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!

First Harvest!

Ok, so maybe not so much a full on harvest, but our first grape tomatoes were ready to pick this morning! The started turning red earlier in the week and Alex asked to go outside and see them about 500 times a day. She's been itching to pick and eat them. We decided today was the day!

We first planted our little grape tomato plant in April. He wasn't very big. Now he's several inches taller than the trellis!

Sweet little hands picking our first tomato!

Daddy and Alex showing off their tomatoes!

Enjoying the first tomato of the season!

Now Josh and Alex can eat a 2 pint container of grape tomatoes in about 3 days. Our little tomato plant looks like it's going to have about 3-4 tomatoes ready at a time. Maybe next year I'll have to plant several grape tomato plants to keep up with the demand!

Date Night

Alex and Josh had a date night on Thursday. It was totally unplanned. I had plans to go to a Mary Kay party and Josh and Alex were just going to hang out. She told me that afternoon that her Daddy was taking her on a date to Chick Fil A then to Red Mango. I mentioned it to Josh and he decided to take her out! She loves her Daddy date nights. I love seeing my two loves enjoying their time together!

Daddy/Daughter Date Night

Alex and Josh had a date night tonight! Alex has been talking about it all week long. She picked out her dress 2 days ago and asked me countless times today if it was clean. They went to Chickfila for a Daddy/Daughter event they were hosting. Alex and Josh had a 6:00 reservation. They had table service with printed menus, flowers and a stuffed cow for each girl and supplies for the Dads to make candy necklaces for the girls. There was a photographer on site taking pics so as soon as she post them, I'll add a few! When their date was over, they picked me up and we went to Red Mango for ice cream!

Valentine's Projects!

Alex has been asking to make crowns lately. In honor of Valentine's Day, we all made Valentine's crowns/headbands today! Since Alex has been on a Mickey kick lately, she covered hers in Mickey Mouse stickers and asked me to write Mickey's Clubhouse, Minnie and Daisy on her hearts! When we were done, we had a dance party! I have to brag about Josh, he knows all the words to the Beauty and the Beast songs since we listen to them about 500x a day! I guess it's part of being the daddy of a girly girl!

Sweet Memories

There are so many nights in our house that revolve around music and I LOVE it! While Alex napped yesterday, I made myself some hot chocolate, wrapped presents and got caught up on a bunch of recorded shows. Before she woke up, I turned the TV off and put on some music. When I went in to get her up, she had a HUGE smile on her face and said, "Mommy, it's the Nutcracker, let's dance!!!" We danced around the living room for a bit, then she curled up on the couch with a few books and looked through them while we listened to Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. When Josh got home, we played, had dinner then danced around the living room while Josh played Christmas carols. Alex can sing along to Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bell Rock, and Last Christmas (you know the cheesy Wham! song?!) In the midst of our dancing and singing and just sat and watched Alex twirl around to the music Josh was playing and knew I wanted to remember that sweet moment forever!

Like Father, Like Daughter

We had a great weekend! I absolutely love my weekends with Josh and Alex!

Saturday afternoon we helped Axel celebrate his first birthday. The funny face glasses were one of the favorite favors!

Adorable

Saturday we went to Josh's company cook off. Josh volunteered to be in the pie throwing booth. He had pies thrown at him for 20 minutes. We missed most of it because Alex decided she had to go to the bathroom. When he was done, I snapped my favorite picture of Josh and Alex. I love that in the middle of all the chaos, all she wanted to go was kiss her Daddy!

I love seeing their sweet little lips puckered up to kiss!

Tea for Three

Last night Josh asked if we had the makings for oatmeal raisin cookies! We did, but only because I had 4 little boxes of raisins for Alex! After dinner we had a little hodge podge tea party. I realized most of Alex's tea set have holes in them where they were tied into packaging so we had to use Christmas mugs, a birthday plate and a Valentine's napkin/table cloth! Alex ate a bite of each cookie, but that was about it. We ended up using 2 little plastic tea cups that came with her kitchen. When we were done with our cookies and milk, she asked Daddy to do rocket with her!

