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!

I have to start out with an adorable picture of my baby rocking her baby to sleep last weekend. She has much better luck getting her baby to sleep than I do!Last weekend we went to Sky's birthday party. Sky received a makeup kit and she and Alexa had a lot of fun with it. Sky is quite the little makeup artist!
Here are the results. I explained to Alexa that this was a special occation - no more makeup until she is sixteen!

We had a quiet weekend. We played with Alexa's babies and played a few games. Alexa played her first computer game yesterday. We played a game on PBSkids. It was a NiHao Kai-Lan game and Alexa's first experience using a mouse.

Today Alexa helped me clean the mirrors. And we played our first board game. It went fairly well for our first time. She still needs to learn how to take turns. We didn't quite finish the game because lunch was ready but she was definitely beating me.

Tonight we had Oreos as a special treat. I had a glass of milk that I was dipping mine in and she decided to dip hers also. Then she had a second cookie and she decided she wanted to eat the middle first. She had trouble pulling the cookie apart so I helped her and explained that she needed to twist it. She gave me a really funny look and stood up and did the twist. Then she insisted that I get up and do the twist also. So we danced a little and finished our Oreos!

We had a great Halloween. The weather was perfect. Alexa didn't even need a coat with her costume - just a sweatshirt underneath and we were good to go. Most of our neighbors were sitting out on their front step with bowls of candy. Alexa went as a lion. She had the "roar" down very good!Before starting out we had to have a picture with our pumpkins. Alexa had helped get the seeds out of the pumpkins when we carved them the night before. Grandpa did a great job with the pumpkins this year. Mama ran out of energy for carving so only two were jack-o-lanterns! But this way we still have some to keep out as decorations til Thanksgiving!
Alexa had a great time. She enjoyed getting candy but she liked meeting the neighbors even more. I admit that I don't know the names of the neighbors when I get more than two houses away and Alexa kept asking me who the next person was as we walked to a house. I finally just decided to tell her it was a neighbor. After a few times she started to call out as we walked down the sidewalk "neighbor, neighbor, where are you?". The "neighbors" thought it was very cute. She would walk up to their front step and sit down with them or check out their pumpkins and decorations - and of course she would demonstrate her roar. After a while we would leave - sometimes she would take some candy and sometimes she would forget. A couple people stopped me because she didn't take any candy and I just explained that she was having a great time just talking to people. And believe me she had plenty of candy! Several people commented that she was the friendliest trick-or-treater they had all evening.

Then it was time to head home and check out the candy. She started to open so many pieces of candy and suckers that I was going to put a stop to it but then I noticed that she would take a lick and set the candy down and start on another piece. She made it through a lot of candy without eating very much so I decided that was ok.

This morning we had a little girl time. Alexa came into the bathroom as I was finishing my shower so she got a shower too then we both got lots of lotion. Alexa's skin was very dry last winter and it is starting already. So we lotioned her up and then she found some curlers so I put them in her hair then we trimmed her bangs.

Since it was another beautiful day we got some sandwiches from Culvers and headed to the park. We enjoyed our picnic and played and played and played. Then we went looking at new cars and to the mall. We went to a Chinese restaurant for supper and Alexa ate some Chicken LoMein! I was thrilled. Tonight she went to bed pretty easily. And I am happy to report that this is the seventh night in a row that she has gone to sleep in her own room. She is even sleeping on her bed - she has preferred to sleep next to it on the floor. She must really be tired! I know her mother is!

We have had some busy weekends. Two weeks ago we went to a local pumpkin patch. We had a great time. They had a great play area for the kids and a corn maze that was fun for the adults and kids. Alexa had fun with her caterpillar. She carried him around for ten to fifteen minutes before we made her return him to the corn.She loved walking through the corn.
The next week Sky came over to play. The two girls did some painting and then played the rest of the day. Alexa loves to have Sky come over.

Then this weekend was the annual trip to Grandma and Grandpa's to visit the apple orchard. Going to Edward's apple orchard has been a family tradition since I was a kid. The orchard was struck by a tornado last January and suffered major damage to the apple barn and the owner's home. They have rebuilt. I was worried it would not "feel" like Edwards but they did a great job in rebuilding. The most important thing is that the apple cider donuts are just as good as ever! Alexa enjoyed hers.

Alexa insisted on a pony ride. The pony's name was Sammy.

And of course we had to get a picture in the train. Unfortunately Alexa's cousins were not able to make it this year. Next year we will get them all in the picture. We had been worried whether the train had survived the tornado and it did!

And of course to top off the weekend Alexa got pumpkins from Grandpa's garden. What a lucky girl!

