Alia (and us) spent Christmas in Arkansas with B's family. Some more presents that Alia received:

Tinkerbell's Moonstone Scepter, a Tinkerbell doll, a Tinkerbell book, a butterfly blanket, a Disney princess purse, books, pajamas, and a toy microphone. Thanks to all!

Alia tricked Uncle Joz and Grandpa into coloring for her.

Jumping on Uncle Caleb's back.

Alia wanted everyone to read to her.
Grandma

Cousin Andrew

(Great) Uncle Bruce

It's Christmas! (A Little Early)

Celebrating because the Grinch is happy!

Opening Presents


"I love my Grinch"

Doctor Alia - Mommy, lay down. You're sick.

When we were at Grandma's for Thanksgiving, Alia helped decorate Grandma's tree. So, we thought we would put one up this year. Thanks to Mom for the tree and the ornaments!

Holding hands with Cousin Connor after dinner Saturday night.

Opening presents with Cousin Harley.

Deciding who Uncle Matt should shoot next with the Nerf gun.

Alia was drawing with Aunt Adrienne. This is the Scary Sghetti Monster.

Alia holding Ian, one of her new baby twin cousins. I didn't have a good picture of her holding Isaac.

Alia had some awfully nice things to say about me tonight.
She called me, "Best Friend Mommy" and "My Favorite Mommy Ever". How lucky can I be?

Update from her fall: We think one of Alia's front teeth is dead. The dentist told B not to worry about it if it happened. It's not too bad though. It's still in, just a little gray. She also still gets overly freaked out whenever she trips, but I assume that will just take time to get over.

Lately, its been really easy to tell that Alia is 2, however, I just wanted to comment that she has been the sweetest thing tonight. We played with Play-Doh, did some puzzles, she brushed my hair, and we played doctor. I love that little girl!

Trying on her fairy costume for the 1st time.

All decked out for the cold.

The "Gang" - John the Monkey, Laura the Dragon, Fairy Alia, and Katherine as Dorothy.

All done - riding back to Aunt Erica and Uncle Andy's!

Alia likes to wear pretty things!

This is a dress that Jules bought for Alia's birthday.

This is a dress that Alia's Great Uncle Bruce brought back from Panama.

This is coat and hat that belonged to Alia's Grandma Lowery.

Alia with her Grandma Great. Grandma, Uncle Joz, and Grandma Great came to visit for a couple days earlier this month.

Sometimes, I like to cover Alia with bubbles.

Alia is showing me her muscles and saying, "I'm so strong!"

I take Zoe outside this morning at around 6:30 am. Alia is up and B is asleep. She was not happy about being left inside. While I'm outside (like less than a minute), I hear a bang and then my girl starts screaming. When I open the door, a kitchen chair is knocked over, Alia is standing (and crying), and there is blood all over the floor. We can only imagine that Alia climbed up into the chair and knocked it over backwards. We couldn't see into her mouth very well, and couldn't tell if her teeth were alright. So, we took her to the ER for the first and hopefully last time (here's to wishful thinking, right?).
Thankfully, for awhile, we were the only people there. The doctor couldn't tell if Alia had a laceration above her teeth or if the bone was fractured. So, Alia also had her first and hopefully last CT scan. They gave her medicine to mellow her out. Eventually, different doctors said that everything looked fine.
They gave us antibiotics, said to feed her soft foods/liquids for a few days and said we should probably go see a dentist soon. We had to go to the store to get her meds right after, and she wasn't very happy then. After her nap, she was acting pretty normal though. Me thinks my girl will be ok.
She survived. We survived. Let's not do that again.

Sweetness!
(Pictures taken Aug 19, 2010)

Alia's birthday was on Labor Day. Our sweet girl is 2!
She got a swing set for her birthday!
She got a puppy for her birthday!She went to the doctor this week also. 37 inches tall and 28 pounds.

Big Girl Bed!!

The same guy (our friend's dad) that built our crib, built Alia a toddler bed. Then we painted it.

Laying down for the 1st time in her big girl bed.

Alia counting to 10, saying "orange" and cheering on the West Vikings!
(yes, Vikings will sound like something else, but she's not even 2 yet people!)

Alia has named her 1st stuffed animal. I bought her a brown stuffed dog while we were in Branson this summer. I asked her the other day what her dog's name was. She told me Ibo-Ibo. (pronounced eebo) Now she walks around the house saying, "Where's my Ibo?" "I love my Ibo!" (this said while giving it hugs and kisses).

We (Alia, my mom, and I) took a field trip before church last Sunday.

This is my Papa Chumbley's grave(Alia's Great-Grandpa). Alia liked feeling the letters and numbers.


This is Dad's grave (Alia's Grandpa). She's pointing at what she calls "bubbles", some decoration on the bouquet.
I'm sure Alia won't remember this trip, but there will be many more!

Cousins! (3 of the 6)

Alia had her 1st haircut tonight. It was more of a trim really, but she seemed to have a good time.

Erica and I took the kids "swimming" this morning. I think they had a good time.