Where has this month gone? It is almost Easter. We have been to a couple Easter egg hunts so far. I met a goal this month and ran in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. After the race we went to the zoo.
I was in a wedding this past weekend. Alex had a lot of fun watching and riding on the airplanes.
Watching the planes at the beginning of our trip.
Leaving the wedding reception.
More plane watching on the trip home.
Things have been busy lately, but we are having fun too. We went to the zoo. Alex had an agenda. He wanted to see the elephants first, then the lion, and then the zebras.
We also went hiking. We have plans to go back this weekend. It is in the mountains so the temperatures as cooler and things are green.
I recently finished Water for Elephants. It was good. I am excited to see the movie in April, but the cast doesn't match the characters I imagined.
Yesterday we went to a local park and attempted to fly a plane (a foam glider). Alex really wanted to slide. The slide trumped the plane.
I am off to work on my to do list. We have a meeting tonight and I would really love to get a few things accomplished.
Gabe had a robotics competition in Phoenix, so Alex and I drove up separately.
Alex had a lot of fun at Sea Life looking at the fish. I think it was a little expensive for what we saw, so we probably won't be going again.
He had a lot of fun watching the robots compete. He also liked playing the games at Peter Piper.
We are almost finished with the Helping Tower. Gabe still has one piece to put in its place. We altered the design slightly.
Alex is napping right now and I would love to read some more of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but I have too many things to do...maybe I can work fast.
Life has been busy lately with a lot of unexpected turns. I am going to make an attempt to start blogging more often. I really want to post our daily December activities this year.
We went to the zoo this weekend. The weather was great, but the crowds were not. We chose to go on Saturday and that just happened to be a free day. It was way too crowded. Alex still had a good time.
Alex loved watching the turtle.
I finished reading a book called The Diving Bell and The Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby. He was the editor-in-chief of French Elle. Bauby suffered a stroke that left him completely paralyzed except for his left eye. The book is even more amazing when you realize that he wrote the entire thing with the blinking of his left eye. He wrote the book letter by letter with just a blink. I also watched the movie. I would definitely suggest the book before the movie. The book is a very quick read.
That is it for now. I have a lot to do today and I want to work in a run. I haven't been running consistently since a few things have happened in our lives. So, I still haven't met my goal of running in a race this year. There is one coming up in December. I might give it a try. Otherwise I will just run in my own race...around the block with some friends.
Visit Jimmy's page, say a prayer, and send a card.
We are in Illinois. We flew into St. Louis in Saturday. After making a quick stop at Archiver's we headed to my parent's house.
Alex on the plane.
Sitting on the pig bench outside of 17th Street Bar & Grill
Gabe really likes the ribs that he gets there.
Alex really likes playing the Huggies diaper box. We pushed him around and he drove the "race car".
My brother's awesome new car.
Alex and Maddex playing some tunes.
We had Alex a birthday party at my parent's house. We had BBQ, chips, coleslaw, and yummy cake.
The birthday boy!
We are off to St. Louis tomorrow and then back to Arizona on Thursday.
The month of July went by fast. In an effort to catch my blogging up, I am going to post some pictures from a couple of events. This post is very picture heavy.
We went to Gabe's office and looked at the trucks. Alex thought the big trucks were a lot fun. Sorry, no pictures.
Alex loves the International Wildlife Museum. He has a blast touching all of the animals.
Running under the giraffe was a lot of fun.
Crawling through the ferret tunnel was fun too!
Alex the lion.
Hanging out with the lion at a neighborhood park.
Sharing a cookie.
The Tucson Children's Museum is a great place to go on a hot day.
Driving a firetruck.
Hanging out with the locals.
I took Alex to Gymboree for the first time. He had a great time crawling all over the equipment. I think this is going to be something that we do once a month.
Alex loves to vacuum with his toy vacuum. So, we bought a Bissell Sweeper and Gabe only attached the first portion of the handle. Now Alex has vacuum cleaner his size that really works!
We also went to the Mini-Time Machine: A Museum of Miniatures and a baseball game. He enjoyed watching all of the action on the field.
Alex picking a peach at Apple Annie's.
Trying out an apple.
We have also been making recipes from the counties we visited on our last vacation.
July was a busy month!
Update: I am behind posting this entry. I am going to dedicate a couple of hours today to getting vacation posts and everyday posts ready to publish. Look for the vacation entries this week.
I am taking a break from the regularly scheduled program of finishing my vacation pictures posts. I am also a little behind.
I bought Alex a Power Wheels vehicle at a city-wide rummage sale. It was only $10 and Alex loves it. They also had two older ones for $5 each, I should have bought those too. I know several people that would have taken them.
We stayed home for Father's Day and ate in. I made Gabe tiramisu for dessert. I was happy when he requested it, because I don't like it and therefore I will not eat it.
Alex painted Gabe a picture.
Gabe lets Alex walk Elsa (with a little help when they are outside).
This Black & Decker Work Bench was also a city-wide rummage find. It was a steal at only $5 and Alex loves working all of the tools.
It is pretty hot here, so we have had a couple of pool days here and there.
After a visit to the doctor we stopped off at the Dairy Queen for a cone.
We enjoyed the free fireworks and festivities at a casino that is nearby. We were prepared to leave once the fireworks started because we thought they would scare Alex. That didn't happen. Instead, he had fun watching them from the back of his dad's car in the parking lot.
The vacation pictures will resume soon...hopefully.
Alex is doing much better! He is back to his normal self.
The past week has been pretty busy. Last night a few of us went to play Bingo at a local casino. We didn't win anything, but we had a good time playing. This was Debbie's going away party. She is moving back to Illinois.
Alex and I also had lunch with her and her kids today. We went to Pizza Hut. Alex loves pizza. Too bad I didn't get a picture.
Mother's day was pretty low key around here. Alex wasn't feeling well, so we stayed in. We did make one trip to the grocery store for supplies so Gabe could cook dinner.
Monday Alex was having trouble swallowing so we went to the pediatrician. He has tonsillitis. He seems to be doing better, but that just might be the ibuprofen doing a great job.
Alex and I have just been hanging out at home. I did go to Bible study yesterday. Since he has been napping a couple of times a day I finished the book I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. Nujood lives in Yemen where the minimum age to marry is not always upheld. Hence, she was married off at the age of 10 and divorced shortly thereafter. Her husband was three times her age. The books talks about girls as young as seven being married off to men that are thirty-five. This book is a quick read and I recommend it. It really makes you wonder how things like this can still be happening and why people are turning their heads when it does.
Here are a few of Alex's 18 month portraits. Enjoy!
On a side note, Alex is sick. Poor little guy has tonsillitis. Hopefully he will have a speedy recovery!
Today everyone in our family was feeling better, so we headed off to Bisbee. We have been wanting to go on the Copper Queen Mine Tour for a while now. You actually go underground in part of the mine that is no longer in use. Alex's favorite part was riding the carts that take you into the mine. The train tracks to the right in first picture are the tracks that the carts use.
Waiting to go in the mine.
Alex refused to wear a hardhat.
After the tour we drove past another mine and had dinner at a restaurant in Bisbee. It was a pretty fun day.
On Friday we went to the Butterfly Exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. It was really neat. I think we will attempt to go back next year. Alex had a vaccine the same day, but it didn't seem to bother him. We had a babysitter for Friday night and we went out to eat. We were going to see a movie too, but there wasn't anything on that we wanted to see.
Saturday we went to the zoo. Alex had a great time looking at all of the animals. His favorites were the elephants and the giraffes. He really liked them from far away. He didn't like them as much when we tried to get him to feed the giraffes.
I finished the last book in the Percy Jackson Series. It isn't as good as Harry Potter, but the books are worth reading if you are having Harry Potter withdrawal. The last book is Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian, by Rick Riordan.
It is starting to get warm here. Alex and I have been to the pool. When it hits 95, we call it a pool day. He loves splashing in the water. The pool just might be on the agenda for next week too.
I have a goal (it is not on my resolutions list) to read 36 books this year. I am well on my way to the goal.
January
I, Alex Cross, by James Patterson
Alex Cross's Trial, by James Patterson and Richard Dilallo
February
Galatians: Breakaway to Freedom (Bible Study), by Sarah Howell
Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
March
Run for Your Life, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titan's Curse, by Rick Riordan
April
The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan
Worst Case, by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
Since my last entry, we went to a spice factory and we took advantage of the week of free admission to the National Parks. We also went to the botanical gardens and we are going back on Friday to see the butterfly exhibit.
Some of the grounds at Tumacacori.
The church at Tumacacori.
We are taking Alex to have his picture taken tonight. I need to have everything ready when Gabe gets home so we can leave right away. I guess I should get started.
This past week was pretty low key. I went to a current events meeting on Tuesday and scrapbooked with Katie (I am still on September 2009). Wednesday Myra and Anya came over for dinner. Thursday was a trip to the dentist for both Gabe and me. Friday I went to a jewelry party with Carrie. Saturday Alex had his first haircut. We went Darryl and Michell's for dinner. Sunday we relaxed. This past week we spent a lot of time outside playing in our yard, taking walks, and going to the park. Alex would spend all day outside if we would let him.
I finished reading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. It is pretty interesting.
I am almost finished with The Time Traveler's Wife. I like the ending of the movie better than book.
I have a lot to finish today, so I had better get going.
Our trip is planned! I worked and worked figuring out what we are going to do at each place we are going. Gabe finished up the last of activity planning a couple of nights ago. We are going on an organized tour at one location.
On April fool's day I had a cookie exchange. There were some pretty yummy cookies. Since it was so close to Easter, I made egg nest cookies. I found the recipe on a jar of Jiff peanut butter a long time ago. I have made them several times and they always turn out cute.
Gabe was home on Good Friday. We played out in the yard a lot.
Hanging out in the grass.
Saturday we went to two more Easter Egg Hunts.
He still doesn't like the Easter Bunny.
Hunting for eggs.
Sunday Alex tore into his basket. We had Belgian Waffles for breakfast (Gabe makes them for special occasions). After breakfast, we headed to church and after the service, Alex hunted eggs again. We came back home had a yummy meal and then Alex hunted eggs at our house. He had a lot of Little People eggs to collect, a few with gummy fruit snack, and a couple with bubbles.
Alex and his basket.
Getting ready for the hunt.
Hunting eggs at home.
Monday morning I went to a couple of stores with some friends. After shopping I went to the grocery store. The day after a holiday, they give the holiday balloons away for free. I picked on up for Alex and he loved it...actually, he loves it because it is still around.
Alex loves balloons.
Alex stayed home with me on Wednesday and I went walking with Debbie on Thursday morning. Friday Cindy and I went for breakfast and on Friday night, Carrie, Debbie, and I all went scrapbooking. I am not finished with August and I have a partially completed September.
Saturday we did some grocery shopping, Alex flew a kite for the first time, we had dinner at Kevin's, and I went to a Southern Living at Home Party.
Gabe flying the kite.
Alex having fun flying the kite. Some of the neighbor kids and adults even came over to fly the kite.
Sunday was fun. We went to Madera Canyon and walked around. We also attended Anya's birthday party at the park.
Gabe and Alex at Madera Canyon. This time I made it home with my camera.
I managed to complete July 2009 in our yearly scrapbook. Only 5 months to go! Friday I went to a local scrapbook store with Johnna. There are several things that I will probably go back and purchase once I start to scrapbook our vacation.
Saturday Alex went to another Easter Egg hunt. He had just as much fun on this hunt as he did the first. He also really enjoyed the slides.
Monday I had lunch with some friends and after dinner, Gabe, Alex, and I went to the park. Alex loves both the swings and the slides. The weather here is great! We have been grilling out and going to various parks a lot. I think we might start eating dinner outside again.
Well, I quite a few more things to accomplish today before Gabe gets home. I guess I am going to add deleting spam from my blog to the list. I have around 600 pieces of spam to delete...fun, fun, fun. After I finish all of my computer work, I am going to move on to something a little more fun than deleting spam. I am going to work on planning our trip. Gabe and I try to plan it in the evenings, but we are both too tired and end up staying up too late. So, if I can get the majority of things figured out today it will be a good thing.
Monday I met some friends for lunch and Tuesday I went to the current events group discussion. Today was pretty productive. I made Alex some turkey meatballs with red bell pepper sauce and I finished June 2009 in my scrapbook. Only 6 months to go and 2009 will be complete. My goal is to do this before our vacation this year. So, when we return from our vacation I can work on a vacation scrapbook. I would like to say I could whip through July tomorrow, but I have a book club meeting.
Wednesday night a group of us went out for Dawn's going away party. We had dinner at a nearby casino and we had hoped to play Bingo (yeah, we are so wild and crazy). Apparently there is no Bingo on Wednesday so we played the slot machines instead. I lost $5.00, but someone in our group won $160! Dawn and her family are leaving tomorrow.
I went to Dawn's house on Thursday to help her with last minute cleaning and packing. Alex and I had to leave earlier than I had anticipated due to nap time. We went back over after Alex was up and had a snack. I am sad to see them go, but they will be moving very close to my family. We will be able to visit them again when we are back in Illinois. Gabe, Alex, and I also filled out brackets for the NCAA tournament. Some of Alex's choices are different. If there are a lot of upsets he has the perfect bracket.
Friday we went to the park with Cindy and her son. After some time in the swing, we headed to babytime at the library.
On Saturday, we went to an Easter Egg hunt. Alex had a great time running around, picking up eggs, and placing them in his Easter bucket. Luckily, we have two more Easter Egg hunts.
Alex looking cool in his dad's sunglasses.
I finished Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters, by Rick Riordan. I recommend this series to anyone that is a fan of Harry Potter.
I have been trying to write this entry for a while now. Hopefully this time it will work.
On the seventh, Alex, Gabe, and I went to the Tucson Museum of Art to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. My favorite was the Einstein screen print. Alex loved the fountain outside.
Alex's had fun watching this fountain.
The next day I went out to dinner with my Bible study group. We were celebrating one person's move to another state and another person's new baby.
Random picture of Alex doing a pull-up.
On Tuesday, Alex discovered how to go down the slide backward. This is now his favorite way to go down the slide.
Backward Slide
Last weekend was rough! Gabe was in Phoenix for work from 5:00 a.m. Thursday until 9:00 p.m. Saturday. Gabe usually puts Alex to bed at night and Alex was not happy when I was the one going through the routine. I would get about 2 hours of sleep (not even consecutive) and he would just scream and yell "Da". At one point, when he had been up since 2:00 a.m., I called Gabe at 5:30 a.m. and had him talk to Alex. This helped a little. Next time Gabe goes on a trip, we are going too.
Climbing in the furniture
Sunday was a pretty busy day for us. We went to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Tucson. Gabe and I also managed to finally sit down and work on the puzzle again...we finished it! Alex had his picture made with the Easter Bunny. It was like the Santa Picture. We celebrated Pi Day by eating pizza pie, Pierogies, and blueberry pie. The 14th was Einstein's birthday too, but we didn't manage to eat German Chocolate cake.
Completed puzzle
Easter Bunny
While we were out on Sunday bought Alex a no mess Color Wonder book and markers. These are wonderful! He can color with markers but they only work on the special (and expensive) coloring books. So, he can't get maker on himself, the furniture, the carpet, the walls, etc. Nicolle told me about these and they are awesome. I also bought him the finger paints, but we haven't tried them out yet.
Yesterday, Alex and I met some people at a local park and played for a while. The weather was nice. Today the high is 84. We are having some really nice weather.
The latest book that I read was Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. The book was good and is serving as a Harry Potter substitute. I am really looking forward to watching the movie.
I really need to catch up my blog. I sat down a few days ago to write an entry, but Alex came in the office and wanted to play. So, I did not get around to the entry, but Alex and I had fun!
Last Friday, I went to an outdoor high end shopping mall with a friend. I had never been there before, but it reminds me a little of a mall we used to go to in Illinois. I bought another knife rack from Williams-Sonoma. We currently have one, but were in desperate need of a second.
We had guests over for dinner on Friday. Mike, Dawn, and their kids all came over for fajitas, rice, beans, chips, salsa, and cupcakes. The idea for the mint cookie cupcakes came from Pleasant Home. To make my clovers, I printed an image of a clover about 12 times on a piece of paper. Then I placed wax paper over the paper and used the images as an outline to pipe the green white chocolate.
Saturday was a lot of fun. We went to the rodeo festivities in our neighborhood. Alex even sat on a mechanical bull. The activities were free, but Alex is still a little small to do most of them. Next year I think I might give the mechanical bull a try.
Alex on the mechanical bull. They even let him borrow a hat for the photo.
Sunday we went over to Kevin's house for lunch. After lunch Gabe, Alex, and I decided to look for snow in the mountains. We know there are certain locations where you can definitely find snow (we can see it from our house on the mountain tops), but we decided to be more adventurous and look near Gabe's work. We didn't find any snow that was accessible for us. We ended up at Target and we bought a 1,000 piece puzzle to work on.
On Monday I took Alex to a couple of playgroups.
Here is our puzzle on Tuesday. We work on it for a little bit in the evenings.
I got my allergy shots on Wednesday and then I picked Alex up from school early. We met Katie and Kimmy for lunch at a 50's style diner. Then we went to the mall to buy Alex some new shoes. While I was there, the sales associate told me that a sale would be starting tomorrow. The shoes would all be buy one pair, get one pair half off. So, I left empty handed with the hopes of returning Friday. I went ahead and had him fit for his shoes so I would know the style and size to buy when I returned. Shoes are expensive, so I will gladly take any sale I can get on them.
Kimmy and Alex.
Yesterday (Friday), Alex and I met Myra and Anya at the zoo. We had fun looking at all of the animals and Alex especially had fun climbing on and off of a rock in the children's play area. Before heading to the zoo we went to the mall and purchased Alex's shoes. I bought one pair for now and one pair for later. Both pair of shoes are cute on, but the "later" pair is extra cute. They look like little hiking shoes.
I think we are going to relax today. I need to run some errands (including picking up a book at the library) and then hopefully just enjoy the weekend. Speaking of books, I finished Run for Your Life. It is part of the Michael Bennett series of books by James Patterson. He is a detective in New York City and it did not disappoint.
Alex has a cabinet in the kitchen that is full of toys and kitchen items that he can play with. He knows that it is his cabinet and since we put his things in it about a month ago, he leaves the other cabinets alone. Losing one cabinet's worth of space is worth it. I guess there was something in the back of the cabinet that he wanted today. I am not sure what was in there, because he had pulled basically everything out onto the floor.
The guys didn't really impress me last night on American Idol. I was really looking forward to the performances by Andrew Garcia and Michael Lynche. They weren't as stellar as I was expecting. If all else fails, I am going to start rooting for Aaron Kelly (I know an Aaron Kelly in real life). I am off to watch the eliminations.
Alex has recovered nicely from his surgery. We went to the doctor yesterday and no ear infection! Of course, he just finished his antibiotics yesterday too, so hopefully his ears will stay infection free.
Alex had his surgery on Mardi Gras. I had big plans to make a king cake, but that didn't happen. Instead, we celebrated Mardi Gras on Wednesday and I made Jambalaya.
Alex relaxing.
On Friday, Alex was feeling great and we went to the park. He loves to swing.
Walking around the park.
On Saturday, Dawn and I went to a Mom to Mom sale. I found Alex a few toys, but I still need to disinfect them. Gabe, Alex, and I went to a birthday party for Kimmie. Unfortunately, the weather was cold and it sprinkled a little bit so we only stayed for about 30 minutes and we left. After the party I went over to Debbie's house and Dawn, Debbie, and I scrapbooked. I now have May 2009 finished!
I have started running back up again. I quit due to illness earlier in the month. I still have my goal of running in a race, but I guess I will run it alone. Dawn was going to run in the race with me, but she is moving to Indiana in March. I will miss her!
I finished reading Julie and Julia. It is actually a funny and interesting book. I am looking forward to watching the movie. If you would like to see the blog that started it all click here. There is also a link at the top of the page to go to her current blog.
