A Lovely Sunday Afternoon

7/10/2011 09:48:00 PM Edit This 4 Comments »
Today was one of those days. Nothing special. No big plans or events. Just a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon spent with my favorite person in the world.
Naturally Lexie rocked her Sunday best. So after church we did a nice brunch and instead of going home to clean out the garage like I desperately needed to do, we went to do a little shopping for our up coming trip down south. I'm sure it will come as a surprise to everyone but Lexie enjoys shopping just like her mommy. Then we played at a favorite playground and returned home in time for me to do a little cleaning while Lexie hit the road with a few neighborhood friends.
 She isn't the fastest (all the kids are ahead of her) but she is the best dressed!!
 Yup she's still in her Sunday best. I figured why not.
 She was too excited to wait to change. And it cracked me up!
Within an hour of this shot we had a late dinner, brushed her teeth, read her books and she was passed out....literally.
Just a lovely Sunday afternoon.

Four Years Ago on The Fourth

7/03/2011 11:15:00 PM Edit This 6 Comments »
That's right, it's our fourth anniversary. Four years ago on July 4th at 4:04pm I walked out of the baby house in Aktau Kazakhstan with Lexie in my arms as my daughter. Here she is in the director's office as we waited for the official word that we could leave. She was more than ready and so was I!
Cut to one year later. She was of course walking on her on. In fact she was driving! We hit the local July 4th carnival and she had a ball. Mom and I were both so amazed at how much she'd changed in that year. She was a typical happy, healthy just turned two year old. I couldn't have asked for more.
But a year later she turned three and was more amazing than ever. At least I thought so and so did the rest of the family. We were excited to spend the Independence Day (both the USA and Lexie's) with them down in Texas. Even my brother's kids were up from Mexico so there was lots to celebrate.
Then last year we went to a big festival with some friends, then came back for a picnic with other friends and then finally watched the fireworks at another friends house. It was a very full weekend but as you can see Lexie was having fun and growing up fast. Or so I thought.

This year I can no longer call her my baby. As a just turned five year old, she is definitely a little girl (and reminds me that she's FIVE daily...no hourly!) We'll have a quieter anniversary this year since she now has bronchitis (oh joy) and I don't want to share it with the friends we were going to get together with. But I can honestly say that any day with Lexie is a blessing and a day celebrating our officially becoming a family is a special day.
 
Happy Adoption Day Lexie.
And all the fireworks are from Mommy just for you!

And Here She Is...The Blue Fairy

6/30/2011 10:33:00 PM Edit This 3 Comments »
This is the first position she starts the dance in so she insisted this was how she wanted to take the picture. Lexie is all about the right and wrong way of doing things. She is my rule follower.
 Here's another position. And yes, she still has two legs. I'm just not sure where she tucked the other one.

 She was so excited and so serious about her part since she was THE Blue Fairy. That's right. Lexie had the lead for her dance. She is the fairy that puts all the other fairies to sleep with the magic wand as they wish upon the star.
By the end they all get a chance at the wand and it's a little funny how each girl has her own style.
This was just the dress rehearsal and they did great. None of them had any problems with the stage, lights or audience.
They were so proud of themselves.
 Little did I know that Lexie was fine partly because she had a 102 fever during this. The day before, I returned her to school following her rehearsal on the big stage and within an hour I got a call from the school to pick her up because she had 102.2 fever. I was so surprised since she'd had shown no signs of not feeling well. A dose of Motrin and a good night sleep and I thought she was just fine. But right after this before the finale practice I realized she was hot again so I call the doc and she took Lexie right away. Yup she's got an ear infection even though her tubes are still in. Lexie was crying because she wanted to do the finale practice (and the rule was if they missed this practice they couldn't be in it for performance) so while I was waiting for her prescription I brought her back for practice.
She had so much fun with her fairy friends.
 But as soon as her part was done she was fading fast.
And by the time she came off the stage I had to practically carry her to the car. This was Thursday. The antibiotics kicked in and by performance time on Sat she was good to go!
There were balloons, a fairy wand of her own, a blue fairy statue and a couple of other little things waiting for her when she woke up from the family and I. She felt very special and was so excited!
And she was back to her silly self. She was also thrilled to have make up on (even if it was just a little blush & lip gloss.)
We ended up having about a 45 minute wait so I'm glad we brought a few princesses along to keep the girls occupied.
How cute where the "little" girls who where on right before Lexie?
Then it was our turn to line up.
 Do you think they were excited?
And they did great!!! Lexie was very funny with several stage whispers when one of the girls would forget to do something. They were all thrilled with themselves and all us parents were so proud.
Only three of the girls stayed for finale (which was an hour & a half later) so our girls decided to be mermaids to pass the time.
After the finale of course my star got flowers both from me and Grammy.
 Funny thing was on Sunday for her second performance she asked if I could throw flowers on the stage at her like they do in Angelina Ballerina. Lexie was so sweet and gave each of her friends roses as well as her teachers. Mommy is so proud of her Blue Fairy both for her dancing skills and her generous heart!

