Thursday, January 30, 2014

Random Fall 2013


Sisters! 
Such lucky girls to have each other!

We've lived here for 6 1/2 years (time flies!) and we've had this beautiful view to look at everyday. It's been bittersweet as construction crews have taken over developing the land back there (currently still just building roads) beginning last Fall. Parker's finally hit an age where I have let him roam back there a bit with his buddies...(kind of an awesome playground for little boys) and soon it will be gone and developed into a neighborhood! After purchasing our home at the height of the recession (2007) we have been "under water" on our home for years now...like everyone else who became homeowners that year. But I'm happy to say that we bought in a great area (location, location, location! & being the smallest house in the neighborhood can be a good thing:)) and we are no longer underwater! And with the new custom homes set to be built back there, our home price should just rise because of it. So while we love the view, we can't totally complain about getting new neighbors! :) 
Not that we plan on moving....we'd love a tiny bit more space, but we'd want to stay in this area for sure and everything is so darn expensive over here! What we have is what we can afford, lol. :)

As long as great new friends/neighbors replace those sunsets, I'm okay with the change. I think. :)
Parker loved "crazy hair day" at school!

The Preschool Crew of Blondies... 
seriously, the cutest playgroup ever. I love these kiddos! We have playgroup once a week after carpooling to preschool together. It works out awesome and they play together so well!


We had the best Fall!! The weather was soooo nice. Definitely my favorite time of year and I was so grateful that Utah's stinky snow didn't set in too early and ruin it all like it does some years. 

Me and the Lexi Girl. 
Love her so much!
Emmie: "Hey guys! We can use these as our mouth covers for when Mom tells us to 'zip it!'." 
(Shoot is my punctuation right??)
Apparently I said that a lot this last Fall because they ran through a lot of stickers....;)

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Fall Fun

More Fall Fun...

Hee Haw Farms
 October 2013

The Petting farm, giant slide, wagon ride, courtyard games, "haunted" wagon trick-or-treat ride.... what's not to love?? This was a really fun morning and the kiddos especially loved the huge slide- made apparent by the 50 turns they took chasing down it.

For the record, when you have bad vertigo, a corn maze is not very therapeutic, helpful, or awesome! 
 I was probably a few weeks into therapy by that point and feeling somewhat better but this was not a good idea! We thought the wagon was dropping us off at the pumpkin patch, not a maze!:)


I love this
 (now that it's January, I'll call it that) 
 time of year!!!

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Lexi turns 2


This Little Miss Itty turned 2 in October.
TWO!
It's gone by waaay to fast. To say that we adore this pint-sized Delight is an extreme understatement. She is the essence of joy. Truly! She is SO. MUCH. FUN and we just can't get enough of her! 
Her 24 month stats: 
 WEIGHT: 20.72 lbs: 4.85%ile
HEIGHT: 30.5 inches: 0.28%ile
HEAD: 18.75 inches: 62.59%ile
 
