Lexie Boxing With Daddy

The best thing about having daughters is that girls can do anything boys can do but boys can not do everything that girls can do.

We both like to expose her to all sorts of sports and activities. Daddy who is an avid boxer for his hobby, enjoys his bonding time with Alexis in our boxing gym. Daddy gave Alexis mini boxing gloves to fit her small hands. She enjoys being active and practices her boxing moves on daddy only.

First Day of Ballet

Alexis started her first dance class at a new facility. She is going to the East Athens Dance Center. It is a beautiful facility and very state of the art. She will be taking ballet classes with her friend, Jade who is sitting behind her.

It's A School Day

I picked up Alexis from school and they made these cute hats with rhinestones and sparkles. Her friend Jade is in her class. They are so cute, I had to capture the moment.

Sisters Bonding

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Alexis and Isabelle are dressed alike which is not a rare occurrence. I attempted Izzie's first pony tail and I have to say it's the cutest pony tail I've ever seen. These photos just express how well the girls get along and have fun playing together.

Today I put Izzie on the potty chair for the first time. Izzie has been squatting a lot when she goes potty in her diaper so I thought maybe it's time to introduce the potty and have her get used to sitting on it. I have a hunch that Izzie will be easier to potty train than Alexis was. I am very hopeful!

CRHP Retreat

I woke up bright and early on Saturday at 7am. That is still night time for me. I went over to St. Joseph's Catholic Church for my first retreat. This was not just any ordinary retreat. It is called, Christ Renews His Parish Retreat. I went with my friend, Rachel who is also a parishioner.
The retreat began and all I can say is that it was amazing, emotional, peaceful, spiritual, and a renewal to my faith and commitment to God. I met so many wonderful women of the parish that I know I will become friends with outside of church. This weekend was priceless! I finally feel like a member of this parish. I finally know many people on very personal levels.
Every friday for the next 6 months, I will be working with my new CRHP sisters to organize the next retreat and to continue my faith formation.

Lexie Sings Acapella

When we have birthdays at our house, it is not uncommon to sing Happy Birthday for days after your birthday. Lexie is all about birthdays for everyone!
Note how Izzie is dancing and tries to blow out the "candles" too.
Alexis told me that the pink baby toy potty chair she is holding is the cake.

Fun Pics and a Picnic

These are just some random pics from this week. I love it when Izzie gets all messy when we eat pasta of any kind. Both kids love, love, love Spaghetti O's. They make a royal mess but I am just happy they gobble it all up and usually ask for seconds. Due to the messiness of their favorite meal, I usually make Izzie go shirtless since she is anti-bib and Lexie will happily wear a bib so she doesn't stain her shirt. But I noticed in this picture she is spotted in the background shirtless too.
At one point while I was folding laundry, I spotted Lexie and Izzie having a quiet picnic (on the quilt I finally finished for Lexie), eating snacks out of a stainless steel mixing bowl. I was happy I caught the moment because they were interacting so nicely.

I Got 100%!

I took my first Microcomputers exam yesterday and I got 100%!! I have a 99.7% in the class. I am so happy and proud of myself. This class is very hands on and requires very little reading which I love. I am so estactic that I had to share with everyone.

Play-doh Fun

Alexis got the play doh out and made me some cookies and an ice cream cone. They were delicious! Play doh is a regular entertainment tool while I cook dinner.

Tonight, I met my friends, Lindsay and Jessica for dinner and a movie. We try to get together once a month. We ate at Dos Palmas which is normally a great experience but they were really busy tonight and clearly did not have enough staff working because we waited about 30 minutes before the server got our drink orders. Luckily we were not in any hurry. After dinner, we went to the cheap theater and saw the movie, Australia. It was alright but very long. It was nearly 3 hours and in some parts the movie dragged. But I had fun going out with the girl friends!

