Hummus and red peppers

Aliya and I went to a baby shower this afternoon! It was a TON of fun and had lots of great food. Everyone was impressed with how much Aliya had grown and what a big girl she's becoming. (most people there hadn't seen her in about 5 months) She helped herself to a red pepper slice and shocked everyone as she said, "mmm" when she bit into it. Does red pepper slobber stain? We played a few games while Aliya played with the little ducks on the floor. She kept saying "duck" over and over. Then she'd look at me and say "aweeeeya". Yep, she said her name today for the first time. Now she won't stop saying it! After the game it was time to eat. We got in line and her eyes got big with every item I placed on our plate. We ended at the hummus tray and she squealed with delight. (our sitter, Jennifer, often feeds her hummus and she loves it) After eating almost the entire portion of hummus and Peta bread she reached over at the woman next to me and begged for her's. And of course, her big eyes won her over and she fed her her whole portion of hummus. After her fill she crawled off to play with the balloons. Then she eyed the cake and reached for it until she got some. I'm not sure if we're raising a monster or what, but this girl LOVES food. I'm so thankful she's not picky. I can't wait to see what this diaper is going to look like (chicken salad, potato salad, tomato and mozzarella salad, hummus, red peppers and cheese ball) could be interesting! She worked the crowd, as usual, and made a ton of new friends! **Of course, I didn't think to get my camera out, as always!** Oh well, everyone will just have to visualize her with a red pepper in one hand and hummus on her face! She crashed on the way home, unfortunately she only slept for about 20 minutes, hopefully it will be an early night tonight!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Just a few...

Here are a few random pictures of Aliya over the past month.

Documenting our first snow fall last week


Our girl LOVES to hug and kiss!


I love this picture of both Aliya and Greg (not sure why there's a line going through it!)


HUGE smiles with Grandma Kris and Grandpa Steve

Under the Weather

We had a great weekend up North this past weekend until 2pm yesterday. We got back into Dayton right on time to drop Joel off at his mom's then around 2pm Jon and I looked at each other and both said, "I don't feel so well". Within the hour we were both throwing up and coming out! YUCK! We both were in bed by 9pm and were up most of the night. I experienced heartburn for the 2nd time in my life and thought I was dying. Jon was still not well this morning so he called in sick to work. I on the other hand was weak from all the puking but had to go in today. I had 20 guests coming for Thanksgiving Dinner at work at 6pm and had not shopped yet. Thankfully this year I asked each guest to bring something, so I didn't have to do it all. I think I'm finally getting that it's okay to ask for help! Imagine that! Anyway...I'm feeling much better now, still not 100%, but I would say I'm at least 85% better. Jon's still not great and Tracy, Joel's mom, called today and said that Joel stayed home from school, also throwing up. I took Aliya to the sitter's this morning so she could stay in her routine and Jon could have some alone time to feel better. She's had loose stool tonight twice. I'm hoping she's better by morning, poor little thing. It was a good thing I went to work today, our Thanksgiving dinner was a HUGE success!! Everyone had a great time and of course, I forgot to take my camera out of my purse! I hear a little ladybug stirring in her bed... I better go check on her!

In Black and White

We got Aliya's new birth certificate today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I took a half day at work and drove up to Lima to get it! There it is, written in black and white...Aliya J. B (not posting full name, sorry). Mother: Kelly, Father: Jon. It's offical, she's our's FOREVER! I tried to go down the street and order her SS card, but they wouldn't accept her birth certifiate as proof of identification. Go figure. So, I'll have to dig out her adoption certificate and take that Monday.

After being presented with the certifcate I rushed out to my van, locked the door and bawled as I stared at it. I never thought this day would come! For some reason it wasn't processing on VitalChek.com so I had to drive all the way to Lima. But I'm not complaining one bit, I would drive around the world if I had to!

Anyway, just wanted to share our good news!

Saturday Visits

Saturday Aliya and I bundled up and braved the cold and traveled to Washington Court House to visit with Martha, "Mom Channell" and Grandma Kris and Grandpa Steve. Unfortunately the pictures from Dad's said "invalid format" when I tried to download them to the computer???? Not sure what that is all about. So all I have to share today is our visit with Martha and mom. We met at Dakota Grill and waited way too long for our food, but we didn't mind, it gave us a chance to visit! It was Mom Channell's first time meeting Aliya!


Just me...


Martha gave Aliya the CUTEST outfit! Good thing too because after Aliya ate my dill pickle spear she had pickle juice all over her shirt and stunk pretty bad!


Martha and Mom Channell


Aliya loved all the attention!


After lunch we headed over to my dad's for a visit. Dad was at class so we got some good time in with Kris! Aliya loved visiting and snuggling with Grandma Kris. We decided to stay for dinner and dad was able to make it home before we had to leave! She was still fascinated with dad's beard. I left the camera in the car for most of the visit, and now the one good shot I got of our visit isn't reading on my camera. Hopefully dad can send it to me from their camera and I'll post it soon!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Looking back to pictures when I was a little girl visiting at Grandam B's several pics show me with a small orange square in my hand...a slice of cheese. Now 28 years later I still love cheese! Aliya is a HUGE fan of it also! Sliced or shredded, white or orange, she loves all cheese!





Last night during dinner Aliya started to throw a little fit in her highchair. She kept reaching for the table, so I removed the tray and pushed her to the table. She was SO excited to be sitting next to us! She did an okay job keeping her plate on the table, so I'm going to pick up some suction cup plates tomorrow at WalMart! Then daddy came home and she got excited and threw her plate in the air! (I did not take a picture of that, I didn't want to encourage it!)



You may also notice her new doo! Aliya now wears her hair in a single ponytail on the top of her head. I find it easiest to tame and take care of in the morning!