"Plane to see Memaw"

We're leaving tomorrow for New York to visit daddy's family and we'll be back the 1st of September (with lots of photos, of course).
Before we go . . .we need to call "me-maw" to make sure she remembers to pick us up at the airportand "fix it Elmo" (elmo stopped talking and she has been trying to fix him ie. change the batteries). See you in September!

it wouldn't be summer without . . .

ice cream on a hot summer night

"Look mom, I'm not holding on!"

L-O-V-E

Our Sweet Little Family!
(just a glimpse of a few shots from our photo shoot)

23 months old - a month of new beginnings

There are a lot of new things that have been happening this week as Lexi turned 23 months old on Monday, the 3rd, and we only have a month to go till the Big TWO!The biggest excitement so far in month 23 was that last night I asked her to go potty before I put her in the tub. While I was running the water and preparing her bath she went and sat on the potty (our usual routine). Well, I asked her if she was done and she said "uh-huh" and then came waddling back to the tub with her cute little bottom. So I put her in the tub and went to check the potty - much to my surprise she actually went pee-pee in the potty. I was so excited - this is a first for Lexi (she usually just sits there and then waddles back to the tub and tells me she went potty but the potty is empty). I was praising her and telling her what a good job she did. So then I ask her, "Did you go pee-pee in the potty?" And the little twerp says "NO". Of course, that is the answer I get to every question these days. The potty training will officially begin the beginning of next month, when we return from our vacation in New York. For now, we will be happy with the few surprise incidents when she goes in the potty.
Everyday, Lexi is learning a new word. I can pretty much understand what she is talking about when she talks to me by making out just a couple of the words in the sentences. She loves to sing and dance and it is funny how she gets the tune down and I can tell what song she is singing. A few favorites she likes to sing are: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; Abcs; Itsy, Bitsy Spider; Round Ball; Where is Thumbkin?.
Lexi runs everywhere, all the time. A few bumps and bruises have started to appear.
She has an infatuation with Mickey & Minnie Mouse. She refers to them as "Mimi" and "Mice". I had to stop her the other day from almost tackling a child at the library who had on a Minnie Mouse t-shirt.
Her favorite activity is to "cook" in her kitchen. She will play for an hour without any interruptions. Here she is playing in the kitchen at the museum on Thursday. She likes to set the table for her babies to eat. And the baby gets a bottle non-stop during the day. And we always tuck the baby in the cradle at night.
The new things she doesn't care for are clowns and mommy holding other babies. I was holding my girlfriend's newborn baby boy and Lexi was MAD. She wanted "up" and screamed and stomped her feet. Lexi has always liked dressed up characters when we have seen them places and usually won't leave their side. But, on Wednesday we went to see Ronald McDonald at the library and she wanted nothing to do with him and especially not a picture beside him. This was as close as we got to Ronald.

Weekend Fun in the Sun

We started our weekend bright and early Saturday morning with a photo shoot for the Mended Little Hearts group. A professional photographer donated her services to our organization and the photos will be used for public relations material for our group and her company. Let's just say it was a little to bright and early for Miss Alexis. If the photographer got one good shot of her or us she was lucky and a good photographer. We, however, were able to capture a few shots of our own.

Kisses for Daddy!Mommy & Lexi sitting inside the "LOVE" sculpture.

After the photos, we had a couple hours for Lexi to take a quick nap to get re-energized. Then it was off to Giavanna's birthday pool party. Alexis loves to swim/play in the pool. She was also quite excited about the "Dora" theme.Going for a dolphin ride.Daddy had lots of fun splashing with his little sweet pea!Lexi and Gia playing in the sprinkler.The little kiddos eating their pizza on the picnic table.

The Fabulous Four Girls

I can't believe how fast these little babies have grown up. Take a quick look. Unfortunately, we never think to get them in the same order, it is everything we can do to get them to sit still.

2 years old1 year old9 months old

3 months old

Cousin Trevor Update

I haven't posted about Trevor in quite awhile and I have had several people continue to ask me how he is doing. It feels wonderful to have people ask me - to me it means that my friends truly care about me and my family. I am so blessed to have friends like this!
It is with true happiness and lots of emotion to be able to make this great announcement on our blog that Trevor is now in REMISSION!
How do we begin to thank everyone for all their thoughts, prayers, and support over the last 7 months? I don't know if there are any words big enough but we want to thank you all because it helped make this bumpy road seem easier to handle. We are so blessed to have this great news in our family and we thank god everyday that we have the friends, family, medical advances and medical professionals that we do. Your prayers, thoughts, and support worked and I thank you so much for them.

Summer Fun

The last few weeks have been really warm, here. In Arizona, summer fun usually happens indoors when you have temperatures over 110. Here are some highlights from the month of July.Teaching daddy how to put this table together. Had to have her shirt off to do this job.

July 15th: We went to Isa's house to bake cookies and celebrate her birthday.
The girls frosted the cookies (I mean Lexi ate frosting off the cookies faster than I could help her put it on).
July 16th: Lexi's friends came over to play and have morning snacks.

They tried out her new table and chairs.

July 18th: Jade's 2nd Birthday Party at the Puppet Theater. The show was Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. The kids enjoyed the show. Papa Bear and Lexi. All the kids with the birthday girl.Lexi's favorite part of the party was getting to make her very own "Pup-et". We talk about Jade and the puppet all the time and have daily shows at our house. Lexi & Jade getting into the presents.

Of course, we've also made several trips to the splash pad. And enjoyed a fun night at the zoo with the Sesa*e Ste*t Bouncer.This upcoming weekend we have more birthday party fun planned at Gia's house!

duck, duck, goose

We went to the park early this morning to feed the ducks before it got too hot.

A great way to get rid of old bread and not feel wasteful and easy entertainment for toddlers.Lexi and Isa - two divas in their hat and sunglasses.

Old Fashion 4th of July

Today, we went to a 4th of July parade at a local park. It was so cute and the spirit of Independence Day was all around. The parade had horses, little kids on scooters, and cars. Posing with the horses before the parade began.Waving her flag as the parade goes by.
In the evening, we went to watch fireworks and it was so hot; I seriously thought we were going to melt. But it wouldn't be the 4th of July without fireworks. Lexi kept saying, "Pop, Pop, Boom!"