Baby gotta brand new bag...

At some point a month or two ago mama and I were talking about Alexa's diaper bag and mama said she thought Alexa needed a toddler bag. Now for those of you who don't know, mama made Alexa and Walker their diaper bags...it was a total surprise to both Jodi and I...more so me because I got mine at my shower and Jodi had embroidered Alexa's initial on it. We finally decided on a new one...I LOVE IT!!!

This is Mimi's first creation on her new Bernina...which she loves by the way! I love the way the bag turned out...and the picture definitely doesn't do it justice! I am so jealous of Alexa, she has such a pretty bag! :)

This is the mini picture book I'm working on for Alexa. It's going to have Christmas photos in it, but I haven't gotten that far yet. This is my first creation on my baby cricut! I have to say, I LOVE the design studio software. It opens up so many different possibilities...like welding the letter tabs to each page and cutting out the heart or flower in the center of each page. I can't wait to play with it some more!!

Then this is Alexa loving on her duck...kind of a random pic, but I think it's so cute because she loves the duck so much! She gives the duck sugar before she goes to bed at night :)

Well, this time tomorrow I will be sitting in the Atlanta airport waiting on my flight to Hawaii so I don't know when I'll get to post again. I promise I will take lots of pictures, and mama has promised to take pictures of Alexa and post them while I'm gone so I can see what my sweet baby is doing. I am going to miss her so much! I hope you all have a wonderul New Year!!

The Best Christmas Ever!

We had an absolutely amazing Christmas! I hope everyone had a great time with family and friends on their holiday! Our day was full of family, food, and fun!! I really feel like we got to focus on the true meaning of Christmas instead of the commercialism society has placed on it. It is my goal as Alexa gets older to share the true meaning of Christmas with her just as my parents shared it with me at a young age.

We kicked off our Christmas festivities at Jodi's on Christmas Eve. They cooked dinner and we ate and enjoyed everyone's company. After dinner my Uncle Jerry read the Christmas story and then we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. I thought it was really sweet on Sunday at church after the children sang two Christmas caroles it was announced that one of them had requested we all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, so the whole church stood and sang. It almost made me cry. After we left Jodi's house I did some last minute wrapping, but the noise woke Alexa up so after I put her back down I went on to bed as not to disturb her.

I got up around 7:30 Christmas morning and finished up my wrapping before everyone got there for breakfast. Josh and Brenda came for breakfast as did Grandpa, Grace, and Uncle Jerry. Mama made a wonderful breakfast casserole, muffins, and cinnamon rolls and daddy fried bacon. It was all very yummy! When breakfast was over we let Alexa start opening her presents! It took her a while to get into it, and she got distracted several times, but for the most part she enjoyed ripping the paper!! She got so many nice things, thank you to everybody!

After we finished at mama and daddy's house, we got ready to go to our family lunch at Sylvia's. Alexa wore her cute new purple and green outfit with her adorable Nike shox that her daddy gave her. Her hat and mittens matched the outfit, but it wasn't cold enough for those! Most of our extended family was there, and it's always such a treat to get to see everyone. I hated that Jodi, Brad and Walker didn't get to come, and two of our cousins and their families didn't get to come either! That meant Alexa was the only child there, and she was super good the whole time. After lunch we opened presents again...Alexa didn't do much opening, she mostly ran around the room carrying a gift bag the whole time...she is too funny! She got some really cute clothes and toys, not to mention a subscription to Wild Animal Babies for the next year!! :)

Alexa would not take a nap yesterday morning, so by the time we left Sylvia's house she was exhausted! She fell asleep in the car on the way home, and took about a 2 hour nap after we got home. During that time we started watching a movie, and kept it on until she woke up and it was time to eat supper. While we were getting supper out Jodi, Brad, and Walker got there. Alexa just loves Walker...she calls him "Walk Walk"...she said it all day until he got there! They got to play with her kitchen some, and we all visited and ate before opening presents again. Walker and Alexa both got an adorable stuffed duck from Grandpa and Grace...you will see it in the pictures below, and Alexa LOVED hers! As a bonus Alexa also got a rocking caterpillar like Walkers. I was telling my Sunday School class about the caterpillar incident at our Christmas party a couple of weeks ago and one of the other mothers asked if I wanted one. She said her kids fight over it all the time and that she would be happy to get rid of it. So, they inherited an outside playhouse from another family in the class and the caterpillar showed up at our house on Monday afternoon! Thanks Bakers!

