Almost April

I love Spring time. I love having flowers and seeing all our plants come back to life. I love the feel of the warm sun on my face ( with sunscreen of course!). I love being outside all the time. The Chief always kids me because he will just find me sitting outside doing nothing but just enjoying the weather and will say, "Living in the Midwest for 27 years must have really screwed you up."


Alexa recently planted some tomato seeds and we've been checking everyday to see if they are sprouting. I would love to have a vegetable garden but up here that requires a bit of creativity and luck, not to mention building our own planter box with soil ( our ground is like rock here) and finding a place in the backyard for such a thing. I have been mulling it over and may try it next Spring. Alexa loves to garden so I think it would be worth a try.

April is going to be a busy busy month! We have birthday parties, our wedding anniversary, play dates, Easter, and most exciting is that one of the families from our travel group is vacationing in AZ and will be visiting us. We have only seen them one time since China at our reunion and we are really excited to spend some time together. I think it is so important for the girls to stay in contact. Alexa is super excited about seeing Jordan! We are hoping to reunite with all of our travel group in the Fall in Texas as well. : )

Jelly Beans and Morning Light

That is the perfect recipe for some good shots!

Overwhelming

Today I started Alexa's Lifebook...FINALLY! I must admit that this has been something I have wanted to accomplish for a long time but it just overwhelmed me. I wanted to make sure it was done right, I was afraid it would make me sad and Alexa sad, I wasn't sure where to start, etc... I told myself all these things which blocked me from actually starting. So I decided to do two versions and take some pressure off myself. I am currently doing a version for Alexa that will be age appropriate and kid friendly. After this one is finished I will do the "nice" one in a 12x12 scrapbook album. So far I have two pages done and I must say that once I got started it is now much easier and I am enjoying the process. I am using a template which our social worker/adoption expert actually wrote and that has helped me a whole bunch. Again, making it simple for Alexa and really just sticking to the basics is much easier than starting with the big fancy version I has thought I would initially do.

This photo is from this morning when I got everything out on the dining room table and had not yet started. I would love to hear from anyone who has completed theirs and has any tips. I can't wait to have it done and share it with Alexa. I think I am going to involve her in the process too and have her draw some pictures for the book as well. I will let you know how it is coming along as the book unfolds! : )

Happy Spring!

Spring is in the air! It was so gorgeous today. We were outside all day long. Alexa is on her Spring Break so we are just hanging out this week. I finally got my camera out...it has been quite some time and messed around with some different settings. I figured out that Alexa is much more prone to be still and let me photograph her if I let her use my camera to shoot a couple of me first. She hates to be still but I need the practice on a non moving target! She was good today and we had fun. I love taking pictures of my Georgie girl too. She always cooperates!

Friend's Referral

Baby Georgea! Our good friends James and Amy are now the proud parents of this gorgeous baby girl. She is 9 months old. Isn't she the cutest?!!!!!! They hope to travel to China in 2-6 months to get her. We are so excited for them. Alexa is super excited to teach Georgea all sorts of new things and to feed her a bottle. I can't wait to get my hands on her and give hugs & kisses!! What a blessing!

First lesson in loss

Today we lost our beloved Mrs. Stubbs, one of our desert tortoises. We hibernate them ( we had 3) in the garage for the winter because it is too cold for them. Today we took them out and Mrs. Stubbs was dead. I had a bad feeling about her about 2 weeks ago and went in the garage and took her out of her box on a sunny day. I noticed she seemed quite dehydrated ( she never was a big drinker) and she actually came to us last year with some respiratory issues. We estimated her age was about 55 years old. They can live to 80. I tried to get her to drink and finally resorted to a baby syringe/eye dropper and tried to get some water in her that way. Well, we feel awful. Alexa wanted to see her so I took her into the garage and opened the box. We then had quite a discussion about death, heaven, souls, etc. We buried her on our property under a big tree and we can visit her grave. Alexa said a little prayer and we asked Jesus to take care of her in tortoise heaven. Afterwards, Alexa and I went to the library and we got a couple books out on dealing with the loss of a pet. I will read those to her tonight. We are sad but we are pretty sure she had a good life. The last year she spent with us and we loved her. Alexa sang to her every day and we talked to her as she walked around her courtyard home. I hope the two boys don't miss her too much. Beastie and her were like husband and wife so we will have to spoil him a bit and maybe find him a new girlfriend. ; ) We'll miss you Mrs. Stubbs!

The Cutest Party

Today Alexa went to a friend's birthday party and boy was it a cute idea! The theme was cooking and all the girls received their own chef's coat with their initial on it and a chef's hat that they got to decorate. First they rolled out some dough to make their pizza.


While that was in the oven, they made fruit kabobs.

Then fresh from the oven came their pizza which they enjoyed.

Afterwards, outside for a little putput golf and some games. How cute does she look in her Chef's coat?!

Sixteen girls! They were so good and had such a fun time together!

Doing the limbo.

With her friend from school.

Then back inside to decorate their own cake with icing and sprinkles. Alexa mostly ate the icing off the knife. After getting home I promptly dropped the cake right on the garage floor. Yes, mother of the year award there! Bless her heart, Alexa took it in stride like she does most things.

Then back outside for the pinata. Then it was cake and farewell...what an awesome party!