Build-a-Bear...er I mean Frog.

My friend Sara gave Zane a Build-a-Bear gift card for his 1st birthday and we finally used it tonight! We don't have a Build-a-Bear at either of the 2 malls we normally go to and whenever we happened to be at a mall that did have one I of course had forgotten the gift card at home...but not tonight, we made a special trip to complete our mission! Zane named his frog "Froggy" original I know! And since Zane's obsessed with fire trucks right now, it was only right that Froggy was a firefrog!

Merry Christmas 2009!

We were so blessed today at our house. I love Christmas and always have, I turn into a 5 year old kid when Christmas Eve and Day hit and this year was no different! I woke up every couple of hours last night and was ecstatic to hear Zane babbling at 6 a.m. This year was very cool in that Zane was more "active" in Christmas and more excited about it himself. Zane still does not get the concept of Santa, but he was so much more fun this year, has become a pro at tearing open gifts and I can only imagine what next year will bring!

We have started some of our own traditions this year since Zane is a little older and able to do more things. Traditions are very special and important to me and I'm excited to keep our traditions going for years to come. One tradition in Josh's family that I just love is that every year (since Josh was very little) they get a Yule Log ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. It was fun to see Zane's face when we started to sing Happy Birthday and let him blow out the candles...I can't wait until he understands what it really means!

I feel very blessed to have such a great family, in-laws and life. We are very fortunate to be able to buy and receive gifts every year (and throughout the year) and I think we all need to take time to remember just how fortunate we all are. My thoughts are with the families of the fallen and wounded officers today, may their hearts be full of memories to help them smile and may the world become a more peaceful place in 2010!

I copied my friend Lori and made a couple collages of some of my favorite photos from the day and hope you enjoy them. I also am including a video of Zane seeing his gift from Santa this morning for the first time, the smile and surprise on his face will melt my heart for years to come!






Merry Christmas, love Josh, Lisa & Zane Alexander.

Good Friends.

Zane and Brooklyn had the chance to exchange Christmas gifts tonight, it is so cute to watch them interact. Brooklyn is a precocious little thing and just cracks me up! Zane wants to do everything she is doing, copy everything she says, so fun to see! Both kids were spoiled as usual!

Brooklyn modeling the apron I made for her!


When Zane opened this gift he said "oooh, cute, its a shirt"!


Mr. & Mrs. Ham


Brooklyn modeling her new backpack...even has her name embroidered on the front (not pictured)!


Ready to eat!


As you can see from these pictures, Zane is feeling quite a bit better today!!! Amazing what some steroids can do for you!

Poor Monkey.

Zane and I spent 3.5 hours tonight doing one of our least favorite past times...hanging out in the Urgent Care! Zane's runny nose and slight cough escalated quite a bit today. I received a call from daycare around noon that he was having some breathing problems and couldn't get a break in between coughing. I borrowed a nebulizer machine from work (mine's at home of course) and ran down to daycare and gave him a treatment. He was much better afterwards so I helped him lay down for his nap (by laying with him for awhile) and then headed back to work. I didn't hear from daycare again, so figured all was well. I got there at 4 to pick him up and he wasn't doing well at all, she said he only slept about 1/2 hour and has been crying and uncomfortable most of the afternoon. I held him for awhile there and noticed his breathing was very rapid still/again and since she had just done the inhaler a couple hours earlier I knew it was going to take more than that. I called our doctor's office who advised us to go to UC, so there's where we went. We got right in and were seen right away, so that was nice. He received 3 breathing treatments and oral steroid and a chest xray (that was clear, phew). We finally were discharged and he fell asleep as soon as we hit the freeway. The poor kid was exhausted. Zane threw up a couple times which left us with absolutely no clothes left to wear, so he was wrapped in a gown and blankets on the car ride home! We got home and daddy helped get him changed into his jammies, we did one of his inhalers and he's off to dreamland...and hopefully will be in a peaceful slumber all night!

Now lets see what tomorrow brings...hopefully, nothing as exciting!

Chrismtas Downtown Seattle!

A couple of weeks ago my friend Brenda and I picked a day (today) that I would take the day off work and we'd take the kids downtown for some holiday fun! I've been looking forward to this day for awhile and was so glad when it finally came! We met at McDonald's for the kids to exchange their Christmas gifts, all 3 were very spoiled! We then headed to the Tukwila lightrail station and boarded the train! Zane was so excited to ride the train, he was beside himself...I'll admit, I was excited too!





