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.