Just cuz....

I'm just posting these pics cuz Shannon took these last week and I just like the pics and wanted to share them. Plus I think it shows just how big she is getting. Or rather, just how much she is changing. Cuz, I really can't say she is getting big....she is still so itty bitty.

She is almost 2 1/2 and is still able to wear some 9 month shorts, mostly 12 months and figure once we start wearing pants, we'll have to wear 18 months only because we will need the length. As for shirts, she wears anything from 18 to 24 months, but nothing bigger. I finally bought her her first part of nsize 6 shoes, but she mostly wears size 5 - 5.5.

Yesterday we were at Kohls and they had their summer shoes on clearance and I was thinking I might buy her a pair for next summer and would possibly buy a size 7 and this lady was there with her son who just turned 2 in June, so he is 3 months younger than Jetta and he is already wearing a size 8 shoe and is almost out of that she said and he was inches taller and definitely heavier than her. I think she is just going to be small, which I am okay with.

I always laugh when I talk to people who have babies who are a year or close to that and we talk diaper sizes and they tell me their kids are wearing a size 3 or 4 already and I say Jetta wears a 3 and is nearly 2 1/2. They just look at me. I keep hoping that soon we don't have to have that conversation, that we can soon start on the potty training thing, as I truly thing she is ready, just is stubborn and doesn't want to. She will come in and say I gotta go potty and will sit on the potty but won't do anything. She has done it several times, go potty on the potty that is, she just isn't consistent. I figure she is still young and I'm not sure where I will find panties that small, so don't see the need to rush.

Other than that, she is doing great. Talking up a storm. Knows her abc's, can count to 20, has a very extensive vocabularly, knows most of her shapes, still working on colors....each and every day she amazes me. She is such a grown up girl, in such a little body.

Anyway, here are the pics. Hope you enjoy them. As always, thanks for following along.

Jetta and Ava....

As many of you know Jetta has a buddy who she absolutely adores and her name is Ava...and quite honestly I think the feeling is mutual. Ava adores Jetta and is quite the mother hen to Jetta. They are always very cute together and attached are a couple of pictures of them together and you can see just how much they enjoy being together. I just had to share, cuz the pictures are to cute not to share.

Grandma Alexander Visits....

First of all I must apologize, as you all know I have been behind on my posts and this is no exception...so sorry to Grandma Alexander for not getting this posted sooner!

A couple of weeks ago Grandma Alexander came from Florida to visit us. She came and spent a week with us. When she got here it was hot, but it seemed to get hotter as the week progressed. By the time she left, I think she was actually looking forward to going back to cooler temps in Florida. I really don't think any of us thought that would be the case. However, the day before she left, she called home and it fact was cooler in Florida than it was here in St. Louis.

While she was here, she of course spoiled Jetta and I know Jetta didn't mind at all. She and Jetta had a great time. The first few days we just stayed close to home, but then over the weekend we ventured into St. Louis and visited the Budweiser Brewery, which I believe we all enjoyed. Grandma enjoyed the tour and Jetta enjoyed the horses. After the tour we headed home and spent the evening with some friends, as Carrie and Elise were home from Singapore and would be leaving after the weekend and we wanted the girls to have the chance to play one last time. It was a great evening to hang out by the pool and just have a few drinks and relax.

Then on Sunday Grandma, Shannon and Jetta headed out to go fishing and give mommy a little mommy time and to take Jetta on her first fishing trip. While it was already warming up, they spent a few hours enjoying the sun and catching a few fish. I'll put a few pictures on from the day. I think they all had a really good time. Once they came home, we pretty much just hung out the rest of the day, as they all were pretty wore out from the heat. We did go to town and buy grandma a birthday cake, as she had had a birthday before she came to visit and we wanted to celebrate with her.

Now the weekend was over and daddy had to head back to work, so it was just a day for the girls to hang out. So, we headed out for a day of shopping. Again, it was a scorcher, so we pretty much just ducked in from one store to the next. After a long day of shopping we headed home and relaxed for evening, as we knew we had a big day ahead of us on Tuesday. As we were headed to a Cardinals game and heard the temps were going to be over 100.

I had to work, so I was already downtown when they made their way into the city. I know grandma was very excited go to a major league ballgame, and we were excited to take her. The new stadium is definitely worth seeing. We had hoped to take her on a tour, but when we went into town on Saturday, the tour was sold out, hence why we went on the brewery tour. It was a bit before game, so we headed to Hooter's for dinner, which is always good eats. I guess that may sound strange coming from me, but I truly do go there for the wings!

After dinner, we headed to the game, temps were still sitting in the mid-90's, so we knew it was going to be even hotter once we got inside the stadium. Once we got inside grandma was very excited and was just taking it all in. I don't think she even cared that there was going to be a baseball game going on. As the game began, we all realized just how hot it was. Jetta was a trooper, but unfortunately, we only made it thru the bottom of the third inning, as it was just to hot to sit there any longer, but I think grandma had fun either way and was just happy to have had the chance to go to the stadium. Hopefully next time she visits it will be a bit cooler and we can watch more of the game.

