More Pics!

I just thought this picture was so cute. Where we used to have the Disney movies (until Alexis figured out where they were and bugged me constantly to watch them), we also have all our Wii games. I open the cupboard many times a day to show Alexis that the movies are "all-gone". Yesterday, Alexis decided that, even though she wanted a movie, a Wii game would do just fine. She pulled one out and begged and begged for us to put it in. We put it in and gave her the Wii remotes, which she always loves playing with! :o) It didn't last too long - just a minute or so!


Jordan "discovered" that if you (ignore Alexis and) lay down long enough next to her, she'll give in and lay down with you, too! It's so sweet when she does; She never lays for too long. Only a few seconds with her head on the ground, then she's bouncing right back up and wanting to play! I'm sure Jordan tried his new "technique" many times in a row! :o)


Kisses for Daddy! Alexis doesn't kiss too often, or even hug too often. But when she does, she just can't get enough of it! She'll usually go back and forth between me and Jordan a few times before she's had enough! What a sweetie pie! :o)


So, we weren't in our apartment yet on Jordan's birthday and hadn't had a chance before now to do the yearly "gummy-bear cake". So since I was making a Valentine's Day cake, I decided to make it a gummy-bear-Valentine's day cake! Happy (late) birthday, hunny! :o)


We got those cute lil' bows for Lexi on Valentine's Day when we went to the store. I wanted to dress her in all pink for church. As I was pulling out her skirt and tights, I remembered that we had a pink shirt with hearts on it! She just looked so stinkin' cute and very holiday-ish! :o)


Mommy and baby girl ready for church!


Alexis loves the bubble machine/hippo that Grandma Hermansen gave her for Christmas! I had tried not to let her really know what it was yet since I didn't want to do it inside and it was too cold outside, but I guess Daddy didn't know about that plan. He brought it out while I was going to the bathroom! :o) They already had it opened and out, waiting for me to put batteries in it by the time I got out! :o) It was still too cold to go outside with it, so we just stayed inside. It was fun and Lexi loved it!


Lexi wanted to try out the bubble machine herself! :o) She was actually able to make it work, I just didn't get the picture at that time. Then it started leaking all over, so we were done for the day! :o)


Alexis absolutely loves the Minnie Mouse shoes that Grandma Cook got for her when they went to Disney World and we were staying at their house. They are still a bit too big for her, which I think is great because then they'll fit longer, but she loves them anyway! And, of course, shoes being too big for her has never stopped her from trying them on and wearing them everywhere yet! :o)


When I went grocery shopping with Alexis a few weeks ago, Alexis saw these juice boxes with Elmo on them and begged for them! She started barking and making monkey sounds at them; She thinks that Elmo is some kind of monkey or dog! :o) Since they were only a buck, I gave in, and she loves them! :o)


Jordan just thought it was the cutest thing in the world that Lexi was drinking out of the juice box with the straw! :o) This is the face and body language I am talking about when I talk about Jordan getting excited about something that Alexis does. He doesn't believe me, but he gets all scrunched up, his shoulders and nose and stuff, and gets this cute little boy-ish smile on his face ... just like in this picture! This is when I know that Jordan loves his baby girl and thinks she's just so adorable! And so is he! :o)


Lexi, so tired after a long day of church, playing and fun! :o)

And did anyone notice that (on the day Alexis was wearing the hearts shirt) Alexis has on three different pairs of shoes in all the different pictures on that day?! I just thought that was funny! She is such a girl!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Our cute lil' family on Valentine's Day! :o) So sweet!


Alexis still loves her Daddy! She used to be such a Daddy's girl, but when he went to Arizona and I went up to Pocatello with Alexis for a month before meeting him there, she seemed to turn into a Mommy's girl. She's definitely more needy for me and everything, but she still loves her Daddy to pieces! She knows that Daddy is the fun, playful one! :o)


Cute Daddy-Daughter pictures! These ones are always my favorites! In a month or two, all three of us are going to get some nice professional family pictures. I'm so excited. We're going to get a family picture, a Daddy/Daughter picture, a Mommy/Daughter picture and some two-year-old pictures for Lexi! I can't wait to get those and show them to everyone! Yea!!!




