Roughing It

Guess what we've been doing?! One last hurrah before the cold(er) weather sets in.

And this time we didn't go it alone....

Be back tomorrow with details!

ABC's

Miss Foose has been walking around saying letters and counting lately. "Two, Fwee, Sick, Nine." So, I started saying the alphabet with her this week and captured this on video this afternoon:) Have to say myself, she's pretty cute!!

She wore this bookbag ALL day today except for her nap and she loves to draw on any paper nearby. Which means we have to keep a close eye on homework, library books, etc.

Sorry if the video sound is delayed. Not sure why that happens!

Enjoy!

Peek-A-Boo!

 Where's Eliana?

It only takes a split second for a toddler to come up with some ingenious mischief! Eliana discovered she could climb into the bay window area and crawl around, then slide down the cushions on to the couch. She even started requesting books to be brought to her after the 11th or 12th time I caught her up there...Stinker!
 

Enjoying a rare family bedtime story! Eliana talked through the entire story! She loves to name/point out all the things she knows. I'm glad all our kiddos love books!

They definitely came by it honestly, that's for sure!

Zumba!!!

Guess where I went tonight???? Zumba!! My first time back since the beginning of February. We had to drop our Y membership for the summer and just picked it back up again at a reduced price. Apparently being poor pays off sometimes:) Ben's schedule has been to work every Tues night which is Zumba night but this week it changed and voila!

The instructor remembered me and made a point to welcome me. I recognized a few people in the class, including a very energetic, strange, sweaty man in tight biker shorts. Zumba attracts all kinds of people:)

Here's a glimpse of what Zumba looks like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm7DyRjtWRc. My class would be minus the crazy guy waving the towel around:) My class is a whole lots smaller and the instructor faces the mirrors (with back to us) so we can copy her movements. It's so fun with loud, upbeat music and you work up a good sweat!!

Tonight one of the songs we did was a song I just heard for the first time this past week, thanks to my sis:) It's called Gangham Style. (I'll spare you the real video and give you a clip from the Today's show.) Apparently it's all the rage and lots of people are copying it. It's a very, very strange, yet intriguing thing to watch and I admit it was a lot of fun to try the dance tonight!

Anyways, glad to be back exercising again! When I told the boys I was going to Zumba tonight, Zakkai said, "Can I go to Zumba, too??!!"

Well, the Y has a kid's class called "Zumbatonic!" It's his lucky day.....

Blue Suede Shoes.

 Okay, so they're not blue suede shoes but she loves them anyways! Eliana was given some clothes by some friends to borrow and in them are these adorable brown boots that she has taken quite a fancy to. She wants to wear them all the time!

Actually, that was until she got some new black dress shoes for church. Now she has a new favorite pair. For now.

Our girlie has a shoe addiction!! She adores these boots and looks awfully cute in them, if I might say so.

I'm not really sure where that inate desire to pull up their shirts and/or dresses comes from but I'm pretty sure all little girls do it at some point!

She giggled when she saw this pic:) She has a basket of shoes in her room and she is very specific about which ones she wants to wear each day. We may be in trouble...

Just doin' some homework like the brudders! We start 'em young around here:)

Sunday Scraps.

 It has been a busy few days around here and that leaves me feeling totally uninspired at night time when it comes to blogging. Sometimes anyways. Do allow me to say that your comments always energize me to keep up! So thanks, peeps:) (well, those of you who comment, anyway. Ahem.)

This is what 8 loads of laundry looks like (minus the 2 stacks that were drying on the drying rack and on various chairs and surfaces:) I got a little behind on laundry due to a severe quarter draught but once we get down to no undies or socks or towels, it's time to buck up and do it! This would be $20 worth of laundry and 4-5 hours of labor.

I'm considered joining our family in a nudist colony or inventing an automatic washing machine/sorter/dryer/folder. Although really, I actually like the folding part. Thankfully, everyone pitched in and helped put it all away!

I have this pair of socks that I like. And don't like. They are a silky, soft cotton and I probably should've thrown them away months ago but good socks are hard to come by so I couldn't bring myself to do it.. See that "scar" that my sock has? That, until this afternoon, was a gaping hole.

How did it get that gaping hole, you ask? These socks are the infamous socks I was wearing on that fateful night last December when I dropped a rotary cutter on my foot.