Gabe and I are watching American Idol again this season. So far none of the girls are really doing it for me. I am looking forward to the guy's performances tonight.
Alex is back from surgery. Everything went great! The Dr. said that he "drained a lot of nasty pus from both ears." So, he should be hearing better too. Thanks to everyone that kept Alex in your thoughts and prayers. It means a lot to us.
Waiting to go back to surgery.
Alex is back to the super happy baby he was before all of the ear infections started. He didn't scream when I laid him down to change his diaper. Instead, he played peek-a-boo with me. It has been months since this has happened. Relieving the pressure was a wonderful thing. He has been running around and playing. This is the happiest he has been since before November. We will see how tomorrow goes, but things are looking great.
Alex's surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. I know it is a simple procedure, but please keep him in your thoughts and prayers, as well as the surgeon and the medical staff that will be assisting.
I just finished adding the dishes from dinner to the dishwasher and Gabe is putting Alex to bed, so I have a couple of minutes. We have been staying at home since the pneumonia diagnosis. Alex's surgery is on for Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. and we are trying to keep him away from people until then. We simply don't want to risk another infection right now.
Alex still has a cough, but we were told that the cough can linger for a month after the pneumonia is gone. Alex has been off of medication to control his fever since Wednesday. No fever is a wonderful thing. Gabe is doing much better too. Both Gabe and I have a cough if we talk, so our house is pretty quiet. We do talk to Alex though. I wouldn't want him to think we are ignoring him.
I just thought I would throw in a random Alex picture. He loves to "use" my computer.
We watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics on Friday night. In honor of the start of the Olympics, I made Olympic pizza. Basically, you make a rectangle shape pizza and put your topping on the pizza in the shape of the Olympic rings. Ours were all pepperoni because I didn't have the time to chop up the veggies, but next time I think I might use different veggies to represent the different colors of the Olympic rings. Next time might just be the closing ceremony.
Alex also colored a couple of hearts for Valentine's day, a couple of Chinese New Year pages, and a curling coloring page. We were in Ireland for the last winter Olympics. Due to the time difference, some nights we would be up late watching T.V. The British channel always had curling on late at night. Those Brits love their curling. I haven't seen it on here this time, but I will be sure to watch it if it is broadcast.
Last night I went on a sewing frenzy. I made Alex two hooded towels, a couple of sweater pillows, two eye chart pillows, and two Christmas Presents for my Grandmas. I ran out of stuffing by the time I made it to the eye chart pillows.
I made two pillows out of one of Gabe's sweaters with a hole in it.
Closeup.
Today we celebrated Chinese New Year by having chicken chow mein for lunch. I was going to make chicken won ton soup, but the chow mein was just easier. We celebrated Valentine's Day tonight with steak, salad, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Apparently Alex really loves sweet potatoes. He ate all of mine and he had already had dinner. I am not a big sweet potato fan, but I guess I need to start making them more often. For dessert I made Congo Bars...yummy!
I finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It is a great read. It goes through the occupation, of the Channel Islands during WWII.
I am off to watch some more Olympics.
Please say a prayer for Alex. He is no longer able to take ibuprofen due to an upcoming surgery. At this point we are only able to give him acetaminophen for his fever. It reached 103 today. I am expecting a call from his doctor tomorrow (he is off on Monday). I am hoping that it is still normal to have a fever at this point considering the extent of his infection.
Please pray for Gabe too. He is not feeling well and has a nasty cough. I realize that he has not been on antibiotics for even a day yet and expecting him to have a large improvement is unrealistic, but I can hope right?
Please just keep them in your prayers. I need both of my guys healthy.
I just realized that one of my last prayer requests was for a little guy (then 7 month old Maddex) with pneumonia.
Alex had his 15 month portraits taken on the 30th. I guess technically that makes them 15 month and 2 day portraits, but whatever. Anyway, this was the day before he became ill.
I just love the expression on his face in this photo.
Happy little guy!
At this point he started posing himself and the photographer kept snapping shots. You will see more of what I mean with a couple of the pictures that follow.
This reminds me of an ad in a magazine. He could totally model for Polo.
He decided to lean against the backdrop in this shot.
On a not so cute side note, I just came back from the pharmacy. I made an appointment with our Dr. today. I have been in denial that I am sick even thought my throat and ear have been hurting for several days. I finally decided to make an appointment when I looked in the back of my throat last night and saw some nasty white stuff. I guess that is why it has been hurting. Gabe and I both have prescriptions now, so we should be feeling better soon.
It has been a while since I have written and actual entry that does something more than wish someone a "happy birthday". There isn't a whole lot to catch up on. Let's see. On the 27th I had an anaphylactic reaction, but it wasn't anything that epinephrine and a whole host of other drugs couldn't fix. I started working out, you know, working on Resolution #1 for 2010 (run in a race). I have since stopped, but keep reading to find out why. On the 29th a few people came over and we had a "craft night". Gabe and Alex went to one of Gabe's coworkers for pizza. On the 30th Gabe and I went to a benefit dinner. I bought a piece of art during the silent auction.
The reason our deadbolts must be locked at all times.
Alex and me after the whole anaphylactic business.
Alex started getting sick on the 31st. He went to the doctor on the 2nd and was diagnosed with infections in both ears, eyes, and his throat. His fever went from 103 to 105, so off to the ER we went. We were told the temperature increase was due to the severe ear infection.
Poor little guy!
On the 3rd, Alex had an appointment with the ENT. All of the surgery slots were booked for quite a while, but the doctor said Alex really needed tubes and he couldn't wait. So, a slot was added on the 9th for him (6:30 a.m., but hey we will take it). They like to wait until the ears are healed to do surgery, but the ENT said we can't wait and he needs them now. Oh, he had a reaction to one of the medicines that he was taking (redness and hives) and we headed to the pharmacy for a new medication. While they were filling the prescription we decided to have lunch. Alex was fussy, so we checked his temperature. Yes, I am a dork that carries a thermometer with me. It was 106.1 (this is with medication to control his temperature every 3 hours). So, off to the ER we went again. Alex was diagnosed with pneumonia. We started all new medications. At this point, I should have stock in the pharmacy. They gave him a shot and a breathing treatment before we left.
Hanging out in the ER.
Fortunately, the shot did wonders, because he woke up the next day 1000 times better than the day before. Don't get me wrong, he was still sick (and still is), but it was huge improvement.
This is a HUGE improvement. At this point he is starting to eat a little bit and walking around.
So, all of my plans were canceled for the week. I did a good job of running up until the 4th, when Gabe was really sick and he missed work on Friday. Gabe is still sick and we believe he has the same thing Alex does...hopefully his won't go into pneumonia. Anyway, due to the pneumonia, his surgery has been rescheduled for the 16th. I can't say I blame the doctor for not wanting to do surgery on an individual that has compromised breathing. Again, he was kind enough to add a surgery slot for Alex (6:30 a.m.) We will be up bright and early since the surgery center is about an hour from our house.
So far I have missed two running slots, but I do plan to pick it up again soon. I guess one bright spot out of all of this is we have managed to make it through all but about two movies on our DVR. So, we will be watching the Superbowl from home today. We were invited to two parties, but we will not be going to either one. Go Saints!
I am going to leave you with this picture of Alex. He is feeling much better at this point and just has a little cough left. He is still on a lot of medication, but his temperature is controlled and he seems to be healing.
On Tuesday we went to the Lakeview Museum of Arts & Sciences. There were a lot of interesting pieces of art. Alex had a fun time playing in the science section.
After the museum, we headed out to the Luthy Botanical Garden.
On Wednesday Alex and I went to my parent's house. Gabe's parents met my Dad half way and Alex and I switched cars.
Alex liked playing the piano.
On Saturday morning we left early to catch our flight back.
We are back in Arizona and now we have to unpack!
We spent Friday getting ready for getting ready for my Southern Living at Home Party and getting ready for our trip to Illinois.
We left for the airport at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning and by the time we made it through security and the security check for all of my liquids for Alex we walked to the gate right after our group had been called. Alex was okay on the flight. We received comments on how great he was. We had lunch at Pancho's and we stopped by my old place of work before heading to Gabe's parent's house.
Alex and a suitcase at the airport.
Yesterday we all went out to a German Restaurant for dinner to celebrate Gabe's birthday. Today Gabe's sister and I made cookies. Okay, we were both supposed to make cookies, but it ended up with his sister making the cookies and I held Alex the entire time. Tonight we celebrated both Gabe's sister and Gabe's dad's birthdays. I will be heading to my parent's house soon. Alex will be going with me and Gabe will be staying so he can work the rest of the week.
On a side note, I think that Alex misses the 70's.
We have been busy preparing for an upcoming trip and getting ready for a party. I am having a Southern Living at Home party tomorrow. A few people are coming over and while looking at all of the products we will be munching on yummy desserts. I am also making a veggie tray since some people may have new year's resolutions to cut out sweets (I am NOT one of those people).
Last night we went to the store and I managed to take a picture of Alex pushing the shopping cart. He has been doing it for a little while, but this is the first time that I thought to take a picture. We only let him push the cart if the store isn't busy. I guess I should look into purchasing a toy cart for him.
He is pushing the cart though he is hard to see in this picture.
Sometimes he likes to push the cart from the side (I think he can see a little better this way).
I finished reading I, Alex Cross and Alex Cross's Trial. That knocks off numbers 14 and 17 off of my New Year's Resolution list. I really enjoyed I, Alex Cross. It was the typical book from the Alex Cross series. Alex Cross's Trial was good, but it was not at all what I was expecting. For some reason I thought it was going to be another book in Alex Cross series, but I was wrong.
Gabe and I managed to watch a few movies while he was off from work. My favorite was Star Trek. I would even recommend it to someone that is not a fan of the series or other movies (I did not like the series). We also watched Coraline, Duplicity, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Funny People, and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.
I will post a picture of Alex's plate either later on today or tomorrow. I am getting ready to go pick it up soon.
We have been hanging out relaxing the past few days. A couple of days ago, Gabe and I attempted to take the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) tour, but apparently you have to get there at the crack of dawn to get tickets. Okay, not really the crack of dawn, but you do need to be there right when the Pima Air and Space Museum opens. The AMARG tour is a guided tour of the aircraft storage facility on the Army base.
So, instead of the AMARG tour, we each went for a much needed haircut and I went for my very fun shots. Speaking of fun stuff, Alex went to the dentist for the first time on the 28th. Everything was fine, but he didn't really enjoy the visit. I guess one good thing about the screaming was the dentist could see all of his teeth.
We decided to go to the AMARG tour on New Year's Eve Day. It was a lot of fun. I really liked the fun facts that the guide gave us about the planes during the tour. There are close to 5,000 planes, so he gave us the spiel about the more interesting planes.
After the tour, we went to Color Me Mine and Alex had a blast painting a plate.
He likes to get his own paint with the paintbrush.
He also likes to paint with a paintbrush in each hand.
Here is his plate before glazing and firing (The "Alex" was done by me). I will post a picture once I pick it up from the studio.
We stayed home for New Year's Eve. Alex went to bed and Gabe and I watched the ball drop in New York. This year we decided to eat a grape with each stroke of the clock. We don't have any clocks that chime, so we just ate the grapes quickly.
Alex a few moments after midnight. You can check out his picture from last year here.
We had Belgium Waffles for breakfast on the first and Gabe opened his presents. The mini-Alex for his desk was my favorite.
Alex enjoying a waffle.
Gabe with Alex and mini-Alex.
Mini-Alex.
I purchased the mini-Alex photo sculpture from Zazzle. I think it will make a cute addition to his desk at work and it is definitely different from a picture in a frame. I also ordered and ornament in the same design. I really love them both. I will definitely order them again once Alex is a little older. A family picture would be cute too.
Today we opened our presents. Alex received a lot of great gifts. He especially likes his slide and swing, his bike, and rolling his cars around the floor. Santa rides around our neighborhood in a firetruck on Christmas morning and hands out candy canes, but Alex was taking a nap and he missed it. Around 2:30 p.m. we stopped off at the R's house (our neighbors) to say hi. Around 3:30 p.m. we went to Kevin's house.
Sliding!
Riding a bike!
Christmas Day!
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 22, 23, and 24.
Today we went to story time at the library. Alex had a lot of fun once he settled in. Before we headed out to the library, we watched Rudolph. Later on in the evening, we read The Night Before Christmas and then we read the Christmas Story (Luke 2:1-18). Everyone received new PJ's and we made cookies for Santa. After Alex went to bed, Gabe and I started putting toys together.
Making cookies for Santa. Next year I hope to paint (or have Alex paint) a cookie plate.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. 22, and 23.
Gabe, Alex, and I drove around our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. There are quite a few houses that we have nicknamed "the Griswold's". The plan was to do this in our PJ's, but Alex was the only that participated in the PJ wearing. He fell asleep while we were driving around. Gabe and I came back and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. and 22.
We made hand print mitten ornaments today. I painted Alex's hands (one red and one green) while Gabe held on to them. We actually did all of this one hand at a time and we stopped to wash his hands in between hand prints. We pressed his hand onto a white foam sheet. I drew a mitten shape around each hand print freehand and cut it out. I glued some ribbon on the back and also wrote "Alex 2009" with a marker. Finally, they made it to the Christmas tree. If I were doing this again, I would probably paint both hands green and stay away from the red paint. Cotton balls would look cute on the bottom of the mitten, but I chose white for the mitten, so it didn't look that great with white on white.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.
We went to the Pima Air & Space Museum. It was a lot of fun. The best part was the tram ride. We could have walked and looked at the 150+ planes outside, but the tram ride was great because they told us a little bit about each one. We also walked through the five hangers and two museums. One of the museums had a piece of moon rock. There were also some fun cutouts for a photo op scattered about the grounds.
Cool plane in a hangar.
Alex the Pilot.
I "think" this the plane that hauled the Titan Missile.
Even though it does not look comfortable, I would love to have a Jeep like this (it was made by Ford).
Astronaut Alex.
Today we delivered the Christmas candy to most of our neighbors. I went to a party at a local restaurant. It was a lot of fun and there was gift exchange. I came home with a really cute snowman. Alex loves to watch him (he changes colors).
Cute snowman (Yes, he is on our bathroom sink. I am not sure why I chose to take the picture there or why the snowman is even in the bathroom.)
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13.
Well, the search continued today for winter clothes for Alex. We went to the store where I had seen one fleece outfit in his size. I guess I should have bought it on Friday, because it was gone. So, off to another store. The sales associate informed me that they do not have winter clothes and they would not be getting any in. Winter starts in less than two week (December 21) and they will not be getting any winter clothes! To be fair, if we weren't going on a trip we would not need winter clothes for Alex. So, we went to a different Babies R Us and found two pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt on clearance for $8.00 total. I found one pair of sweatpants and two sweatshirts at a different Babies R Us yesterday. So, that puts the total at three pair of sweatpants, three sweatshirts, a sweater, a winter coat, mittens, and a winter hat. He already has a few pair of jeans, so we will be taking those with us. That should be enough to get us through the trip. We can wash clothing as needed.
Our new kitchen table is here. We are currently using it. It is bigger than our previous table and has six chairs. So far I like it a lot.
We have an upcoming trip that will require some winter clothing for Alex. This is a lot harder to accomplish than you would think. We were headed up to Tucson so we decided to stop by Babies R Us. We had no luck. Since Babies R Us doesn't carry mittens and winter hats (I asked), we decided to head to the very busy mall. Babies R Us is still selling swim trunks at full price, so I guess mittens and swim trunks don't mix. I did manage to buy two sweatshirts and a pair of sweatpants for $8.00 total (they were on clearance). We entered the mall through JC Penney. They did not carry mittens and winter hats. Our next stop was Old Navy. They had about 5 winter hat and mitten sets. They were all large with one medium. Alex needed a small. Ugh...I guess that is what you get when it is 70 on December 12. Our next stop was The Children's Place. They had a very small selection of mittens and winter hats. The good news is they were on clearance, $5.00 for the mittens and $7.50 for the hat. So, after several stores and a lot of searching, Alex has mittens and a winter hat. People look at you a little weird when you ask for winter clothing when they are in shorts and flip flops. Next time, I am just going to order them online. Oh, on a side note, he does have a warm coat. I bought it on clearance last year in Illinois. I think he will have enough clothing to stay warm. I am sure my Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois friends are reading this wishing they didn't need their mittens.
Today we purchased some formula to donate to a shelter. They have several new babies and formula is a really big expense for them. Next we went to the Fourth Avenue Winter Street Fair. We walked around the fair and had dinner at Magpies. After dinner we walked to the Parade of Lights route, had a seat, and waited on the parade to begin. The parade was a lot longer than I expected. It was around an hour and a half. Alex liked watching the lights, but he especially liked the trucks. Of course, Santa made an appearance at the end of the parade.
The storm trooper made it to this parade too.
One of the trucks that Alex liked.
Santa
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11.
Today our Christmas activity was to learn how another country celebrates Christmas. We chose the United Kingdom. In addition to learning about the traditions of the the UK, we made crackers, and Victoria Sandwich Cake.
Alex walking around with his cracker.
Victoria Sandwich Cake with a yummy filling.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
We had two Christmas activities today, but one of them was sort of a continuation of yesterday. First, we sent cards to the three featured kids over at Make A Child Smile. Most of the children on the website have medical issues that they will not recover from. If you have a couple of spare minutes, I encourage you to write out a card or three. We included a picture of our dogs in the cards and I wrote a little story about them. I also encourage you to read the "DOs and DON'Ts" section in "Frequently Asked Questions". There are a lot of helpful tips like don't send candy due to allergies, don't send glitter, don't say "get well soon", do send cheery mail, do tell a story.
I bought contact paper, so our second activity was to make the ornament that I had planned for Alex yesterday. I placed a piece of contact paper, with the backing removed, on the floor. I gave Alex a pile of pieces of scrap paper and I let him adhere them to the contact paper. The idea was for him to cover the entire piece of contact paper. Since he didn't, I placed the contact paper on another sheet of white paper. I then cut out an ornament shape, added ribbon, and placed it on the tree. You can find the ornament pattern here.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
Today was a pretty busy day. We went to the Pecan Festival. It was actually more entertaining than we thought it would be. I really liked the parking lot. Instead of gravel, they used pecan shells as a covering. What a creative use!
Pecan shell parking lot.
Next we headed to Toys R Us. We dropped off our Toys for Tots donations. Alex has both of the toys that we donated and he really likes playing with them. So hopefully they are good ones. December 6 is the last day to drop off toys at Toys R Us, but you can always make a donation online.
I have a picture of Alex and the Marine, but I didn't ask permission to post the picture and I haven't blurred the Marine out of the picture yet.
Our next stop was the mall. We had to mail his letter to Santa at Macy's. Macy's will donate $1.00 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation for each letter collected.
Dropping off the letter to Santa.
We came back home to get ready for the Christmas party that we went to tonight. It was fun. I don't have any pictures right now. I did take my camera, but our friend was taking pictures with his fancy camera, so I am just going to get copies of his photos. He is also the same guy that ended up taking pictures for Alex's first birthday party.
So, I realize that we completed more than one Christmas activity today, but it is just how things worked out.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, 3, and 4.
We made a gingerbread house today. Alex ran around having a good time. I don't remember our previous gingerbread houses taking so long. Or, maybe we just didn't follow the directions. When we started "gluing" the pieces together with icing we realized we had to wait 2-3 hours. After waiting, we started "gluing" again and then began waiting an hour. Next, we finally began decorating. There you have it, our Christmas activity for the day.
Alex decided to rearrange the ornaments on the tree.
He also thought it would be fun to pull the presents out from under the tree.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1, 2, and 3.
Today our Christmas activity was coloring. Pretty easy and low key.
I picked up the new book for the book club this month. The selection is An Idiot Girl's Christmas: True Tales from the Top of the Naughty List by Laurie Notaro. I have not started to read it yet. I am in the middle of The Shack by William P. Young and about 50 pages into I, Alex Cross by James Patterson. I will start read the book club book soon. I usually read multiple books at a time anyway.
