Christmas Pictures

I have posted just a few pictures below from Christmas.
Below: Solomon with Santa after Christmas Eve mass.Below: Solomon opening one of his Thomas and Friends engine. This one is Gordon.

Below: Zoe with D-Rex.. It moves, talks, eats, etc..
Below: Solomon loved his chainsaw. Not surprising. He loves to destroy. :) In this case, he's destroying his Daddy. Ahh.. the Christmas love.

Below: And then.. He moved onto D-Rex. D-Rex required immediate surgery.

Below: Christmas morning video.

More Christmas pictures are to come. There will be some from the Thomas Family Christmas as well...

He's a Dancing Machine

You've gotta admit.. He's got some good moves...

and then...
My favorite video of the year....

Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun at Alex's brother's (Ray/Zach) house in Lawrence. He and his wife, Susan, and their son, Sam, were great hosts. Of course, we also ate a lot of great food and dessert! Below are some fun pictures from the day as well as a video of Solomon and his cousin, Eli, being crazy with Grandma Thomas. Above: Solomon and Eli

Above: Arianna (we also celebrated her birthday!)

Above: Sam enjoying some cake

Above: Susan, Trooper (the new puppy) and Sue (KU student)

Above: Grandma Thomas, Roy/Thomas (Alex's brother) and Arianna (Zach/Ray, Alex's other brother, is behind)

Above: Zach & Solomon reading a book. We heard "Uncle Zach" come out of Solomon's mouth several times that day!

Above: Funny video of Eli and Solomon having fun with Grandma. Two crazy little boys.
My time up in Lawrence was capped off perfectly as well with breakfast with my BFF, Erin. We ate, walked around downtown and of course talked our mouths off! :) It was fun.

Life has been busy ever since. We're getting the upstairs portion of our house repainted. All the trim will be white. They started with our bedroom. It looks great. The painters sanded off all of the popcorn ceiling and painted our walls in there. We also got new bedroom furniture. I love it. I can't wait for it all to be done. Then, we can put up our Christmas decorations. I can't wait for Christmas!

Happy Halloween... Yes.. two weeks late.

Above: Solomon in search of candy

Above: Mommy and Elmo

Above: Zoe the good witch with her friend Emily the astronaut

All the pictures above are from the day of Halloween. We went to Barnes and Noble and saw the "Where the Wild Things Are" characters. "Max" the guy in the white outfit was a little odd in person, but the kids sure did like him. Back to the KU game!

Team Spirit Video & Halloween at School

Above: Alex showing Solomon Elmo videos on his iPhone
Above and below: Solomon at daycare on the mega stroller. Ella is his best friend on the front.

We had a fun Halloween with Solomon this year. His school Halloween party was this past Thursday. I've posted a few pictures above. His BFF is the girl on the front of the mega stroller. More pictures are to come from Halloween from today. I don't have them uploaded yet. We went to a Where the Wild Things Are party at Barnes and Noble today and then to my aunt and uncle's house for some trick or treating and dinner. Solomon was again "Elmo". He wasn't really a huge fan of keeping the Elmo "hood"/head on his head, but it was cute anyway. He also just wanted to eat the candy as we were walking, as opposed to collecting all of the candy and eating it later. I see his point, but it wasn't too efficient for trick or treating so we only did a few houses. I've also posted a video below of our attempt to brainwash Solomon into liking our teams. He can say "Go Raiders" (Alex's team) and "Go Jayhawks" (my fabulous team of course). Hope you all had a great Halloween!

New Pictures!!

I've posted some pictures below as promised in my last post. First, there are some pics we took of Solomon at a nearby park. I think they're really cute. He was NOT in the mood to be photographed at all, but we did manage to catch a few good ones. Then, below that, I've posted some pictures from Solomon's birthday party. If you want to see all of the pictures, click here: http://kellyalexsphotos.shutterfly.com/. Also, check out the online version of the local magazine, Splurge. Solomon is pictured in it as a children's clothing model on page 52. Click here to view: http://www.splurgeonline.com/.

