Silly Honky Cat

Alex's current favorite songs are "Bennie and the Jets" and "Honky Cat" by Elton John. He doesn't like when I sing along, but he belts them out loud and clear from the backseat. We also refer to Scooter as a "silly honky cat".

Other favorite things include:

Train table

Cutting paper

Using stickers

Playing board games

Eating Halloween candy

Dancing and Singing along to children's CD's (and the occasional Elton John)

Reading books

Anything on PBS

Mickey Mouse and Tigger, although I just rented the Tigger Movie and he does not seem interested in watching this...

Helping me "cook", a.k.a. stir things

Tomorrow Alex's preschool is putting on a musical performance for the parents, so he's been practicing the songs at home, which is very cute. We'll be sure to take some photos at the event!

"Wow, Your Cool Appeal Just Took a Major Hit"...

Because we're just that old.

Easy to Impress

Alex is somewhat easy to impress. I wasn't sure what we should do today but knew I needed one thing from the mall so off we went. Alex loves this particular mall for several reasons, mainly the carousel in the food court. We spent hours there today shopping, playing on the indoor play structure, shopping some more, eating lunch, riding the carousel, and checking out all the Christmas trees at Macy's! He was in heaven!

Then, we found these "try me" massage chairs in the household section of Macy's, you know, the kind with the remote control. Mommy was in heaven! Alex was giggling so loud while getting his "massage" that the workers would come over to check out what was so funny :) I bet we spent a good 15 minutes there getting our back massages!! It was a good substitute for the pregnancy massage I can no longer have due to being in my third trimester, sigh. My fault for waiting too long I guess.

Preschool Halloween Party

We'll cut the preschool some slack because it was the first year they have thrown a Halloween Party like this, but waiting outside in line for 20 minutes in the 45 degree temps and winds gusting to 30mph was not all that much fun. Once we got through the line and inside the building though, Alex had a great time playing all the games and trick or treating around the gym. All of the kids had such great costumes and looked so super cute.

Alex has loved eating so many treats this weekend and cannot wait to go trick-or-treating Friday afternoon. Luckily his costume is warm because it is awfully chilly up here already. We were nervous that the other parents wouldn't dress up for this party, but about 50% of them did so we didn't feel too out of place. I think Alex's favorite costume sightings were Batman, Spiderman, and the Little Mermaid!

Party All the Time!

Arts and Crafts Time
Alex loves cupcake icing!

Jaydon, Alex, Josh, Vanessa, Barbara, Emily, and Thomas. None of the kids wanted to pose for this photo as it was just prior to dessert and they were itching for those special treats!

This weekend was a weekend of parties. Saturday night we threw a Halloween party with the neighbors and all of Alex's friends were there. There was Minnie Mouse, Elmo, 2 Witches, a Skeleton, a Pumpkin, a Power Ranger, and of course TIGGER!! Alex was thrilled to wear his costume for hours, as opposed to last year when we had to wrestle him into the costume as guests were arriving. Hopefully the party was as "sweet" as Alex had anticipated!

"Mom, this party is going to be sweet!"

Today Alex and I started getting together the decorations for the Halloween party we are having on Saturday. I hung up this oversized scarecrow on the back of the front door and Alex told me "that looks beautiful". Then as we started digging out our pumpkin craft kits Alex said "Mom, this party is going to be sweet!" I guess he is pretty excited about it, but where did he learn the word "sweet" in reference to fun events? I just laughed and laughed! Here's a photo of Alex tonight with his completed tiger project that Gigi sent in the mail.

Alex has also been finding creative things to do while I rest on the couch some afternoons. Yesterday he made this funny train track out of my belt, play food, and wooden animals. Today he's been battling off and on with the Rubik's cube. He seems awfully determined to solve the cube and has asked me several times to help him figure it out. Maybe when Brad gets back in town, the two of them can work on this...

Fun with the CrockPot

Have you all seen this website? What a fabulous idea! A mom who resolved to use her crockpot everyday of the year!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

I just spent a good hour perusing her crockpot recipes and saved several as "favorites" that I would like to try out in the near future. I love using my crockpot so this will be fun. Now, what to make for dinner tonight, hmmm....

Visit from Grandma

Grandma Eileen is here this weekend and she arrived Friday just in time for the big St. Raymond's Children's Resale event! We had fun searching for deals Friday night and came home with several "finds". She and Alex spent this morning cutting paper, Alex's favorite past time!

