American Girl

The weekend before Thanksgiving we made a very special trip to Dallas.  Nomi and Popi got Alex her 2nd American Girl doll.  It is actually her Christmas gift, but we all wanted to be there when she experienced the store instead of just having her open it Christmas morning.  She got Bitty Baby when she was just a few months old, but this time she got to pick out whatever doll she wanted.  She looked at the catalog for months and was torn between McKenna and Caroline.  A few days before we went, she decided on McKenna.  I think she picked McKenna because she has a dog named Cooper too!

 

When Alex was younger we took her to the store in LA but she obviously doesn't remember it.  I thought she would be excited to look at everything the store had to offer, but nope, she picked up her doll and immediately asked to pay and leave.  We made her walk around some and point out other things she wanted so we could tell Santa.  She asked about every 2 minutes to leave.  It was like pulling teeth to get her to pick out a second outfit for her doll.  I'm sure our next experience will be completely different. 

 

Alex LOVES McKenna.  She changes her clothes every single day and makes sure she is sleeping in a little bed right next to her at night. 

Iphone Dump

I don't know how it happens, but I clear my pics off my phone at least once a month and before I know it, all of my memory is full again because I take so many random pics throughout the day.  Here is a small dump of some of my favorite pics!

 

Josh works in Houston now.  Over an hour from home.  There were talks of moving to Houston, but we decided at this time, it's not the right thing for us.  There are too many things we love about College Station.  Yep, I said it, we love College Station.  If you would have asked me after living here for a year, I would have never thought those word would come out of my mouth.  I love that we have a small town feel, but it's not really a small town.  We are close enough to Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas that we could easily drive there in a couple of hours.  My girl has a life here, her friends are here, our friends are here, our lives are here.  My sweet husband decided he didn't want to go most of the week without seeing his girls so he gets up while most people are still sleeping so he can leave the house by 5:30 or so each morning.  On a normal day, he leaves the office by 4ish and his home by 5:30 so he still has his evenings with us.  I will never be able to express to him how much I appreciate what he does for us.  Some nights, he gets stuck in meetings or has dinners or team activities so he doesn't get home until after Alex is asleep.  Those nights, I let Alex sleep on the couch until he can get home to carry her to bed.  One night she slept on me while we waited for Josh.  I love my sweet little sleeping angel!

 ok, this one is totally random.  Have you ever had a Honeycrisp apple?  If not, get yourself to the store and get one.  They are the best apples ever.  They are only in season for a few weeks of the year.  When they are in season, we like to cut one up for dessert after dinner.  Healthy dessert, yes please!

 My girl enjoying her apple!  This was a weird night for us.  We had an early bird dinner.  Josh was out of town and Alex and I were starving for dinner at 5 so we ate!  Then shared an apple!

 Alex has such a say in what she wears now.  She rarely goes a day without wearing something purple.  Her teacher actually asked me this morning if she has a closet full of purple.  Why, yes she does!  The girl knows what she likes!  She loves boots.  I found her these adorable purple suede boots.  A match made in heaven...even if they don't match her outfit!

 Poor Cooper, he puts up with so much.  Alex thinks its hilarious when we put things on him, like her sunglasses!  He just sits there and goes along with it.  I LOVE these sunglasses.  We were at Nordstrom one day.  Alex and Josh were walking around while I tried stuff on.  Next thing I knew, Alex was carrying a shopping bag with her new purple sunglasses she just had to have!  My child needed another pair of sunglasses like she needs a hole in the head.  She is up to 10 pairs now that she wears on a regular basis.  Sunglass hoarder!

 Dance is back in full swing.  At the end of each class they get a sucker.  My child always has to pick bright then insist on me taking her picture of her tongue!  It's turned into a game, we send a pic to Josh and he guesses the flavor.  Yes, we are crazy sometimes!

The Great Pumpkin Patch Express

Josh and I took a little trip last week.  We spent Wednesday walking around Round Top, then Thursday in San Marcos and Wimberly.  Josh's parents stayed with Alex, then took her to their house for the weekend.  We lined up a special surprise for Alex on Saturday.  My girl LOVES Snoopy and trains so we took her for a ride on the Texas State Railroad on a Peanuts themed ride.  The kids were encouraged to dress up so Alex used last years Belle costume.  It was so much fun!  We started the ride in Rusk.  We were able to walk around the depot until the engineer called, "all aboard!"

 

 My girl picked out a super cute pink engineers hat at the gift shop.  She proudly carried our tickets around until it was time to board.

 On the train ride to the pumpkin patch, they handed out bags and crayons so the kids could decorate their bags to use for trick or treating when they arrived.  As soon as we got there, she spotted Snoopy and took off to see him!