Big Day of Firsts

6/20/2011 10:06:00 PM Edit This 2 Comments »
Today was an exciting day for my little five year old. She had her first day of Pre-Kindergarten. Here she is proudly holding her lunch box ready for her next big adventure...
For those of you wondering what pre-kindergarten is - well it's summer school before kindergarten hence the pre. Her Montessori preschool ended May 28th and they took 3 weeks off (leaving Mommy scrambling to find daycare.) But today started their summer program. The kids who will be attending kindergarten next year get to move up to the K classroom for the summer. Lexie is so excited!
After her thrilling first day of big kid school (it's just in the room right next to her preschool class but for her it's the room where the big kids did all the cool stuff that she just wasn't old enough or big enough to do - but not today!) I whisked her off to the HIGH SCHOOL for practice of the finale for her big dance recital this weekend. Exciting times around here!!
This is Lexie and her best dancing buddy Olivia waiting in the audience for their dance to be called.
Next they had to wait outside the stage for their turn back stage. Funny thing is, the stage manager announced that all dancers 6 and under should hold hands when they walk on and off stage to make sure no one falls off. These two rule followers held hands the entire rehearsal except when they were on stage dancing. So cute!
 Waiting in the wings....
 Finally their big moment on stage!
Such little girls on such a big stage. All of this and it was just the finale rehearsal not their dance. Next we have dance rehearsal on stage, then pictures, then final dress rehearsal and finally TWO performances this weekend. (Is the week over yet?)
Here's a sneak preview.

Lexie's Pink Tree

6/19/2011 12:47:00 AM Edit This 3 Comments »
Every year I try to get a shot of Lexie in the cherry tree in our back yard when it blooms. This year it's clear that the tree is not the only thing in bloom. I can't believe how old Lexie looks!
This was the week before she turned 5. My sweet happy baby girl!

I feel so blessed to have this much beauty in my back yard even if it's just for a week or so.
And here is my 5 year old. Lexie insisted we take the "pink tree pictures" again after she turned 5. Such a difference!
This was just before the sun went down.
I had to go back and get the previous years just to remind myself that she really was a baby - once.
This was right around her 2nd birthday and she hadn't been home a year. At least I hadn't put her in the tree yet. Oh so cute!
 So sweet (I love her little bottom teeth.)
 This is right around 3 years old. First time in the tree and totally confident. That's my girl!
 Love that happy face!
Now this was last year a few weeks after her surgery. I didn't remember her being so skinny.
And so serious.
Oh here's my slightly happier girl.
But today is always the best day with Lexie.
She's as sweet and pretty as any cherry blossom!

Drum Roll Please....

5/24/2011 10:07:00 PM Edit This 14 Comments »
....I wrote a book.
Ever since Lexie started asking me for our story - The Mommy & Lexie Story - I've had the idea that I should make a book for her. So I did it....I wrote our story on a Blurb book and "published" it. I was very impressed with the free software Blurb provides you and the whole process was much easier that I thought it would be.
You can see if better if you make it full screen (Mom & Aunt Mary Lou click on the icon on the bottom right side of the box - next to where is says Blurb.) 
So here it is....



I know it's too wordy and childish but it really is pretty much how Lexie and I "tell" the story most every night. I have tried to shorten it but she always wants the long version. Oh my little detail girl. And sure there are several things I'd like to change about it but overall I'm pretty please with how it turned out. I gave a copy to my Mom on Mother's Day since she was with us for this adventure. Then Lexie and I read it to her pre-school class for her class birthday celebration.
She was so excited and proud to have a book all about her. I think it made her feel special instead of different since the class birthday celebration consists of the birthday girl or boy carrying the earth (aka a blow up globe) around the sun while the kids sing a sweet song about "the earth goes around the sun the sun..." Then they stop and the teacher tells something they did for each year they have gone around the sun while pointing it out on their "life" board.
For the first year, most kids parents tell about their baptisms, first steps, first words. Since Lexie's first year was spent alone in a baby house....well, instead we read our story.


Tomorrow, May 25th, is the fourth anniversary of the day Lexie was Born to Me. The day I met her and held her for the first time. Simply the best day of my life.
 
Happy Born to Me Day - Lexie!!
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