I can hardly believe that Allyssa is now two years old.  It seems like yesterday I was in labor and then held this precious little baby girl in my arms.  Time sure passes in the blink of an eye.

This morning, Allyssa and I slept in a bit (OK as usual), arising around 11 or so.  While I made homemade pancakes for breakfast, Shane helped Allyssa as she chose her outfit.  I think those overalls are getting a bit short on her and may have to be put away soon.

After brunch, we be brought out her presents.  She enjoyed opening her gifts without a doubt.  From mom and dad she received Thomas & Friends Water Tower Figure 8 set, the Figure 8 Expansion Pack, Rosie, Annie & Claribel, a musical caboose, as well as Thomas.  She also received a Winnie the Pooh matching game.  There is just nothing for games out there for two year olds.  Most of the “little kid” games are all for ages 3+.    That’s okay, she’ll have hours and hours of fun with her Thomas trains.

We didn’t do her shopping until Friday.  Yes, she was with us, but that allowed us to find out what she liked.  And when it was time to actually purchase, momma distracted her by taking her to other sections so we could “look around”.  Daddy would then purchase the items and put them in the trunk.  It worked rather well, once we could get her distracted.

Just before we left on Friday, the mailman had arrived.  The timing was great since that meant that Allyssa received her cards and gift cards before we left. She enjoyed having her cards read to her and looking at the pictures.  With her gift cards she picked out a table for her Thomas things which came with track and some Thomas like train pieces.  The size of the track and such matches the Thomas things she received today which is the main reason it was selected.  She also picked out a slide.  This is a Little Tikes slide which can be used indoors or outdoors, but since we have a secluded outdoor area with nothing for her to play with that is definitely going outside.

This may make it easier to have her go outside to play while mom and dad stay inside, and watch her through the wall of patio doors.  So far she hasn’t liked being outside if mom or dad aren’t with her.  And even if we have to go out with her some of the time, she has things to play with rather than looking for someone to always play with.  Like when we take the ball outside to play.

When we were visiting family in March she received her birthday gifts from grandma.  She received a twin stroller and a diaper bag for her babies.  She had received twins as big as she is from grandma about a month before.  Grandma keeps her very well stocked in dolls.  She already has a barbie doll as well, but she’s still too young for that so that one is up and way until she’s older.

We tried to find out what Allyssa would like for supper, but we don’t think that Allyssa was understanding us.   She wasn’t hungry at the time, and everything we suggested she kept saying no.  While I was at the store picking something up, I also picked up a balloon for her.  She loved it when I walked in with the balloon.  She certainly managed to tangle herself up in it quite well, but she was definitely having lots of fun too.

When I returned, Shane had decided that everyone should go out for ice cream.  He had gone online and found an ice cream place nearby that we hadn’t been to yet.  So we went.  It wasn’t that far, but it would be a bit of a walk if were to attempt to walk to it in the future.  It’s about a mile or so.  After ice cream we drove around a bit, attempting to get to know the area a bit better.  This particular time we went east, and learned we only want to go so far east in this area.  But if we hadn’t tried we wouldn’t have known and now we do.

Allyssa slept through part of the drive, but when we returned home, it was definitely nap time.  Everyone laid down, apparently we are all tired from our SCA event yesterday.  Not that it was a hardship to have some extra sleep.  After our nap we had supper which was enjoyed by all.

While we didn’t follow the traditional order, but she did receive a birthday cake.  After supper I made some pineapple upside-down cake.  That was chosen since Allyssa love pineapple in general.  For some reason I think she was too full to truly enjoy her cake though since she didn’t eat it all, but she certainly had a lot for supper so it is understandable.

Just one extra note, you can click on any of these pictures to see a larger view.

I learned a valuable lesson today about quality time. Allyssa wanted to spend some time with daddy after dinner and I had every intention of doing this. We started watching the Bee Movie together when I stupidly got on the computer and read an email which got me working on something that certainly could have waited. Guess I wasn’t thinking, because when I was done:

Allyssa feel asleep waiting for daddy to do something that could have waited until tomorrow.

I guess I need to really pay attention to what I do with my time. I start school on Monday so time will become even more precious than it used to be. I have a schedule planned for Monday through Friday:

• 7:00am – Wake Up
• 8:00am – 1:00pm – Work
• 1:00pm – 2:00pm – Lunch and exercise
• 2:00pm – 4:00pm – School Work
• 4:00pm – 5:30pm – Work
• 5:30pm – Make dinner and spend time with the family before I go to bed.

