Play date with Avery!

Alexa's friend Avery was home from pre-school this week, so we made a play date! Alexa showed Avery her new trampoline. She also showed her how to jump while holding a stroller and talking on the phone... Hope she doesn't multitask like this when she gets her driver's license!

Alexa also shared her new car! She pushed Avery in the car and they both drove it together. The girls had so much fun playing! Just look at their expressions! They were cracking us up. We can't wait for another play date with Avery!

Playdate with Avery, Ella and baby Cora!

Alexa's friend Ella just welcomed a new baby sister, Cora Alice! We finally got to see the baby at a play date at the park. The girls all crowded around to watch Cora get her diaper changed! It was so cute, they were all very interested in the baby - for 5 seconds before running off to play!

It was so cute watching all the girls play - they giggled and had a blast. So cute!

Pool time with Avery!

Last Sunday afternoon, after nap time, Alexa's friend Avery came over with her parents for an afternoon BBQ. The weather was perfect. We had a wonderful afternoon relaxing outside while the girls played in the kiddie pool! I took too many cute photos, I couldn't decide on my favorites! The A's are so cute!

Brandon's 2nd Birthday Party!

Hands down, one of the best kids parties we've been to! And not because it was all about us. Quite the contrary, it was all about the kids, and Alexa had a BLAST! The party was held at My Gym and the kids had an hour to run from activity to activity... They jumped on the trampoline! Swung on the bars! Played in the ball pit! Rode cars through a "car wash" with bubbles! Took turns on the slide! It was toddler heaven.

And then just when you'd think it couldn't get any better... It was time for pizza, juice and -- cupcakes! Alexa wore a birthday hat and chowed down. Yum!

And then, to work off the cupcake, she dove back into the ball pit! Here she is with her friends Avery and Ella, who she has known since she was 2 months old. Finley's in here somewhere too. They were throwing balls and playing together. It was adorable! Little girlfriends...

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Fun at another Bethesda festival!

One thing that's great about our new hometown is that they have tons of festivals for kids. We love to walk from home with Alexa in the stroller, especially when the weather is so nice. This festival is called Imagination Bethesda and it featured shows and booths with games and art projects for kids. Alexa is still a little young for most of the activities, but she enjoyed the show and seeing all the other kids!

After Alexa's non-nap, we went for a walk and she had fun picking dandelions and flowers! Ever since I showed her how to blow dandelions, she LOVES to pick them and carry them around. It's so cute!

Lunch date with Avery on a beautiful day!

Today was a beautiful day. It was even better because we had lunch plans with my friend Blythe and her daughter Avery! We tried to push the high chairs together for a photo, but Alexa protested! I tried so hard to get photos of them together, but to no avail! This is the best I could get. Next time!

After lunch, Alexa took a nap in her stroller so Daddy and I took a long walk. Alexa insisted on walking most of the way home! She enjoyed looking at the pretty flowers and sitting in the back yard with Daddy. It was a beautiful day and we all stayed outside as long as possible. We can't wait for Hawaii!

Another Sunday Fun Day with Avery!

One of Alexa's new favorite books is called Caps for Sale. She loves the part where the monkeys steal the caps and say to the peddler "Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!" She giggles and shakes her finger! So we went to a Sunday Funday play date about the book with her friend Avery. It was great! The kids colored monkeys, stuck hats on a wall, walked on a crunchy road and played with balloons! Alexa had a blast!

Another play date at the National Building Museum!

Today was a rainy day, so it was CROWDED at the National Building Museum! We met two moms from my mom's group and their girls. They were already in LINE when we arrived. And the museum hadn't even opened yet! Holy crazy! Once it did open, we rushed down the hallway to the Kid's Zone and got in. But there was such a long line that we only had about 30-40 minutes to play. Still, the girls had fun! Here are Alexa, Avery and Ella checking out the eco-doll house!

After the doll house, the girls wanted to play in the REAL house. But they all wanted to sit in the chairs! Except Alexa was a bit obsessed with her favorite puzzle toy. She has found and played with this SAME buckle puzzle EVERY time we've been here. Uh oh, does that mean we need to get her one?

Finally, here are more pictures of Alexa playing... Again with the puzzle! She also enjoyed playing with the trucks and the train. If you ask Alexa, "What does a train say?" she'll smile real big and say "chooo! chooo!"

After all the fun in the Kid's Zone, Tricia and I took Ella and Alexa out to lunch. Look how cute the girls were! They shared Kix and laughed when they reached out and held hands. So cute!

The A's hit Sunday Fun Day

A kids theater near our house has a Sunday Fun Day program where kids can hear a well-known story and then sing songs and do arts and crafts related to the book. We decided to check it out today and Miss Avery joined us! So we dressed the girls up again in their matching "A" t-shirts. Look how cute! Our little A's! Thanks again to Mommy Mae for the adorable shirts.

