Pumpkin Carving

Hmmm...can you guess which pumpkin belongs to whom?


This has been such a fun year with Alexa. She gets really excited about every activity we do. Last year she wouldn't even put her hand in the pumpkin. She did a great job and did a lot of the scooping herself and helped make the face.

She looks way too mature in this picture. I keep reminding myself to treasure each moment and day because she won't be young like this much longer.

After bath tonight we went out back and lit up the pumpkins( don't you just love that smell). Afterwards we gazed at the stars and made wishes. I love her delight in the small things. : )

Happy Halloween!

Georgie is mortified, Jinx is bored and Jackpot is thinking about the treat she is going to get for putting up with the insanity.

Alexa as The Little Mermaid

Over the summer I wanted to make Alexa a tutu and bought all the materials but just never got around to it. As Halloween crept closer Alexa kept saying she didn't know what she wanted to dress up as. Then she remembered the tutu and decided she wanted to be Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I showed her some costumes of Arial at Target and some online and she kept insisting that I make it. So, here is my best effort and my first effort of making a tutu and a Halloween costume. I actually really enjoyed making it and it really was easy and fun to do.

The Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the Pumpkin Patch. I use the words loosely as there isn't a "patch" of anything green or anything remotely resembling what I remember a pumpkin patch to be as a kid. I grew up in the Midwest so adjusting my expectations of reliving any treasured childhood memories must be rehashed and given a new look, which really now consists of dust, cactus, mountains and a temperature over 80 degrees no matter what the month. All that aside, once I got past the look of things, I really enjoyed myself and tried to appreciate the uniqueness of the desert.

Alexa was super excited. The first thing we did was go visit the small animals. She really loves animals so this was fun. Then we took a hayride to the "pumpkin patch". Alexa collected hay from the trailer and saved it to feed the horses. She's thoughtful this way and is always thinking about taking care of the animals. We picked out our pumpkins then headed back to the maze. The highlight was the horse ride at the end. We thought she would ride a pony but they came out with "Goldie". She hesitated for about 5 seconds then up she went. We were so proud of our big girl. Her first horse ride. She looked like a natural and was very relaxed. I love the last picture of her!

Look what we made!

This morning we made our Halloween spooky house. It was fun to make although quite messy. Alexa really wasn't into decorating it. I guess because she wasn't feeling great and was anticipating her grandparents coming over. It was a lot for one morning but it was the only time we had to make it. It turned out really cute. Now I have to make her Halloween costume...oh boy, I think I'll tackle that tomorrow when she is at school. On Saturday my folks arrive for the winter. We are so excited to see them!

The Grandparents

Today Robert's parents came up for a visit. Alexa was in a grouchy mood. She hasn't been feeling well lately. She has been complaining that her stomach hurts off and on for awhile. Otherwise she is her normal high energy self so I'm not sure what is going on. At one point she even went to lay down on her bed and said she just wanted the house to be quiet again. Any thoughts?

The Colors of You

The ways you color my world...

1. Your bright smile every morning...even when the sun's not up yet.

2. When you kiss my forehead, brush my bangs aside and say " I love you".

3. Your tight hugs.

4. When you crack yourself up, it makes me laugh too.

5. When I pick you up from school and you run to me saying "Mommy!"

6. When we hang out together at the library or out shopping.

7. Whenever I see you playing with your friends and laughing.

8. Watching you express yourself through dance, art or music.

9. Baking together with our aprons on.

10. Cuddling up together and reading a book.

You make life brighter just being yourself. You are amazing in every way.

Friends and fun

Today we had our friends James and Amy over for lunch. It was a cool sunny day and a really nice way to spend a Sunday. Alexa was super excited of course and showed them all around the house and yard. She keeps James extra busy every time she sees him demanding his undivided attention, but today I feel like I finally got to know him a little better. When Alexa's mouth was full of food I took advantage to talk to him uninterrupted for a few seconds at a time. When she is busy with James at least Amy and I get a chance to talk. Bless his heart, he says he doesn't mind but I know he's gotta be tired when he leaves us. ; )

Me and my girl

I realized the other day that I don't have many photos of Alexa and I together. I am always the one with the camera, therefore no shots of us. So today Robert was home and took a couple. It's not the greatest shot with the shadows and all, but captured a fun afternoon enjoying the gorgeous weather in the backyard. Our weather has finally turned a bit cooler and we went and bought some new flowers that we planted in some pots. Alexa picks out her own flowers and then plants them herself. She has always enjoyed gardening. Too bad Arizona is a bit limited in what you can grow. I would love to have a vegetable garden and tons of flowers but basically living on rock makes that impossible.

We are getting ready for the holidays and bought a few Halloween decorations to decorate outside. Alexa does not like any of the scary stuff at all. I don't blame her, some of that stuff is creepy. She said she wants to be a mermaid for Halloween. We don't Trick-or-Treat where we live. We have a outdoor party hosted by our Volunteer Fire Department and give the kids candy and cookout, then when it gets dark, the firemen take them on a scary ride through our neighborhood on the firetruck.

For Thanksgiving we'll go to my folks...who just bought a house in our neighborhood!!! We are really excited and are looking forward to having them much closer for the 7 months they live here. Their old house in AZ is about 45 minutes away and that was just too far for as much as we do together. Now Alexa can spend the night there and spend as much time as she wants with them. Robert and I even booked two nights in Vegas for December...yea!...thank you Mom and Dad....finally some adult activities ; )!!!! I'm psyched! Can you tell I need it????!!!!!!!!!! Party!

Oh, that's funny.

Tonight at dinner Alexa asked me "Are you crazy?"

I replied, "No, do you think I'm crazy?"

To which she says " Yeah, I really do think you're crazy."

Nice....believe me there are some days I feel like I am going crazy but I'm not there yet. ; )