Follow our other daily December activities. December 1 and 2.
The Friday after Thanksgiving we attempted to do some Black Friday shopping. We went around 7:00 a.m. and needless to say, everything was gone. The lines were still really long though and I do not like waiting in long lines anyway. We almost bought a new table and chairs for our kitchen, but we decided against it. One of our chairs is broken.
On Saturday, we went to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. The mall in Sierra Vista has a display of Christmas trees. Alex also had his picture taken with Santa while we were there. He cried the entire time. Oh, and when did it start costing $25 to have your picture made with Santa? For my $25 I received a 5 x 7 and picture CD. After the mall we went to the Fort. It is an active military base, so we had to get clearance to enter. It is also a historical site, so civilians are allowed onto the base. It was fun to drive around and to see some of the training areas. There are also three neat museums (Fort Huachuca Museum, Fort Huachuca Museum Annex, and The U.S. Army Intelligence Museum). My favorite was the Intelligence museum. They have a 12 ft section of the Berlin Wall.
Alex and Santa.
On Sunday we finished putting up Christmas decorations.
To make these hanging ornaments I simply cut out an ornament shape from scrapbook paper. There is patterned paper on both the front and the back. I tied a ribbon through ornament and hung up using command hooks. The ribbon was cut at different lengths. Cheep, easy, and cute!
Closeup of an ornament.
Yesterday was my birthday. Gabe and I went to see New Moon. I think this movie was much better than the first, but I still prefer the books. After the show we went to Red Lobster for lunch and the Cold Stone Creamery. We picked Alex up early from school and headed home to relax. Dinner was pizza and carrot cake...yummy!
Today I am attempting to knock quite a few things off of my list. So far I am doing ok.
I guess Gabe did not destroy the pictures from my other camera. They are on a memory card somewhere on his desk. Now I guess I just need to find them.
We had a relaxing dinner and then we went on a walk. I made a new dessert that I did not like. It is called Pumpkin Upside Down Cake. I made it because I do not like pumpkin pie. It tasted like pumpkin pie. Oh well. Maybe I will just make a pecan pie next year. At least Gabe thought it tasted good.
We also watched Year One today. It had its funny moments, but it isn't something that I would rent again.
Alex eating his Thanksgiving dinner.
Alex and his drumstick (we didn't really let him eat the drumstick).
Playing a little football after dinner.
I haven't posted an entry for about a week, but not much is going on. I finished reading Swimsuit by James Patterson. I really like James Patterson, but this was my least favorite book that I have read by him. This was not the book for my book club. I did miss the book club meeting this month. One of our neighbors babysits a little boy a few months younger than Alex. Her dad had a stroke, so I had to watch the little guy that she babysits. Fortunately, her dad is back home and is doing much better.
I don't think that I have posted this yet, but Alex has been proficiently walking for a while now (since the beginning of November). Here are a couple of pictures that Gabe snapped while they were playing outside.
We are getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. I need to check the turkey and see if it is still frozen. It has been in the refrigerator since last night. We only bought a 10 pound turkey, so hopefully it will thaw in time.
Here are some of Alex's one year portraits from the studio that we like.
All of the thank you cards have finally been mailed!
Alex and I picked Brandi and Maddex up at the airport on Tuesday. I didn't have time to get everything done before picking them up. Their flight was an hour early, so I did not get a chance to get a balloon for Maddex. Luckily, I was leaving an hour early to run some errands and checked their flights arrival time before I left. I was really surprised to see that they were going to land in 12 minutes. Luckily I don't live too far from the airport. We relaxed most of the day, but we did walk to the park to play.
Alex hanging out in a basket before we left.
On Wednesday, we went to the mission and to the desert museum. We didn't get to walk around the entire museum/zoo since we showed up around lunch time. Maddex was pretty hungry so we at lunch at the cafe.
Thursday we decided to go for a swim. The water felt great. We also went to the Pecan Factory and bought a pecan pie.
Maddex in the pool.
Friday we did not do a whole lot. Alex wasn't feeling well, so we took him to the doctor (he is okay now). We also missed our appointment for pictures. We were going to have photos taken of Maddex and Alex. Unfortunately, the picture appointment was at 10:30 and the doctor was able to fit Alex in at 10:00. We could have rescheduled, but Alex would not have been up to it.
Saturday was their last day here (they actually left in the afternoon). So, we decided to go to The International Wildlife Museum. Maddex had a great time running around and pointing to all of the animals.
We came back home, had a quick lunch, and them dropped them off at the airport. We have spent most of the day getting things in order.
Today we went to the Tucson Museum of Art. We waited to go until now because the first Sunday of the month is free. Other than going to the grocery store, we really haven't done a lot today.
Brandi and Maddex will be coming to see us on Tuesday. That should be a lot of fun. Maddex is 6 months older than Alex.
Today I started cleaning the house. Alex is still a little blah from the vaccines, so we decided to stay in. Once he took a nap Gabe helped me finish cleaning.
We went trick-or-treating to two of our neighbor's houses. Alex wore a onesie that had "Peek-A-Boo" written on it along with a ghost. We headed back to our house to hand out candy. Alex went to bed around 7:00 p.m., so I headed down to one of our neighbor's until 8:00 p.m. When I returned home, Gabe and I played a few games on the Wii.
Alex in his "costume".
He was not a big fan of trick-or-treating.
I am still waiting on pictures from Alex's photo sessions. So, I am just now sending out the Halloween cards that I made a while back. I was going to send his portraits in the card, but it is taking too long to get them. This is also slowing down the mailing of some thank you cards.
I picked up the new book for my book club today. We are going to read The Master Butchers Singing Club. I still have about 200 pages left of The Lost Symbol. I have to finish it by Tuesday, then I will start on the book club book selection.
Today was shot day for Alex. So, he is pretty tired and went to bed at 7:00 p.m. Usually his bedtime is 8:00 p.m. Since he went to bed so early, Gabe and I picked up the house and watched some TV. I finished my Grandma's quilt for Christmas. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. I still need to order something for one of my nephews and make two presents for my brother. I am waiting on a picture to finish my brother's gifts.
My Grandma's Christmas present.
Today is Alex's birthday. Gabe took the day off of work. We had an appointment to go to our regular studio with our regular photographer today. Alex was much better today than he was at the new studio I tried. I think we are going to keep going to our regular spot. We will actually be headed there again very soon. While Brandi and Maddex are visiting us we are going to have their pictures made.
I had to get my weekly three allergy shots today. While we were in the city, we had lunch at Famous Dave's. Alex has been drinking out of a straw since yesterday, when we first tried it and he LOVES it.
Stephanie and Alex at Famous Dave's.
Alex and his straw.
We opened Alex's birthday presents today. He had a lot of fun playing with his new toys. We went to buffet at the casino for dinner.
Having fun on his birthday.
Happy 
Alex!
Graphic courtesy of Pat's Web Graphics.
I decided to try a different studio for Alex's pictures. This was not due to being unhappy with the studio I currently use, but more because of a good deal. Alex was not cooperative at this new place. He just didn't seem to like the photographer as much our normal lady. I ordered a few pictures. I will not have them back for a while, but I do have the CD. It was cheaper to order pictures and the CD as compared to just ordering the CD and printing my own pictures. The two below are the best ones. He was crying in the rest and you can even see the tears rolling down his cheeks. Gabe and I are still debating, but we might go back to our regular studio on Wednesday.
I missed my book club meeting on Thursday. I was not feeling well. The book was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The book was okay. In my opinion, it would have been better without the last 20% of the book, but that was the entire point of the book. A girl grows up poor in Brooklyn and it goes through her life and the cycle of poverty. I am currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. This is not for the book club. However, I checked out a copy from the library and it is due back in a few days and I am almost half way through the book. I had better get reading.
Thursday I bought tickets to Legally Blonde the musical. Katie and I going to see it. They went on sale Friday, but because we have purchased tickets before, Gabe had a presale code.
On Friday, Gabe, Alex, and I went to Phoenix and stayed in a hotel downtown. We walked around downtown. There is an open air market that was a lot of fun. We had some really good pizza. Before heading to Phoenix, we stopped at a pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.
Saturday, on the way back home we stopped off at IKEA and a couple of other places. Last night after Alex went to bed we relaxed a little bit. We also watched the movie Adventureland...don't waste your time.
We went to the park today. Alex loves swinging. The picture below if from a couple of weeks ago.
We had Alex's birthday party on Saturday, October 17. We planned to have the party outside, and I set everything up outside, but the temperature was 102. So the party remained inside until the sun started to go down and there was an ample amount of shade in our back yard. Once the shade appeared, everyone moved outside.
I had hired a professional photographer to take pictures at the party. Unfortunately, she was very ill. So, our friend, Kevin, volunteered to take some pictures. He saved the day.
The adults that attended the party received a box of layered mint chocolate fudge and dark chocolate fudge with nuts.
This is the "Alex Banner". There is a picture for every month of life and I had them laminated. I saw a similar idea somewhere on the web.
All of the food was accompanied by a picture of Alex letting the guests know what they were about to eat.
I just edited the pictures in Picasa and then sent them to my local Walgreens for printing.
Alex modeling his birthday hat.
Happy Birthday! sign outside
White chocolate and chocolate one suckers. These were a lot of fun to make. I did eat a few white chocolate chips in the process though.
Alex modeling his one shirt that I made just for this occasion. I figure he can wear it all year. He will be one until his next birthday. If you follow my blog regularly, you might remember that I made Maddex a shirt too.
In addition to the ring toss game and the bean bag toss game, there was a craft table. These little guys are magnets that also have a clothes pin so they can grip things.
Kevin had to leave at this point.
Alex hanging out outside waiting for the cake.
The cake.
Personalized Alex bubbles that went in the treat bags.
Alex's Cake
Alex digging into his cake. He was a mess!
This is photo matte with a picture of Alex. All of the guests signed the matte before leaving.
Personalized Alex water bottle.
Alex and balloons. He LOVES balloons.
The party was fun and we all had good time.
Things have been very busy here. We are doing the last minute preparations for Alex's birthday party tomorrow. I just posted several back entries. Make sure and check them out. You might need to click on both "September 2009" and "October 2009" in the sidebar to access all of them.
I also want to thank Nicolle over at Boyd's Crazy Momma. She sent Alex a lot of cute outfits to help get him through the summer. Yes, it is still summer here (it was 98 in the shade). I still think putting winter coats in stores is crazy this time of year in this location. Anyway, the warm weather is why we will be having Alex's party outside. I will have a lot of pictures later.
Here are some of the Alex pictures from the photos taken in Las Vegas.
So much for relaxing after our trip to Vegas. On Sunday, we went to Oktoberfest. It was fun to walk outside and look at all of the booths. It was even more fun to eat the yummy German food.
A friend of mine, DD, and I are planning a fall party. We thought that it would be a fun way to meet some of the other Caterpillar people. Because of all of the things going on in October, we decided that early November would be a good time to have the party. So, on Friday, Alex and I headed over to her house to plan the party.
We have been relaxing at home today. We did go to Sam's to look at a few things and to buy a few things for Alex's party. Thursday we decided to have Alex a party on the 17th. So, we also ordered a cake with his picture on it. I am really excited to see how it turns out.
Today was busy and fun. I headed off to classes in the morning. Gabe and Alex met me for lunch and a gondola ride in the Venetian. It was really fun, plus the water was clear and clean (unlike the water in the canals in Venice...they were gross). When we were in Italy a few years ago, a pair of my tennis shoes became wet with the water of the Venetian canals...they smelled like sewer after that I never was able to get the smell out of my favorite (discontinued) tennis shoe. I digress...
Gondola Ride
Gondola Ride
After lunch, I went back to more classes. Once they were over for the day, we all went to the Shark Reef Aquarium. Alex liked watching the fish swim around.
Jellyfish
After we had dinner, we put Alex to bed and Gabe's parents watched him while we went to see Criss Angel: Believe. I recently started watching Criss Angel: Mindfreak, so I really wanted to see his show in Vegas. Umm...I think I should just keep watching him on TV...or maybe not. I am glad that I went, but I was a little disappointed. Anyway, Gabe and I had really good time out together.
Today was another day full of classes for me. Gabe, his parents, and Alex all went to have their pictures made. This was their Grandparent's Day present. I will post some of the pictures once I get the CD. They also went to the MGM hotel to check out the lions.
When I rejoined the group, we went to the Fremont Street Experience. We had a yummy dinner at Tony Roma's restaurant and then we watched the laser light show. I also did a little shopping. I bought thank you gifts for the people watching our dogs and I bought us a Christmas ornament.
Fremont Street
Alex loved the laser light show.
We left for Las Vegas today. I have a conference to attend. I still need a few TQ CE credits. Basically, it amounts to listening to a 2 hour lecture and taking a test to see if you actually paid attention and learned something. I have quite a few hours I will be attending.
Alex on the airplane.
Once we checked into our room, I changed clothes. Gabe, Alex, and I grabbed lunch at the Grand Lux Cafe and then I went to class. Gabe & Alex headed to the airport to pick up Gabe's parents and then to Target to get some necessary supplies (i.e., diapers, baby food, etc.). I joined them again in the evening and we went to the buffet at the Wynn for dinner. Since this is our hotel, we didn't have to go very far for dinner. I think I got my monies worth at the dessert portion.
I was pleasantly suprised when Gabe's mom gave me several baby blankets for Greyson's Gift. Be sure and check out the website and/or my original entry to see how you can help.
Monday we toured another school for Alex. I tend to steer away from calling them day cares, because they are actually run like a pre-school. We both preferred this one over the last one that we toured. We put him on the wait list. He can't attend until he is one anyway. So, it will just be a waiting game until he is old enough and a slot is available.
Wednesday was the meeting for the book club. This time it was at our house. The book was Dixiland Sushi. The book itself was a really easy read, but there wasn't a whole lot of content to discuss. We managed to have a good time anyway. I also read The Alchemist a few weeks ago. It was recommended by a friend about a year or so ago. I was disappointed. It wasn't a bad book, but I think I had built it up in my mind over the past year and there was no way that the book could live up to my expectations...or maybe it just isn't my type of book.
Friday, Gabe and I went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and then saw Spamalot. Spamalot was funny, but it wasn't my favorite. Wicked takes that honor. J said that Alex didn't cry a lot. He was fine until she took him downstairs to make a bottle (apparently he thought we were downstairs hanging out). After that he cried off and on for an hour and then he went to sleep).
Saturday we went to our town's festival. Gabe's office had a booth. We had a good time walking around. Gabe was at the festival from noon until 9:30 p.m. Alex and I went from around 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Alex loves balloons and the yellow one from the festival was no exception.
Today we went to the Greek Festival. We had some yummy Greek food and bought some pastries to bring back to our house for tonight. We had our neighbors, the V's, over for dinner.
Monday Alex and I met K and her little girl K for some time at the pool. The heated kiddy lagoon was too cold for us to stay in very long. The umbrellas that block the UV also block the water warming rays of the sun. So, we went in the regular pool and it was nice and warm. It is still in the 100's here, so swimming is still a way to cool off and Alex loves splashing in the water.
Wednesday Alex and I met DD and two of her kids for some time at the park in our neighborhood. We have decided to throw a fall party in November. We were going to have a Halloween party, but we figured it just wasn't in the cards this year. They will be taking a vacation near the time that we would have the party and Alex has a birthday around the same time. So we decided to have a fall party in November instead. It should be a lot of fun.
Friday, J came over to play with Alex for a little while. She will be watching him while Gabe and I are watching Spamalot next Friday. Alex seemed to have a good time playing with J. Friday night we went out to dinner with Josh & Amie. We had yummy Mexican.
Saturday, Gabe, Alex, & I went to the University of Arizona's Art Museum. We were surprised when we found out they were currently offering free admission because half of the museum was undergoing an exhibit change. It was fun and hopefully we can make it back sometime once it is fully open again. After the museum we attended a birthday party for KA at MA and DA's.
Alex hanging out with the art.
Today we went to Phoenix in search of a KB Toys. We went to the mall it was supposed to located in and they were no longer there. Someone told us they moved to anther mall, but we were unable to find it. We did manage to find a good deal on some clothes. I found some shorts for $4.00 marked down from about $40. The stores are placing their summer clothes on clearance to make room for their winter collection. Umm...do they realize it is still in the 100's here and we still have months of warm weather left (okay, really we don't get too cold). The sales associate explained to us that people from Canada come down and buy their winter clothes. I was wondering who would actually wear all of the warm thick coats. We still have enough winter clothing from Illinois to suffice if we travel somewhere cool. We had a yummy lunch at Chipotle. After Phoenix, we met up with MD,DD, and their three kids for some bowling. I am much better at Wii bowling. Then we went out to eat at one of the only places that is open late on a Sunday (by late I mean after 5:00 p.m.)
This week was fun. On Tuesday I went for a walk with DD. It is nice to walk in the mornings. Gabe and I also checked out a school for Alex (well, they call themselves an academy). One thing that I am not so sure about is he would have homework every night. Gabe was wondering why a one year old would need homework...me too!
Saturday I took my CPR recertification class. After the class I had a baby shower to attend. The shower ran a little longer than I had anticipated, so we were a little late to our next activity, a party at Kevin's. We had to leave the party a little early since Alex goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. My mint fudge was a hit. It is a good thing too, because I didn't want to bring any of it home.
Today we went to the International Wildlife Museum. It was a lot fun. Alex had a good time touching some of the exhibits. I think that he will have an even better time once he is a little older. It was really neat that everything not behind a barrier had a sign saying "please touch". It was a really interactive museum. We actually had plans to go next Saturday, but there is no way that we would be able to make it. So, we went today.
International Wildlife Museum
Alex and a wild boar.
Alex and a jaguar.
Alex and a giraffe.
I still have a few things I would like to accomplish today. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, I went to DA's house and did a little scrapbooking. Wednesday, KG came over and we scrapbooked. Thursday, KG came over for dinner. Friday, I went to DD's and scrapbooked for 3 hours. I finished January and February 2009. Yesterday I ordered the pictures from March and April 2009 so I can scrapbook them once I get the chance. Friday before I went to DD's house, I took a few pictures of Alex.
Alex and pumpkins.
Alex examining a small pumpkin.
Alex throwing a pumpkin.
Alex and spooky Halloween tree.
On Saturday, Gabe, Alex, and I went to Apple Annie's, but not before getting the windows tinted on my car. The tint makes a huge difference. We had lunch at the orchard and then we picked apples and asian pears. We ate our apple pie and ice cream after we picked the fruit. We went to the vegetable garden next. They have pumpkins, but those aren't available until October. We bought bell peppers and some squash.
Stephanie picking apples.
Alex and his pear. He picked it...sort of. Gabe was holding him and picking a pear. Alex hit a pear and it came off the of the tree.
On the way back from the orchard, we stopped off at a vineyard. I really wanted to see the rows of grapes. I tried a grape and they were really sweet.
Coronado Vineyard
Today we ran a few errands. Now we are watching a little TV before heading off to bed.
I also won a giveaway over at An Island Life. I am the proud owner of a Squirt Baby Food Dispensing Spoon from Boon Inc. This spoon will come in handy while we are out and about. The spoon holds baby food and squeezing it dispenses the food. No mess! Thanks to Boon Inc and An Island Life.
Well, I should be watching Dexter right now, but both Gabe and Alex are sleeping. So, I have the Food Network on mute instead. This week was busy.
On Tuesday I went to the book club meeting. We discussed The 19th Wife. As I said in a previous entry, the topic was plural marriage. It made for some interesting conversation. Next month the book is Dixiland Sushi by Cara Lockwood. After I left the book club meeting, I headed over to DD's house and we went out to lunch. It was a Mexican restaurant that I had not been to before and they had yummy cheese enchiladas.
Wednesday I headed over to K's house to scrapbook. Actually, she scrapbooked and I worked on some other crafty things.
Friday night, Gabe, Alex, & I went to a baseball game. We watched the Tucson Toros play the St. George Roadrunners. The Toros won. We ended up leaving before the game was over. Alex was getting sleepy and it was still pretty hot out even at 9:30 p.m. We missed the fireworks, but Alex would have most likely screamed through them anyway.