Also while at the Fun Day, we ran into Alexa's older friends Julia and Sarah... Wow! How fun!

Toddler Yoga with Avery!

When I was out maternity leave, one of my favorite activities was going to baby yoga. Alexa loved it too! My friend Blythe introduced me to this wonderful yoga studio that offers lots of classes for kids. We went several times when she was a baby and learned some fun poses to do together. Our last class there was just about the time that Alexa started really crawling. She was all over the room! Well, that was nothing.

At today's toddler class, my little runner ran all around the room! All the other toddlers sat in their mom or caregiver's laps nicely. Not Alexa! She wanted to explore! She proclaimed to the class that the radiator was "hot!" (It was mildly warm, but "hot" is one of her new words.) She also loved crawling through a nylon tunnel tent like the one her friend Nate has. (Note to self: Gotta get one of those!) And she had fun chasing bubbles and balls. Here she is playing with her birthday buddy Avery.

Also, check out their cute matching  "A" T-shirts, courtesy of fabulous Mommy Mae! I actually won a give-away on her site! If only the girls would stand still so I could snap a proper picture. Is that possible with active toddlers? Arg!

Shutterfly Photo Book Party!

This is pretty cool: I was selected to host a Shutterfly Photo Book Party! They sent me red Shutterfly balloons, an assortment of Shutterfly holiday card samples, a wooden easel to display one of my photo books, two packages of Worthers candies, Shutterfly tote bags and promo codes so that each of my guests could get a FREE 8x8 photo book and 10 holiday cards! Here's how it all turned out:

I invited a few mom friends over for a play date with wine and snacks. We had a great time while Alexa played with Avery and Kaitlyn! They played with Alexa's kitchen, her new doll and stroller and on her new piano! (Oooops, the piano is a Hanukkah gift from Grandma E and Pop, but we opened it early! Busted!)

Alexa surveyed the damage at the end of the party... My friends who came sans sons said it would have been a lot worse with their 14-month-old boys running around and that our girls were quite tame. Tame? Really? They all drank out of each others sippies, wanted to play the piano at the same time, regularly ran from room to room... It was all I could do to keep up with them and STILL stip my Prosecco! Sigh. Good times.

UPDATE: Here is the holiday card I made and ordered from Shutterfly!

Seasonal Chic 2010 Christmas Card

Shop Shutterfly.com for elegant Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

Our little MODEL!

Both of the wonderful photographers who have taken photos of Alexa are now showcasing shots of her on their Web sites! Of course, we're not surprised. She's so cute!

Amber from Little Moon Photography features this photo of Alexa in her baby slide show:

Erin Nephew Photography also features a photo of Alexa on her gallery page! Actually, she features several shots of Alexa's friends Avery, Ella and Brandon too... Because they are all such cute babies!

We have another photo shoot coming up with Erin this weekend. We can't wait to take some Fall and holiday photos! Stay tuned to see how they come out!

Alexa's 2nd Halloween! She's a football!

Alexa was adorable in her Halloween costume as our little football! Everyone commented on how original it was. Here she is a the costume parade this morning at the Farmer's Market. I told people over and over that my mom made it for her. Yay for a winning costume!

Here is Alexa and her friend Ella, who was an adorable Snow White, at the Farmer's Market costume parade. The girls were all over the place, it was hard to get them in the same frame for a photo! 

Alexa's friend Avery, who was a beautiful purple butterfly, also came to meet us for the costume parade. Here are all the girls with their daddies. So cute!

After a long afternoon nap, Alexa was up and ready for our neighborhood party. We went as players and she was our little football!

The neighborhood party ended with another costume parade. Alexa got a late start and kept running the wrong direction, so we got left behind, but she still had fun! At the end of the parade, all the kids posed for photos!

Finally, as the sun was setting, Alexa and I took off for some trick or treating. We only hit about 12 houses. Alexa is too young to eat the candy or say "trick or treat," but she really enjoyed the crinkle candy wrappers and picking a piece of candy out of a tray and putting it into her bucket!

On my birthday... Shoe shopping... For Alexa!

This is something we've been meaning to do since Alexa started walking two months ago... Get her feet measured for shoes! There are two places that people around here go to... Stride Rite at Montgomery Mall or Ramer's. We met my friend Blythe and her daughter Avery at Ramer's, a small kid-friendly place that has a huge following. So huge that as we were leaving, we ran into another friend and her daughter!

At Ramer's, Alexa's foot was measured and we were told us that she should wear a size 4.5, which is larger than the size 4's that we had her in. They also showed us a bunch of "First Walker" shoes with extra support in the ankle. However, Alexa has progressed beyond that stage. She is now running! So we chose a very cute for a more experienced walker. We opted for velcro over laces. Alexa liked them immediately! We also got her some show shoes in case we have another huge snowfall!

