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. ; )

Pirate Party

Today we went to Peter's Pirate Party at the park. Peter and Alexa have been classmates since last year. Here Alexa is getting ready to go on the treasure hunt. Peter's mom Jill arranged the kids into 3 groups ( this was a big Italian party) and each group had a map and the kids had to find the treasure box which was filled with goodies. Very fun!


No eye patch for this girl, I barley got her to wear the hat.

We found the treasure!

Alexa was the only girl from her class who came and she keeps right up with the boys step for step. No pushing this girl around! She had such a blast playing and it was nice for me to hang out with the other parents and chat and just watch the kids play.

Cutie Pants

With Robert's mom, Grandma Stana. I'll have to get a pic of Grandpa Buzz on the next visit.

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!