This year I was late in getting my Christmas cards out, it took me/us days to decorate the tree (and the rest of the house), and I haven't had time to bake cookies. But I am done Christmas shopping (and wrapping), a new record for myself! Now I'm just counting down the HOURS, yes hours, until Kat arrives from London!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As Dan pointed out to me the other night, I've been looking forward to her arrival since I said goodbye to her on New Year's Day last year. Alexa is going to LOVE spending time with Aunty Kat ♥ After spending a few days with her, we are excited to head to Perry (probably on Tues, maybe Wed) for CHRISTMAS!! We will stay there probably until Sunday (no set plans though). After a few more days with Kat in Columbus we are excited to head to West Virginia to meet Andy, Cathy, David, & Natalie for two nights. The seven of us (plus Chloe) are renting a cabin and going to do Christmas together (decorating a mini-Christmas tree, baking & icing cookies, a Christmas dinner, gift exchange, etc.).
Well, enough with upcoming plans... Let's take a quick glimpse at the past two weeks in the Ritchey house:
Here is a video of Alexa making animal noises :-) Since this video was taken (on 12/3) she has learned what noises a pig, chicken, and cat make.
Alexa adores George, her gorilla, and she has discovered how to go bouncy-bounce on him!
She knows that a car goes "vroom..." and can identify all of the flashcards on the floor around her.
Look how much Alexa enjoys food....
A little dancing clip to "Red High Heels," which is Alexa's favorite song.
Here we are decorating our big Christmas tree in the living room. I'll take pictures of the rest of the house all decorated another time to share with y'all because we have two more trees & TONS of other decor :-)
Alexa and I hanging my favorite ornament on the tree. One that Danielle made for me when she was in elementary school. It is a 6-point, crooked, heavy-as-hell, clay, star. It is ALWAYS the last ornament we put on the tree and we save it a "prime spot."
Alexa took off from the living room (where we were decorating the Christmas tree) to the family room so that she could be closer to the music, haha.
Although I haven't taken photos of the entire house decorated (including the outside for the first time in the three Christmas's we lived here), I did take some of our new dining room furniture all decorated for the season because I love how it looks!
A few Saturdays ago, the three of us went to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo. It was cold out so we bundled Alexa all up, smeared Vaseline on her face, and covered her with blankets to endure the weather for an hour and a half to see the GORGEOUS light display! She kept her arms out like she was flying the entire time, lol. It was a fun family date ♥
Last weekend we made the trek up to Perry again, with a car load full of Christmas presents (there was no way everything would have fit in just the trip up for Christmas). When we arrived in town we stopped at Gram's house to visit (and of course, eat, haha). Alexa loves to "cook" (I put that in quotes because she says the word CONSTANTLY - I mean she wakes up in the morning and asks to "cook.")!! She is definitely a Gachuk girl :-)
Gram giving Alexa kisses & hugs for doing such a good job walking, and then helping her "cook."
Throughout the entire weekend it was like something clicked in Alexa's head and she decided to walk. It was awesome!!! I am in awe watching her walk & talk, walk & clap, walk & stop to dance, etc. Even though she will always be my baby, she is definitely a baby no more.
On Sunday, we went to Breakfast with Santa which was held at the field house of Perry High School's CFC. There were tons of blow up Christmas decorations, the Captains' mascot, and Santa. Plus lots of kids for Alexa to walk up to :-) She got really fussy any time one of us picked her up (hence the not-so-great pictures) because she is Ms. Independent now.
Here's our little princess walking :-)
This was A's third time meeting Santa, and she still loves him. In fact, this time she tried to give him a kiss ♥ Can you see how intently he is listening to Alexa's Wish List for Christmas? Haha.
Sharon and Rich came to Perry with R.J. and Ardynn for the breakfast too :-) As always, it was WONDERFUL to see the Soika Family! Aren't R.J. and Alexa a cute lil couple, hugging and holding hands??
This past week I had to decorate my first cake for class. The photo on the left is the pattern I was aiming to create. The photo on the right was my actual cake. Not too bad for a first cake!
I'll say Ciao now and let Alexa end the blog posting tonight...
I know this posting is LONG overdue - sorry! We headed home on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was nice because we had a really long weekend to spend with the family!!
