It is hard to believe that summer is over. We had a good one. We made a trip to Chicago to see the cousins and had a wonderful time. We took the train and water taxi downtown and visited the American Girl store. And yes Alexa now had her own American Girl doll.We took a trip to Colorado and had a fantastic time. We camped, hiked, shot our bows, rode a train, had a snowball fight and panned for gold!
Alexa enjoyed a snowcone at the Boone County Fair!

Then it was time for the first day of school. Alexa is now in the first grade.

Four years ago today I saw my first picture of Alexa. I remember the moment I got the phone call like it was yesterday but it is hard to remember life without her. She keeps me very busy.

I have had several people tell me that I have not updated my blog in a while. What can I say? I am tired!

I love to share stories and pictures of her though and here are a couple from the last few months.When Alexa announced she wanted to be a bumblebee for Halloween I was worried but I found just the right costume! She loved it-especially the stinger that attached to the back. She "stung" a few people while she was trick or treating. We had a beautiful evening and she had a great time as usual. Neighbors that we only talk to on Halloween night mentioned that they have been waiting for her. She will carry on quite a conversation with everyone and sometimes forgets to pick up a piece of candy! Next year she has already decided that she wants to be Rapunzel. (Tangled is currently her favorite movie.)

Alexa loves spending time with Mom - unless of course I am making her behave and then she wants a new family because I am the worst mom ever. She would like a mom that wouldn't make her behave. If you know of any let her know. I do think that she would miss me though. She crawls in bed with me about 6am every morning and wants to play pretend and I have to hold her hand as she goes to sleep at night.

We had some fun building a snowman this winter. Unfortunately this one only lasted one day. Alexa was very disappointed that he melted during the night!

In March we headed to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa. The weather was perfect and we headed to the beach every day. Alexa loved it. So did mom!

Easter day was very nice and we headed outside for a few pictures. Alexa loves the flowers so we cut some and bring some inside every few days.

Alexa is doing well in school. It is hard to believe that she only has nineteen days of kindergarten left! We are already planning some summer activies and I promise I will share some!

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!