Two years ago today Alexa was placed in my arms! The time has flown by but it seems she has always been with me. She continues to amaze me. She is such a little people person - she is loved by everyone. The other day when we were leaving Target she said goodbye to the cashier and then announced loudly "goodnight everyone, I am leaving now". Everyone looked up from what they were doing and said goodbye. I am so lucky to be her mother!

A couple weeks ago Alexa started a new gymnastics class. She had been "wigglebug" and mom went into her class with her and helped her but now she is a "jitterbug" and mom watches through a window. She was not too sure about it the first time and each time she still wants me to go in with her but she quickly adjusts and is doing great. She is not the best behaved girl in the class but she is not the worst either and she is learning a lot.

We joined the zoo this summer and have made one trip so far. I was planning on a short trip to check things out between rain showers but the rain held off and we spent the day. Alexa had a great time. Great-grandpa would be proud of the way she "milked the cow".

She was not shy about feeding the animals either.

Last weekend we headed north to see Aunt Sandy and Uncle Mark. Grandma and Grandpa were visiting also and we had a nice little outing to a pond to go fishing. Alexa caught her first fish helped by Aunt Sandy. It was pretty small and was quickly let go. Alexa wanted to tough each one and thought all the fish were very "cute and tiny".

The next day Alexa and I both had our first canoe experience. We had a great time.

This morning I told her that we had been a family for two years today and how happy I am to be her mom. We looked at our pictures from China and it brought back so many memories of those precious first days together. How she has changed! I am so blessed!

Alexa and I had a great day before Mother's Day. The weather was supposed to be better today than tomorrow so we spent a lot of the day outside and just hanging out together. The day started with Alexa "washing" the dishes! When it was time to get dressed she found a belt and insisted that I help her put it on. Then she wanted to tuck in her shirt (she has never asked that before). After she tucked it in she looked at me and announced that she was a boy!
Then we headed to Target and did some shopping. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and yogurt for lunch and then off to the park!

She still loves to swing!

After the park we came home and mowed the yard and went to a nursery to buy some vegetable and flower plants. We picked up a pizza for supper. It was Alexa's idea - definately not mine - to top hers with popcorn!

After supper we took a couple bike rides - once on her bike and then on mine and then we came in and made hot chocolate and drank it on the front step. She gave me a hug and told me "You're the best". What more could any mom want for Mother's Day!!!

We had a lot of fun last weekend. We went mushroom hunting. Alexa had a great time and picked several mushrooms. She announced that they were all so "cute and tiny" and she kissed every one before placing it in the basket. Her favorite part of the day though was stomping in the mud. She loved it. We had to pull her out a couple times after her boots got stuck in the mud. It was a mess and she loved it.
Another highlight of the weekend was the circus! Alexa's favorite part - the clowns. Ask her about the circus and she will tell you that one of the clowns went to the dentist and the dentist pulled a chicken out of his teeth. She won't mention the elephants or tigers or trapeeze artists. The clowns beat everything else. She really did enjoy the whole thing and she does sometimes mention the lady that got shot out of a canon.
Now that the weather is getting better we ride our bikes almost every day. Alexa can ride her trike for quite a distance. She is eating better and better also. Tonight she ate corn for the first time for me - and baked beans! I was so excited. I love green beans but I was getting a little tired of them being the only vegetable we could eat. And corn has always been my favorite.

Last weekend we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the weekend. Megan had a soccer tournament so we spent a lot of time watching soccer. Here is Alexa with the high scoring player from one game! The next day it rained so Alexa spent a lot of time with Erin under the umbrella and playing in the car!

Our very generous neighbors - Carl and Karen - gave us their piano yesterday. Alexa loves it! She has always enjoyed going over to their house to play it and now it is at our house! I am not allowed to touch it because it is her piano! For some reason she puts on the hat to play. I am not sure where that comes from but every time she goes to play it the hat goes on. She is very proud that she has a big piano now.

Alexa and I had a surprise visit from Aunt Sandy the other night. She was in town on business and we were fortunate to be able to get together. We had a quick bite to eat then we went for a walk around the block and Aunt Sandy had the honor of reading Alexa's bedtime stories. Alexa had to model her leotard too. This one was a hand-me-down from her cousins and she loves it! Last night we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a bike ride then Alexa got to try out the sidewalk chalk the Easter bunny left. She had a great time. She "wrote" a few letters. One "A" turned out pretty good but the others looked more like "H". Not bad for a first attempt. I was just happy that she would finally try to write a letter. She has not shown any interest in writing letters until now. She can identify most of them though and she can count all her fingers.
Alexa has finally figured out how to pose for the camera and smile. Of course she wants to do a dance pose but at least she is smiling!

Alexa and I had a great time preparing for Easter this year. We colored eggs together for the first time.She is becoming quite the little ham! Until just recently she has refused to smile for the camera. Now she will smile but she has to pose too. This started after she started watching a video of Chinese songs and dances for children. She loves the video and imitates the dances all the time. I need to get her signed up for a dance class!
Saturday we went down to the farm and she did her dance pose in her new "bibs".

And then on Easter she had to pose in her Easter dress! Isn't she beautiful? The Easter bunny was very good to her too. Besides a little candy (of course!) she received some sidewalk chalk, play dough, paints, and "lip stick".

We made some Easter lilies from her handprint. They were so cute. I wanted a whole bouquet!

We had a great day. It now seems hard to believe that it was just two years ago that I was so disappointed that I did not receive my referral that month. My life has changed so much! I am so blessed to have Alexa in my life.

Happy Easter!

