Ali, holidays, and school, oh my!

So it's been a while since I’ve blogged. A lot has happened. I put up a semi-recent picture. I might change it again soon. But I don't know.

Ali is doing great. She's just growing and developing so quickly. She still can't crawl yet. She's getting so close. I seriously think she would be crawling by now if she was actually set down more often. Lol. There's always someone who wants to hold her. But she's working on it. She can sit up,and clap, and she loves being the center of attention. A few days ago, she got herself from on her knees into a sitting position all by herself so when people noticed and started clapping and cheering, she started clapping too. So cute. She also loves to play peek-a-boo. I think she's teething and she's been teething for a while, but nothing has popped up yet. She started eating baby food and for a while she would finish the 4 ounce jars, but now she's not so interested. She likes bread and cheerios. I usually share whatever I’m eating with her. I haven't given her a food that she doesn't like. She is not sleeping through the night. Which is very frustrating. She wakes up like every two-three hours and sometimes more often than that. A few nights ago was a miracle and she only woke up at 3:30 and 6:30 and then got up for good at about 8:30. That was a good night. I am hoping and praying that it will continue to be that good.

Ali sitting up.

I am actually all signed up for classes for January. School starts in less than two weeks. AHHH!! I’m kind of freaking out. I'm only taking two classes. English and math. I'll be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm taking an institute class at 9 AM and then I have my math class a little later and my English class a little while after that. So I’ll be in school from 9- about 3:45. But that's okay. My mom will have Ali while I’m gone.

So, I know it's super late, but I haven't written about Halloween or Thanksgiving. So for Halloween, we didn't do much. We went to the ward Halloween party, and I put Ali in a pea “costume.” She was so cute. But for Halloween night, we stayed home. I didn't want to take her out into the cold when she doesn't even want the candy anyway. But it was nice. I stayed home with my mom and dad and my dad passed out candy (we hardly had ANY trick-or-treaters!) and me and my mom played on the Wii.

Her in her pea "costume"

Thanksgiving was also very nice. Just a normal day only with lots of food. Lol. My dad did the turkey as always, and me, Shanna, and Ericka did the rest of the food. But it was nice. Ali got some mashed potatoes and she liked them. Overall, it was just a very good and delicious day.

Christmas. Oh my goodness. So my family was kind of worried because we were tight on money. Well, a couple of weeks before Christmas, we had a knock at the door at like 10:00 at night, and there was an envelope with a card and a Wal-Mart gift card. So that was our Christmas. Even though it wasn't as big as some other years, it was still really nice. I also have a friend who I worked with at Wal-Mart who bought some stuff for Ali and gave me a Wal-Mart gift card...just because. She's seriously one of the most amazing women I know. Anyway, so Christmas was very fun. I loved watching Ali open her presents. She was more interested in the wrapping paper, though. I got some things I was hoping for, and Ali got some fun things, too. She loves the toy I got her. She also got a glow worm, a book, lots of fun clothes, a cute purple dress, and a couple of other things. Overall, it was a great Christmas.

She really ws more interested in the wrapping paper.

She's getting to an age where I feel like I have more freedom. I feel like I can get more done in the day because she can entertain herself for a little while at a time. I love it. She's getting so big. She's just my little bundle of joy.

So that's pretty much it in my life. I'm going to be at the Paulsen's house for new year's eve. That will be fun. It's like a tradition now. We started it a few years ago and we just have a little get together every year now. Just play games, have fun food, drink sparkling cider, etc. It's really fun and I’m looking forward to that. I hope everyone has been having great, safe holidays.