, hadn't used those muscles in a long time!
Not sure what Justin is celebrating here?
Burton finally got his Justin time. He wanted to ski and Sarah thought having an audience would help him.
And as you can see, he loves to perform for a crowd! What a cutie:)
(He's on Alina's list of suitors, don't worry!)
Thanks Ted and Sarah for a fun day on the lake!

1st Fathers' Day

Alina and I are so grateful for Justin! He is such a wonderful husband and a great father. He loves to play with Alina, gives her baths, and just takes great care of our little doodlebug. He has also taught Alina the joys of watching soccer, as seen in the picture below. She really does watch the games, and has on occasion pulled away from me feeding her to see a game if Justin is watching one. He plans to buy her a soccer ball soon and will have her on a team before she knows it! If you've followed this blog, you've seen that there are instances where he is a bit more naive about babies, but one thing is certain- he loves his little girl and she has him wrapped around her little finger. Thank you just for how wonderful you are to Alina and I!!!

Here is a picture of my babies on Fathers' Day before we went to church. After church we made steaks, baked potatoes and grilled asparagus. This is one of Justin's favorite things to eat!
Alina and I also gave him "Band of Brothers" DVD for Fathers' Day. Justin loves this series!

Mom sent Justin a t-shirt that was perfect for Fathers' Day. It says "Not right now, I'm watching the game." This worked out wonderfully, as there were two soccer games on that day and he watched both, and had Alina watch a few minutes with him as well:)
(This was not staged, it was actually happening, but when Justin saw I had the camera he couldn't help but smile)

Uncle Mark

My brother, Mark, came to visit for the first two weeks of June. We had a great time together. He was here while Justin was grading AP exams in Kentucky, so that was really nice for us not to be alone. Once Justin got back we all had fun hanging out. Justin and Mark played "tennis soccer" several times and went camping with Josh on Lake Murray. We played lots of games together and hung out with Alex as well. I also used Mark being here as an excuse to go out to eat to all the places he doesn't have back in Texas, thanks Mark for giving me a reason to not cook and eat out!



Mark played with Alina a lot and I think she really loves her uncle Mark. Here he is blowing bubbles for her. We bought the bubbles for Alina, but I'm pretty sure he had more fun with them than she did!

One morning Alina wanted to wake up her Uncle Mark, but then decided it would be more fun to snuggle with him instead. I am very jealous, she usually is not much of a cuddler, but she cuddled with Mark for a long time!


Mark tried his hand at feeding Alina. He did very well, as you can see though, once the camera is out, she is distracted and wants to smile for her picture:)
Here is Mark teaching Alina how to bicycle kick. They were playing with the ball in her room and when Mark picked her up she kept the ball between her legs. Its funny how at first he wasn't sure how to hold her and was a bit nervous, and by the end of the two weeks he's doing this!
Thanks Mark for coming to visit and we look forward to playing with you when we come to Texas in July!

Pool time!

Since Alina loves the water so much, we bought her a small blow-up pool to use at home. We decided to try it out last night, but it didn't go over very well. Justin was blowing it up and it scared her, it was also time for her catnap, so she wasn't too excited about it. So we tried again tonight and it went much better. She just sat and splashed in the water! Uncle Mark and Alex played with us, Mark was blowing bubbles and she liked that too. We hope to have lots of fun summer days in the water!

Here's some splashing fun:)

Summer Fun

Well, summer is here and Alina and I are ready to have some fun! Justin has been grading AP exams in Kentucky, but we've managed to stay busy. Here's what our first week of summer has been like.

Walking
We went on a walk with Jessica and Patrick on Wednesday. They came over and we went to the YMCA and walked around the soccer fields. We had to start early since its gets so hot now! After our walk, I made some french toast for me, Jessica and my brother Mark who is visiting us for a couple of weeks. So much for burning calories:)
Lapsit
Thursday was a full day of fun! We started the day out at the Lexington Library for Lapsit (storytime, music, rhymes and fun). Sarah Ann goes as well so it was great to see someone we knew. The librarian did lots of fun Mother Goose rhymes and songs for us. Alina seemed to really enjoy it. At the end, the librarian also blew lots of bubbles for the kids to see and play with. Alina and Sarah Ann really liked those as well. Alina is in the green with pig-tails at the bottom of the picture and Sarah Ann is in pink with the white bow. Can't wait to go back next week!

Pool
After the library, we went with Pauline and her kids to the Wright's pool. It's the place to be for the kids of Lexington Pres. There were lots of moms, a dad and tons of kids there to play. Its so great of the Wrights to open their pool for everyone like this! Alina was in the middle of a nap when we got there, but then after eating she was ready to hit the water! She loved hanging out in the water and seeing all the kids play. We stayed in for a while, but then realized it was the heat of the day and needed to get out of the sun. We look forward to many more fun days at the pool and for later this summer when we can go to Nina's pool!
Josiah was so excited that Alina was in the pool, he wanted to hangout by us. Then he let her borrow his "boat" so she could lounge in the pool too:)

Pigtails
So today, we tried pigtails for the first time, and it was a hit! She is sooooo cute!!! A lady at CVS stopped in the middle of the aisle and couldn't get over how cute Alina was. She loved the pigtails, I do too:)

Happy Five Months!

Here are some fun new things about our five month old doodlebug:)


Alina loves toys more and more. These are two of my stuffed animals that are on the bed in her nursery. She was really looking at the duck the other day (from my grandmother in Romania) and so I let her play on the bed with it and Snuggles (the dog I got my first Christmas in the U.S. in 1987). Isn't her smile wonderful? She loves the camera!

Alina is also learning to use a sippy cup. After she eats rice cereal I give her the sippy cup with some water in it. If I help her hold it up, she sometimes gets water out of it, but usually just holds and plays with it.


Here's her new favorite sleeping position, she loves to cover her face with her hand. The good news is, she takes her thumb out once she falls alseep. Even after several snaps, Alina kept on sleeping until I pull the shade up in her room. She's such a good sleeper!



The other night she decided, forget the sippy cup, lets move on to the straw. She really enjoyed "chewing?" "sucking?" on the straw and almost got herself some Dr. Pepper, we are not ready for that!

Alina is growing so fast and every new stage seems more fun than the last. I love her smile and laughs. She is so much fun to play with and enjoys being held by anyone. The time just seems to be going much too fast!