some good times from this summer with Grandma Nancy and Papa Mon

Ales loves his Grandma Nancy and Papa Mon so much. He also loves being chased, so lots of fun is to be had when they chase him.

Dec 27th Christmas with the Johnston's

At the Johnston's we play Dirty Santa, and stealing gifts is 90% of the fun, unless Alex is playing. He was not happy with me when I stole the above gift from Mary Vann. Thankfully he has since forgiven me.

Dec 27th Christmas with the Lewis'

Christmas with the Lewis side of Blaine's family is getting bigger and bigger. This year there were 5 kids of various sizes running, crawling or being held.

Christmas Evening with Margi and Maw

We had Margi and Maw over for dinner on Christmas Day. One of the gifts was very large and turned out to be a most wonderful Riding Mater!!!

Buzz Light Year

Christmas Morning 2011

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We had a nice mellow Christmas morning this year. Alex was not overwhelmed with boxes and bows, but instead got a couple really great gifts.

The cousins

We had a great visit this Thanksgiving with Andy, Brooke, Emmett, and Hannah. Alex LOVED having Emmett around. We got a few pics of them together, and I have to say they are ridiculously cute.

Myrtle Beach Aquarium

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And our 2nd trip to the Ripley's Aqurium was just about as good as our 1st. I have to say that I think I loved this place more than Alex did, but he still liked it a lot! The tunnel is the neatest thing, those sharks are sooo cool. But I also really loved this Ray Bay.

I am so glad that Alex gets to have these sort of experiences, it really fuels his imagination and leads to lots of questions, and I mean LOTS of questions.

Tweetsie

Alex loves Thomas the Tank Engine, so Grandpa Steve's visit seemed like a great time to take him to the Tweetsie Amusement Park near our house. It has an actual coal train and then a bunch of little rides. A few were a bit more than Alex could handle, but the Merry Go Round, the boat ride and a little train rain were just his speed. He even enjoyed the chair lift, which we all found to be impressive, given that his mother was a bit anxious about going on it:)

Pool Fun

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Any one that really knows me knows that I have some serious water phobias. Blame it on watching Jaws and Psycho too early in life, and so I feared that inadvertently, either through DNA or what not Alex would also have my water phobias. Well, as the above pictures show Alex is not too frighted of the water at this point in his life, YEAH. I pretty much just hung out in the hot tub and let Blaine's relaxed attitude over ride any negativity that would have come off me. It worked.

Art Opening Take 2

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Not only was the Art Opening a great way to show off Alex's great skills, but it was a great way to get friends and family together. A few kind souls even bought a few of Alex's pictures, the proceeds went straight to his piggy bank.

Alex's Art Opening Take 1

Alex has art camp at the local art gallery this week. It was a great opportunity for him to interact with other kids and do lots of painting, which he really enjoys. His Aunt Brooke thought an art opening would be a great way to show case his work from the week, and I have to say it was a brilliant idea. While our husbands/fathers were out kayaking we posted the work and created labels to show case the names Alex came up with for each oh his pieces.

We did mention a pinata.

I saw this great tacky red, blue and gold pinata at the store and knew we had to have it for Alex's party. It's actually from Mexico, which I thought was awesome. And I have to say this was a strong pinata, a number of us had to hit it pretty hard before it sprayed out all its great candy.

A Super Party

The Saturday after his birthday we had a party for Alex. We pulled out all the stops, had Cars cups, plates, and napkins, pizza, cake, and a PINATA. But, no party is complete with out friends and family, and we are lucky to have lots of both.

Alex's 3rd Birthday, yeah!!!

Well, it has happened, Alex turned 3!!!! I still call him my little baby, but really he is no baby. He can pretty much say and understand anything. He knows what he likes and what he doesn't and he doesn't mind telling you.

For his birthday he got a ukulele from Grandma Nancy and and a gardening set from Auntie Caryn. He loved both. Alex loves shoveling and helping in the garden, I really hope he develops a green thumb, as I have a brown one. We also hope he has the Lewis/Johnston love of music (again us Kimberlins are a bit deficient in this arena). I would really love to have him take piano lessons in a few years, if he wants to.

MerleFest 2011

So, this years MerleFest highlight for me was definitely Robert Plant!!!! He closed the show out and it was awesome. I was even able to get pretty close to the stage. He still has great stage presences, and did not seem like a tired rocker that should be at home. He played a few Led Zeppelin songs, of course, and 2 songs off his record with Allison Krause. He is touring with The Band of Joy, so they played a few of their songs.

This was also the first Merlefest that Alex really got to be a part of; the little pickers part was great. There was a whole punch of free activities, painting, play-do, to name just 2. I hope to make this a tradition for him, there is so much to get from this experience: being outdoors, hearing great music, interacting with people you normally wouldn't get a chance to, plus commiserating with family and friends, and who can forget the Turkey leg and home made ice cream?