Well it has been a long time since I have posted anything so I have a lot to share.

We had a great Thanksgiving. The day started out with Alexa getting her first chance to ice skate. She went with her cousins and Aunt Deb. I was the offical photographer. I have never been on ice skates so I will let the cousins introduce her to that sport! She did great with lot of support from Aunt Deb and Andrew. The day after Thanksgiving is of course the Christmas cookie baking day. I have to say I think the cookies were better than ever! Alexa enjoyed making and eating them. Her favorite - the butterscotch cornflake cookies followed close by the frosted sugar cookies and peanut blossoms! She did eat quite a bit of colored sugar straight out of the jar but she managed to decorate a few cookies.
We paid a visit to Santa at the botanical center. Alexa said she hadn't decided yet when he asked what she wanted. Later a Christmas Barbie and a microphone were put on her list. And she got both.

Alexa had her first Christmas dance recital. She enjoyed it - of course she loves attention.

We celebrated Christmas with a short visit with the Russells on Christmas Eve. Sean was home from basic training and gave Alexa her own "dogtag".

Then we braved the snowy weather and headed to Illinois. The trip was much better than last year when we spent 2 hours stopped on the interstate. It snowed for the first 30 minutes then turned to rain and rained the rest of the trip. We made it to Belvidere in time to put out Alexa's stocking and the next morning we were joined by the whole Emry gang. Alexa was spoiled with lots of presents.

Now we are in a New Year. Alexa is getting used to saying 2010. I am tired of the cold (it was -6 when I took Alexa to school this morning) so I booked us tickets to Florida. I can hardly wait for February!

I had my first parent teacher conference the other night. I talked to Alexa's teacher, Mrs. Coons, on the phone. She told me Alexa is doing very well. She is very willing to participate in group activities and her interaction with others is awesome. She plays well with others and seldom plays alone. She will seek others out to play with her. She is getting better at writing her name but still leaves off the last "a" sometimes. She sometimes has some listening problems and occasionally she announces that she is going to teach the class. Do you think she gets that from her grandparents?

The teacher did say that Alexa has trouble dealing with change sometimes and tested boundries when there was a substitute teacher. She prefers to stick to a set routine. I explained to the teacher that this is a very common issue with children with Alexa's background. I am not quite sure how to work on that one.

Since Alexa is one of the youngest in the class I wanted to know how she compared to the other children and Mrs. Coons assured me that Alexa is right on target with the rest of the class.

I am very proud of my little girl!

Alexa had been looking forward to Halloween for a long time. From the day some neighbors put up Halloween lights Alexa was ready. Grandpa had supplied us with a lot of pumpkins and we carved three of them and even roasted the seeds - although Alexa did not want to try them. Alexa informed me that she wanted to be a horse for Halloween. And then a few days later she changed it to a girl horse! Now I was worried enough about a horse costume so how was I going to come up with a girl horse costume? I decided I would head to the store and see if I could find something so cute she would forget about wanting to be a horse. And I found the perfect thing!
A pink unicorn!
Alexa was thrilled that she could be a "girl horse". For school she was actually a princess riding a pink horse. She had a tiara and earrings to wear but for trick or treat night they were replaced by a hat and mittens. It was a cold and rainy night but we headed out into the neighborhood. Bill came up to join us and then Kate and a friend came too. At one house down the street the woman came to the door and said "we were just talking about you! You were the little lion last year that kept on talking!" I guess she really made an impression! It started to rain a little harder so we headed home for hot chocolate.

Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Russell's house so they could see Alexa's costume and Alexa posed with Kate and her friend.

The next morning we headed to Belivdere and Alexa got to trick or treat at Jane's house. Then Shelby took her to meet a few neighbors then

back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

What wonderful Halloween!

Happy Birthday Grandma!Thank you for playing with my beads and helping me make a very long string of beads.
Thank you for playing with the house with me.

Thank you for being my Grandma.

I love you.

Alexa

We have been having a busy fall. I will try to share some of the highlights.Bill and I took Alexa to a local orchard to pick apples. It is not Edwards but it was fun to pick. Alexa picked an apple and started to eat it! She loves apple slices but I always had to peel them for her - not anymore! She loves the whole apple now.