The first thing we headed off to do once we got downtown was go over to the Sheraton (once we finally found it...got some good exercise in while looking for it) to see the Gingerbread Houses on display! We had to wait in line for awhile which gave the kids a chance to run around and burn off some energy as well as annoy other people waiting in line!! I think the line was worth the wait, the houses were awesome! Each of the 7 houses depicted a different Christmas movie, the amount of detail that went into these houses was amazing! My favorite was The Christmas Story house!







After visiting the houses, we headed over the Westlake to ride the carousel! Zane picked the "blue" horse!





'

After the carousel ride, we headed over to Westlake Center have lunch and then boarded the train to head home! It was a great day and the kids were well behaved...for the most part, haha! Zane is now fast asleep and probably has visions of Gingerbread Houses dancing in his head!

David's Birthday Party!

We headed to Odysey 1 today for Zane's friend David's 2nd birthday party and what fun we all had! Its so nice to have Zane big enough now to maneuver through the play structures by himself, but its also fun to go and help him when he (or we) needs it too! Everyone needs an excuse to crawl through tunnels, play in ball pits and go down slides right?!! Happy Birthday David!!

Zane and Miles










The Birthday Boy!

Christmas Part I

We celebrated Christmas with my mom and her side of the family this afternoon! It was a good time to see family and watch everyone open the gifts that I'd been working hard on putting together for them! Zane scored as usual, it was fun to watch him open up his gifts and get so excited over them!

Toys for Tots!

We have been gathering toys for the last month or so to donate to Toys for Tots and today was finally the day to drop them off! We headed to one of the fire stations nearby and after putting the toys next to ALL of the other toys (there were so many toys, made me so happy to see) Zane got a surprise...he was invited back to see the fire trucks (ok, so maybe I asked if he could see them, but still)! Zane was in awe and a little scared of them at the same time. These trucks are mammoth compared to this little 3 foot tall kid! The fireman offered to let Zane sit in the driver's seat, but Zane wanted nothing to do with it! I was able to hold him next to the seat and he touched the steering wheel, but that's as close as he got to sitting in the seat! The fireman brought out a coat, helmet and boots for Zane to touch and see, very cool! I am in shock at how heavy the coat and helmet were, there is no wonder as to why firemen (and women) need to be in such great shape!

This is definitely a new tradition for The Alexander's, we will be donating toys every year from here on out. I am excited for the day when Zane understands what a good thing he is doing by donating these and excited for the day when he can actually pick out the toys at the store knowing they are for another child and for him to feel happy and good about it!

Work Holiday Party.

My work holiday party was last night and my gorgeous date was Zane!! Our party was on a budget so was held at the clinic and since Zane's daycare is right by work and we're 25 miles from home it didn't make sense for me to take him home and come back, so he was my date! He did great and was so well behaved (or so everyone tells me, haha)! I think my favorite part of our holiday party every year is the White Elephant Gift Exchange, it just gets better every time! The rule is the item you bring either has to come from your home or if you chose to buy something it can't be over $10, it can be whacky, tacky or actually something decent...its all in the eye of the beholder in some cases though! I ended up with some Mickey Mouse picture frames which is great since my date is obsessed with the mouse right now!



Some beautiful music for us while we ate!


A picture with my date!


Zane helping open up Nicole's gift!


One of our RN's and her beautiful duck plunger!!


One of our doc's and a beautiful apron...too bad it was "stolen" from him! Too bad I didn't get a picture of what he ended up with...the tackiest eagle woman statue that anyone has ever seen!

Frog Bubbles!

We had bought Zane a bubble machine for the bath-tub for his birthday, but the thing was a piece of junk so we took it back. While online the other day I found this frog one that had good reviews and looked a lot better than the el-cheapo model we had last purchased, so I chanced it and ordered it. Mr. Frog arrived today and Zane couldn't wait to take a bath to try it out and thankfully it worked just like it was supposed to! This one even plays music, yahoo!

Zoo Lights!

We headed out to Point Defiance Zoo tonight to walk through the "Zoo Lights", it was awesome! It was rather chilly, but well worth it! Zane loved the animals made out of lights and kept asking to go back to certain ones! We met up with our friends the Wieser's and Serna's and all had a really good time!