Oh, What a Weekend!!

"For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands."
~Christina Rossetti~

I am so blessed to have such an amazing sister. Words cannot even express my surprise and delight that Danielle wanted to spend a weekend with us in Columbus - it's not every day you find a teenager who wants to be with her family instead of friends! We had an action-packed, memorable weekend together and missed [Auntie] Danielle the moment she left on Sunday afternoon. But I'm getting ahead of myself, let me recap y'all on our weekend...

When us three girls were at Kroger on Friday getting stuff to make Shepherd's Pie for dinner, the lady in the floral department gave Alexa a balloon (with a bell on the end) because she was being such a good girl :-) Doesn't she look even cuter in a dress now that she is standing & walking? I think so... so I made it our mission yesterday & today to find a few new, warm dresses.













I'm pretty sure that by the end of the weekend, "Yant" was sick of reading Goldilocks & the Three Bears because Alexa took it off the shelf so many times (eventually Daddy actually hid the book!) :-)~










I guess reading Counting Kisses inspired Alexa to give me some lovin' ♥










In a recent post, I had a picture of Alexa sitting in an old salad serving bowl (one of her many comedic tricks). Here is Alexa, our comedian, in action:


After Alexa went to bed on Friday night, Dan, Danielle, and I rented Angels & Demons... it was a really great movie! I'd read the book years ago (written by Dan Brown), along with The Da Vinci code, but couldn't remember the exact plot. It is definitely one of those "sitting on the edge of your seat" kinda movies!

On Saturday morning, we headed up to Polaris Fashion Place for some shopping & playtime!










"Yant" and "Dada" had a blast playing with Her Highness in the zoo-themed play area. Alexa is so adventurous and does not "back down" if a big kid is in her way...










The four of us had lunch at California Pizza Kitchen (yummy!)... While we were there, Alexa enjoyed some coloring and a lemon (yes, she is taking after her Auntie and actual likes the tart citrus fruit)!










I had plans to go out to dinner with some girlfriends on Saturday night (we do it once a month); knowing that, Auntie brought dinner (courtesy of Noni) for herself, Alexa, and Daddy to enjoy that evening. Clearly, there is a reason why they call 'em "sloopy joes...."










I returned from dinner with a 1/2 gallon of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough for Dan & Danielle, who had bonded over dinner, bathtime, bedtime, and the movie Sneakers while I was gone. The three of us watched a new lifetime movie, The Pregnancy Pact, that is based on a true story. It was totally bizarre to watch 15-year olds make a pact to get pregnant... makes me wanna find a chastity belt (isn't that what they're called?) for Alexa to wear in her teenage years!!

After Mass on Sunday, we enjoyed homemade waffles & some more playtime in the basement. Alexa impressed Auntie when they were working on her shapes puzzle. She was able to put in all of the shapes (with the exception of the pentagon & octagon) all by herself!










♥ Auntie, Alexa, & Mommy ♥










Auntie left while Alexa was finishing her lunch. Alexa, who was busy stuffing her face, barely realized her departure, but I was a sobbing mess. I moved to Columbus 9.5 years ago, which means I have been away from Danielle more than I have been with her :-( That saddens me. Being cognizant of this is one of the reasons that I want to live closer to my family... I don't want them to miss as much of Alexa's life as I have of Danielle's life. I guess my point is that my sister's visit touched me so much and really made me appreciate my wonderful family (and cherish our times together)!!

After Alexa's nap, we went to the Sip's house for a playdate with Leylynn (and for a visit with Ley & Michelle). The girls had so much fun crawling through the tunnel and playing in the ball pit (among other things)... and Alexa thought it was HILARIOUS to flip the ball pit on its side over and over again while she was inside of it (her courageousness terrifies me)!!










Look at the awesome triangles Alexa drew (haha, not really)! We had an awesome time with the Sip Family and look forward to another playdate in the near future!!