No planning work or school on Weekends – those days are for family time. This looks like it should be good right? Hopefully I can stick to it, but I will need Laura’s and Allyssa’s help in several ways:

1. While I am at work, they need to avoid distracting me.
2. Have lunch ready around 1:00 so I can eat and exercise before school work.
3. While I am at school, they need to avoid distracting me.
4. At 5:30, they have to tell me to stop and be with the family.

I am sure if we both work at it, I will get on the schedule and be able to stick to it. It’s gonna be a long, hard 2 years with work and school, but I know it will be worth it. After this, we shall see if I continue for my Bachelor’s degree. You ready for this, Laura?

P.S. I should add that I did spend a few hours with her playing with a ball, potatoe heads, blocks and things before we started watching the movie. But it probably wasn’t enough.

Well, as Shane mentioned, he’s going back to school online.  I wish him the best of luck with that.  I know it will certainly keep him busy.  He’s made a schedule up, and it does show time for Allyssa and I, but like all schedules we will see how well it actually works out.

He talks about doing dinner, but he enjoys that (usually) and find it relaxing.  But don’t worry he doesn’t do all the cooking.  I make the lunches for the 3 of us since he works and will be going to school from home.  While some might thing that lunch is a lighter meal, it’s still important to keep it balanced.  My theory is that we’d be better off if lunch is a bit heartier and dinner a bit lighter since most don’t have a lot of physical activity in the evening.

Shane has also started doing weekly fighter practice for SCA.  This is once a week on Wednesday.  Allyssa and I go as well, we talk to others and watch him get hit with sticks.  It’s good to get to know the other SCA folks in the area.  And we have several events we are talking about going to in the near future.

We have found two parks in the area which Allyssa enjoys.  Of course we’ve also found out that as long as the park has slides it will be one that she enjoys.  She is a huge fan of riding the slides.

I have found a cross stitching shop in the area.  It wasn’t easy but I have finally figured out how to find shops when you new to the area and have no idea of what they are called.  It’s hard to do an internet search for them without a name, and harder still to do a yellow pages search because often the shops are so poorly categorized on the online yellow pages.  I was on a website of a company that dye their own fabric colors for cross stitch.  They are a wholesale company so when I asked them about shops in my area they were able to give me the name of two within 21 miles of me.  So now I know how to look for shops in the future.  Go to the wholesale suppliers and ask them who is in my area.

Why worry about giving a local shop?  Well I try to support the local shops whenever possible.  I have a simple view of things.  If I don’t do my part to support my local shop, when I need to pick something up quick they won’t be there.  The day after I received the information about local shops, I went to the closest one and checked them out.  It was good to be in a shop dedicated to needlework.  Not one where it’s just shoved off into a small corner of the craft store, which keeps getting smaller.

I finished the birth announcement I was working on for Allyssa.  Please click on the image to see the entire piece.  Now I’ll have to clean and mount it.  Of course, since that one is done, I had to start another project.  This new project is one of Santa looking at signs to check his directions.  It’s on a black background and is originally from an old postcard.  I have an entire book of Santa’s from old artwork it’s called Santa Remembered from Leisure Arts.

Allyssa is growing in leaps and bounds, but lately it’s been hard to get her to sleep on her own.  She wants to be attached to momma when she sleeps.  She just doesn’t want to let go.  Lately it’s been if she won’t let go at nap time, we get up.  It makes her more tired in the evening, but she has to learn that she can’t stay attached to momma.

When she falls asleep at night, she also wants to stay attached also.  This makes things hard for momma.  While I don’t mind taking an afternoon nap with her (actually I usually enjoy a good afternoon nap), I like to get up for a bit after Shane and Allyssa are in bed.  It’s a good time for me to have some private quiet time.  It’s my ME time, and I have learned that I need it.  If I can’t have my me time for I get more irritable and much easier to annoy.  I have also found that if the housework isn’t done before they go to bed it’s not going to get done that night.  My time is for me, not for housework.  (Doing housework during that time is a sure fire way for me to get extremely annoyed.)

Well that’s all my thoughts for now.  I’ll try catching people up again soon.

OK, I know, it’s April, and most kids are thinking they’ve been in school long enough and it’s time for summer break. But I am not a kid, and no, this isn’t about Allyssa. It’s about me. You heard me. “Back To School” is about me.

For a long time I have been contemplating going back to school and get a degree in something. I know that a degree will help me get a better job and provide a better life for my family. I just never had the time (or the guts) to do it.

