Happy 15 months!

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day! It was so nice to be able to play outside. For us that really means Alison wondering around and trying to find things to climb on, but it still gets us some fresh air. I can't believe my peanut is 15 months today and I've seen her change so much in the last week, I can only imagine what the next few months have in store for me.

I planned a fun family evening for us since it's Halloween and Alison's 15 month "birthday". We were going to make pizza (which we do every friday night, but it's so yummy!!), carve a pumpkin, roast the seeds, drink hot cider and eat apple crisp and caramel popcorn while playing sequence. We made it through the pizza, pumpkin, cider and crisp...and then pooped out. Alison went to bed and Ben and I watched Fear Factor. We used to watch that show all the time when we were in college and it fit the evening pretty well. I still had a blast relaxing with my family and I hope Alison grows up knowing that you can have the best fun right at home. Speaking of being home, I was really nervous about all the trick-or-treaters out tonight. Ben even took off our doorbell! I was just sure it would be so loud and obnoxious (since it's that way on a normal night, I figured it would be ten times worse), but it was completely silent. Not a single kid was outside. It actually made me really sad. Either it's illegal here and I just don't know it, or everyone is too scared to go out (i.e. me) or they're all down in Detroit starting fires. Any of those choices is just plain sad. Or maybe my nemesis ice cream man ate them all up! Oh, I should add, I didn't dress Alison up for multiple reasons. But I did put her in a Winnie the Pooh T-shirt that lit up. Someone from church gave it to her and she's never worn it so I figured it would be a treat. With some crazy pigtails, her 2nd halloween costume was complete.

the packing has begun

I got some things out of the attic yesterday to start boxing up. My brilliant plan was to get it all done while Alison was napping. Well, I guess she wasn't very tired since she slept until 9:45 that morning (we were worried she was dead!!!) and took a very short nap. I know packing is going to be challenging, but yesterday just solidified my anxieties about it. Alison was climbing in boxes, on top of boxes and taking everything out of the boxes. It didn't help that I was trying to pack our extra dishes and I kept finding glasses throughout the house. Then joined the cats. They were just as bad as Alison! They kept bitting the boxes and trying to tear them apart. This experience is definitely going to help me grow in my patience.

The joy of friends

Jesse came over to play the other day and I found it more entertaining than any television show. Alison and Jesse played so well together I wanted to ask Andrea to bring him over every day. They're at such a great age! Alison was laying on the floor "reading" a book and Jesse came over and started tickling her.
I'm constantly amazed at how kids pick up on things. I felt like Alison turned into a whole new kid yesterday, simply by picking up on things. We spent the day at church since we were having an Open House (during a thunder storm and no one came...surprise, surprise). Alison's favorite thing now at church is running to the gym and yelling "BALL!". So we were playing with the balls and I told her it was time for dinner. She quickly said "No!" with a sassy tone and shook her head. Um, where did that come from? I took her arm and told her to put down the ball because it was time for dinner. After another "No!" I realized my baby was officially a toddler. Terrible 2's here we come! Later that night she walked up to the drinking fountain and pushed the button for the water to come out. She started drinking away as if she had been at that fountain a thousand times before....except I've never shown her a water fountain. I was amazed and slightly terrified of what she's going to pick up from me.

Where we are moving

Here is a map to where we are moving:

View Larger Map
Smithfield is a small town in a small county. Although the surrounding area is large. It's the ham capitol of the world and the oldest Church still standing in America is in Smithfield. You can check out the website of the church where I will be working. I designed the website.