The field.
Yesterday we went to the Tucson Children's Museum. Alex is still a bit too young to fully enjoy the museum but he still had a good time. Saturday evening we went to GT's house for a party. It was a lot of fun. We left around 8:30 p.m. and Alex was pretty much asleep once his head hit the car seat.
Alex manning the submarine
Cruising on the police chopper.
I made a pillow for one of my Grandma's for Grandparent's Day. It has a picture of Alex on it. I hope she likes it.
Alex in his new car seat. He is too long for his infant carrier.
Here are a couple of pictures from Alex's last portrait session. This session also included pictures of my parents with Alex.
The football does not have some funky design. It just shows up that way on my blog due to the extent that I degrade the photos when I post them.
I am waiting on Walgreens to upload some photos from by parents' visit. I took them, along with Alex, to have their pictures made for Grandparent's Day (just a little early). I bought the CD and now I am attempting to upload the pictures so I can print them and send them to Illinois. I will post some on my blog in a couple of days.
I am also waiting for my blueberry muffins to finish cooking. I am making them for breakfast this week. I should be finishing my book for tomorrow, but I have less than 100 pages, so I am in pretty good shape.
Alex and I went to the grocery store this morning around 8:00 a.m. That is definitely the time to go. We practically had the store to ourselves and all of the workers were very friendly. I realized that I forgot something that I needed to make my treats for the book club meeting tomorrow and I went back around 10:30 a.m. or so. The store had a lot more people. I must say I prefer shopping at 8:00 a.m. Since Alex gets up somewhere around 6:00 a.m., shopping at 8:00 a.m. isn't that crazy of an idea. Gabe and I usually shop together, but I don't think he would complain if I grocery shopped while he was at work.
Gabe's car
The weekend is almost over I have have not accomplished everything that I had hoped I would get done. Gabe and I finished Moonlight. It is about a vampire that is a private investigator. He goes around solving mysteries and murders. Since there was only one season, we also finished the series.
I am currently reading The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff. It is the selection for the book club this month. The topic of the book is plural marriage. It reminds me a little of Big Love. The meeting is on Tuesday and I have only read 300 pages of the 500. I will get it done in time. It is really starting to get more interesting.
Friday, Alex and I met DD at the pool. Alex had a great time splashing in the water. We didn't stay for a picnic lunch since Alex decided to get up at 5:00 a.m. By the time we left around 11:00 a.m. he fell asleep in the car.
We started watching the third season of Dexter. We saw a preview for the fourth season after the episode was over. I am not sure how I feel about where they are going with the series. Dexter as husband and a dad...hmm.
I watched Melissa d'Arabian's show on the Food Network last week. It is pretty good. Overall, I am glad that she won the Next Food Network Star.
We have stainless steel appliances in our kitchen. You can't use a magnet to hold up a picture. This isn't all that bad since I really do prefer a clean and uncluttered refrigerator with nothing on the front. However, when Walgreens was running their free item everyday last week I bought the clings. Now I have a few pictures of Alex up the refrigerator. They are perfect for displaying a picture on a stainless steel appliance. I am going to keep them up for a little while.
Alex cling on the refrigerator.
These are a couple of my favorite pictures from Alex's 9 month portraits.
Clara now has health insurance. Yes, our dog has health insurance. It was cheaper to take out an insurance policy rather than pay the vet bill. The good news is that she is feeling better. She still has to finish out her antibiotics, but she is no longer moping around and peeing indoors. I think we finally have the smell out of Alex's room. If not, then I am just going to rip out the carpet and install hardwood flooring. Hardwood floors were my first choice for the bedrooms, but our builder didn't offer them as an option.
My parents left on Saturday. While they were here they played with Alex a lot. My mom ordered Kobe Beef Steaks. My dad grilled them while they were here. The steaks were pretty good. My mom and I made some candy. My $5.00 Wal-Mart mixer finally died after about 7 or 8 years of use. The candy was too thick and the motor started burning up. My mom decided to buy me a mixer and we headed to Wal-Mart. They didn't have a lot of choices and my mom wasn't happy with any of them. We went to Macy's the next day and I am now the proud owner of a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer, Hand Mixer, and Food Processor (Architect Series).
Friday, while Gabe was at work, we all went to have pictures made. It will be my parent's gift for grandparent's day. They should be in around the end of the month. I also made five more Christmas presents and wrapped presents. Yes, you read that right, I wrapped Christmas presents. My Dad had some extra space in his suitcase, so he offered to take some presents back with him. This will save us money since we won't have to ship them. There are still some presents that we will be taking with us in December, but anything I can send back with someone helps. I told my Dad that if his checked bag was randomly selected for a search, the people would think he was crazy for having wrapped Christmas presents in his luggage.
My Jeep arrived on Saturday morning (we had it shipped from Illinois) along with the check for the new car. After everything was together, we went to the car dealer to buy Gabe's car. He ended up purchasing a Ford Escape. I will try to take a picture later and post it.
Alex driving the Jeep.
Alex and I picked up his pictures on Friday. I will try to post them sometime this week. These are much better than the 6 month pictures. Friday night Gabe decided to start looking at new cars. He is considering trading in my Jeep. We told my dad that he could have it, but apparently no one really uses it. He is happy that we might be able to use it to get a new car. So, that is how our Friday night was spent, at the car dealer.
Saturday afternoon was also spent at the car dealer. The only catch to the plan is that my Jeep is in Illinois and the car dealer is in Arizona. Every attempt that we have made to get the car out here has fallen through. At this point, it may or may not happen. We did manage to make it to Babies R Us to get Alex some more baby food and another sleep sack. He is outgrowing all of his current ones.
Sunday we did not go to the car dealer, but Gabe did work on the logistics of getting the car to Arizona. We went to Wal-Mart to look for a birthday present. Our great-nephew will be 4 this month and he likes the comic book heroes. Well, Wal-Mart didn't have an age appropriate toy or shirt, so I just ordered something online. Hopefully it will get here this week so my parents can take it back with them. They should be arriving tonight.
Yesterday was allergy shot day. The entire process takes 2.5 to 3 hours. While I was at the doctor's, Gabe ran an errand. We stopped at IHOP on the way home as well as AutoZone. I wanted to hit the grocery store, but Alex was getting sleepy and it was near his bedtime, so we just went back home.
I have a ton of stuff to do today. My parents are coming tonight and I don't know how much I will be able to get done once they arrive, I also have to take Clara to the vet. She has peed in the house twice since we returned from South Carolina. At first we thought it was Elsa. She did not get her bladder medicine while we were gone. This morning Gabe caught Clara peeing on the carpet and there was blood in it. I am assuming she has either a bladder or kidney infection and needs antibiotics.
While we were at the beach on Tuesday, I managed to get sand in my camera and it was no longer functional. So, Nicole snapped this picture of Alex on the beach for me.
Tuesday night we played Scattergories. Andrew won, I came in second, and Ryan was third. We all had a blast playing the game together.
Gabe, Tony, & Maren
Barby, Ryan, & Andrew
On Wednesday, Gabe, Alex, & I went to Brookgreen Gardens. They have over 1,200 sculptures along with a zoo.
Cool Lion Statue
This spider was HUGE. Gabe managed to take this awesome picture.
Birds in the cypress swamp.
Cypress Swamp
Alex & Gabe
We decided to get some boiled peanuts and an icee. We had to go to 5 gas stations to find the icee and three to find the boiled peanuts. Tony was the biggest fan of the peanuts.
Last night Ryan grilled again and we relaxed. Before dinner we had to make a run to the store. Alex was out of formula. So, for the trip home we decided to try something instead of powder and we purchased the ready-made formula. So far it is working great for travel. No mixing the powder with water, just pour the formula from the can and it is ready to eat. In fact, I am making one now.
This morning we had breakfast, Ryan snapped a few photos, and we started heading toward the airport.
Ryan, Stephanie, Tony, & Andrew
Esther, Alex, Caden, & Maddie. Yes, it is the world's ugliest couch.
Group Shot
On the way to Raleigh, we toured the Battleship USS North Carolina. It was pretty cool, but I wouldn't want to actually live on it. It was basically like a small compact little city. There were 2,000 people on the ship and they were all fed in an hour! That is really fast food. There was a dentist, cobbler, bakery, projector room, and all kinds of neat little areas. Wilmington North Carolina is a neat little town. We walked around the downtown area and had lunch at Slice. The pizza was really yummy. Then we went to a fudge and ice cream shop.
Alex steering the Battleship.
I will say that the individuals that work at the Raleigh-Durham airport were all very nice. National drove us to the gate when we dropped our rental car off instead of making us take the shuttle because we had a baby. The check-in people were nice. The TSA employees were especially helpful. I actually spoke with the supervisor and filled out a comment card I was so impressed with their willingness to help. I really like North Carolina.
We are currently flying on the plane to Dallas. The guy next to us on the plane is really nice and is especially understanding of Alex. He is pretty interesting to talk to too.
Gabe is going to work tomorrow, but at least the weekend isn't too far away. I am really excited to pick up Alex's 9 month portrait CD tomorrow. I guess it will be time to update our pictures again.
Yesterday Gabe and I drove around Myrtle Beach. We found a Krispy Kreme with freshly made warm doughnuts until 2:00 a.m. So Gabe and I each had a warm Krispy Kreme doughnut. Writing about it now makes me want another one. We came back to the house and grilled. After dinner we went for a walk.
Alex modeling the Krispy Kreme hat.
Today we drove around Myrtle Beach and we went to the beach at Myrtle Beach. We also went to a scrapbooking store and I bought a couple of things. We came back to the house for lunch and then we walked out on the pier and went to the beach. Alex still likes splashing in the shallow areas of water that form when the tide comes in. However, he does not like going out in the ocean. He screams the entire time. He played in the sand a lot.
Myrtle Beach
Surfside Beach
We are relaxing right now.
We did go to the seafood buffet last night. The deserts were very yummy. After dinner we ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We came back to the house and had a Wii Party. We played Mario Party 8 and I won by 7 coins.
Esther & Tony
Alex & Maddie
This morning we went to Broadway at the Beach. There is a Kiss Coffeehouse that Andrew was really looking forward to seeing. We walked around the 1.5 mile loop of restaurants and shops. I found Alex a book to commemorate our vacation. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and I had Twisted Mac and Cheese. This was the neatest Hard Rock I have been to. It was shaped like a pyramid and the inside was Egyptian in theme. After lunch we walked around a little more. We are currently watching Beowulf and we are heading out to the beach soon.
KISS Coffeehouse
Alex & Caden
Stephanie with Twisted Mac 'n Cheese
Inside Hard Rock
Yesterday was crazy. We were delayed three hours on our flight from DFW. Once we arrived, we sat on the plane for a while waiting on a gate. So, instead of arriving at Myrtle Beach around 10:00 p.m. we showed up at 2:00 a.m. Everyone was in bed. We quickly jumped in the shower and went to bed after 3:00 p.m. Alex didn't want to go back to sleep.
We were up this morning at 7:00 a.m. (4:00 a.m. Arizona time). Alex decided the sun was up and it was time to rise and shine. After breakfast, we headed to the beach. We had a blast. Alex didn't like being in the ocean, but he loved splashing around in the water had had collected in a shallow area.
Nicole and I rode the waves like professionals. Okay, really we let the waves crash into us, but it was a lot of fun. Ryan and I built a sandcastle.
We came back for lunch and now we are all relaxing. The little guys (and some of the big) are taking a nap. I think we are going to a seafood buffet for dinner.
We were up bright and early this morning to catch our flight. Our first flight was delayed due to weather in Dallas. So, we were late arriving, but our connecting flight to Raleigh was delayed as well. Alex is a pretty good little flier. The other passengers are always impressed with how well he flies the friendly skies (boy do I hope that I didn't just jinx us). I seriously considered bringing ear plugs for the surrounding passengers, but we have been pretty lucky so far. Our flight to Raleigh left two hours late. So instead of arriving at Myrtle Beach around 10:00 p.m., I think we might end up arriving around midnight. I hope that someone is still up to let us in the house. Nicole, Andrew, Ryan, Barby, Tony, Maren, Gabe, and I rented a house for the week. We are all returning home at different times. Our trip is going to be cut a little short and we heading back to Arizona on Thursday. The tickets were $700 dollars cheaper this way. One couple will leaving on Friday and the other two will be leaving on Saturday. I am actually writing this while flying to Raleigh. I had hoped to publish it while in the air (American Airlines now has WiFi), but I don't want to pay $10 to use the internet for the remaining hour we have left on the flight.
I am ready to fly! Actually, on this flight, we were lucky enough to have a seat for him, so he rode in a carseat.
Having fun at the DFW airport.
Thursday I went to my book club meeting. It was a lot of fun to get together and discuss the book. There is a meeting once a month and I plan on going to the August meeting too.
After the meeting Alex and I ran some errands. We also dropped off nine cans of formula at a shelter. Gabe does some work with the shelter and there is an infant there currently. There were multiple types of formula. They were all unopened. I was going to take them back to Wal-Mart and get my money back, but it turns out they just throw unopened food away. After giving me back my money, they would have thrown away the nine cans of formula. The idea of trashing perfectly good formula really bothered me, so I donated it instead. You might be wondering why I had nine cans of unopened formula. We went through twelve types of formula with Alex until we found one that he could take.
I finally finished packing. I still have a few last minute items to pack (like my laptop). Hopefully I won't be too tired to remember tomorrow morning.
I managed to finish two Christmas presents last night and two more tonight. I think I am down to 16 or so. Go me!
Alex had his 9 month pictures taken last night. I think they turned out much better than the 6 month portraits. The CD and our free 8 x 10 should be ready for pick-up about the same time we return from our trip to South Carolina. So, I was feeling pretty good about getting my hair cut before the 9 month pictures. After the session was over and we were looking through the photos, I decided that just having a hair cut doesn't do any good if you forget to brush your hair before the photo shoot. Stupid wind!
Who knew a laundry basket could be so much fun?
I made rice krispy treats for the book club meeting tomorrow. I always like to add extra marshmallows for that extra- gooey goodness. Hopefully my fingers won't stick to the pages of the book.
I also worked out this morning. Gabe and I usually work out in the evenings together, but I have to get an allergy shot today and I don't know how I am going to feel.
Tomorrow's schedule includes packing for our trip (plus the 6 things from today that may or may not get completed). The good news is that creating a blog entry is one of the things on the list. Anyone out there know where I can find a small beach ball? All of the ones I have seen have been either 18" or 24". I am looking in the 6" to 12" diameter range.
Alex 9 months and 1 day
I finished cleaning our house. Now I just have to put things away that we get out and use each day.
Saturday we spent a good portion of the day running errands. I managed to get my hair cut. Alex will be having his 9 month pictures taken tonight. This is the first time I will have had my hair cut before the pictures. Usually I do it about a week after. We also went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. They stay open until 10:00 p.m. during the summer evenings. It is a little cooler and different animals are active.
Bighorn Sheep
Alex & Coyote
Sunday we took Alex to the kiddie pool. He had a blast splashing in the water. It was a fun way for Gabe and me to cool off too.
Ready to swim.
Relaxing in the pool.
Hanging out in the pool.
Yesterday I met K at a local ice cream shop. She brought her little girl and we both had soft serve frozen yogurt...yummy! I also finished a Christmas present last night. Not counting things that I need to make last minute and a couple of "store bought" presents, I have about 20 things left to make. Everyone will get at least one homemade present, but I am having a really hard time coming up with more than one homemade item for some individuals. I found a local fabric store and I went there today to buy some material for a couple of things that I need to make. I am just waiting on Gabe to get home so we can start getting ready for the pictures tonight.
Cute baseball outfit.
I have plans to start packing on Thursday for our trip. I already have the packing list printed, so it shouldn't be too difficult. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and eating a Krispy Kreme Doughnut (or two).
One (we have two) of our air conditioners was not working properly. So, I hung around the house all day Wednesday waiting on someone to fix it. Apparently it had been overcharged and was not draining properly. I guess it was an easy fix. Luckily, it is still under warranty.
Yesterday we went to Walgreens and Wal-Mart...very exciting stuff.
I finished The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. If it had not been for the book club, I would have quit after the first couple of chapters. That is saying something, because I generally finish a book once I start it (even if I don't like it). The father shoots Junior's dog in the head because he is sick and they can't afford to take him to the vet. That about did it for me, but I kept reading the book and it was actually pretty good. The book tells the adventures of Junior. He leaves the reservation to attend an all white school in a little town. My book club meeting is next week. It is the first one that I have been to out here, so I guess I will see how it goes.
We are going on vacation soon and I am really excited. I need to get packing. In preparation for our trip I am trying to deep clean every room (including closets). This also includes cleaning out every drawer.
Alex reading a book.
We have been pretty busy lately...even more that normal. Wednesday, July 1, I went to a Pampered Chef party. Alex stayed home with Gabe.
On Friday, July 3 we went to the Old-Fashioned Independence Day Festival. We had a lot of fun. We decided to watch the fireworks from home instead of the festival. We had a pretty decent view out of our extra bedroom window. Alex really enjoyed watching the fireworks, but I think he might not have enjoyed them quite as much if he would have heard the boom. We decided to watch them from home so things would be more quiet and less hectic.
Alex modeling his beads.
We had lunch with Kevin at a Greek restaurant on the Fourth of July. We were actually late due to some confusion at Babies R Us. We bought Alex a car seat and when they went to get it out of storage for us, they couldn't find it. It took them 40 minutes to decide that their inventory system had not been properly updated and they did not have the car seat that we had paid for. Apparently the stores have two inventory systems. One system said that they had 1 car seat in stock and the other system said that they had -1 in stock. So, they ended up ordering one for us. I would not have minded the situation that much (we saved $80 on the car seat) except it made us late for our lunch date. Everything worked out ok and Kevin was pretty understanding.
During the evening of the fourth we had Mike over for dinner. We grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. We also had pasta salad, chips, and apple pie with ice cream for dessert. Alex went to bed and as we sat outside eating dinner we watched fireworks from our back yard.
Monday I went over to J's house for some socializing. There were quite a few people there and we snacked on yummy low calorie desserts. I made yummy chocolate mint cookies. I forgot to take a picture, but I will post the recipe in a different post.
Recent we have watched a few movies. We watched the entire first season of True Blood. It is about vampires that have come out in society and they are now seeking equal rights thanks to the invention of True Blood. It is a blood substitute that fulfills all nutritional requirements and stops the need for vampires to feed on humans. The main character is Sookie Stackhouse. She can hear people's thoughts and really has an interest in vampires. Her brother, Jason, just seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Bill, a vampire, becomes Sookie's love interest. The series is based on books by Charlaine Harris.
We also watched Babylon AD. It was a much better movie than I had expected. Vin Diesel takes a job to smuggle a girl to the United States. We are currently watching Insomnia. It is doing a great job of keeping my interest (I always do two things at once). Al Pacino is sent to Alaska to investigate the murder of a girl. He kills his partner while attempting to apprehend the suspect. He does not admit to what he has done. While dealing with his guilt he is still trying to catch a murderer.
Alex turned 8 months old on Sunday. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking a picture until Monday. So, here is the 8 month, 1 day picture.
Alex 8 months, 1 day old (next to a 12 month outfit)
Check out my other monthly posts here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Role Models actually turned out to be an ok movie during the second half. We have also recently watched Paul Blart: Mall Cop and The Pink Panther 2. Paul Blart had its funny moments and The Pink Panther wasn't that bad either.
Saturday we did make it to the mall and I did find a swimsuit. I also found Alex a really cute onesie.
We had a dinner guest on Saturday and after dinner we played some Wii and Trivial Pursuit. Sunday we relaxed and watched a couple of movies. I did manage to clean out the office and the closet, but I still need to clean off my desk.
Sometime today I need to book a hotel for a conference that I need to attend. Gabe left me in charge of the hotel accommodations. Well, not really (he told me which hotel to book). The task of booking hotels has been taken away from since the Paris hotel incident of 2005.
