Bye Bye to the Paci

Okay, Andy and I decided to break Alice of the paci this week. I figured this was good timing with me still being on summer vacation and breaking her before she heads back to daycare. The first night was an absolute nightmare! After an hour or screaming and throwing a fit, I caved. The second day was much better, but still hard for me! She cried about 35 minutes before bed and at naptime saying, "pa, pa." Today was day 3 and we're now down to about 5 minutes of crying. I've found it's helpful to put books in bed with her to help her calm down before bedtime. I honestly think I"m having a harder time! She'll wake up in the morning, put her arms out to the side and say "pa?" She's not sleeping as well yet, but our doctor said it would take about 3 days to break her. I figured the longer I waited, the harder it would be!

On a funny note, Alice looked at a freckle on my leg today and said, "boo-boo." If that's the case, I must have thousands of "boo-boos!"

Put Me in Coach!

Today the Kingsley family headed downtown to the Indian's baseball game. Alice's first baseball game (other than the many games Papa makes her watch on TV - - - he claims she enjoys them:) Anyway, she was all about running around the entire stadium - I think we made close to 5 laps! She wouldn't sit still. She would run full speed, then hear some music, stop and dance in a circle, then continue running full speed ahead! Although we didn't pay too much attention to the game, we had a great time enjoying the stadium atmosphere! It was a beautiful day!





This is how Alice was the entire game -- running around!





What a great day!

A Waterpark in Kokomo????

When thinking about something fun to do on our last outing with Sarah and Saj, we perused the travel fliers after eating breakfast at a local Wabash diner. . . Yes, it was a bit strange looking at travel brochures for a city, or surrounding cities, where we were born and raised, but we came across a waterpark in Kokomo. We never realized Kokomo had this great place to play! We spent the afternoon splashing around with the kids. With blue lips and shivering hands, we had to drag them out of the pool after three hours of swimming!
Lots of pictures to share from our outing today!

Baby Luqa was loving the shaded umbrella :)

Ahhh - time for a nap.

This is how Alice passed out in the car - 2 minutes after we put her in her carseat. She was exhausted!!

Visiting Nana (the Great!)

Saturday evening we took Alice to Marion to visit with her Great Nana. She found Great Nana's walker very entertaining and cruised over to Great-Nana's neighbor to say hello as well as a couple laps around the retirement center.

My little girl :)

I'm becoming such a big girl -- I have a few new tricks I learned this week-- I can point to my scratched up knee and say, "boo-boo." I can also smile and close my eyes when asked. Daddy got me to say "good girl" this evening and Nana & Papa taught me the phrase, "all done."

I really enjoyed spending 4 days with Gramsy and Grandpa this weekend in Wabash. I'm really enjoying the patty cake game Gramsy plays with me. My favorite part is "roooolll it." Lots of love and attention all for me! Can't wait to visit again soon.

Love, Alice

4th of July @ the Hamiltons

With the RAINY and COLD weather on this year's 4th of July, we spent most of the afternoon catching up with family and friends in the Hamilton's new house (and garage.) When the rain died down a little bit, the boys decided it was time for a dip in the unheated pool! Brrrr. . . the kids of course wanted to join in. Even Alice thought she'd give it a go, and then quickly changed her mind after a quick dip. We wrapped up the evening with smores over a campfire, patriotic singing (Nicole's idea of course:), and plenty of sparklers to go around. Good food & good times.

Nicole and Jack picking up rocks.

Mmmmm chocolate cupcakes!

Zain doesn't even look cold!


Grandpa joins in on the fun.

Happy 4th of July!

My Very Own Kitchen!

Yes, Andy caved and let me purchase a play kitchen for Alice. She is absolutely obsessed with Aunt Kristen's old yellow & brown kitchen Papa saved in the basement from the 1980's. I think I had the same one when I was little:) Well, I've had my eye on this one from Craig's List, and were were able to pick it up today. It was set up for Alice when she woke up from her nap, and she ran right to it with the biggest smile on her face. I'm sure this will bring us MANY hours of great entertainment!






a little chef in the making!

Sabur's in Sheridan . .

Well, I didn't get the camera out nearly enough. . . we forgot to bring it to the zoo :( although the kids had the BEST time getting wet at the splash park! It was so cute, they couldn't get enough (especially Alice). She was stripped down to her diaper and loving every minute. Sarah and I had a great time catching up in between getting Zain and Alice to share and Luqa fed! Life with three kids would be very tough! It was hard to get Zain and Alice to stand sill for a picture, but we captured a few memories.

playing in the tub


but I want those glasses

Meet baby Luqa -- Alice loved the baby and kept giving him kisses. He's such a sweetie!

Coloring while Sarah and I had our morning caffeine.

We are heading out in Broadripple this Friday to celebrate Saj's birthday, and to Wabash for the big 4th celebration. It's always great having Sarah in town from across the pond!