That night, we took some family pictures for our Christmas card (the one here was the winner). And other than that, we just played with Alexa and hung out at home.
We did try to get Chloe to wear Alexa's hat for her Christmas card photo, but I never got a good shot. Here is Alexa kissing me through the sliding glass door - too cute!
The Wednesday night before Thanksgiving there is always a mini Perry High School reunion at Sammy K's (a local bar). Paul, Dan, and I went up there for a few hours. It was so nice to catch up with everyone!! Below is me with one of my childhood & to-this-day BFFs, Lindsey. And another picture of me with Katie, Linds, and Kristin.
On Thursday morning, Auntie helped get Alexa ready for her solo photo shoot for the Christmas card.
I got out-voted (I liked the one above best), but Dan, Mom, & Danielle all chose the one on the bottom left.
Alexa loves playing with her Auntie. She sits on her tummy and says "bounce bounce!"
My parents welcomed a ton of people to their house on Thanksgiving! It was really great to see extended Gachuk family members :-) Alexa had a blast playing with Austin & Jaden (my cousin Nancy's children).
My Aunt Denise & cousin Angela hanging out after dinner. Dan has a serious problem taking non-serious pictures ;-) At least Danielle looks pretty (well, minus the bunny ears).
That night Noni and Papa lit their outdoor lights so Alexa Rose could see them - she just kept asking them to "touch."
Noni and Alexa dancing (I'm sure to Red High Heels). The awesome turkey pumpkin Nancy carved.
Alexa playing with Sofia, our family friend, Mark's daughter. They had fun doing puzzles and sorting shapes!
On Friday night, Danielle, Mom, and I went to see Wicked at Playhouse Square. We got dressed up, went downtown, enjoyed coffee at Starbucks, and then went to the musical. It was a really fun Girls' Night :-) Wicked was AMAZING - it really gives you a different perspective to Wicked Witch of the West, and I'm sure the Wizard of Oz will never be the same for me (in a good way).
Ah, my favorite Thanksgiving weekend tradition from my childhood (that I have missed so much the past 5 years that we have not spent Thanksgiving in Perry) - TOWER CITY!!! We go down to Tower City to see various characters (including Frosty, Nutcracker, and Kris Kringle), do some shopping, drink Caribou Coffee, eat at Hard Rock Cafe, and see the lights in Public Square. It was a wonderful family day!
Here is Auntie & Alexa with Frosty, and Papa building Alexa a house while we waited to see Kris Kringle.
Alexa was very interested in the foam blocks, but even more enamored with Kris Kringle (they did not call him Santa - and clearly he did not wear a read suit).
Noni & Alexa waiting outside of Hard Rock Cafe. We discovered that Alexa likes oranges!
Dad, Paul, and me. Dan, Danielle, and Mom.
The best sibs picture we got because Paul was goofing around (and Danielle & I laughing in the other 4 pics). Noni, Alexa, & Papa at Hard Rock Cafe.
Alexa refused to look at the camera for a picture with Daddy & Mommy. Note her outfit change from earlier in the day - yeah, she had a diaper explosion when she was meeting Kris Kringle. LOVE LOVE LOVE that we got such a great whole group photo because these are the most important people in my life :-)
I love Alexa's kisses ♥ Alexa with her godparents, almost a year to the day since she was baptized!
Bundled up to see the lights in Public Square.
After seeing the lights, we went back inside and danced while some lounge-singer types sang Christmas music.
Dancing with Mommy, and a shoulder ride from Daddy!
We really did have a great Perry-cation thanks to my parents, brother, and sister! As always, I am thankful that Dan is willing to spend so much time at my parents' house. I feel so blessed that he loves and gets along with my family (and vice versa). I'm grateful for all of the love and attention my family showers Alexa with. She is such a great little girl and loves spending time with all of them as much as I do!!
On a side note, I couldn't NOT have a picture of Alexa with the man in the red suit. So I took her to see Santa at Tuttle Mall when we got back from Perry. She was not scared of him (or Kris Kringle) at all. I was pleasantly surprised to not have a screaming child with Santa picture!!
Well, our heat pump is broken so I'm waiting for the fifth company to arrive to give me an estimate on a new furnace and heat pump, ugh :-/ Will try to get another post updated soon with all that we've been up to this December! Ciao.