Unfortunately grandma had to leave the next day, but we are very glad she came to visit. She and Jetta had a great time. Jetta still asks where grandma went and says "she go home on an airplane" and I say "yep, she went home on an airplane. Where did she go?" and she says "she go back to Florida". So, she knows where she went and that she left on an airplane. So, thanks for visiting us grandma....and sorry for taking so long to get this post done.

Jetta's Pool.....

Jetta got her very own pool for Christmas, but for obvious reasons we had to wait until summer to fill it up and use it. However, as I've mentioned in several of the last posts, it has been super hot this summer, but with that we had alot of rain, so we had to wait for that to pass before we could really fill it up. So, about a month ago, Shannon set it up on the deck and filled it up. Jetta was very excited, but we had to wait for 24 hours to let it warm up. She just didn't understand.

Shannon's aunt has a pool and his cousin Amy takes her in it quite often. So, I think she was confused why she had to wait to go in it. So, after waiting for 24 hours, it was ready to go. Needless to say, since the temps were so warm, the water was more than ready to go. There have been several times where we have had to actually add cold water to cool it off.

She got her suit on and in she went. She really loved it. We take some of her bath toys in and she thinks she's in heaven. She plays in it till her fingers and feets are all wrinkly and we tell her she has to get out. We take her out as often as we can handle the heat. However, can't say Shannon hasn't climbed in with her before.

The pool has definitely been a good gift from Grandma....thanks. I'm gonna attach a few pics. We keep hoping to get her into swim lessons, but with cousin Amy working with her and taking her in as much as she does, not sure that we really need to. She also has been going in with our friends Gaylan and Amy, as they recently got a pool also. So, with all them working with her, maybe she'll learn with all their help. She definitely loves going in and is not afraid, so I guess its a start...thanks to all of you for working with her.

2nd Annual Guangdong Renuion...

On July 17th we traveled to Peoria for our 2nd annual Guangdong reunion with the girls. Abby thank you for being such a great host. All but one of the families were able to travel to join us this year. They already had planned their family vacation prior to our planning our annual reunion, so we are hopeful they are able to join us next year.

It was great to see everyone and to see just how much all the girls have grown and changed since we brought them home. All of them are walking and most of them are talking. The few that aren't, are understanding very well and are getting close. It was great to see the progress they have all made. I look forward to the continued reunions and to the continued progress they make and watching them all grow.

I will attach several pictures of the day. Several of the group and a few of each of the girls.

4th of July....

This year we didn't do much as it was super hot. As that seems to be the case much of the time the past few months. However, we did manage to get out a bit and do a few things.

On the 3rd we met up with our friends Dora and Jason. We went into St Louis and had dinner. After dinner we went over to Dora's work. She works directly down from the river, which is where the shoot off the fireworks nightly. Her work allows for them to go up into their building and onto their balconies and watch the fireworks from there. It is definetly one of the better places to watch them. You are up high, above most of the other buildings downtown and can see them perfectly. Also, being up that high, there is a very nice breeze and therefore is was much cooler, had we been down street level.

This was Jetta's first time watching fireworks, so we were excited to see how she would react. She was pretty excited. However, since it was nearly 9:30, she was fading fast. She did, however make it through them, but was more than ready to head home once they were over. We were very glad we got to watch them with Dora and Jason and that they took us with them to watch them from her building.

We had thought about taking Jetta again on the 4th to the little town down the road. However, it was so hot and again, with it being so late, didn't want to keep her up late another night. She did tell several people we saw over the next couple days how she saw "fireworks". So, I guess she enjoyed them.

I'm gonna attach a couple pictures we took on the front step of her in her 4th of July outfit...looking all festive. I think she looks rather cute if I do say so myself.

Father's Day.....

This year Jetta took Shannon to the circus for Father's Day. A company, that I believe is called Circus Flora. They come to St. Louis each year. They have a one ring circus and were going to be here on Father's Day and I thought it might be a neat outting for the family.

It was Jetta's first circus and wasn't sure how she would react. When we got there we could see the big top and it was pretty neat, brought back alot of childhood memories (and smells). As a child, I got to go see the Shriner's circus many times. It was always a good time. The day was particularly hot, as this was just the beginning of what was going to be the beginning of months of hot weather. However, we were told that the tent had air piped into it, so we figured we didn't have anything to worry about.

As we made our way up to the big top, there was a pony ride, so we let Jetta atake spin. She seemed to enjoy herself. She wasn't quite sure what to think. She always wants to ride the "horsey" at Walmart, so we thought, well, here you go, here's the real deal. I guess, based on her expresssion, we'll stick the the Walmart "horsey" for now. Which, honestly, I'm okay with, that "horsey" is much cheaper and by far less stinky! I'll attach and picture, so you can see for yourself.

We finally made our way inside. The ring was small and we were right down next to the actual ring. She seemed excited. Once the show started, she was excited, but as things got going and the show got started and the horses started coming in and they were whipping the ground, she wanted nothing to do with that and she was climbing up me and clinging to me for dear life. Needless to say, with the heat outside and regardless of the "piped" in air, it was hot. We stuck around for the first act, which was about an hour.

This act included puppies, which she loved, horses and some chickens. We had hoped for an elephant, but there wasn't one. Since there wasn't gonna be one and with it being so hot, we opted to go. All in all, I think it was a success, but think we will wait till she's a little older and for indoor circus to go again.

I'll attach a couple of other pics, hope you enjoy them.