Recent pics

Our little cleaner...


Our little bug...

Watching Veggie Tales with the Rogers...

...she and Joel snuggled:)
Our big girl "putting" shoes on...

Funny Girl

Here are some pictures of our funny girl:)

Alina loves to help in the kitchen!


Alina liked Duncan (our friend Josh's scotty), she wanted him to come out of the kennel, but he got a bit crazy.
She's gonna be such a good sister, she takes great care of her babies.
What a star!

Let it snow!

Yesterday we had a fun day staying at home because of the snow. We played outside in the morning, but then it started to sort of rain on top of the snow, and turned to ice so we didn't venture back out.

Alina learned that throwing snowballs is a lot of fun!

Justin attempted to make a snow make, but early in the morning the snow was too soft, he it was more of a snow bundle. We did the best we could. Later the snow turned to ice (this morning its solid ice!).





After playing in the snow we snuggled on the couch and watched Toy Story 3!

Two!

Yesterday Alina turned two! I can't believe how much she has grown up recently. Since we did a birthday party in Texas, we decided to just have a small celebration on her birthday. Gigi was still in town, so she got to join us.

First we went to Picture People to get her two year old pictures. Here are a few samples of my cute girl:



Then we went to eat and play at Chuck E Cheese. Alina was excited from the moment we pulled into the parking lot. She and daddy played a lot of games.
She also liked eating her pizza while watching the show. She didn't really want to get to close to the characters, but she loved watching them!

Daddy and mommy played a lot of ski-ball to get some tickets for Alina, she helped too!
She sort of liked the rides, but she froze when they were actually moving. She wouldn't let go of Bob while the ride was going.
Picking out prizes for all the tickets mommy and daddy won.
When we got home, the Rogers came over for some chocolate cake and presents. Alina was so happy to have some time to play with them, she has missed them so much!
Some chocolate cake for Alina...
...and some for JoJo!!!
All in all it was a great way to spend her second birthday!

Where has my baby gone?

So Alina came back today from Texas and left the baby behind. She is talking more than ever (sometimes more than we want her too, I have to be honest) and she is ready for big girl things. Here's how our baby is going on 12 instead of 2 (or so it seems).

Her bangs were getting pretty long, so we decided to go for her first real haircut. We've been trimming her bangs ourselves, but the stylist made it clear that we didn't do a great job. She could even tell that Justin took it upon himself to trim her hair when she was four months old, because she asked if we'd cut her hair since it seemed shorter in a little part of the back:) I let her in on what he did, you all may remember. Anyway, here she is getting her hair cut. Afterwards, they gave us a certificate, picture and a lock of hair to keep.


The little girl package (btw this is at Sharkey's near Food Lion in Lexington, by Little Ceaser's) comes with a 'mini-cure,' which means she got her nails painted pink. She sat so well for the hair and then for the nails, we were all super impressed. When she saw one hand done, she asked for 'more pink hand' for the other hand. What a princess!
Here's the big girl with her daddy at Fatz after the hair cut. Isn't she beautiful, especially with those pink nails?
To top off the day, when Alina came home, she came home to a big girl room! We took the crib out while she was gone so that she could get used to the idea of being in a bed and us bringing the crib back out for the baby. She loved it! She took a nap in it this afternoon and then was very excited to go to sleep in her big girl bed with her 'bug' pillow. I love this stuff, but I think it's only this much fun cause I know I'm about to have another baby in a few months. Otherwise, I might be crying.

Christmas

Here are some pictures from our yearly trip to Texas. Like last year, we shipped Alina out early and she'll be returning on January 4th with her Gigi. Justin and I drove out for about a week (plus a few days counting the drive).

We first did Christmas with Aunt Kim and Uncle Ben, because they had to fly over Christmas. Aunt Kim saw Alina's love of tents on the blog and gave her a princess castle/tent to play with. We set it up at my parents and she and Lily (cousin) played in it a bunch. My mom was also moved by the tent post, and Alina got another tent equipped with sleeping bag and flashlight so she and daddy can campout. This girl loves tents!

Lately Alina loves to help anyway she can. Here she is "making" as she calls it at Nina's house. She helped make the scalloped potatoes and green bean casserole!
Alina has so much fun with her cousin Lily. They just run around the house playing all day.

Lily also loves our dog, Major. Here she is going on a ride, not sure what Major's thoughts are on this, but he does love to play with kids.

The girls had lots of fun opening presents. Alina got excited about the "bug" we got her.

Later, at Gigi's house Alina got a chance to see two of her great-grandmothers. Here she is helping Grandma Eva open a present.
Then they played piano together!
This was also an 'Elmo' Christmas for Alina. For as much as she used to hate Elmo, she now loves anything with Elmo on it!

What a big, beautiful girl we have! She will be a great big sister in a few months!

We spent some time visiting Granny Bea as well. At her house, Alina loved to be the center of attention and put on a show every time we went over.
We are thankful that she gets to spend so much time with her family, but Justin and I are ready to have our doodlebug back!