Hugging Big Jay
Hanging on the pole

Cool Kiddo pose

Enjoying a cupcake at his b-day party!

The pawprint cake made by Kandi and Mom

Solomon & Uncle Zach/"Sam's Dad" as he calls him

Decked out in birthday gear!

Opening presents

Sweet pose

So much going on!

Life has been so busy lately that I just haven't had the time to post anything. Plus, I still don't have the pictures from some of our recent fun times uploaded. Our friends, Brett and Abby, got married last weekend on Saturday. It was so much fun and such a nice wedding. Abby looked great as did everything else at the wedding and reception. I will post some pictures. I have good ones as Alex was their photographer. I did the guest book. I shouldn't forget to mention the bachelorette party the weekend before that was on the Party Bus! It was a lot of fun. :)

The next day we had Solomon's birthday party. He turned the big TWO! It's really hard for me to believe it. I bought one of those inflatable jumpy things from my cousin, so the kids had a blast jumping around in it. The pictures above are actually from the week or so before when we blew it up. I don't have his bday pics ready yet. Next time any of you come to Wichita, bring your kids over and we'll pull it out. Kids just love those. My mom and sister did a lovely job with his cake. They made two paw prints as we had a Chocolate Lab themed party. Coco, our dog, and Solomon are best buds. Again, I'll post pics later on. Solomon got lots of great stuff and has been playing with it all non-stop. For instance, one of our friends thought it would be funny to buy him a recorder.... enough said.. see below..

He also got lots of great clothes. We bought him a toy airplane since he is obsessed/mesmorized by them right now! My parents got him a super cool red tricycle.
His real birthday was on Tuesday, so we took cupcakes to his school and snapped a few pictures there. He downed his cupcake before the others had even begun, so he was a little miffed that they didn't really want to share theirs with him. :) I think he takes after mommy. I mean, don't be shy... just eat it! Again, pics to come.
This past weekend, we went to Lawrence for the KU football game. It was a lot of fun. My brother-in-law/SIL watched him throughout the game which was awesome as our tickets were elsewhere. They said he had a great time. I think that's true b/c he crashed hard in the car on the way home and was a nightmare for about an hour after we got home!
We took him for his 2-year check up on Friday. Dr. Chavez said all is well and he's heatlhy. He received a few vaccinations and we'll have to take him back in a few weeks when the H1N1 shot is available.
Stats:
Weight: 28 lbs. 3oz. - 53%
Height: 35.25" - 75%
Head circ.: 49 cm. - 55%
I've posted some other fun pictures and videos below from the past month:

This pictures shows obvious "bed head" but it cracks me up b/c it looks like old lady hair after the curlers are out! :)

Note our little bareback rider above!

Our friend, Sol, just did some landscaping work in our backyard and it looks so good. I should have taken a before picture, but I never remember to do that stuff. Come and visit and you'll see it.
I'll post the other pictures soon.

Mid-August

Soooo what's going on.. not much extremely exciting stuff. Alex has had a few days that aren't super crazy so we've actually enjoyed a little bit of family time. Of course, work for me has been crazy, so that has made things really hectic anyway.
My friend Molly was in town a few weeks ago, so I was able to go to dinner with her and Tammy. We had such a good time talking/laughing/reminiscing. Tammy had just been to North Carolina on vacation and brought me back a Dollywood T-Shirt. I will wear it with pride. Ahhh... Dolly Parton.. It's so funny that she has an amusement park. I am actually going to get to see Molly again as I'm travelling on business next week. I can't wait. She just announced to us that she's pregnant with baby #2. Woo hoo! I believe she is due in December.
In Solomon news, as you can see from the video, he loves the telephone. We've semi-officially gone to a toddler bed. With the crib, we would hear a thud and he would have just jumped out of the crib. He really enjoyed it. Therefore, we've lowered the side railing as low as it will go. This way, if he jumps out, the fall won't be too far down, but it still keeps him from falling out during the night which is a small fear I have. I think the only thing that truly makes it a toddler bed is removing the front railing.. We'll do that soon. He's been talking A LOT more lately. He repeats a lot of what we say and short phrases as well... He loves to say "shoe fly shoe" and wave his arm around. I don't know if that's how you spell "shoe" in that instance, but oh well. He sometimes calls me "Kelly" or rather "Kekky" and fully back into the swing of wanting to be read to. He went out of it for a while, but it's back. I love that but get sick of reading the same books over and over. He also started back at his regular daycare this week. He really seems to like it and even remembered one of the teacher's names. She said he was very helpful at meal time... Frankly I can't imagine, but who knows? I guess it's possible. He's into absolutely everything all the time and loves to be messy and make messes. He really likes Alex so much lately and cries everytime he leaves the house.
Not much else going on... BTW... it's only 17 days until my bday... Let's not forget!

