Shannon is 2!!!

Hard to believe, but yes.... she is two!!

Happy Birthday little Sasquatch. For those of you who do not understand why we call her this, you need to do two things: 1. watch the messing with sasquatch jerky commercials, then 2. spend a day with shannon. it will be quite clear.

We celebrated her birthday with a small gathering of family (and close friends, who are like family now)...And now that she is two, she fully understands the concept of presents, but once she opened a couple, she was too busy playing with them to open any more....

Instead of cake, we decided to have Shannon's two favorite foods: Cookies and (homemade) Ice Cream....

Shannon enjoyed singing to herself along with the rest of us, though she was not happy there was "fire in her ice cream".

Say Cheese.. or Ice Cream and Cookies!!!

The girls tried to see if the balloons would carry them off... no such luck.

Not sure what this is about...she said she was hiding... uh, good job!

Jaya enjoyed playing too!!

The morning after.. fun with her new toys...

First Day of Preschool

Today was a big day for us.. Allie's first day of preschool. We spent the last two days doing our school shopping and talking non stop about it... so, FINALLY, the day arrived.

Allie woke up to a special breakfast....

After getting all dressed, it was time to go.... but first, Allie wanted to take a picture...

Then, of course, mom had to take over...

At Little Lambs Preschool

She went right inside and started writing her name....

Then decided to do the "sewing box".....

Luckily, she is not too big for hugs and kisses goodbye.

Three hours later, she was still excited to be at school and talked all through our celebratory lunch at Shari's about what she did and learned today...

Here is a to a good start to the whole school years ahead....

Texas

So, stop two on our vacation landed us in Dallas Texas, where we were able to spent time with Aunt Paula and family, and some were able to see the OSU Beavers play in Dallas Stadium (sadly they lost to TCU).

While in Texas, we visited the Ft. Worth Zoo, which was huge and amazing.

This lion seemed to be posing just for us.

Apparently, he is not the only poser.... ;)

Then it was on to Six Flags....I didn't get any pictures of the roller coasters somehow.. but those were the favorite!!

Six Flags was so much fun, it wore the kids out.. even Shannon took a nap while we were walking around......

Then there was the Beaver Game:

Ohio

We just returned from a long trip, where half was spent in Ohio and the other half in Texas (next post).

In Ohio, we spent time with Grandma Joy, Uncle Jerry, Cousins Hayden and CC, and other family members (like aunt terri and Gpa JR).

It was so hot there, we spent a lot of time in the pool, and took the girls bowling for the first time. Allie did great, and scored a 75... amazing for a first time.

We also braved outside to take the girls mini golfing. Allie was actually quite good, and at one point was giving Kyle pointers... :)

We also spent a lot of time in the hotel pool. Shannon looks a bit odd in her swim goggles, but she loves them. ;)

It was a great trip, and so good to be with family... there are too many pics to post, so check them out on Facebook. ;)

Braids

Allie wanted her hair to look like her cousins (see previous post)... so we did as best we could.

Seattle with Cousins....

It was time for my nieces to head back down to Texas after 2 months in Alaska, and we had planned for them to have a 2 day layover in Seattle so we could have some time together.

While there, we took them to downtown, and enjoyed lunch on the water and time in Pike Place Market.

Not sure what the girls thought of the seafood... :)

Shannon finally let Tia hold her...

And even smiled about it...

It was so nice to spend time with them, and luckily we will see them again in a month when we head to Texas for a short visit!!

My first pedicure

So, Allie and Mommy had a deal that when Allie slept through the night without waking up mommy, she would get to go to the local nail salon and get her toe nails painted in the butterfly chair... and for mommy's birthday, Allie did just that (not that she has done it again, mind you... but that is another story). So, we went to the salon...

Allie was very intrigued and watched closely what the lady was doing... I didn't get any pictures of the lady doing her work, as I was busy enjoying my own pedi.. :) But here is the final product on Allie.. ;)