Happy 50th Birthday, Noni!

Here is Alexa during lunch last Thursday. She LOVES cheese and was thrilled to be given the whole slice in one piece!










Later in the day, we made the trek up to Perry (or as Alexa says "Perrrrr" with a rolled 'r' like in Spanish, it's quite funny). On our way into town, we made a "pit stop" at Paul's work to say hello - it had been 5 weeks since JaJa had seen his niece and he didn't want to wait until Friday morning to see her :-) When JaJa approached Alexa she watched him cautiously, but the moment he reached her, she reached out for him. It was really adorable! He proudly held her and introduced his niece to everyone :-) Alexa kept giving him kisses and cuddling her face into his shoulder. It warms my heart to see the two of 'em together!

Alexa hanging out with Noni on her birthday!










The only present Mom opened on her actual birthday was from Auntie Kathy & Uncle Dave in NC... I just loved their card!










Alexa must be very persuasive if she convinced JaJa to read her a book on Friday morning.










Alexa being a goofball on the floor... And reading a book with Gram (who stopped over before nap on Friday).










Wow -- I don't even know where to begin to describe our dinner at Dino's. Interesting. Dramatic. It was eventful, that's for sure! The once beautiful ice cream cake (that had had a cowboy hat on it) slipped while the waitress was carrying it to our table and her hand kinda ruined it. Hot-headed me could not even deal with it, thank goodness Mom was in good spirits and so kind to our waitress! Happy 50th Birthday, Mom/Noni!!










Dan & me at dinner. JaJa & Alexa (who was INCREDIBLY well-behaved the entire 2 hours we were there!).










Surprise! I had arranged for Mom's bestest friends to be at the house when we returned :-) It was great to see everyone! Alexa particularly enjoyed the balloons and her BFF, Regan! Regan, Babe (R's grandma/Mom's BFF Kelly), Alexa, & Noni during the party.










Both girls were trying to turn the pages of the books faster than I could read 'em! They are so smart and it was so much fun to watch them together!!










Well, on Saturday morning, we finally gave Mom/Noni her gifts (besides the flower basket we had delivered to her work on her actual birthday). My dad got her a beautiful diamond necklace and earrings set!










Us children got her a fancy new robe! And all Alexa cared about... the bag, wrapping/tissue paper, and balloons.










She had a lot of fun kicking the balloons and shouting into the balloons (thank you so much, Auntie, for teaching her this dangerous thing).


To make up for the cake that had been destroyed, Dad went back to Dairy Queen and got a second ice cream cake. We all LOVE these cakes, and it seems like Alexa fits right in with the fam :-)










"Yant" braving bathtime with Alexa - who for some reason has begun to HATE bathtime. I think I may have to sign us up for swim class again to get her more comfortable in the water.










After watching Fast & Furious (the new one) as a family on Saturday night, someone (I can't be sure if it was me or Danielle) dared Dan to do this:


Here is Alexa on Sunday morning cuddling with Dixie. It's nice that Dixie is so much calmer than Chloe because Alexa has a hard time being able to be affectionate to Chloe (who would rather be anywhere but cuddling a 15-month old, hehe).










We had a busy, fun, long-weekend in Perry! Thanks to my wonderful family (immediate and extended) and great family friends for making it a memorable one!! xoxo

Quick "Nikki" update: I'm always telling y'all that I am so busy (with Alexa & Dan, taking Master's classes, teaching PSR, traveling to Perry, etc.) that I find it hard to keep up-to-date with the blog. Yet last week I added another task to my To-Do List, workout. I may be crazy! It seems as though working out has become the "cool thing" to do, so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon. I joined a gym last week, which has a really nice playroom for Alexa. Since Alexa has never been to daycare (and has primarily been cared for by me, Dan, or my parents), I was really nervous as to how she would handle being in a playroom without anyone familiar. In fact, I hardly slept on Wednesday night wondering how she would handle her 30-minute visit on Thursday morning. However, my fears were for nothing. The staff told me that Alexa did wonderful! She was nice to the other kids and very inquisitive. In fact, the only time she cried was when I took her to leave... however, today I was not so lucky. Just as I had finished up with the personal trainer (I got one free session with my new membership), one of the staff members came looking for me to tell me that Alexa had been crying for me. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for her! I'll let you guys know how it goes, and if it goes well, I'll take some photos of Alexa in the playroom having fun :-)

I've come to a point where I have two options:
1. I can update you on the past two days, including uploading pictures from our fun night with Pat & Becky, who came over to visit and joined us for dinner tonight :-)
2. I can go watch the recap show in preparation of the premiere of LOST: The Final Season.

I choose option... #2. Not because #1 isn't important, but because I have been waiting for this premiere for the better part of 9 months!! That and I have a cold and would rather lay on the couch then continue to stare at this computer screen :-)~ I will post more later in the week, promise. Until then... Ciao.