Here are 24 things about Lexi at 24 months: 
1. She can count up to 13 (gets a little mixed up after that) all on her own, and from 5 back down to 1. :)
2. She LOVES Minnie Mouse (appropriate since she herself is "mini") and her pink and black satin blankie that Grandma Jane made her. She must sleep with them both (and currently 7 other "friends/babies in her crib). She also has to have her glow worm on and a sippy of water in her crib for her to go to sleep. 
3. She still sleeps in her crib, and takes 1 afternoon nap, anywhere from 1-4. (Anyone who dares knock on our door during that time, also known as "quiet time" at our house, is toast. :))
4. She loves her "milky" baba's, with chocolate Carnation Instant Breakfast mixed in....that addiction is to blame on the endocrinologist...;)
5. She wears size 12 month pants and is still itty bitty. The pediatrician is pretty confident that we will have to start growth hormone therapy for her next year....
6. She has really cute naturally curly, scrunch-and-go hair. :)
7. She LOVES to sing. LOVES! Her little voice is the sweetest and she is pretty amazing at carrying a tune for a 2 year old.  Her favorite songs at the moment are: I am a Child of God, I am like a Star Shining Brightly (real name?), and the ABC's. 
8. Like her big sis, she is a thumb sucker. 
9. She loves to play house and school with Emmie. Emmie goes around singing to her, "Lexi- WHAT DOES THE "G" SAY?! (To the tune of, "Who let the dogs out?!") And impressively, half the time Lexi gets the sound right... "G, G G G!". It's pretty entertaining. :)
10. Her favorite foods are: Cut up chicken (dipped in ranch please),  soups (chicken tortilla, cauliflower cheddar, creamy potato...), potatoes, rice, cheese, cheese sticks, Danimals, peanut butter and honey sandwiches (no crust please), taquitos, waffles, pancakes, bacon, cottage cheese, manicotti, noodles, homemade (or not) mac n cheese, french fries, apple sauce squeezies, green smoothies, cereal... overall she's a pretty good eater these days for a two year old, I can't complain.
11. Her expressions are the best... she has the biggest, cutest smile and I love it when her eyes get all big when she's describing something to me and she throws her arms up in the air... 
12. She loves to make us laugh and is such a little performer. She'll walk away from us in a shuffle/march with her eyes wide and eyebrows up all the while throwing us a glance over her shoulder, because she knows it makes us laugh.
13. She loves to read stories and will bring me book after book. We read a lot of Sandra Boynton these days. 
14. She's not been a great sleeper for probably 9 months. Teething is partially to blame but I'm not sure. I can pretty much count on a wake up call around 3 a.m. and sometimes numerous times leading up to midnight. 
15. She's a great little talker and pretty much says anything....but is sometimes hard to understand lately.
16. She has colored on more walls (& furniture) than our other kids ever dared did combined. 
17. She has an incredible tolerance for pain. It makes me nervous sometimes because it's hard to take an injury (like when a heavy barstool hit her head a few months back and left an indent - I still wonder if it cracked her skull) seriously when she only cries for a minute. 
18. She still sits backwards in the car and still fits in her baby car seat. Backwards is the safest (according to the experts) so I leave my kiddos that way for as long as possible. With the rate that she's growing, she'll be backwards til she's fourteen. :)
19. She's really sharp. She remembers things we teach/tell her really well and seems to really comprehend things. She really reminds me of Parker at this age because of that. 
20. Her favorite "shows" are: Mickey Mouse Club House, Princess Sofia, and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. 
21. She went to nursery at church for about 3 weeks happily/willingly... but then I had to take her out for a little sabatical to avoid germs for the holidays. She hasn't been back since but hopefully she'll ease back into it soon. Her nursery teachers adore her. :)
22. Her eyes have turned a pretty greenish color recently & she has killer eye lashes. :)
23. Her two front teeth  make me smile and when she gives kisses, she sticks them out giving a slobbery tooth-kiss. 
24. She likes to be rocked before going to bed (for just a few minutes) while we sing a few songs, and when she cuddles up on me during this process she always swishes my hair out of the way, telling me, "Mom your hair's cazy (crazy)". 

...I could go on and on!!!
She is such a fun, bright, sweet (with a pinch of feisty), loving, exuberant, HAPPY girl and makes such a great little companion. She loves to be held and I love that her tininess makes doing so, so doable. :) We just adore her to pieces and are so blessed by her in our family!


Her birthday... we woke up and did presents first thing as we do in this house for birthdays before Chris left for work and P for school. She got a big Minnie Mouse and was a happy girl! She also couldn't put down the Animal Crackers that I had slipped in with one of her gifts, as can be noted in the pics. 
A few days later, when Chris had a day off and P had early out day at school, we went to... of course, Thanksgiving Point and hung out at the Farm since this little cutie loves animals. 
I think it's safe to say she's the cutest little 2-year-old Cowgirl in all the land!


Seeing the goats. 
I heart the goats, what can I say. 

  I also heart these peeps. 

Riding the wagon...how did this threesome get so big all of a sudden?? 


Gma & Gpa Hansen happened to call while we were there and came over on a whim to have dinner with us at the Emporium. They were taking off for Texas that week and then off to New York and wanted to celebrate with Miss Lex before they left & we were glad they came. 


And the celebrations continued as they do in our family!
The next week my Dad and Melissa had us over for a party for Lexi. I was grateful to Melissa for doing that... I was still in the middle of not feeling good and had just started physical therapy for my inner ear/vertigo problem and was not up to all the prep that goes into  having a houseful of party goers!
 Have I mentioned how much we love Melissa?! Not only is she one of the warmest, sweetest, most upbeat people you could know, she is also an amazing cook! Those cupcakes have Lindt chocolate balls hidden in them. SO yummy!!!


We lucked out because Steven, Kylie and Jack were in town to join in on the party!
Happy Birthday to our Baby Girl!!!