After buying Alexa some shoes, we had a nice brunch at Bread and Chocolate, followed by a nice walk in our neighborhood. Then I went to sleep early. What a great birthday!

Alexa is 1 year old!!!

We started the day like any other Thursday... Mommy went for a run, so I took Alexa along in her jogging stroller! When we got home, Alexa got her first birthday surprise -- a visit from Aunt Jen!

After a nap, us girls met up with Alexa's birthday buddy Avery and her mom Blythe for brunch! The girls had fun eating big kid food off the menu. Alexa got waffles and fruit. She dug in and tried it all: raspberries, blackberries and a first for her... strawberries! Yum!

Another first today... The A's were given cups with straws that were filled with whole milk. Unsure how they would react, we held the straws for them and they drank out of the straws! Go big girls!

After brunch, it was time for dessert, so we headed to Georgetown Cupcake. As you might recall, we took the A's for cupcakes on their 7-month birthday. But we were the only ones eating cupcakes on that visit! This time, we let the girls have some... Alexa got a "hero" cupcake. During the month of September, if you purchase a "hero" cupcake, 100% of the proceeds go toward making miracles happen for children who are fighting cancer at Children's National Medical Center. What a yummy cause!

Tricia and her daughter Ella, who is about two weeks younger than the A's, met us for cupcakes. It's amazing to see how much these girls have grown! When we first met, they were only 2 months old!

After all our fun, we went home for Alexa's afternoon nap. When she woke up, it was time to get dolled up and open presents! Check out this neat Melissa & Doug wooden frog pull toy... Fun!

Here we are heading out to Alexa's birthday dinner... It's hard to believe that a whole year has gone by since Alexa joined us and made us a family. People always say that kids change you. It's true. They change you and your life in the most amazing way possible... They bring joy, laughter and giggles to every day! We're so excited to see what Alexa's 2nd year has in store!

Birthday Party #2 (Avery turns 1!)

After the first Avery birthday party, Alexa was ready for another Avery party! This Avery was also born on 9/9/09, about an hour and a half after Alexa. I know Avery's mom, Blythe, from my mom's group. Our babies have known each other since they were about two months old! Also at the party was baby Ella, who was born in September a couple weeks after the A's. We all had a great time!

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Check out Avery eating her cake... She wasn't sure what to make of the frosting at first. But once she tried it, she dug in! We can't wait for Alexa to try her first cake!

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Mom's group birthday party!

It's hard to believe that our babies are almost a year old! I met a wonderful bunch of women through a mom's group I joined when Alexa was 2 months old. We've kept in touch through weekly e-mails, Facebook and tons of awesome play dates. Today, we got together for a family play date to celebrate our babies' birthdays!

Here are our same babies at previous get play dates... They've grown so fast!

The oldest, Brandon, turned 1 on July 5. Most of the babies are close to Alexa's age with birthdays throughout September. Her birthday buddy, Avery, was also born on 9-9-09! Speaking of, here is Alexa with Avery!

And here are Alexa and Avery throughout the past year... We are excited for Avery's 1st birthday party coming up in two weeks!

Here are some more pictures from the party... We had such a good time! I made lemonade pie, and it was a hit! Everyone wanted the recipe!

At the end of the party, Alexa took a spin on Brandon's new SmartTrike... What a cool bike! She loved it! It has shoulder straps and safety bars to keep younger babies onboard, plus foot rests for little feet and an adult push bar. Basically, it's a stroller-bike!

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Alexa & Avery rock out at swim class!

Alexa LOVED swim class today! She didn't even fuss when we got in the water. She was all smiles, splashed around, smiled and giggled when we helped her jump into the water, paddled after the toys... We had such a good time with her! Alexa's friend Avery, who shares her same birthday, was there with her parents. The girls were so cute! Here is Alexa at the start of class...

One of the things we do in class is set the babies on the edge of the pool and then help them "jump" into the water... Alexa and Avery loved it! Look at their expressions - classic.

Here are the girls again... So cute! They were sitting right next to each other and kept reaching out to hold hands.

At the end of class, the babies got some pool toys to paddle after. She loves the toys! No rubber ducks, but the frog and basketball were OK. What a fun class! Our last class is next Saturday.

After swim class, Alexa took a looooong nap. She slept for 3+ hours! We then walked into town for a late lunch and to check out the Bethesda Sidewalk Sale. After so much sleep, Alexa was in a fantastic mood! Here she is trying out our new high chair cover from Baby Ease. It was super easy to put on and definitely makes the chair more comfortable, not to mention cleaner. Of course, she was much more interested in the cardboard drink coasters...

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