I am way behind in updating our blog. Alexa has been keeping me very busy. We went through a period where she did not want to go to sleep at night and that exhausted me! One night it was 1:30 before she fell asleep. I didn't know what to do. She was mentioning monsters quite a bit during that time and I am not really sure if she was scared to go to sleep or just trying to frustrate her mama! That seems to have gotten better and both of us are getting more sleep these days.

Another big event in our lives has been the introduction of big girl panties! Alexa is doing extremely well with them. As soon as one of the other little girls at her daycare started wearing them Alexa wanted them too. I was all prepared for that day so the very next day she went to daycare with panties and so far not a single accident at daycare, or in the car, or out shopping, or even traveling!

And we have been doing some traveling. Alexa and I headed up to Minnesota for a day of shopping with Aunt Sandy. I made some progress with my Christmas shopping and Alexa had a great time with her Aunt Sandy and Uncle Mark. The day ended with our traditional ice cream treat.The weekend after Thanksgiving was our annual Christmas Cookie baking day with Alexa's cousins. We had a great time and ended up with a lot of cookies. Alexa's favorite - the butterscotch cornflake cookies of course. At one point I caught her in the dining room sneaking a cornflake cookie - just like her cousins and aunts and mom have done before her! And of course I had to include the end of the day picture with samples of the cookies!

Before we headed back home we made the last trip of the year to the apple orchard. It was not nearly as busy as it was earlier in the fall and Alexa wanted to pose for a picture.

Later we headed home and the five hour trip ended up taking eight hours! At one point we were sixty miles from home and only going two miles an hour. I figured we would be home in two days at that rate! Alexa was a very good traveler though. Thank goodness for portable DVD players!

Now we are starting our preparations for Christmas. We are doing one special little thing every day in December. We started out on December 1st reading The Story of Christmas and drinking hot chocolate. One night we put on our boots and walked around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. Another night we watched Rudolph. Tonight we put up the Christmas tree and tomorrow we will decorate it.

Alexa is loving the decorations. We went to the mall a couple weekends ago and she was so excited to see the the garland and lights. It is going to be a very special Christmas with her!