Hallapalooza

Every year our church has "Hallapalooza night" where the kids win prizes, play games, get tons of candy, watch a movie on the big screen, and generally have a grand ole time! Alia was going to go as a pizza, but after much thought, we decided against it! She whines when her sleeve is an inch higher than she wants it to be, let alone when there's a cardboard pizza hanging around her neck! So... she went as a little cowgirl instead - complete with her own horse "Trigger" (compliments of Grampa Great's handy work)!

Watching the real horses out the window before she gets "cowgirled up"...


Even though it was practically the same clothes she wears everyday, she was a little hesitant.. we got the jeans, shirt, and boots on - but the hat just wasn't going to work out!


Here she is in overalls... which I decided were too farmerish and not cowgirl enough, so later on we switched to regular old jeans!



She rode her horse all over the house... even to visit daddy in the "far off office"!


After the costume adjustment she's off again!



Howdy partner


Despite tons of games, Alia was perfectly content just playing with these balls!


Hallapalooza in high gear



The fishing game was officially Alia's favorite... we had to go twice on this one!



Off to put-putting... who knows maybe she'll take up a golfing career after her hole in one! Wouldn't Jon be thrilled?!?!


The ring toss


The bean bag toss - at this point Alia had figured out that after each event "she" got candy. (Which Daddy promptly put in his pocket!!) So why not just cut to the chase and grab a handful right?!


After a little demonstration she was ready to play



Taking a pit stop for another hotdog


And of course after a hotdog ya need cotton candy!


Jon decided he'd try his hand at guessing what was in the bag... and got 2 out of 3, not bad! I only did a taste testing game and was quite pleased that I correctly guessed Coke and Pepsi... neither of which I ever drink!



The movie was "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" and we were able to sit still for about the first 10 minutes (thanks to popcorn!)... but then Alia wanted to get back on her horse and ride, ride, ride!

It was great to visit with friends a bit, have a fun evening out, and watch Alia experience new things! I look forward to next year when there's another little peanut to dress up, and Ali will be much more interested in the activies. The down side... she'll probably notice us pocketing all her treats! So, we better enjoy that candy stash while we can!

My New Toy

My camera has finally arrived... or we finally went down to the States to pick it up, I should say! At any rate - it's HERE! For those of you who aren't aware (like 99.9% of you), I just bought my first SLR digital camera. It was a HUGE purchase for me and I have been waiting a few years for a camera like this one! I chose a Pentax k200d, for a number of reasons... but not that most of you will care to read about those!
I have been snapping pictures left and right, and have realized I have TONS to learn. Gracious, I've taken some really bad pictures over the last 2 days! I feel like Alia knows what to do with her camera more than I do sometimes!


I've been taking pictures of anything I can find.... see, I'm desperate!


*** NOTE *** Even though my better judgement tells me I shouldn't post ANY pictures for the next 13 years, I am going to post my "in process" pictures! Hopefully when I look back on these I can smile and say "Wow, I had no idea what I was doing back then. Good thing my pictures don't look like that anymore!" So bear with me k?! ***

Yesterday the horses came back to pasture beside our house, and of course Alia HAD to go visit them! The owner of the horses was just walking past when we arrived, so she told us to go right in the fence anytime we wanted to. Alia... being the smart little chick she is... now knows that there is NO reason to stay on the outside of the fence, when the grass is greener on the other side!





I had fun trying out my continuous shutter as Jon and Alia were "spinning" down the road. Although these pictures are blurry (again... I still have LOTS to learn!) they are still cute none the less!





So as I learn about lighting, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, editing, etc.... I will keep ya posted! In the mean time... thanks for being patient!

Poopy on the potty goes terribly wrong!

