Alexander Gators Kick Off the Season

Well we've had a blast cheering on our favorite team with some new friends, this would include traveling to TN to see them win!

2 New Pets

Well, wouldn't you know that both our girls brought home the class pet for Labor Day weekend. I've never seen so many smiles in one house and never heard so many giggles and glees. I thought they were going to burst! Kennedy was chosen to bring home Guber, the class hamster and Mia was chosen to bring home Queen Lilly, the class Lion. So we spent all weekend playing with Lilly and Guber. I do think Guber received more attention though, since he's 'real'. We took pictures of each creature in about every scenario: in the trees, in the mailbox, in the mixer, on top of Clifford's head, in a toilet paper tube. The girls kept posing the pets for scrapbook pictures. And of course, we put together scrapbook pages for the class scrapbook. Kennedy and Mia thrived and glowed from ear to ear as they decorated their pages for school. It was a blast. Thank goodness they both have fun and creative teachers.

Snug As A Bug In a Rug

Kennedy has become quite the little snuggle bug these days. Funny thing is that she wasn't so snuggly in her younger days. Now, she's always climbing you and hugging you. Mia is that way too, but she was born a snuggler. This morning, I went in to wake the girls up for school and found KK on Mia's bed. Now these are only twin sized beds and a bit cramped. But, KK was all snuggled up by her sister. When I woke them up, KK said "I wanted to snuggle Mia." My heart melted and then Mia did a very grouchy thing. She threw KK's blanket on the floor cause she didn't want it on her bed and just gave KK a dirty look. Awww......sisters. So tonight, KK snuck out of bed and asked if she could sleep with my blanket or pillow. I have a throw blanket that I've had since High School. Paul always teases me about it but I love sleeping with it under my head. Well anyhow, the girls always take turns sleeping with it and sometimes stealing my pillow. I love it though. Sometimes I will say "it's mommy's turn to sleep with her own blanket." I guess I'm still young at heart too. I love my blanket. :-)

He's Not a Baby Anymore..........

Since when did he get so big? He decided to potty train last week. He looked up at me while I was doing a P90X video and said "poppy!" He then pointed to the bathroom and off he went. I followed him in there, just for fun. I thought it was another false alarm. Wouldn't you know, a small stream of pea tinkled out and the bathroom turned into a room full of celebration and clapping. We called daddy and told him the great news. Well, for about 6 days he walked around in his sisters' underpants cause I didn't have any boy's underpants and didn't know how serious he was about this potty business. He was serious. He actually pooped for daddy on the potty. At which, I received a phone call, while I was grocery shopping. Again, much clapping and celebration. Oh, let's not forget how excited Lincoln is about getting treats for going potty. Of course, it's just a piece of Applejacks cereal. So, we went to Target on Monday and the boy has his own underpants now! He calls them "his guys" because they have Spiderman and other super heroes on them. I love it. He's growing so fast. I heard him crying this morning and I went in and crawled in bed with my little prince. He laid there and spoke so quietly to me with his soft little voice. We were head to head on a pillow. He told me that he wanted to ride bikes with daddy and that Mia and KK were on the bus. I said yes. He then played with my hair and proceeded to get out of bed and find every stuffed animal and lay them on top of me. I was under a mountain of blankets and stuffed animals. My heart melted. One day he'll be in high school and all grown up :-( I'm just cherishing now.

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!

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!! :-)

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!

Lucky

In case you were wondering..........he's doing great! So many have asked about Paul and he really is in his element (I think). Not 100% sure about man's opinion but I'm proud of him and I know that his heart pleases God..........enough for me! Thanks for the prayers and encouragement! xoxo

I Cherish Now

"Hey now, this is my desire, sue(consume) me like a fire, cause I just want something beautiful to touch me I know that I am in reach cause i am down on my knees waiting for something beautiful" These are lyrics from Needtobreathe, Something Beautiful. As you can see, I'm great at botching up lyrics. I thought he was saying "sue me like a fire". My husband is quite amused as we sing together in the car and I sing a totally different tune. For example, I love the song, Benny and the Jets. Just heard it in the movie, 27 Dresses, last night. I always thought he was singing "electric boobs", which makes no sense!!(please excuse, not trying to vulgar) Well then I had a 'duh' moment and thought "how dumb am I?". He is really singing "electric booTs!" oh yeah!! Well, one day while singing in the car with my love bunny, he informed me that it was "electric moves!!". Oh gosh! I also found the correct title for the song "Beast of Burden" by The Rolling Stones. It's the song that Jack Nichol's wife, in the movie Family Man, is singing in the shower. Anyhow, I thought it was "I'll never be a big suburban". Then I thought it was "I'll never be your piece of burden". Well when you don't know the right words, it makes it awfully hard to find and buy on itunes. urrrr

Well, anyhow, I love Needtobreathh and their song Something Beautifull. I feel like God is trying so hard to make something beautiful out of our family. I am finding myself looking at things through a different lense (I never was one to look at things through rose colored glasses!!) However, I find myself feeling a little more grateful and finding less and less to complain about. Really people, what have I ever had to complain about? God has bestowed amazing blessings upon our family. And you know what.........no matter what happens tomorrow, I must praise Him and find nothing to complain about. This past year, God has allowed me to personally look into some lives of others and well................I am grateful. I sit here in the mornings, drinking my coffee, reading the Word, listening to the kids play, and looking into the 'forest' in our backyard. I think "why are we so lucky?". I am just going to enjoy today for what it has to offer. Tomorrow is not promised. I cherish now.

