Christmas 2009

We had a good Christmas season this year. Before we headed home to celebrate, Alex and I took an afternoon and made a gingerbread house together. It was an interesting experience. Alex learned that he likes frosting, but that I'm not that good at getting the house to stay together. It fell apart and we had to wait until Kent got home to fix it. It was fun either way.

What is this white stuff??


Oh, I like it!


Yummy!


It fell apart


But Daddy fixed it....


Christmas Eve morning we opened our stockings. This was the first year that Alex kind of understood what was going on. He had a good time and kept saying, "And I got this, and I got this." It was fun!







After opening our stockings we headed home to my parent's house to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We went to church on Christmas eve and then did the traditional pictures, wonderful dinner, dad reading the Christmas story, lighting candles and saying what we're thankful for, singing Silent Night, then mom reading the Santa Christmas story. We had a good time, even though the kids were talkative. :)



Christmas morning Alex actually slept in (which never happens) and then we let him open the presents that we had gotten for Alex. He got some Arch books from us as well as a trampoline! Let's just say the trampoline is a perfect gift for Alex! He jumped all morning!








After nap, the rest of the family came and it was time to open presents. Claire and Alex passed out the gifts this year and then we took turns opening our gifts. The kids did a great job of waiting their turn. They had a good time together and loved their gifts. Alex's favorites were his "own treasure game" (which he plays with his speech therapist) and his Thomas train.



The day after Christmas we packed up the car and headed out early so we could drive to Toledo to spend the rest of the weekend with Kent's family. We were able to see a few of his Aunts and Uncles as well as his sister, brother-in-law and their three girls. It was good to spend time with family and catch up. Alex had a blast playing with the girls and kept calling them "his friends."

Overall it was a wonderful Christmas, spent with family and just enjoying that time that we have together.

In other news, Alex graduated from speech therapy on Tuesday!!!! YAY!!! We're excited that he is officially a "talker!" There are days that he wakes up and starts talking non-stop! It's fun to hear him talk. We were looking through older videos the other day and not even 6 months ago, he was still signing and had very few words! Praise God for the progress he has made. We'll miss Miss Emily, but are thankful for the work that she put in every Tuesday!

Mickey Mouse Parade of Lights

We took Alex downtown last weekend to see Mickey "light up downtown Chicago." We went down earlier in the day and walked around a lot. We went to the Disney store, the Lego store, Navy Pier, the Beach, Millenium Park, Grant Park, The Bean, and of course the Parade. Alex had a blast walking around. We actually let him walk quite a bit to wear him out. He went on the big ferris wheel at Navy Pier. He was very interested in the parade. He loved seeing Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Daisy, Minnie, and many more characters. He still talks about "Mickey lighting up the trees." When we drive past houses or buildings with lights on it, he says, "Maybe Mickey light those." Here are just a few pictures from the day.

The Lego Man


The Lego Lady :)


Alex at The Bean


At the Beach



Navy Pier Ferris Wheel


Watching for Mickey to start the Parade


Frosty the Snowman


Santa at the end of the Parade

Trimming the tree

We put up our Christmas tree a few weeks ago actually. We had a good time with it and only "lost" 2 ornaments. I guess that happens when a 2 1/2 year old is excited about decorating the tree.

In the tree box

Time Away in San Diego

Kent and I were able to spend 4 days away in San Diego in the middle of November. My parents kept Alex for us. He had a blast while he was there. He rode the combine, played with Claire and Eli, and ran around outside on the farm. I actually had a music therapy training, which is why we were in San Diego. It was beautiful! We will definitely go back some time for another vacation. We took a trolley tour around San Diego and were able to see a lot! It stopped at most of the "tourist places" to see and you could get off of the trolley and walk around for a half hour or more and catch another trolley. We went to Hotel Coronado, Gas Lamp District, Old Town, and were also able to take a Seal tour. The Seal tour was both a land and water tour. We loved it! We of course ate plenty of Mexican food while we were there. :)

The Trolley that took us around


Hotel Coronado


Me in front of the ship used in filming of "Master and Commander of the Sea"


Kent in front of the Mission


A Navy Ship out on the water


The Seal Bus that went on land and water


The Sea Lions


Out on the Water


Our Seal Guide

Trick-Or-Not.....

About a week ago, we were planning on just using my niece's costume from last year and having Alex dress up as a monkey for Halloween. Well, I was asking him about it and said, "aren't you excited to be a monkey?" He laughed and said, "No, I be a noo-noo and cheese box." I laughed at first and then looked at Kent and said, "I could do that! That would be hilarious!" So, I spent Sunday evening, and Monday painting his macaroni and cheese box. :) He was so excited to wear it and would just laugh whenever he saw himself in it.

