B-Side Photos of the Week

These photos are not at all in chronological order, and the captions may be completely unentertaining. Because this is B-Sides, Where I'm Allowed To Be Lazy.

We had one last hurrah at Spring Valley Beach Waterpark this morning, and surprisingly, Ali was willing to go down the slide with Chris again! And even more surprisingly, she never cried!
Last Sunday (told you there wasn't any order to these pictures - and I don't care!!) we had a Small Group Pool Party. Ali had a great time:
But, of course, she ended up in the hot tub, by herself, and still fully entertained.

All while the other little girls were cheering on the men in a rousing game of beach ball pool volleyball:

Chris taught Ali how to play Checkers at Cracker Barrel:
She totally understood all of the rules and killed him, as you can see in this picture:
That same night, there were some awesome skies:
One day earlier this week, I assumed that my child was old enough to leave alone with her lunch for a few minutes.

While that may be true as a general rule, if Yogurt is involved, all rules are thrown out the window:

Yeah. I'm sure THAT was a total accident.

We went to Aldridge Gardens on Wednesday, where Ali had fun riding in a chariot pulled by a turtle:

And being hugged by a bunny.

Luke, Baby Aubrey, and Christen met us there, and I continue to be amazed and HOW LONG rocks can entertain children:
I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't gotten bored and wanted to move on, they would have played, thrown, stacked, and sorted rocks all day.

Ali's never getting another toy in her life. Just boxes of rocks.

And then, they were completely mesmerized by a microscopic mushroom:

Of which she BEGGED to eat:

But for some reason, it didn't set too well in her stomach.

JUST KIDDING. I'm not THAT mean of a Mom.

It's the Yittle Fings, Part Four

I didn't feel too good last week after going to the dentist, so I while we were driving home, I had explained to Ali that I was sick. And, the rest of the way home, our conversations went as follows:

"Mommy is sad."

"No baby, I'm not sad, I'm just sick."

"You're happy? So you're all better?"

"No, I'm still sick, I'm just happy."

"Mommy is sad."

"No, I'm happy."

"You're all better? You're not sick anymore?"

"No, I'm sick still. But you can be happy AND sick. You don't have to be sad when you're sick."

Then to herself, as a mental note, she said quietly, "I'm going to call Daddy and tell him that Mommy's sick and Mommy's happy."

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Since we're finished learning the States, we are now learning the Presidents. It's a bit slower, but it's a lot of fun. Every time we get it out, Ali points to one guy, laughs, and says, "Who's THAT funny guy?" and every time, it's Franklin Roosevelt.

Not sure why he's so funny, but she insists that he's the funniest looking guy ever.

Mom and Dad came over to visit Ali yesterday, and she brought out her President's placemat to show them. Dad decided to show her that Presidents were also on money.

They took all of his coins and put them on the correct president. Once they had them all sorted, Ali turned to Pop very confusedly and said, "Where's the Barack Obama Quarter??!!"

Oh - and she did manage to swipe all of Pop's change, in typical Grandchild fashion, although he DID save his $20 and $1 from the same trickery.

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Ali did MUCH better at Gymnastics on Monday, although it did take a bit of bribery.

I talked it up all the way there, and told her that if she obeyed her coach and did what she asked her to do, then we would get PINK ICE CREAM after gymnastics. She was all on board and told me many times that she was going to obey her coach.

But then, when it got time to do a forward roll, she turned to me and told me matter-of-factly, "I don't want Pink Ice Cream anymore."

(Luckily, her coach didn't seem to mind a bit of bribery in her class.)

So I didn't make her do it.

Later, all she needed to do was crawl under something - totally easy. But she was hesitant. So I helped her go through. Then she came back around and looked at me seriously and said, "We DON'T push people, Mommy."

At first I didn't know what she was talking about. "Did someone push you?"

"We don't push people, MOMMY."

Then I remembered that I had given her a butt push to help her go through. "I wasn't pushing you, I was helping you."

"We don't push people, Mommy."

Then, toward the end of class, she somehow sensed that it was about to be over, and she said "I DO want some Pink Ice Cream."

Of course, I told her that she didn't obey her coach, and that she said she didn't want any. . .

(I left a dramatic pause in the air. . . )

Then told her that if she went back with her coach and did a forward roll, then she could still get her Pink Ice Cream. And she did. So we celebrated afterward. Something we may be doing on a weekly basis.

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To: Lianne. From: Your Undying Fan, Ali.

Lianne sent Ali a gift - States Bingo (her favorite subject!) a while back (I know, I'm REALLY late getting this up) and Ali is now a Lianne-Only fan:
Thanks, Lianne!!