Today was a nice spring day and Alexa and I spent a lot of time outside. We went for several walks and got out the tricycles and wagon and kite and then we decided to move the playhouse we were given out side. It has spent the last year in the garage which was nice when the weather was not very good but it really belongs outside so now it is sitting back by the garden.

Alexa insisted we eat supper outside in the house so we did. It got a little chilly so we ate quickly and headed inside for popcorn and a movie.
Then it was time for a bath and a few books - Dr Suess has become a favorite! - then time for bed. And she fell right to sleep with no problems! All that fresh air and no nap made for a tired little girl!

Alexa is amazing me every day. She is now up to 35 inches tall! - and weighing around 26 pounds! And she is eating more every day. Two weeks ago she helped me make spaghetti and meatballs - and she ate a couple meatballs too! She loves pasta, pizza, mac and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, tomato soup, and fish sticks and she is getting better with hamburgers and hot dogs. She will devour green beans and she even ate a couple carrot sticks for me one evening! And she loves fruit - apples, pears, bananas, mandarin oranges, peaches, and applesauce. She asks for hot chocolate a lot. She likes whipped cream on top but that is only for special treats.

Alexa dresses up in her princess things almost daily. She loves wearing a crown and wearing a "princess dress". She will do a little dance for me - and expects me to clap!

Alexa loves to sing and she makes up songs all the time but her favorite song right now is "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord!"

Amen!

Today I signed Alexa up for preschool for the fall. It doesn't seem like it should be time for that but it is. Next fall preschool and the next year kindergarten! Alexa is not sure she wants to go to school yet but I am sure she will change her mind by fall. She is growing up so fast!

Alexa and I just returned from a five day trip to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa. We had a wonderful time and we are both exhausted. I have to share a few pictures though. The weather was a little cool for Florida for this time of year but much better than home. Yesterday I was walking along the beach in my swimsuit and a group walked by and asked me if I was cold. They had on long slacks and jackets. I laughed and said it was much warmer than home!

Alexa loved everything - especially being outside and exploring the water. It was too cool to actually swim but we did get our feet wet.

This is a little orange tree that belongs to Grandma and Grandpa's neighbors. (Alexa corrected me every time I called them Mom or Dad - "Mom, he is Grandpa - don't call him dad. That's silly")

Our first day it rained early then cleared up to be a beautiful day. It was cool enough for a sweatshirt but still okay to wade in the water. I was scared to let go of Alexa's hand because she wanted to go into the water so much. I let go long enough to snap one picture.The next day was a little windy but the ocean never looked more beautiful. It was a gorgeous green color. Of course my little one made it an even better photo!

Here Alexa is hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom made a quick trip down the beach by herself looking for shells. And I found a couple interesting ones.

Yesterday for lunch we went to Sea Critters and ate outside. Alexa had a great time watching the boats and birds. I enjoyed a wonderful blackened grouper sandwich - the best of the trip (and the other two were pretty good too).

Then we got home and the high today was about 34. At least it didn't snow like last year!

Saturday was the local FCC (Families with Children from China) Chinese New Year dinner. Alexa was very excited that there was another Chinese New Year event. She has been talking about the lion dance every day for two weeks. She has even been practicing doing the lion dance. Her "costume" is a towel. She drapes the towel over herself and does the lion dance. She does a very good job! Sometimes she requests that I be the back of the lion! So needless to say the lion dance was her favorite part of the evening.She had to check out the costume.When it was time for dinner Alexa grabbed a pair of chopsticks from the center of the table and started eating her noodles. I had never seen her eat with chopsticks before. It was amazing to see. I have not given her chopsticks since we were in China and then she did not eat anything with them. I am guessing that Erika has given her chopsticks a couple times when she took Alexa out for Chinese food but I will have to ask. She did very well with them.And of course I have to include one more picture of Alexa in her beautiful outfit. I am not sure if it will fit next year or not.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Where do I begin? Alexa and I had a wonderful Christmas. We had so much fun making cookies, decorating the tree, and looking at Christmas lights. The weekend before Christmas we went to Alexa's first movie. I went into the movie thinking we would probably not make it through the whole movie but I thought we would give it a try. Well Alexa loved it! She was very well behaved. She talked a little during the movie but very quietly and only to ask a question about the movie or to explain that the popcorn was hers! We saw The Tale of Despereaux. It was cute and she loved it. After the movie was over and we were in the lobby putting on our coats she heard a movie in another theater and said "more movie" and started into see another one! Alexa was quite fond of Santa. She was not scared at all. She went right up to him, sat on his lap, and talked to him. I never told her that you could ask Santa for presents so she didn't quite know what to say when he asked her. She did offer him a cookie and then after she gave it to him she took it back! I don't think Santa has that happen very often!

We made it to Grandma and Grandpa's house quite late on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning. We spent two and a half hours just parked on the interstate. Traffic did not move at all. Alexa did not take it very well and loudly voiced her objections for an hour and half of that time. Once traffic started to move again she fell asleep and the rest of the trip was uneventful. I was a little tired on Christmas Day though!
Santa was very good to Alexa and gave her a lot of presents. Here she is modeling her new earrings. Aren't they beautiful? She received a new doll and a Thomas the Train and a ballerina skirt too.

Alexa had a great time with Aunt Sandy

and Aunt Deb. She received many wonderful gifts. She is having a great time playing with them.

Here is most of the family. Uncle Mark took the picture and we can only see part of Uncle Chris but this is the only picture I have of Alexa looking at the camera! The other family pictures have a nice view of the back of Alexa's head!

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!