Christmas Stroll, Georgetown Square

Despite the allergies and the hot weather, Alex and I ventured out for our first Christmas festival of the season this afternoon.  Georgetown, Texas was hosting it's Annual Christmas Stroll on Main street, and the word FREE stamped all over the flyer grabbed my attention.  First up, the 25 foot tall "Snowzilla" slide (FREE).  It looked really, REALLY tall for a 3 1/2 year old, but he met the height requirement (of course he did) and while we waited he compared notes with the little boy behind him.

The conversation went something like this, Alex - "I'm 3 1/2". Little boy - "I'm 5 months old." Little boy's mom interjects - "No, your 5 years old."  Little boy - "I'm tall enough to ride the slide." Little boy's mom interjects - "just barely".  Alex - "Well, I'm 3 1/2 and I'm tall enough to ride the slide."

The first time I went on one side and Alex went on the other.  He loved it.  And wanted to go again.  By himself.  Sigh.  "Mom," he says, (yes, he calls me mom when he's serious.  Not mommy...just mom) "You already went once to make sure it wasn't scary.  You weren't scared, right?  So I will go by myself this time."  And he did. Twice.

That's him looking TINY at the top...

We saw the Grinch, but he didn't want his picture with the live one, so he settled for this one instead.

Riding the train by himself after tackling the Godzilla of slides was No.Big.Deal.

As if daddy wasn't already sad enough he had to miss the excitement today, Alex made sure to play hockey (which he almost NEVER wants to do at home) and even scored a goal!

Finally we spent some time walking around the Bethlehem Village, complete with a fully occupied Inn and a beautiful little rendition of the nativity, tucked into a quiet little corner.  

Trifle with Death

Halloween has always been a favorite holiday for Dustin and I.  Honestly, I have no idea why, but every year we decorate and eagerly await the arrival.  This year we set out with the same exuberance  but  suddenly everything had more meaning than before.  Homeschooling has created a whole new perspective on learning, and for Alex, everything is a research opportunity.  We usually spend a good deal of time looking things up, so it was especially nice this year to find a number of great articles, suggestions and ideas in my inbox about ways to include christian traditions and history into this celebration.  We've had fun reading and learning (certainly more than I ever knew about Halloween), but at the end of the day, he was most interested in creating a Halloween dessert masterpiece.  Oh, boy.  Here goes.

A masterpiece indeed.  He tried one bite and said he didn't like it at all.  This one is just for looks!

Day Out With Thomas

My camera broke.  Again.  Boo!

In September, Granny and Pappy took the boys (and us parents) for a special Day Out with Thomas.  In case I haven't made it clear in previous posts, Thomas is a BIG deal in our house... so this will a big deal for Alex.

Chappell Hill Lavender Farm

Today was our first field trip of the new school year and Alex has been excited to go all week long.  The drought has caused wide-spread damage all across Texas, and sadly we have seen and heard about the significant loss of crops this year, although we have been very lucky to still find some wonderful fruits and vegetables at our local farmer's market.  We were thrilled to hear that lavender was finally in bloom at the Lavender Farm in Chappell Hill, Texas, and Granny and "Grandma" Cheryl wanted to cut some fresh-from-the-farm lavender and asked Alex and I if we'd like to join them.  What a treat!  It's a two hour drive from Austin out to Chappell Hill, but we had nice weather (thank goodness for air conditioning in August) and we got to see some beautiful country along the way.  We arrived back home with plenty of little lavender goodies and a few pictures to share.

Yes, they are really sharp scissors, and yes, he almost cut off a finger (on the grannies, not himself)

Alex putting his first cuttings into the basket

Of course he brought his backpack with all of his science tools (so he could look for bugs, of course)

I think the conversation went something like this: "Are you sure we have to do this?  Do you think anyone is watching?" "Yes, granny, wave your arms like this.  Come on, fly like a butterfly!"

Lavender is already hanging to dry at home this evening

Zippered Backpack Purse

This purse kicked my...ahem.  Excuse me.  Let me start again.  Lovely though it is, this pattern was an exercise in patience.  And required a great deal of assistance from my mom to keep my sanity.  I'll just say we're glad it's done.  Though I do think it came out pretty decent in the end (minus some unfinished edges on the inside that still bother me when I allow myself to think about them).  While I may come back to it at some point, I have shelved the pattern for now and am moving on to less confusing things!

Painting

First Visit to the Dentist

We've been searching for a dentist for Alex for a while.  (Honestly, I think I've subconsciously been putting it off because let's face it - once you've had a bad dentist experience, you remember it forever...and it makes it pretty hard to get excited about the dentist.)  First, we are very limited by our insurance as to who we can see that's on our plan, which is a bummer because a friend at our church has a husband who is a dentist and he comes highly recommended.  Second, our dentist office will not see children until they are four years old - they recommend seeing a pediatric dentist.  Third, the pediatrician recommended Alex see a dentist when he turned three - but she recommends a pediatric dentist at that age too.  Fourth, our insurance considers a pediatric dentist a specialist, which costs a whole lot more (underscore WHOLE LOT) than a plain old dentist.  These are all of my excuses for taking so long to get him in for his first visit.

Enter Groovy Dental.  They are one of the few on our insurance plan, so I made Alex his appointment and tried very hard to forget the cost (here you can visit their website - http://www.groovymolar.com).  And it's not like their prices are unreasonable...they are the same as every other pediatric dentist in the area - dental insurance is just ridiculous (or insert a number of other adjectives here).  For months we've been talking about the dentist and what he does and why it's important to go, but Alex still wasn't sure this would be a good thing.  We're into rhyming so we even made up a little saying about Dr. Brad - Dr. Brad is Rad (hey, that rhymes mommy! and then the enthusiasm vanished).

This morning he woke up and decided maybe could wait to go to the dentist, "um...until later".  Protesting the entire way, we headed to the office.  I dragged grandma along with me as back up in case of complete meltdown (okay, in reality she was there to keep me calm).  Walking down the hall in the office building he kept saying he didn't want to go...and then we opened the door to the office and he saw the toys and his attention was instantly diverted.  Then came the moment when they asked Alex to go to the back for pictures of his teeth.  Alex looked up and said he didn't think he was ready yet, but very sweetly and with (in my opinion at that time of the morning) way too much enthusiasm, his hygienist started to slowly persuade him that he was ready (no small feat) and finally off he walked, without me or grandma.  While holding our breath and waiting for the screaming to start, we heard a strange sound coming from the back - giggling.  A LOT of giggling...impossible, but it was Alex and when she brought him back out to get us, they were the best of friends.  He followed her right into the cleaning room and hopped up on the table like he gets his teeth cleaned at the dentist every day.  And the giggling continued.

smiling for Daddy to show him the dentist office isn't scary after all

super-groovy glasses

opening wide like a hippo for his amazingly patient (and really fun) hygienist 

we all took a turn wearing the "groovy" glasses

The very rad (and really amazing with kids) Dr. Brad

Needless to say, the meltdown never occurred, and Groovy Dental was worth any cost to see Alex have such a great time at the dentist office.  He did cry, but it was as we were walking out the door and he kept saying, "I'm really not ready to go yet. I'm not mommy".