And a Very Merry Christmas we had!!!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! I know we did and still have one more Christmas to celebrate but the decorations are down after a 2 day attempt and we are finally back to "normal". The holidays are super hectic, just like for everyone, but for some reason this year, it seemed like the busy"ness" was up a notch! We were able to spend several days of "quality" time with our little mini us's and it was nice since we both work and we actually had the time to do things with them on the little winter break they had from school.

Christmas morning...Alexis got the hang of unwrapping in no time flat!!!

Her BIG gift from "Santa" this year was a Princess Dream Castle...we can't get her away from it!

John was kind of into it...mainly using the boxes as drums or chewing on the paper. :-)

His Build a Bear, "Furry" made by his sister.

Chew Chew Chew...are we done with teeth yet?!!!

He LOVES chairs for some reason, especially if they can rock!

Her Dora guitar that she now has memorized all the songs on there. That didn't take long at all.

Hamming it up in her UGGS from her Aunt Meredith.

Striking a pose...notice while she is playing a game on my phone.

Alexis has offically moved to PRESCHOOL!! We can't believe it!! But she absolutely LOVES it!! They are working on writing her letters, name and helping her recognize letters in words with sounds. She seems to be getting the hang of it since we can see results at home when we are reading and working on her activity books. We have also noticed she is a little bit more aggressive in her personality, meaning, demanding. I guess that's the only way to survive when your class is 22 people big. As long as she is nice about it to us at home, no worries. Survival of the fittest!! But she always tells us she really likes school. She does get frustrated a little more often we noticed when she can't figure something out and especially if she doesn't get her way right away. We have been finding ourselves having to do the harder part of parenting and discplining our 3 year old. Alexis slowly has started to realize what is acceptable and what is not. She knows to be patient if we have our hands full with John or if we are in the middle of doing something. But we are so very proud that we have one FULLY POTTY TRAINED..I still can't believe it!!  Again, PERSERVERANCE!!!

And now she has hijacked my IPAD since I have found some games for her to play that she likes and doesn't get frustrated with.

Something is always in his mouth..of course!

This is the "make-shift" crib until he will sleep in his own during the day when he needs to nap. He will take hour long naps in this stroller! It's amazing!! Not complaining though since John will sleep in his crib at night from 7:30-7ish...battling him during the day is nothing for the great sleeper we have at night. Everyone gets to sleep at night!!

Soooooo, we tried this jump n go a month ago and he really didn't like it but now that he is bigger/stronger and taller(20 pounds, 28 inches), he really does like it since he likes to bounce on you when you are holding him. Thank goodness we have another spot to put him until he crawls since he pretty much tears up his exosaucer and moves all over the floor when we put him on a blanket full of toys!! He is SO very close to crawling!!

Little man bouncing!!!

It got really quiet since this bouncey as you can hear on the video makes noise and we couldn't believe he passed out here like this. He never just passes out. Had to get this shot...check out his hair!!

That just doesn't look comfortable but he would have slept there if daddy didn't move him.

I will posting again soon since we have Alexis's birthday party this weekend!! I can't believe I'm caught up!!

Last Post of 2011!! CRAZY!!

I can't believe this is the last post of 2011!! This year has certainly flown by.
Let's see...where did we leave off?!! Oh yes..Halloween, then comes Thanksgiving!! We celebrated Turkey day the day after thanksgiving and thank goodness after the Aggies BIG loss on Thanksgiving day. We were able to drink and eat our sorrows away but we spent it with the immediate family which is always nice and relaxing. Lexi was very eager to help out. She went through a phase of carrying around a stool so she could see us doing everything!

Which included Thanksgiving dinner!!

Here she is helping her "Auntie" make the Green Bean Casserole.

So, what is new with Miss Alexis Victoria?!! Hmmm...what isn't new with our princess. She is not only day potty trained but decided to night potty train herself because she didn't like waking up wet BUT it involved us getting her used to getting up and going to the potty by herself if she wants to go at night. We had a few days there where she woke us up to go potty. Now, the light stays on in the bathroom so she doesn't have to wake us up. SCORE!!! She is doing very well in school and is starting to take interest in writing letters and is asking us "what that word says and which letters are in it". As we get closer to the BIG THREE, we of course are going through the 20 questions phase which keeps mommy and daddy on their toes quite a bit! We really don't have any more temper tantrums but she has been going through a phase of whining when she doesn't get her way because she now knows we have figured out when she is scheming us!! And of course we will always continue to battle the "listening" part but she's getting better at listening to us even when she doesn't want to do it. She is always very curious and you can hold a full on conversation with her which has made things super easy especially with little man getting ready to be on the move. She is still in her "DORA" phase but this year she when she sat on Santa's lap(it only took 3 years), she asked for a bunch of princess stuff, like dolls, dresses, nail polish...that kind of thing. She really has taken an interest in watching Disney movies in which we are grateful for a change of programs. But she will sit through an entire movie like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and most recently Tangled. She loves all the holiday specials though so we are pretty much on repeat with those right now with our DVR.

Daddy was off one Friday so he took Alexis to see Santa and then they went to Build a Bear so she could build one for her brother. That is her gift to John this Christmas. She definitely has coordination skills with a matching baseball outfit on the bear.

She continues to amaze us with her personality, creativity, humor, and just her knowledge of how the world works. For example, when it rains, she tells us that the trees/grass/flowers are happy because they were thirsty!

When it finally got cold in Houston, she LOVED wearing her "Poofy" jacket as she called it when it was time to head out the door to school.