The highlighted gifts of the day would be...Alexa's kitchen and her duck! She loved both of them so much, and Gabe really liked the duck too! :) He tried to lay on it all day. Alexa and Walker both kept taking the sink out of the kitchen, it was so funny! It gives a whole new meaning to packing the kitchen sink!! :) Then mama got her Bernina. She has always wanted one, and she asked daddy to get her one this year. She knew it was coming, but she had no idea that it was going to be here yesterday! She was really cute about the whole thing. He has done the 12 days of Christmas for her, and it has been exciting for me to get to be a part of it. Jodi and I both got to be Christmas elves!! :) So, yesterday as the 12th day she got 12 sewing accessories, except I only put 11 of them in the basket. Then I brought out some extra bobbins and needles as the 12th gift and Josh came behind me with the sewing machine. She was so surprised because we told the people at the Inman Quilt Cottage about the surprise, so they were in on it! She kept saying, I wonder when they are going to call me about my Bernina...I can't believe they haven't called me yet! HEHE!! :) Then the biggest surprise of the day was Jodi and Brad's gift to me. It was the baby Cricut!!!!!!! I was SHOCKED!! I had no idea. It was an awesome present! Jodi bought it on Black Friday through the Wal-Mart deal to get the two carts that came with it and she was going to sell the machine on Ebay, but Brad suggested they give it to me instead. Thanks again Brad!! I can't wait to use it some. It's much easier to take the little bug to crops, and with the software you don't have to worry about the previous limitations the little one had!

Again, it was a wonderful day! I hope you all had as much fun as we did. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year when we get to spend time with friends and family and focus on the birth of our Savior and what He had done for us. Thank you Lord for all of the many blessing You give us, and Happy Birthday Jesus!

Here are some of the great pictures we took...

These are from a few nights ago when Alexa wanted to sit on the couch with Pop...then they started singing together and playing patty-cake! It was so cute!! :)

Alexa looking at the ornaments...she has done really well with the tree!

I love this one...she has this look on her face like OOO...what's that!

Pop and Alexa at breakfast yesterday

Josh and Brenda

Mimi and Pop

Alexa feeding Uncle Jerry

Alexa getting a bite from Pop

Eating her breakfast casserole with a spoon

Unwrapping her first present

Alexa with her cute new hat on...she has matching mittens as well!

So cool with her new sunglasses on!

Mommy helping Alexa unwrap her new kitchen!

She's getting excited now!

Anytime Alexa gets any kind of phone she puts it up to her ear and says "wewwo"...it's so cute!

Here is Alexa laying on her duck...she also gave the duck sugar several times!

Mama it's for you

Pop reading Alexa one of her new books...she loves her books and she has a million of them!

Alexa and Mommy on the duck

That's right, I'm eating again!

My cousin Matt playing with Alexa before lunch

Mommy and Alexa...clearly she was more interested in the paper wrapper from a chocolate covered peanut butter ball than she was smiling for the camera!

Silly Girl!

I like the cars!

Alexa and Grandpa playing with the cars...she liked running them into each other! LOL!

Merry Christmas to ALL!

I doubt I will have time to post anything tomorrow for all of the excitement of Christmas, and I am ready for it. I am getting ready to finish my shopping in just a few minutes! I just wanted to say to all of you in blogland...I hope you have a wonderful Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Sleepover...

Tonight Alexa is having her first sleepover with her daddy. I know he will take great care of her, but I am still a very sad mommy missing my sweet baby right now. She is such a precious baby, and she just brightens the room wherever she is. I know my baby is having a great time playing with her daddy and her cousins, and I should be doing something fun with my time, but I'm still sad! What am I going to do when I'm in Hawaii for 8 days???