Playdate Birthday Party

After I picked up Lexie at school, we went to Joshua's birthday party. Laura (Joshua's mom) went all out as usual. Yummy food, super decorations and fun for everyone. The kids and I had so much fun that I didn't take any photos. I know that is not like me.
We went to the store and for the first time, I told Alexis to go pick out 3 things that Joshua would like for a present. She picked out a pink Matchbox car (she was certain that Joshua would like the pink one), a dinosaur toy and play-doh. I was really impressed with her picks. Part of me thought she would pick out girlie toys but she went straight to the boy aisle.
We had such a busy morning, I was just exhausted by the afternoon. I was ready for a nap for sure but had to work while the girls napped. That's just not fair.

Lexie says Our President...

Presidential Inauguration

We watched the Presidential Inauguration this morning. I felt like I was watching a moment of history that would be talked about for decades to come. It took some getting used to saying President Obama. I am trying to teach Alexis to say it correctly. For now, she says "Presitent Nobana". I have to say even though she says his name incorrectly, it's cute!

Dane's Big 3-0 Birthday

Dane turned the big 30 today. He called me from work telling me he didn't want to be 30 anymore. What's the big deal? I guess I'll find out soon enough.
He told me on more than one occasion he absolutely did not want a party. So I planned a date night instead.
Before we went out on our date, we had an ice cream cake and gave presents to Daddy. When the girls went to Picture People, I purchased the above blown up black and white framed photo for his birthday present. I hid it in my closet (covered with some blankets) which Dane never goes near with fear of my collection of purses and shoes. When my nephew slept over a week ago, Dane went into my closet to get some blankets and he comes running out with the picture and a huge smile on his face. I stink at hiding things! I need some new hiding spots. Of course he said he would've never gone in there with this one exception of the need of spare blankets. Oh well, he received his gift early.
MeMaw came over to watch the girls and we went to dinner at Harry Bissett's which is New Orleans flare. It was delicious!!! I had crab cakes and they were the best in Athens hands down. Dane had Oysters Bien and Oysters Rockefeller which I even liked. They were so fresh and did not taste fishy at all. Our server said they fly the oysters in from New Orleans. Apparently they are in season right now and are super big. I wish I would have taken a picture because I have never seen an oyster so huge before.
After dinner, we saw the movie, My Bloody Valentine 3D. I wanted to see it just because it was 3D. It was definitely not scary. I would categorize this movie into the cheesy horror flicks category. Bad acting, bad script and very predictable. But the 3D part was cool. However I felt a little scammed because we had to pay $10.50 each for the movie because of the 3D glasses rental. What a jip! I don't recommend this movie. I was bummed that we didn't end up seeing Valkyrie after all even though that is not my type of movie.
Other than the movie flop we had a nice night out together.

Donuts In Bed

The girls and I had a lazy morning and stayed in our pajamas much longer than we normally do. Dane had an early morning and surprised Lexie and I with donuts in bed. He came home with our favorite, chocolate with sprinkles for me and pink strawberry frosting with sprinkles for Lexie. Delicious! What better way to start the morning then with a sugar high.

Izzie Playing Trains at INK

More INK Photos

INK Field Trip

I arranged for our Mom's group to go to Interactive Neighborhood for Kids (INK) in Gainesville, GA which is about 45 minutes away from Athens. We planned it well as far as the timing. There was an elementary school field trip there in the morning so we all met at 11am and had lunch first and by the time we were finished with lunch the elementary kids were done with their field trip. It was nice that the exhibits were not crowded and the kids really enjoyed all the fun activities such as playing in the grocery store, post office, 50's diner, vet clinic, hospital, library, construction site, train, fire truck, police car and play ground.
My favorite was when Erinn (Jade's mom) played cashier at the grocery store. She is shown in the picture where she is holding the banana to her ear. I played security, guarding the exit of that room so I could keep track of my children. Isabelle seemed to always want to run the opposite direction of Alexis.

Gymnastics

Here are a few pictures I took when I observed one of Lexie's Gymnastics classes. They have a stage area for parents to observe classes whenever we want. The other girls in the photos are Lexie's friends, Jade and Rocio Grace.