Anyone else out there shudder at the same time I did?

These socks creep me out. The hole. The memories. Ugh. So today I finally took a step towards emotional healing (and sock saving) and sewed the hold shut. All that remains is a scar. Just like on my foot.

And last but not least, see these children? They're pretty cute and I love them:)

The end.

Schmulick.

He is called Sam-I-Am, Schmulick and Old Man. He has changed so much in this past year, transitioning from little kid toys and interests to pretty much only wanting to play with friends. Even though he thinks he's "big stuff" these days, he still has his giraffees somewhere in his bed (shhhh, don't tell him I told you!), will hold my hand on the way to or from school and has the same nightly goodnight routine he's had for years: 2 kisses on each cheek, one on the nose and a big hug. He has the softest cheeks:)

He gets frustrated having to sit at the table and do homework when the beautiful fall weather and promise of playing with friends calls his name. He confessed that he is not wearing his glasses at school, nor have we been doing a good job at home. This will change! (anyone know how to make glasses un-crooked?) He joined running club again at school and has been waiting anxiously for today's first meeting. He ran just over a mile and earned another foot charm to add to his 11 from last spring!

He says he wants to be either a soccer player or a pet shop owner when he grows up. To clarify, a pet shop owner that sells everything but dogs. I'm not sure he'll ever like dogs! His sweet heart has stayed sensitive and loving all these years. He loves to tease and be teased. He can't stand to have anyone raise their voice at him. He is quick to back down and correct mistakes he makes. He's starting to get self-conscious about things that he wears (like his glasses) and reminds me SOOOO much of his mama:)

That would be me.

The other day he came up to me randomly and said, "Mommy, does Daddy wear size Big or size Medium?" :)

He's 7, he's changing, he's growing, he's maturing but he's still my first baby and always will be.

Zacratch.

 He has many nicknames. Zacratch. Zacchaeus, ZaCalliou (Kye-you ~after the cartoon), Z-Man, Mr Z, Monkey, and more.

He's unbridled and undisciplined (not through lack of effort on our part!), impulsive, observant, talkative, tender-hearted, loud (LOUD), passionate, emotional.....shall I go on??

He's really thirsting with the desire to read. He spells out every word he can see and guesses what it might say. We are working hard on sounding out words and not just guessing!

He talked Daddy into finding a computer game that he plays at school here at home and got to spend some special time with daddy reading and having fun!

We are working on some better ways to parent this sweet boy and to help him thrive in school and with friends and my deepest wish for this year is for him to grow in self-confidence, to know how very special and loved he is and to make some good friends.

I hope this is a special kindergarten year for our Zakkai!

This Girl.

 This little girl melts my heart. She turns my frowns into smiles, fills my lonely arms, brings joy to my heart when it's hard to find. She is a gift; a treasure and an answer to prayer. Ben and I often marvel at God's answer to our prayers, at how perfectly she fit into our family. He knew we needed her and she was our sign of His heart towards us during a difficult time. I'll never understand why God answers some prayers the way He does and not others. I just know I can look at her and feel His love.

Apples are about all that is making her really happy this week! She's been a GROUCH the past couple of days. She is still all of the things I said above but she's cranky, too:) She has some teeth coming in and I think she had a little virus yesterday which her Daddy shared with her.

I think the apples make her happy because maybe chewing on them helps her gums feel better. Either way, it works so I'm happy!

This afternoon, the boys were out playing so Eliana wanted to come out, too. It was really chilly today so we bundled up and sat on the porch for awhile playing with cars. We had time to kill since dinner was already done in the crockpot!

See how long her hair is getting?! When the sun shines on it, it is such a beautiful golden color and she gets these pretty curls at the bottom. I trimmed it yesterday and it was so silky and bouncy afterwards. She was a grouch so she wasn't happy with me:)

Showing me that her brothers are playing.

"Pway, Mommy? Car?" She always loves to have company when playing!

She discovered her pockets a few minutes later and that was a big hit with her:) We went on a little walk up and down the sidewalks and she kept her hands in her pockets the whole time!

I can't believe that in just over a month she turns 2. I really cannot wrap my head around the fact that the days are filtering through my hands like sand. I know we will lose so much "baby" in her this next year. Although if I look back at pictures of the boys at 2 and then look at them now, they definitely look so "baby" in those pictures!