We had Alexa's 15-month check-up yesterday morning. She weighed in at 23 lbs (50th percentile) and is 30.5" tall (50th percentile). The doctor said that it is great that she is so proportional! We discussed Alexa's food preferences, milk intake, vocabulary, mobility, personality, etc. Alexa impressed Dr. Jacob by counting to five, making many animal noises (her newest one is "caw"ing like a seagull), showing off her fine motor skills (putting one paper cup inside the other), walking around the room & trying to climb the stroller, and being affectionate (Alexa walked over and gave Dr. Jacob a hug - it warmed my heart to watch the pediatrician hug her back, go cheek to cheek with her, and tell her what a beautiful & brilliant little girl she was!). I drilled Dr. Jacob with questions on future things, like transitioning to a twin size bed and potty training. She is always so patient with me [being the neurotic first time mom] and has great answers to my questions! The appointment ended with three shots (dTap, Hep A, and H1N1) -- she did really great with 'em. Here are a few pictures:




















One of Alexa's latest accomplishments is going DOWN the stairs! She has been able to crawl up them for quite some time now, but after a brief tutorial from Noni two weekends ago, I have continued to urge her to go down (while I am standing below her, of course). Alexa does a great job and I think will be able to go up & down the stairs without supervision before too long... gosh, she is getting so independent!! She has also learned how to identify nose, eyes, ears, teeth, hair, belly (& belly button), and toes on herself or someone else. Alexa has been really interested in doing Patty-cake lately; and I've been singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" to her, and she knows when to clap and is learning how to stomp, which she fascinates herself with.

We are looking forward to a weekend at HOME starting in 2 days!! I can hardly believe it has been 5 weeks since we were last in Perry... the time has passed quickly with Noni & Papa's visit two weekends ago and Auntie's visit this past weekend, but Alexa has really been missing JaJa (and vice versa)!

Happy 60th Birthday (tomorrow) to Aunt Janine!
Happy 50th Birthday (on Thurs) to Mom/Noni!
Happy 70th Birthday (on Sun) to Uncle Ken!

Did I ever mention that Alexa now has 4 teeth? All on the bottom, who knows when the top ones are going to appear... That's all I've got for now. Ciao.

The Best Surprise!!!

Just wanted to share a quick post...

This afternoon as Alexa was finishing up lunch the doorbell rang. I went to the door and through the speckled glass saw a long-haired brunette. Since I wasn't expecting anyone I was very curious... So I opened the door (while trying to hold Chloe back) and saw a girl texting on her cell phone. It wasn't until she pushed the door wide open that my brain registered that it was Danielle!!!!! It brought tears to my eyes that my baby sister surprised us! The moment she walked into the kitchen, Alexa started shouting "Yant. Yant. Yant." Alexa cried and cried when I took her away from Auntie to go to nap and immediately asked for "Yant" when she woke up :-) We had to go to Kroger to get stuff for dinner, so Auntie carried Alexa into the garage and handed her to me to put in the car seat. Alexa spazzed out thinking Auntie was leaving and didn't stop crying until she saw Auntie sit down in the front seat. I don't know which of the two of us is happier that Danielle is here for the weekend ;-)

Needless to say, WHAT A WONDERFUL SURPRISE we got this afternoon!! We're going to really enjoy our weekend with [Auntie] Danielle ♥ Ciao.

Happy 30th Birthday, Daddy!

It has been an eventful week for us! Last Friday, I began the process of making Dan the ultimate birthday cake... (scroll down for the finished cake)










While I was baking, Alexa played with some of her magnetic letters and meatloaf pan (her idea of "cook"ing). No worries, she was also able to feed herself some goldfish too! The picture on the left is Alexa playing Peek-a-Boo with Chloe :-) It was soooo cute!!










