Gingerbread Train

Alex and I had big plans to spend an afternoon making gingerbread people cookies...until I realized I didn't have a cookie cutter. We made 2 stops looking for a cookie cutter and had no luck. We did end up finding a gingerbread train set to make instead! Alex was sooo excited about making hers. Since there were 3 parts we each decorated one. I'm pretty sure Alex licked every single piece of candy before it went on her train. She ate just as much as she put on her train. It was such a fun thing to do together!

Dinner/Breakfast with Santa

Yes, I have been totally neglecting the blog. I have good reason. It's this little event called Dinner and Breakfast with Santa. It is the annual fundraiser for Alex's pre school. This is our first year at the school so we have never been to the event...and some how I ended up as the decorations chair. It was fun, stressful and totally worth it! The event happens twice. Once on Friday night at Dinner with Santa and again the next morning as Breakfast with Santa. There are several committees (Decorations, Silent Auction, Food and Arts & Crafts). The past years have had very traditional decor (think red, green, plaid), but this year our Parent Counsel President wanted to change it up to make it more kid friendly and whimsical. We chose the colors red, lime green, hot pink and aqua. Since it was our first year with the theme, we started from scratch with everything! Each event had about 300 people attend so once dinner was over, we had our volunteers clean up and we reset everything for breakfast. Our silent auction had great items, our food was delicious and the kids loved the arts and crafts. We are so lucky to have so many parents who volunteer their time, energy, and resources at Alex's school.

Here are some pics before the event started!

The entrance!

our adorable table settings. I made all of the table numbers and stands, a grandparent that has 5 grandkids at the school made the adorable centerpiece trees that were sold at the end of the event. We sold out of centerpieces!
We also took super cute pictures of each class holding thank you signs we placed on the tables of sponsors.

our stage where the photographer took pics of all the children with Santa. I pretty much created this on the spot with supplies from hobby lobby, trees borrowed from a parent and lots and lots of ribbon, tulle and fabric! It made an adorable back drop for the pictures!

bows and hanging ornaments behind the silent auction tables

the massive kitchen area. we made do with supplies the church had to hide the kitchen equipment!

I am still waiting for the pics with Santa to be posted. Alex did not want to sit with Santa. She opted to pick one of her friend to go with her so they each sat on a knee. It was soo cute! The event took up every spare second I had but it was so worth it to see the finished product and hear all the compliments!

Be on the look out for lots of post now! We have been getting into the Christmas spirit at our house!

Halloween 2011

We had so much fun on Halloween. We spent the evening with the Mikitaroffs again. Their street had a little party. Alex loved seeing Kate and Ella. There was a Disney princess overload, but of course, I thought Alex was the cutest! Once the trick or treating started we had a few issues. Alex feel about 4 times so we had to find safety pins to hem her dress a little, then we were great! She is already looking forward to next year!

Ita and Ito's

We headed to Dallas for the weekend. We drove up Saturday and went straight to my grandparents house. My parents, aunts and uncles were there. Grandma made her yummy enchiladas for lunch and the guys helped work on their storage shed.
Alex was very shy when we first got there. She would barely leave my side.

After she got a little food in her tummy, she opened up a little. It was a beautiful day so we spent most of the afternoon outside. Alex found pecans, watered plants and just played around.

Alex and Popi found a caterpillar. I so proud of my girly girl, she held it!

On our way out, I pointed out a stone to Alex that had Hudson's handprints on it. She put her sweet little hands on his prints, it was soo cute and sweet

Later that night we went to my best friends for a pumpkin carving party. Pumpkins post will come later this week!!

Family Fun Day!

We had such a fun Saturday! Alex has been asking to go bowling so we decided to take her today! She LOVED it! She bowled with bumpers and a ramp...and she beat me...TWICE! Kind of embarrassing, but still fun!




We went to Fudrucker's for lunch and had cookies when we were done. Alex wasn't ready to go home so we went to Toys R Us to look around. I figured it would be a good time to get Christmas ideas! Alex loved trying all the bikes out. She was soo good and never asked for anything until she saw the Calico Critters Manor. She tried picking up the box and said we needed to go pay. I have a feeling this will be on the top of her Christmas list this year! It's perfect because there are soooo many accessories that go with it so we can continue to add to it!



Alex still wasn't ready to go home so we went to Barnes and Noble. We sat and had coffee (and milk) then we played with the train table and read some books!

I love days we get to spend as a family doing fun things!

Round Top

Sorry, I've been in a blah mood about blogging! Last week my mom came for a visit. She came up Wednesday evening. Alex woke up from her nap in a foul mood and didn't even want to know who was here to see her. She buried her head in my shoulder and refused to look up. I turned around so her head was facing my mom. The second she was her, she practically threw herself out of my arms and into my moms. It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen!

Thursday we had a plan. My sweet Josh worked half a day. We all got up and got ready and he was on Alex duty. He took her to school and picked her up while my mom and I went to Round Top. It was very overwhelming because there is sooo much stuff to see. We drove through town taking it all in and making mental notes of placed we wanted to stop. We picked a little outdoor area first. I bought a super cute necklace and adorable hand painted Halloween decor. Mom bought me another piece I absolutely LOVED! Alex loved the witch and named her Blink.

We hopped in the car and drove to another outdoor area where I found a retro looking silver covered cake carrier. I love it, it just needs a little clean up and shine!