We're Moving...

to Virginia! We have accepted the call from Hope Presbyterian Church in Smithfield Virginia. Hope was planted by George Boomer about a year ago and Ben will be the Ministry Director. He will be in charge of worship and leading the 'praise band'. He will also be handling the administration of the church as well as heading up ministries such as youth group, adult small groups and sunday school. The reality is that in a church plant the jobs are endless but we hope to serve in whatever way we can. We don't have exact dates for the move, but Ben starts work at Hope January 1st. We're still trying to figure out how to move, celebrate our Anniversary and Christmas and see family all in one week. I'm going down the first week in November to try and find a place to live. We're planning on renting for awhile since we are going to lose money on the house we're in (if by a miracle is actually sells). I've been overwhelmed by all the generosity shown to us. My friend Abby offered to come to Virginia with me in search for a home and come back in January to help me unpack. Beth is coming in December to entertain Alison and help me pack. Even in Virginia George has been looking at places for us and several families in the church have opened up their homes for us to stay with them. We're sad to leave our friends here in Michigan but we're excited for the opportunity given to us. I know this news is a bit of a shock to some people. It was a shock to us too. We weren't looking for a new job or state to live in, but God had other plans for our life. So if anyone has some spare time and wants to come play with the cutest girl in the world while I pack, our door is open! I feel like there's so much I could say about the move that I don't even know where to start. Therefore, I'll leave you with a cute picture of my baby 1 year ago and I'll post as I think of things to share.

First hair cut!

I think this is the funniest picture I've taken of Alison!
We decided it was time to trim Alison's bangs. They were always in her eyes and I constantly had to pull her hair to the side or pull it up. So I whipped out the scissors and turned on Elmo to give her something to focus on. Lesson #1: don't have her look up at something while cutting hair. I realized I trimmed them based on her eyebrows which were raised...so they ended up being a little shorter than I anticipated...oops.

It's getting cold!

It's funny to think that just the other day we were wearing shorts and playing outside, because this morning as we were leaving for church the thermometer said it was 30! Thankfully we just bought Alison a coat and gloves so we had something to bundle her up with.

We think Alison's going through a growth spurt. The pediatrician told us that she probably would loose some weight the next couple of months and would not eat very much. The opposite has been true. She's can't seem to stop eating and wants sippy cup after sippy cup of milk. She has definitely gained weight and now gets a bib from her high chair and puts it on to tell us she's hungry (or she thinks she looks really pretty wearing them. The other day she put on all of them at once).

Patty Cake

Alison has a new trick! She's catching on to 'patty cake' and now when we start to do the riddle with her she pats her belly (the 'pat it' part is her favorite). Tonight she was walking around saying "daddy cake".The past couple of days Alison has been loving her shoes. She'll get one from the basket in her room, bring it to me, pull me to sit down and then plop in my lap and lift her foot up for me to put her shoe on. The other day she walked around the house all morning with only one swimming shoe on and wouldn't let me put the other one. Like she needs more obstacles with walking. I think she's really telling me that she wants to go outside. We've been enjoying a warm fall so far (it's soon ending) and have loved time walking around outside. Her favorite part is going in the raspberry garden and picking some berries. Now I just have to get her to understand that all the berries are dead. Bath time with daddy!

First Pigtails!

Alison's hair is growing like crazy and Ben absolutely will not let me trim her bangs. So I do what I can to help her see through the mop. We tried out pigtails and I thought they were pretty cute!
We've been teaching her how to identify body parts and her favorite is her belly. However, now she walks around holding her belly like a pregnant lady and constantly plays with her bellybutton.

So Sweet!

Alison can be so sweet to Mckenzie (the little girl I babysit). I'm not saying there's not the occasional whack on the head, but for the most part she is really kind to her. The other day Mckenzie was really fussy and Alison kept taking a pacifier over to her and tried to get in her mouth. It was like a puzzle to her and she was determined to get the piece in. It was as if she was saying, "Here kid, this will make you shut up." I appreciated the effort. Today Mckenzie was playing in the exersaucer and Alison started taking her toys. Then she dabbed her cheek with a burp cloth and to top it off she started giving her hugs. I think it was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Reason 100 that Alison is just like her dad

Ben called me at work yesterday quite frazzled. He told me that Alison had fallen and busted open her chin and he thought we should take her to get stitches. I met them at the hospital close to my office but the wait was going to take hours, so we ended up taking her to an after hours pediatric care place. They were able to get us in quickly and ended up 'super gluing' the skin back together. We were both surprised how little she cried. The only time she really got upset was when we had to hold her hands down for 10 minutes while the glue set.
Reason 100: has been in the hospital for an accident.