Growing

Doctors Appointment

Alexa's Stats

height 23 inches -20th percentile

weight 12 pounds 10 ounces -10th percentile

Yeah, on the growth chart now!

5 Month Birthday

Alexa is 5 months old today and I can barely believe it. Tonight we gave her rice cereal for the first time and she cried through the beginning as she tried to figure out what to do with the mushies in her mouth. Then we came up with a good plan...insert mushies quickly followed by the dubby (pacifier), watch for swallowing, and repeat. The hope is that she sleeps through the night tonight and continues to catch up with her growing. I love this sweet little girl so much. Her little smiles and giggles make me the happiest mommy ever.

Letter Pancakes

So this morning I got really creative with breakfast :). I thought I would make pancakes in the shape of letters to help reinforce Ethan's ABC's. There's nothing significant about the W and U but I just thought I would work on the letters he needs help with. Ethan loved it and ate a ton of pancakes. We then went on a hunt through the house to find things that started with the letters we were working on. He is one smart little man! What funny things do you do to get your kids to learn?

Ethanisms

Lately Ethan has said some of the cutest things ever so I thought I should get these down on "paper" before I forget them one day. The other day he said to me, "Mommy, you make my heart warm." Talk about melting mine...so cute how he used those words to express his feelings. Yesterday he said to Kevin, "Daddy, you're beautiful." That put a big smile on Kevin's face and mine. So funny. Kevin is also known as "Pal" and I am known as "Best Girl Pal". Baby Alex has also been called a few adorable things such as sweetheart, princess, and QT. I love my little man and the way he expresses his 3 year old self.

Big Bear

Every year we go up to Big Bear Lake during the summer with my family for vacation. We had a wonderful time again and Ethan and Alex loved the fun with their Nana, aunties, and uncle Dana. We missed uncle Shane this year who is stationed away with the Navy. I always look forward to the beautiful scenery...fresh air, tall trees, and the lake which always feels so amazing on a warm summer day. It is so fun just having hang out time with family, doing fun activities, cooking delicious food, and just relaxing. The weather was about 80 degrees all week and I never saw a single cloud in the sky. Speaking of the sky...it was the most beautiful shade of blue and at night the stars were so vibrant. I forget what a star filled sky is supposed to look like, sad. Some of our adventures this trip included checking out the Lake History building below then going for a hike, riding waverunners, pontoon boating, lots of swimming (lake and pool), biking, cooking and eating, basketball, tennis, video games, movies, and naps. We all came back feeling refreshed and tan while uncle Dana came back with a large laceration on his leg from biking. He is on the road to recovery now after stitches and lots of antibiotics. I hope the bike journey was worth it. All in all we had a great time and can't wait for next summer!This encounter gave meaning to the name Big Bear Lake.
We went for a beautiful hike with Uncle Dana. Here are the boys.

Enjoying the BBQ rib meal that my mom makes and my family looks so forward to eating every year. Pure yumminess after 4-5 hours of slow cooking in the oven then a quick grill.
On this day we spent the afternoon on a pontoon boat swimming in the lake, laying out, and having a picnic.
He was so happy to drive with his daddy.
Cool little man in his shades.

Had to include a pic of her in her swim suite and cover up given to her by Nana Snyder.We had so much fun swimming every day in this pool and sometimes even twice a day. This was Alexa's first time in the pool and she loved it. She couldn't stop kicking her little legs.