Oh That Cold Baby

There are some times in motherhood, where  you want to scream because of the ridiculous things they do. But it is important to take a step back, put yourself back in the shoes of a 3 year old and enjoy the moment. So when I saw Allison giving her Cold Baby a bath with the water overflowing everywhere, I didn't get mad, I took a deep breath and grabbed the camera.
To say that Allison is attached to her Cold Baby would be an understatement. She truly is Cold Baby's mommy. She does everything for Cold Baby. She gives her baths (obviously), changes her outfits, feeds her, changes her diapers, plays with her, puts her down for naps, cuddles her and even puts her in time out. Cold Baby has become a part of this family and sometime I even babysit Cold Baby, while Allison plays. She gives me specific instructions on how to take care of her.
Growing up I had my own version of Cold Baby. Her name was Special Baby. I think it is kind of funny that Allison and I both named out babies with an adjective...hmmm we truly are bonded. Special baby had a string on the back of her neck, and when it was pulled, she would say things like "I love you" and "kiss baby". I will never forget the night where I was laying in bed, supposed to be asleep, and I pulled her string and it broke. I ran out into the living room where my parents were and just sobbed, thinking I killed Special Baby. I was devastated. I still loved her, but it just wasn't the same.  My parent bought me a new one, which I loved, but I always reverted back to the original Special Baby. I still have both of them. I gave one to Allison and one to Ashley.
I'm not sure why Allison named Cold Baby, "Cold Baby", but I love it. I love Allison and I love Cold Baby.

Dunes with Uncle Dude

The journey is sometimes equally as fun as the destination right? Well when we are traveling in Uncle Dude's motor home it certainly is. We headed to Glamis with Mike and Becky, all three kids and three dogs with the Grandparents following us. We were quite the scene. The kids were so excited, but after a long 6 hour drive, they fell asleep. When we arrived, we made up their bed and they slept through the night. Allison was the first to wake up, she looked outside through the window and said out loud "mommy, I thought we were going to the desert, but I don't see the pyramids". That was the start of our adventure.

 Mike took me, Allison and Paul out for the first ride of the weekend. Andrew waited anxiously behind with Ashley, Grandma and Papa. The ride was nothing like I expected. I was shocked that Allison enjoyed it, although I should never underestimate that girl. Mike did not hold back! We were flying up and down the dunes, sand blasting in our face, the smell of gas filling up the air...the whole ride made me a nervous wreck and I was so relieved when we stopped for a break. Allison was loving it! I was anxious to get back to Andrew and Ashley...and a chair!

 It was finally time for Andrew to go out. Allison really wanted to go again, but Paul and I were not quite up for it again, so we sent a substitute, Papa! We strapped both kids in the back and put Mike in charge. They were gone for over two hours.

 While they were out flying through the dunes, Paul took advantage of some quite time and painted Warhammer.

 Ashley played in the motor home and tried to fall down the stairs at least 6 times.  The group finally got back from the final ride of the day, and I was excited to hear how Andrew liked the ride. Well he loved it! He kept asking if he could drive next time. Oh this kid makes me nervous. Mike told us that Allison fell asleep during the madness, which I have no idea how that could be possible, since I was fearing my life (OK maybe not fearing my life) the whole time. They said she slept through about half of the ride! I could not stop laughing when they told me. Oh Alligator, what am I going to do with her?

 The sunset was beautiful that night. We took a small walk to the top of a hill to capture the moment.

 Allison was happy to pose with Cold Baby, and Andrew enjoyed hamming it up for a solo shot.

The last day the kids were excited to go back out for one more ride. Paul was up for it and I happily packed up our stuff. Little did we know that when the kids were flying around on the dunes, sand was collecting in the functional parts of their car seats, and when we took the car seats out of the buggy to install them back in the motor home, we were unable to strap them in properly because of all the sand. Thankfully Becky's brother-in-law came to the rescue. He had to take them apart, use an air compressor to blast all the sand out, and put them back together.
We had a great weekend with Mike and Becky, Grandma and Papa and we can now add this to our list of things we have done. We just might go back out again next year.

Valentine's Day in the Snow

Paul seems to have a habit of coming home from work at odd times and spontaneously telling us to pack up because we are going somewhere. Well today he came home and said "we are going to the mountains to play in the snow!" So we all grabbed our snow clothes, boots and sleds. 

Allison loved going down the hill on her sled! She was the only one who wore the correct shoes. She decided to wear her rain boots, so her feet stayed dry.

Paul was a good sport and helped the kids up and down the side of the hill.

Andrew loved to fly down the hill as well, but the whole time he kept asking if we could have a snowball fight. I don't think he understood that snowball fights just make you colder. We were already freezing!

Paul is probably the biggest kid of them all. He picked the one spot with a rock, went flying down, dented the sled and received a big bruise on his behind!

Andrew's wish came true, he and Paul had a snowball fight. He received a couple snowballs in the face, Paul was totally mature about it...yeah right :)

 Ashley made a friend. She kept staring at the snowman that was graciously left behind by another family. She kept poking at it with her covered hand.

 And then she pushed it so hard, the head fell off.

 Paul has some great ideas, and this was definitely one of them. We had a great time making memories.