As a side note, I did cook the cake batter for the ice cream cone cupcakes in the cones. Here is the link to the instructions. I just sat the cones up in a pan and cooked them that way.
Picture of Alex sitting. I have been playing around with some photo editing software.
Alex
Clara & Elsa
I am not sure what we are doing this week. We will most likely watch some fireworks this weekend.
Well, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an interesting movie, but not one that I would want to watch again. I think I should have just quit watching after the first half of the movie. Aging in reverse is just weird. I never read the F. Scott Fitzgerald book, maybe that would have made a difference.
We went to a party on Saturday the 13th. It was actually pool party, but we didn't swim. Alex has taken to hating his baths again. So we were pretty sure he would scream the entire time just like he does during a bath.
Alex & Gabe
Sunday the 14th was a very busy day. After church at the lake, we had brunch and then headed back home. We decided to try out Alex's little pool in our back yard. He loved it! He absolutely loved splashing around in it. Maybe we should have let him splash at the pool in the party.
Splashing in the pool.
Alex very happy after splashing in the pool.
Stephanie & Alex
Next we decided to head out to the zoo. On the way back we stopped by Border's for a free Seattle's Best beverage (courtesy of our rewards card).
Stephanie, Alex, & Giraffe
Cute African Spotted-Necked Otter
The capybara is the world's largest rodent, related to guinea pigs.
Once we were back home again we had dinner and decided to go to our neighborhood pool around 7:30 p.m. Even though it was 90 out it was too cold for Alex. When there is no humidity it feels like air conditioning for any part of your body that is out of the water. I stayed in for a little while, while Alex and Gabe sat on the edge.
I started watching the new season of The Next Food Network Star. I must say I don't miss Jenn and I was happy to see Brett go. It was a tossup between Eddie and Teddy, but I do hope that Teddy goes home next week. I just wouldn't watch a show with him as the star. Gabe thinks that Debbie is going to win, but as of right now I guess I am voting for Jeffrey. No one has really gained my "vote" yet.
Wednesday the 17th Dawn D. and I went for a walk in the morning (Gabe and I usually go in the evenings). She left for Illinois on Monday for three weeks. She was nice enough to drop off an exersaucer for Alex before she left.
Friday the 19th I scrapbooked with Cheri (originally we had plans to do it on Thursday) until around 3:00 p.m. and then we had Victor over for dinner. I cooked Greek food. I really loved the feta and cream cheese dip that I made. I will have to post the recipe the next time I make it (that way I can post a picture).
Saturday the 20th we went out to eat at Macaroni Grill for Father's Day. We were going to eat out on Sunday, but we switched it Saturday and went to a BBQ at one of our neighbor's. Wednesday we had some people over for dinner.
"Ice Cream" Cupcakes that I took to the BBQ. They were ice cream cones filled with chocolate cake, frosted, and then topped with sprinkles.
Gabe & Alex on Father's Day.
We watched Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. I actually preferred the first Underworld movie. Rise of the Lycans is a prequel and takes a five minute portion of the movie and expands it into a full length movie. Slumdog Millionaire was ok. It wasn't my favorite movie. We are currently watching Role Models. I think we should have watched Confessions of a Shopaholic instead.
After dinner we went on our nightly walk. We were going to head out to Old Navy to check out he $5.00 swimsuit and shorts sale, but we both decided to relax instead. We are going to go tomorrow instead. We also having Mike D. over for dinner tomorrow. I have plans to clean out and organize my office this weekend. We will see how it goes.
Just like the first Father's Day Gift that I posted, I think that this one will become a tradition too. I plan on making one of these each year. The original idea came from Brassy Apple. You could certainly take three 4x6 pictures and print them out. I was going to do this with the same frame that I used to make the first gift, but I decided to do something a little different. I used the collage print function (5x7) at Wal-Greens and bought a 5x7 frame. The collage print allowed me to easily add a title to the print. The lady at the photo counter commented on how cute the picture was. Oh, instead of buying the letters I just cut out some white corrugated cardboard that I had around. I was just going to cut the letters out of paper, but Alex loves to crinkle paper up. The entire project cost less than $3.00!
Please ignore the terrible photography. In case you are wondering, in the first picture he is biting on the "D". In the second picture he is holding the "A" and smiling. Finally, in the third picture, he is looking through the "D". I ended up taking around 30 pictures to end up with the three that I ultimately used.
This is one of Gabe's Father's Day gifts. It is pretty easy to make. Just buy a picture frame that holds three pictures. I traced Alex's hands on some scrapbook paper and placed them in the frame along with a fun picture of Gabe and Alex. If Gabe has a favorite picture that he would rather have in the frame, it can easily be replaced. I thought I would post this early in case anyone else would like to make one. Now if I can just keep Gabe away from my blog until next Sunday. Please ignore my photography skills.
Yes, these are professional pictures. Yes, it is completely legal for me to post them on my blog. Yes, it did take me a while to post them (he is now 7 months old). Here are a few of our favorites.
The three of us (they just don't look as good once I reduce the image size to post the pictures on my blog). I am actually looking straight ahead even though in the reduced image quality version that I posted it looks like I am looking off to the side.
Alex sitting up.
Alex ready to crawl.
Closeup
You can check out his three month pictures here. I actually think the photographer that took his three month pictures did a better job than the one that took the six month pics. The six month pictures were mainly Alex by himself. Gabe was just getting over strep throat and even though he should not have been contagious, we didn't want to take any chances.
Whew! I just finished posting all of the entries from Alaska. There were quite a few. I published so many that they are not all visible from my sidebar. So, if you would like to read about all of our adventures in Alaska (you know you want to), just click on "May 2009" under "Archives" on the right sidebar. You will be able to access all of the Alaska entries from there. You should be able to see the new posts from June, but in case you can't you can always click on "June 2009" under "Archives".
This is going to be a random post. Gabe, Alex, and I all went to the drive-in to see Angels and Demons. I like the book better. The drive-in is definitely somewhere we will be going again. It is only $5 a person, you can take your own food, and it is a great way to watch a movie with Alex.
When I came back from our vacation I had two wonderful swap packages waiting on me. They will each get their own entry (hopefully tonight, but maybe tomorrow).
I have all of the pictures for the "house tour", but since I have already posted so many things today, I might wait and put it together tomorrow.
I will be posting Alex's 6 month pictures soon (probably tomorrow).
While on vacation I read James Patterson's next installment in the Women's Murder Club: 8th Confession. It was a really good book about a killer that goes after the wealthy. Currently I am reading Why Do Men Have Nipples? Both Alex and I joined the summer reading program at the local library. Maybe the extra encouragement will help me with the Spring Reading Thing Challenge as well.
My Google Reader had 1000+ entries in it when we returned from vacation. It is going to be a while before I am caught up. Which reminds me, Nicole, does our beach house have WiFi?
I have been reading where quite a few people are participating in No Spending Challenges. I am going to do my own and feel free to join me. For the next two months we are going to give ourselves a monthly budget: $160 for food, $40 for entertainment, and $200 for Alex's food (formula is expensive). We will still pay for gas and bills, but we are going to attempt to curb excess spending. I will let you know how it goes.
We left for the airport really early. It is a good thing that we did. There was a problem with the computers at the airport and we were at the ticket counter for over an hour.
We were in Seattle, so here I am at a Starbucks with my Light Carmel Fappuccino.
Gabe's parents picked us up at the airport and we went out for dinner at Solaris. Now to start the unpacking. Luckily, Gabe has tomorrow off from work.
We got up this morning and had breakfast on the cruise ship. Once we disembarked (Alex saved us around 1.5 hours of standing in line) we headed to our hotel (Fairmont Waterfront) in Vancouver. Our room was not ready (we were given the option to upgrade and get into a room immediately...we declined), so we decided to go to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. Then we realized that we only had two bottles and they were both dirty. Gabe walked outside to see if he could find the Taxi driver (the bottles were left in the taxi). Unfortunately he could not be found. The bottles were in a pocket on the stroller. Gabe told the driver to put the stroller in the front seat, but he insisted on putting it in the trunk. So, the bottles must have fallen out in his trunk. Well, it was time for Alex to eat and I needed to clean him some bottles. I asked if there was somewhere that I could clean bottles and explained to them that the ones that were left on the taxi were the only clean bottles that I had. They were very nice and put us in a room right away (the upgrade that we declined to pay for earlier). So, we ended up with another hotel upgrade for free. I washed Alex's bottles and we headed off to the bridge.
We explored the bridge and the surrounding park. It was a lot of fun.
Totem Poles at the park.
Gabe & Alex on the Capilano Suspension Bridge. You can't tell from a still picture, but the bridge sways quite a bit.
We returned back to Vancouver and went on a city tour. We would have liked to went to the art museum (there was a special exhibit on Rembrandt) and the Chinese Garden, but we just didn't have the time.
Steam Clock
We had dinner at Steamworks. At a little shop, I had a very yummy gelato, Strawberry, Mint, and Basil. It sounds gross, but it was really good. After walking around the town for a little while we headed back up to our room. We have to get up around 5:30 a.m. to catch our 8:45 a.m. flight.
Gabe & Alex at Steamworks
Our hotel's herb garden. They use the herbs in the hotel restaurant.
Today was a day at sea. This was the final art auction. I won a $500 bid credit but I did not buy anything during the auction. Instead we went to dinner and after eating we went to look at the art again to choose something to purchase. I always like having a day at sea to unwind before returning back to the home port. Tomorrow morning we will be back in Vancouver.
Alex really wanted his dad's water glass.
Today we were in Ketchikan. Before getting off of the boat, we went on a tour of the galley and played some trivia (and we won!). As the person in charge of the trivia said, we won a fantastic plastic prize. We ended up with some lip balm, a luggage tag, and a pen. It would not be a day on the cruise ship without attending an art auction. We won a free piece of art in a raffle. Even though I have already spent my art budget, I still like going to the auctions.
Galley Tour
This is not the best picture of me, but I love the expression on Alex's face.
In Ketchikan, the salmon capital of the world, we went to The Great Alaskan Lumberjack Show. At one point they used very loud chainsaws, so they brought Alex a pair of ear muffs to protects his ears. He is not fond of loud noises, so every time the crowd clapped, he screamed. After the show we walked around Ketchikan.
Alex and his hearing protection during the lumberjack show.
Ketchikan
Today we spent the day in Juneau. We went up Mt. Roberts and hiked around. We also walked to the state capital and the Governor's house.
This eagle lives on Mt. Roberts. She was shot through the wing by a hunter and fell to the ground. The impact caused a retinal detachment in her left eye.
Hard Rock Miner statue.
Alaska State Capitol
Governor's/Governess's Mansion
Tlinget story of creation painted on City Hall.
Afterward, we took a bus to Mendenhall Glacier.
Path from parking lot. You don't have to ask me twice to yield the right of way to a bear!
Mendenhall Glacier.
Pretty scenery.
We came back to town and walked around some more. This time instead of venturing out into Juneau, we stayed near the cruise ship area. I miscalculated the number of diapers that we would need for the trip and we were running out. I brought 200. We would be gone for 10 days (really 9 if you consider that the first and last day of our trip we would only be away from home for about half of the day). Alex goes through 20 to 30 diapers a day. I budgeted 20 per day...big mistake! I am not sure what I was thinking. So, we purchased 56 diapers in Juneau for $30!!!! I pay $2.00 for a 40 pack here (I watch the sales, use coupons, and stock up when the price is right). So, instead of paying my normal 5 cents per diaper, we had to pay almost 50 cents! I was not happy with myself.
We were back on the cruise ship in time to get ready for dinner. Tonight was another formal ninght. Gabe had lobster and I had a very yummy beef wellington. We both had Baked Alaska for dessert. Tomorrow we will be visiting Ketchikan.
On a side note, tonight after dinner a lady thought that Gabe had a Scottish accent. I am not sure where that one came from.
Today we saw Hubbard Glacier. All of the icebergs were pretty neat too. I have a lot of pictures of ice. I guess the good thing about a digital camera is I don't have to print them. The cruise ship navigated through some pretty icy waters so we could get as close as possible to the glacier.
Stephanie on the way to Hubbard Glacier.
Hubbard Glacier. The picture does not give an accurate idea of the size. If I remember correctly we were still at least two miles away (I think it was four miles).
Ice our cruise ship went through to get us even closer to the glacier. I am glad we didn't relive Titanic at this point. There were some pretty big icebergs in the water.
One of my many iceberg pictures.
I forgot to take into account the hour time change and I was ready for my spa appointment at 6:50 a.m. As I was leaving, Gabe reminded me of the time difference. So, I got back into bed for an hour. The massage was relaxing and I really liked the hot stones. After my massage, we went to breakfast and managed to get some decent pictures of the Alaskan scenery.
I love Alaska!
Gabe & Alex on our balcony at Sitka.
We arrived in Sitka and walked around the town. Totem Square was neat. St. Michael's Cathedral had some interesting art work. One of my favorite places in Sitka was Castle Hill. It was the location where Russia turned control of Alaska over to the United States.
Stephanie & Alex with totem pole in Sitka.
Prospector statue
Castle Hill
Sitka scenery
After dinner, we purchased another piece of art.
I went to a port talk and then we had a late breakfast at the buffet. I had some bacon...yummy! I don't normally eat bacon, but when we are on vacation I do. I think I will be having fruit and yogurt the rest of my trip (I want my jeans to fit). Because we ate so late (around 10:30 p.m.) we skipped lunch.
Around 11:00 a.m. we went to the Captain's Celebration for individuals celebrating anniversaries or honeymoons.
Captain's Celebration
We went to the art auction and purchased some art. Art auctions are one of my favorite things about a cruise ship.
Ready for dinner.
Tonight was formal night, so we dressed up and went to dinner. Afterward, I went to the gym and when I returned, Alex was sleeping. I have an appointment at the spa tomorrow for a hot stone full body massage at 8:00 a.m. (Thanks to Gabe for booking the appointment!)
Today we were up and ready to leave our hotel (River Rock Resort) by 11:00 a.m.. After check out, we took a taxi to the superstore (A.K.A. Safeway) to buy some bottled water for Alex's bottles. There was a slight issue when we went to pay for our purchase with our bank/credit card. It can be used as either a debit or a credit card. They were really confused that it had both VISA and debit printed on it. The cashier talked to the manager and came back and told us that they would not take the card. Basically, they decided it was not a debit card because VISA was printed on it and it was not a VISA because the word debit was printed on it. So, we just used our American Express.
The taxi took us to the pier. Getting on the cruise ship was made a lot easier because of Alex. We were given priority treatment and we did not have to wait in any lines. Once we boarded the ship we had lunch at the pizza/pasta buffet.
Gabe & Alex relaxing on our balcony.
The emergency drill wasn't too bad with Alex. Gabe carried him so they let both of them finish the drill without a bulky life vest (I had to carry both of theirs while wearing mine).
Stephanie & Alex hanging out on the cruise ship.
Dinner was nice and we had our own table. All of the workers seem to love Alex and they all volunteer to watch him. We watched a little bit of the show tonight (it was a preview of all of the acts for the week). Now we are back in our room. Tomorrow is a day at sea. We might swing by the art auction.
Saturday wasn't too bad. We left for Canada around 3:00 p.m. Flying first class was awesome with Alex. The additional space was great! The flight did not have a full meal, but it did have a snack of bacon wrapped beef tenderloin and a salad. I discovered that I really like Jones' Cream Soda.
Alex & Gabe sleeping on the plane.
Alex was pretty good with flying. We arrived at our hotel around 1:00 a.m. We were upgraded to the two bedroom/three bathroom penthouse. There was also a living room, dining room, and kitchen area. The balcony overlooked a bird sanctuary. If we had more time in the room, we could have enjoyed the fireplace.
Amy came over to watch the American Idol singing competition between Adam and Kris on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun. She had to work late on Wednesday, so she was unable to make it for the final episode of the season. I must say, though I like Kris, I still think that Adam should have won. I also wanted Gilles to win Dancing with the Stars. I guess Shawn was pretty good too.
Gabe's parents arrived on Wednesday. They are taking a vacation of their own while staying in our house while we are gone on vacation. It should work well for everyone.
Alex helping me pack. He had his own suitcase, half of mine, and part of Gabe's. All of this was in addition to a large diaper bag and half of the carry on.
Picture of a snake that was in the desert behind our house.
I managed to get my hair cut on Friday. Gabe had his hair cut as well. His didn't take quite as long as mine. We drove to Tucson and they dropped me off for my hair cut. While I was there, they went to Sam's, World Market, and Gabe managed to get his hair cut. They came back to pick me up and they were just starting to wash my hair (the girl was really running behind). It usually takes about an hour, but this time I think it took over two. We were all starving and went to Jason's Deli for dinner. Every time that Gabe and I go, I always say I am going to get the salad bar, but I never do. This time I did and it was yummy. Off to Canada tomorrow.
I am almost caught up! Yesterday Gabe and I caught up on some TV shows. We watched Ugly Betty and Scrubs. We also watched Mr. Rice's Secret and during the day I watched the Darjeeling Limited. I wouldn't really recommend either of the movies. Mr. Rice's Secret is about a man that passes away at the age of 395. He gives the secret to a young boy that is terminally ill. This is actually a children's movie, but it is pretty serious. The Darjeeling Limited is about an adventure through India for three men. Their father recently passed away and their mother abandoned them. It was listed as a comedy, but I didn't find it that funny.
Today we purchased some rocks to fill in areas of our front yard. Some areas were pretty sparse and down to the dirt. Gabe and I worked on it for a little while, but then Alex needed attention, so Gabe was left to do it alone. It looks much better.
We are getting ready to head out. I am not entirely sure what we are doing. I would like to post pictures of our house and yard sometime this weekend. Hopefully it will happen.
Aaron flew home on Sunday. We decided to have brunch at a buffet, but the line was way to long considering that one of our party needed to catch a flight. So, instead we ate at a McDonald's on the way to the airport. We all hoped that they were still serving breakfast, but we missed it by about 20 minutes or so. After dropping Aaron off we went to a few stores in Tucson and headed home. I worked on some more Christmas presents and finished a few.
Monday Alex had an appointment for his shots. He did really well this time. He cried a little when they gave them to him and once Gabe picked him up he started smiling at everyone again.
Wednesday Josh and Amy came over for dinner. Gabe grilled and after dinner we played some Wii. It was a lot of fun.
Wednesday my phone decided to give me a message from last Thursday saying that our picture was in from Alex's 6 month portraits. So, we headed up to pick it up and stopped off at Olive Garden for dinner. We also stopped at a couple of other stores. We don't head up that way very often, so we did everything that we needed to while we were up in that area. I also ordered the CD with the copyright for the pictures from the 6 month session. I should have the CD in a few weeks and be able to start printing pictures (and post them on my blog). I need to get my hair cut before we leave for our vacation. Hopefully I can find the time to get that done.
Last Saturday morning Gabe took Aaron to his workplace to look around. It is a really cool facility. Alex and I stayed home for a couple of reasons. The primary reason is that Alex cannot go because he is too young. It isn't a big deal though, I have already been back in November.
When they returned we went to the copper mine. We watched a video and went through the museum. We didn't take him on the tour though. We were on a tight schedule to get a lot of things in that day.
Next, we went to a Spanish mission, San Xavier del Bac. We walked around the area, but unfortunately we were unable to go into the church. There was a wedding going on while we were there. Gabe and I have been inside the church before and as expected, it looks like it was transported over from Spain.
Mission from the outside.
After the mission, we headed out to the Colossal Cave. This was the first time that Gabe and I had been as well. We went on the cave tour and headed back home to get ready for a party.
Colossal Cave Entrance
Here we are inside of the Colossal Cave.
Alex about half way through the cave tour.
We all went over to Kevin's house for his party. We decided to walk since he doesn't live too far away. The only problem was neither Gabe nor I printed out the address. We finally figured out where he lived and had a good time.
Alex, ready to go to the party!