She calls herself "Fissy" (esp if talking about something that belongs to her) and "Yana" (when she sees herself in a mirror or reflection.) She is getting very good at putting together sentences, enough to get her point across! "Mama, sit chair." or "Daddy, coyor (color) paper." She is enthralled with 'quiwels (squirrels) and apple-picking and "airpranes." She adores getting "yibary" books and can spend long periods of time at the library pulling books off the shelves and sitting at the little table reading. She is starting to memorize stories that we've read to her over and over like "Goodnight Moon" and for the first time the other day, I caught her singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!" Although it sounds more like "Tinkew, Tinkew, 'Tar." :) She willingly (most of the time) gives sweet hugs and juicy little kisses on our cheeks. (although she doesn't actually touch Ben's cheek with her lips because of his whiskers, we think! haha)

She is changing so quickly, communicating so well and enjoying life to the fullest, as only a little person can do! Sometimes I worry about the teenage years and if our kids will even like us or what our relationships will be like (you have to admit that teenagers are really scary) and I can only hope that these beginning years of so much love will carry through those years of turmoil and that underneath the alien teenage hormones, our kiddos will know that we always have and always will love them.

As one of my very favorite books, which this blog is named after, says,
"I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My baby you'll be."

A Glance at the Past.

 This weekend, we were lovingly entrusted with a very special new household addition. This object of great love was from our friend's very imaginative childhood and he bestowed this great gift on our children!

Behold:

The TeePee! Oh yes, that's right, we are the proud new owners of our very own Native American TeePee. Complete with drawings of arrows and Native Americans on the sides. Doesn't it look like it's always belonged here?

All 3 kiddos are totally enthralled with it. It zips up in the front and Eliana keeps crawling inside and zipping it shut. The boys prefer to crawl in the opening and crawl out the sides:) Zakkai has already autographed his name on it at least twice, carrying on the tradition from our great friend, Mr J.

I'm not sure where this will end up residing; probably in the basement, where it will provide hours of entertainment and secret hiding places!

As a matter of fact, Ben hid in it tonight and the boys were looking for him everywhere. Wish you could've heard the screams coming from them when he snaked a hand out and grabbed them!

Entertainment for children and adults alike:)

Apple Picking Time!

 We weren't sure if we would be able to go apple picking this year for a few reasons. You may know that most apple orchards across the Midwest suffered devastating effects from the early spring/late frost back in March and April and many orchards lost up to 70% of their apple crop!

Our orchard that we've been going to the past several years lost 70% and raised their prices dramatically to try to compensate for it so we found a new apple orchard. It was a beautiful day and we got some beautiful apples!

Riding on the wagon out to the orchards to find our apples!

We had to climb through several rows of trees to find our Jonathan apples.

Eliana wasn't too sure about the tall grasses everywhere but she loved the idea of eating apples! The farmer who drove the tractor pulling the wagon encouraged us all to pick some apples and eat them to make sure we liked what we were buying. He didn't hear any arguments!

Zakkai and Samuel were the offical bag holders:)

Enjoying her first apple!

Ben and his pensive deep apple thoughts:)

 The girls:)

All 3 of my guys making some delicious finds!

We get Jonathans and Jonagolds every single year. They sure make delicious pies!! And applesauce, apple pancakes, applebutter.....pretty much anything;)

Ben found the most enormous apple ever and quickly claimed it as his "test" apple for the Jonagolds. This apple was practically the size of a small child it was so big! It seriously took him a good 10-15 minutes to eat it and he was full after he was done!

He's very proud of his apple:)

Our 3 apple picking pros enjoying their 2nd or was it 3rd apples of the day?

Check back tomorrow for a very awesome new addition to our house, given to us by a beloved friend. Be prepared to be amazed....

His Brain.

 We have a son with a highly sophisticated, mysterious, interesting brain. His name is Zakkai, in case you hadn't guessed.

We don't understand most of the ways in which his mysterious brain works. We don't understand why he doesn't hear half of what we say or why he says the things he does, why he hangs hoola hoops on the bathroom wall with toothbrushes or things like that.

We do know that he is fearfully and wonderfully made! But boy, I wish we could have a glimpse inside that little boy's mind. Must be exciting!

Here is this week's glimpse into Zakkai's brain....