Tuesday was my day off. Alexa and I headed to Target for some shopping - she loves shopping! I think that the thing she likes best about shopping though is the fact that she gets a tiny bag of "yum, yums" (M & M's) while we shop. She has decided that she likes the big yum,yums the best. The big ones are the peanut butter M&M's. Later in the afternoon we went to WaterWorks park and took some pictures by the flowers. Alexa's hair is getting longer. Now we can do pig tails once in a while. She is very proud of the fact her hair is getting longer. When she takes a bath she will pull on her wet hair and show me and tell me "hair to shoulder".

She is also starting to tell me what she wants to wear. And she likes dresses. I can usually still get her to wear what I want her to wear as long as I give in on the shoes! And I let her wear dresses a couple times a week to daycare and of course to church on Sunday. She wants to put on makeup when I do also. We limit that to a tiny bit of lip gloss or chapstick when I put mine on. She feels very grown up with her "pretty lips".
I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but this summer Alexa started to use her left hand more and more when using a pen or crayon. Now it is rare to see her with one in her right hand so I am pretty convinced that she is left-handed.

Tonight after dark we took a little walk down the street. A few neighbors have lights out for Halloween and Alexa thinks the lights are beautiful. A month or two ago when we took a walk around the neighborhood Alexa noticed a life sized cutout of a person in somebody's garage. She stopped at the time and asked me who it was. I didn't recognize the person so I just made up an answer so we could keep moving. I told her it was Bob. So tonight we are walking down the street looking at the lights and several people are in in their garages. Alexa stops and points at one of them - "There's Bob!"

We have been having some sleep/control issues the lasts few weeks. Alexa has decided that she wants in my bed and she is taking longer and longer to fall asleep for me. She will go to bed in her own bed if I am not home. So I amvery tired. I am not sure what the problem is. One day she mentioned that a monster would bite off her leg so I explained that the only monster is the Cookie Monster and all he will eat are cookies and she didn't mention monsters again.

Sunday she wanted to accompany me to church instead of going to Sunday School again. She loves the music and actually has been very good during the sermon - as long as she can play with the chapstick! After church she helped me trim the roses and then we headed to the park. While we haven't been doing very good in the sleeping area Alexa is eating better and better. Sunday night she ate four bites of hamburger - no bun, just meat - as long as there was a lot of ketchup on it. Saturday she ate some scrambled egg with cheese and today for lunch she ate a few bites of turkey meatloaf (with ketchup) and carrotts (with ketchup). I was thrilled - meat and vegetables. Yeah!!!

Last week we went to Dairy Queen for a treat. Her favorite is a chocolate-dipped cone. She likes to eat the chocolate and have me help with the ice cream. She loves to eat the cone. She calls it a cookie!

Yesterday was the Chinese Mid-Autumn holiday. Unfortunately it was cloudy and we could not see the moon but we did go out and blow kisses up to the moon. I just hoped we sent the kisses in the right direction! Tonight we could clearly see the moon so we went out after dark and bowed to the moon and blew kisses again to the people in China. It would have been a good night for mooncakes but I have not perfected a recipe yet. I did make a second attempt but it ended up only being slightly better than the first. Maybe next year I will come up with a new plan.

Alexa wanted to pose for me this morning. Then she wanted to go shopping. Of course when we got to the store she wasn't so good so we headed home and she took a nice long nap. Later in the day we tried shopping again. It went much better the second time. I wanted a new purse. Alexa helped me pick one out and said she liked it but then told me to "put it back, keep blue one". I practically had to fight her in the store so I could buy the purse. She finally relented when I told her we could get a little pink one for her!
This evening was beautiful so we took a picnic over to Saylorville and walked around on the beach til dark. Alexa had a great time digging in the sand and watching the birds and boats. And we had a race across the sand. There were only a few people there and it was a great night.Then we watched the sun set.

Now she is finally asleep - in my bed once again - with bug (her stuffed ladybug), towel, blankie, and Eek (her chipmunk beanie baby). I hope there will be room for me!

I decided I had to share a couple pictures with you. The other day Alexa "helped" me make raspberrry-peach jam. Actually her words were "Alexa do it, Alexa do it".

Then tonight we went out to pick more raspberries right before dark. We found two catapillers - or as Alexa calls them - "capacapers". She really wanted to check them out after she made sure that they don't bite!
And I just realized that in both pictures she had managed to get my necklace from me. She is only three and she is already borrowing my jewelry! - she likes my shoes too!

