Our Little Gymnast

Jilly and I are so EXCITED - gymnastics has begun!!! Yesterday was her first class and she woke bright and early ready to go. As soon as she got up - at 6:45, which by the way NEVER happens, she said, "Mom, I am so excited! What time is gymnastics?" She is most definetly MY daughter! Unfortunately class wasn't until 6:oopm but Grammy is here visiting so that helped the day pass by a little quicker. Class time finally arrived and Jill did great! She paid attention the entire 55 minute class and did everything she was instructed to do. She kept her focus and that could not have been easy with all the other classes of "big girls" flipping and tumbling all around. She did the bars, floor, rings, balance beam, and trampoline into the foam pit. What a fun time she had. She has already asked today if she can go back to gymnastics today. Enjoy the pics...

A little stretching, wouldn't want to pull anything...

Big brother and little sister before each heads to their sport time.

Practicing her dismount pose.

One of our new leotards. Jill was so excited to get to wear a leotard!

Luke's "Diving"

Luke's favorite thing to do is to "ride boat" and we are so excited that he also loves to swim. He was jumping off the platform before he was two - our kids should have gills! Enjoy the video of Luke "diving."

First Day of Fifth Grade...and more

Well, today was Eli's first day of fifth grade and it was a success. He likes his teacher which by the way, is a male. It will be interesting to see how that goes but I think it should be good. (I don't think Eli has ever met an adult he didn't like or for that matter, that didn't like him.) It is hard for me to believe that I have fifth grader though. In my head, I'm still only 20, NOT 35!!!! I must be getting old though because this is the first year that I have forgotten to take THAT picture of him ready to leave for school. So this year, instead of the "ready to leave" look, we get the, "I'm glad to be home" look.

Now on to other happenings in the Alexander home...Luke has discovered a new hiding place - MY FRIDGE!!!


A Little boy and his football - I promise, you will see him playing one day on TV! Mark my words!!

Making Cupcakes with my Jilly!

For Christmas Jill got a cupcake maker and unfortunatly we haven't used it very much, even though she asks all the time. (The cupcakes just aren't very good from this little thing!)Anyway, she asked again on Monday night and I decided we'd give it another go. This time she actually ate the entire cupcake and we had a great Mommy and Jilly time! Enjoy the pics!

Finally - We Have The Boat Back!!!

Our last trip out on the lake ended rather tragically for the boat - to the tune of $770...to me that is tragic!! Our trusty friend had to go to the shop for some repair work and we were without the boat for about two weeks. We knew that our weekends were spoken for during this time so to Jamie and I, it seemed the perfect opportunity to have the repair work done. (The work was cosmetic and could have waited until the end of summer, but for those of you who know my hubby, you know it would have killed him to take it out again unrepaired!) Lukey, however didn't know if he could survive without his boat! Every morning he would wake up asking for the boat. Needless to say, when we got the boat back he was thrilled! Before he could go to bed he had to get in and check it out! We have trained him well because even though the boat was in the garage he put his life vest on!! Here are a few pics!

A Little Trip Down Memory Lane

So Sunday was Luke's actual second birthday however Eli and Jamie had soccer camp that weekend so we are having his birthday celebration tomorrow. As I was thinking about him turning two, I was just amazed at how fast time has flown by and how much they all have changed. I thought you might like a glimpse down memory lane as well. Here are a few pics of the way my three kiddos looked two years ago...

And here's the way they look today...

Wow, how time flies. Sometimes as a Mom, I get so busy and so caught up in the day to day that I forget to savor the little things. Walks down Memory Lane help me remember how quickly this phase of life will be gone and that I need to take the time to play, and read, and laugh, catch bugs and creepy crawlies, run in the sprinkler, eat watermelon on the back porch and watch the fireflies light up the sky...I don't want to miss a moment enjoying them as they grow!!!

An Alexander Weekend

This weekend was rather eventful in the Alexander home. Eli and Jamie started soccer again so they both had camp, Friday evening and all day Saturday. We all got together at the end of Saturday's practice and had a big cookout. We had a great time visiting and are ready for an awesome first year of competitive Sting soccer!

Luke's new "pose," not sure where he got this from but even when you are carrying him, he has his hand on his hip - so funny!

Sunday of course was Luke's second birthday and he was really excited about that this year. He kept saying, "Lukey's bir-day!" all day! His party isn't until this coming Saturday however we couldn't let his special day go by without a little celebration so we did have cake - Yummy!!! I am not as good as Christy and I cannot take credit for the cute little cake. Publix has the best buttercream icing and it is my favorite so they did the cake. I have tried my hand at making my own icing but it just wasn't the same. Maybe one day I will get the hang of it! Until then, Publix will do just fine in the Alexander home!

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Eli's warrior paint - He and Luke were hiding from and hunting down the "bad guys!" This is currently one of Luke's favorite games to play. He just adores playing with his big brother!

Blowing bubbles to celebrate Luke's big day. We even did a little face painting. That is a big butterfly on Jill's face.

Hannah Montana made a surprise visit for Luke's birthday !

She even sang her own rendition of "You get the best of both worlds..."

Happy Birthday to Luke!!!

I can hardly believe that my baby boy is TWO today!! Time has really flown. It feels more like I should be saying that he is one today, certainly not two. But alas, it is true, Happy Birthday Day my Big Two year old! We love you!