I Love Valentimes

Alaina and I made some Valentine decorations yesterday. I let her take full control, except I cut the hearts for her. She had so much fun gluing everything with way too much glue. And as she went along, she kept saying, "I love Valentimes" and "This is the best making Valentimes ever!". It was a lot of fun for both of us. I also included a pic of her in a Barbie cheerleader outfit that she got from Granny Flanny for Christmas. She looks really cute in it and her Barbie has a matching outfit!

Come on ride the train!

As most of you know, when Alaina was very small we bought her a Thomas the Train that she could ride on. Well we just got it all put together for her now that she is old enough to actually ride on it. She loves it so much that a lot of times I find her in her bedroom with the door closed going around and around on her train. What she also loves to do, since it is such a far distance, is hop on her train, ride it to her bookshelf to pick out her book, then get back on the train and ride it to her bed. The first time she did this was so hilarious that I had to get it on video.

The Clumsiest Girl

Chrisy and Alaina have a little joke that Alaina is the clumsiest girl in the world, as she has tendencies to fall for no reason. This is a trait definitely inherited from her Mama. Well we were sitting at her tiny table and I was taking video of her practicing her reading when, from her chair, she fell. It was so funny that I had to stop videoing and laugh. We both laughed and laughed. It was a funny funny moment. So, this video is for you Chrisy. I know you will enjoy it. (Sorry it is sideways)

Happy New Year!

I know I am a bit late, but Happy New Year! We had a wonderful holiday, we went home to Illinois and spent the holidays with our families. Santa came and brought Alaina way too many gifts! It was such a busy and fun trip. I was so sad to come back to Virginia!
Allen is back in the full swing of things on the ship. Again Alaina and I are trying to keep busy as Allen is working very long hours and preparing to start going to sea for various sea trials.
We took Alaina to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. All that money spent, and the only thing she wanted to do was play on the slide in the toddler area that was free! But she had a great time and can't wait to go back.
Alaina is also learning to read. She loves to learn new words, she is very good at sounding them out. You can see it on her face the moment she actually gets it. It is so amazing. We are also working on teaching her to write all her letters. She loves to sit at her tiny table with her big oversized pencil and practice her reading and writing. She is getting so big I can't believe it!

Our new house

Here are some pictures of our new house. We are renting, as we will only be here a total of 6 months. We really love the place. It is very spacious and I love the layout. We also have a view of the 10th hole of a golf course from our backyard. I actually found a golf ball in our backyard while playing with Alaina!
We are in a really great location, 4 minutes from a Harris Teeter, about 5-10 minutes from Wal-Mart and about 20 minutes from several malls and military bases.
Needless to say, we should enjoy the next few months. Even more so when Allen is home and not on the ship.

I'm still alive!

I have really been slacking on my posts lately. I have been pretty busy with welcoming Allen home, packing up and moving back to Virginia, and setting up our new house. We are now living in Suffolk, Virginia. We are mostly all settled in, we just have a garage full of boxes to go through. But the inside of the house is done and looks pretty great if I do say so myself. Allen is back at work on the ship, already working long hours, even having to stay overnight on the ship.

We live in a great area, Alaina and I were able to go to the movies less than a mile from our house to see Planet 51. It was a lot of fun and Alaina really liked it.

We are very excited about the holidays, and very very excited that Allen is home to celebrate with us. We have our Christmas tree up already, and Alaina knows that we get to eat lots of turkey tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I wish I could be home with my family, I miss them so much. But we will be home for Christmas, so we are looking forward to that!

SIU! SIU!

Saturday, Alaina, me, Mom, Dad, Chrisy, Shawn, and even Sophie and Ella went to the SIU Homecoming parade. It was a beautiful perfect sunny day and the parade was really fun. We caught lots of candy and Alaina even got to meet one of her favorite characters, Super Why! It was a really good time.