I came in to tuck Z into bed and this is what I saw. "Zakkai," I said, "where do you get these ideas??!!"

He chuckled in his strange little way and said, "I don't know. They're just in my mind and they just dig their way out!"

He sure keeps us on our toes, that one!

p.s. I should have clarified yesterday~it was mostly the umbrella ricocheting off the tree rather than Z's body. Didn't want you to think I was laughing hysterically at my son's misfortune!

Thursday Headlines.

*Local Kindergartner Runs into Tree While Holding Umbrella. No injuries. Mother laughs hysterically.


Tonight in the suburbs of Chicago, a young boy, regularly known for his fascination with all things mechanical, became obsessed with opening and closing the family umbrella while on a walk home and ran into a tree. His mother, in between fits of laughter, describes the scene in detail.

"It was absolutely hysterical. Don't get me wrong, I made sure he wasn't hurt before I bent in half laughing. He was so focused on the umbrella that he failed to notice the huge tree coming up next to him and he ricocheted off of it. He was smiling before he even fully realized what happened!"

The newly minted kindergartner regularly makes his family laugh with his zest for life and "zany" personality.


Household Toddler Finds New Obsession With Umbrellas.

Last year at this time, young Eliana Thomas was terrified of umbrellas, crying hysterically if she happened to be near or under an open one. This year, however, the story has changed.

With the threat of rain eminent throughout the day and several walks to and from school ahead of them, the family umbrella traveled to school all day. Eliana dissolved into tears this afternoon upon being told she could not hold the twice-her-size umbrella on the way to pick up her brothers. Her mother compromised with a dainty pink prop umbrella she happened to have lying around from a recent baby shower.

Heidi shares her thoughts, "I knew we would look awfully silly walking along in the stroller with a lacy pink umbrella being twirled around in my daughter's hands but I was willing to take the chance to keep her happy and avoid a tantrum. Sometimes you've gotta do what you've gotta do!"

Heidi's tactics worked and stares aside, Eliana was quite content on their afternoon stroll. The only problem? She bent the prob umbrella and has now decided she needs to carry one around with her at all times. Her mother is considering adding a small umbrella to the toddler's upcoming birthday wish list.


7 Year Old Samuel Thomas Enjoys Back to School Picnic.

This year's annual school welcome picnic fell on Chicago's coldest fall day so far. Rain was forcasted during the local picnic but 7 year old Samuel Thomas didn't care.

"He was so excited to be able to go and have extra time to play with friends. I admit it wasn't my first choice to go but I promised him that if it wasn't raining we would try to go."

Samuel's wish came true and the rain held off until close to the end of the school get together. He scarfed down his dinner as fast as he could without choking, despite many motherly warnings, in hopes that they could leave sooner. He and his brother ran almost the entire way to school and disappeared quickly into the throng, ready to play with friends old and new.

Underneath sweatshirts and jackets, kids from grades 1st -6th were all sporting their school spirit shirts. Each grade has it's own color, which follows them all the way through their elementary years.

Samuel was proud to wear his green spirit shirt tonight.

Miss Thang, Teeth and other stories.

Samuel's feeling a bit lighter tonight because he's once again toothless! That's right, #2 came out this afternoon and now he has the perfect space for a straw:)

He must've felt a little pressure since his good buddy, Danny, lost his front tooth last night and so he did a little, or a lot of wiggling in school today and after school he came running up to me and said, "My tooth is SO wiggly! I can wiggle back and forth and sideways, too!"

And so, he very kindly offered me ONE chance to pull it out today. He's a little gunshy after the last tooth-pulling episode. After he finished his homework and was at the sink washing something out, I came over and used his shirt and with barely any pulling, it was out!

I don't think anymore will come out for awhile and I promise not to document them all but he's awfully cute with some missing teeth:)

Here is Z-man enjoying a drumstick this weekend. Ben said, "He used to be so photogenic...." Hard to tell with his recent goof-ball pictures:) He is really enjoying his foray into reading and also showing some mad math skills! He was asking Samuel to give him some math problems this weekend and his stinker of a brother said, "Hmmmm.. What's 300 plus 300?"

I asked him to start a little smaller;) And during our story tonight, Zakkai sat back with a frown and a big sigh mid-chapter and when I looked at him, he said forlornly, "I wish I could read."

