Happy Birthday Princess Alexa!!

Today our baby girl turns THREE!! We decorated last night to surprise Alexa this morning but Kevin had to leave early for school so he didn't get to see Alexa's reaction. Thankfully I remembered to pull out the camera to catch a little bit of it!

The Birthday Girl got to open one present first thing this morning...princess beads. She loves necklaces, really any jewelry actually, so she was quite excited.

We went to the doctor this morning for her three year check-up. We've been fighting a fever all week and so I was worried that my girl wasn't going to get to have a fun birthday. BUT, we've been fever free for over 24 hours now so we were good to go. And Alexa was sooooooo excited to go to the doctor for her VERY own appointment. (She's been quite jealous of all Payton's routine well checks!!) Alexa's stats at 3 years old:

Weight: 31.8 lbs (50th percentile)

Height: 38 " (75th percentile)

Our baby girl has slimmed down and sprouted up!!! She's perfectly healthy and developing as she should, well beyond her age group in some areas even!!

We are so grateful for a healthy, happy little girl!

Once Alexa went down for her nap, Kevin and I got all her party preparations under way.

And then the party began!

Alexa had a great time with all her friends: Karter G., Nathan I., Syndey T., Brielle K. and Zach R. We missed Olan & Quincy C. and Jonny B. - we sure missed you!! Wish I would have gotten a picture of all the kiddos together, but didn't think of it until it was too late. Here's one of the Birthday Girl's sister though! Payton had so much fun celebrating her sister's big day!!!

And here's the Birthday Girl in all her Princess Glory!!!

And we can't forget the singing and blowing out of candles!! Alexa definitely didn't like someone else stealing her thunder so we had to light the candles again!!! :-)

Happy Birthday Miss Alexa.

We sure love you to pieces and hope you had a super special Princess Day!!!

Look who's THREE!!!

It's amazing how fast the time goes! It seems like just yesterday that Alexa joined our family!

So sweet, so tiny!

Before we knew it, she was this cute little baby...not quite walking yet!

And then out of no where she was this adorable toddler, talking all the time and keeping us very entertained!

And NOW...she's is such a big girl! She's no longer my little baby. It's bittersweet. But I love watching her grow and learn new things. Even when she tells me I'm doing things wrong!! :-)

Anyways, HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY our sweet Alexa. We love you tooooooo much!!

(I have more to update...I just haven't had the time lately AND I wanted to get this up right away since this is such a big day in my little girl's life!!)

It won't be long now...

...until lil' Miss Payton is crawling all over the place!! She's now up on all fours, rocking back and forth. She's just itchin' to crawl! I guess it's time to go over the baby-proofing to make sure all is up to speed AND to educate Alexa on what can and canNOT go/stay on the floor!!

The following video is more for the grandparents/family who don't get to see our kiddos on a regular basis. If you want to watch it though, here's fair warning that it's a bit long and the last part really isn't that exciting!!! But Payton does show off some of her recent skillz!! Enjoy!

{Sleepy Cheeks}

I can't even begin to express the joy this sweet girl brings to me!! She had just woken up from a nap and I just had to snap a picture of her rosy cheeks!

I hope it's always like this...

Our girls have the sweetest relationship already and I LOVE it! Alexa adores Payton or "Taypon" as she still calls her!! And Payton gets a kick out of her big sister. Alexa can make Payton giggle and squeal in delight like nothing else. It's so fun to see them really starting to interact with each other. I really hope these two will always stay the best of friends!

Leaves are falling all around...

...On the housetops, on the ground.

Leaves are falling on my nose,

On my head and hands and toes.

Who doesn't love playing in piles of leaves??? Alexa & Jonny sure do!

Miss Alexa looked like a LION when all was said and done!!

Earlier in the day, we ventured to the zoo as we've been enjoying some unseasonably warm weather! As always, we enjoyed looking at the animals and Payton even got to experience her first swing ride! She loved it. You can't really tell from the video, but she was laughing and having a great time! Anyways, we hope this weather lasts so we can enjoy more fun outings!!

For Gramma Jenny!!

Happy Birthday Gramma Jenny!

We love and miss you too much!

Love,

Alexa & Payton

Picture Fun

As you've probably noticed lately on my blog...I've been having fun playing around with my photos. This is no exception. We took the first photo after Alexa's first Boo at the Zoo, so we repeated it again last year. But we didn't park in the same spot this year and it was a cloudy day the day we went to the zoo and so it just didn't happen. But on the morning of Halloween, my wonderful friend, Amanda, took our family pictures downtown. As we wrapped it up and were walking back to the car, I snapped the last picture as Alexa and Kevin had walked on ahead. I thought it showed the transition though...first she can't walk, then she's still pretty little and tuckered out after walking through the zoo, and finally, she's such a big girl now! I can't believe my baby is almost THREE!

Halloween Finale

I got this cute idea from my niece, Brianna...aren't these pizzas so fun??!!! Alexa made hers all by herself and was soooo proud of it. We were invited over to some friends' house for dinner last night after trick-or-treating, so we made these pizzas for our dinner today to complete our Halloween festivities. What a fun way to top things off!! Thanks Bri for the idea!

