Rollie Pollie

Alex and I have been trying to spend as much time as possible outside lately. We usually just hang out in our front yard. She loves taking her shovel and pail out to shovel dirt from the yard and flower beds into her pail. She keeps herself so busy! She could care less that I am there, which is great because it lets me get some good pics! She is still loving her pinwheels and tries to blow them to make them spin. We found a rollie pollie while we were playing. She liked watching it on my hand but wasn't sure what to think when I put it on her. When I dropped it, she'd wave bye bye and blow it kisses.

Alex keeps me laughing all day long. This morning at 9:15 she came to me saying, "cheese" over and over again. I asked her if she wanted some cheese and she ran to the fridge. As soon as I got it out, she said, "mmmmm, yum!" She always knows exactly what she wants. While we were having lunch at Culver's over the weekend, she kept pointing to my food. I asked her if she wanted tomato, a bite of my burger, pickles, onion rings and she kept shaking her head no at me. As soon as I picked up my drink, she started nodding her head yes! Crazy kid thought I was going to give her a drink of my coke!

Hi Sunshine!

Alex took advantage of the beautiful weather last week and spent so much time outside with Nomi! Nomi got her a pinwheel that she loved so while we were at Target, I got her a second one. She loves playing with them and repositioning them in the flower beds. Alex's new favorite phrase is "hi sunshine!" She sound so adorable when she says it. She says it to everyone all the time!

Children's Museum

I've realized it is so hard to plan fun things for Alex during the day because I get so caught up in running errands and keeping up with the house. I've decided that at least once a week we are going to do a fun activity. This doesn't include trips to the Chickfila play area, the park or going on walks, that's stuff we do anyway. Today we went to the Brazos Valley Children's Museum. Truth be told, it wasn't much to write home about. It was pretty small and most of the exhibits looked pretty old. The only reason I would consider becoming a member is because it includes entry to all of the Association of Children's Museums so we could go to Houston, The Woodlands, Austin, Tyler (when we are visiting my parents) and the Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History. Alex seemed to really enjoy it. There was a school group there today so it was packed with bigger kids. Apparently it is usually pretty empty. Alex loved the 2 and under play area. She also enjoyed the music room. I bet she would have loved the grocery store, but there were so many big kids in there, she steered clear. She was so excited to paint a picture in the art center. I'm sure we'll go back sometime, but in the mean time we are looking for other fun activities we can do together!

Mission Impossible

We took Alex to take bluebonnet pictures today! Last year, Josh took Alex as a surprise while I was at a baby shower. I was sooo excited I got to go this year! Now, I'm not sure why. Getting a good pic of an almost 2 year old is impossible! Alex is such a busy body she would not sit still to save our lives so 75% of the pics I got were of her back side, as she walked off to explore! We went to Washington On the Brazos. It's such a neat little place to walk around. It's where the Declaration of Independence was signed so there are historical plaques everywhere. We've been a couple of times, but never when the wildflowers were blooming. I'm sure we'll go there for pics every year. There's just nothing more Texas than taking bluebonnet pics at the birthplace of Texas! Alex was much more interested in playing with the gravel than sitting for pictures. She also stopped every few steps to pick up rocks. She carried the rocks around forever until she finally got tired of them and tossed them in the grass. She was less than pleased when we picked her up to move a little faster.

From there we went to the Antique Rose Emporium in Brenham. Again, everything was blooming so it was beautiful! Alex loved the gazebo! She could have spent an hour going up and down the steps and spinning around in the middle of it if we would have let her. They have picnic areas so I think Alex and I are going to have to pack a picnic lunch one day and go back so she can walk around as much as she wants.

Alex and her rocks

the only decent pic of Alex kinda smiling

looking at Daddy like he's crazy!

crying because she is being carried!