 A huge hug for Snoopy!

 The entire set up was great.  They had the pumpkin patch where everyone got to pick a pumpkin, a street front so the kids could trick or treat.  They also had carnival type games set up for the kids, a petting zoo, slide, bounce house, hay ride, a stage with a guy singing kids songs and a food vendor.

 Alex and Josh picked the perfect pumpkin then we took a hay ride.

 On the train ride back, they handed out foam sticker kits to use to decorate the pumpkins.  Then Alex turned the camera on us.  She loves taking pictures!

The ride was so great, Alex is already asking to go back next year.  The Texas State Railroad has several themed rides (a Peanuts Halloween, Easter and Valentines ride along with a Polar Express ride and all the regular excursions).  I have a feeling there will be many more train rides in our future!

First Week

 

 

One week (technically 3 days) of Pre-K down.  Drop off each day was a little emotional for Alex.  She was a little clingy and wanted me to walk into class with her while she put her stuff away, but thankfully, her class assistant, Ms. Susan was WONDERFUL and paid special attention to Alex while I said good bye and walked out of the class. 

 

I know she loves being there, she just doesn't like being away from me.  My sweet girl!  She is starting to make new friends and is already talking about them.  She has also been so excited to see her old class mates on the playground.  I LOVE hearing about her days.  After the first day, I took her out for a milkshake so we could just sit and talk about her day.  I think it may start being a new first day of school tradition for us.  She was so cute just talking and talking about her day! 

 

I can tell her first week wore her out.  Last night she asked to go to sleep a little before 8.  My kid never ask to go to sleep.  It didn't help that yesterday was a super busy day for her.  We left the house a little before 9, had an hour break at home from 3:30-4:30, then left again until after 7.

 

I am so excited for her school year.  We already LOVE her teachers!

First Day of Pre K

Alexandra started Pre K today!  I thought I was ready, but last night I realized our summer together was over and I got so sad.  We had such a great summer and now as I sit here in the empty house, it seems so quiet. 

She woke up so excited about school which made drop off a little easier.  Josh took the morning off so he could be there for first drop off.  She was ready half an hour early!  She will go to school 4 days a week this year!  We have a super busy weekly schedule lined up, but I know keeping her busy will help prepare her for a longer kindergarten day next year.  In addition to pre school Monday-Thursday (9am-1:30) she will stay an extra hour for "stay and play" on Tuesdays.  She begged to stay the second half of school last year so we told her she could stay this year.  But because she has a busy schedule, we are only doing it one day a week.  Wednesdays she will go straight from school to dance at 2:00, a little break, then pre cheer at 5:15.  Thursday she has gymnastics at 4:15.  We have Fridays completely open!

Just for memory sake, a few things about Alexandra...
She has been very adamant, she wants to go by Alexandra at school
She LOVES purple...so much that her new school clothes are all purple!
She is very vocal about what she gets for lunch.  We made a special trip to the grocery store where she got to pick out things for her lunch.  (she picked pineapple, cantaloupe, oranges, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, hummus, pita chips, green veggie chips, turkey, cheese sticks, gold fish shaped bread and black olives)
entering pre-k she knows all of her letters, upper and lower case, she can count to 100, she has some sight words memorized, she can spell and write her name and she can sound out many words to write them herself.

She has one friend from last year in her class so I am so excited that she gets to make new friends, but still see her other friends on the play ground.  I can not believe my girl is already 4 years and in pre-k.  Wasn't she just a little baby in my arms the other day?

Q & A

Sunday night Josh and I had a q&a with Alex.  It was her last night at a 3 year old!

Q: Name
A: Alexandra Rae

Q: favorite food
A: chicken nuggets

Q: favorite movie
A: Lion King

Q: favorite restaurant
A: Chickfila

Q: favorite TV show
A: Doc McStuffins

Q: favorite baby
A: baby Stoney

Q: favorite dessert
A: pie...strawberry (for the record, she has never had strawberry pie!)

Q: favorite thing to do
A: play games...CandyLand

Q: what are you scared of?
A: the loud parts in movies, that's all, I cover my ears

Q: favorite place to go
A: Toys R Us

Q: what do you want to be when you grow up?
A: a hair stylist

Q: will you have children
A: yes, 2, a boy and a girl.  The pink one will be named Lolli and the blue one will be named Baby Coopie

Q: will you have a pet?
A: yes, a pink dog named Bow

Q: what food do you dislike?
A: potatoes

Q: favorite book
A: Not a Box

Q: favorite song
A: Hallelujah (Rufus Wainright)

Q: Who is your best friend?
A: hmmm, let me "fink" about that, Kate!  I was just "finking" about it and I came up with an idea

Q: What makes you laugh?
A: something funny, like when Snoopy dances (on an IPad game)

Q: What makes you cry?
A: when I get in trouble and I go to my chair then I snuggle baby Cooper and it makes me happy!