She Obeyed the First Time!

I just made a new friend the other day. While visiting her, I noticed a jar of rocks that had writing on them. I inquired and she mentioned that whenever there was a "win" or something to celebrate, they wrote it down on a rock. I loved it!! I've been wondering what we were going to do with the 100 shells that we brought back from Mexico. I hate to be such a copy-cat; but it really is a simple and yet novel idea. So......we've been trying to get our kids to obey the FIRST time. Well, KK had her moment today and I thought I'd write it on a shell and put it on the table for her to see tomorrow morning at breakfast. Let's see what she says. I couldn't sleep tonight and I sat and stared at the shells and decided to make them into something cool. I really am proud of Kennedy. She obeyed right away today. Mia did not suck her thumb tonight. Lincoln actually went to bed without getting up 16 times to yell "Good Night!!" or "I'm tursty (thirsty)". He stayed in his big-boy bed and went to sleep. We are going to start the day of celebrating tomorrow morning. Thanks Denise for the great idea. Already, God has added wisdom to my life through a new friend.

14 Years of Joyfulness, Junk, and Jewels

Well here we are at 14 great years. Starting off was rocky for us but God had his hand in our lives the entire time and knew the future. He guided us gently through some junk that we each brought to the partnership called "marriage". Thank you Mike Davis, Dan Shows, and Laakes for stearing us towards hope. We can now celebrate with complete joyfulness, even after we saw one another's darkest moments. I think we love each other even more for that. I don't want fancy diamonds or jewels as gifts of love from my hubby. I just want him. Anyone, with the right amount of mula, can purchase a gorgeous jewel but only the lucky have husbands like Paul.

As you can see, we celebrated at a great restaurant, Canoe. We loved the food and were greatly surprised as we went to pay our bill. The waiter informed us that our meal had been paid for. A wonderful man, that Paul works with at North Metro, took care of our bill. What an amazing gift. Thank you to all that have taken care of us in one way or another. We know that many pray for us each day. Thank you!

Surprises This Week

Let's start by quoting my oldest daughter. Kennedy and Mia were sitting at the table eating lunch and Mia was chewing with her mouth open. (something younger siblings do to annoy the older ones)Paul and I both endured this torture when we were growing up. Anyhow Kennedy looked over at Mia and said, with tears in her eyes and with a very winey voice, "Mia, stop chewing with your mouth open, it hurts my feelings and makes my eyes embarrassed and it's not mannorly." I don't think mannorly is a word and how are her eyes embarrassed? I couldn't help but chuckle. Today I was practicing stealing kisses from Lincoln. He so rarely gives them but wanted to give me fishy kisses today. As he was diving in to give me a fishy kiss today, Clifford jumped in and licked me on the lips! Ewww, then Lincoln bulldozed Clifford in the side, as if to say "Hey, that's my mommy and that kiss was meant for me!". Well, one more surprise. We received a beautiful plant today from one of the small groups at North Metro. Today is our 14th wedding anniversary and I just love the large house plant and the thoughtfulness. How can I ever find anything to complain about? I'm even enjoying the humidity, grey skies and rain today. :-)

We Made It!!

Well the movers showed up over a week ago and packed up all of our earthly belongings. I quickly found out how "unattached" I was to my stuff as they shoved and yanked and threw things into boxes. It about crushed me but........it's just stuff. We then drove 27hours across the country and it was actually, no lies, quite fun!! We watched 2 videos a day, did school work, read books, ate lunch at picnic areas, and played dolls. We arrived to a clean and freshly painted home. Then the moving continued as the movers slammed the items into the home, bumped into everything, and couldnt' figure out up from down. Of course, God reminded me that "I don't really care about my stuff", as I always chant. So.........I don't and didn't say a word to them. It's just STUFF!! I did also realize that we have ALOT of stuff. Time to downsize again. Well, 2 days later our friends from IN and TN showed up to help hang, organize, and play games!! We had a blast. We played poker, Catan, watched movies, played freeze tag at night, little girls took baths together, painted toe nails, itched from mosquitoes, cooked pizza, etc..............ahhhh......I feel completely blessed. Thank you friends in AZ for sending us off in love and thank you GA for receiving us in love. We've had everything from meals, flowers, candles, towels/pillows, and cards delivered here to our new home. Thank you friends!! We are undeserving and so appreciative!!

Leaving AZ and Entering GA

I LIke Me

"For you formed my inward parts, you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in you book were written, every one of them. Ps. 139:13-15. Ahhhh....how refreshing to read that. I haven't read that passage since I was in college. It was the famous "anti-abortion" passage at my Liberty University days. But now I read it and really apply it to me. You know I really do like me! That may sound arrogant and boastful but why shouldn't a person like him/herself?? I have constantly felt guilty (in the past) about liking things about myself and instead pointing out the faults in my body/personality when really.........who cares?!! God's word says that "his works (that's me) are wonderful". I am wonderful. However, I am not a perfect person but a person with much potential. I know that I have a very outspoken personality and strong spirit. I have been called "weird" by close friends/family and have received the harsh stares that women are so comfortable at giving- otherwise called glares. But I'm really okay with that. The older I get, the more comfortable I become in this old, stretched out skin. I'm hoping that the older I become, the more Christ-like I become. That is the goal. I was just thinking about these things as I got ready this morning. I was just looking in the mirror and thought "I really do like me". Everyone else may not feel the same way but.......that's okay!! I hope you like yourself too. God thinks you are wonderful.