After weeks of jumping off any platform available yelling, “cannonball!” we decided gymnastics was in order for Alaire. And, I admit, I am living vicariously through my little energetic monkey! I was 8 years old in 1984 when Mary Lou Retton performed her perfect 10 vault. I can still see the performance in my head and feel goosebumps thinking about it! Remember??? She stuck that landing, everyone knew she won the gold, her coached hugged her and sent her back out for a second glory round. That moment triggered my love affair with gymnastics (along with every other American girl my age). After that, I checked out every library book on gymnastics that I could find in our grade school library and set up homemade vaults in our front yard. I still have a goose egg on my left shin from trying to vault a picnic bench. Okay, enough about me…kids activities are all about the kids right!? Riiiight.

Anyway, her first gymnastics class was a hit. I am actually amazed at how much actual gymnastics they do with these little space cadette three year olds! In her first session, they did the balance beam, rings, and floor exercises.

And, Alaire loved her first class so much, she cried the entire walk to the car (about 5 blocks), “I want more gymnastics!”

While we may not have the next Mary Lou (sorry baby girl, your parents did not bless you with the best coordination), I love that she’s loving it! Saturday gymnastics is now a beloved family affair!

 

Welcome back! I realize I abandoned the blog most of this year as I prepared for baby Emery, transitioned jobs, and we remodeled the house.  Let’s see…more highlights include big races and PRs for both Graham & I, we took a kid-free trip to Hawaii, Graham & Alaire traveled to Arizona in the Spring. Oh yeah! We had a baby! Emery Grace Vail, born July 16th, sharing a birthday with aunt Cathy, cousin Renee, and my dear friend Colleen.

Over the summer we visited Montana and held our last family Labor Day at the old Mckenzie River place. With the new and improved blog, we’ll be back in action capturing Alaire and Emery’s latest antics. For now, here are some of my favorite photos from this past year…

Today, May, 15, 2015 marks a major milestone for our little monkey.

Dun Dun Dun…the DENTIST!  (Dr. Scott Lyke – the reason Graham & I met, would be proud).

Graham and I both took time off work to attend the not-so-dramatic affair. Alaire rode with me on the way into town and this is the banter I heard…

“I am going to get a treat! A treat! Maybe a lollypop (me thinking – probably not), or another treat!”

“They are going to have FISH!”  “And Turtles!” Me – wait what? Are you thinking of the dentist in Finding Nemo?? “Uh-huh…” “They are going to have Turtles Turtles Turtles!”

Though no turtles, Alaire’s “kid dentist” was pretty close to Disneyland. Toys, a movie room, drawing easel, a prize wall, and hanging monitors over the chairs so wiggly little ones (like my kid) can watch Tinkerbell as their teeth are cleaned.

Alaire also asked if Lilly’s teeth could be cleaned too – sorry, not this time.

Luckily, we are started off right – in the NO CAVITY CLUB.

Here is Alaire, the second time riding her bike, and she’s got it down.  At this point she only wants to use the bike as a mode of transportation to get from one playground to the other, but I’m sure she’ll be riding soon just for fun.

Yesterday was the kind of day you dream about when you imagine the fun kids will bring to your life.

Alaire I both woke up early and got right to work. We pulled out my favorite baking book, The Fannie Farmer Baking Book (which I think I rescued from a family garage sale), and mixed up our cookie dough. Pastry Sous Chef Alaire, was kind enough to dump all of the ingredients into the kitchen-aid (which by the way she was fascinated by, curious about each of the attachments). After we finished mixing up the first batch of dough, we realized it wasn’t quite enough, so we started the process again to complete the second batch.

Alaire’s highlight of phase one was eating cookie dough for breakfast, which she proudly boasted to Graham when he woke up (I know this does pose a risk of salmonella, but cookie dough was one of my favorite things as a kid, okay still IS one of my favorite things, how can I deny her one of life’s tastiest treats)??!!

Anyway, we waited a long two hours for the dough to chill. Then, the fun really began!

We rolled out the dough…and I showed her how to position and press the cookie cutters. With patience being a tall order for a toddler, Alaire was cuttin’ cookies faster then I could put them on the cookie sheet resulting in some angels missing wings and trees missing branches, C’est la Vie!

While we baked our cookies, we mixed up our frosting with food coloring – she handled the frosting pigment (the yellow is really borderline orange with half the bottle coming out in one ambitious squeeze).

Next, frosting. And sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles. We started off organized and steady as I coached her on sprinkle volume per cookie. But as we progressed, we let her enjoy the messy, sticky process. I will also say that Graham joined in our frosting adventures (which sparked of wave of mild irritation because he was far more Pinterest-like in his Christmas cookie designs than I)!!

With our decorating complete, Alaire and I bundled up and delivered our Christmas sweets to our neighbors. She was still talking about taking cookies to “Erinda & Dan” this morning on the way to school.

In reflection, I realize I long for more messy, sticky days with my daughter. As I cleaned up my kitchen and swept up endless sprinkles, I got a little teary thinking of a poem that hung in our house when I was growing up; it was a gift from my grandma to my mom…

Some houses try to hide the fact
That childen shelter there,
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are every where!

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors.
I should appologize I guess
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read,
And if the door bell doesn’t shine
Their eyes will shine instead!

And when at times I’m freed to choose
The one job or the other,
I want to be a home maker (and a marketer, and a runner, and and and….)
But first I’ll be a mother.

No doubt, this will be a holiday tradition Alaire, (and her baby sister ;-)), and I will love year, after year, after year.

Merry Messy Christmas!

Alaire has an obsession with being covered with lots of blankets.  She also loves covering anyone who’s willing to lay still long enough (or toys if no one will volunteer).  Poor Kenzie was the victim during this ‘cover me’ session.  The old girl has gotten more patient with Alaire lately- most of the time.