So Much Christmas Fun!

Lexie was sick for a lot of December.  Poor thing always catches a cold around the holidays.  It's become a Christmas tradition.  Although she was coughing and congested, she had a lot of Christmas spirit in her.  She didn't complain and was always wishing us happy holidays or Merry Christmas Eve!  Even though Lexie wasn't always feeling great, we were able to squeeze in some fun.

This is the first year that Lexie has watched Christmas movies.  We started with "Home Alone" which is one of my favorites, but I didn't realize how violent it was and then she told us it was scary and didn't want to finish watching it.  When we talked with her, we found out that she didn't like the idea of being left at home by herself.  One movie she has been enjoying watching is "The Santa Clause."  We've seen the trilogy and it's funny enough to keep her interest.  Another cute one was "Arthur Christmas."  That was a surprise for us and we will remember to watch it again next year.

One of the fun things Lexie got to do this year was play Secret Santa with a buddy from Taiwan.  She had so much fun choosing a gift for her friend.  Every time we went to the mall, she told me that her friend would like a doll or stickers.  We decorated a card to send with the gift.

Lexie was excited when she got her gift from her secret Taiwan buddy.  She got some of her favorite things - stickers, Littlest Pet Shop dolls, and candy!  We're hoping that we get to meet our new friends at ROCks this summer.

                            

We went on the trolley ride to see the Christmas lights with our agency.  This is one of Lexie's favorite things to do and has become a tradition ever since we brought her home.  I still remember the first ride we went on.  Lexie was just bubbling with excitement and this was the first time she hugged me and said "I love you" all on her own.  For me, that was a big moment and that's when I felt like a mommy.

                                     

Lexie couldn't wait until we went on the trolley because it meant spending time with her best friend.  These two are adorable together!

                            

One of Lexie's dreams is to make snow angels.  Unfortunately, we'll never have a white Christmas, so we had our own winter fun and made a snowman, or should I say chalkman!

                             

We celebrated Jackie's college graduation!  Lexie had so much fun because she got to watch fishes in a huge aquarium.  We got to see a diver feeding octopus to a sting ray!

                                

And Lexie is always happy when Nana comes with us!

                  

Lexie has been helping daddy with his Christmas photo shoots and likes to pose in some of the pictures.

                    

                    

Christmas means cookie time!  That's all Lexie talks about is making gingerbread men.  So we made a date with Taryn and the two of them decorated cookies.

                        

Then she worked on her gingerbread house.  Lexie did really well putting the icing and candy on it.

                       

Of course it never fails and all of the sugar becomes too much of a temptation.  Lexie started sucking out icing from the tubes and trying to gulp down bottles of sprinkles.  I'm so glad we do this only once a year!

                      

Thanks Taryn for keeping the mess to a minimum and spending the day with Lexie.  I must say that Lexie stayed pretty clean considering how much frosting was being used.

                        

Lexie got a beautiful ornament from her friend, Hayden.  We are so excited that our princesses will be together next summer at Disney!

                           

This is how Lexie spends her downtime!  She loves her foam letters and will recite the alphabet and put it in order.  I'm so amazed at what she can do!

                           

Family Time

Having a photographer for a husband has its perks.  We get a lot of pictures of Lexie, but the downside is that we don't get many family pictures because Eric is usually on the other side of the camera.  Luckily, our good friend Naoyme was up for the challenge and did a photo shoot for us.  She got some great pictures of our girl.

And some pictures of our family!  

                              

The park that we went to is one of my favorites.  I love this place because it doesn't feel like Hawaii.  I love the tall pine trees, cool weather and best of all, no sand!

                              

Lexie had fun running and playing in the trees.

                           

She was dancing and doing her modeling poses.

Lexie's goofiness even rubbed off on us!

                  

This was a fun day just enjoying our family and being out in nature which we all love!

                          

Lexie did a great job taking pictures.  She's become a pro and finds ways to amuse herself.

              

Lexie loves to pick these yellow flowers.  They seem to pop up everywhere.  I guess because they are weeds, but she thinks they are amazing.  

                     

Lexie is growing up into such a beautiful young lady!  We can't believe that this will be our 4th Christmas together.  

                            

Our Christmas Traditions

Each year, Christmas is getting to be more fun as Lexie understands the fun things that come along with it.  The day after Thanksgiving is when we set up the tree.

                             
Last year, we had Lexie pick her first ornament, which was a Minnie Mouse one. This year she chose Pluto.  It was the first ornament to go on the tree.
                                 
Lexie wrote two letters to Santa this year.
        

                            
We went to the mall to mail her first letter.
                            
The second letter was sent to Santa at Macy's.
                             
This is the first year that Lexie agreed to visit Santa Claus.  She hasn't wanted to take a picture because she said Santa was scary.  She only agreed because Mrs. Claus was there and she said that she was nice because she makes cookies.
                            
And since we have an artificial tree in the house, I really miss the scent of a real tree.  We decided to get a little tree for our yard.  Now I have the smell of Christmas, but the mess is outside.  We come outside every night to enjoy the lights.
                                  
It's so hard to get the three of them to sit in one place for more than a few seconds, but I wanted to get a picture of them in front of the tree.
                          

So Thankful

After the what happened at Sandy Hook Elementary, I look at Lexie with different eyes.  We hug a little longer, we laugh even more and we are so grateful that we have this precious child in our life.  We send our heartfelt prayers to those families affected by this tragedy.

We appreciate the small things like stickers!!  Lexie loves being part of the sticker club and gets excited when she receives stickers in the mail from her friends.

This was the first year Lexie was interested in Thanksgiving.  On each leaf, she told me what she was thankful for.  We made handprint turkeys.  And she wrote "Happy Thanksigiving."  Her fine motor skills are outstanding.  She's able to write each letter all by herself and most of the letters, she writes from memory rather than copying what I write.

                                                      

                                                

We are so thankful for all of the good food that we got to eat.  And we had a feast for days and loved having turkey jook to eat.

                                 

 Lexie loves her papa.  She had fun playing with the remote control car that he and Nana gave to her.

                                 

She had fun playing with her cousin Madden.  

                          

We ate more yummy desserts from Pinterest.  The oreo pumpkin cheesecake was delicious!

                               

Lexie spent the day after Thanksgiving with her cousins.  She loved hanging with the girls!  It was a wonderful holiday weekend and so thankful for everything and everyone we have in our life.

National Adoption Day

In November, we celebrated National Adoption Day at the zoo, which is one of Lexie's favorite places to go.  We went to visit the animals and when the events started, she was very excited to get her face painted. Ever since she saw the Halloween episode of "Special Agent Oso", she has been obsessed with tigers, so of course, she wanted to be turned into a tiger.

We had to wait a long time for our turn.  I was so proud of her because she sat very still and didn't get distracted by everything going on around her.

Here is our little tiger! 

 

She loved playing the parachute games and jumped right in with no hesitation.

Then it was time to dance!

We didn't know that Lexie knew how to break dance!

When we came home Lexie wiped off her face paint all by herself.  Then she decided that she wanted to be like Special Agent Oso and make a tiger mask with a paper plate.