Aside from eating and talking to everyone, I joined in on a game of Texas Hold 'em. We were going to leave in time to watch the movie Bolt, but that just didn't happen. Our community has free showings of movies outside. You bring a blanket or lawn chair and they supply the movie and popcorn. We basically tried to do the most things we could during the time that Aaron was out here.
Last Friday Aaron, Alex, and I all went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. We walked around half of the zoo, but the temperature kept rising and we left. It was just too hot for Alex...even if it was a dry heat. The animals were all in hiding/sleeping.
Gray Fox
It has consistently been reaching around 105. The high is always listed as 99, but it gets about 104/105. It isn't too bad if you are in the shade, but Alex overheats easily, so we don't do a lot when it is really warm. The only problem is the temperature rises until around 5:00 p.m. So we do a lot in the evenings. Back to Friday.
We relaxed for a while and Gabe came back home. We drove up Mt. Lemmon and had a great time. It was nice outside and the sun was setting, so it wasn't beating down on us.
Hanging out on a rock at Mt. Lemmon. The pictures just don't do Mt. Lemmon justice. It was a lot of fun walking around.
We had plans to eat at the restaurant on the top of the mountain but this is the off season and they are only for breakfast from 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Moon rising over mountain.
We didn't make it. Instead, we drove back down the mountain and ate the Arizona Pizza Company. The pizza was pretty good.
Alex and I did make it to the airport to pick up Aaron. We came back home and relaxed while we waited on Gabe to get home. He was actually late, but it was planned. He had a meeting at the local school (he is on a curriculum committee). We grilled for dinner and then walked around the neighborhood (even though it was still in the upper 90's after the sun went down). Thursday was pretty relaxing.
Alex & Aaron
Hanging out in front of a Saguaro.
*I am going to have a lot of short little entries until I manage to get caught up.*
On Thursday, our friend Aaron flew in to see us. Before Alex and I headed out the airport, I started working on some decorated onesies for Alex. I have been meaning to snaz up his plain white onesies for a while, and what better inspiration than the need to pick someone up at the airport. You can check out the tie onesie here. I have also included a couple of t-shirts that I sent to Maddex for his first birthday. These are really easy to make. Basically, you just follow the directions on the heat and bond package. You can either purchase the type that you sew or the no sew variety. The first tie that I made for Alex required sewing. The rest of the onesies/shirts were made with the no sew variety. To find patterns I used coloring books or animals off of already existing clothes. The internet is a great resource too. For letters or numbers, find a font and size you like and print it out.
Whale Onesie
Train Onesie
French Bulldog Onesie
I added the bone to the back of the French Bulldog Onesie.
Dog chasing ball Onesie (front).
Dog chasing ball Onesie (back).
Alex modeling the State of Illinois Onesie.
Maddex's 1 t-shirt
Maddex's tie t-shirt
1. Pre-wash fabric and clothing item.
2. Iron fabric and clothing item.
3. Press a section of heat and bond onto the wrong side of the fabric for a couple of seconds.
4. Trace your pattern onto the heat and bond paper. Remember that you will need to flip your pattern horizontally. If you don't, then your letter or number will come out in a mirror image to the desired outcome.
5. Cut out your pattern and remove the backing.
6. Press the pattern onto your fabric (for about 10 seconds) and allow to cool.
I use an iron set on cotton with no water.
If the applique starts to come off after washing, press with a hot iron to reapply.
I wash the clothes in cold water on the delicate cycle and I hang to dry.
Sunday Gabe, Alex, and I headed up to Ikea. My parents want a piece of furniture from there so we went to buy it and we will be shipping it to them. It is less than a hundred dollars for shipping if we ship it, but it is around three hundred dollars if Ikea ships it for us. I had some returns to do anyway. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel. They were having a 70% off sale on some of the items in their shop, but I didn't buy anything.
I am a little surprised that Lil' Kim went home on Dancing with the Stars tonight. I was thinking that Ty would be going home. I like Ty (even though I don't think that he has a chance at winning) so I am glad that he is still around for another round.
I am not sure who is going to be sent home on American Idol. I am thinking it might be Kris. Slash still looks the same that he did 25 years ago. I think it might be the long in your face hair and the sunglasses. Now I want to play Guitar Hero. Too bad I am getting ready to go to bed.
I went to the grocery store today while Gabe was at work. We usually go together, but since he has been sick I am trying to get things done during the day so we can just stay home at night. Well, I had to change a diaper while we were shopping. I went to the family restroom and while I was in there someone knocked on the door. I said "just a minute." I guess they took the minute to be literal, because they knocked on the door again about a minute later. If they had a child, there is a changing station in the women's and men's restrooms, so they could have used it instead of knocking on the door repeatedly. How annoying! Another thing that bothers me is usually when I am waiting on a family restroom because the other restrooms don't have changing stations it will be a single adult that was occupying the facilities. I never used a family restroom before having a baby. Okay, I feel better now. It also helped that I left a very stinky diaper in the restroom. The impatient person that kept knocking had a nice surprise waiting on them.
Oh, I mailed out a few packages on Monday. These included a swap package, a birthday package, and a few others. I will post the contents of the birthday and swap package on here soon.
Gabe went to the doctor on Friday and found out that he has strep throat. Luckily, he has been taking his antibiotics and according to the doctor he is no longer contagious (starting today). So, Alex is happy that his dad can hold/feed/play with him again.
Yesterday we watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy (season 4). We are actually watching it right now too. Today we went to have Alex's pictures made. We skipped the pictures where we kiss him or put him too close to our faces. Even though Gabe is no longer contagious, there is no need to take a chance by sticking him up in Gabe's face right now.
We also went to Babies R Us and purchased a high chair.
Alex in his new high chair.
Recently, Gabe and I have watched several movies. Two of the movies were based off of books that we both read. The Last Templar book was very disappointing. I seem to remember Gabe mentioning that the book would make a good movie. He was right. The movie was pretty good and was better than the book. This is a pretty rare thing, but the movie was just better. The other movie was Marley and Me. The movie was good and funny. I was laughing out loud through some parts. I would have laughed more and even louder if I had not been holding a sleeping Alex. He always wakes up when I laugh. This movie followed the ordinary trend and I preferred the book, even though the movie was good.
I made the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta tonight and it was very good. We sat outside and ate our dinner. I should have taken a picture of both the food and of us eating outside, but I didn't. I could take a picture of the leftovers, but they just don't look as appetizing when they are crammed in a food storage container.
I have been working on getting all of my swap items together. The first one will be going out on Monday. The second one will be going out near the end of May. Hopefully everyone will like the things that I picked out. I will post pictures later (after they receive their packages).
Well, Gabe is still sick. I have been the sole care provider for Alex for four day now. Since he is sick and running a fever Gabe doesn't hold or touch Alex. Alex will stare at him and smile. Then he gives Gabe a look like, remember me dad? I think he misses Gabe putting him to bed at night. Every night I put him in his crib he wakes up 3-4 times screaming. So, I am not getting a whole lot of sleep. Gabe is going to the doctor today.
Random picture of Alex sleeping, so there is more than just a picture of a box meal (keep reading and you will understand).
There was a major scare on American Idol last night. Adam was in the bottom two. Luckily Matt was sent home. I think I might actually vote next week. I always assumed the final would be between Danny and Adam, but now I am not so sure. It seems like Allison and Danny might be a strong possibility. I still like Kris too. Decisions, decisions.
Gabe and I watched Yes Man last night. It is a movie, staring Jim Carrey, about a man that always says no to everything because he is afraid to embrace life. He then takes a self-help seminar and starts to say yes to everything. The movie had both Gabe and I laughing out loud. I would have laughed a little more, but I was holding Alex and he was sleeping.
I never really followed up on the NCAA basketball bracket from Gabe's work. I won!
A friend from Illinois is coming to visit me next week for a long weekend. It should be a lot of fun.
Last night when we checked the mail I had a package. It contained a lot of awesome things from Macaroni Grill. I signed up for a blog giveaway on Hip2Save and I won! It had a colander, serving spoon, Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken & Pasta, cheese grater, and three coupons for three free Macaroni Grill Entrees. I am looking forward to trying the chicken meal. Maybe we can give it a try tonight.
My surprise package! Thanks to Hip2Save.
We are scheduled to have Alex's 6 month pictures made on Saturday. I hope that Gabe is feeling better. Otherwise, we might not be in any of the pictures and they might be Alex only.
Today is Alex's 6 Month Birthday! Maybe I should have made a cake or something. Hmm...I guess the day isn't over yet. Anyway, here is his 6 month picture next to a 12 month outfit.
Alex 6 months next to 12 month outfit.
Alex is pretty long, but it is next to impossible to get him to straighten out while taking a picture, so yes, that is my hand attempting to straighten out one leg.
The way things are going, the 12 month outfit may be too short at 12 months. Maybe he will give it a try for the 9 month picture.
I am looking forward to the Dancing with the Stars results show and American Idol tonight. I really hope that Melissa has enough fans to keep her on the show. I think that Ty or Chuck might be going home.
On a happy note, I spoke with a very good friend that I haven't spoken with in a while...a good day. Okay, maybe not the best day, Gabe is sick. So, tonight we are relaxing and watching movies and TV shows.
Saturday Gabe, Alex, and I had dinner at a sushi restaurant with some other people. It was a lot of fun and the sushi was really good. Thinking about it now makes me want some more.
Alex hanging out on the floor while I was working on my swap packages.
We watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua and I was a little disappointed. I really expected a lot from the movie and I think that is the reason for the disappointment. Oh well, it was a free movie.
Sunday we relaxed. Today I received a package in the mail. Brandi painted a dish for Alex and I love it! Alex does too...you can tell from the picture :)
Alex and his Alex plate.
We have watched The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice and The Librarian: The Return to Kind Solomon's Mines. We have watched the series in reverse order and now we just have the first movie left to watch, The Librarian: Quest for the Spear. The series is a comical Indiana Jones. It is great to watch if you are looking for something that is relaxing, entertaining, and doesn't require a lot of though.
I watched The Promotion. It is about a guy, played by Seann William Scott, that is essentially guaranteed a promotion in his Chicago-based grocery store chain until a new guy shows up, played by John C. Reilly. It had its funny moments. If you don't have anything else to watch, it is worth a rent.
Gabe and I are currently watching Speed Racer. It is based off of the comic book and it was Gabe's choice. Maybe if you really liked the comic book series you would be a little more into the movie. It isn't bad, just not my choice of movie.
We picked up my car on Wednesday evening. Friday, Alex and I ran most of the errands that I wanted to do on Wednesday. This included picking up the rest of the stuff that we needed for the party on Saturday. We had a good time at the party and the weather was nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the outdoor ceiling fans that Gabe installed. Today we did a little shopping. We bought a few supplies at Sam's and I hit up the paper sale at JoAnn. I really want a Cricut, but I can't justify the cost (even though one version is $110 off right now at Michaels). I have been checking ebay and Amazon. I still can't decide.
On Saturday (April 4) I decided we were cleaning out the garage. We got a head start by working on it a few hours on Friday night. We finished it Saturday! We had a ton of recyclables, some trash, and a truck full of items that we donated to the local thrift store. Gabe had to wait until trash/recycle day to be able to park his truck in the garage, but it is there now!
My parents flew in on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we went to the mall and did some shopping while Gabe was at work.
Friday morning Gabe and my Dad dropped Elsa and Clara off to get their teeth cleaned and we all headed to Tombstone. We walked around the downtown area and had dinner at a local restaurant.
Tombstone Sign
Tombstone Carriage Ride Tour
Bird Cage Theatre
We were stopped by the border police on the way back. I think that was my parents first border check. We came back and picked up the dogs. They have a follow up appointment in a couple of weeks. When we came back from Tombstone our yard was mostly finished. There are a few finishing touches here and there that should be completed this week. So, I am going to hold off on posting pictures of our yard until it is completely done.
We went out to dinner at Solaris on Friday night.
"Air Alex". He likes to stick his tongue out when he "flies" through the air.
Gabe & Alex at Solaris
Stephanie & Alex at Solaris
Saturday night was a lot of fun. We played Wii and had prime rib. Yummy! They left bright and early on Sunday morning.
We worked on organizing things in our house Sunday. Gabe managed to hang one of our two outdoor ceiling fans and we rearranged our patio furniture. We had some leftover prime rib, so we had it for Easter dinner. If things weren't so busy, we might have invited some of the other people from Illinois that are living in Arizona over for Easter dinner. Maybe next year.
We didn't take Alex to have his picture made with the Easter Bunny this year. So, I snapped a picture of Alex with one of our decorations.
Alex and bunny.
Yesterday we dropped my car off at the dealer. I need a new fan belt. I received a phone call this morning and they informed me that they don't have the part they need. So, I will be without a car until Wednesday evening. I was going to the post office, grocery store, drug store, and Wal-Mart today, but it is a little difficult without a car. I guess we will be running a few errands once Gabe gets home from work. At some point I will post some pictures of our house. Most likely it will be sometime next week. We are getting ready for our party this Saturday (the one we previously canceled due to illness).
I have recently started using Google Reader and I love it. Instead of having to look at all of the blogs I read, I can quickly go to the blogs that have new posts. An added plus, I can post to blogs that only allow individuals with blogger accounts to comment.
I hope everyone had a great Easter!
Below are a few pictures of Alex that I took. I didn't want to pay $100 for Easter pictures since he will be having his 6 month pictures taken soon. He had a great time grabbing and playing with the eggs.
Serious Alex
Alex and Easter eggs
Alex
Alex and a few buddies
Alex playing with the Easter basket.
Alex, Elsa, and Clara
The bricks have been delivered for our landscaping. They officially start tomorrow! I have already taken the "before" pictures, but I am going to wait to post them until I can also post the "after" pictures.
Make sure and check out the Robots entry. I added a couple of photos.
We did manage to watch Twilight on Monday, the 23rd. It was pretty good. I think I need to watch it again.
Tuesday Alex became ill. He started throwing up and we put him on Pedialyte. He ended up in the emergency room at 2:00 a.m. Thursday. I couldn't go with Gabe to take him because I was at home throwing up every 30 minutes and running a fever. He was finally released at 9:00 a.m. after they give him anti-nausea medicine since he couldn't even keep Pedialyte down. Gabe started getting sick on Thursday, but luckily he only had the fever portion of the illness. We pretty much stayed inside and watched movies and basketball Thursday, Friday, and early Saturday.
Saturday we went to the Butterfly Garden and Safari Trail in our neighborhood. Safari Trail is a path with statues of about 24 different species of animals. There are probably more than 75 individual animals (multiples of some species). Along with the statue, there is a board that displays information about the corresponding animal. It is really neat and a lot of fun. We wanted to go to the Desert Museum, but we didn't feel like walking around that much. Plus, we were able to stay close to home.
Beginning of Safari Trail. (As you can tell by all of the green grass, this area is landscaped and constantly maintained.)
Desert Bighorn Sheep
Gabe and Alex hanging out with the wildlife on Safari Trail.
We were supposed to have a party on Saturday, but we had to cancel it. We will reschedule, but I don't think all of the bread that we purchased will make it. Maybe we should donate it to a food bank. I started feeling normal again Saturday evening and Gabe was much better.
Today we are hanging out at home again. Gabe is pretty much back to normal and so is Alex. He has been back to full strength formula for about 24 hours and things seem to be going well. We might start working on the garage, though I am not holding my breath.
We decided on a landscaper! This is great news for us. Our backyard is currently just dirt. We had three estimates and the one we selected was the design we liked the most, the least expensive, and he can start the soonest! So, the landscaping starts on Wednesday. It should take a week to a week and a half to complete. Hopefully it will be ready for our rescheduled party.
Alex 5 Months (next to a 12 month outfit).
I have been recording Castle after Dancing with the Stars. We decided to watch the show while we were all three sick on the couch. I really, really like it. It is about an author that helps solve murders. It reminds me a lot of James Patterson. I told Gabe this while we were watching and then James Patterson came up on the screen playing poker with Castle. I will be adding it to our list of shows.
I finished my Yahoo! bracket. I am doing okay. I am a sucker for U of I every year. I am not going to be a sucker for them next year...I say that every year.
I finished reading Breaking Dawn last Tuesday. It was a decent way to end the Twilight Series (I am assuming it is the last book). I won't say anything else just in case someone out there isn't finished with the book yet. The new James Patterson book Run for Your Life is next on my list. It is the second book in the Michael Bennett series.
Gabe went to Phoenix last Thursday for the First Robotics Competition. He has been working with a local high school to help them prepare a robot for the competition. The bus left at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. So, Alex and I drove up separately. We stopped at Ikea on the way up and arrived at the competition around 4:00 p.m. Thursday was a practice day. Around 8:00 p.m. we all went out to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory.
Friday was the first day of competition. Alex and I waited until 1:00 p.m. to go to the competition. Before heading to watch the robots, we went to the Irish Culture Center and went on the guided tour. The competition was a lot of fun to watch. We went out to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and I had Twisted Mac and Cheese...yummy!
Irish Culture Center
Saturday Alex and I headed back in the morning and everyone else went to the competition. We stopped off at Target and bought Twilight. I was hoping to watch it Saturday night, but we never got around to it. Gabe's team made it to the next round of competition that was on Saturday. Unfortunately they didn't win, but they did get a bronze medal. I think they all did a great job!
Alex Picture
Last night around 9:00 p.m. we sat down to watch Twilight. We didn't actually make it through the movie. We both fell asleep and went to bed at 10:30 p.m. I am hoping to watch it tonight. I will make a comment that the actors in the movie do not look like the characters in my mind. The closest is Victoria, but in the movie her hair is not nearly red enough.
It has been a while since I have updated, so here I go.
Below are the pictures of Alex rolling over for the first time.
Starting out during tummy time.
Midway through the roll.
Completed roll.
Apparently he wasn't finished!
I used to be a fan of Anoop, however I did not like his American Idol performance last week. Now I have started to wonder if he can actually sing, or if he can only sing My Prerogative. Anyway, even though I was not a Jasmine or Jorge fan, I still believe that based on the performance, Anoop should have been sent home. I guess we will see what happens this week. It should be interesting since the judges have a "get of jail free" card. Right now I think they will only use it to save Danny, Adam, or Lil.
Saturday I went to a Pampered Chef party. I ordered the bread mix. I really want to see if it is as good as Tastefully Simple. I also ordered the Sun-Dried Tomato Herb Oil Dipping Seasoning.
On Sunday Gabe, Alex, and I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Festival in Tucson. The parade was a lot longer and much more interesting than I had anticipated. We will most likely go back again next year. It is an added bonus that it was in the 70's.
Alex sporting his "Kiss Me I'm Irish" shirt. He didn't wear this to the festival. Since everyone seems to like touching him we didn't want to give them an excuse to kiss him.
Waiting for the parade to begin.
Green Man Group
Apparently Star Wars characters enjoy St. Patrick's Day.
Darth Vader even made an appearance...though he wasn't wearing green.
Alex showing off his green beads.
Fire Truck
The festival was also a lot of fun. The type of craft booths reminded me a lot of the festival in my hometown. We had Irish Stew for lunch and it was really good.
We had our St. Patrick's day dinner on Sunday. It was a lot easier to cook the meal while Gabe was home to watch Alex and help me. So, we decided Sunday would be a better day than Tuesday. I pulled out a cookbook that we purchased while we were in Ireland. We had Carrot Soup, Chicken Cobbler, Mashed Roots, and Apple Nut Tart. I will post the recipes to each menu item as I get a chance.
I was really disappointed that Steve-O was not able to dance last night on Dancing With the Stars. As much as he is not one of my favorites, he is pretty entertaining to watch. Gilles is still my favorite guy. I just hope people vote for him. Maybe the judges need a "save" like the American Idol judges. Ty was a thousand times better last night. I actually smiled through his entire performance. As far as the girls go, I liked both Melissa and Shawn's performances.
Alex rolled over from tummy to back yesterday. Gabe wasn't home to see it and I couldn't grab the camcorder fast enough to record the event. I did manage to grab my camera. The shots are a progressive roll.