Piano Man

Alex absolutely loves when Josh plays the piano for her. If she is cranky or upset, a little tune can instantly change her mood. Sometimes she dances around the room like a wild child other times she likes to sit on the bench and help him play. I could just sit and watch them play and laugh forever.

Random Pics and Stuff

Alex had her last summer session gymnastics class last week. Her instructor, Miss Summer, is moving so Alex will have a new teacher for the fall. We LOVE Miss Summer. The Fall session actually started this week, but we missed the first class because we were out of town. In addition to gymnastics, Alex starts dance in 2 weeks. It's the only studio in town that has a 2 year old class and there is only one class day/time so we were super excited to get a space! It is a ballet/tap class. We have a welcome orientation tonight!

Helen, Miss Summer and Alex

Last Friday we had 2 couples over for dinner and games. Kate and her parents came so Alex and Kate kept each other entertained. They even got little bowls of ice cream!

Alex is on an apple kick. I usually cut them in slices so when she asked for one, I cut half of it into slices. She threw a fit, took me in the kitchen and pointed to the half that was on the counter. She wanted a whole piece. Since then, she will only eat big apple halves she can bite!

When Alex was sick a few weeks ago, she totally became a Mommy's girl. She wanted nothing to do with Josh. When she got better, she was still all about Mommy. She has finally come around to loving on Josh more and more!

Alex is also obsessed with stickers! We went to Target one day and bought lots of stickers from the $1 bins. She will go into the closet and pull out a sheet of stickers and put them all over her arms!


Last but not least, I **think** we finally have our sleep situation figured out! I started leaving Alex's door cracked when I put her down, so she could still see me as I passed her room. This went on for a few days while she slept on the floor. Then she started asking for me to leave it cracked when I told her it was nap or bed time. After a few days, I moved her blanket she slept on from the floor to her bed. At first she was a little hesitant to get in bed, but after a few times, she'd get in bed on her own. Now, she is sleeping in her bed with the door cracked. I let her take the Leapfrog laptop to bed with her so she can play with it until she falls asleep. This is more for us because she will pretty much play with it until she falls asleep. When we stop hearing the computer, we know she's asleep! Last night was our first little hiccup. She woke up around 1:30 screaming "crack, crack!" Her door was cracked, but since all the lights were off, she couldn't tell. I went in her room to talk to her for a few minutes, then turned on the bathroom light so she could see come light coming through the crack. She was happy and went right back to sleep. Now we just have to remember to leave a light on in case she wakes up at night she can see a little light coming through the crack.

Elefun Party

Alex got an Elefun game for her birthday over the 4th of July weekend from Nomi and Popi. We put it away for a little while, mainly because I kept forgetting to pick up batteries for it! Last night after dinner, we took it out. Alex LOVED it! She can't quite catch the little butterflies yet, but she loves waiting for them to flutter out! This game was a HUGE hit!

**excuse the mess in her room...I was doing her laundry and changing her sheets before bed time!**

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Birthday!

On Friday, I got up early and picked up donuts so I could be here as soon as Alex woke up on her birthday. Josh and I put together her kitchen the night before, so I wanted to see her sweet little face when she saw it for the first time! She absolutely loved it! So much that she didn't even want any donuts because she wanted to keep playing. We finally talked her into sitting at her kitchen counter to eat a little.

Alex hates getting her hands dirty when she eats sweet stuff for some reason, so she ate the top off part of her donut and decided that was all she wanted.
After breakfast, we had a Lady Gaga dance party. Alex loves her some Lady Gaga! She showed off her jumping skills!

We all got ready and went to see Toy Story 3. We weren't sure how she'd do, but she was great!!! She sat in her little booster seat and munched on pretzels and goldfish. About 20 minutes before the movie was over she started getting antsy and went back and forth between Josh and me. After the movies we went out to lunch. Alex's favorite...Pizza!

Nomi and Popi got to our house around 7:30 so we went to dinner. We went to Chili's so Alex could have some chips and "sauce." She loves salsa, which she calls sauce.

I love that Josh took off the entire day so we could spend Alex's birthday together doing her favorite things! Seeing my sweet girl so happy just makes my heart smile. Josh and I had so much fun on her birthday, especially because we could tell she loved her special day!