So fun to see him really wanting to learn!

Samuel cracks himself up every time he looks at this picture:)

Eliana practiced some stroller-walking this weekend but you may not be able to tell from this picture what is so special about her walk.

Hmmm.....let's look at a close-up....

Oh, that's right! She was strolling along in her Cabbage Patch Doll's shoes! Oh, she is so silly!!

She had such an off day today. She and I ran out to do some grocery shopping this morning and she did great until the last 10 minutes, when she decided to have a very loud, tears-rolling-down-the-face meltdown. Because she wanted me to carry her.

Which, if you've ever pushed a cart full of groceries, you would know is not an easy thing to do. She cried through check-out and was quickly pacified by a piece of a bagel:)

Then she and I rushed home, put away the cold stuff and went out to the library for her first storytime! She also cried there when we first walked in the story room but by the end was shaking tamborines and shakers and having a pretty good time.

During her happy period this afternoon, she showed off some pretty cool dance moves, which I just happened to catch on video for you. Don't you feel special?!

*Disclaimer: please ignore the messy kitchen. I was in the process of cleaning it when I decided Miss Thang's dance moves were more important:)

Also, I rotated the video to be right side up but it's refusing to show up that way! I know sideways videos stink and I'm sorry!

A Conversation.

Here's a conversation I just had with Zakkai as I tucked him in bed.

Z~ "Mommy, I need to tell you something. Like, Samuel, like, won't let me, like-"

Me~ "Whoa, whoa. Hey, Zakkai, why are you saying 'like' so many times? Try again so I can understand what you are saying."

Z~"Well, Mommy, like, Samuel, like, won't, like, let me-"

Me~"Zakkai, I can't understand what you are saying! Why are you saying 'like' so may times?!"

Z~ "Mommy, I have to! I can't stop saying it!"

Me~"But, Zakkai, you just said a whole sentence without saying it!"

Z, quiet for a few seconds.~"Well, I have to say like for that sentence. I can't help it!"

Me~"Why don't you try again and try really hard not to say like. I know you can do it!"

Z~pause "Mommy......Samuel, L-, Samuel won't let.....Samuel won't let me, li-, won't let me play with his toys."

Me~"You did it!!! Now why won't Samuel share his toys..."

Haha. Such a funny boy! He was getting so frustrated trying to not say "like" in his sentence but he was still able to laugh and try hard:)

Why do we say "like" so much??

Half Birthday!

 Poor Zakkai got the birthday shaft this year due to my unfortunate foot business. I had my surgery 4 days before Ben's birthday (so that would mean he got the shaft, too....) and 10 before Zakkai's. On his actual birthday, we were traveling back to Ohio with my mom to be taken care of for a couple of weeks.

I have felt so bad all this time that he never got a party or a cake or anything special! So we promised him we would celebrate his half birthday this year. Unfortunately, the half birthday came the day before school started and we've been SO busy since then.

BUT. We finally got the chance to make our Z-man feel special today! After all, FIVE is a big birthday and deserves a celebration.

Or 5 1/2:)

We took him to the Rainforest Cafe today after church for a special lunch. We'd heard about it from friends and it seemed like a fun way to celebrate Zakkai. You are basically eating in a jungle! You are surrounded by big fake trees with animals in them, huge fish tanks with amazingly colorful fish and every 10 minutes or so the jungle comes "alive" and the animals move and make their noises.

It totally freaked Eliana out and even Samuel the first time. We never in a million years could have gone there with S when he was younger. I would definitely not recommend it for a sensitive child. Or someone with a headache:)

Hard to see in this picture but there is a giant Gorilla surrounded by trees. He was right across from our table.

I didn't have the camera with me and had to make do with crappy cell phone pics so I had to retake Z's picture like 5 times because he was making the cheesiest faces ever.

This was the best out of the bunch:)

We let him pick out a small lego set and he even got a drumstick after dinner! It was worth every hard-earned penny to make this little boy feel special for a day.

I can only hope he won't be in counseling someday over his neglected birthday:)

Because it's Fall.

Fall, in case you didn't know, is my very favorite season. Hands down. Today felt like the first fall day of the year: low 70s, windows open, wearing jeans, watching football (okay, okay, having it on in the background...), quilting AND......

Making apple pie.