Update...

So, I'm pretty much a slacker and I finally got my Christmas cards ready to mail TODAY. I know...they might as well be New Years cards because by the time most of you receive them Christmas will be over. Sorry about that, I promise to TRY and do better next year...notice I said try! :) I hope you all enjoy the cute picture when you do get them! hehe!

Alexa & Santa

Last night we took Alexa to the mall to see Santa. We were supposed to see Santa last Friday, but after a very stressful day for Jodi and Brad it just didn't work out. So, we went to Westgate last night and had her picture made there. I have to admit the experience wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. Now she didn't do wonderfully either, but she sat in Santa's lap very nicely for a few minutes and didn't cry at all. Unfortunately she wouldn't smile either, so it's not the best picture, but for her first one I think it's ok.

It's Thursday!!

This Thursday I thought I would post about Hawaii and all the things I want to do when I get there!! I am SOOOOO excited about going, I know I'm driving everyone crazy talking about it constantly!! :) So, here are 13 things I can't wait to do while I'm in Hawaii!

1. Hike Diamond Head...Lindsey and I were supposed to do this last time, but we ran out of time!
2. Go shopping!! Of course, I love to shop! I may not have a lot of cash to spend, but I love it just the same!! :)
3. Go to Pearl Harbor...we were also supposed to do this last time, but we were busy getting Linds settled, so it just didn't work out.
4. Lindsey says we are going to rent a boat and go wakeboarding one day and then lay out in the sun...sounds like fun to me!! :) We will not be going on another day cruise...I threw up last time! :(
5. Lindsey has also offered to save their shark dive for when I come out so I can join in...I'm not so sure about that one!! :) I mean I've never even swam with the dolphins and they are nice, so I'm just a little hesitant about sharks!
6. I can't wait to go back to Ala Moana...I know I already said shopping, but the whole open air mall is just such a neat experience I had to mention it separately. On a separate note I promised mama I wouldn't come home with another pair of Chanel glasses this time!! :)
7. I'm looking forward to some exciting nightlife!! :) Last time Linds and I went to one club that she had heard about; it was fun, but I know this time they know all the best spots!
8. I can't wait to spend some time with Sevy and Linds just catching up...it's been forever since I've seen either of them, but especially Sev!
9. I have heard Lindsey talk about all the cool "local" places they have found to eat...and you know I LOVE to eat!!
10. I am definitely going to spend some time relaxing and recovering!
11. I hope we are going to get to snorkel...I don't know if I'll be good at it, but I think it will be fun to try, and I would love to be able to take some under water pics...last time we took a whole camera under water and NONE of the pics came out :(
12. I want to go back to the shops at North Shore to visit the sweet ladies at The Black Pearl Source, that's where I got my surprise ring on my last visit. I have my eye on some matching stud earrings, but they are going to have to wait for a while!
13. One thing that is going to happen while I'm there that I'm not looking forward to is missing my sweet baby. Mimi and Pop have graciously agreed to keep her for me while I'm gone, but I am going to miss her terribly! I know she will be ok, but I will miss her just the same. I hope she does ok without her mommy! I love my Lexapie!

It's OFFICIAL!!!

I'm going to HAWAII!!! YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I can't wait! I had fun last time I went, but I know this time is going to be so much better! Lou Lou and Sevy, I can't wait to see you both, it's going to be so great to hang out and catch up...and in the sun no less!! :)

I didn't want to say anything until I knew for sure, but now that I know...I can't wait!!

Family Fun!

Last night we made our weekly trip to Jodi's for dinner. Once again Mimi wanted to try for the "perfect" Christmas picture. We are going tonight to print them, so it was her last chance. We did decide that since it was late we wouldn't try to change the babies into Christmas outfits...it was a good thing because I didn't bring Alexa's! Jodi made some delicious stew...she got the recipe from Deliciously Deceptive...she also made some brownies, but they weren't as good. I guess you can't expect every recipe to be spectacular! After dinner we geared up for pictures...it is a real chore with 2 15 month old babies! Here are some of the outtakes!! :)

Wiggly worms!

