Back to Reality

We are happy to report that Princess Ally and her entourage have been returned safely to their proper homes after their grand adventure to the land of the impossible.

I am in the process of editing and organizing the pictures so we can put them up on Picasa. Either Chris or I will eventually post a commentary here with select pictures for those of you who are opposed to flipping over to the other site. For now, here's a cute picture and one that made me laugh:

Beware of Bears.

Even if they appear nice and swear to a diet of only honey-- don't let your guard down. On Monday, Ally got so comfortable with Pooh that she almost fell asleep in his arms. Two days later, he tried to eat her at breakfast.

Living Life

I realize I never finished the last post, and I'm not about to make any attempt to now. If I did, then I'd fall even further behind and you'd never have the pleasure of reading this post. (I'm predicting I'll continue to be a blogging slacker for the next three months. Sorry!) Thanks for the fun times last month, relatives. Ally appreciated getting out of the house and having some new adventures to ramble on and on and on about.

Although I may not have enough energy to blog much about life, I am starting to feel semi-human and have actually begun to live life again. Here's an update of what we've been up to now that I'm not so homebound:



Ally has been dressing up like Tinkerbell and reviewing her princesses and other Disney characters for her big trip. She calls Snow White "Snowflake", but she's cute and can get away with it.





We went to the church campout the second-to-last weekend in August. We pitched our tent right next to the Columbia River. The wind was so bad we had to throw Ally inside to weigh it down while Chris hammered the stakes into the ground. After the hard work was over, Ally and Chris flew their kite. Ashlyn was kind enough to bring her tricycle so Ally could have something to ride on-- She's finally tall enough to reach the pedals with the seat scooted all the way forward!

The next day we took a ride on Ashlyn's boat. Ally wore her life jacket and had no fear jumping into the river and loved being pulled in the tube with me and Ashlyn's mommy. Here she is laughing and waving.

We went to the Benton-Franklin County Fair last week. It was "Fun for the Whole Herd". This is the pig that sneezed on Mommy. Swine flu, anyone?
Ally originally wanted nothing to do with the creature, but I coaxed her into coming closer. I should've just followed my smart child's instinct and stayed away.

Ally got to ride the carousel-- something she's been talking about ever since we bought our fair tickets from the lady. Although she couldn't "buckle up for safety" like Special Agent Oso had taught her, she still had fun going round and round and waving at Daddy. I'd say it was worth the 3 overpriced tickets, but only worth it once.




Ally also got to see some large produce, pretend to be a doctor, hit people with a punch balloon, sample some foods, see a rodeo complete with princesses on horses, and listen to the Beach Boys. What more could a girl ask for? A hair cut you say?






Ally'd been asking to get her hair cut over the past week. I'm not sure where she got the idea from, but I figured it was about time to finally go for it if she's begging. So today was the big day! Don't worry, she still has her curls. She keeps them in a baggy now instead of on her head. They'd make a great toupee for Grandpa.

We went to the library afterward, and Ally paid us back by having a huge tantrum. She finished crying it out in the parking lot (where being quiet isn't so important), and she made a new friend in the process. For all of you who think Ally's always an angel, take a look . . . I am thankful for the kindness (and patience) of strangers.

Hangin' with the Relatives

HI UNCLE MIKE!!!

THIS POST IS STILL IN PROGRESS, BUT I WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU COULD SEE RECENT PICTURES OF ME AND ALLY. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO JUST CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER. I'LL FINISH UPDATING/WRITING SOON-- HOPEFULLY TODAY OR TOMORROW.


A few weekends ago Karen's Aunt Kathy and Grandma came down for a visit. Since it was a hot 100+ degrees here and a cool 90-something in Spokane, they decided to kidnap us (Ally and Karen) and take us to Spokane for 6 days.


























My brother Kevin, his wife Katie, and our Columbia River Gorge excursion. . .

Our Little Golden Girl

Hi, it's me, Karen. Yes, it's really me blogging this time and not my fabulous husband. I know it's been awhile. I still feel sick and have little tolerance for most activity, but I haven't puked in a few weeks now. Hooray! I think my body and the parasite are finally learning to coexist in a more tolerable manner. Hopefully soon Ally won't feel the need to ask her daily question, "Mommy, do you feel sick or are you happy today?"