Tonight I thought I would just write about our day - just a typical day. This morning I woke up with a foot in my stomach - Alexa has a tendancy to turn sideways in the bed during the night. I got up and got ready for work and made sure I had everything ready for Alexa too then I warmed up some milk and went to wake her up. She was not happy about being awakened. She looked at me and threw towel over her face and said "Go away, I'm tired". So I handed her the bottle and she took it and started drinking. I finished getting dressed and laid down on the bed with her. She told me to close my eyes and we held hands for a few more minutes. ( It is a very precious time.) Once she was done with her bottle she got out of bed and we got her dressed to go and headed out the door. Flamingo (a Beanie Baby) had to go with us today. At daycare I put her in a chair at the table and laid out her cherrios and cereal bar and kissed her goodbye.
When I picked her up after work she ran to the door to great me and did a dance and a somersault and looked up to me and said "Park?". I explained that it was cold and wet so we would do something else. We stopped to get gas and have our tires checked then came home for supper - fish sticks, french fries, greenbeans and bananas. Eating takes a while with Alexa. She has a couple bites and announces she is full. Then I get another bite of banana in her and another and another, then some green beans, and I gradually get her to eat a fair amount of the meal. I give her bites between cleaning up what lands on the floor as she tries to knock my hand away. Eventually she will eat no more and then she gets to watch some Barney while I clean up a little.
After supper we went outside and she rode her tricycle down the block and back. She is getting very good on the tricycle. Tonight she even rode backwards! Finally we came inside and she had a bath, we did a puzzle, checked for the moon, and then it was time for bed.
Once she was in bed I attempted to make mooncakes for Mid Autumn Festival this weekend. It was my first attempt at mooncakes and it was a total failure. I made a very Americanized version. Peanutbutter crust with raspberry filling sounded better to me than sweet bean paste or lotus seed paste filling! They don't taste too bad but the whole point is to have the correct shape and although they came out of the mold very well they did not hold their shape during baking. Back to the drawing board on that one but someday when you read this Alexa you will know that your mother did try to make mooncakes for you tonight.
And that was our day.

This weekend Alexa and I are taking it easy. Last weekend we were very lucky that my whole family was able to come for Alexa's baptism and birthday party. We had a great weekend and Alexa misses having everybody here. Mom isn't nearly as much fun! And nobody can get her to sleep like Grandpa!

This was her first present of the weekend. She and her cousins had breakfast outside on the deck on Sunday morning before church.And here is Alexa's family!
I had been worried about how the baptism would go - you never know what she might say! - but she was very good. When the minister introduced her to the congregation she even said "hi" and waved! And she was very good during the service - she even stayed quiet during the sermon - thanks to Aunt Deb's chapsick and her cousins.

After church we came home and started the party. We had wonderful food and Alexa had a great time openning her presents.

Then it was time for the pinata. Alexa loved it. She was smiling and laughing so hard as she tried to swing at it. All the cousins took turns and eventually Andrew knocked it apart.

Then it was time for the cake. With a little help she got the candles blown out.

And then she got to eat her cake!

We all had a wonderful day.

Alexa turned three years old today.

She received her first birthday present a week and a half ago. It is a Barney that sings the "I love you, you love me. We're a happy family" song. She loves it. It is her favorite song after all.

Sunday night Alexa got to blow out the candles on her first cake of the year. She needs a little practice to get them all. Today we went to have Alexa's picture taken then we met Erika and Sky for lunch at a park. It was a beautiful day and Alexa had a great time on the swings and slides.

Then we headed to the zoo. We arrived just in time to feed the giraffes. What a treat!

Alexa wasn't too sure about touching the snake. She finally decided to touch it though. She is more adventurous than her mom - but someone had to be the photographer!

We also saw monkeys and lions and tigers and penquins and zebras and sea lions and a baby flamingo! - and we had a chance to feed some other animals

and fish.

Then it was time to head home. Mom was exhausted. Alexa got to sleep for a few minutes on the way home but poor Mom had to stay awake to drive. We had a little pizza and oranges for supper then we headed out to a different park. Alexa told someone that she was "born in China". That was the first time I have heard her say that. She also said that she was three years old and tried to hold up three fingers.

After the park we went to Dairy Queen to finish the day. Alexa had a chocolate dipped cone which she loved. She ate the chocolate off then wanted me to eat the ice cream so she could eat the "cookie" (cone).

She is now sound asleep in my bed - where she has insisted on sleeping the last couple weeks. I am headed there myself. I think Alexa had a good day and I know I did.

Alexa had a lot of "firsts" this last weekend. We headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for one of our family traditions. Saturday night Alexa wanted Grandma to hold her after her bath.

Sunday morning we headed to the Boone County fair and met her cousins for pancakes.

After breakfast we looked at the animals and Alexa fed a llama! After the first one she let mom feed the rest!

Next was her first pony ride. She loved it! The pony's name was Shadow.

And of course no trip to the fair would be complete without ice cream from the Merry Milk Maids. We shared a cone - Brownies and Cream - yum!!!

Then after the fair we headed to Grandpa's garden where Alexa got to pull up her first carrot.



And she got a ride on cousin Andrew's shoulders.

Then back to Grandma and Grandpa's for her first Colorado peach. It was eaten on Grandma and Grandpa's front step with her cousins.

It was a wonderful weekend.