Pajama day at school...yes..that's right..SILK DORA PJ'S!!! (From Gigi)

Our awesome little girl!!! She has become way more girly these days in wanting her hair up and wearing her "pretty shoes" that I had to find on Amazon of all places!

We had quite the little helper when it came to decorating the house this year for Christmas. She was so excited to open new boxes, put ornaments in a certain spot on the tree and helping mommy find a spot for everything. I just loved it when we had everything up, she sat down and looked at everything and said, "Momma, the house looks beautiful!! I loved the way you decorated it. I will be sad when Christmas is over and everything has to go back in the boxes." 

 PRICELESS!!

She really does help out a lot with John and is happy to do what we ask if we need her help on something. She can't wait until he starts crawling!! Not sure if we are ready for 2 mobile kids!!

We had several family Christmas gatherings so far and the first one she got a chef set, complete with apron, cheft hat and cake with serving utensils. SHE LOVED IT!! And it goes perfect with her kitchen at home.

Playing on the floor since Little man can sit up now.

Here Lexi is at her second family Christmas and she is so pumped about this bucket full of animals!! She loved it!! She also got a singing/dancing little dolly that made her and John laugh. She had pajama day the same day of this gathering and the only way I could get her out of her Dora PJ's, was to put her in a dress. I wasn't going to make her dress up, just jeans and a Christmas shirt but she wanted to go all out. We have plenty of dresses so NOT a problem.  

Our big girl!! Can't believe she's almost 3!! Who would've thought she started out as 5 pounds 7 ounces!

Me and my Lexi Bug!!!

SOOOOOOOO....what in the world is going on with John James?!! Well, we are definitely having a hard time keeping him well. Since he turned 4 months his poor ears just can't seem to stay well. He was diagnosed with his 4th Double Ear Infection today as well as an eye infection which according to the DR go hand in hand. So, we will start talking specialists or tubes(maybe) when we have our follow up with the DR after this round of medication. He doesn't get all that fussy and his sleep/eat patterns don't mess up but his nose just becomes a faucet. Sometimes he runs a fever and sometimes he doesn't. But it sure seems we have been at the DR way more than we were with Alexis. All the DR visits during the first year...AHHH!!

Other than his ear infections, John really is a happy go lucky baby..very smiley and flirty!!

We had our 6 month check up and he was 19 pounds and 27 inches long. He got 2 teeth when he turned 6 months and was able to sit up by himself at 7 months. And now that he can sit up, roll, the new thing is to inchworm all over the floor but backwards. We don't go forward yet but he's starting to rock and pick up his backside so we will probably have a crawler in a few months. We will all be happy since he is so bored staying in one spot and being able to get to where he wants to go and also seeing what his sister is up to.

Figuring this stuff out....

Class of 2031 and 2033 right here!!

Gotta love a little man in a beany!

I'm not sure how he is only 19 pounds!!

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, we never find him where we leave him and he's never in the same spot in his crib after a night. He's always at the opposite end, facing a different direection or somewhere else!

This guy loves to reach and grab things. He will purposely lean over and try and grab whatever you are holiding or just play with your face/glasses, shirt if it has a zipper, ANYTHING!! So, we now have to make sure we tell Alexis to pick up all her toys because he will now roll/inchworm his way over to what he wants to check out.

He loves to stand and bounce/dance. He can shake those hips for sure. Getting ready for a bath here but I couldn't resist not taking pictures of my little man with no shirt on and his jeans.

Daddy on the floor playing with the kids. Notice how John is reaching for Lexi's hair!

Since we have a not so good napper on our hands, we have had to get creative with how to get him to sleep during the day so he doesn't become a complete nightmare and not end up napping at all during the day. He gets frustrated that he can't get comfortable when he's tired and this stroller seems to knock him right out. But he only naps for 30 minutes at a time!! Even if it's in his crib. Perserverance!!

All happy that he can sit up by himself!!

Rocking the mohawk.

Opening his first Christmas present

But who needs presents when I can just chew on the paper!

GIVE ME THAT CAMERA MOMMA!!

Seriously, I think I have had this green bow on my head long enough!

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY!! SEE YOU IN 2012!!

Happy Halloween

We definitely had a WONDERFUL Halloween this year. Alexis got so into it and their school always encourages the kids to wear their costumes for a day of fun and lots of candy of course. Daddy took the kids trick or treating while mommy stayed home and gave out candy to over 120 kids!! Crazy!!

Alexis is still in the Dora phase but is really starting to get into all the princesses so we let her pick her costume out this year and the winner was Snow White at the costume store. She loved the whole dressing up and actually kept her headband in all night. The red shoes she wore for her school pictures also went with this costume so she was really excited about getting to wear her "pretty" shoes again.

We had to "cut her off" in terms of going to more houses since it was getting late and she had school the next day but more importantly, her basket of candy was getting full!! What a difference a year makes. Last year she made it to only 5 houses, this year, it was close to 20!

Daddy got to "pick" little  man's costume this year so of course being the Star Wars junkie that Joe is, John went as Chewbacca!!!

My poor little prince...but he got a lot of compliments on his costume(go Amazon) and Alexis thought he looked like a Lion! LOL! I have to admit, the first time I saw him with the hood portion of his costume on his head, I couldn't stop laughing since the "fur" stood so high on his head and while I'm laughing at him, he is giggling at me, so it just made it that more awesome.

Trying on the costume when we got it....just right!

Getting ready to go trick or treating in his "Lexus" with his big sister and Daddy.

He loves his stroller!! And passed out after an hour in the stroller and riding around the neighborhhood while his big sister got her candy.

We look forward to both of them walking and talking next year and being able to do more things together. Our red wagon will be put to good use next Halloween!!

More posts to come..still very behind!