Q: What do you like for breakfast?
A: oranges, pineapple and apples.  I don't like eggs.

Happy 4th Birthday

Alex,

I was going to say something about how I can't believe you're four...but the more I thought about it, I can't believe just how much you seem both so much older and yet still just a baby to me.

You amaze me every day with how smart you are. You have a boundless energy and a sweet innocence that has made me look at my own life so much differently. You've made me complete and even though I have to leave you tucked in bed every weekday morning, you are somehow always with me.

Always know that I love you and that you are the very thing that makes me whole. You and your mommy are truly all I will ever need in this life to be happy. I will give my everything every day to make sure you both have everything you need and so that you never have to worry.

Never stop smiling, never stop laughing...and believe in your imagination.

I love you Alexandra.

XOXO Daddy


Alexandra,

I can not believe you are already 4 years old! I feel like I was just getting your nursery ready yesterday. My baby, you make me so proud every single day. You are so funny, amazingly smart and absolutely beautiful. I cherish every single day I get to spend with you.

Tinksie, I hope one day you will understand how deep my love for you is. You are a part of my heart and soul. I am so proud to have the honor of being your mommy. I love you more than you will ever know.

I love you forever and always,
Mommy 

4th Birthday Party!

We celebrated Alex's birthday early this year!  Anyone who knows me, knows I start planning Alex's birthday about 6 months out!  This year Alex didn't really have much of an opinion other than she wanted it to be purple.  I threw the idea of a movie party out there and she LOVED it.  Since Brave was coming out a few weeks before her birthday, we decided to have her party early (on opening weekend)!  Instead of going with a Brave theme, we did purple, purple and more purple!  The theater was fantastic and handled everything!  All we had to do was show up with cake or cupcakes.  Of course, because Alex wanted purple, I picked up our own paper goods, but they would have provided them if I wanted.  We had pizza and cupcakes then got to see the movie.  My favorite part was the manager reserved 2 great rows in the theater for Alex's party!  We walked in right before the movie started and took our seats!  During the party they took drink and icee orders from the kids and delivered kids packs with popcorn, drinks and graham crackers as soon as they were seated!



the birthday banner I made!

 silly girl coyping one of the triplets!

 happy girl with her cupcakes!

I would totally do a movie party again!  In fact, Monsters University and the second Despicable Me come out around Alex's birthday next year! 

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day.  I woke up early and Alex and I made stuffed french toast for breakfast!  Considering I didn't follow a recipe I think it turned out pretty good! 

Then we got ready and drove to Cedar Park so we could ride the Father's Day Flyer on the Austin Steam Train.  We rode it several months ago but Josh and Alex wanted to ride it again on a different car.  I knew it would be a fun Father's Day activity so the second I got an email about the Father's Day Ride, I booked our compartment!  We rode in a private compartment on the City of Chicago pullman car.  It is so much fun having a private compartment because Alex can move around all she wants and we can just relax!  We had a yummy lunch and dessert.  It was so much fun!  My girl shares her Daddy's love for trains!

Josh and Alex heading to our compartment

Alex took so many pics of us while we were on the train.  She actually did a pretty good job!

 Daddy and daughter with huge smiles!

 my girl!

 Josh and Alex after the ride.  The car we rode in was BEAUTIFUL!

It was such a fun day!  We are already talking about our next ride!  Next time we will probably do a ride out of Rusk...either the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown in October or Polar Express in December!

Weekend at the Lake

Thursday Josh headed to the coast for a fishing trip with the guys.  Since he was going to be gone for 3 nights, Alex, Cooper and I headed to my parents.  It ended up working out perfect.  I spent most of the week getting sick so it was great to be at my parents so I could rest and Alex could still have all the attention she wanted!  We had so much fun while we were there.  It was nice to sit back and watch Alex interact so much with my parents.

One of mom's friends has baby turkeys so he brought them over for Alex to see.  She held one for about 3 seconds then was happy just petting them.

 This pretty much described me over the weekend, no make up and glasses.  I'm still not feeling 100%, but much better.  I think I just had a killer sinus infection.

 Alex spent time swinging while singing Gloria.

 We put dirt in a jar for rollie pollies.  She added flowers and grass too!

 We spent tons of time in Alex's garden.

 My parents have spent so much time working on Alex's garden.  It is soo cute.  They have tons of plants, a little pebble walk way, lots of little decorative things and a sitting area.  Alex spent part of the morning dead heading plants and planting the seeds.  The garden is going to be over run with flowers before we know it!