The vaccinations were ok. He screamed his little head off for a few minutes and I don't think I have ever seen his face so red before. I even brought along his favorite toy, but it didn't seem to help. Two more months until we have to go through it all again.
My favorite male celebrity on Dancing With the Stars is Gilles Marini. I think that he and Cheryl did an outstanding job. I think Ty might be going home (unless Jewel's fan base helps him out) and Steve-O wasn't nearly as terrible as I had expected. I am pulling for Steve Wozniak, though I am not sure that he will be around long...I hope he proves me wrong. I did however have a very difficult time focusing on Steve while dancing. Did anyone else feel that Karina needed a little more covering her butt crack other than a tiny string of sequins, or whatever the tiny piece of material was? Maybe she is hoping the more skin she shows, the more votes they will receive. On a side note, I don't really think that it was such a great idea to pair Chuck Wicks with his girlfriend. I think Cheryl has replaced Julianne as my favorite female professional dancer.
My favorite female dancer (based on dancing ability) is Melissa Rycroft with Shawn Johnson right behind. I really like Holly Madison. She isn't the best dancer, but she is still one of my favorites. I really expected Denise Richards to be the next Brooke Burke...I was wrong. Can I cheer for Maks but not Denise?
I now have two favorites on American Idol. Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert. Though I didn't care for Danny's song choice last night, he still did a great job. There isn't much to say about Adam, other than he rocked the house. Gabe said Adam reminded him of David Cook. I was a huge fan of Anoop, but not after last night's performance (he just might be going home). Kris is kind of growing on me. There is something about Lil that I just don't like. I am not sure what it is, but she can sing.
Now I need to send some pictures to Wal-greens to print and then head out to get our free movie rental. If the library is open, I might swing by there...I have a few books ready for pick-up. I need to get all of this finished before American Idol tonight. Actually, I usually let it start and then start watching (we record it) so we can fast forward through all of the commercials.
I don't really have any cool pictures to post with this entry. This is unfortunate, because I am not a fan of blog entries without pictures. The reason for the lack of pictures is we didn't do a lot this weekend. We managed to knock the "to do" list down from around 120 things to about 60 or so, so that was an accomplishment.
Oh, I did get a new phone. It actually came in the mail today. My contract was up and this one is a pda too. This is a very good thing since my palm pilot has been on the fritz lately and had managed to loose all of my data twice. The last time it reset back to 2004. I gave up on it at that point and started using paper to keep track of things. I *might* give it another chance later on.
Another thing we have been doing a lot of lately is figuring out travel/vacations. We booked our cruise to Alaska on Norwegian Cruise Line. A little extra searching and Gabe found an even better deal on Celebrity. The overall cost is about the same, but the Celebrity cruise was a nicer one (it was 40% off). We haven't cruised on Celebrity before and it was primarily due to the price. So, we booked the Celebrity Alaskan cruise and canceled our Norwegian cruise. This changed our departure port from Seattle to Vancouver. We also managed to find first class tickets to Vancouver using our frequent flier miles. This is a really good thing since the tickets are around $2,300 if we purchased them. Just in case you are wondering, if we had to purchase them we would definitely buy coach!
Dancing with the Stars is back on for the eighth season starting tonight. I wonder how Steve-O managed to snag a shot on the show. Anyway, I am looking forward to the show.
American Idol is really starting now. The final contestants were chosen and this week, in my opinion, the real competition starts. Danny is my favorite. I must say I am glad that Tatiana is not going to be joining the show this week. Her drama was too much to handle.
Alex is going to the doctor today. It is time for the 4 month shots. I hate the appointments when he has to get his vaccinations. I know they are necessary, so I make Gabe come along to those appointments. While I am thinking about it, I am going to grab the baby Tylenol and throw it in the diaper bag...be right back.
Did you miss me while I was gone? That took a little longer than I expected. In addition to the Tylenol I also took out the trash, did some dishes, replaced the car seat cover that I washed, and cut myself a piece of chocolate cake that I made yesterday. I still need to grab the laundry.
Anyway, I just wish that I could explain to Alex what was going to happen at the doctor's office when he receives the vaccinations. I would feel so much better about the entire situation if he could just understand what is going on.
Today we went to the Reid Park Zoo. It was warm and nice today, so we neglected our "To Do" list. Before the zoo we had lunch at the Javelina Cantina and we were able to eat outside.
Javelina Cantina
The zoo was nice. It reminded me of your typical zoo with the typical animals. It looks nothing like the desert.
White rhino cooling off in the mud.
This zebra was running around while we were there.
Elephants
Flamingos
Anteater (I do not recall seeing one of these at a zoo before.)
Alex at home.
Alex 4 months and 1 day old.
We used our coupons for both the free 2-liter of Dr. Pepper and the Kashi Frozen Entree. Fry's was having a buy one get one free sale on Kashi dinners. So, we actually ended up with two free frozen dinners instead of just one.
I watched the movie Vantage Point last week. I definitely recommend it if you have not watched it. It stars Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, and Jack from Lost (Kent Taylor). The movie keeps repeating the same series of events several times. However, each time it is from a different character's point of view. The repeated events go through an assassination attempt on the President of the United States in Spain. Because this movie is no longer in theaters, it is definitely a renter.
We didn't end up cleaning out the garage this weekend (the weather was too nice). Maybe next weekend.
Yes, these are professional pictures. Yes, it is completely legal for me to post them on my blog. Yes, it did take me a while to post them (he is now 4 months old). Here are a few of our favorites.
Gabe, Stephanie, and Alex (hmmm...doesn't look so great when I reduce the image quality to post on the blog.)
Alex lounging around.
Alex in his model pose.
Serious Alex
Alex and his "ALEX" train. His onesie has "Alex" embroidered on it as well as a train, but it is hard to see in the posted pictures.
The day we had Alex's pictures made also happened to be our fifth anniversary.
Gabe's favorite picture of the two of us.
Wow, I have a lot to do to catch up my blog entries!
Thursday Gabe, Alex, and I went to Ruby Tuesday to eat. We had a BOGO coupon, so we both had steak for under $20 tip included. Before this visit I was anti-Ruby. I did not like their menu. I am not sure if the menu changed, or maybe just what I ordered changed, but it was yummy. The salad bar was spectacular and next time I am thinking of just ordering it.
On Friday we went to a hockey game. The University of Arizona Icecats were playing the Arizona State University Sun Devils. As you can tell Alex was really excited.
Alex at the hockey game.
Clara hanging out at home.
Alex "riding" Clara. Gabe thinks it is fun to have Alex ride Clara like a pony. Elsa is in the lower left corner.
The weather here has been beautiful lately. So, we have been taking advantage of the mid-80's by taking Alex on a lot of walks. The high today is actually 88!
As far as American Idol goes, I am really glad that Danny made it to the next round. Go Danny!
Gabe and I watched Hancock the other night. I rented it because I thought Gabe would like it. I was a little hesitant about another Will Smith movie after I Am Legend. It turned out to be a pretty good movie about a lonely superhero with amnesia. However, I didn't like the ending. Hmm...my description makes it sound pretty bad when in actuality it was pretty good.
We also watched Surfer, Dude. I was advised it wasn't the best movie. It wasn't. There really wasn't a plot. Maybe a guy that wants nothing more in his life than to surf, sticks it to the man (a corporate rich guy that happens to be a jerk...just a side note that not all corporate rich guys are jerks). That darn Matthew McConaughey made me watch it. I am a sucker for his movies.
The weather was nice on Thursday, so Laura, Alex, and I headed out to the zoo. It was a lot of fun to walk around outside and see the animals. We explored a part of the zoo that Gabe and I never found. It is a pretty big area and we usually go to the right when we enter. Next time we go, we are going to start with the left. In the evening we caught up on Ugly Betty episodes. We went to Spanky's diner for dinner. It is a pretty fun place that is reminiscent of Greece. I kept waiting for John Travolta and Olivia Newton John to jump out and start singing.
Coyote
We had dinner at the Cow Palace tonight. They have pretty good steaks. Across the street is the Long Horn. My goal is to Gabe to eat there with me at some point. He always wants to go to the Cow Palace.
I am making pretty good progress on my quilt. I have been working on it in the evenings while we watch T.V. I would say I am about 3/4 of the way through with quilting. After that I just need to sew on the binding and then I will be finished. I probably have around 3 or 4 days left at a minimum.
I have been reading while feeding Alex. It takes him 20-30 minutes to eat a bottle, so I have been reading and I am almost finished with Eclipse. Breaking Dawn is next in line.
I finished the pillows for the couch in our bedroom, but I don't have picture to post right now. Laura, Gabe's sister, arrived in Arizona Friday night. It was pretty late when she arrived, so we didn't do anything Friday.
Saturday we got up and headed to Tubac. It is an artsy community that was having their annual craft fair. We walked around the fair and looked at the booths. We didn't purchase anything other than food. We had Gyros and a funnel cake. We headed home for a little while before heading back out again.
Next we headed to the ASARCO copper mine and we went on the copper mine tour. It was really interesting to see how copper is mined. My favorite part was the copper bubbles.
Copper Mine
Alex, Gabe, & tire used on the 240 ton haul trucks. The tire weighs 7,600 pounds.
Copper bubbles
After the copper mine we went to Sushi Cho for sushi. Yummy!
Yum...sushi!
Sunday we went to the San Xavier del Bac Mission. It was really interesting and a great place to take visitors. I think Gabe and I might go back and watch the 25 minute video when we have more time. After the mission, we went to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. We purchased a couple of things. I am starting a rock collection for Alex. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant Gabe and I both like, La Placita. I have discovered that the single taco dinner is more than enough food for me.
San Xavier del Bac Mission
"The White Dove of the Desert"
We rented a few movies on Monday using the Red Box at Wal-Mart. I will give you more details about renting free movies next Monday. We watched Pineapple Express Monday night and it was bad. I did not realize it was a movie about drugs. I don't recommend it.
Tuesday Laura, Alex, and I stayed home and worked on a project. I am currently making a quilt for one of my Grandmas for Christmas. We also watched Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and The Good Student. Umm...the second Sisterhood movie was not as good as the first and The Good Student was not my favorite movie, but it did hold my interest. The Good Student is about a "relationship" with a student and a teacher. The student goes missing and the rest of the movie is spent trying to find her and it is also spent exploring the odd relationships between various members of the community.
American Idol was on last night and of course I watched. I was very disappointed when Tatiana was not sent home. I was pretty sure she was going home when she was switched from her original holding room to another one. As of now, my two favorites are Danny and Jamar. The only problem is I don't know who I would root for if they both make it to the final. I am looking forward to tonight's episode.
Today has been another "at home" day. We watched December Boys. I recorded it on our DVR because I like Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliff was in the movie. His nickname was Maps even though I kept calling him Harry Potter. It is about a group of boys in an orphanage and they were called the December Boys because they were all born in December. The orphanage received a large donation from a benefactor and the boys were sent on a holiday. The December boys were sent first since it was December. So, the movie is about their adventures on holiday at the ocean. I feel pretty neutral about this movie. I didn't hate it, but I didn't like it.
Other than American Idol, I am not sure what we are going to do tonight. I am hoping that the weather warms up so we can go to the zoo during the day soon. The high today was only 66, so we didn't make it.
Last night Alex and I went to the local high school with Gabe. He is helping the students build a robot for a competition. He has been working with them for quite a while now, but this is the first time that Alex and I went. Alex seemed to like looking around at everything. We went to Taco Bell after leaving the school. When we came back I covered two pillows. I might try to make it to the store to buy the two zippers I need to cover the remaining two pillows. Zippers just make it easier to remove the cover to wash it.
Pillow and Chair
A friend (Dawn) came over today for breakfast and stayed until noon. It was a lot of fun. If I was thinking I would have had her over for dinner. Gabe has a work function tonight and he will be eating there.
Alex
I am making an attempt to go back and categorize all of my blog entries. It is not going as quickly as I had hoped.
I also need to update the list of blogs that I read. Some of the websites are no longer functional. I also read quite a few more blogs than I have posted. So, an update is going to happen in the very near future.
Oh how I love you!
Yesterday was very exciting. We went to Target TWICE! We bought a can of baby formula and it was dented and formula was coming out of the top. So, I returned it for another can. While Gabe was checking out he noticed the new can of formula was also dented. What are the people at Target doing with all of the baby formula? Are they playing football with it? So, I went back for another can and the first can I grabbed was dented. I finally found a good can and that is the one that we purchased. I also had to return a Space Bag. It had a 6" rip in. As you can imagine a bag that keeps air out does not work well if their is a large rip in in it. We also had some pictures made. So, look for those to be posted soon. We always buy the copyright to the pictures, so it is completely legal for me to post them.
Yesterday was also our 5th anniversary and it was a really relaxing day (minus the Target fiasco). My mom and dad ordered us a cake for our anniversary from a bakery in Denver, Colorado. It was sent overnight delivery and the cake was packed on ice. It had mousse in the center and needed to stay refrigerated. It was should have been delivered to us on Friday but it wasn't. It didn't even come Saturday, so my mom called and canceled the order. The bakery kept telling my mom that the cake wasn't being delivered due to the weather. We assumed they meant Denver. No, they meant Tucson. The cake was sitting on the loading dock in Tucson and FedEx refused to deliver it. The weather was gorgeous and in the 70's. I think they were trying to save money and didn't want to drive the 20 miles to deliver our cake. Either that or the FedEx people are enjoying our cake that was featured on the food network. If they are calling this bad weather they should try living in Illinois for a winter. So, the cake was ruined and we will never know how good the raspberry mousse center tasted. We went to a local baker and bought a very yummy black forest cake.
Stephanie (with new haircut), Alex, Elsa, and Clara.
We ate at Solaris for our anniversary and it was yummy. It is now my favorite restaurant around. Taco Bell is my next favorite. Solaris has Greek inspired food and the bruschetta with feta was wonderful.
We came home after dinner and relaxed.
Gabe and Alex reading.
Today we went to IKEA. We bought a couple of side tables. It was Alex's first trip to IKEA. He slept through most of the time at the store. They have free diapers in the bathrooms. So, Alex wore a free diaper when he needed his diaper changed.
Now we are back home watching the Super Bowl. Go Arizona!
I have two Christmas presents made and I am going to finish a third one while watching the Super Bowl. Only a bazillion more left to make and yes, that is a real number.
One of my favorite things is an automatic soap dispenser. This was a recent purchase for us. I hate having to touch the soap dispenser with dirty hands (especially after handling raw meat). Now I just wave my hand under the dispenser to get my soap and use my elbow to turn on the water after handling chicken. I am not sure that it makes much of a difference, but it makes me feel better.
Our house is primarily unpacked (yippee!) however, the garage is a completely different story. Our three car garage currently fits only one car. I am hoping to tackle the mountain of stuff in there soon. Another thing on my list is to take down the Christmas tree. Yes, I know, I have turned into one of "those" people. You know the type. They leave their decorations up until June and then at that point decide they just might as well leave them up until December. It isn't entirely my fault. I am blaming the move on that one. I would like to have it down before February. I guess I only have a couple of days left. At least January is somewhat associated with the holiday/Christmas season. Maybe Gabe and I will be able to tackle it this weekend.
Below are some random Alex pics.
Tummy time.
Playing with the activity mat.
Tummy time.
Alex 3 months old.
Please, no more pictures.
Yesterday we went to get the oil changed in my car. The plan was to drop off the car, pick up the loaner, and then go back today for my car. Well, when we arrived to drop the car off they informed us that they could change the oil right then. That saved us about an hour and a half in driving time.
Alex hanging out while my oil was getting changed. I think he needs one of these to "drive" around when he is older. Gabe doesn't agree.
After the oil change I went to get a much needed hair cut. Before last night, my last haircut was in July before we moved!
This was taken before my haircut.
I received my Quaker Oats Mini Delights sample. I chose the chocolatey drizzle and they were yummy. Plus, I received a coupon for $0.50 off my next Quaker Oats purchase. I eat a lot of oatmeal, so the coupon will come in handy. You can still request a sample.
I have a new camera! Gabe ordered one for me. I still miss my old camera.
We are still working on our house. Today the furniture repairman came today. He stayed from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. repairing the damage to most of our furniture. Quite a few items were deemed non-repairable and we were given cash for them. I even helped repair a few pieces. The pieces I worked on were items that were not damaged by the movers and so he did not have to repair them. He gave me the supplies and showed me how to do it. So, I worked on a rocking chair and ottoman as well as a table and chairs set. He is out of Phoenix. If anyone is looking for a great furniture repair guy in the state of Arizona I can help you out. He actually covers the entire state and he is very reasonable.
Alex in his swing.
Elsa
This is off of the prickly pear cactus from our front yard. It was broken and apparently you can just plant it and it will grow. We will have to wait and see.
We used a gift container from Christmas to serve as our time capsule. We will open it on January 1, 2010.
I never thought we would be running the air conditioner in our house during the month of January! We also use it in the car (it is hot when you are riding directly in the sun). It has been in the upper 70's/80's here. Heck, it was 86 today!
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Alex.
This week has been super busy! We had our furniture evaluation on Monday. Basically, someone came to evaluate all of the damage to our belongings due to the move. Since a moving service packed everything, they are responsible for all repairs. Unfortunately, we only had a 30 day window to claim all damage and as we continue to unpack boxes we are still finding damaged items. So, we can't claim them and we are just stuck with the damage. The guy is coming back on Saturday to repair the damage. He is with a third party company and he is really nice.
We went to the clubhouse to register. Now I don't have an excuse if I neglect exercising. Up until now, my excuse was I couldn't find the power cord for my elliptical.
Saturday we went to Madera Canyon and hiked around. The weather here is gorgeous and I feel like we should take advantage of it. I guess it still hasn't hit me that it is actually January. It feels more like October (it was in the mid-90's at the end of October here).
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Mountains.
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Madera Canyon.
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Water
We purchased furniture for our family room today. We bought a leather couch, two leather chairs, and a leather ottoman. They are really comfy and they fit well in the room. I like the versatility of the ottoman. We can use it for seating or a table. I also like it because it has soft corners. It we didn't get an ottoman, we were going to get a coffee table. This way if Alex bumps into it, it will be nice and soft. Gabe and I packed the furniture up the stairs. The chairs were 140 lbs a piece and the sofa was 250 lbs. We both got our workouts for the day.
We have made a lot of progress the past few days. I will be posting pictures very soon (hopefully). My camera is currently missing in action again. This time I think it might be for good. I thought I took it with us to pick up our furniture, but neither Gabe nor I can find it anywhere. So, I am still going to add captions for pictures. I am being optimistic that I will find it soon.
We have a prickly pear cactus in our front yard. A piece of it was broken off, so we planted it in a pot in our back yard. Hopefully it will grow.
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Prickly Pear Cactus.
Alex and I watched the Arizona Cardinals play the Philadelphia Eagles today. It was a really exciting game. Arizona was rocking and then the Eagles scored 19 unanswered points to take the lead by one. Then Arizona came back with a touchdown and won! They are going to the Superbowl! Alex has some cute Arizona Cardinal booties that he sported during the game. Don't get me wrong I am still a Chicago Bears fan (and also an Indianapolis Colts fan), but I am living in Arizona and I do have the Hallmark Kurt Warner ornament but it is from when he was a St. Louis Ram (no, I don't like the Rams). I actually like the Cowboys too, or maybe I should say liked. I liked them when Troy Aikman was the quarter back, Jimmy Johnson was the coach, and Emmett Smith was the running back (he was Cardinal after a Cowboy). Wow! That is a lot of football talk and all over a pair of booties.
We have decided not to go to San Diego right now. We both thought it would be a lot of fun but figured we really needed any extra time to work on the house. If I get any extra time today I am going to start working on the fourth bedroom (we are going to make it an office). I doubt I will have extra time though, as Alex is in his "I will only sleep if you hold me" mood. I am slowly typing this entry with only one hand. At least dinner will be easy. I assembled it last night an now I just have to pop it in the oven.
Hanging out in a swing.
