Thursday, August 19, 2010

Bike Rides, Bus Stops, and Banana Muffins



We are really get brave these days. Paul bought a bike from Walmart, so that we can go on bike rides as a family. Our friends gave us the trailer for Linc. and here we are. We took our first 'official" bike ride last night. Of course, the girls are still very reluctant and on training wheels. They take after their dad! LOL. I end up running with them, instead of riding my bike. There are a lot of "help, Mom, I can't make it up the big hill!". So instead of getting off my bike every 5 minutes,I just run with them. We must be a site to see! I enjoyed every minute of it. I'm hoping the girls become a little more adventurous. At one point, I was in the lead of the pack. I kept saying "come on guys, you're on wheels and should be lightyears ahead of me.". Well, Mia picked up the pace and started yelling "I love hills, I love hills". KK, on the other hand was talking to herself (out loud) and saying "Push, push, push, push". She was telling her legs what to do. She kept telling me that the headband with the bead, that she was wearing, was helping her push. I just agreed. Linc. just sat and enjoyed the show. Well, we do ride bikes, but not to school. We have finally agreed to allow the girls to ride the Yellow Banana to school. I was very reluctant, at first. But they are only on the bus for about 10 minutes, if even that. And, the kids are so nice here. The moms are great too. We all walk the kids to the busstop in our pjs! Of course, today was another story. I came out of the house and heard the bus sitting at the stop. I about spilled my coffee as I grabbed the girls and said "hurry ,let's run!". We usually don't walk through wet grass but today we ran through our wet yard and hustled down the street. Apparently, the bus came early and other moms were doing the same thing. I didn't feel too terribly bad. I thought I was gonna have to carry poor little Mia. She was in tears and trying to run as fast she could with her backpack swinging all over the place. We then rushed our good-bye kisses and off they went. Speaking of the Yellow Banana, we are now making gluten-free banana muffins. It's a long story, but I have taken the girls off of gluten, wheat, dairy, and few other things. I've seen a 100% change in my oldest and am still trying to figure out things with Mia. We are hoping and praying to have some food intolerance (IgG) tests run this month. They are not covered by insurance and very expensive. So, in the meantime we are learning to cook in a whole different world. I never knew there could be so many flours : brown rice, white rice, corn flour, coconut flour, tapioca flour etc.............. The girls are doing great with it and feeling better. Thank you Denise McDowell for guiding me in the right direction. Moms out there, keep us in your prayers!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What Does a Mom Do With Her Prince...........


Well both girls are in school and what to do with my Lincoln?? Well, we typically do P90x together each day. Next we haves some moments of dance to Alicia Keys, Lady Gaga, Maxwell, Chris Tomlin, Pearl Jam.......whatever I'm in the mood for. He runs into the living room as soon as I turn on the music and starts break dancing. I love it!! Well, besides dancing, there is cooking. He loves to grab his little chair and watch me cook. He also likes to put his cars on the counter and run them into my mixer. Changing clothes is important to him. His favorite outfit is the old speedo swim suit that someone gave us. It's so tight and goes down to his knees. Looks like biker shorts that I wear when biking. He likes to put his old hoody on to match it. Now, the hoody is a size 3months and so it only covers half of his belly. Of course, we have to pull the hood up too! So yeah, that's my prince. He will be very well rounded one day. And yes, when I'm not looking, he sneaks up to the kitchen counter and steals cookies, pulls all of my clothes out of my dresser, dumps out the silverware, puts his toothbrush in the toilet, washes his trains in the dog's water, and anything else that might seem destructive or fun!

Dreams Do Come True........My girls Like to Scrapbook!!





They have been begging me for the last 2 years to scrapbook with them. But I wanted to wait until they could write. Now they can write and they did a fabulous job on starting their very first scrapbook. I just picked up those black/white memo books that are .25 right now. We opened up one page at a time and started choosing pictures. It's not all perfect or completely acid free etc.......but it's a start and it was fun!!! I love to see what pictures they chose and what they wanted to write. They each wanted to put birthday pictures of each sibling in their books. They love their birthdays. I mean who doesn't? Birthdays are a VERY big deal in the Alexander house. We don't spend gobs of money but we do celebrate another year with our precious babies! If you do not spend time celebrating, then you should reconsider. When we make that day special, we are essentially saying "Daughter, you are important to us and we want you to know how glad we are that you were born!"

I'm No Artist.........but..............




I finally finished painting the girls' room. I painted it green the day after we arrived in Atlanta but hesitated on getting the flwoers and birds up. I was so nervous!! Well, I took the plunge and just free-handed it all. Why not? I know, it's not professional or high grade but the girls seem to like it. We call it the "Fairy Garden". I feel like the room has it's special ingredient that each kid's room needs, love. My love is painted all over those walls. It may not look great but there is love in there!! :-)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Entering 1st Grade and Kindergarten





Well, 2 of my babies are in school now. Lincoln kept saying "bye bye" while we were dropping them off. I wonder how sad he will be today. The girls were so excited and picked out their clothes, lunches, and snack for school today. Everything was smooth without a tear or hitch. Even daddy remained tearless. I can't wait to hear about their 1st day. I"m excited and praying that they will be lights in their new school and show compassion and leadership in their classrooms. I"m also praying for their teachers.........give them patience!! LOL. I'm excited!