"Oh NO, not more pictures!"

Walker says "Hey Lexa!"

Happy Birthday??

As I said, yesterday Jodi and I were hoping to scrap, well we did, and we had a great time. I have to say I'm super proud of both babies because they were very well behaved while their mamas were playing! We had to take a few baby breaks, but for the most part they played well together and entertained themselves. I'm not really sure what has happened to my scrapbooking abilities, but I totally blame the cricut! I just can't explain how much I LOVE it!! I remember when I used to go to Danna's on Friday night and spend 3 or 4 hours and get 4 to 6 pages done...well no more! There are just so many options with the cricut...and they are ever increasing as we experiment with the software! The great thing about the software is it makes visualizing everything so much easier, not to mention that you can weld EVERYTHING together and not only make awesome words, but you can also weld the different designs together to make page borders and other kinds of things too. I have only gotten to play with it a little bit, but I can tell it's going to be awesome, and my addiction is going to get even stronger!

Jodi worked on a page with a picture of Walker with Brad's mom, and I FINALLY finished Alexa's birthday spread. I was super pleased with how it turned out. The whole thing is full of cricut cuts! We also played with shrinky dinks yesterday...it's plastic that you cut out into any shape you want, and it's about as thick as a transparency, then you color it or leave it white, and bake it...it shrinks (hence the name) and becomes a thick piece of plastic and ou can use it like a charm. We used the cricut to cut different charms, and then baked them, it's really cool! We did an A and a W at 4", and they ended up being about 1.5" charms. They will look super cute on a page!

The rest of the weekend has been pretty uneventful, I was hoping to get some other things done, but that's just not going to happen now. Oh well! Tonight we have our Christmas music, and sadly, mama has lost her voice so she can't sing :(. She was hoping she would be better by today, but she isn't, and I told her she doesn't need to try and strain her voice! I hope we have a great time tonight, and that God is completely glorified through our performance! I hope everyone had a great weekend! As we look into the coming week, we are getting so close to Christmas, don't forget the reason for the season...and don't let anyone ruin it for you! Only 9 more days!! :) I'm so excited, this is going to be an awesome Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

The journal tag slides under the picture...it needs some ribbon, but I didn't have any that worked yesterday, so I'll have to add that later. Then the pink at the bottom was a shrinky dink that has Alexa Lynn '07 written on it.

What a week!

This week has been a whirlwind of activity! For starters, I have pink eye again! This time in the other eye, and it's not nearly as bad, thank goodness. I've had it for a couple of days, and today my eye looks much better. I'm still slightly aggrevated because I just replaced my mascara, and now I'm going to have to do it again! :( Oh well, I guess I should be glad I have eyes and that I'm not blind! Both of which I am thankful for!

Tuesday we went to Jodi's house for supper, and Mimi and Pop tried to get a picture with the babies for their Christmas card. I think we maybe got a good one...it's just so hard at this age to get them to cooperate, especially at the same time. No, I'm not talking about the grandparents!! :) LOL! I'm talking about the babies. They are both so sweet, but it is nearly impossible to get them to smile at the same time. Then Jodi took a HORRIBLE picture of me, and we started fighting over the camera. Not really fighting, play fighting, we were both laughing and being silly...and then Jodi tossed the camera to Brad. Unfortunately "she throws like a girl" as Brad said and the camera hit the laptop...the camera is now dead. I feel really bad about it, we certainly didn't mean for anyone or thing to get hurt! Ane NO I will not post the picture that we were fighting over! I hope she won't either!

Then on Wednesday, Anthony and I went shopping for Alexa's Christmas present. The child honestly doesn't NEED anything, but what kind of parents would we be if she didn't have something to unwrap? We got her a little kitchen, and I really think she will like it. We also got her some educational books, and Anthony is going to buy her some new shoes too. We saw some friends while we were at Toys R Us, so it was nice to catch up with them for a few minutes. I feel like I never see people anymore, we are always just so busy!

