Thursday, December 23, 2010

It's almost here...

What a busy 3 weeks it ends up being between Alexa's birthday and Christmas. What have we been up to that's kept us busy? Well it is basketball season so Chris has had games to referee and then watch on tv when he gets home. We've had Kids Klub, Girl Scouts, and guitar lessons. Christmas shopping and baking. We attended a Toy for Tots Christmas party at the Hahn Center. It was very hard to get Jake to understand that the toys under the tree were not for him to help himself to. Liz enjoyed dancing to the music, while Alexa enjoyed hanging out with the musicians.

We also attended a Christmas party at the Blaine House. This is the first time we've been up there since Chris left office. He ran into many people who seemed glad to see him. But they are politicians so it can be hard to tell what's real and what's phony. The kids had a wonderful time! The theme was gingerbread houses and fairies. And the people that decorated the house did a super job. The fairy houses were just amazing - and my girls love fairy houses!

They fully enjoyed the snacks and were very careful with the fancy glasses of punch.

Alexa stalked to Governor until she could get her picture taken with him.

The only real incident ended up being when Jake accidentally broke the cover to a candy dish. He was reaching over the girls, who were petting the Baldacci's dogs, a chair and past a lamp. It crashed to the floor and he ran in the other direction crying. Of course Chris had been talking to the First Lady, who immediately got on the floor to start picking up pieces. And I ran after Jake, getting stopped by staffer to see what was the matter. Then she rushed to do the dirty work, which was pretty much done. Poor kid. But at least he's young enough to forget about it! Sadly, though they would have been wonderful pictures, there wasn't time...

But we did get these on the way out: a nice one of the kids plus a family shot, first one in 2 or 3 years.


Saturday, December 11, 2010

Alexa turns 7!


Although she's technically been 7 for a week now, as always better late than never (which as a mother to 3 seems to be my mantra!). 7 years ago Alexa came into this world after 22-23 hours of labor (up for debate but either way, still long!), weighing 7lbs and 20 inches long. She had the most beautiful reddish/brown hair with blond highlights. She was (and really still is) a good eater and sleeper and talker. Now in the first grade she is thriving and loves learning. She lost her 2 front teeth back in November and is awfully cute with the gap and the lisp.

Likes/loves: Taylor Swift, books, Scooby Doo, watching sports with her dad, science, bike riding, playing on the computer, American Girl dolls, playing "puppy" with Jake and Liz. She hates eating pizza if it has sauce on it. But will eat ketchup on just about everything. Often tries to act like she's the boss, which is sometimes cute, sometimes obnoxious. Can be very shy or very outgoing depending on the day.

For her birthday I decided to let her have her first "kids" party. We invited her entire class (huge at 10 total...right?), plus a few others and their siblings to swim at the Samoset. We did pizza and cake afterward. Pretty sure everyone had a great time! And I loved not having any cleanup.

November 2010

Another month has flown by in the blink of an eye. Or really in a partial blink depending on what day I'm thinking about it.

So what happened in November...

Alexa started guitar lessons. A folk-singing, music and art loving couple that lives in town offers them for free twice a month at the church right next to us. I keep getting hounded to buy a guitar but I think I will continue to let her borrow one of theirs until I see some progress. Right now she's good at getting it out of the box.

Jacob and Elizabeth stayed busy with school two days a week. And wrecking the house when they were home. Both got short speech screenings to see if they would need a full speech evaluations, which they did.

Chris and I had our associate dinner which included free childcare and good food. And awards. I got to watch Chris receive the General Manager's award, or at least listen to the roasting first. He had left the room to relieve the front desk clerk and missed the entire thing. Probably just as well...

My sister had her baby, Jaycee, on the 21st, almost exactly a week early. Dyani was glad because it meant she had plenty of room for dinner since there was no baby sitting on her stomach. We had Blake stay with us the 20th so he could get some rest and be well occupied. Jake and Liz were quite excited to wake up and find him at the house Sunday morning.

We hosted Thanksgiving here at our house for a total of 14 people. There were supposed to be 15 but Correy ended up sick. Although I could count baby Jaycee, but she didn't really do much beyond sleep and poop and just be cute.

We had Girl Scout meetings, basketball games, Realtor showings, bake sales, birthday parties, craft fairs, and school volunteer sessions to round out the month. Phew...

Jacob's milestones

  • weight/length @ 7: 55.6lbs, 48.75"
  • weight/length @ 5: 42lbs, 43.5"
  • weight/length @ 4: 36 lbs, 39+"
  • weight/length@ 3: 32lbs, 36.5 inches
  • weight/length @ 2 years: 26lbs, 33.5 inches
  • weight/length @ 1 year: 18lbs, 29 inches
  • walking: 11/17/08
  • standing: 3/31/08
  • crawling: army, 2/5/08
  • first time rolling: 9/30/07, belly to back
  • first smile: 9/7/07
  • birth date/time: 7/8/07, 12:49am
  • birth length: 19.5 inches
  • birth weight: 6lbs, 1oz

Elizabeth's milestones

  • weight/length @7: 53lbs, 47.75"
  • weight/length @ 5: 40 lbs, 42.25"
  • weight/length @ 4: 34lbs, 38"
  • weight/length 3 years: 28lbs, 35.5 inches
  • weight/length 2 years: 24lbs, 6oz 33 inches
  • weight/length 1 year: 18lbs, 1oz 27.5 inches
  • walking: 9/1/08
  • standing: 4/4/08
  • crawling: army 3/16/08
  • sitting alone: 2/29/08
  • first time rolling: 11/23/07, back to belly
  • first smile: 9/7/07
  • birth date/time: 7/8/07, 12:50am
  • birth length: 18.75 inches
  • birth weight: 5lbs, 8oz

Alexa's milestones

  • weight/height @ 10 (really 10.8): 186, 5'3"
  • weight/height @ 8.4 years: 113 lbs, 55.5 inches
  • weight/height @ 5 years: 61lbs, 4oz 45.25 inches
  • weight/length @ 4 years: 49lbs, 42 inches
  • weight/length @ 3 years: 38lbs, 38 inches
  • weight/length @ 2 years: 32lbs, 8oz 35.75 inches
  • weight/length @ 1 year: 22lbs, 3 oz 29.5 inches
  • 1st day of preschool: 9/3/08
  • solo somersault: 3/4/08
  • whistling: 3/2/08
  • potty training: 10/7/05
  • walking: 12/21/04
  • standing: 8/23/04
  • crawling: 8/21/04, only a week, then became a butt scoot
  • first wave: 7/27/04
  • rolling: 5/2/04, belly to back
  • sleeping thru the night: 3/1/04
  • first smile: 1/20/04
  • birth date/time: 12/4/03, 10:41pm
  • birth length: 20 inches
  • birth weight: 7lbs