Vacation & New Feats

I have added a lot of pictures and a few videos this time.

We went to Kansas City over the 4th of July weekend to hang out with Alex's family. That's where we learned that Solomon could escape from the Pack N' Play. We used to feel safe when we let him sleep in it when we were travelling, but I guess that good feeling is over! :)

The next week, we vacationed in Denver and Colorado Springs. In Denver, we got to see two of Alex's cousins, as well as his friend Jason (pictured in one of the pics below and his ex-college roommate, Pat). We went to the Aquarium in Denver as well as a cool little park, that featured a train, petting zoo and jungle gym.
In Colorado Springs, we went to the North Pole to see Santa Clause and to the zoo, which is really cool. We also spent two nights at my Great Aunt, Eileen's house. She hosted the Balfay Family reunion. That was my grandmother's maiden name (my mom's mom). It was a lot of fun because I saw many people I haven't seen in many years and met others for the first time. Check out the pictures below as well as the videos at the bottom of the post.

(Above) Solomon & Joey hugging. Joey is my mom's cousin's daughter's son!

(Above) Solomon with a silly face
Solomon & Zoe hugging

Cool orange fish that Solomon liked

Alex dealing with/wrestling Solomon at the Aquarium

Jason (friend mentioned above) telling Solomon all about the fish

Solomon and I went down the candy cane slide at the North Pole

Joey and Solomon ran around the tent pole about a million times.
It was a lot of fun and I was sad to drive back to normalcy and schedules, but it was nice to be home.
By the way, here's a link to all of the pictures from our trip: http://kellyalexsphotos.shutterfly.com/

First Haircut

Our little Solomon had his first haircut today! I know many kiddos have already had a few by 21+ months, but we just love his curls and haven't wanted to cut any part of them off until now. We just had his bangs trimmed up significantly and the back cut a little. His hair was always in his face. He looks soooo cute now!!

BEFOREAFTER

VIDEO

Of course, I can't stop talking through most of this... What's new?? :) I had my hair cut last week and decided afterwards to get some highlights. I have never in my life dyed my hair, so this was new for me. My hair has gotten significantly darker since being pregnant with Solomon. So many things about me have changed since then, but I have to admit, that is a particularly weird one.. darker hair. I also have to say that until this summer, I have spent a lot less time outside in the past couple of years, so that may, in part, explain why my hair is darker. Blonde hair lightens quickly and significantly in the sun. Two summers ago, I was a big pregnant lady, trying to stay indoors and last summer, I had a little child that couldn't yet walk. Therefore, my hair has had little exposure to the sun. I have to say that I LOVE my new highlights. They are kind of expensive so I don't know if I'll keep them up, but we'll see. It was fun to treat myself at least.

Another Week, Another Post

I took a couple pictures of Solomon this morning. It wasn't as hot as it has been, so first he "helped" me by sweeping the patio off a bit. After running around non-stop for about an hour... he stopped for a quick rest on the chair. I think he looks like such a big boy in this photo.

Kandi's friend, Stephanie, painted all of the leaves below on Zoe's room ceiling at their new house. How cool is Tinkerbelle below? I think it looks great and I know that when I was Zoe's age, I would have LOVED it!