 Alex and Popi spent time playing "baseball" with a ball scoop thing.  It took her a few tries to make contact, but once she did, she didn't want to stop playing.

Once she would hit the ball, she would drop the scoop and run the make believe bases.  Basically, she would just run around the yard and then head towards mom for a high five!

 Then of course a victory dance!

 All the "baseball" worked up an appetite so we had a picnic.

 Alex's favorite berry of the season...raspberries!

 One of Alex's favorite things to do is help Nomi water plants.  This particular watering session turned into my child running around without a stitch of clothing on in the water!

 Saturday night we ate dinner outside then roasted marshmallows!

 Can't forget this sweet boy!  He loves being at Nomi and Popi's!

 One of the best parts of being at Nomi and Popi's...sharing a room with my girl and waking up to this sweet face!  Her room has 2 beds in it and she insist I sleep in there with her instead of my room. :)

The hardest part of the weekend was missing this boy.  My parents lost their beloved Stoney on Memorial Day.  There was a freak accident he was unable to recover from.  It was such a sad day for our entire family.  Stoney was such a sweet protector of everyone, especially the kids in the family.  We waited a week to tell Alex about it because Josh and I needed time before we could work up the strength to talk about the death of a pet with her.  Last Sunday we talked to her about Stoney and read her a book called "Dog Heaven."  She mainly listened as we talked about how happy Stoney was in heaven.  It broke our hearts when she asked when he was coming home and we had to tell her he wasn't.  My sweet girl started sobbing.  She has spent a little more time with her stuffed dog we named Baby Stoney a few weeks before he died.  While we were at my parents Alex was making up nicknames for everyone and she said Stoney needed one in heaven.  I teared up and she looked at me with the sweetest face and said, "Mommy, don't be sad.  Stoney is in heaven and he is happy."  My girl always knows just what to say.

Destin

Please, don't faint...yes, I am blogging two days in a row.  Over Cinco de Mayo we went to Destin for a family wedding.  Our entire family had soo much fun!
We started our trip on a Wednesday, by driving to my parents.  On our way, we made a stop to drop Cooper off with my in laws so were so great to watch Cooper for 11 days!  I know Coopie loves his grandma and grandpa time!

Everyone woke up early Thursday to get on the road.  Alex was the most excited because I had all sorts of new car friendly activities to keep her entertained.  The biggest hits were Crayola Color Explosion markers, a magnetic Tic Tac Toe set and new apps on the iPad.  She did amazing in the car for the drive.  We stopped twice to eat and a few times for potty breaks.  She never fussed and slept for about 30 minutes.  Mom and I tried to sleep, but every time we'd fall asleep, Alex would poke us.

We spent Friday on the beach.  The day started off overcast, but cleared up after a couple of hours.  There were jellyfish everywhere so Alex was very timid about going to the water.  She finally gave in and had a blast.  She spent most of the time making sand castles.

my silly girl dancing on the beach

That evening we went to the rehearsal dinner.  We ate on a covered patio where Alex had a perfect view of the play ground on the beach.  Josh was so great to take Alex to play while I visited with family.

my sweet dad

My cousin, sister to the groom, made the beautiful wedding cake!  Here she is hard at work!

Saturday my mom and I went to Seaside to walk around.  My grandparents, aunt and uncle went as well while Josh, my dad and two other uncles golfed.  We had lunch and did some shopping.  We took a gelato break too!

Alex insisted she wanted Key Lime

after 2 bites she wanted to taste mine then decided she wanted to switch so she ate my blood orange while I ate her Key Lime

me and my girl at the wedding

Daddy and his girl

Michael and his beautiful bride!

Most people who know my girl, knows she will not just fall asleep anywhere.  She rarely sleeps in the car and just doesn't like to miss any of the action.  I think all of the activities finally caught up to her and she crashed on Josh at the wedding reception.  My baby was soo tired.  She even started snoring.

On Sunday my parents and I (along with 9 other friends) went on a jet ski tour to see dolphins.  It was the coolest experience.  We found several groups of dolphins and were able to get right next to them.  We spent 2 hours on jet skis.  Let me tell you, driving a jet ski on the ocean is a totally different experience that driving one on a lake.  My dad and I rode together and he was so sweet to let me drive the whole time.  While we did that, Josh took Alex to the beach.  That evening, Josh and I broke away for a fun afternoon.  His birthday fell on the day we drove back so I wanted to celebrate a little early.  I rented a convertible and we spent the afternoon driving around then went and had dinner.  We headed back to the condo so my parents could go to dinner.  Alex was still awake and hungry so we made her a quick dinner and she ate while we packed.  The next thing I knew she was out like a light with her food still in her hand.

Our drive home was uneventful and Alex was perfect again!  My girl was built for road trips!