End of the year review

This year I decided to make these little tags to kind of sum up some of our year this year. I couldn't even come close to documenting everything so I opted for just photos of Aleksa during those months. Consider it our "holiday newsletter" Enjoy!

Today I took Aleksa to see The Princess and the Frog. I was really excited to take Aleksa to her first Disney Princess movie. Say what you will but I loved them as a girl and it was really fun to be able to take my own little girl to one. We were running late (literally- we ran to the ticket counter) and the nice lady at the theater let Aleksa in for free since she is two and then I bought her a little candy for the movie. Aleksa was holding our ticket stub tightly in her hand and said to me,

"Thanx Mom. I SO happy!"

As a side note, I thought the movie was great. I really liked it and I think Aleksa was a fan, even if she did cover my eyes for me when the shadow man was doing his evil deeds, I peeked she was covering hers too...

I not two...

In case you need an interpreter this is the gist of what is going on. Aleksa is telling us that she is not in fact two years old but she is the ripe old age of 27...

Christmas Countdown

We finally got together and made gingerbread houses. Ours wasn't quite a masterpiece but Aleksa had a great time sampling all of the candy.

I could just eat her up. How cute is she? The best part? I didn't even pull this machine out for her to use. I was frantically working on some orders and next thing I know Aleksa had pulled this out of my room and set it up with her stool as her table. She then took all of my scraps to sew lots of projects for me. They were beautiful. LOVE it.

Oh Wow

Of course baby had to make an appearance.

This is her version of a "cute smile."

Not there quite yet, note the crossed legs. hehe
Finally got a keeper.

Sorry for the lapse, between finals, open houses and just general craziness the blog took last priority. Tonight we went to our ward Christmas party it was great. Aleksa wore her new outfit that I made (out of this Alexander Henry fabric I just HAD to have. I had no idea what I was going to do with the fabric back in September all I knew is it was beautiful and I had to buy it. So this is what I did with the first cut and the second cut hopefully will be a Christmas apron.) Anyways- So earlier in the day Aleksa and I were driving home from Gymboree and errands, we stopped at Chic Fil A for a long overdue lunch. Here is the conversation that followed:

Aleksa: Need soup mom.

Me: I don't have any soup I got you nuggets.

Aleksa: Oh.

Me: Maybe we can have some soup for dinner tonight,

Aleksa: Yeah soup.

Me: (after I realize its the ward party) Actually do you know what we are going to do for dinner tonight?

Aleksa: (nothing)

Me: We're going to church for a party

Aleksa: Oh Wow. (her eyes were as big as saucers)

I think the ward party fulfilled her hopes and dreams- she spent most of the night dancing in her new skirt- funny no one else was dancing- I guess she danced to the music in her head.

Whew... it's over...

Wow. It had been a crazy two weeks at our house. School has been nuts for Cameron and we have been trying to make important decisions for the future. I have had two craft shows back to back- and spent the week in between them fighting off a nasty little cold. But here are some pictures from my big show- it was amazing! The sale went great- sold out of my advent calendars and got orders for more and the tiles went really well too. I also was able to actually enjoy the show and not be so worried and stressed this time around- surprising how much of a difference that makes. I am exhausted but happy and will have one more crazy week filling orders from shows and etsy before my much needed trip to Dallas to see family and eat some of Rick's FABULOUS smoked turkey!

Halloween Overload

Aleksa loved Halloween this year! Watching how magical it was for her made it that much better for us. She decided to be a witch this year after seeing her first choice (a clown) in real life. I decided to make her costume this year partly because my mom made ours when we were little and partly because there just aren't very many cute witch costumes out there. I was almost done with her costume when Cam insisted that every witch needs a cape- and Aleksa agreed so I let her pick out her own fabric for her cape- no joke and it turned to be the perfect finishing touch.

She practiced saying "Happy Halloween", "Trick or Treat" and the ever important "I'll get you my pretty...". However, did she ever say Trick or Treat to anyone while trick or treating no- but she did yell "I get you pretty" at random people while "riding" on her broom trick or treating. She also told one person who commented on her cute trick or treat bag "my mom make it for me" seriously- don't get me wrong it totally made my night but she wouldn't say trick or treat or thank you to the lady just that I made her bag. She loved getting all the candy and she did get a lot- between the ward trunk or treat, the downtown trick or treat the night before Halloween and the trick or treating on Halloween.

If you asked her what her favorite part was it was the train that we rode on Halloween. We took her to the Promenade (an outdoor mall) to trick or treat and they had a little train you would ride as soon as she saw it that was all she wanted to do. I'll let the pictures say the rest.

Home Alone

What do you get when you leave a dad and a baby home alone all Saturday morning while mom goes to work? Not the answer you think.....

You get a picture text of the cute breakfast he made for his little girl- their "spooky toast" and yes he used orange food coloring to make the toast orange... but wait that's not all- you also come home to a clean house. Don't I have the best husband?

Martha's My middle name

Well even Martha Stewart had to start somewhere, why not at a kitchen table in Arkansas- just as long as Aleksa doesn't end up in prison... Aleksa lOVES to do crafts especially all of my crafts that would be better without her help- so I harnessed her crafting into a project that was all her own and she loved it- we will be doing many more projects in the future.

Priceless

This is Aleksa with her Great Grandma Walker, who came out to visit last week. This is the only picture I took of Aleksa and Grandma in the whole week she was here- how lame am I? But I think this one is a keeper. Aleksa LOVED having Grandma all to herself. They played puzzles, read books, collected treasures outside and just talked.

How did we repay Grandma for her priceless hours of entertaining Aleksa- we took her to Mama Dean's (where she paid thus negating the whole us repaying her idea...) for the best soul food you will ever eat- no joke. You want to enter a blissful grease induced coma afterwards but it hurts so good. Am I getting old though? - it gave me heartburn this time and I had to take some antacids but oh just thinking about it makes my stomach grumble.

Grandma and Liny with their "redtops" fresh squeezed lemonade topped with fruit punch- it the sugar equivalent of an entire bag of Halloween candy in one jar.