Rose Emporium

21 Months!

GULP! My baby is getting closer and closer to 2 by the second. This mama isn't ready to say she has a two year old and admit she has a toddler and not a baby anymore! My sweet precious little girl is so much a toddler and not a baby it hurts. She LOVES her independence. If we are out in public, she doesn't want to be held or restrained, she wants to be down exploring. She just looks like a little girl now. I look at her and it just takes my breath away, she is soo beautiful! The rare times she falls asleep in the car, I could just sit there and stare at my little angel sleeping.

What is Alex up to?
She is a dippin' fool! She LOVES to dip her food. We can't have a little bowl on the table without her wanting to dip whatever she is eating in it. I mean, she even dips her bread in ketchup. Whatever helps her eat better!

She is also a dancing queen. She loves music! She is constantly bopping around, shimmying her shoulders, and just swaying. She just started doing the cutest little booty shake!

She loves stacking. She can stack her blocks 10-15 high. When we are in the shower, she balances the little shampoo on top of the larger one.

She is talking up a storm, but it still fairly quiet around new people. Once she warms up, she will start talking. Her favorite is "please" because she knows mommy and daddy will do pretty much anything she wants if she says please. The other day, Josh was about to leave for work and Alex grabbed his hand, took him to the computer and said, "peeese, boom boom" meaning she wanted to watch videos, please. She has the sweetest little voice that just makes me smile anytime I hear it.

She knows her routine. The second I get her clothes out, she demands to put shoes on. She will walk around the house crying shoe shoe shoe until we put them on her. She knows when she brushes her teeth I do her hair. She will not brush her teeth until I have started combing her hair. She loves wearing bows. After she is dressed, she points to her bows so I don't forget to pick one out for her. If she takes it out, she brings it to me so I can put it back in.

She is turning into such a Daddy's girl. She just lights up when she sees him. Every morning she runs to him to hug him before he leaves for work, then she watches his car drive off. She says Daddy all day long. I tell her he's at work and she waves at the door and blows kisses.

Happy 21 months my sweet doll!

Canton, Easter and more!

Alex and I have been on the go since Thursday. Last Thursday, I packed up and the kids (Alex and Cooper) and I headed to my parents house. We relaxed the rest of the day and got up bright and early Friday to head to Canton. Alex is now stocked up with new bows and an adorable pillow Nomi got for her. That night we went to dinner with my parents and some of their friends. Alex was great despite being up a few hours past her bed time!

Alex and Nomi pretending to be asleep

Saturday morning we were up and at em early, again, to head to Dallas. Our first stop was Grapevine to drop off Cooper and see Josh. He drove up to his parents Friday night. Then, my mom, Alex and I met my BF Shannon and her mom for brunch. It was so great to relax, visit and eat. Alex was great the entire time!

That evening, we had dinner with Josh's parents and Gram. Alex and grandma spent the longest time playing outside. She was in hog heaven! Sunday morning, we all got up and ate breakfast. After breakfast, Alex got to see her loot from the Easter bunny brought and had her first Easter egg hunt. She loved finding the eggs grandma and grandpa hid!

Easter Goodies!

That afternoon we went to my aunts house for lunch and an egg hunt with all the kiddos. We all bring little dollar gifts and number them. We then hide the numbers in plastic eggs so when the kids find the eggs with numbers in them, they get the corresponding gift. This year, we had 8 kids hunt and about 45 gifts, plus other eggs with candy and money. Somehow Alex ended up with 17 of the eggs with numbers. We ended up giving the bigger kids most of the gifts because Alex didn't really need all 17. I let her pick out a few that were age appropriate.




That night, Josh and Cooper headed back to College Station. Alex and had plans today, so we stayed an extra day. Alex and I met Amy and Sylvia at the arboretum. It was a great day, just a little overcast. Alex was cranky and fussy most of the time. I guess all the traveling caused her not to sleep well so she was tired. She crashed within about 10 minutes of getting in the car. It was great, but I was starving and had to pee and didn't want to stop and wake her up so I held it to Waco when she woke up. We stopped at Wendy's for a late lunch. It feels great to be home!

n
These two pics crack me up! Alex was not happy and Syvie was looking at us like we were crazy for putting the crying child next to her!

Tired after a long long weekend!