LIFE with LEXIE

I have to say she continuously surprises me. She was so excited to go talk to Santa and she even told me she was sure he would love her "gown." I don't know why I thought I'd have to talk her into going but I definitely didn't need to. She was disappointed that Mrs. Claus wasn't there (go figure) but Santa kindly explained to her that she was home baking cookies and watching the reindeer.
She was cracking herself up. She couldn't stop laughing and of course neither could I. This beautiful little Christmas Angel keep making......burping sounds. You'd think she was a 10 year old boy on the playground trying to impress the other boys. But no, this was my little princess belching away. I just wish I'd thought to switch over to video!

Tonight Lexie and I headed over to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma for the annual Zoo Lights.
It was rather cold for both of us and my camera so the pictures aren't what I'd hoped for but you'll be able to get the general idea. They do a terrific job and it's such a festive activity.
In the center of the display area they have the Tacoma Narrows Bridges complete with cars going over it and the "waves" of the sound underneath them.
This is towards the end of the night and she was getting a little tired.
This was how most of the evening went.....her running from area to area - zoom!!
Her favorite part of the night was riding a camel. Yes a real camel - just like Mommy did in Kazakhstan. Every time she sees one of the pictures of me in Almaty riding a camel she begs me to let her ride one. Like I can just go saddle up the camel in the back yard. So this was a great treat for both of us. Here she is sitting on the back of Mohave the camel just before I jumped on.
This is from the back or should I say the hump of the camel. You can just see the top of his head in the lower right corner of the frame;) I'll have to figure out how to get the still picture they printed out onto a disc and add it later. But you can see how excited she was.
And second only to the camels was the carousal.

SINGING CLIP

And here she is my little star - singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & her ABCs! I'm not sure why she has to sing into her "mic" but there you have it. No matter what she's singing these days and she sings a LOT, she's always got her little fist in front of her mouth. Guess what I'm getting her for Christmas? In fact this next clip is pretty darn funny. It shows how real the mic is to her.
BROKEN MIC CLIP - FUNNY GIRL!!

Nothing like a vivid imagination! Have no fear. I managed to put all the pieces back together again.
Happy Holidays!

My sweet niece Mackenzie saw this great turkey project in a book at the library. So she checked it out and has been waiting to make it until Lexie & I got to Texas. I usually do some craft project when I'm with the kids and she proudly picked this one. Great job Z!!!
And yes we both know this is NOT a turkey but it was as close as she could get to a Turkey Hat.

Here are my helpers - CoCo & Blakie

Lexie Lou & Chicken Z

Not too far into the project we lost one of our BOY helpers but Cody worked twice as hard to make up for Blake.

Both the girls worked hard even if they were silly a lot.

After about an hour of hard work Grandma decided my helpers needed a break (notice that Blake became a helper again as soon as sweets were involved) so she had them help her put the finishing touch of powered sugar on her brownies.


When I came into the kitchen and saw Lexie covered with powered sugar I asked the big kids what happened and this is their innocent response. Note Blake in the background "cleaning up" the counter.

Lexie thought she was sooooo funny and so did Blake!



And here they are.....all 14 Turkey Hand Toilet Roll Napken Holders for the Thanksgiving Day table. We ended up with a pirate (since we were shy a couple of eyes) and a one eyed monster but I think they look fabulous!
Great Idea Mackenzie!!!

So Lexie and I headed down south to spend Thanksgiving with some of our family in Texas. Here she is with two of her Texas cousins Cody & Mackenzie. Can you see the love on her face?
Whenever these guys get together there is always plenty of "dancing"...
and piggyback rides (yes my princess must bring her princess gown with her every where)...

and even little Blake (who just turned 2 in Oct and out weighs Lexie by 3 lbs) has to get in on the fun!

They are also a very creative group. Here BooBoo (AKA Aunt Angie) and Cody where having a little telephone conversation while Z was setting up a rousing game of El-E-Phant!
Then after everyone is in their jammies they have to get a "Cody" ride around the room before they will consider heading to bed.
He finally gets up on all fours but it doesn't last long.
Here's Cody trying to switch places with Lexie and get a ride from her. Clearly there's something wrong with this picture.
Finally they are winding down and it's time for prayers with GaGa. What sweet angles!
I've gotta tell you there wasn't a lot of bed time story reading going on in this bed when I came in to tuck Lexie in!

More of the trip later.