Mommy, will you play with me?

Words I never hear come from Alyssa's mouth. She is famous for entertaining herself for hours on end. For example, a few months ago I was down with a crappy sore throat/cold. I laid down on the couch and told Alyssa that I was going to take a little snooze. She said that was fine and she would just be coloring in her room. Well... four hours later I get off the couch and she is still in her room coloring. She would come out from time to time and show me her creations, but other than that I didn't really see her. Self - entertaining.

This week was different. The poor girl had her turn to have the crappy cold. Note, I did not say "down" with a cold. Not much gets her down, certainly not a silly cold. She was just as playful as usual, but unfortunately couldn't go to preschool or dance OR play in the snow (devasting for her). Not having her normal social schedule... well the girl needs to see her friends. She did inform me that "all her kids at preschool will say 'where's Alyssa?' and they will miss her."

By about Tuesday afternoon I started hearing "um... Mommy? Will you play polly pockets with me?" Uh... what? Me? You actually WANT to play with ME?!?! Well hot dog, absolutely I will!

Polly pockets was the most favored of our play time. Let it be known, that I am not allowed to be Cinderella. Not only that, but none of the princesses are allowed to wear their own clothes. They have to share. All of them.

I will admit, after about the 19th session of polly pockets, I thought I'd had enough of it. I tried to get her to do something else with me, but she her mind was made up. Polly pockets it is.

That girl is such a character. Everyday was another princess' "marrying day." They have magic dresses and pajammie dresses. Sometimes when they kiss a frog they turn into a frog, and sometimes they turn in to a mouse. They have slumber parties and have to rescue eachother from Ursula or Mergona. The stories are never ending. I absolutely adore her imagination.

This week was pretty relaxing considering the bit of sickness that decided to come for a few days.

Since we didn't go anywhere my house looks amazing!

Alyssa is feeling much better and is looking forward to preschool tomorrow.

She's also looking forward to a little more fun out in the snow when she's "all the way, all better."

Excited doesn't quite seem a big enough word...

Some dear friends of mine are on their way to sign adoption papers for a baby girl that was born this morning. I'M SO EXCITED FOR THEM!!! They've been approved an waiting for a couple years and it's finally happening. Praying our guts out that this happens for them!!! Can't wait to meet that little sweetie...

Dancing Dolls

Are my ears on straight?Is my nose in place?

Do I have a cute expression on my face?

Are my blue eyes bright?

Do I look all right?

To be taken home Christmas Day!

Baby Logan

He's a delicious little thing isn't he?

Besties

Cousins make the gosh-darndest-best-cutest-little friends. Ever.

November

It's November. It's been November for two days now. I am in love with November. The 2nd day of this month won my love by having delightful weather. Weather nice enough to run a few errands without jackets. We hit up the Target, Robert's and Wal-mart. Ooh and what is that little coffee place inside Target? Is it Starbucks? Oh yes, yes it is. Starbucks. I love Starbucks. I love their Caramel Apple Spice. I partook of its greatness today. While I was running errands. In the delightful weather. Without jackets. With my sweet daughter who is having a birthday on Saturday. I love November.

Fancy Nancy Bat Girl

Halloween was pretty great this year. Alyssa had some pretty strong opinions about what she wanted to be. First - Little Mermaid. Unfortunately the only little mermaid costumes that fit Alyssa don't come equipped with the tail. They're more the 24-mo tu-tu style costume. Not going to work for us.

Then we tried Jasmine. Again we had some sizing issues. Jasmine's smallest costume was an extra small - size 4-6. As much as we've grown in the past year... still, not going to work for us. After much discussion and a little disappointment, we settled on Fancy Nancy. Pretty cute right? Fancy Nancy attended the preschool Halloween party. When trick-or-treat time came, Fancy Nancy just wouldn't do. She wanted "Super Woman" or a princess or anything but Fancy Nancy. The public had already seen that costume, after all. Luckily for us, we had Bat Girl on reserve from last year. 2009 marks the first year of real life trick-or-treating for Alyssa. She had been telling me all week that "mom, you go to the door, ring the doorbell, hold out your bag and yell TRICK-OR-TREAT, then people give you CANDY!!!" Clearly she had the method down, I didn't think she would need any coaching... ha ha. The first house we went to, she handed her bucket to Tim and said "you do it." We lifted her on the porch, she flopped around like a limp noodle while they gave her some candy. Luckily, on our way to the fabulous Robinson household (we thought maybe she would get the hang of it if we went to a familiar place) we ran in to those fabulous Robinson's. Then in true Beckstrand style, we invited ourselves to spend the evening trick-or-treating with them. They so kindly obliged and Alyssa got to see some serious candy collecting action from the boys. Almost every house we went to, she would come back in blissful joy "Mommy they gave me candy! Daddy look! They gave me candy!" It was like every house was a new experience. Such a funny girl. When we had circled the block, we had to hurry home so we could answer the door when the boys came to trick-or-treat at our house. Alyssa loved handing out candy to all the visitors. When we ran out of candy and kids continued to knock on the door, she got upset that I wasn't answering it. I told her the only candy we had left to give them would be HER candy she got from around the neighborhood. Her response? "Ok, hmm... they can have this one!" Sweetie...