She is trying many new foods too - with some encouragement. Tonight she had some chili (with goldfish crackers). Tacos are now a favorite. And she loves corn. I made a cider pork stew in the crock pot one day and she ate some! I can cook real food again! I was getting rather tired of fish sticks and cheese pizza.
We have been back to the zoo a couple times. There was some special music one day. Alexa went up and grabbed the microphone and insisted - yes, insisted - that she be able to sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. And so she did!

She loves school. These are a couple of her projects she has brought home.

She did her own hair on Sunday. Can you tell!?!

The weather had been quite dreary for a while but Sunday was beautiful. Alexa and I headed over to Saylorville and Big Creek and found some parks. I wanted to take pictures with my new camera. I had a great subject!

Yesterday was Alexa's first day of preschool. Doesn't she look grownup!?! She did very well. She asked if I could stay but she went in without looking back when I told her I couldn't stay. When I picked her up she came out and announced "I love school!". She went back today with no problems. Last weekend we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's and came home with lots of produce from the garden - watermelon, cantelope, green beans, tomatoes, onions, carrotts, and pumpkins!
And of course we had to make a trip to Edwards Orchard. The cider donuts were wonderful and of course we had to have a picture of the cousins!

I have been reminded several times by different people that I have not been keeping up with this blog. Well there is a very good reason for that - I have a three-year-old --correction- I had a three-year-old - as of today I have a FOUR YEAR OLD! Happy Birthday Alexa!

The summer has flown by. I can hardly believe that Alexa will start preschool two weeks from today. Her teacher came to visit us last week. She also had a tooth removed and one capped in an outpatient surgery procedure last week. My daughter is one brave little girl - and extremely strong. It took three nurses to hold her down when she was waking up. She was not happy! She settled down though and then did great. The tooth fairy came even though we didn't get to keep the tooth.

Alexa is growing and is now officially big enough to be on the growth chart. She is now at the 3rd percentile - so 97 percent of the children her age are bigger than she is - no suprise there! She is officially 36 inches tall and 27 and 1/2 pounds!

We have had a very busy summer - I will try to give a few highlights but I am sure I will miss something.

The end of June we made a trip to see Grandma and Grandpa and the cousins. Alexa and I visited a children's museum that we had visited a year ago. Last year I pointed out where China was on the big globe out in front of the building - this year Alexa pointed it out to me!

Alexa had a great time with her cousins.
I participate in a dragon boat race that was a benefit for organ donor awareness. Alexa got to sit on the boat. She looked much cuter than I did! By the way my team came in last but we had a great time. I hope we can do it again next year!

Later the same weekend Alexa was in her first tractor pull - the pedal tractor pull! She was much smaller than the other participants but she gave it her all and got a participation ribbon!

Last year we met Jenny who is also from Alexa's orphanage and we were very fortunate to meet her and her parents for a nice morning at the Chicago Botanical Garden. We had a great time and I hope we can keep the connection up for the girls. They are SuiXi sisters.

Of course we made it back for the Boone County Fair with the cousins and a visit to Grandpa's garden and a birthday celebration for Alexa.

One morning Alexa was a little upset with me because I would not let her put on makeup so she found a marker and "did her nails". Her toenails were matching! Thank goodness for washable markers!

Last weekend a couple friends came over for a playdate. Alexa had a wonderful time with Raina and Hayley. She really misses them at daycare.

Well those are some of the highlights from the summer.

There have been others that don't have pictures. Like the day she put a TicTac up her nose. I was ready to head to the doctor but fortunately she was able to blow it out. I don't think she will try that again. That happened the same week that she was locked in the garage by herself - twice. She has always liked "driving the car". I want to make it clear that she has never had my car keys but when we get home she would sometimes sit in the car and put one of her stuffed animals in her car seat or sit behind the wheel and I would walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail and then we would go inside. Well this particular day she found the garage door openner. I had left my purse with the house key in the car. I had the car key but no way to get into the garage where my little girl was. I knew she must have been terrified but I couldn't get to her. I stayed calm and went up to the door and yelled as loud as I could - Alexa, hit the button again.... and up the door went! I was so relieved. She wanted to stay in the car so I took the garage door openner with me and trimmed a rose bush right by the garage door. Evidently I hit the button on the openner when I leaned over and down the door went. We both were rather upset then but we talked about it and agreed that she accidently closed the door and then I accidently closed the door.

And that is it for now.

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!