During breakfast this morning Alia was fidgeting, grunting, tooting... you name it. When I asked her if she needed to use the potty she kept saying "poo-poo, poo-poo"... so I took that as a yes! Since I wasn't finished with my cereal yet (and Alia takes FOREVER to sit on the potty!) I decided to bring her potty chair into the kitchen!
As I was slurping up my milk, I looked over to see some serious redness in the face - lo and behold she actually WAS pooping on the potty! (We've made the "mistake" of making potty time fun, so Alia LOVES just sitting there - even if there's not a trickle in sight!) Things were going good... until... she stood up... mid grunt! Oh dear! Now there is not only poopy IN the potty, but smeared on the seat and down the side! I told her to sit down (in hind sight this was a bad idea!) so in addition to everywhere else, the poo-poo is now all over Ali and her shirt! I was cheering, carrying on, and being very excited about the pooping in the potty thing, all the while trying to hold in my breakfast! (I still have nausea issues with this pregnancy and the smell of poo-poo is just NOT a good thing!)
I managed to get the potty and Alia into the washroom, but as I was washing her off I just.... lost it! Alia has never seen me hurl before so she wasn't quite sure what was going on, so to distract her I ran some bath water and plopped her in (poo-poo and all). I tried to start cleaning the toilet, but lost it again... only adding to my troubles! Now I have 1 poopy potty, 1 poopy girl, and 1 puke covered bathroom floor to clean up!
Thankfully my system recovered and I was able to get everything sparkling clean! Alia was thrilled to get two baths in one morning (we had to drain the bath tub, give it a wipe down, and re-fill it with clean water!) when she normally only gets one bath before bedtime!
Needless to say I'm going to really think before I ask Alia if she needs to go "poopy on the potty" next time, and we're going to start reinforcing the SITTING on the potty rule... none of this standing up stuff!

I looked out the window...

... to see Jon and Ali romping around the yard! I couldn't just watch them have all the fun, so I decided to don shoes, a coat, and camera, and head outside myself!
Ali was a muddy mess (her boots still haven't recovered!)... but it was lots of fun!

Walking the Trans Canada Trail

After our "horse outing" on Sunday we called Gramma and Grampa up to go for a drive/hike near the valley. We were a little disappointed that the leaves didn't have more color, but definitely enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine! We went for a cruise just south of town, hiked up a hill (or two) and then met up with the Trans Canada Trail for a little jaunt.
- What would a hike be without "spits" ... notice Jon already has a mouthful! We all needed the extra energy boost just to get up the first big hill... whew!


- Enjoying some yummy apples on the trail...




- Alia was getting a little antzy pantzy... can ya tell?!? Good thing Daddy is an expert "shoulder carrier"... this happened on a very repeated basis!

- Here we are on the Trans Canada Trail... ya know, for going clear across Canada it sure wasn't anything to brag about - just a path between 2 fields!


- Alia loved picking "treasures"

- "Oh, oh.... !"

- Running back to give it to Gramma...

- And of course, the cycle just kept going and going... with Alia being super thrilled at each new find!

My Little Pony

On Sunday it was just a B-E-A-UTIFUL day!!!! My goodness... we couldn't stand to be inside! So after lunch (which Jon so graciously prepared because I was tired, hungry, and a tad bit cranky!!) we loaded Alia up in her wagon and set out across the yard to see the neighbor's horses! She never gets tired of them, and they actually seem to enjoy her visits as well!
- Ready to head off on the "big" journey!

- At this point Alia has spotted the horses, can hardly contain herself, and is milli-seconds from trying to climb out of the wagon!!

- I think they were excited to see us... but since we didn't bring apples, they lost interest rather quickly!



- This guy is Alia and I's favorite... he's always the first to run up and say hi!


- We tried getting the little pony to smile (it's the funniest thing... he rolls up his lip and shows all his woody looking teeth!) but he knew I had a camera and didn't want us documenting his special skills!

- Waving "buh bye" to the horses...

- Getting just a little dozy on our walk around town

- When we got back Alia saw the snowmobile in the back and just had to hop on... I think inwardly Jon was somewhat pleased! He would much prefer a sled over a horse any day!!

- Here Daddy is helping her with her "proper driving form"!