1/12/12: Sally: Alexa can almost whistle.

1/10/12: Sally: It's been a while since I updated:
Christmas. Alexa had a very good xmas. We did our traditional stuff, which consists of xmas eve doing skype with the California folks, xmas morning with just our family, xmas lunch with my family. The girls, of course, got way too much stuff, but they have played with it all. We decorated cookies and made holiday houses. Alexa had a bit of a bad attitude because Santa brought Natalya 4 gifts and she only got 3 and that Natalya had larger sized gifts. Well, I seem to remember overhearing Mrs. Claus telling Mr. Claus that they should probably wrap two presents together so the numbers are the same or one child might say something. Mr. Clause didn't care. Ms. Clause also knew another problem would be because the little one got a big sized gift while the older one got smaller gifts (though more expensive). We didn't open presents for almost 10 minutes in the morning because of Lulu's bad attitude. She finally perked up and all was well.

Alexa also had her first choir concert. It was called "A Star is Born" and was at my parents church. It was nice. Alexa sat in the front row (like we asked), kept her dress down (like we asked), but didn't always sing. In fact, she stood there looking pissed for a lot of it. They sang for two services and she did better in the second service - she sat in the second row, put her feet up on the chair, but did sing more and seemed more in to it. The church as the worst set-up for choir concerts and it ticks me off ... they should do something about that.

Alexa also had to deal with her sister turning three (and also getting a new bedroom set). Alexa doesn't like that Natalya is getting more gifts and there are times when she tells us that she wished she didn't have a little sister (only a little bit of jealously there - haha). It hasn't been the easiest year with dealing with Alexa's bad attitude, but we continue to work on trying to get Alexa to understand why things happen and why it's important to be grateful for all the stuff we give her and all the fun things we do. We rarely hear "thank you's" or "I love you's" (which is in stark contrast to Talz), but she's working on it.

School. Kindergarten is going well. She still loves the social aspect of it. She's learning how to read certain words. She has problems with mixing up some of the sounds of letters and she's not the most focused when it comes to trying to read (and I am not a teacher and get frustrated when she won't focus or try hard), so I see tutors/extra help in her future (I also don't think the school is that good). I just remember how difficult reading was (which made me hate reading) as a kindergartner (and the teachers did nothing to make it better). I still hate/have a terrible time reading as an adult and I don't want her to feel the same way. I want reading to be fun for her and not a huge pain in the ass.

12/5/11: Sally: If you're wondering what to get Alexa for Christmas, she wants everything.

12/4/11: Sally: Coached Alexa's first basketball game Saturday. It was so fun watching these kindergartner's play a "game". Alexa wanted to always dribble the ball up the floor and she would try to direct people where to go when trying to throw them the ball. We just loved it. The day didn't start so well as she had a bit of an attitude about not getting a particular ball to shoot around with. I was so mad, I wanted Jason to take her home. But she got with the program. We won our first (though we're not supposed to keep score - hah) and the kids had a great time.

11/17/11: Sally: Had Alexa's first kindergarten conference. It went great. No surprises. She's "very talkative" (I'm sensing a trend here every year). She knows her letters, upper and lowercase, and numbers, but had a hard time with the sounds of the letters. We have noticed that when you ask her to read a word or say a sound, she some times confuses them (for the word "the", when she reads it she says "va"). We got her first "quarterly essentials learning summary" (quels) and she meets expectations on everything, except for some of the work habits/social skills, where she got partially meets expectations. She needs to work on her self-control, following rules and showing respect (duh!), and working well with others (not being so bossy). Overall her teacher said she's a joy to have in the class and is doing very well. Way to go Lulu!

11/1/11: Sally: Every night before bed for probably a year or so, Alexa has told me, "Check on me 10 times. Check on me when daddy goes to bed." It's our nightly ritual. Halloween was a hit again with Alexa. I painted her face, which she loved. Jason took her around with Peyton as they were itching to go before it was even dark and I was still painting Natalya's face. She and Peyton ran as fast as they could to every house.

10/3/11: Jason: For the latest videos of the girls, check out our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/user/HuskerLifer
We have been putting videos up there that we have taken with our Smart Phone and iPad.
Or go to www.youtube.com and search for HuskerLifer

10/3/11: Sally: Alexa is taking a choir class at my parents church and she is loving it. She loves singing the songs. She got a CD of all the music they're going to sing. I even had to look one song up on YouTube because it wasn't on the CD and she wanted to practice it. She's very excited to sing at Church.

9/14/11: Sally: Alexa had a great first week (3 days) of kindergarten last week. She loved it and loved meeting new kids and playing with everyone. She ended up getting all three types of daily status updates. First day she got a heart. Second day she burst in to tears, twice, while telling Jason and I that she got a check for the day. This meant that the teacher had to do a lot of reminders for her. We told her it was ok because she knows what she did wrong and that she should try to get a star the next day. Then on Friday she got a star, which is the best thing you can get. She was so excited that she got a star, especially after having the check. We also had our first call from the nurse this week. She hit her head on the play set outside. She got ice, but didn't want to lay down and wanted to go back outside to play. I have a feeling she may be in the nurse a lot with the amount of time she hits her head or gets big bruises, but she's a tough cookie and will usually go right back to playing.

