I have to share a couple things about my amazing daughter. During the first week or two of school Alexa's class talked about losing baby teeth and getting big teeth. One night about a half hour after she went to sleep she comes downstairs with a really sad look. "Mom, I am having sad dreams." I scooped her up and carried her upstairs and we sat down in the rocking chair to cuddle. She started to sob. When I asked her what was wrong she said "I don't know how to grow big teeth." We had to talk a long time about that one.

Another day started out really warm so I did not send a jacket to school with her. It really cooled off during the day and when I picked up Alexa from daycare she told me she got really cold during the last recess at school. Imagine how bag I felt when she looked at me and said "Mom, is that what happened to the dinosaurs?" There is always a jacket in her backpack now!

Last night we picked up some corn from a stand on the way home. I set the bag on the table and headed upstairs to change my clothes. I heard water running and wondered what she was up to. When I went back downstairs I found her cleaning the corn! Wow!

Alexa started kindergarten this morning. She had been a little nervous but by this morning she was very excited and I was the nervous one! Yesterday we could not find her glasses. We have never lost them for more than 5 minutes before but yesterday I could not find them. I finally located them about 11pm. Then this morning she decided her new shoes did not fit so we had to hurry to decide on another pair. We got to school right on time and she went right in to the classroom, looked back at me once, and I told her to go sit down in her chair and I left. I left trying to hold back tears. I really did not think that I was going to cry but there I was in the parking lot wiping tears from my eyes! School is out at 2:55. I can hardly wait to go get her and hear about her day.

The summer is flying by. I can hardly believe that it is already the middle of July. We are having a great summer. We have made it to the pool a couple times and Alexa LOVES it. On Tuesday she started putting her head under water. She started with her face and then dunked her whole head under, over and over and over again! She loves it!

We started the summer with a trip back to Illinois to celebrate McKenzie's 18th birthday and graduation. Deb's family took us to their pool and Alexa had a great time swimming with her cousins.

Then Alexa had a week of Vacation Bible School. She is still singing the songs she learned. She goes to sleep listening to the CD every night.

Next was the family reunion in Nebraska. The last one was shortly after we got home from China so Alexa has changed a lot! She loved re-meeting the extended family and especially enjoyed playing with Robin's girls and Mason.

We had our first camping trip. It was great. We slept in a tent. We went swimming in the lake - which Alexa loved and went out in the canoe a couple times. We did just a little fishing - I caught a 10 inch bass. It was too small to keep but a lot of fun.

We went shopping for school supplies on Wednesday. Alexa is ready for Kindergarten now. Question is though - is mom ready for a kindergartener? We can find out her teacher's name on August 2nd. This is starting to become real. She is now getting excited too.

Tonight she is having her first sleepover at someone else's house. She is staying with her friend Aubrey. I had to work tonight and tomorrow and the regular evening/weekend babysitter was busy and Bill was out of town so Aubrey's mom (who is one of Alexa's day care providers) said that she could keep her tonight and tomorrow. Alexa called me this evening and she was having a great time. I am a little lonely. It is our first night apart.

Next up for the summer is a reunion with some families that have children from Alexa's orphanage. We will meet them next weekend. We are really looking forward to that.

We had a very busy May - and lots of fun. This evening Alexa decided to put on all her jewelry for supper. I had to take a picture! We attended Kate's senior recital. Alexa wants to play the bassoon and sing at concerts now. She had a great time playing with Sky too.

The next day was Mother's Day and Alexa made her first loaf of banana bread. We took it over to Grandma Russell.

Alexa got her first pair of glasses last week. She wanted purple. This was the first pair she tried on and she had to have them. She got them just in time to wear to the last day of preschool. They lasted 27 hours! She took them off when she was playing with water - so they wouldn't get wet - and stepped on them. The did stay dry though!

Memorial day weekend was her dance recital. Grandma and Grandpa Emry and Kate were able to come to rehersal day which made that extra special. After the recital the next day Bill gave Alexa flowers. She was thrilled!

So it has been an exciting May. I just hope June will be as much fun!

No pictures to share today but I had to share a few stories.

Every once in a while I ask Alexa what two plus two is and we count fingers to get the answer and sometimes she comes up with the right answer without counting fingers. This morning while we were getting ready for school Alexa wanted to play teacher. She had blocks out and I hear her ask her "students" what four plus two is. Evidently they did not have the answer so she told them that the answer was six. I was suprised. I was even more suprised when she anounced this evening that four plus three is seven and four plus five is nine!

Alexa has a stuffy nose and was having trouble falling asleep tonight so I put on a CD for her to listen to. That helped some but she wanted me to hold her hand while she fell asleep. She was half asleep and all of a sudden one hand comes up and she looks like she is directing the music with her hand! Where did she learn that!?!

Once again I am very late in updating the blog. Alexa and I had a wonderful Easter. One special highlight was a Easter egg hunt with cousin Sky at Grandma and Grandpa Russell's house. The girls had so much fun. They even shared the eggs they found and cuddled up together in a chair and laughed and giggled for quite a while. After we were home Alexa wanted to cut some daffadils from our yard and bring them inside.
The morning started out with searching for eggs at our house. The Easter bunny brought a kite and flip-flops as well as chocolate! The chocolate rabbit did not last long!

Alexa is so very proud that she can do a back bend. They practiced them at gymnastics last week and Alexa could do one right away. This week she was still the only one in her class that did not need help!

We are having a lot of fun being outside again too. Alexa loves writing with chalk on the driveway, practicing with a hula-hoop, picking dandelions, and taking her babies for a walk.

Today was Alexa's VIP (Very Important Preschooler) Day at school. She has been waiting for this day since school started in September. She took ice cream as a treat and she took squeaky shoes from China and her Nemo from DisneyWorld and her favorite book, Angelina on Stage, to share. She told the class her favorite color is purple (that is a change from her old favorite pink) and her favorite food is cheese pizza. Mom was there for most of the day.

The class sings a song to the VIP:

She is special.

She is special.

If you look,

You will see

Someone very special

Someone very special

It is Alexa!

It is Alexa!

Mom couldn't agree more!

Last month we were very tired of the snow and cold so we headed to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa and visit Disney World. We hoped to swim in the ocean too but it was a little chilly and this was the most "basking in the sun" we were able to do. The swimsuits never left the suitcase.Grandma and Grandpa joined us on a three day trip to Disney World. Epcot was our first day and we were able to take off our jackets for a while but we needed hot chocolate during the fireworks!
We had a princess breakfast at Epcot. I think the two Snow Whites were adorable!

I joined Alexa for a picture with Minnie and Mickey the next day at Disney World. We got so wet earlier in the day that Alexa looked at me and asked to go back to the hotel because she was wet down to her underwear!

We made it to the end of the day though and really enjoyed the fireworks that night.

When we landed at the Des Moines airport Alexa saw a flight attendant that she had not seen during the flight. Alexa looked at her and asked "Did you drive?" The woman responded that she did not drive " but I was with you". Alexa gave her a strange look then asked in a real puzzled voice "Are you.....God?"

Then we were back home to reality. None of the snow melted while we were gone.

Now three weeks later the snow is starting to melt and I even have crocus coming up. Spring is on its way!

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!