Pretty much everything is in a new light and seems fresher and newer and more wonderful.

Just because it's fall:)

Cool Little Miss.

 Busy day around here! I was very productive this morning, which is always a good feeling! I've had so many headaches lately that it's been tough to want to keep up with housework but I've started a new chart system that I'll share below that's helping me!

Eliana is being spoiled rotten by all the one-on-one attention! She especially loves the days that Daddy works from home and barely lets him out of her sight. She does all sorts of silly things to make us laugh and constantly asks us to "watch." Hope we're not turning her into a narcissist...

One funny thing she has been into lately is carrying around bags and filling them with treasures! She walks all around the house with lunchboxes, bags or her little purse. This is a glimpse of her most recent treasure bag:)

Shoes, her brother's hat, her cup, Mr Potato head pieces, applesauce.....I even think my missing sunglasses might be in there:)

I tossed out our old chore chart from last year and made up a new one, based off of what was/wasn't working. There are certain days that I really don't like doing certain chores so I switched some around. Mopping, for instance! Who wants to start out their Monday mopping floors?!

Not me. I also added more things for the boys like unloading the dishwasher and helping clear/wipe off the table after dinner. It's good for them to have more responsibility! Of course, you may notice that Daddy gets away with very few chores. He does work hard at his job and working on his dissertation so he gets a little slack.

For now:)

So to help me keep up with things, each morning I write out the day's chores on my dry erase board so it's easy to remember and check off! It's really helping me keep up with things I'd rather neglect. And helping me remember to keep the boys busy and contributing.

There is so much to be done around here constantly and it's hard for one person to keep up with! I find myself thinking it seems to be so easy for other people to keep their houses so perfectly spic and span and what is wrong with me?? But, I don't have a play room so my living room is filled with kid's stuff and I have a LOT of helping undoing the the cleaning:)

But I won't mention any names.

All I know is, I try hard and I shouldn't compare myself to other people! I'm sure your houses are messy, too, sometimes, right?

Is that wrong of me to hope so?

New skills and attack of the man-eating gallbladder.

 I am really confused about what day it is this week because of the holiday on Monday! It seems so strange to me that's it's already almost Thursday. It could also be from the lack of sleep I had last night.

My poor husband suffered from another, and the worst yet, gallbladder attack in the middle of the night:( I cannot even tell you how scary it was to watch him go through it and to feel so helpless, when all I wanted to do was take away his pain. When the very worst of it had peaked and he was laying on the living room floor, trying to breathe, I just sat and rubbed his back for at least 30 minutes straight. It was the only thing I could think to do to comfort him. Watching your loved one go through pain like that is absolutely heart-wrenching!

I had a glimpse of what it was like for him to watch me go through labor! Thankfully, after a day of rest today, he is feeling better, although not 100%. And I caught a minor stomach bug and felt ick but am mostly feeling better now. Some homemade chicken and noodle soup brought some healing to us tonight:)

Eliana just loves her family so much! She talks to me each day about which family member is where. "Sayuel? Kai? 'cool." (school). "Dada? Home." or "Dada? Work." She really loves when we're all back together and she can interact with all of us, showing us her new tricks or just being silly.

She and I spent a good chunk of time at the library this morning. She looked at books, watched the fish, pulled books off shelves and watched some of the other toddlers there play. We also signed up for Story Time, starting next week, so we can have a fun little thing to do together:)

My wild Kindergartner that makes my hair turn gray, is learning to read!! He came home from school with a little book they had made and read it to us. Then he picked up a board book in the car when we were running an errand and started reading it and sounding out words! So last night Ben sat down with him and helped him read on of E's books.

He now wants to make flash cards and copy down the stories. He spent a really long time yesterday and today before dinner, copying down the pages in another book and loves to show me what he has written. So fun to see him learning so quickly!

He's really proud of himself:) This is the confidence I have really been hoping and praying he would gain this year!

I also thought I would share a bit of Zakkai's brain with you. Instead of brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed , Zakkai has to make a few detours. Which may possibly be incredibly aggravating!

However, when I walked into the bathroom after getting them settled in tonight, this made me burst into laughter!

This kid is totally going to be an engineer or mechanic of some sort someday. And I can say it all started here.....

Eliana's been working on a new skill and finally is getting her feet off the ground a bit! Enjoy.