A wonderful time!

This past Sunday, Abuela watched Alex and I was able to go to a Baby Shower. It was a blast! The shower was a lovely time to catch up with wonderful women, the fellowship was awesome and it is exciting to see PINK clothes. This time makes me appreciate having family to watch Alex and being close to family and friends to celebrate special occasions.

Cleaning

With a quiet Thanksgiving, our VIPs coming in next Saturday (YEA!) and a busy week at the Market... I thought it would be best to get the major cleaning done this weekend and then dust up when people arrive. So I vacuumed and dusted, Alex dust busted and he and Abuela washed windows :) It is just too cute to resist (also...notice the big boy pants... only 1 accident today!).

Snow

Friday morning, after 2 sleep interruptions with Alex, we awoke at 7am to SNOW. Alex was sooo excited! It was super easy to get him to eat his breakfast and get dressed because he wanted to play out in it. (I am sooo not beyond bribery and threats.)

So we got him bundled up and once outside he immediate began to eat it from his slide. I was able to entice him away with the thought of a sled. But unfortunately, 1/2 inch was not enough to move him down the hill on his own. Boy was he excited!!!

Updated Daddy Pic

So being away from family, Pat has started to grow facial hair :) This is very surprising for me to see since I have never seen Pat like this :)

Spanish update

ok....since my Boca Beth discovery I have been concentrating on working with Alex in Spanish. It has been done slowly but he now says these words in Spanish:
Milk-leche
Water-agua
Apple Juice-jugo de manzana
more-más
1-10
and he knows what: ¿Qué quieres? (what do you want?) means.

So at least he will not die of thirst in a Spanish country :)

Big Boy Pants

Alex has been doing fairly well on the potty (when he is naked). To help him make the transition to underpants, we went out to Walmart to pick up "BIG BOY PANTS". He has been very excited (except when he was watching Diego) to show them to everyone. In his excitement, Alex decided to try on the big boy pants.... he got 2 pairs on when he again got distracted :) Definitely a picture perfect moment!

November Craft

This week from the Library craft, Alex made Indian corn. It was a great simple craft that Alex loved to do with the glue stick!

Count your blessings...

I haven't posted in a while and it is mostly due to the fact that things have been a little rough lately...

However, after Rev. Dale's sermon about Thanksgiving and Mrs. Ryan's testimony on counting your blessings... what is what I'll do.

Blessings:
1. A 2 year old who uses the potty...mostly...
2. A loving husband who will be back in 12 days
3. Loving parents who are providing a place to stay
4. Good health
5. Being close to friends and family
6. nap time....those are wonderful!

I am sure there are more....it just seems harder to think at times... :)

Pat's classmate

Here's a picture of Pat with all the people he is taking classes with :) What a lovely bunch!

UPromise

Ok....when I can, I do A LOT of shopping online. Things I look for:

1. is there free shipping
2. do I have an e-coupon
3. will I get extra Discover rewards
4. is it a UPromise partner

Upromise is a great way to pay off college loans or save money towards a 529 college plan. Since I started (5 years ago), UPromise has put $170 towards my student loans because I shop and register with them :)

If you do not need a UPromise account, please feel free to use this link when shopping: UPromise

One day, I am hoping to use this towards Alex's future.

Boca Beth

Ok... I have been a HUGE slacker about speaking Spanish with Alex :( However, at times, I do redirect him in Spanish (Ven aqui, no toques, sube las escaleras) and count but I am afraid Diego and Dora do a better job :(

So with my extra time with Alex, I decided to research ways/ideas/websites to help me and my son speak Spanish together. As a former HS spanish teacher, working with a 2 year old is a tad different in certain levels.

In my research/Internet wanderings, I found this website: http://bocabeth.net/ with a free giveaway, great products and ideas. Maybe you should check it out too ;)

In Dallas

It has been a great time in Dallas with Pat! Saturday we went to the Grapevine mall and walked around for 4 hours (hehehe) and then Sunday afternoon we went to explore the Forth Worth Stockyards. The pictures will show a cattle auction, the "thrilling" cattle run through the stockyards, and dinner at Rickey's Saloon. A nice time but the company is MUCH better :)

Dear Daddy,

Since the government will not allow you to access my web albums (when you are sooo far away, for soo long a time), Mommy and I decided to add more pictures of ME :) This way you can see me and see what a big boy I am!

Love,
Alex

potty training

So...potty training is going fairly well. Alex sits on the potty every 30 minutes or so but still doesn't ask to go to the potty. And in public, there is just too many distractions for him to focus and go. Outside, however, he is a real pro!

Slowing Down

As the crazy season at the Market has past (at least for another 2 weeks), Abuela took some time to decorate the outside of her house :)

Leaves

Today was an overcast and semi-warm day (50 degrees) and PERFECT for taking pictures :) Alex and I raked some leaves into a pile, took pictures, and then threw leaves everywhere. Thankfully, living in the woods, there is no real need to rake leaves (that would take forever...especially with a 2 year old "helper") but only use the lawn mover to cut them up :)

Library Time

Kudos to Gettysburg Library for having such a great 2 year old library time! We start out with a great name song while Alex pats his knees, then there are 2-3 stories and finally an awesome craft. Last week we made a witch's hand with popcorn (my son asked for "more popcorn, please") and this week, as fire prevention week, we made a great fire truck! Alex LOVES it and everything is greatly prepared and setup!

More Pictures

To keep up with the amount of pictures I take (yikes!), here's the start for November's online Picassa album. Enjoy! November

Haircut

Alex's 3rd professionally done haircut was today! He climped right up in the chair and was a very big boy. The stylist gave him an animal cape and quickly trimmed all around. You can now clearly see all his bumps of knowledge (a Mimi term) across his forehead, his ears and neck. The haircut has really made my little 2 year old monster look soo much older. /sigh

Updated pictures

So...my laptop is having fits but I was able to upload pictures from my parents' house from Halloween. Here's the link: Halloween '08

Enjoy and as always, feel free to leave a comment :)

Halloween

Halloween '08 was busy with visits to relatives at the Luthern Home with Mammaw, playing at Burger King, a good nap, and then Trick or Treating family. In the end, I had a tired but content boy with a big bag of treats :)