I mentioned in my last post that my parents were coming to town for the weekend, and we had a wonderful visit (as usual) with them!! We had a relaxing night at home on Friday, enjoying pizza, good conversation, and Ghost Whisperer. Then on Saturday morning/afternoon, my dad and Dan installed our new garage door opener - which is awesome! - while my mom, Alexa, and I did a little shopping and napped :-)

Here are Noni & Papa building with Alexa's Mega Bloks early on Saturday morning.










Alexa crawled under the bridge... and then knocked it down! She has so much fun playing with her Noni & Papa ♥










Lucky for us, one of Alexa's favorite parts of playing is cleaning up! Honestly, she enjoys putting toys (even the wrong ones, hehe) in her Mega Bloks bag.










On Saturday night, we went out to dinner for Dan's 30th birthday with my parents, Dan's parents, Dan's sister and brother-in-law, and a few of our closest friends. We ate at BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse.










Alexa LOVED the ranch dressing that came with her chicken fingers - thanks a lot, Noni, for teaching her to dip her fingers in it :-)~


The finished "Over the Hill" cake I made Dan -- isn't it wonderful??










The family photo was taken at the very end of dinner/cake, and it was past Alexa's bedtime so Noni gave her the phone to avoid meltdown... She is positively hilarious putting a phone (or anything else for that matter) up to her ear! Thanks to my fantastic parents who took Alexa home so that we could head out to the bar to celebrate with a larger group of friends the start of a new decade for Dan :-)










We went to Mass and out to breakfast on Sunday morning. Noni & Alexa matched in their Jimmie Johnson shirts :-) When it was time for Alexa's nap, Noni & Papa sadly left to head back up to Perry :-( Can't wait to see them next Thursday to celebrate Noni's 50th Birthday!!










After nap, Pat, Becky, Maureen, and Dan came over and brought dinner. Alexa enjoyed playing with her uncle and aunt and even was saying "Momo" for Maureen.










They were all quite entertained by Alexa and said she is a "character," and I couldn't agree more! She has such a little personality and does funny stuff all the time! Alexa is also a sweetheart; look at her giving Daddy kisses ♥










Look at how long A's hair is getting!!










Aunt "Momo" built a tower that Alexa was thrilled to destroy! And then she did one of her favorite things... cuddled Chloe. She has quite the obsession with our pooch ♥










Daddy's actual birthday was on Monday and because of MLK Jr. Day, he didn't have to work! We started off the day with a little grocery shopping and then headed to Babytime.










I sat on the bench and let Daddy participate in storytime with Alexa. They had so much fun together!!










Here is a video of Alexa chasing the bubbles around the Story Garden at the library.


For lunch, Daddy picked Graffiti Burger take-out and then Alexa went for nap (as did I, haha). After nap we tricked Daddy by giving him only his birthday cards (and no presents). He had told me that since we just bought the new furnace/heat pump that he didn't want me spending any money on gifts. So I let him believe that I had actually listened to him :-)~










Per Daddy's request, I made corned beef & cabbage for dinner. It was so yummy! Then Alexa and I coaxed Daddy into the living room and surprised him with his gifts. He was so excited to get a burner and giant strainer for brewing beer!










On Tuesday, Alexa and I went to the mall and stopped to play in the play area. She was having a ball running around, banging on things, crawling through tunnels, looking at other children, etc. We will definitely have to go back again soon!










Today Alexa and I picked Daddy up from work and went to lunch at PF Chang's (courtesy of Gram, it's the gift card she got us for Christmas). Alexa ate some of my Crispy Honey Chicken, as well as some of Daddy's Orange Peel Chicken. She has developed quite the little taste buds... the more flavorful/spicy the more she likes it!










This is Alexa playing after dinner tonight... See what I mean about her being hilarious?!?! We were literally laughing out loud when she initially climbed in and were even more amused when she did it over and over again :-)~










Nothing else to report for now. Just enjoying the mini-break from my Master's class and PSR this week because of the holiday. Our busy schedule resumes next week! Ciao.