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Alayna ALWAYS frowns when she realizes you're going to take her picture, then when Amanda, her mother, says, "Smile, Alayna, smile." She gives you the biggest sweetest grin! She's quite a girl -- bouncy, strong, loyal to her brother, head strong, mannerly, and a go-getter.
4th of July was simple; it was fun, and they all left late and happy. After the grilling and eating, and the kids playing in the wading pools we went to the wood pile at the barn where we pulled out some brush to build a very small bonfire to roast marshmallows and make s'mores. We sat in lawn chairs and on the tailgates while kids sat in a red cloth-sided wagon. Later they got free to sit on a blanket to play with Piper the cat and some ants, chuckle.
Oh, oh, oh, and Alayna, the 2 y.o. was the high-point of the evening -- she crawled in the truckbed behind our backs and ate ALL of the remaining Hershey chocolate squares! Oh, my lands, was her face covered in chocolate goo!
And that was our 4th, no fireworks, but we still had sparks -- "ew, ah".
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The oldest and his family stayed way past John's bedtime. He had to get up early to go to school and take the kids, too. He's a bus driver, you know, LOL.
Anyway, I digress, back to Rusty's family staying late. It wasn't the parents fault. We couldn't find the treasured sippy cup. We looked and looked. Upstairs. Downstairs. Back bedrooms. Under tables. In the toy corner. In the diaper bag. In the sink, "Did she toss it up and over and we not hear the clank?" Exhausted, we all stood still looking at each with wide eyes of "I can't imagine" and shrugging shoulders. Then I spied it. The cloth was a little bulged and the green top of the sippy cup was peeking at me. Since it was child high, she must've walked by and just dropped it in -- in the pocket of the armrest remote control caddy!
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Alayna came to stay for a couple-three hours -- she's no problem. This bouncy girl entertains herself. She found John's stash of sun catchers. He keeps a couple during each season on the dash of his bus then gives them away. As a group Alayna would move them from room to room upstairs.
Mostly, they are people like Scarecrow, Mummy, Hawaiin Hulu Girl, Snowman, Santa Claus, Cupid, but today they became something else, she made them "ribbit-ribbit" and hop over each other. Ne'er was there a frog in the bunch!
The photo is of the next morning. The first thing I saw was five of those sun catchers all lined up at the foot of my bed! Too funny; I didn't see her put them there.
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Another time we babysat, she gobbled a bowl of spaghetti while pretending she's a hungry hippo, she got read 2 story books, and then John brought her to me, "I don't know what she's doing. She's limp, not talking, and just stares." Well, he's a right to be concerned 'cause she's known to have after affects of her mom being on meth while pregnant. But...with a smile I said, "John, she's just sleepy." And no sooner did he drop her in my lap but she conked off. She slept on our bed for an hour. Amazing. She trusts us.
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Let's end with another Alayna and ducks story. Poor Alayna, outsmarted and tired, she just stands and pants. She saw the ducks in the pond. Ran up to one end "I getta duck!" The duck spies her and furiously swims to the opposite end. They reach the same point at the same time, not to be caught, the duck jumps up, does a 180, jumps back in and furiously swins to where he started. LOL, so fun to watch!
And now, we end where we started, "Gasp, gasp!"
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