And to top everything off, Jordan brought home these beautiful roses! What a cute little stud muffin, right?! :o)

Ok, so he didn't really bring me the roses, but let me explain: It's not because he didn't want to or forgot or anything! It's me! I'm a weird chick, I guess! I have never really liked Valentine's Day. I don't know why, but I've just always had a bad day year after year no matter what I'm doing or who I'm with. Now, today has actually been pretty darn good, so I'm not complaining this year. The other reason, though, is because I just don't like flowers. These Orange Roses are my second favorite and Lily's are my top favorite flowers, but I still just don't like flowers in general. I figure we may-as-well spend our money on something that we can enjoy for more than a week and that doesn't die! Yes, I know, I'm definitely a weird girl! But it's true. So last night, Jordan tells me that a woman came into his office and was selling Roses. He said that she offered them to him and he said, "My wife doesn't like flowers." He said the woman then went crazy and didn't believe him, said that he was making it all up and that he just didn't want to buy any roses. He had to keep telling her that his weird wife really just doesn't like flowers. So, in this case, literally, it's the thought that counts! Plus, I'm proud of him for remembering that I don't like flowers and not spending the money on them! Good job, Jor! I'm even happier than if I would've gotten flowers! :o) Plus, he's letting me go to the store today and buy some stuff to make a cute valentine's day cake! I hope it turns out good! Anyway! Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Love you all!

~Kristen~

A quick update!

Alexis absolutely loves coloring! I think it bothers her, though, that with these color-wonder markers, the color doesn't show up for a couple seconds after you color! :o)


This is literally the first time I curled Lexi's hair. I didn't think she'd be so good and hold so still, but she did! If I would've known how good she'd be, I would've done it really curly. I thought it was cute either way, though! :o)




This was yesterday after curling her hair. We wanted to take pictures of our matching hair! :o) What a cute girl! Jordan said, right before he took the picture so she'd smile big, "Do you want Mommy to take you outside!?" :o)


There's a swing-set and slide outside that Alexis is obsessed with! She loves going outside, even when it's cold, and runs straight to the swing-set! She actually doesn't even go down the slide - I think she's too scared to, and she won't let me help her - but she loves the swings! This afternoon (I don't have any pictures of it, but) after Jordan got home, he took her outside for a while before her nap and when they came back in, Alexis was soaked! I knew it was snowy and going slushy out, but I didn't think she would've gotten that wet! When I asked Jordan what happened, he started laughing and said, "Alexis really wanted to get on the swing. I showed her that it was wet and she didn't like to touch it, but she still wanted to sit on it to swing! She didn't even care about being wet or cold! Silly girl!"




Mommy and Daughter on Valentine's day, dressed up and all! :o) It's so fun doing Alexis' hair, I'm so happy she's patient and lets me do it! What an adorable girl, right?! :o)


There's this pillow that sits on our chair in the family room that Alexis loves. She always grabs it, puts it on the floor and lays down on it! So sweet! This is while she was lying down, I went to take a picture and she looked up and smiled! What a cutie pie!


So we figured out that Alexis doesn't neccesarily want to watch Backyardigans - she just wants to play with the cases. So I took all the DVD's out of their cases and put them in a CD case. Alexis loves to put them all on the floor, side-be-side, as if she's going to choose which one to watch. But then she just runs around and plays - she just wants them all out on display just in case she wants to walk over and look at them! :o)

Videos

I've been a really big slacker with my videos on youtube, but I've been putting a few more on lately. They are just super cute and I wanted to remind everyone about them. The one I really wanted everyone to see is one of the last ones I put on. It's called "Queens are never wrong" and it should be one of the top videos when you bring up my page (youtube.com/theproudmommy). I tried to put it on the blog, but I couldn't figure it out. (I'll still work on that.) There is this one Backyardigans episode that Alexis loves and she sings this one part, belts it out really, every single time. That's what the video is and it's just so sweet. Anyway, like I said, I just wanted to remind everyone about our youtube page and ask you to check it out if you have a chance! Love you all!