Today we all took Alex to see Playhouse Disney Live at the Rosemont Theatre. Alex didn't get too squirrely until the end of the show and definitely got a kick out of seeing Mickey Mouse and Tigger live on stage. I think he was a little unsure when it came to Little Einsteins and Handy Manny as we do not get the Disney Channel, but he was entertained nonetheless. Luckily he did not push the issue of buying an $18 souvenir spinning flashlight and settled for a box of popcorn instead :)

I had a doctor's appointment Friday morning and all remains well on the baby front. I'll have my gestational diabetes test next week sometime and have another appointment in just 3 weeks.

Halloween is in the Air

Alex, 5 months old

Tonight was very mild outside so we decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and check out the Halloween decorations. We remember doing this in Houston when Alex was very small--walking around, looking at Halloween and Christmas decorations. He has always loved looking at inflatables and things that light up. Sometimes we even go to Target just to walk around the holiday-themed aisles. This year though he has been especially frightened by the scarier scenes, including decorations that make sounds or move when you walk in front of them. It is generally cooler here in December so we may save the Christmas light viewing for small car rides rather than walks with the stroller!

Brad and I have also been looking feverishly to find a cute Halloween costume idea for a pregnant couple. You wouldn't believe how many suggestions are out there on the Internet, some of which are hilarious!! I think we've settled upon something cute, funny, practical, and very affordable so hopefully it works out. It has to be appropriate for both our Halloween party here at home and Alex's family preschool party the next day.

Touch-A-Truck

Alex's preschool was closed on Friday while they hosted a large Touch-A-Truck event in the parking lot. They had every kind of truck available for the kids to climb on and toot the horns (Alex's favorite part!). His faves were the garbage truck, cement mixer, fire truck, and school bus. Alex and Vanessa truck-hopped around the parking lot, collecting lollipops as they went. They were on a major sugar high (then low) by the end of the morning! There was even a Joliet PD truck there making photo ID cards for the little ones and fingerprinting them.

Interesting Family Tree...

Tonight was Alex's Preschool Open House. He showed Brad and I around his classroom and we picked up his "family tree". According to Alex:

"Daddy just cook"

"Alex like to cook with Dad"

"Mommy likes to do dishes"

I don't know how much prompting the kids had from their teacher as they created this family tree, but it was definitely a surprising segregation of duties for Mommy and Daddy. Maybe he gave into peer pressure and this was what the other kids were saying so he felt compelled to use their ideas. Either way, we double checked to make sure we had the right project with the name "Alex" on it in the class.

The kids were also greeted by a visit from Clifford the Big Red Dog, which Alex was very excited about! Alex loved showing off his hopping skills as he conquered the obstacle course that the P.E. teacher had set up as well.

Grandparent's Dance

Today was the Grandparent's Dance at Alex's Preschool. When Grandma Kathy and Gigi arrived, the kids sang a song together, showed the grandparents around the classroom and made a cute picture frame craft. Then they went to the gym where there were cookies and juice for everyone, along with lots of loud music and dancing. Everyone seemed sufficiently "danced out" by the time I picked them up for lunch!

DuPage Children's Museum

There is an awesome Children's Museum in Naperville, IL and it is one of Alex's favorite places to spend the day exploring! We packed a picnic lunch with Gigi and Grandma Kathy and had lots of fun checking out the bubble exhibits, building blocks, pirate ship, wind tunnel, and more! It was a great way to spend a rainy day :)

25 Weeks

Ok, I look like I swallowed one of the pumpkins out in the field here, but this is my 25 week photo shoot at the farm. I've been feeling good except for some lower back pain that I do not remember having with Alex. My eyesight is also slightly off kilter so I haven't been able to spend as much time on the computer or reading books and magazines as I would like. Tonight Alex and I struggled through an I-Spy book at bedtime. I really didn't want to call Brad into the room to have him find the objects for us so it just took much longer than anticipated.

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Alex battled croup this week and actually had a slightly worse case than he usually gets. He gets croup fairly often, about as often as others might get the common cold :( He skipped preschool earlier in the week, but by this weekend he was back to his happy, non-barking self! He actually thinks it is funny to do impressions of himself as "Barky the Seal" (our little nickname for him when he's sick).

Saturday we hit the pumpkin farm with Alex's godmother Karen and her husband Chris who live nearby. Alex had fun picking out his favorite pumpkin, but seemed more impressed by the farm machinery and rocks in the barn! He had a great time playing on the playground and inside the playhouses they had set up. He even jumped around on some huge piles of hay!