I know, I know...

Its been way too long. Lets see if I can recap the holidays. We did all sorts of fun things for Christmas-We had a wooden tree advent calendar that we did every morning along with a chocolate one too. Alex was very quick to remind me of both of them if we didnt do it first thing in the morning. We baked cookies and made a gingerbread house. We took a horse drawn carriage ride downtown to see the lights. Alex slept the entire time we waited in line and luckily woke up when it was our turn. We went to Santa's Magical Kingdom which has about 2 million lights. She was pretty mesmerized by them all. We enjoyed a brisk day in Old Town St Charles and saw the Santa parade. Grants Farm was another Christmas highlight. They had a nice light display and Alex got to see real reindeers and penguins. We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw the holiday train show which she really enjoyed. It was a beautiful day so we walked around the grounds for the traditional sheep photo op and of course had to feed the koi fish in the japanese garden. We almost got a photo with Santa there but at the last minute Alex decided that just wasn't happening. Santa photos were not to be this year, we tried several places and far away he was great but no way was she sitting on his lap.









Alex got to open a new pair of PJ's and a new board game Christmas Eve. She did a pretty good job playing Pooh Candyland even if she doesn't follow the rules. Then it was setting out the magic reindeer food and carrot for Rudolph and milk and cookies for Santa and then off to bed.






The next morning brought an overflowing stocking and lots of presents under the tree. We made the mistake of letting her open her new doll and its accessories first and just about everything paled in comparision to it. Some other favorites were her new posable puppy dog, her tin top and keepsake felt name book I made her.







Then it was off for a few fun filled days with Grandpa & Grammy and Mimi & Poppa. Unfortuantly a case of strep throat marred the visit but after a visit to the doc she was soon feeling back to her old self.
That left just about enough time to get all the Christmas decorations taken down and the birthday decorations put up. She started her day following the golden ribbon to her Cherished Teddies for age 2. After that, we had a tea party for her birthday since its one of her favorite things to do of late. We all ended up with very sweet tea since Alex had so much fun with the sugar cubes. She got lots of Melissa and Doug wood beads and lacing cards and such, The Littlest PetShop house with lots of doggies and kitties(which she calls the bulldog one-Dada), some charms for her bracelet to commemorate the previous year, and probably the best-a mini trampoline with handle. She has a blast jumping on that thing.





Thats it for the holidays. I'll update on every day life very soon, promise