Halloween 2009

We've had a lot of Halloween fun this year! Boo at the Zoo, our ward Trunk'r'Treat...and now actual Halloween! Alexa was so excited to show our neighbor, Jonny, her costume. Here she is knocking on her first door! Aren't our little ladybug and football player so cute??? And we can't leave out the baby ladybug and the baby lion! Adorable!! We love having such fun neighbors!

And we concluded another fun family tradition...trick'or'treating down Hillcrest Avenue. Everyone on this street, both sides, go ALL out for Halloween. Thousands of people head here for their Halloween fun...and it just happens to be in our neck of the woods, so we don't have to go far. It's sad to think that it's our last time....sniff, sniff!!

Our fun little family! Everyone LOVED our ladybugs...their costumes were a hit!

And of course, couldn't resist seeing how things have changed. From a lion, to a chicken, to this year's ladybug...what a cute girl we have! Halloween is so much more fun with kids!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Trunk'r'Treat

We had our Trunk'r'Treat at our church tonight. Alexa wanted to wear a "princess dress" this morning when we went to the Y and I knew she wouldn't want to change into her ladybug costume for the party. So...I quickly fashioned a crown out of cardboard and tinfoil and voila...we had ourselves a princess. Once upon a time we had an actual cute little crown...but it met its maker not too long ago...thus the homemade version!!! Alexa didn't seem to mind. She really loves this whole candy thing...we're going to have to ration it after Halloween tomorrow!

Anyways, we had a great time.

And the best part...

Bishop Lee got Kevin to wear this fabulous wig for their part of the trunk'r'treat. Not exactly sure what they were supposed to be...but I laughed pretty hard when I saw this picture, so I had to share!! I love you babe, this is a great look on you!! :-)

{Jack'o'lantern Fun}

One of our favorite fall/Halloween activities is carving our pumpkins! We don't quite trust Alexa with a long sharp object as of yet...so she gets to paint her pumpkin. Anyways, Kevin and I collaborate on what design we want, he cleans out the pumpkin and I carve it. We make a great team!!

I'm not a big fan of spiders...but I thought this little guy turned out quite nicely!!

Payton: 6 Months!!

Really??? Has it already been 1/2 a year since this sweet little girl joined our family???!!!

What would we ever do without her?!

We had her 6 month well check this morning and everything went great. Payton received 4 shots today, 2 in each leg, and took it like a champ. She didn't even cry for the first one! Her stats:

18 lbs 9 oz (90th percentile)

25 1/4 " (just under 50th percentile)

head: 17 1/4 " (90th percentile)

She's growing well and is right on track for all her development. A few things about her:

She's wearing anywhere from 6 - 12 month clothing.

She loves her paci.

She's rolling over all the time.

She's sitting pretty well on her own.

She is itching to crawl...I know it won't be long now!

She loves to be held.

She loves her big sister and enjoys watching everything Alexa does.

She gives the best smiles to her daddy.

She sleeps pretty well at night - bedtime 7pm, wakes once usually during the night and up for good around 8am.

She's still taking around three, 1 hour naps a day.

She loves to "talk" when she's tired.

Her favorite thing is to blow raspberries.

She's starting to eat solid foods now.

She is loved beyond words by her mommy, daddy and big sister!!

Happy 6 Months Sweet Pea!!

Sunday Best

Since we were all dressed up today for church AND we had a little extra time this morning...I figured it'd be a good time to take some pictures. I thought Alexa looked so grown up in this adorable dress I found at a consignment sale! And since she loves to pose these days, it wasn't hard to get her picture taken!!

She wanted to pose with mommy!!

We couldn't leave Payton out. She was already in her carseat when we took the above pictures before church. So I snapped a few really quickly right when we got home. I love pictures of Kevin with our girls!

{Huber Farms}

As I mentioned in my previous post, we made our annual trek out to Huber Farms to get our pumpkin. We LOVE Hubers!! And even though it was a super chilly, rainy morning...the scenery was beautiful and good times were had by all! We go first thing in the morning as to avoid the crowds that are sure to come and we arrived under very ominous looking skies. But our hopes were high that the rain would hold off until we'd picked THE perfect pumpkin! Alas...they were dashed. As soon as the tractor dropped us off in the pumpkin patch, it started to rain on us. So we hurriedly chose our pumpkins and ran to the shelter of a nearby tree to await our tractor.

Alexa picked out her own pumpkin and then helped us pick out a cute little pumpkin for Payton back at the farmer's market. Our perfect pumpkin weighed in at a whoppin' 30 lbs!!!

Yowza...that's our biggest by far!!

Over the years, we've enjoyed this family tradition of ours, even if it is more expensive than a quick trip to the local grocery store. And it's so fun to see how Alexa has grown! From being non-existent, to me VERY pregnant with her.

And then to see her grow into this sweet (almost) 3 year old is crazy to me. I can't believe what a big girl she is now and I can't believe this is our last trip to Huber Farms. It's bittersweet for sure.

And I just had to include this picture because Payton's lips are just too perfect and sweet! She was such a good little baby on our cold, pumpkin picking morning. It's too bad it was too cold to take her out of the baby carrier, otherwise we would have taken her first picture with a pumpkin of her own. I guess we'll just have to start a different tradition with her next year!

Happy Fall ya'll!