Ally has been spending a lot of time self-entertaining: running and dancing in circles, playing dress-up, singing, "riding the bus to Nicaragua", taking care of her babies, and fetching toys while her mommy sits/lays on the couch. (And about once a week I muster up the strength to do the laundry or try to clean.) The Food Network is usually playing in the background throughout the day, but at 2 pm I have to change the channel so Ally can hear her song and watch the people.

She firmly believes this is HER SONG, so much so that I'm not even allowed to mouth the words anymore-- it belongs to Ally. Her best performances are given in the bathtub where the acoustics are better and she sings it loud and strong, but here's a cute version from this morning. I'm hoping the presence of crab goggles on her face will distract you from the greasiness of her hair.




So, to all those that care about us and that we care for deeply, thank you for being a friend. And Ariel, we still have reservations together at the nursing home 5 decades from now, right?

It's a ............

Giant zucchini.
We started harvesting from our garden this week. Our biggest crop right now would be the zucchini and yellow squash. I checked on them one day and they weren't quite ready yet, two days later this guy appeared.









Ally liked snapping the green beans. She didn't really like eating them raw though.












We've also got some corn plants that I bought by accident. The old saying of my grandfather's, "knee high by the 4th of July" doesn't work around here. This picture was taken probably around the 11th of July and they are way more than knee high.











In other news, Ally got her big girl bed this week. She's pretty excited about sleeping in it, but here's how we found her the first morning.










And our final piece of news for the week, Karen had an ultrasound yesterday and we found out that we're having another girl. Ally's excited, I really don't think she wanted a brother. Over the past month she'd been talking a lot about having a little sister so she can put her in a basket. Ally seems to be getting her wish although, right now, she keeps referring to Baby Hoffman #2 as an alien, a scary baby monster, and an octopus.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

We haven't been quite as busy this summer with road trips around the area as we were last year. Karen keeps using the excuse of a growing baby making her sick to get out of the trips. And all the stress of taking care of Karen and Ally (either that or walking to work in bad shoes) has caused a fracture in my left foot that has resulted in me having to wear a nice heavy boot for a few weeks in the middle of July. So we haven't had as many updates for you all to read. But we did make it all the way to Pasco for the 4th of July parade last week.

Karen and Ally waiting for the parade to start.



















Ally's favorite part of the parade was seeing the "princesses" and having the cars throw candy. She doesn't quite have the hang of picking up the candy before the bigger kids take it yet, but she still gets excited just seeing the candy.














Karen's favorite part of the parade was the paleta (popsicle) man. He gave us one for free last year because he didn't have change for a $20, so this year we paid him double.



















My favorite part of the parade was seeing that the mullet boy is still around. He was sporting a sweet mullet in the parade last year. It looks like he's still got one, it's just kept quiet under his hat.



















And now if you're tired from reading that, here's Ally to sing you a nice lullaby and trying to snap her fingers while doing her version of the Hot Dog Dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

An American Jumping Bean and other random nonsense

I have found enough energy to wander downstairs and spend some time with my old friend, the computer. I realize our postings have been sparse, and our uploading of videos has been even more sparser. (You like that grammar, T?) So here's our precious Ally in semi-recent action:





Thank you, Chris, for blogging our Portland/Newport trip. And thank you, Jessica, for coming along to be my private nurse and Ally's nanny for the week. Now that I've seen all the pictures, I'd like to point out a few obvious differences between an East Coast beach and the Pacific Northwest coast. (Okay, I just read Chris' post and I guess he already mentioned this, but I won't delete this 'cause I need an excuse to post the little-Ally-with-the-chunky-legs pictures.)

At one you bring a towel, wear your sunblock, and run into the waves.












At the other you bring a blanket, wear your wind-block, and run away from the waves.

You might not want to go in the frigid water out here (unless you're insane), but there is a great trade-off. You can stand on the Oregon beaches and watch the sun set over the ocean-- and that just doesn't happen in NC.


Daddy's been in Buffalo at his national conference on nerdiness for state and territorial epidemiologists. He had ordered a surprise treat to keep us occupied and happy while he'd be away, and it finally arrived last night. (Better late than never.)




















So, Ally and I had yogurt and gourmet popcorn for breakfast this morning. Scrumptious! Thanks, Daddy. We won't forget to pick you up at the airport when you fly in like Owl does and bring Ally a present.

And, as Ally walks into the sunset, we bid you adieu. . .