The video below just makes me realize how much can happen in one year of a child's life. Even nine months ago, when we first got the swingset, Solomon couldn't have attempted to get up the stairs of the slide, now he's a pro. I didn't get it on this take, but ususally, he says, "Yea!!" when he reaches the bottom. Very cute.
This week our new car finally came in! Yippee! It's been fun to drive it around. Alex was pretty sad to give up the Impala a.k.a., Halle Barry (sp?), which we sold the same day, coincidentally. He loved her, but it really was time. Her new owner is very excited to have her, so she's in good hands. He lives nearby, so we may even get to see her from time to time. I am only half joking b/c I thought Alex might cry when she drove away. Flaws and all, he really liked that car.
We love having the backyard fenced in. Solomon plays outside almost everyday now. He doesn't mind the heat. Nothing slows the kiddo down until it's time for bed. He's been saying new words everyday. It's so funny to hear it. Today, I was reading a book about flowers and the word "grow" is in it several times. He kept repeating "gow", "gow." His favorite food is fruit, so he's all about saying "fru." It is really nice to at least sometimes know what he wants. He seems to get excited when I get it too.
We went to our favorite Indian restaurant for dinner on Friday night, Maharajah. It didn't disappoint, although it was hotter than hell. I think the guy likes to save money by not running the A/C. Brutal... especially when eating spicy food.
On another note, (I know my thoughts are very disorganized) we cleaned out our garage all day yesterday while my parents were kind enough to take care of Solomon. It is so organized. I LOVE organization, so I am IN LOVE with the garage again. In fact, I've walked outside to admire it several times already. New shelving, a toolbox. It's wonderful. We can actually find stuff again.
I went with some of my book club members tonight to see "My Sisters Keeper", as we had read that in book club a few years ago. I think I cried about 75% of the movie. They changed the ending from the book, which annoyed us, but it really was still good. If you need a tearjerker, this will do the trick. If you have a child and you do not cry during this movie, you are made of wood or something. The thought of having a kiddo that sick.. ugh.. I hate the thought.
Anyway, good weekend full of accomplishments and fun.

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day dads, grandpas and others! I made Alex a special breakfast this morning after he slept in a bit. Of course, he had worked at the bar until 2:30am, so it wasn't really sleeping in. Then, he worked on one of the magazines for most of the rest of the day. The good news for me with that is that he was at home while Solomon napped so I got all kinds of errands run that have been stacking up. This evening, we went to eat at Red Robin with my parents and Kandi, Jimmy and Zoe. No, it's maybe not the most fatherly place in the world, but the kids love it, so it makes it easier on all of us. Solomon was pigging out on his pizza, so it made for a calm meal for me. My mom thought it would be fun for the kids to get in the photo booth, so we made my dad hold Solomon and Zoe. The pics are funny I think. Zoe is hamming it up, while Solomon seems slightly annoyed throughout! Of course, he just wants to run around and not be held. Solly was sweet and even gave Alex a hug tonight. I think he was pretty tired, so that's when he always gets snuggly. I hope everyone had a good Father's Day!

Fences and Cars

Zach and Solomon are best buds. We have been so busy over the past few weeks. Alex's brother (Zach) and brother-in-law, Stephen, came in last weekend to help us put up our new fence. Grandma Thomas and Aunt Susan were also on hand to help take care of Solomon. It was great. We are almost finished with the fence. I'll post some photos soon. They helped us set all of the posts and runners. My dad put up the gate and Alex is now about half way finished with the slats. I can't wait for it to be finished. Then, the dog can run free and so can Solomon! My sister gave us Zoe's sandbox. I think Solomon is going to like that a lot too!
Below is a photo of Solomon and Uncle Zach/Ray hanging out on the couch. Below is Solomon and Alex's new thing they like to do. Alex says "I don't know" and Solomon repeats. He really into animal sounds and seems to be saying a new word everyday. My friend Sara, takes care of Solomon on Tuesdays and Thursdays this summer. She and her daughter, Claire, taught Solomon to make a hiss sound like their cat sometimes makes and he really likes to make a coyote sound as well.

In other exciting news, we bought a new car this week! Thank God. It was so needed. We are trying to sell the Impala, so we've placed a few ads online and in the newspaper starting this week. Hopefully, it moves!