We made 2 more stops to eat and shop some more. It was CRAZY hot and we were both getting pretty worn out so we called it a day after a few hours and headed home! It was soo much fun to spend the day shopping with my mom! Josh loved taking Alex to school and has even offered to pick her up from school once a week on his lunch break and bring her home to me. Here are a few pics from our day!

my super cute pumpkin, it is an old heater

Blink the witch, painted on a suitcase

I have no idea why I was soo hot...
maybe it had something to do with the old teddy bear
like coat I insisted on trying on!

crazy stuff...this dragon was about 8 feet tall. I sent Josh a pic and asked if I could get him...
he said no! haha

crazy sequined coronation dress for $3500? I'll pass!

Total Randomness

I have thousands of pictures on my phone. I never take the time to upload them, so here goes!

several weeks ago Alex was running down our driveway and tripped. Her poor knees were bloody! In true Alex dramatic fashion, we had to bandage them up!

I don't even know where we were, but I love this picture! They are soo cute!

Alex loves collies. Every time we go to Hobby Lobby, we have to stop to see the dog statues. The collie always gets a kiss. They are down to one collie statue and she is worried someone will buy it!
She LOVES putting on lip gloss. She walks around with pouty lips for at least 10 minutes after applying gloss!


This is what I get for telling my child to get dressed. She loves to pick out her own clothes, socks and shoes!
She is such a sweet mommy to her babies. Here she is consoling Ariel telling her the mean sea witch won't get her!
Naps are pretty much a thing of the past. She will nap one, maybe two days a week. The other days she has quiet time in her room. She usually pulls every stuffed animal out of her closet!
Slight obsession with bandaids. Sometimes it's just easier to give her the box and let her go to town!
She loves asking how to spell things. Here is our family members names. She would not take any letters from her name to make other names so we have Alex, osh (Josh), jmi (jamie), cpr (Cooper). She is excellent at finding each letter and putting them in order!
Meet Froggy, Alex's new favorite baby. I got to drive around with him buckled in the car seat while Alex was at school one day.
Ice cream following a mommy/daughter date night at Chickfila!
Alex and Froggy waiting for flu shots yesterday.
Sharing a pancake breakfast with her Cooper dog!
Dress up time for Ariel!

The Fall Lineup

I feel like since Alex started school we haven't had a free moment! Since she was going to be in school 3 days a week, I didn't want to over-schedule her so I only signed her up for dance. She goes straight from school to dance on Wednesdays. I figured if it became too much we would see about changing to Monday or dropping dance all together. So far it has been great! Of course as soon as school started she asked about gymnastics too. Our gym typically doesn't have Friday classes, but so many parents from our school asked about it, they added 2 classes. Unfortunately we waited too long and didn't get in the class with all her friends, but that may change in a few weeks. I heard through the parent grapevine one kid may drop out and we are first on the wait list for her spot!

Alex loves her dance studio and the teachers adore her! Last year she was the youngest in her class of 2 year olds, this year she is still the youngest in her class of 3-5 year olds, but you would never know watching her. She can keep up with the older girls. I love that she is in class with a friend from last year and one of her class mates just started too! It is soo cute watching the 3 sweet girls hold hands and giggle together.

In the 3 short weeks Alex has been in school she seems like she has grown up so much. She has sweet little friends she talks about, she sings songs I've never heard, she tells me stories about her days. She has also pretty much stopped napping. I am lucky if she naps 1, maybe 2 days a week. It's kind of nice because instead of napping as soon as she gets home from school, we get to spend time together!

Wild Oak Ranch 2011

As part of our parents Christmas present, we told them we were taking everyone on a family vacation...but they'd have to wait until summer! We took both set of grandparents with us to Wild Oak Ranch in San Antonio. We (Josh, Alex and I) went last year and loved it, but we thought it would be so much fun with the grandparents too! We had 2 connecting room, one with a full kitchen. I spent the week prior planning meals, grocery shopping and packing. Josh worked a half day Thursday and Nomi, Terri and Ray drove to our house. We left soon after Alex got out of school. Once we got to the resort, we had dinner and Josh and I went to the grocery store for the cold stuff. Alex was spoiled rotten with both sets of grandparents there. She even slept in bed with us the first night! Popi met us there on Friday.

It was a perfect vacation for multiple people. We had plenty of room between both rooms and having the kitchen was a life saver because we could cook pretty much every meal there. I LOVE that the kitchen was stocked with all necessary utensils. The only thing I took was an extra pan because I knew cooking so many meals in the room for 7 people would be a little difficult with the 3 pans the hotel provided.

We spent our mornings in the room taking our time with coffee and breakfast. We went to the lazy river for a few hours then went to the room in shifts for lunch so someone could hold our cabana and Alex could get in a nap in the room with someone with her. We had a prime cabana with 6 lounge chairs, shade and a lazy river entrance.

We spent our afternoons floating the river, reading books and napping by the water! It was PERFECT! Friday night was a movie under the stars. They showed Tangled, which is an Alex favorite! Grandma and Nomi liked it too! Saturday night we did dinner at the restaurant on the property then went to the fire pits for smores! I LOVE how kid and family friendly the entire resort is.

I met a really sweet mom who happened to be from Bryan! Crazy small world! Alex also made friends with two boys from Houston. She enlisted them to help her make princess sand castles. They were soo cute with her! We had so much fun and are talking about making this a yearly trip!

Alex getting in a little nap on the way to San Antonio

Nomi, Alex and Grandma post breakfast, playing in the room

Ray and Josh catching up over coffee

Terri and Ray floating the river

Daddy and his girl!

our little river entrance from our cabana!

Josh relaxing!

a little break from floating

our perfect cabana!

Nomi and Popi

me and my sweetie!