~Kristen~

Cool Mommy

So just a while ago, I needed to get some dishes done, so I took Lexi to her toys. That wasn't working and she was losing interest too quickly, so (instead of pulling out Backyardigans, I thought I'd give her a little variety) I pulled out some Disney Movies to choose from. After probably, seriously, five or six minutes of looking from DVD cover to cover and tapping her cute little finger on her lips, she reached forward and grabbed "Finding Nemo". I pop it in and get it started, putting her in her high chair for a snack. I thought I was being all cute, offering her fish crackers with her juice. She didn't want fish crackers, though, and pushed them away. I tried to think of what to give her and I remembered something ... The other day when I was grocery shopping, I got Alexis some packages of fruit snacks. I realized that one of the packages that I got her was Finding Nemo Fruit Snacks! I went and got the unopened box and showed it to her, telling her that it was Nemo and pointing back and forth between the movie and the box. All of a sudden, her big blue eyes lit up and she smiled and said, "Nemo!" It was just so sweet! So I felt like such a cool mommy, putting on "Finding Nemo" and even having Finding Nemo Fruit Snacks to go along with it! :o) Yeah, I'm lame - but I'm a cool mommy!

Remembering Last Summer

I was SO excited to go out to the mailbox today and see an envelope from my sister, Brooke, who is living down in Texas! The last time I had seen her was this past summer when we were all (other than Jordan) in Pocatello together. We had gone on a couple water-skiing trips and spent lots of time together as a family at my parents' house. It was lots of fun and I already took tons of pictures and posted them back then. But even as the crazy "paparazzi" that I am, taking a billion and a half pictures, as Jordan says, I couldn't get pictures of ALL the cute and fun things going on! Plus, we had taken lots of "sister-pictures" and my camera hadn't had batteries, so I had to rely on Brooke. And she came through! :o) The pictures are just SO fun and I wanted to post them!


This is Alexis with her two cousins. Isaac is the one next to her and he was five months old, I think, at the time. Kyle is the next one over and he was only a few weeks old at the time! It was cute to see them all at those different ages lying next to each other! :o)


Alexis absolutely loved these little bike/tricycle thingys! It was lots of fun for her to ride around with her cousins! I think she felt like a big girl! :o)


Alexis was absolutely obsessed with water this past summer! She always wanted to go swimming or at least play in the water! You'd think she would've liked bathing more, but no! :o)


Alexis and her Uncle Bradley! All the kids LOVE Uncle Bradley! He's so cute with them and they have so much fun with him! He is the only person Alexis would let cradle her since she was a month old or so! :o)


Alexis running for the water in the kiddie pool! Like I said, she LOVED the water! There are, like, ten more pictures just like this one of her running to the water! :o)


Bath-time! She's so cute and cuddly in the towel after bath-time! I LOVE cuddling with her when she's all fresh and clean! :o)



Playing in the water, again! :o) My Mom got this cool water-table toy ... thingy for the grandkids and Alexis loves it enough for all of them! Totally worth it, right Mom!? :o)


Her mommy IS from Idaho, so maybe that's why she likes the tractor so much! :o) (Right Dad Cook?)


Riding around with her cousin, Brenden! What a cutie pie! And, for the cooks, this cousin of Lexi's always reminds me of Jared! Everything he says and how he acts and everything! It's so funny! And I was at their house when the younger boy, Caden, turned two and it totally reminded me of the home video I saw of Jared's birthday - the one where Jared was being all sweet and polite (and ignored), asking for the paper to be taken off the cupcakes ... while Jordan is digging in without hesitation! The same thing happened with Caden and Brenden! Brenden is asking politely and waiting his turn for the cake while Caden is grabbing it and stuffing it in his face! :o) SO funny and cute!


Doesn't my brother, Bradley, look SO excited to be in the picture with me!? :o)


I think Lexi was really nervous about what was going on with Uncle Brian and cousin Raelyn! :o) She went to investigate!




And can I just say how ridiculous it is: Brooke had her baby just a few months before this trip ... LOOK how SKINNY she is! Good grief! :o)


And now for the sister pictures! Yea!!! :o) Brooke is my older sister, the oldest girl in the family. Next, it's me! Then, the youngest girl and even sibling in the family is baby-sister Kaitlyn! Oh! How sweet! :o)




















I think Lexi was getting jealous that she wasn't in the pictures, too. So we decided to bring in Alexis and Brooke's daughter Ashlyn. They're the beautiful ones, anyway! :o)


The first girl in our family, Mom! :o) Then the next three girls in the family, Brooke, me and Kaitlyn! Then our beautiful girls, Ashlyn and Alexis! What cuties, huh!? :o)

Love you all,

~Kristen~