Last night mama and I had our dress rehearsal for our Christmas music. We are singing Sunday night at 6:30 if anyone would like to come! It's sure to be a crowd pleaser! Afterwards we are having the whole family over for soup and chili, which is always super YUMMY!

Then today we are having our Christmas gathering at work...where basically the hospital provides snacks and we get the chance to talk to coworkers, eat, and get paid all at the same time. I think it's a wonderful concept! :) I know it will be fun, but it's tonight that I'm really excited about! Jodi's friend Liz has a cookie exchange every year where she invites people to her house and you bring a plate of your favorite cookies. Jodi has invited Alexa and me to go with them this year. The cool part is that she has a Santa at her house so your kids can have their picture made with him!! I am really looking forward to it, and hopefully Alexa will like Santa! I told Jodi we will probably have to give both of them a bunch of cookies so they will be in a good mood! :) Hopefully I will have some cute pictures to post tomorrow.

Finally, I HOPE we are going to scrap tomorrow! I have been going through withdrawals for the lack of scrapping in my life right now. There just doesn't seem like enough time to do it all! Jodi and I have both been experimenting with the cricut software, and we can't wait to get the real thing instead of the trial version. We are going to have some KILLER layouts when it's all said and done! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Here are a couple of pictures from Jodi's on Tuesday. Alexa had the best time playing with the metal bowl and wooden spoons! Here she is on the caterpillar with the spoons...she thought it was great fun! She still thought all of the spoons should be hers. Even when we got out 2 more spoons for Walker she wanted those too. Still working on sharing!

Then in this picture Mimi was holding her and being the drama queen that she is, she threw her head back towards Pop and Walker to see what they were doing. In the previous picture Walker had given her a kiss on the head. They were both really sweet all night! When we got there Walker was asleep and when he woke up Mimi was in the den with both of them and Alexa kept walking over to them and giving Walker a hug. Too cute!! :)

Snack time with Pop

For those of you who know Alexa, and spend any amount of time around her, you know the child LOVES to eat! It doesn't matter when she has last eaten, if she sees food, then she thinks she should eat it. If you have food, she thinks you should share it...and if she thinks food should be coming and it's not (like waiting in a restaurant) she gets rather unhappy. We are working on this one...but at almost 15 months, it's a slow process. Last night I went Christmas shopping with Anthony for Alexa...we got her some great stuff. She is getting one big toy, and then some books and things like that. When I got home she had already had a bath, and Pop was sharing a pear with her. Now, sharing is not a concept Alexa has mastered at this point, especially where food is concerned! She has the what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine thing going on right now. I'm not sure if Pop actually got to eat any of the pear or not! She is such a sweet baby, and she really does share sometimes...but only if she wants to. I think we are all that way to some extent. She is too cute with her little bird mouth open, I love her so much! Here are some pictures from last night! :)

Please Smile!!

Isn't she just adorable!! :) This is Alexa's Christmas picture from the daycare. They have someone come in every year and take pictures. I think most daycares do this...but not necessarily at Christmas. Anyway, last year she was about 8 weeks old when they did the pictures. It was her first professional picture experience...and from the picture, it looked painful! She looked so scared! Now, I realize she was a tiny baby, so I wasn't expecting a miracle, but I was still a bit nervous about this year. I mean they have so many children to photograph, and I'm sure it takes all day, so it's not like when you take your child to the photographer and they have lots of time to take dozens of pictures. Well, when I got there this morning and saw this picture, I was so excited!! :) Not only do I love the scenery, but she has the best expression on her face! I am super pleased with the picture!



This is her picture from last year...doesn't she look scared? Obviously you can see why I was so pleased with how this year's picture turned out! I can't wait to get a frame for it!! :)

Picture Perfect??

