Autumn Moon Fest

Alexa on the carousel. She had a lot of fun.


Riding the train together.

Riding the train with Amy.

She chose James to ride the carousel with her.

Making a kite.

Flying the kite ( it really flew). She ran around forever doing this ( it was only 100 degrees) and got a kick out of it although I'm not really sure if she new it was up and flying.

Running in the relay race together.

Collecting pine cones. This was the highlight of the fest. She was very into picking these off the ground and sort of became obsessed about keeping track of them.

With the Moon Princess. She must have been a "last minute princess" because her outfit says ASU student more than it says prepared Moon Princess.

Today we went to our FCC Autumn Moon Festival at the train park. We met our new friends Amy and James there. They are waiting for the referral of their daughter from China. We feel blessed that we have met such wonderful friends that live close by us and it will be so great when their daughter is here. We are so happy for them and it is exciting watching someone else's journey unfold. Alexa loves them and they are so sweet with her. It was a fun afternoon.

Picture Day

Today was picture day at school. I bribed Alexa with one Skittle to take these shots before we left in the morning. She now will not look at me or smile when I want her too so the Skittle bribe may be in place for a while. The good news is, only one Skittle does the trick!

Last year for pictures she cried and we never got any pictures so this year I decided to be with her at the school in case she freaked out again. Of course she was fine and did great ( other than not looking at the photographer or smiling) but I realized that I AM A STAGEMOM!! How embarrassing!!!! And...I couldn't even control myself even as I was telling myself " calm down, she's only 3 and it's not like this is for the cover of Seventeen magazine!" I'm crazy, I know it and it is only a matter of time before Alexa realizes it and tells me to stay far, far away from her school!! Heaven help me!

Autumn Moon

Yesterday we celebrated the Chinese Autumn Moon Festival. We hung up lanterns, ate moon cakes then went outside to look at the moon. We talked about the people who are far away and that we were thinking about them. Alexa said she was thinking about PohPoh and Papa and Skokie. I always think about Alexa's birthparents at this time and hope they too are looking at the moon thinking about our beautiful daughter.

Morning Princess

Alexa has always been a morning girl ( unlike her mother) and loves to go outside. This morning she was showing her baby the sunrise over the fence. It was so cute. Robert ran and grabbed the camera and got these shots. She loves playing "Mommy" to all her babies and takes very good care of them. She is such a loving and sweet girl. : )

Step off!

This is what we have had to resort to to keep folks away. ; ) Didn't stop the ignoramus clerk at Target today from asking " EITHER HER DAD IS ASIAN OR SHE WAS ADOPTED" " HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD HER?" Same amount of time you have had bad manners!

Alexa has had it with people coming up to us and now hides, squeals or growls even when she sees someone in the same isle as us. We have talked about it and I tell her that she does not have to talk to anyone she chooses not to but can't be rude or mean. I try and set the example by answering or not answering people in the fashion that they should be.

Love the dimples in this photo!!!

Time

How did my little peanut grow so fast?

Please slow down... every mother's wish. You are my only and I want to relish in every experience we have. I really love each day with you. You are such a delight to me and I cherish each moment.

First Day at School

Getting so big.


Our annual family photo on the first day of school.

With Peter, who is the sweetest boy. He put his arm around her for the photo and offered her his hand to walk into school.

With her friend Sarah before school started.

Alexa started school again today. She is in the 3's class. She is with several of her friends from last year but has a new teacher. She was a big girl this morning and didn't cry although she did cling a little bit while I was leaving. When I picked her up she looked happy and said that she had a fun day. Success!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Today is Robert's birthday and yesterday we baked him a cake. Alexa decorated it and put the candles on. She loves to bake so this was extra fun. Tonight we'll have crab legs and cake! Happy birthday honey...we love you!

Almost back to school time...

Alexa went to see her classroom today and talk to her teacher. She starts on Wednesday and will go 3 days a week from 9-1.

Her new thing when I want to take a picture is to not look at me. You can imagine this goes over big with me. I love to capture a lot of things in photos and now I have to fight for them. Bribes don't really work either.

We are winding down from a crazy busy summer and I am looking forward to having more of a schedule. I am also looking forward to some time to myself to tackle some projects, but I know I'll miss my baby.

I Love Arizona

I took this photo tonight from our backyard. Every night is something spectacular.


This one I took right before a monsoon storm.

The sky is so big here. It is one of the many things I love about this place.

Bartlett Lake

Today we went to the lake. It is only 15 minutes from our house but since we don't have a boat, we never go there. So this morning we decided to show Alexa the lake and she immediately wanted to fish. We also don't have any fishing poles, so she brought her toy one. She LOVED the lake! She is a good fishergirl, very patient. Maybe one day we will get a boat and enjoy the lake more. It really is pretty with the mountains.

Please Daddy...

On our way home from the museum Robert wanted to stop at this place called Bass World. Not my cup of tea. It has all sorts of fishing and hunting stuff, boats, etc. Well, check out the look Alexa is giving Daddy. She looks pretty cute on it for sure. She absolutely loves riding on our big quad and we have always told her that when she is bigger she can have one of her own...not quite yet though.

Museum of Natural History

Dinosaur Mountain

Watching a video of dinosaurs killing then eating each other..they both loved it.

"Come on Daddy"

This one was her favorite and we kept going back to see her. She moved her eyes and would let out a roar...very exciting.

Not too sure about something.

Some sort of turtle/alligator combo...very creepy.

Hunters after the Woolly Mammoth.

See you next time.

Today was family day and we went to the Museum of Natural History. Who knew this little gem was in town? Alexa is really into dinosaurs so she was sooooo excited. When we walked in she started jumping up and down yelling "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs!" We visited each exhibit at least twice and we all really enjoyed it.

Back to hovering

See what happens? I stop hovering for one day and she falls out of a tree. This scrape is on her thigh and she has 3 more, one on the back of her leg, and two on her chest. Lovely. I'm going back to my old ways. Now, the good news here is that she has learned the lesson herself to say out of the tree ( small tree/bush really) instead of me always nagging her. She was quite shocked by the event and I guess kids need that to learn.But...as for me. I'm going to keep following my instincts and keep her safe and sound, thank you very much!

Art Gallery

Alexa and I spent the afternoon painting yesterday. She hates to color but likes to paint. From the top, it starts with one of mine, then one of hers, then alternates all the way down. We hung them up so Daddy could visit our gallery in her playroom. As you can see in the photo, she likes to hang her masterpieces all over the place. One time I found one hung up in Georgie's crate. I guess she figured she needed a little art too. We can't wait for PohPoh( the artist in the family) to come for the winter so they can paint together.

Alexa starts school in 2 weeks and seems excited to go back. We are a little unsure of her teacher and class this year because she will have 20 students in her class, but we will start with a positive attitude. Alexa is pretty high energy and has a short attention span sometimes. She is super smart and tends to get bored easily. Her language skills are quite advanced. Today she asked me what a doldrum was. Thank goodness we were on our way to the library because I didn't know. We went straight to the dictionary and looked it up ( it means a calm and light wind in the ocean). The other day she wanted to know how many was a single, a couple and a few. When we read books if she hears a word she is unfamiliar with she will ask me for the meaning. In her everyday conversations she uses words like, scrumptious, ridiculous, humongous, hilarious, incredible, it goes on and on. We laugh because she never baby talked, it was like once the talking started at age two it was all big words and full sentences.