Graduation!

So, my littlest sister, Heid, graduated from High School today!  Ahhh!!!  She was only 8 when I got married!  When did I get so old?!?

Some lovely photos of her supporters at graduation!  We couldn't find her in the group until just before they called her name, so we had some fun with our cameras! :)

Such a pretty graduate!  We are so proud of you Heidi! You never have to go to school again!!!! :)

Laundry

Ali is such a great helper when I'm sorting laundry.  She's really great at moving my piles and re-sorting them.  I've learned to do laundry rather quickly! :)
My sis-in-law Emily gave us some hand me downs and I was looking through them and left the pile on the floor while I finished our laundry.  She sat here and sorted for about 40 minutes.  Sometimes the clothes got flung behind her, sometimes she took a closer look at one or two.  One of her favorite things was trying to hold as many clothes as possible in her tiny little hand.  It must've been hard work because she was grunting the whole time. 
Maybe when she gets bigger she'll do laundry for me!  That would be lovely, because laundry is my least favorite chore!

Please?

So Ali has a few signs that she is using regularly these days.  One of the signs she uses is 'please'.  However, I think she is under the impression that if she says (or signs) please that she can do or have whatever she wants.  She will pull my hair or her cousins and when I tell her that's not nice and to stop she signs please and thinks she can do it again.  I guess we need to talk about what please means! :)

 

Sick

Our darling little baby was sick this past week.  She got a nasty cold and her 18 month shots!  She ended up having a fever of 104 one night!  I think Ali is pretty prone to getting fevers.  Now she has a molar coming in ... it's been a rough week!

Ogden Relay Race

Stuart ran in a relay race today with my Dad, sis-in-law Emily, Uncle Kirk, Aunt Tanya and (not shown) Uncle Brian and Aunt Becky.  Stuart ran 2 legs of it for a total of around 12.5 miles.  He wanted to finish, but his knee gave out while going downhill and he had to stop.  Emily ended up running 13.1 miles, a half marathon!  Awesome job guys!

 

Genius Child

This is a brag post, so feel free to skip it if you don't want to hear me going on and on about my daughter! :)  Although, I can't take much credit, seeing as how she is adopted and doesn't have any of mine or Stuart's genes.  Ali is being tested a bunch lately by the Up-to-3 program because she is 18 months.  They do testing every 6 months to re-evaluate the services she needs.  She had her speech therapist come and she said she is right on track speech wise.  Then our family therapist came and did a cognitive test for Ali.  The scoring for this test is a little different.  A score of 11 is par or right on track.  A score lower than 11 is a delay and above 11 is awesome.  Drum roll please................
Ali scored a 13!!!  That's right, she's a genius!  No delay here!  She has mastered 55% of the skills she needs by the time she's 3 years old.  And she probably would've passed more off if she was walking!  We knew all along she was smart!  The family therapist said that she isn't surprised that Ali tested so high, but was still very impressed with the results!  She said that at the rate Ali is going, once she walks and talks fluently, Up-to-3 might not need to come anymore and she can be mainstreamed right into kindergarten without additional help. :)  Good job Aliyah!

How cute is this tan little body?!?

Ali is way into doing the splits lately, she just keeps pushing her little legs out further and further to the side.  I wish I had even a tiny bit of her flexibility!

Ali is in LOVE with Morty.  She crawls/scoots to the edge of the carpet (Morty isn't allowed on the carpet) and yells at him.  A mix of Puh (puppy) and Muh (Morty).  Every so often he'll come and check her out.  Today she even got a kiss!  She was thrilled!!!

Ali's Kittens

Ali is in LOVE with her little kittens!  She cries and cries when I put them back in their bed and we go in the house.  She is so soft with them, although at times she wants to pat them, but she really does try very hard to be as soft as possible.  They also all get a lot of soft kisses!  Lucky kitties!

How does she do it?!?

Isn't Ali beautiful in the mornings? :)  Somehow during the night she got her arm out of her jammies!

If this is considered a 'fine-motor' skill, I think we'll stop with her therapies!!! :)

Working on some Jeeps!

Ali and her Daddy were outside the other day in the garage just working on their jeeps! :)  I, of course, had to take a couple pictures!

 

 

Happy 18 Months!!!

Happy 18 months to my baby!!!  I guess she's not a baby anymore!  I think it's safe to say that these past 18 months have been the happiest of our lives!  Ali is such a joy in our lives and is such a good baby!
Here are a few of Ali's favorites at this point in life:
*Singing... especially the Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, and Popcorn Popping
*Reading books - she could spend ALL day reading books (with or without me)
*Food - this girl LOVES to eat - but she is rather slow at it!
*Bottles - yes, I know she shouldn't still be drinking out of them, but she hasn't mastered the sippy-cup yet.
*Kisses - I get thousands of kisses a day, and I love it!
*Snuggles - another one of my favorites!
*Dancing - you turn music on and Ali will groove to it.  One of her favorites right now is "I'm Sexy and I Know It", the one done by Ricky Martin for Glee.
*Smarties - this girl literally takes 20 minute to eat 1 smartie!  She puts it in her mouth, then takes it out and looks at it and talks to it, then puts it back in her mouth.  It's hilarious (and a little sticky)!
*Cousins - Ali adores her cousins, they are so great to her. Because of them, she loves all other little kids!
* Throwing things through the baby gate.  She likes to watch them go down the stairs.
*Holding her kittens in the garage.
*Yelling at Morty to come over to her highchair.
*Some of Ali's words: Ba-ba (bottle), Da-da, Mommy (it used to be Ma-ma), Bed, Ma (more), Baby, Me, We (I'm pretty sure this is Howie), Puh (puppy/Morty) and Green.
*When you ask Ali what a cow says she makes fishy lips.... in fact, now if you ask her what sound any animal makes she does fishy lips... I blame Aunt Whitney.

Ali can now go from her belly to a sitting position and is so close to crawling (the real way).  She loves her baths, and drinks her fair share of bath water (gross!).  She doesn't care much for TV, but loves the Ipad and my phone.  She is convinced that every phone call must be for her.  She is fully aware of how cute she is and puts on a little show for people.  She has fans everywhere we go.  She waves good-bye to people, and has just started blowing kisses.

I love this little girl so much!!

Then It Got Quiet...

I was getting ready for the day today and Ali was being a little bit whiny.  Then it got quiet...

Guess who can open her little bin of elastics?

I'm just hoping she didn't eat any!

Not only did she open them, she opened them into her walker!  It's a good thing she's so cute!

I can't believe she opened this!  I guess all of those fine-motor skill therapies have paid off!