Fast forward to Saturday.

We were at my parents to go trick-or-treating with my niece and nephew. Alex didn't take a great nap, which may be where our problems started. We first went to my grandma's house. Alex got out of the car and said, "I'm so excited!" That being said as he was jumping up and down. Well, I go to put his costume on him and he DID not want to wear it! He put it on long enough to walk in the house, but that was it. :(

We left there and he put it on to walk next door (we were just going to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood). Well, I think it scared him to death that we were going to someone else's house. I think he thought we were going to go inside. He kept saying, "Other people houses no fun!" Needless to say, we only went to one other house, then headed back to my parent's house.

He put his costume on for them, and then proceeded to sit on the floor and look at all of his candy. At least he enjoyed that part.

Sunday morning (at home) he sees his costume sitting by the table and wants to put it on. I put it on him and he just starts laughing and says, "I love my noo-noo and cheese box!" Silly boy!!!

I did get some good pictures of him goofing around in his costume tonight. So, the first pictures are from Halloween and the good ones are from tonight at home. :)

Let's just say next year, I probably WON'T be making a homemade costume!

As promised....

Here are the pictures from our beautiful Fall walk on Sunday!

A fall Walk....

Sunday we enjoyed the afternoon as a family and took a nice walk in the woods, or forest perserve. It was a blast and Alex was in his element as he was just able to run like crazy. He found a great natural see-saw, made a boat out of tree limbs, and loved following all the "dots" (trail markers) along the way. It was so much fun to watch him outside in the woods. We got some great pictures too of the quickly changing and falling leaves. :) For now you'll just have to enjoy the videos as our pictures aren't uploading for some reason. I'll try again tomorrow night.

Singing the ABCs



See-Saw in Nature

Out of the habit of blogging

I have been out of the habit of blogging for the last few months. I'm not sure why, but I'm going to try to get back into the habit of keeping this updated with pictures and posts letting you know what is going on. I think I last posted at the end of September, which was awhile ago. We have been busy on the weekends as Kent and I are both on the worship team at our church. We are never on at the same time, so it usually works out that at least 2 out of the 4 weekends one of us is busy Saturday and Sunday. It works out and we both really enjoying serving in that capacity. It does take a lot of our time on the weekends that we serve.

As many of you probably know, Alex was sick last week for about the whole week. I got a call at work on Wednesday that he had a fever of 101. I went to pick him up and we headed home. He continued to have a fever day and night for the most part until the following Monday morning. We headed to the doctor on Friday and then went back to the doctor on Monday. He had no other symptoms while he was sick which was just baffling. His throat was fine, his ears were clear, urine was fine, no rash, etc. His fever on Saturday and Sunday morning was 103 which was just TOO high. Monday when we went to the doctor she ended up taking blood and told me to not give him motrin unless he had a fever (at the time we were at the doctor his fever had gone down). It turns out Monday morning was the last time I had to give him any motrin or tylenol. His lab results were a little off so we're going back in a few weeks just to make sure that everything is back to normal (which they should be). He's back to normal now, which is so good to see. For those six days we didn't do much besides sit on the couch and watch television. I can tell you that I have seen enough Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Curious George, Calliou, and Little Einsteins to last for awhile! :) His sleeping was also terrible during those six days so Kent and I are just getting back to normal! Most of all though, we were just worried about little Alex as his body just couldn't break this fever!

Things are going well with the pregnancy. I'm 15 weeks and feeling pretty good. I'm still trying to run a few times a week, but obviously my distance has gone way down! My goal right now is to try to run until at least 20 weeks, unless I start uncomfortable during a run or having any cramping. Those are obviously signs to stop and just walk instead. I go to the doctor again tomorrow. We are planning on finding out what we're having this time, but probably won't know until December. Don't worry, we'll let everyone know when we find out!

We took Alex to Chuck E. Cheese a few weeks ago and he loved it!!! It was nice to go to a restaurant and enjoy eating and have Alex entertained to. His eyes were huge the entire time we were there. I think he was a little overstimulated, but he had fun!













One of the projects Alex has made at Daycare!




There was one day Alex and I were playing and he decided that I need to sit in his tent. He then proceeded to empty his ENTIRE toybox into the tent, with me in it. Needless to say, it was a tight squeeze with everything in there!