We had a wonderful weekend...extremely busy, but wonderful nonetheless. Friday I got off work at 1, and had my crown done at 3:30, I'm glad that's over! Alexa spent the day with her daddy, so after I went to get her, we relaxed at home. Then on Saturday, we got up early because we had a bunch we needed to accomplish before 2 Christmas parties that night. Mama has decided she needs a new sewing machine...I'm really not sure why she thinks that, since the one she has was made before she was born! So, after testing a new sewing machine we headed to Wal-Mart to get a few things for Angel Tree and stuff like that. Then it was off to Haywood...and boy was it packed! After battling the parking lot we decided to eat lunch at Chick-fil-a. We were so glad to find some girls leaving their table to we didn't have to fight for one of those too! :) Then mama sat with Alexa while I waited in line for our food. The Christmas spirit was abounding as always when it comes to long lines at the mall. The lady in line next to me got very testy when a man who had been there longer than both of us "broke" in front of her. I have to admit that I wasn't paying that much attention to it, but once she thought he had wronged her she proceeded to discuss it with the lady in front of me (who was just as clueless as I was) and then she proceeded to be hateful to him until she got her food and left. I guess Christmas doesn't always bring out the best in people. I hate to admit it, but I know if it had been me I would probably have felt the same way, but I definitely wouldn't have acted so ugly!

After we ate lunch we set off to find several different things...I can't tell you how much I hate shopping with a stroller! The worst part of our shopping experience was mama and I getting testy with each other while trying to find an elevator. Then if you need to try anything on it's impossible to fit into a dressing room with the stroller and still be able to see the mirror. Like at Lerner when all three of us were crammed into a sweatbox of a dressing room and trying to see what our clothes looked like was impossible. So impossible, in fact, that mama bought a pair of pants that 3/4 of the hem was out of one leg. There is a possibility that we would've missed it anyway, but since we were so packed in the dressing room I'm going to blame it on that! :)

After we finished shopping we came home and were lazy until it was time to get ready for our Christmas parties. My Sunday School class party was at 6, and mama's work party was at 7. Daddy was supposed to go with her, but he wasn't feeling well, so I told her I would go with her instead. So, I went to my party for about an hour, and then came home and got her and we went to her party for a little while. We had a great time socializing with her co-workers, and the food was awesome. The shrimp were HUGE! :) I'm not usually one to comment on things like that, but these really were huge! Alexa stayed with Aunt Sylvia while we were gone, and as always they had a great time! They even walked to the neighbors house to look at the Christmas decorations in their yard.

Alexa and I stayed home from church yesterday because she has been a little under the weather. I think it's a combination of teething and a cold. She had a fever some during the weekend, but by yesterday it was gone. Her top right front tooth is really coming through now...she was so cute clicking her teeth together Saturday morning when I got her up! Even though she seemed to be normal I didn't want to chance her passing her cold on to anyone else at church. We made several attempts yesterday to get a good picture for our Christmas card, she was totally not in a picture taking mood. She would laugh and giggle, but as soon as I got the camera she would just look at me like I was crazy! I have some of the out takes posted below.

I also have a picture of the ornaments we made posted below. I borrowed from Leigh-Ann's idea. Mama and I thought it would be really cute to start making Christmas ornaments as a tradition, and when I saw hers I just loved them. So, I changed it a little bit (truly very little) and we made those yesterday. I used different things as the bottom ornament, and I added jingle bells to them. LA I hope you don't mind that I copied you!! :) I also have to say that I applaud you for selling them because they were not easy to make. I made 15, one for each family member, and a couple of extras (like Joy and Peace). Next year we are going to have everybody come over one night and make our ornaments as a group. That's really what we had intended to do this year, but we just ran out of time. Mama is so excited to have them all hanging on our tree!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend like we did...now it's back to work for me! As much as I say that, I'm super glad I have a good job to come to! I hope you all enjoy the pictures...some of them are pretty funny...hopefully we have one good one we can use, I guess you'll know when you get our Christmas card!! :) Have a great week, and remember why we celebrate this wonderful season and don't let anyone steal your joy!

Alexa with her mouth open!

Taking the ornaments off the tree

Why can't I reach the breakable ones?

Waving or something

More waving

Pointing at the ornaments

Giving her Grinch a hug! (before she threw him in the floor!)

Playing next to the tree...oh look, I can smile!

A shot of our tree

The ornaments we made...I was super pleased with how they turned out, and I think it's a great new tradition!
One of the ornaments on the tree, doesn't it look great!