Christmas

Better late than never. These pics pretty much sum up our Christmas. Santa's elves worked so hard to create a new big girl room for Alex. She LOVES it! I am so thankful for our parents and josh who helped our vision become a reality. We started with plan on a piece of paper and a truck bed full of wood! I never could have imagined her bed would turn out as amazing as it did!

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.