9/8/11: Sally: Alexa loved kindergarten. She said her favorite part was going outside. Her least favorite part was not getting to meet more new people. She loved that she new a few other kids in the other class (though they don't really interact much with the other kindergarten class). She said she was looking forward to meeting more new kids. She was happy that she got a heart on her daily report (star means outstanding/exceeds expectations, a heart means you did a great job listening, a check means you had to be redirected by the teacher a lot -- the teach said kids will normally get a heart or a check). She was excited to do her homework. Overall, we were just so glad she liked it and had fun.

9/5/11: Sally: Took our first family trip to Wisconsin Dells. We had a blast. We stayed at The Wilderness and would highly recommend it. Alexa could do almost everything. She was up for everything. Natalya did all the rides she could, but she didn't like the ones that were dark the entire time. She would cover her eyes the whole time, which was funny since it was already pitch black. They both also loved the Chucky E. Cheese like arcade and climbing thing. Alexa even went a few things she wasn't tall enough for, but they never measured her and she was only two-inches too short any ways. They both had a great time and it was a great first family vacation for us.

7/28/11: Sally: Funny conversation I had with Alexa in the car:
Alexa: Mom, I know who I'm going to marry.
Mom: Oh yeah, who?
Alexa: Brody
Mom: How do you know you're going to marry Brody?
Alexa: Because we pinky swore on it!
Mom: Ha ... ok ... how do you know Brody is the one? I mean, why do you want to marry Brody? Why not Zerek or Peyton?
Alexa: Because we see each other every day. We sit next to each other. We play together. We play "kissy girls". (Now at this point I start thinking "uh-oh ... kissy girls ... this is not good.)
Mom: Alexa, what is "kissy girls"?
Alexa: Well, the girls try to catch the boys and give them a kiss. And if you catch them, you have to freeze and then you get all the loven in your head. (At this point, I almost had to stop the car because I was laughing so hard).

7/12/11: Sally: Alexa is doing a great job swimming. She can dive to the bottom of the pool to get the rings. She just loves diving down. She can do summersaults and yesterday, I showed her how to do a handstand in the water. She can hold her breath for a long time. She's just doing great. She's in the highest swim group at the YMCA, so she's very excited about that. One side affect to all the sun and swimming though is that her hair is terribly dry and her skin is both burned and also terribly dry. We lube her up with lotion but it's a losing battle. Her skin is peeling on her neck and face. It looks like she has little freckles on her face, which are so cute.

6/29/11: Sally: Alexa has been a little clingy this past week when I drop her off at the YMCA. I really think she's acting that way because A - I'm awesome! (haha) and B - She comes with me to drop her sister off and she's always crying at Primrose, so Alexa then copies that for some reason. But she loves the YMCA. She's excited to go on field trips and go swimming. I think we're going to get her ears pierced this weekend, or at least try. I've been talking about it with her for weeks and she says she wants them. We'll see how she does when she's actually sitting in the chair.

6/23/11: Sally: New house record for fever, 103.7. They both had a virus of some sort. Both are fine now, thankfully.

6/22/11: Sally: 102.7 ... now Alexa has whatever Natalya has. Went in this morning and no strep (on the rapid test), but has a red throat and tummy ache, all the same symptoms that Natalya had. Called our pediatrician and she thinks it's probably a virus. Poor think is shivering while covered with a fleece blanket (while sitting at the table playing a computer game).

6/19/11: Jason: I have about 6 months of video to add to the site, but in the meantime, check out my YouTube channel. I have been putting videos up there that I have taken with my iPad. www.youtube.com/user/HuskerLifer

6/2/11: Sally: Took Alexa to see "Annie" at the Children's Theater last night. She had a good time. She got a little antsy at the every end. She kept say such funny things, like, "Is that real? Is that person real? Are those skates real? I'm not clapping for her, she's mean. I thought they went to jail (when the bad guys came out for their curtain call)?"

5/25/11: Sally: Alexa got in to full day kindergarten. We're telling everyone she "won the lottery" since it was a lottery to get in. There will be no more than 24 kids (35 kids applied). Yes, we have to pay extra money for it, but we think it's worth it. Now, if only they had an immersion school around here, I would totally sign her up for that.

