Alex and Santa 2008

We have had a wonderful holiday season and there is so much to update on with Christmas and our trip to California, I will start here with the photo of Alex with Santa.

Thanksgiving weeks

Hello all,

We have been very busy the last few weeks as everyone is during the holidays.

Aunt Katie [Carl's sister] and Uncle Gabe came into town the weekend before thanksgiving and Alex had a blast with them. We went to dinner on Saturday night and then church and the park on Sunday, then came home and made a yummy dinner from the Mario Batali cookbook. They headed out on Monday morning to go to Augusta. Then my cousins all started to arrive for thanksgiving.

On Wednesday night a group of us met for dinner at Fudruckers, probably the only restaurant that can handle that number of kids at once. Then we all went to my uncle's house for thanksgiving. We attempted to get a picture of all the kids together at once, but that is difficult with 2 of them under 3 and not wanting to sit still. Here is our best shot.

Mom and I went and did our Friday shopping the next day and got some really good buys - I have almost all my shopping done already.

This last Thursday was very stressful as we waited for the results of my dad's cancer screenings, but all good news - NO CANCER!

We celebrated by having lunch together and getting Alex's Santa picture at the mall. He loved Santa and had no issues at all.

This weekend we had Friday night dinner with our neighbors at a new restaurant that just opened Kaysons, it was very good and we are going back in 2 weeks again. Pretty good sign that we did not have any major meltdowns with 7 kids.

Then on Saturday, my cousin dropped his daughter Sarah off around lunchtime so they could go away for a night. I got to see what life with 2 kids is like... actually not bad... but Sarah is such a good girl and loves Alex and had a blast being the big kid and showing him how to do everything. He loved all the attention... they were too cute walking out of the Mexican restaurant hand in hand. Sunday evening we headed to Home Depot to pick out our Christmas tree. The rest of the inside of the house is done, so all we have left to do is the outside and the tree.

Alex is enjoying all of our decorations, and most especially his singing Elmo stocking that his Nana gave him last year.

Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.
We are looking forward to a great family weekend with some of my Aunts, Uncles and Cousins that are in town. It will be interesting, it starts tonight with dinner at Fudruckers [probably the only restaurant where you can take 11 kids at once and manage it].

Friday...Finally!

This has been a very busy few weeks for me at work. We have gone through some restructuring, which translates to lots more work and more responsibility for me.
I am getting it done, but with some long hours.
Alex is doing great. His favorite things now are to review body parts [nose, eyes, ears, hair, teeth, knees, toes, and his most favorite is the belly] he has also started to come over and lift up my shirt and try and tickle me, to which he then dies laughing himself. He is a very active boy and climbs all over everything. He still loves the outdoors and never wants to come inside.
We have had some great times with friends over the last few weekends.
Nov 1 Alex got to have a spend the night at grandma and grandpa's house while Carl and I went to Birmingham AL for a wedding of one of my sorority sisters from college. It was great to be able to visit with some friends from out of town. That next day, I assisted with a baby shower for my friend Georgie, who is getting ready for baby #2.
Last weekend, we enjoyed Friday night dinner with 2 other couples in our neighborhood and their 2 boys each. Yes, we did take 5 boys ages 3 and under to a restaurant... we are going to try to make it a monthly event. Then on Saturday my good friend Wendy came over and we had dinner and watched football [sorry about Penn State Wendy]. Sunday we met our friends Michele, Hilly and baby Max at a park in Dunwoody for a picnic lunch. They brought their dog Charlie, which made Alex a very happy boy... they shared lots of hugs and kisses. We have been trying to get together for a long time and it was great to have it work out. I expect we will have many more park outings for Alex and Max.
This weekend Carl has to work Sat morning and on Sunday night we are going to see his friend from high school and college Luci play in the Transiberian Orchestra at Phillips Arena! I am very excited as I have wanted to see them in concert forever and now the added benefit of Luci being a part of the orchestra makes it so much more special.
That is all for now. We are starting to gear up for the holiday season and are excited about getting to visit with all of my family that is coming in to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and going to CA around the Christmas holidays.

Halloween

We had a great Halloween - Alex was a duck... he hated the shoes so they did not last, but he did pretty well with the rest of the costume. He loves his pumpkin and still had it with him in the car this morning. We had a neighborhood Halloween party and then did a few houses of trick-or-treating.

Corn

So one of my friends thought that it was histerical that Alex will inhale an entire corn on the cob directly off the cob himself and asked for a picture so here you go Johanna!

Picture Update

I have updated some of the pictures here on the left. The top one of course is the day he was born and will not change, the second is Alex's first pony ride at Sander's 2nd birthday party in Sepember, the third is from Italy at Zia Mammila's house as he was chasing the cats and sweeping the driveway off [his favorite activity as many of you who have taken the time to look at the Italy pictures have found, he found a broom at every house we visited] , the fourth is from the wedding in Italy - this is Alex and his cousin Perino, we stayed with them while we were there and Alex just loved him as you can see here, and the last picture is from the pumpkin farm we went to this year.
Today Alex finally drank from a straw. We have been working on it trying and trying and today at Mellow Mushroom it took!