Fillman Family: August 2009

My baby is in kindergarten!

My baby started kindergarten on Monday, August 24th! First day went great but now she wants mommy...will get better but it is a little rough right now! Backpack is iCarly of course.

Mommy's first day of kindergarten back in 1979...

Sitting on the gym floor the first day...told me to go...couldn't walk her to the classroom on the first day, but I have had the opportunity since then...

FUN IN THE SUN IN TEXAS!

Neighborhood pool party today!

Up and close with Shamu...had lunch with him one of the days we visited Sea World...

Alexis right in front of Shamu...

Posing for our cameras...

Getting a little wet at Sea World under the fountains...

Feeding the dolphins all by herself...

We started off Alexis' birthday with a Build A Bear party...and it was awesome! Alexis got to do everything first and all of the girls built a bear (or an owl, cat, and some other creatures!). This was the stuffing stage:

Then they got to give their bears a bath...

Then they dressed them up...shoes and all...here are all of the girls!

Then they got to parade them around the store:

Her cupcake birthday cake...this was a great idea...so easy to just pull apart and hand out (and it was delicious too!)

Blowing out her 5 candles...

And taking a swipe from the cake...family tradition...

So happy with her Peace sign bikini bear...

Alexis with her second cousin...

Alexis' second cousin taking her bear for a stroll...

Then the next day we had a big open house for Alexis' birthday...the cake was extra special...our friend who made our wedding cake made her cake just as she requested it...

Alexis dressed as tinkerbell before we decorated the cake...

All set for the party to start...

Blowing out her 5 candles again (this was her 3rd cake!)

My old college roommate drove 2 hours to her party...so great to see her again (and her family!)

Our trip to PA

I am so behind on blogging and I am FINALLY working again on a contract-basis so things have been crazy around here. Alexis started kindergarten this week (will do another post) and Eric is madly studying for his dermatopathology boards on the 17th of September.

So I will pick some highlights from our awesome trip to PA (and they are in semi-random order):

Alexis on the last night with Nana and Pop Pop Schneck:

Alexis on the last night with Grandmom and Pappy Fillman and Aunt Michele:

Took a trip to the Lehigh Valley Zoo (formerly the game preserve)...favorite part was feeding of the penguins...

Because Nana and Pop Pop live right across the street from Dorney Park, it was a little hard to tell Alexis she couldn't go...so we went on the only day they weren't just testing the rides (hint, hint, that is what we told her they were doing on all the days we didn't want to go).

Here she is with the Great Pumpkin:

Back in 2005, we took Alexis to Dorney on her 1st birthday while daddy was in Iraq...check out her with the Great Pumpkin then:

On the merry go round with Nana:

Got to stand with Charlie Brown with Nana after their show:

And here she is back in 2005 with Charlie Brown and Grandmom Fillman:

On a roller coaster by herself for the first time:

Agreed to go on this ride with Pop Pop but wasn't too fond it...thought it would be ok since she liked the tea cups in Disney:

Mommy and Alexis under the waterfall:

Nana and Alexis truck driving:

On a ride all by herself that kept going up and down...glad I didn't have to go on that one with her!

A visit with Dave and Diane...one of her sets of godparents

A play date at the playground with two new friends (well their dad is an old friend of mine):

The second week we were there, we had the Schneck reunion...here is the crew:

Alexis had tohelp with the corn for dinner so she decided she would brush them...then she got bored!

Relatives brought a puppy poodle and he enjoyed the bubbles Alexis was blowing (so did Cleo, Nana and Pop Pop's dog):

And this reunion was actually on Alexis' birthday, so this was her second birthday cake...chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!

Feeding fish at the fish hatchery with Grandmom Fillman...Alexis absolutely loved doing this...even had Grandmom go get more food!

Hanging in the tree with Grandmom...

Fish statue with Grandmom Fillman and Aunt Michele...

Haning on the bed with Nana and Cleo as mommy was packing...

Eric was not going to go home but he decided to surprise his parents for their 50th wedding anniversary dinner...they took the whole family to Moselem Springs for an awesome dinner! The grandkids and great grandkids made a hand print poster for them...

And here they are all with all of the grandkids and great grandkids...having a great time as you can see!

And our attempt at a family picture...as you can see it was my daughter who didn't cooperate...this was probably the best shot anyone got!

And we had cake for dessert so we asked them to feed each other cake like they did at their wedding...pretty cool!

Alexis thought this was so great so she decided to not use a fork too!

This is a picture of Alexis trying to catch fireflies...she kept naming them and calling them sweetie (like she does with the dogs) and asking them to come in the jar...as you may guess, this did not work very well but she enjoyed seeing them light up...not something we see very often down here in Texas!