5/18/11: Sally: Strep throat again. Went in for Alexa's 5 year appointment. Besides the giant tonsils, she did great and looks great. She had to get two shots. She screamed and cried, but recovered pretty quickly because she got stickers. Because of the tonsils and the snoring and constant runny nose, our pediatrician wanted to check her for allergies. I didn't want the normal test that is lots of pricks, so they did a blood draw. Alexa was very nervous about that and ended up in the corner of the room. Once I finally got her to the chair, myself and another guy had to hold her down. Once they got the needle in, she calmed down and watched how they filled all the viles of blood (there were 6!!). Then we got called back up to the pediatrician because the strep test was positive. Looks like another visit to the ENT. Alexa did great at the doctors (we were there for two and a half hours).

5/15/11: Sally: Three parties later, Alexa is five years old. I can't believe she's already five. We did Mall of America on her birthday, family dinner at Red Lobster on Saturday and kid party at Chuck E. Cheese today. Alexa had some issues with waiting for things. She's a bit spoiled. At five years old, she very outgoing, very demanding (rarely says please or thank you), she kind of likes playing with her sister, but she's always the boss or in charge. She will take things from Natalya just because she, Alexa, wants them. She loves to talk and interact with kids and adults. She loves watching movies and tv. She loves playing outside, especially with Peyton. She will do anything not to go to bed at night. She is always looking forward to Friday, when she can sleep in our bed. She's a master at her scooter. She almost never drives the pink jeep. She lost one tooth and has another that is going to come out any day. I would say this past year has been very trying due to the lack of listening and talking back. Many, many time outs. We normally have to say something five times before she'll do it. (Evening post: The night did not end well today. Lets just say that she has lost access to her presents for a while.) This next year should be very interesting.

4/29/11: Sally: Alexa is on her first far away vacation without us. She went with my dad to West Palm Beach, Florida to visit my mother. She has been soo excited to go. She got a new princess rolling bag and two new movies to watch on the plane, so she's super happy. The first thing she said (yelled in excitement) when I called her was that she got to swim in Gammy's pool (and by pool, she meant the apartment complex pool). She's going to have a blast. They're going to Disney World and Sea World and playing in the ocean. Lucky little girl. I already miss her (and so does Jason).

4/25/11: Sally: Alexa lost her first tooth! Then she actually lost it outside or swallowed it, but either way, we don't have her first lost tooth. So we had to write the tooth fairy a note and leave it on her pillow to make sure she still brought Alexa money (which turned out to be two dollars).

4/13/11: Sally: Alexa has her first loose tooth. Now we have the joy of watching her wiggle it for two weeks until it falls out. She's very excited about her loose tooth. Alexa has also been playing a lot of tennis in the driveway. She loves hitting the ball with someone, even though she either misses the ball completely or she hits it over our head or on to the street. We signed her up for tennis lessons this summer. She's also trying to write some. She writes mom and dad but spells it "momm" and "dadd". I think she gets mom/dad and mommy/daddy confused. It's cute.

3/8/11: Sally: Poor Lulu's eye. Just when it was starting to look good, it gets hit again. Last night, somehow, Natalya hit Alexa's eye with her head. I saw it happen, but it didn't seem like anything happened, but after it did, Alexa burst in to tears. Poor thing. It puffed right back up and got more purple. It looks so painful. I still wonder if she broke the bone at all (her pediatrician did see it, but didn't really say anything about it). Every time she changes her shirt, she's always very careful so that it doesn't touch her eye. She's had an interesting couple of months with that and all the strep throat. After 20 more days of drugs, her pediatrician is sending her to an ENT to look at her tonsils. They're still huge (no strep anymore thankfully). I always had big ones, so we'll see in April what the ENT has to say.

2/1/11: Sally: Strep throat for the second time this month for Alexa or the first one was never cured by the drugs. So, new drugs and hopefully it works this time. She was complaining about her throat Sunday night and then Monday morning she was almost in tears about her throat when I was about to drop her off at daycare. Of course it was snowing, so it took forever to get to the doctor and then to work for me.

1/25/11: Sally: Took Alexa to get the first half of her Kindergarten required shots today. I had told her she was going to get shots. She was good with it. She knew it would hurt. She layed down, we talked and then the nurse stuck her, twice. Her little face switched in an instance. One was a booster, so it hurt a lot more. Afterwards, I'm holding her and she says she doesn't want any more shots and I said that she'll need two more before kindergarten ... that didn't make her feel any better. Overall she was trooper. She stopped crying after about two minutes and wanted her stickers. I let her grab one for each kid her class ... the nurse was not happy I allowed that, but I figured it didn't matter and really, I didn't care. I hated shots as a kid (lots of screaming and crying), so I feel for my kids and if she wants 10 stickers, she can have 10 stickers.

1/15/11: Sally: We got my sister's old laptop and gave it to Alexa so she could play games. She likes knowing it's "her" computer, so the second her sister is using it or daddy is using it with her sister, Alexa pulls the "it's mine and I want to play games now" card. She could have been sitting quietly on the couch watching tv, but she notices her sister is using "her" computer and she's off that couch in a millisecond.

1/10/11: Sally: Alexa has strep. It's all over her throat. I only had to look in her throat for 1-second and you can see all the red spots.

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