Park Playdate

Today we met our frineds Jenna and Jay at the park. Jenna had asked me if I would photograph Jay so I jumped at the chance. I'll take all the practice I can get. He was a great subject and it was fun to shoot someone else's child. His energy is totally different than Alexa's and it gave me the chance to try some new things. I think I get in a rut shooting Alexa ( a trillion photos will do that to you) and this was refreshing.

For Christmas I am getting a new camera ( I guess I was a good girl this year; ). I can't decide between the Canon Xsi and the Nikon D60. The Canon seems like a no-brainer but the Nikon was a nice fit when I tried them out. If anyone has any thougts about either of these or shoots with one, I would welcome any comments.

Wordless Wednesday

Spirit Day at School

"We've got SPIRIT, yes we do! We've got SPIRIT! How 'bout you?"


Ummmm...not too much.

"Yikes, get that thing outa here!"

What's wrong with this picture?

Yes, that's my dog on my kitchen table. Sometimes I feel like I live in a loony bin! Alexa spotted her after I had cleaned up from dinner. She said "Mom, Georgie's on the table." So of course I grabbed my camera and Georgie got to pose for some pictures, which is funny because I could tell she was into it...then we all had a good laugh. (and then I recleaned my table)

Breakfast Buddies

Alexa eyeing that little cup of butter on her plate...when I wasn't paying attention I caught her eating that straight out of the dish and right in her mouth!! Ugghh...gives me willies thinking about eating butter!


Amy and I cracking up...we're like two Chatty Cathy's together.

The girls.

Today we met our friends Amy and James and our previous adoption social worker Marcy, who is also their social worker for their current adoption, for brunch. Marcy is actually the one who introduced us to each other. Marcy and her husband Warren are moving back to the East coast so it was a farewell brunch of sorts. Marcy was fantastic throughout our adoption and I know James and Amy are sad to say goodbye to her before their adoption is completed. We are all hoping Amy and James don't have too much longer to wait. They will be such fantastic parents. ( Alexa adores them!)

Just wondering....

Tonight Alexa and I were talking about her birthday in February. I asked her what type of theme she would like for her party and she said " I want a 'Dancing with the Stars' party." Hmmm....might be a tough sell for the preschool crowd.

Wordless Wednesday

Guardian Angels

The other day Alexa asked me what a guardian angel was. I told her that everyone has one and when you really need her she will quietly be there to help you. I do believe in them because I know for a fact there were times in my life when I had to have one there with me or things would have been different. I remembered this photo that a friend sent me a couple of weeks ago. It was taken in the Vatican. I showed this to Alexa and told her that maybe this is what a guardian angel looks like. She looked at it for the longest time and said, " She gets mad at the light because she doesn't want anyone to see her." I said well maybe just once and awhile it is okay if people see her so they will believe that she really exists.

The Itch to Write

No photo today..just feel like writing.
Hmm...my first thought is "Yea! Halloween is over!" I love holidays but the minute it is over I'm all about getting the crap put away. Same goes for Christmas. December 26 is clean up day and I am out in the garage getting the boxes to pack it up. It just makes me feel all itchy and nervous to have it in the house too long. Boy, I must be a joy to live with.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Alexa's tummy being upset a lot and I just couldn't figure it out. Well I did. It hit one day when I was on the phone with my mom talking about it. Ever since Alexa was a baby she has had bloody noses in the nighttime. The first time it happened she was just 1 and I walked in her room in the middle of the night to find her covered in blood. Her entire footy pjs were red. It scared the crap out of us. We took her to the doctor after it happened a few more times and she has had her nose cauterized twice to make a scab to stop the bleeding. The dryness in the desert is awful and this is what is most likely causing it. It only happens in the winter and at night. It's quite traumatic for her to have it done so this year when they started up again I said no more. I will not put her through that again. So every night I put the saline nose drops in and put a little Vaseline in her nose and she has the humidifier on at night. So far so good..no more bloody noses. So, back to the tummy aches. What I believe was happening is that she was dripping blood down the back of her throat and into her stomach and this was what was causing the tummy problems. It hit me when she began to spit the blood out and I was thinking, that is not normal. She has not complained of one tummy ache since the bloody noses have ceased. We all feel better and she is sleeping better through the night as well.

Alexa is doing great in school. She seems to love it and has made a lot of friends. She still prefers the boys as friends, not sure why but if it works for her, great. She is getting really good at writing her name and is trying super hard to count to 100. ( she can make it to 60). She loves to draw, paint and make collages. She is still very much into dinosaurs and can name many of them. She loves playing with her babies and usually assigns me a "daughter" and I have to be its mom all day. She still has boundless energy and cracks us up with her sayings like " You can say that again." or "My pleasure" when you say thank you for something. She has religion class at school and it is so cute to hear her talk about Jesus. I'll never forget the time when she was just 2 years old and was in the shopping cart at Safeway and yelled out "Praise the Lord", right there next to the ice cream. I think I almost peed in my pants that day. It was so random.

My favorite holiday is approaching..yes Thanksgiving and this will be my first time eating turkey again in 20 years. I recently started eating meat again after 20 years of being a vegetarian.Which by the way, no one told me that I would pack on 10 pounds when I started eating meat again...goodness, it's not like I chow down big Macs now. So bring on the bird!
I am going to skip any and all decorations for Thanksgiving and just go straight to Christmas. However this does not apply in any way to all the cute and wonderful things Alexa makes in school or at home.
Happy November!

Halloween Night

The Chief's costume... well, we'll just let that speak for itself...and the desert mermaid before the party got started.


The mama, not in costume and Alexa.

This photo cracks me up. Look at all their faces..what a silly bunch of princesses.

My mom trying to get some food in Alexa. She was way too excited to eat. She just wanted to play with the girls.

My dad was the official griller.

The highlight of the evening is when the whole party piles on the top of two of our firetrucks and we get a scary ride through the desert. Here is one of the ghouls that chased us after the ride was over. Everyone really does it up good!

Ohhh, scary! The rest of the guys were scattered throughout the neighborhood, including a headless horseman ( yes, on a real horse) and several other chainsaw and axe wielding monsters. This was the first time that Alexa rode. She was scared at first and I would cover her eyes when it was too scary but by the end of it she was really having fun and knew that it was just silly fun.

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!