Halloween 2009

This year Alex was a dinosaur for Halloween. He really acted the part with lots of roaring and always holding his two fingers up like the T-Rex does. We had many occasions to wear the costume but it only stayed on about 10 minutes each time. Alex had a celebration at school, at the library, at our playgroup and finally trick or treating around the neighbourhood. Here are a few pictures of the events.

More Birthday

This is Alex with the mini made from scratch and very delicious birthday cake made by our wonderful neighbour Sigi. Alex loves her so much and always wants to go over and play with her and her dog Daisy. Alex's birthday celebrations seem to always be never ending, or it feels that way at least. I should also add that they brought over mini cakes for Jay and I as well which I left far back on the counter to enjoy at a later date. Well when I returned home from an outing they were nowhere to be found and neither was a very guilty looking Sydney or Shark as Alex likes to call her because she circles when we eat. I guess Sydney wanted in on the birthday celebrations.

Happy Third Birthday

We celebrated Alex's third birthday today at Georgetown Jump which is a warehouse full of jumpy bounce houses. Alex was so excited-for about two weeks before he kept asking when was the 24th so he could go to Georgetown Jump. We had 15 of his friends there for jumping, pizza and cake. The theme was Lightning McQueen and about 90 percent of his presents were too!! He had a blast. He was so excited and moved so fast that almost all the pictures I have of him are of his back!! The only crying was when he bit his tongue while eating!! For some reason he does that a lot. We had the party from 10-12 and Alex and a few friends stayed much longer just jumping. When we finally got home he opened his presents, he got very spoiled. We gave him a red play kitchen and a dart board, he loves the dart board but I have only seen him use the kitchen a few times. It might be one of those toys that his friends enjoy more than him-he always plays with the kitchen at the library and his friends' houses so I thought it would be perfect, might have missed on that one. He finally fell asleep watching Spirit.

Pink Fire Trucks in Georgetown

As part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month two pink fire trucks arrived on the square in Georgetown today. They are travelling all over the country making stops so survivors and relatives of survivors can sign the trucks. I signed my mum's name. The kids got to climb all over the trucks and play with the dog that was travelling with them. It was a big event in Georgetown and a lot of people came out for the event.

Bananas

We are so lucky to have such great neighbours as Sigi and David. Sigi is always making us something or giving us something. They recently visited New Orleans and brought back some wild bananas still on the vine?? When they finally ripened enough to pick she invited Alexander over to help her pick them. She made banana bread for everyone in the neighbourhood and it was so good!!!! Here are a few pictures of Alex helping her in the kitchen and outside with Daizy. Alex loves to go over and "play" at their house.

Las Cruces

No trip to New Mexico would be complete without a visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Alex loves to visit them and play with Riley and Mitten, feed the fish, visit with the bunnies and play with all of Grandma's bears. We had a great visit, we went to the pumpkin patch, did some shopping and I even got a few runs in down the canals. Unfortunately we did not get to see Great Grandpa or Uncle Earl this time as they were away but we still got to see Auntie Tori, whom Alex adores. Some of my shots have redeye in them and for some reason I can't remove it right now-very weird!!

Pumpkin Patch

On Monday we headed out to the pumpkin patch in Marble Falls. This has been an annual tradition for us to drive out for the day and take a hay ride, feed the goats, pet the horses and donkeys and pick a pumpkin. Alex had a great time with his friends although this year instead of picking a pumpkin we picked flowers. For one dollar you could pick as many flowers as would fit into a cup. Alex cut a lot of flowers, they graced our kitchen table, dining table, window sill and some even went to his teacher Ms.Katie. The flowers were gorgeous.

O'Neils

This is us at O'Neils Pub in Albuquerque, lucky enough to catch Maggie before she left on her big camping trip.

Hanging Out on the Fiesta Field

A few pictures of the after landing celebrations!! Jeanne had her nieces and nephews there and Alex found a girlfriend-actually two (one older and one younger). One of Alex's favorite things to do when we got back to the field was to play with the stuffed animals for the ceremony!!

Visit with Aunt Debbie and Uncle Dan

After our grueling night at the ER with Alex and his double ear infection Debbie invited us over for dinner and some much needed adult beverages. Going to Debbie's always means absolutely delicious food, extremely gracious hosts, good hockey and tons of fun. This night was no exception. We actually spent the night at Debbie's too so we could drink as we pleased and didn't have to worry about driving all the way back to Rio Rancho. Debbie and Dan are the two people I miss most about Albuquerque. Debbie even had a Montessori table set up for Alex with work, a xylophone and puzzles set up for him, no Fraggle Rocks this year but plenty of other stuff to do in the backyard.

Balloon Fiesta

We got off to a late start at this year's Fiesta due to an unexpected illness. After arriving at Phil and Diana's house Friday night and just about to enjoy my first beer we discovered that Alex was not a happy camper. After about 3 hours of crying we made the dreaded trip to the ER. Well after waiting in the H1N1 infected waiting room for 5 hours and only been seen by triage we left with a very happy (drug induced) Alex. We got a few hours of sleep and then headed to a walk in clinic and were in and out with medication within 1 hour. So we had to miss the first weekend of Fiesta, but had fun hanging out with friends and family anyway. Not what we expected for our first weekend in Albuquerque but I guess these things are never expected are they???