Fun at Oma's house

My sister and her family flew to Nebraska this past weekend, so we made our way up to see Oma. Alex had fun playing with his cousins, Matthew and Rachel. They did a great job of wearing him out! We spent Saturday morning out at the farm again and Alex saw lots of cows, kittens, and chickens. He has no fear of the chickens! We had a good time visiting and our time went quickly.

Alex is starting to talk a lot more. He has started to put two words together. Sometimes it's colors and objects, like "blue spoon" or possessives, like "Alex car." Soon he's going to be throwing out sentences! Looks like we are going to hear a lot from Alex in the near future.

I look good in heels!

No chickens up there

What shall I play?

Naptime

Playdoh with Rachel

Oma and Alex

Run away! Run away!

Chillin' with Oma

Festival Weekend

We went to 3 festivals in KC last weekend and we have finally recovered enough to post some pictures! Friday night we went to Jazz in the Woods. This was a large open air Jazz concert in a large office park near us. The music was good, but the best thing there was the huge slide. We didn't know if Alex would like it, but after the 1st time time, he said "more, more" and didn't stop till we made him. (at least 15 more times!) It was great. He also went in the moonwalk once, but the slide was his favorite and wore him out.

Saturday morning we went to the Dragon Boat Festival down at the Plaza along Brush Creek. The races didn't start till the afternoon, but we got to see the boats and some of the teams practice. The boats were made in China and then shipped over here to be used for the festival. Alex even had a chance to race himself. We met Alex's friend, Theo, and his parents at the festival. It was a fun and Alex crashed in the car on the way home. Saturday evening we went to a Greek festival close to our house. There was a lot of Greek music, food, and dancing. Alex's friends, Theo and Lucas, were there and they had a great time dancing and playing. We all slept in a bit on Sunday!

It's been a quiet week in KC. The heat has finally arrived, so we are staying inside more and trying to stay busy. Alex saw the doctor on Wednesday and is doing well. He is now 34.5 inches and just over 24 lbs. He hasn't gained a lot of weight over the last 8 months, but he has made up for it in height. We are looking forward to a visit from friends this weekend.

Look at that slide

Down goes Alex

Jumping

Look at the boat

Dragon boat

Alex, Eric, and Theo in their boat

Lucas and Alex dancing

More dancing

Where's the ball?

3 against 1 isn't fair!

Oma and an Alex update

Last week, Alex and Papa headed up to Nebraska to spend a few days with Oma. Mama got some R&R at home. (At least we hope so!) Alex's cousins were also at Oma's house, so he got to play a lot! He sure has fun with them. We even took a trip out to the farm to see the cows. We checked in on the kittens. They are now about 3 weeks old. Alex picked one up and was happy to pet it. He also got Uncle Vern to hold down a chicken so he could pet it. He really wanted to pet the chicken because he was chasing them all over the chicken house before Uncle Vern grabbed one out of the nest.

This week, Alex has started to finger paint. Well, he really is more interested in having the paint all over his fingers and trying to paint Papa's hands rather than the paper. As you'll see in the photos some of the paint doesn't make it to the paper. We also decided to start the official potty training this week. Alex is wearing big boy training pants and Monday went pretty well. Hopefully today will continue with more of the same.

Alex's vocabulary is growing every day. He isn't quite ready to put a noun and a verb together, but he says a lot of words and he knows cars and trucks. He'll even say jeep when a Jeep drives by or Mama if he sees a Prius. (That's what Mama drives) He loves to play with play doh and thanks to all the colors we have, he already knows his colors too! M&Ms are his favorite candy, well I think any chocolate is fine, and he eats yogurt by the gallon, or would if we let him! He loves being outside and has had fun in the pool when it has been warm enough. He does know how to say his name and likes to verify that everyone has the right stuff at the dinner table. So he points to Papa's plate and we say "Papa's plate". Same thing for Mama and Alex. He hasn't picked up yet on me or mine, but will say Alex if he want's to tell you that something belongs to him.

Alex being carried by his cousins

What a neat toy

I like cupcakes

and ice cream

and cars

Riding the six-wheeler

Alex the artist

a little more green

Perfect

My weed trimmer is pretty neat too!