Then, earlier this month, I filled out a form online about going back to school. I got a call from a recruiter a few days later and the ball was rolling. I will be attending the University of Phoenix Online starting on Monday (April 20th) and will be taking classes for around 20 months.

So now it’s time for this old man who hasn’t been inside a classroom in 20 years to get back to studying and doing homework. Well, I guess it’s all homework, since it’s online and I will be doing most of it from home.

Oh, yeah, you want to know WHAT degree I am after with this. I will be going for my Associates of Elementary Education. With that, I can become a teacher’s aide while I continue for my Bachelors Degree in a couple of years. With THAT, I can be a full time teacher, which is the ultimate goal.

So, if you thought I never had time to update this blog before, just wait! I get to work full time, go to school full time, cook dinner and spend time with Laura and Allyssa, EVERY DAY. So, if you really want to know what I am up to, get a Twitter account and follow me. I update that more often.

This morning Allyssa and I went to Chuck E Cheese to meet some other area moms and kids.  While she started out quite shy, Allyssa warmed up to the other kids before we left.  There were two boys there that are not quite 2 months younger than she is.  And I believe a good time was had by all.

While at first she wasn’t sure about the rides or games, she found a car that was near where we sat, that she dearly loved.  And then to top things off as far as Allyssa was concerned they also had a slide she could go on.  Talk about a place having it all in her eyes.

After we left Chuck E Cheese, we went to Michael’s.  There we purchased a small stool for Allyssa.  When we were at my dad’s last month, Allyssa liked sitting on a box to put her shoes on.  So we have now purchased her a small stool so she can sit down and put her shoes on like daddy.

Since I feel as if I’m in the home stretch for the cross stitch project I’m currently working on, we also stopped at Border’s to check what cross stitch magazines they have.  I did find one magazine with something I would be interested in doing but since the magazine is originally from England it’s about $12.  I am debating whether or not the design is worth such a high price, currently.

I also asked at Michael’s to find out if perhaps there was a speciality cross stitch shop in the area.  I’m really looking for a local shop to purchase the evenweave I use instead of aida cloth.  While they didn’t have it, or really know of any speciality shops they did tell me where the nearest Hancock Fabrics, and JoAnne’s are.

While I was checking out JoAnne’s, Allyssa decided that it was definitely nap time, and slept in the cart while I browsed the store.  JoAnne’s does have a small selection of evenweave in packages, but it’s all in precut sizes and a limited color range.  Not really what I was looking for but I had to check.

After we left JoAnne’s we came directly home.  Allyssa slept the entire way, and barely woke up to get in out of the car.  Once we came in, I thought that would be the end of nap time.  Boy was I wrong.  While we sat in a chair nursing for a little bit, she really wanted to go lay down.  Which we did.  With a bit more milk she ended up sleeping for about 3 more hours.  (Okay she woke up once or twice for a few minutes but not very long, and went back to sleep each time.)  She’s either fighting something off, or having a growth spurt, or both, or it might be related to her teething since she is getting a few more teeth in as well.  Both daddy and I are having sinus/cold issues which she may or may not be sharing.

We had been planning to go grocery shopping since we arrive back in home Tuesday night. Turns out that Shane’s out of state payroll check was being held by the bank for 5 business days, which meant it was suppose to available on Thursday.

Thursday night comes around, and we are all ready to go grocery shopping. Just before we leave, Shane checks his account. The funds were NOT available. Talk about being rather frustrating! Perhaps it is a good thing that there isn’t a local branch of the bank we are having the problems with. This way it makes even more sense to change to a local bank. Now we just have to take the time to do so, with both our personal and business accounts.

First thing Friday morning though, we found the funds were available so we decided to go Friday night. We ended up with a late start getting out of the house. Since there is a Cinzzetti’s near the Whole Foods Market we were planning on shopping at, we decided to eat there then shop.  It’s never a good idea to grocery shop on an empty stomach.

Cinzzetti’s is a bit different that many Italian restaurants, it’s basically an Italian buffet, and it’s wonderful.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  When we finished eating, it was 8:50.  Our problem was that the grocery store closed at 9.  Nothing like everything conspiring against us, huh? Well luckily enough for us 3rd time was the charm.  We were able to actually get our groceries this afternoon.

Of course that isn’t the only thing we did this afternoon.  Much to Allyssa’s enjoyment we also squeezed in some time at Loose Park.  It’s one of her favorite places, since it has slides.  Of course, chasing Allyssa around the park makes enough exercise for mom and/or dad.  This picture was actually taken on Wednesday, the 1st.  But it still shows how much she enjoys the slides.