ABC's

Eddie and I have been going through the alphabet with Ali since she was very little.
These are the ABCs we made up for Ali...

A - Ali
B - baby
C - CiCi
D - Dada
E - Eddie
F - family
G - Guga
H - Hailey
I - I love you
J - Jesus loves you
K - kiss
L - love
M - Mama
N - Nana
O - our precious family
P - precious
Q - quiet
R - Rye
S - smile
T - terrific
U - unique
V - very special
W - wonderful (we way wally woo)
X - x-ray
Y - yummy
Z - zzz zzz zzz (good night)

Christmas Ornament Play Date!

Ali invited lots of her friends and their mom's over to make Christmas ornaments. We used Sculpey oven bake clay to capture the precious little hand prints & foot prints of the kids.
I think we had 12 adults and 15 kids (under the age of 4)! WOW!

April & Tiffany w/ Elliana & Bryleigh
me w/ Ali & Eddie has Nathan
These are some of the little Christmas tree footprint ornaments we made...
You would be surprised w/ what you can do with only ONE HAND!
LOTS of little kiddos!
The goldfish were definitely a HIT!
Josiah Culley taking a snack break...
Alex (A-Train) Ollis
Two of the three Elam kids - so sweet!
Anna Banana Billman - reaching for the stars!
Jason & Dax playing w/ Eddie & Hailey outside...
--- Thanks for sticking around to help out Eddie!

We had a great time visiting, the kids had a good time playing together, and we have precious little ornaments to hang on our tree and capture the memories of our little ones... they are only this small once, and the grow up SOOO fast!

Our favorite time of year in Florida!

Early November in Florida = Beautiful Weather!
The last couple weekends have been beautiful with highs of 81 and lows dipping into the low 70's...

After we finished making chocolate dipped pretzels, we put a blanket out in the yard and just relaxed. We listened to the birds sing, and the wind blowing through the trees, and Hailey howwwwling at the squirrels.

You always hear people say, "I could use an extra set of hands"...
speaking from experience, it doesn't always make the task easier!
So cute... Daddy and his little girl!and those precious little kickers!
This is a little video clip of Ali learning about the grass.
She is very intrigued by what it feels like to her fingers and toes.
(Sorry it's sideways)

Pull the grass, and into the mouth it goes!
Nap time!

Ali's crawling!

At 29 wks, she's ON THE GO! For the last 6 1/2 months, we could put Ali down to play, and she would be there when we got back... not any longer!

However, even though she had not fully mastered the art of crawling, she figured out how to get what she wants... if the toy is on the blanket, she will pull the blanket and the toy to her... otherwise, she will roll over on her back and scoot, roll over and see how much farther she has to go, then roll over and scoot some more. Although not the most efficient method of getting around, it worked!

These are a few videos that we have taken over the last couple weeks. It is amazing to see the progress she makes daily! She is changing SOOOO fast!

10/23/09 Almost Crawling...


10/27/09 - Tough work...


10/29/09 - Getting better...


11/6/09 - And she's off!
You can hear some of her sounds in this video...
she's practicing Ma, Ba, Da...

Ali's 1st Halloween!

Ali had lots of fun activities to attend this Halloween!
...and she could not decide what to dress up as...
so she ended up being piglet, a farmer girl, AND a fairy!
Our original plan was for Ali to be piglet, Hailey would be a cow, and Eddie & I would be farmers.
That would have worked out perfectly except for the fact that it was 85 degrees after the sun went down... a little warm for the piglet costume!

Wednesday night we went to the Harvest Party at Covenant with some friends...
Ali decided to give the piglet costume a try...
Bryleigh & Elliana were cute little flowers!
They had lots of activities for the kids! Ali had fun jumping on the outside of the bouncer and watching the big kids that were inside! Little piglet rode the miniature horse...
and touched the piggy w/ her big toe ;)
Then she took a break to check in w/ her buddy Jason, the race car driver!
Friday night, we went to a Spooktacular Halloween Party at the Ollis Manor...
She decided to give the piglet costume another try...
we're just missing Hailey (the cow)
Later in the evening, Ali decided she was rather HOT and would change into her Hayfield Farmer costume... isn't she cute!
That's MY COUNTRY GIRL!!!
My award winning Halloween dirt cake!
I really did win a little prize...
Thanks for the idea Tehani!
and Saturday, we went to Caleb's 1st b-day party,
then to see Miss Amy at McDonalds,
then went trick-or-treating around the block,
and handed out candy at our house.
Tonight Ali decided to try out the Fairy costume!
Amy is Shelia's daughter and they watch Ali on Tues,Wed, & Thurs while I'm at work. Ali loves Miss Amy & her special attention!
We went around the block to let Ali experience the thrill of Trick-or-Treating!
Then handed out candy at our house...
This is not posed! Hailey is so gentle with Ali, and Ali smiles SO big when Hailey comes around!
And that pretty much wraps up Ali's 1st Halloween!

1st BIG Road Trip

FL --> NC --> FL ... We left Palm Bay, Fl Friday AM early (6:30), met Dru in Ridgeland, SC and had lunch. We drove to High Point, NC to Carrie's house with just enough time to change clothes and stretch our legs before getting back in the car headed to Winston-Salem for Daniel & Melissa's rehearsal dinner at 7:30pm. (13 hrs!)
Once that was over, we finished up our trip in Greensboro at Nana & Guga's house.
Guga got to feed his little birdy...
On Saturday, CiCi & PopPop came up to Greensboro and we went to the wedding...
We all enjoyed watching Ali...Dru & I just at Daniel & Melissa's wedding in Winston-Salem, NC
I love my little brother! I'm so proud of him!
Daniel & Melissa tied the knot!
Daniel is a good friend of mine from Wadesboro back in our high school days...
On Sunday, we got up and drove to Wadesboro to visit CiCi & PopPop.
We really enjoyed looking at all the trees starting to change colors.
We had very nice weather while we were in NC.
It was a little cool & windy on our walk around the pond...
Ali loves watching all the doggies!
Daddy's little girl!
Our little family picture!
Ali's 6 1/2 months old here
CiCi had fixed a nice blanket with lots of toys on the floor for Ali...
Monday morning, we had a wonderful breakfast, packed up, and got on the road. We took Monday off work so we could maximize our time in NC and to drive back to Florida.

PopPop helping Ali go get where she wants to go...Uncle Dru gave Ali a little snack on our way back to Florida.
Stretching our legs at a rest stop, Ali is trying out the front seat ;)
We dropped Dru back off in Ridgeland and kept on truckin'...
Ali did great with the whole trip - she was truly AMAZING!
... she didn't ask
"Are we there yet?"
or
"How much longer?"
not even ONCE!