We went to the zoo on Saturday. The weather was wonderful. We even sat outside and had ice cream, because we could.
Umm...not helping with the resolution to lose the baby weight.
Some desert scenery
On Sunday we went to Sam's and picked up some canned goods. They also have some leather furniture that Gabe has his eye on. We stopped by Trader Joe's and Alex loved looking around the store. Usually we keep him covered up, but he had such a great time looking at everything we pulled the blanket back so he could see.
Hello
I really, really want to accomplish something on the house this week!
We are still trying to unpack. I am hoping that we will be finished by the end of February or at least 2010. Attempting to put things in order takes some of our free time. Alex takes the majority of it.
I am adding pictures to some of my previous posts (all the way back to December 17)...make sure and check them out!
We are thinking of going to San Diego this month. The other place we were considering was Las Vegas. It was in the running because it would be less than $300 for our flight and hotel room...for all of us!
Alex loves his activity mat. It makes tummy time a little more bearable.
Alex enjoying tummy time.
Alex 10 weeks
One of my favorite Alex pics.
Maddex is out of the hospital. For those of you that said a prayer or kept him in your thoughts, thank you.
We left my parents house around 12:30 p.m. to head for St. Louis. After driving to the airport, returning our rental car, checking in with the airlines, going through security, and finding our gate, we had a couple of hours before our flight. One nice thing about traveling with a baby is priority seating. We arrived at the Tucson airport around 11:30 p.m. The luggage arrived around midnight and we were home around 12:30 a.m. After bringing everything inside I managed to take a bath around 2:00 a.m. I think we finally went to sleep around 3:30 a.m.
Alex on the airplane.
Speedramp into the wall at the airport in St. Louis.
We picked the dogs up from the kennel today. They are happy to be back home.
We are really hoping that Alex does not get sick. Maddex (Brandi - my niece's baby) is in the hospital. He is dehydrated, has pneumonia, strep throat, and if that isn't enough he also has an ear infection. Maddex is only 7 months old. Please say a prayer for his quick recovery.
Well, we have quite a few things to do today (we aren't going to get them all accomplished).
Nothing too exciting today. I have been packing for most of the day. Tomorrow we are leaving for St. Louis to fly back to Arizona.
Gabe and me a few moments after midnight on New Years Eve.
Alex a few moments after midnight.
Yesterday, Gabe, my parents, Alex, and I went to lunch at 17th Street Bar & Grill. My mom had a few things to pick up in a town about a half an hour from where they live. She had a baby shower for some of our family members and friends. So, today we saw quite a few of my family members and a lot of them met Alex for the first time. We had a really yummy cake and cookies.
Alex cookies
Diaper cake that Brandi made.
Gabe & Alex at the shower.
We came back to my parent's house and watched the Gridiron Gang. It is about a probation officer that decides to start a football team the inmates of the juvenile detention center. Some were in rival gangs. They all had to play together as a team. It was a great movie.
Alex's eye is much better. Unfortunately he does not like the eye drop in his eye every three hours.
We dropped the dogs off at the kennel on Friday and we flew out to St. Louis on Saturday. Alex ended up with half of my suit case and part of Gabe's suit case. So, when we arrived at the airport we had two large suit cases, a medium suit case (that Gabe emptied and packed into the other bags), a car seat, a diaper bag, two carry ons, and a baby. We could barely carry it all. It is a really good thing that Gabe left the medium suit case in the truck.
We flew Frontier Airlines and they were all very nice. The lady at the check in counter said we could check any baby items for free and to keep it in mind for our next trip. It is nice in thought, but I don't think that it is that practical to pack any more stuff around. Going through security was much easier than I had anticipated. The TSA worker was very helpful and came over to help me through security. I sort of think he saw me and thought "oh great, she is really going to slow things down." :)
Alex was great on the airplane. He slept the entire time we were flying. I hope that he is just as great on the trip home.
We stopped at Sam's to pick up some diapers before arriving at his parent's house. The weather here definitely reminds me of winter. There is snow on the ground and ice on the trees. The roads were basically fine though.
Ice and snow
On Sunday, Aaron came to Peoria. Originally we were going to go to Chicago to the German Village, but the weather was too bad to take Alex. Instead, Aaron came to see us. We went to Folepi's Village and saw the Festival of Lights floats. Luckily the village was inside and we were able to see the floats from the comfort of our heated car.
The cacti followed us to Illinois!
Aaron, Gabe, and I came back and we all had dinner. Aaron had to leave since he had a long drive back to Chicago and he had to work on Monday. Laura (Gabe's sister) and Nate (Laura's boyfriend) came over we opened our Christmas presents and watched old family videos. Gabe and I also wrapped all of the presents on Sunday morning. It was like a little Christmas for us too, since most of the packages had been shipped to his parent's house months ago.
On Monday, I watched while Gabe, Duane (Gabe's dad), Troy (Gabe's brother), and Shari (Gabe's sister-in-law) all played Settlers of Catan. The Gabe was put on hold around 5:00 p.m. Gabe, Duane, and I went to a military supply store to buy some MRE's for my brother for Christmas. We had ordered some from a site on the internet, but I was really disappointed in them. They were only the entrees and not the complete meal that I was expecting. It is all fixed now (I still need to wrap them though). We stopped by Laura and Nate's place on the way back and then we headed to Sam's to pick up some chickens for dinner. After dinner, the game playing resumed.
Today has been pretty laid back. Troy, Shari, and Sophie (Troy & Shari's daughter) headed back to their home. I think we are going to watch a movie tonight. The snow is much nicer when you can enjoy it from the comfort of a heated house. Gabe and I also need to pack. We are going to leave tomorrow and head south to Southern Illinois to see my family.
I think that we are crazy for coming here for Christmas. We should have had people come to sunny Arizona instead!
P.S. I will most likely add pictures in early January.
Alex has an eye infection.
P.S. Once I find my camera (it is MIA again) I will post a picture of his gooey eye.
We had our Christmas in Arizona tonight.
Alex "talking" on his phone book.
Me and my collection of books from Gabe.
We have to take the dogs to the kennel tomorrow. Unfortunately, we can't bring them with us to Illinois. The weather there is too cold for the dogs to transported in the winter and the summers in Arizona are too warm for them to fly out of Tucson. So, it looks like they will primarily be staying in the sunny state of Arizona.
We still aren't packed. I guess we will do it tomorrow. Our flight leaves on Saturday morning.
Last night, while Gabe and Alex were sleeping, I made the curtains for our bathroom. I have had the material for a couple of days, but I haven't found the time to make them. I decided that it really needed to be done so I could shower and bathe and definitely NOT flash the neighbors. Gabe was convinced that the windows were too tall for anyone to see anything while getting in and out of the shower or bath, but I just feel better with curtains.
All three bathroom windows with curtains
A closeup of a window. The curtain is hanging in an odd manner, so the bottom doesn't look even (it is even).
I doubled a sheer material to make the curtains since both Gabe and I like the natural light. A single layer of sheer didn't inhibit the view into the bathroom from the street as well as I wanted, so I doubled the material. Originally I was going to cover the entire window, but it made the bathroom feel smaller. So, I only covered the lower half of the window to keep open feeling of room.
I am copying this idea from Nicole's blog. I wanted to do a newborn picture and then take a picture every month with the 12 month outfit to monitor his growth. I was a little late taking the pictures and posting them.
Alex 1 Week
Alex 6 Weeks and 2 Days
1. Update Magazine Addresses...I am up to date!
2. Start packing. I have a feeling this will be a multiple day process. Umm...I tried and Alex kept waking up. Basically, I ordered him some more warm outfits. I am really going to start packing today! After I post this entry...and find my camera.
3. Work on room downstairs. If we ever get our house together I will post pictures. I am hoping Gabe and I can get started tomorrow. If I finish packing I will start this today too.
There are a lot of other things on my list that I don't post on the blog (ex. return Wal-Mart and Fry's items...I did both of these yesterday). So, even if I don't accomplish my blog goals I still do things during the day :)
We had the 30 day walk through on our house last week. Technically we haven't lived here for 30 days, but they wanted to get it in before January. Basically, we have spent every free moment working on the house and it is looking much better. I wanted to have it completed by January, but that isn't going to happen. Maybe by March 1st.
Gabe and I watched The Dark Knight last night. Christian Bale was an okay Bruce Wayne (I like Michael Keaton better) but I did not like his Batman. Heath Ledger did a good job acting, but I think he was better in A Knight's Tale, The Brothers Grimm, and Casanova. While watching the movie I worked on finishing up Alex's quilt. I started it while we still lived in Illinois and I hadn't worked on it since living in our house. So, instead of checking my email or writing a blog entry while watching the movie, I finished his quilt. It is just in time to take it to Illinois.
Alex's dog quilt
Alex hanging out with the quilt
1. Catch up on email. Check!
2. Make a Menu Check! (I even made January's menu)
3. Grocery Shop Check!
4. Mail USPS Packages Check!
5. Update Magazine Addresses...umm I have a couple left. Darn time zone differences.
6. Send my mom her recipes Check!
7. Kohl's Cash (I apparently have $20) Check! Well sort of...it expired.
8. Order Wedding present for a friend Check!
My Goals for Tomorrow
1. Start packing. I have a feeling this will be a multiple day process
2. Work on room downstairs. If we ever get our house together I will post pictures.
Alex did not have to get a shot on Wednesday. We decided to give it with the other shots at the 2 month appointment instead. Basically it is given with another shot, so if we had opted to have it at the 1 month appointment he would be getting and extra stick with the needle overall.
I managed to mail a couple of packages on Sunday. I believe the baby announcements were mailed on Sunday. I have been working on the Christmas cards and I believe I have around 7 left. Hopefully those will get mailed out today with the 6 packages that are hanging out in the family room.
So, my goals for today
1. Finish the Christmas Cards
2. Mail the 6 packages (at least 3 of them). Three go to the post office and three are UPS.
3. Pick up the entire house and Laundry.
My Goals for tomorrow.
1. Catch up on email.
2. Make a Menu
3. Grocery Shop
My Goals for Thursday
1. Update Magazine Addresses
2. Send my mom her recipes
3. Kohl's Cash (I apparently have $20)
4. Order Wedding present for a friend
We will see if I actually accomplish my goals. I will be really happy if I can get each day's goals completed. It is much harder to do things when Alex is awake.
I have to go to the dentist today...fun, fun, fun. That is going to be an adventure.
Oh, these packages that I am mailing require boxes and packing paper. The Christmas presents need boxes too. Well, when you move you have plenty of boxes and packing paper, right? Hmm...we threw ours out. The irony in the entire situation is we almost had to buy boxes and packing paper. I managed to scrounge some up from the packages that we have been receiving in the mail. I also started opening the boxes that managed to find their way into closest in search of packing paper. I found two sheets.
I was a little overzealous in what I was going to accomplish yesterday. I did finish the baby announcements, but our bedroom is still a mess, the Christmas cards have yet to be touched, and the packages that need to be mailed and their contents are spread all over the floor. Maybe today I will get the packages done. I really need to get them mailed. Some of them are already going to be late. Basically, look for your baby announcement in the mail. They should be on their way today (a mere 5 weeks after his birth).
For anyone keeping track, the high today is in the 70's. Ahh, the benefits of living in the middle of the desert in December. Talk to me in August and I might not be so accepting of the desert climate.
I should be picking up the bedroom, finishing up the birth announcements, working on Christmas cards, or one of the other million things I need to do since Alex is sleeping. Instead, I am writing an entry to update everyone...what dedication.
Friday my mom wanted to go shopping. Now, just in case you are wondering I am not the "get up and go out at 4:00 a.m. type" and I did manage to order my shower curtain at Kohl's online at 11:00 p.m. (actually Gabe did it for me because I kept falling asleep). We went to the mall around noon thinking the die-hard shoppers would have returned home or at least stopped for lunch. We were wrong. Cops were directing traffic at the mall. It was ridiculous and finding a parking space (note: just a space not necessarily a good space) was nearly impossible. We did however luck out and found a space at Dillard's. Little did we know Dillard's is located at the opposite end as Macy's, which just happens to be the store that my mom wanted to shop. Stores had cue lines set up and shoppers were only allowed in when another shopper had left the store...crazy!
I found Alex a couple of cute outfits and my mom purchased my birthday present, Gabe's birthday present and his Christmas present, and a few things for Alex. She also found Alex an ornament.
Alex's ornament
My Dad and I managed to get our tree up.
Alex helping us clean.
On the way home I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a ceiling fan that the Home Depot near us didn't have. Actually they had one, but it was a return item and it was missing the blades.
Gabe's parents arrived Friday evening. Saturday my parent's watched Alex while Anna, Duane, Gabe, and I went to his office. This time I was able to take the tour and see what Gabe works on. My mom also made spaghetti and meatballs while we were gone. Duane, Anna, Gabe, and my Dad all attempted to go to the pecan factory on Saturday, but they missed the store being open by 3 minutes.
Sunday was my birthday and we had our Thanksgiving dinner. We were supposed to have the meatballs on my birthday and the turkey on Saturday, but the turkey was still a little frozen. My mom made a very yummy carrot cake. I couldn't find the candles, so I had one taper candle in the middle of the cake to blow out. My Dad was also our "professional photographer". He took several pictures of us so we could pick one out for our Christmas card. Gabe and I decided it would just be easier to take our pictures at home instead of taking two dogs and a baby to a photo studio.
Alex in a Santa hat.
Very early Monday morning Gabe dropped my parents off at the airport. Their flight was delayed due to the weather in Chicago. Luckily, they had a four hour layover so they did not miss their connecting flight. Monday morning we applied for a passport for Alex. Monday afternoon we went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum with Gabe's parents. Alex slept through the majority of the zoo.
Alex enjoying the Desert Museum.
Alex hanging out with the javelina.
The three of us with a cactus on an 80 degree day in December! Maybe I should throw this picture in our Christmas cards too.
We went to Sam's on the way home and received our Christmas present from his parents a little early. We picked out a mini-fridge for the upstairs of our house. This way we can store the pre-made bottles upstairs instead of having to go downstairs at 3 a.m. We put it to use for the first time last night and it was wonderful.
Mini-Fridge
Tuesday morning we had lunch at Agave and then went to the copper mine gift shop and museum. They offer a tour of the mine, but there just wasn't time (they had to catch a plane home). I came back with Alex and Gabe dropped his parents off at the airport. When he came back we worked on the house a little more.
Entrance gate to mine property.
Gabe is at work right now, but he will be coming home in a few hours. Alex has his one month appointment today and he is getting a shot. I am not looking forward to the shot.
I think that wraps up the update. I am going to pick up our bedroom and then get back to cards, packages, and wrapping Christmas presents.
Gabe picked my parents up from the airport last night around 10:40 p.m. Alex and I stayed home. After wading through the maze of boxes, we finally made it to bed sometime after midnight.
This morning we headed out to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant that we really like. Unfortunately, they were closed for Thanksgiving. I guess you can't really blame them for wanting to spend time with their families. We ended up going to Arizona Family Restaurant. It was our first time there and it was pretty good. Gabe and my Dad ordered breakfast and my mom and I ordered lunch.
After eating we headed out to Gabe's office. He gave us a tour of the facilities. Alex and I hung out in the car for part of the tour (safety glasses were required).
We came back home and worked on clearing out some boxes. Now, before you think I forced my parents to unpack boxes, my mom really wanted us to get things organized so we would all have somewhere to sit (and I think she knows the lack of organization really bothers me). Gabe and my Dad managed to install of the ceiling fans. We still have three more to purchase since Home Depot was out of the fan that I wanted for the kitchen area.
We took a break and went to eat Thanksgiving dinner at a buffet. We have a turkey in our refrigerator, but it is currently thawing. We will have it in a few days when Gabe's mom and dad arrive.
We came back and finished the room we were working on downstairs. Then my Dad and I came upstairs and began working on another room that was box city. It isn't any where near completion, but it is looking better. Maybe tomorrow we will be able to finish it. I need to throw some towels in the dryer and maybe start another load of clothes. I am so tired right now I would fall over if I wasn't reclining in a chair with arms. There are a few Kohl's deals that I would like to purchase online, but I don't think that I am going to be able to stay away (Alex may have a different plan).
Alex in his "gobble 'til you wobble" outfit. There is a turkey on the onesie.
I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving.
Wow! It has been a while since I have updated. If you could take a look at our house right now you would tell me to get off of the computer and get back to work unpacking.
We received the keys for our house last Tuesday. There was a little confusion about how the keys were going to make it to us, but it all worked out in the end. We were hoping that the movers would be here 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, but their scheduled arrival time was 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Since our stuff wasn't here yet we moved out of the rental house on Tuesday. We were at our house around 8:00 a.m. on Wednesday. When the movers weren't here by 8:30 a.m. Gabe called to see if they needed directions. Turns out they weren't going to make it until 3:00 p.m.! So, we went back to the rental house to finish packing and cleaning. The movers finally made it...at 4:15 p.m. They stayed and unpacked until 1 or 2 a.m. I am not sure how long they stayed because Alex and I found a couch and went to sleep (the bed wasn't together yet). They came back the next morning to finish up. They were supposed to be here at 8:00 a.m. and be gone by 10:00 a.m. They didn't get here until 9:15 and I am not sure what time they left.
Gabe and I have been slowly unpacking. It took me three days to unpack my closet. I don't really have that much stuff, it is just a lot more difficult when there is a baby that needs attention. So, for the first three days my closet was all I worked on unpacking.
We still have a lot to work on before we are finished. We have people coming out for Thanksgiving and I had hoped to have the house completed. Umm...that isn't going happen. Thanksgiving pictures might have a lot of boxes in them. I wanted to have our tree up for pictures, but that would require me to know where the box is that the tree is actually packed in. It would also require the box marked tree to contain a tree (long story, but the boxes don't contain what is marked on them...the pots and pans box didn't contain a single pot or pan or even a single kitchen related item).
We looked out our kitchen window and saw several cows grazing in the desert. Most of the desert land is open range for cattle. They didn't really seem to mink our staring.
After the house is all together I will work on posting pictures. I need to get back to work...we have guests coming tonight and the guest room isn't together yet.
P.S. Gabe found my camera!
As far as movie watching goes, I think there are four that I have not talked about. We watched Outsourced. I rented it because it reminded me of Office Space. A guy has to train his replacement (in India). It is funny at times and overall it isn't a bad movie. We also watched Eight Below. It is about a guy that leads expeditions in Antarctica. Due to a storm they have to evacuate and he has to leave his sled dogs. I will warn you that there are some sad moments in this film (especially if you are an animal lover). Kung Fu Panda was surprisingly good. We also watched College Road Trip. Umm...maybe a renter if there is nothing else to rent.
I did get New Moon Friday while we were near a bookstore. Instead of sleeping today, I read half of the book. So far I am really liking the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. From the previews that I have seen for the movie Twilight, the actors that portray Edward and Bella do not resemble the Edward and Bella that play the parts in my mind. I like my mind's version better.
I was checking my email today and I received a sale email from Barnes & Noble. I clicked on the link to look at the fiction available. I was really surprised to see the new Alex Cross book, Cross Country, was released today. I know that the next book is always released around mid-November, but I guess it just snuck up on me this time. I have managed to add five books to my book list lately (Cross Country, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard). They should manage to keep me busy for a while in addition to a new house that will need to be unpacked, a new baby, our Thanksgiving guests, and Christmas travel.
We get the keys to our house tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. I am pretty excited. I had plans to pack up all of our stuff at the house we are renting this weekend. It didn't happen. So, when Gabe gets home from work I am going to attempt to start packing and cleaning. This way we will hopefully be able to get all of our stuff from this house into our house before the movers come with all of our possessions. Hmmm...I wonder when I will have internet at the new house.
These are really cute socks from Nicole, Andrew, and Maddie. They look like little shoes and on the bottom they say My 1st Sneakers. How cute!
Alex picture just because I think he is super cute.
Nicole...look for an email soon. Since you are the only one that responded to my thoughts on making Christmas presents for 2009 I will send you some links.