Lexie's 1st Day of School

Lexie had her first day of school today. She started a program through the county called Gym 'n Learn. It meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am to 11am. The first hour is Gymnastics and the second hour is spent learning pre-k material such as letters, numbers, colors, etc.
Her friends Jade and Rocio Grace from our playgroup are also in her class. It is nice that she knows a couple of the girls. Lexie seems to really like her teacher, Ms. Elizabeth or as she says "Miss Elizabit". I enrolled her into 2 sessions so she will continue these classes until the end of April. At the beginning of May they will have a graduation ceremony complete with cap and gown. How cute will that be?!? I am such a proud parent!

MNO-Transmetropolitan

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We had Mom's Night Out (MNO) at Transmetropolitan. They opened a restaurant on the westside of Athens and apparently a lot of people had the same idea to go there for dinner. To say it was busy would be an understatement. It was nice but had some things left to be desired such as an extreme lack of parking, lack of noise buffering within the restaurant (I couldn't hear what was being said on the other side of our table it was so loud), and strange seating arrangements. The pizza was good as you can see above, Melissa just couldn't choose. Why have one slice of heaven when you can have two? She is such a good sport when I want to take pictures.
By the way, this is the second time I have not been carded and it is a little depressing. Getting carded when purchasing an alcoholic beverage is flattering to me. I guess it is a good thing that I no longer resemble a youthful 21 year old...I can't imagine myself in some of those pre-birthing hip fashionista outfits such as skinny jeans, short mini skirts with leggings and super high stillettos.

Playdate at Bishop

Alexis is holding a stick to her head because she said she was a unicorn.

Max and Izzie are typically found together at all playgroups. They are like peas and carrots. I'm estactic that Izzie has found friends within our playgroup too.


We were at Bishop Gym bright and early at 9:30 this morning for Alexis to meet her new teacher, Ms. Elizabeth who will be her teacher for Gym 'n Learn. Lexie's friends, Jade and Rocio Grace are also in her class. They had so much fun playing in the Gymnastics Gym. Between jumping on the extra large trampolines, riding the slide, crawling through tunnels and playing on the various sized beams, I was sure the girls would have good naps today. I wish I had took pictures because it is so neat!

After meeting Lexie's teacher, we went outside to the playground and meet several mom's from our play group there. The kids gathered around the ever exciting drinking fountain as usual but the fun was eventually interrupted after fire ants began defending their territory. We were the first to leave today. After having an early start to the day, I was exhausted. I am happy I left when I did because shortly thereafter apparently 3 sketchy adults arrived to the park and started "playing" on the tire swing before running out all of the other moms from our playgroup. Nowadays you just can't be too careful. You never know who is good and who is dangerous. It's just best not to put yourself and your children in a sketchy situation.

Lexie's Trip to The Dentist

We went to the Dentist and it was a pleasant experience as always. They are truly wonderful with kids! Above you can see how the Hygienist cleaned Pinkie Pie Pony's teeth. Alexis was a little hesitant with Mr. Thirsty (the suction). This was her 2nd visit and I was so impression how brave she was when she got her x-rays all by herself. There was a little bit of bad news. Alexis has a cavity which is a poor reflection of my flossing or lack there of. Immediately after arriving back home, I typed up cute reminders for me and put them in both bathrooms so I can be reminded to floss her teeth twice per day. I am happy to report that I have not missed a single flossing (with Mr. String) since her appt. I have been really good at taking extra time on cleaning her teeth thanks to all of the guilt that overcame me after finding out she needs to get a cavity filled. Ugh! The big decision is laughing gas or sedation?? The Dentist didn't sway me either way even though I was trying to get her to. Dane wasn't much help either. I haven't decided what I am going to choose as of yet. I am leaning more toward laughing gas because she seems to be able to sit still and well enough with the Dentist in her mouth.
I am so proud of what a big girl she is. Lexie did fantastic and of course we didn't leave the Dentist office without our goodies (toothbrush, Mr. String (floss) and balloon) and getting her nails painted because after all she is a Princess according to the Dentist and I happen to agree.

Photo Shoot