These boots were made for walkin'...

When you leave Alexander alone with his Aunt Melmie (that's how he says it) there's not telling what he'll have on or get into. This time he was walking around the house in his rain boots or shit kickers as I like to call them since I bought them for the back yard.

What are you looking at...

Yes, this is Sonny and all what seems to be 120 pounds of him (at the least). He's on his favorite perch, the picnic table.

My best friend Lori’s other daughter turned 9 today. I can’t believe how big she is. My two best friends and I (so lucky to have 2) always send each other’s kids birthday gifts and this year we sent Madie some really cool stuff…a new pink and grey Danskin warm up suit, a gift card to Target, and a pink headband straight from the beach in Venezuela. Lori said she loved everything so much.

Happy Birthday Madie! We love you!

My adorable little man

New countertops do not get first place over my adorable little man. He's sporting daddy's gold medal and that way too cute smile of his.

HGTV Right In Our Kitchen!

About 6 months ago we decided to get a quote on having our counter tops redone in our kitchen. They were in dire need of repair because age had begun taking it's toll. I have no idea how long they'd been there but I do know they were there when I bought the house almost 5 years ago and I never knew who to call to redo them. This past year when I started at Ivy Tech I had a private contractor custom build the desk in my office and he said he could build me a counter top at my house and gave me a free estimate of $1000. UGH! We were not about to pay $1000 to have that small counter top done so we sought out to find another person and thankfully my sister in law knows people that do a little of everything. Her friend Eric is a sub contractor and agreed to come over and take a look. This was in November. He said no problem and gave us a quote and decided that prior to Christmas would be the best but he ended up getting sick from a job he was on and couldn't do it before we went to Venezuela so we rescheduled for February. Well, we began the arduous task of setting up times for him to come and look at everything, measure, measure some more, and measure some more. Trips to Lowe's and more measuring ensued...after all he was doing this custom from scratch. Last weekend the building began. He came by again, measured and gave us tips on how to cut down our cabinets and another trip to Lowes took place (I wasn't mad about that because I LOVE the hardware store). Thankfully Ricardo was gone because he hates it. This weekend the time finally arrived for the full fledged demo and install. I was so excited for this weekend to finally come. Ricardo even got in on the action. About $600 later (we did buy snacks and beer for the guys after all and gave him $40 extra) we got our new counter tops and they are beautiful. He did an amazing job...we're so pleased! He's coming back in 2 weeks to add on some custom finishes around the shelves after I have them painted and hang 2 ceiling fans too. BONUS!

Now, I will add that there are concerning pictures of Mel and I using a saw in a way that was totally dangerous but we had no choice. We both still have all of our fingers and there was no blood shed.

One of my best friends has a 4 year old, Livie, and I’ve posted pictures of her before but this takes the cake. Today was school picture day and when Lori asked her what she wanted to wear these was her responses:

1. leotard with snowman pullover
2. bee costume
3. go naked

As you can see her choices did not win.

Weekend update

This past weekend was very eventful at our house. First, Ricardo left for the weekend to compete in a Karate tournament with his school. So, Alexander and I headed to IUPUI to see some old work friends which was a VERY unsuccessful trip. Alexander was crying the entire time...for what, I don't know. Friday night Alexander and I took advantage of some free time and had dinner with our friends CJ and Nicci. We had an awesome time and Alexander did a great job at dinner. Saturday we found out Ricardo got a silver and ChaChi got a gold at the competition which was awesome AND our kitchen renovation started. I can't wait until Tuesday for it to get done. Sunday was not so great...I started feeling bad and so did Alexander AGAIN. But, at least Ricardo got a gold medal at his competition on the north side on Sunday. We were pretty excited about that. Alexander made yet another trip to the Dr. today and low and behold he has the croup, AGAIN!

Handy Work

Yes, this is my handy work. On Sunday, I had out my drill, level, laser level, drill bits...you name it. It's been a while since I've had time to do a project around the house and I loved it. Alexander stood there and watched me intently so I let him hold the drill and "help"(despite his sickness). I am going to go out of my way to teach him how to use tools. Ricardo does not like projects of any sort and I love them so I have a bit of a challenge cut out for me.

Sick...really

Alexander had a bit of a fever on Friday but quickly went away with some Ibuprofen. Saturday however, he progressively got worse so I called the Dr. He said we were doing everything right but to take him to the Immediate Care if he got worse. We decided after he woke up from a very late nap with a 103 fever that we'd take a trip to see the Dr. Sure enough our otherwise healthy little man had Tonsillitis. He got a prescription for Amoxicillan and children's (not infants) Ibuprofen. Well, despite his sickness, he has been overly wild and maybe a little mean. We're assuming it's the medicine because he's typically a very sweet little boy. Sunday, I decided to do the two projects I needed to get done since Ricardo was home...hang the new baby gate that I stained and take down a shelf with cookbooks and hang 5 new shelves (we're having new counter tops put in this weekend and have to move things around and redecorate). Well, after the gate got hung Alexander quickly realized it would be a great place to practice his Karate. I had to film it because he was kicking that thing with purpose. It was as if it was an attempt at a jail break.

Date Night

This past weekend started out with a fun trip to Bouncer Town with our friends Melissa, Mike, and Gracie. Unfortunately, the batteries I put in the camera were bad so we didn't get any good pictures. It turns out the I-Phone they have and the BlackBerry I have do not take good action pictures. Anyway, Alexander planted a good one on Gracie and then gave her a purple baloon at Red Robin. Ya, he knows how to treat the ladies.

Silly Boy

I caught Alexander playing with a pair of my sunglasses. Ricardo took over and actually put them on his face. Not sure exactly what that silly face he's making is all about but it was so cute, we had to grab the camera.

Homemade Card for Aunt ChaChi

Aunt Mel took some time last week to make a nice homemade card with Alexander for Aunt ChaChi. He's slowly learning to love coloring and quickly learning that crayons are not to eat.