Content of Character

Here's a view of the snow from my bedroom balcony today:

And here's a view of my eating Spaghettios from the kitchen table the other day:

And here's a view of my sleeping pattern of late:

And here's another view: today--as we watch the snow, and as we eat, and as we sleep--we are reminded to ask of ourselves, to ask of each other,

What can I do?

Woman of the World, Part 2: Crashing Christmas

Happy New Year, everybody! We hope you have a wonderful year full of happy adventures!

We had plenty over the last week. Mami, Papi, and I went to Kansas, where we saw lots of family. During the last episode, I told you about my cousin Carter. I finally got to meet him over Christmas. Here he is:



He's six months older than I am. We had lots of fun at his house, where we played, opened presents, and danced!

Look at those moves! Maybe he can be a back-up dancer for Lexie and the Adventure Femmes!

His parents are Mike and Kari. Uncle Mike is Papi's brother and they all live in Topeka.


Boy, was it cold when we got there. Five degrees! But we kept warm with all that dancing--and reading! Here's Grandma Louwana reading a story to me:

Uncle Mike and Aunt Kari gave Grandma a beautiful necklace with two charms with Carter and my birthstones in them.

We opened lots of presents. I got some reindeer antlers, along with a lot of toys!






One day, we drove to Kansas City, where I met some other family members and had Christmas dinner. Here's my uncle Roger.

I took a particlular shine to him. He told me that that was a good thing because he had just run out of shine.

I also met a new teddy bear. I read to him . . .

. . . while Papi and Uncle Mike crashed out on the floor.

Then I crashed out.

After we woke up, we opened presents. I received a new puppy. Her name's Felicia.


The next day, we went to see Papi's Aunt Allie, Uncle Curt, and cousin Jennifer. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, and I ran around saying hi to all the patrons. But I stopped long enough to snap a shot with Jennifer:

The next day we went over to Papi's Uncle Tom and Aunt Joann's house. Uncle Tom is much goofier than I was led to believe:

Our trip was about to end, and we had to say bye-bye to Cousin Carter. Keep practicing those groovy moves!

Back at home, Papi and Mami took me to the boondocks--out to a small ranch owned by Papi's director, Dr. Shelley. She has horses!


Then we went to a place called The Saddle Doctor, where you can learn how to ride horses. I'm a bit too young still to qualify for more structured lessons, but I did get to sit on a horse named Hollywood. We both have blonde hair. Kismet!


Oh, and here's some news for the new year! Mami and Papi are starting to look for a house! Earlier this week, we drove around neighborhoods and nearby villages to scope out prospective places to live. We drove far out into the country, to a secluded area where the roads are rather difficult to navigate.

Whoops!

Don't worry, we're all okay--even Mami's car is okay.

Fortunately, we careened near a house owned by a man named Mr. Shank. He also owned a back-hoe that he was considerate enough to use to pull us out. You have to own a back-hoe or two when you live out in the middle of nowhere because you never know when a family looking at houses will drive along, try to turn around in the road in front of your house, land in a ditch, and need some assistance. Thanks, Mr. Shank!

To cap off the old year, I had another accident: I cut my finger yesterday, and it bled a little bit. Mami and Papi freaked out, but I held my own. They took me to the doctor just to make sure I was okay, and sure enough, I was. The nice doctor looked at the gaping slice across the top of my thumb, and said that I wouldn't need any stitches. So, he sent me home with a fresh bandage and a new sense of mortality. It's all good. Please, no cards of sympathy. Really, I'm okay.

Well, we hope you and yours have a beautiful new year. Last year was one full of new travels, new experiences, and new friends, as I tried to document here on The Lexie Show. I hope you'll stop back by to see what the next year holds. Have a great day! Besos!

Woman of the World, Part 1: El Viaje al Chuco

Hola!

I took my first trip back to El Paso ("El Chuco" a todos mis vatos) last week. Boy, what a trip! I did really well, though, because I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world know how to get things done . . .


. . . like eating ice cream during our layover in Chicago.







Back on the plane to El Paso, I unplugged for a while.





When we arrived in my hometown, we had to drive up to Las Cruces, where we stayed with Uncle Art. I wasn't too sleepy, so we played a little. Uncle Art got me a cell phone for Christmas--that's two cell phones I own now. I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world have a lot of networking to do.





Uncle Art also let me play his piano. I always get emotional when I sing "Feelings." Woe, woe, woe.





Then we went to Sunland Park Mall ("El Mall"), where I danced with some stranger on TV:

Then we had to see You Know Who: Santa! You can see how excited I was to see him--so excited I couldn't let go of Papi.




The nice photographer lady consoled me by giving me my own reindeer hat, just to show there were no hard feelings.





Oh, I forgot to tell you the whole reason we went to El Paso in the first place: Papi's graduation from UTEP. He earned his PhD in July, but he wasn't able to walk the stage and be hooded until now. Uncle Art and I watched on as Papi led the processional.




And here's the big moment. Papi is the first PhD from the Rhetoric and Composition program at UTEP. What a nerd.

Isn't Papi handsome in his regalia and hoodie! He kept having that tassel-caught-in-the-glasses problem all day.




And here's Dr. Papi's dissertation director, Dr. Kate.


And here we are, with Dr. Helen on the right. She's Papi's friend and mentor during his days at UTEP. She was also his second reader for his dissertation, whatever that means. I'll probably learn when I begin my own PhD. I'm leaning towards physics with a concentration in writing studies. I'm particulalrly interested in exploring notions of string theory and their applicability toward generic constraints of discursive practices. . . . Oh, never mind.


Afterward, we went to a party to celebrate, and the hostess--my godmother, Sheila--gave me a singing puppy:

Lots of people came, even Grandpa Gary and Grandma Linda, Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Kenny, our friend Jaime and Mami's former student Billy.

After all this partying, I was pooped out, so we went to Dr. Helen's house to rest. She put us up for the night and even babysat me while Mami and Papi went on a date. While I was there, I found these cool cans and plugged into some mad tunes. Righteous!

Now we're back home in Virginia, but we're leaving again Saturday for Kansas, where I'll finally meet my cousin Carter. That's my Uncle Mike and Aunt Kari's boy. He's six months older than I am. But I'm a woman of the world and we women of the world know how to handle men. I'm sure I'll have more to say about him after I meet him. Stay tuned.

Besos!

Y Feliz Navidad, Kwanzaa, y Hanukkah!

Happy Holidays!

Hi, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a good break. I sure did--I even had an early Christmas. Mi Abue Alejandrina y Tio Dax came to see me. We had Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday and then last night we opened presents!

But first, take a look at my creative side. Here is some artwork I did at school last week. It's a pumpkin. If you look real close, you can see my thumbprint just next to the exclamation points.



And here are some photos I took this weekend.





We read lots of books this weekend. Here, Abue is reading one with me. See the Christmas tree in the background? It's beautiful. We still have to hang ornaments on it. I hate a naked tree.



And Tio Dax read my Moo book.



Then we opened some presents.



Abue brought me a beautiful musical nutcracker. I'm going to see the Nutcracker ballet next weekend. It'll be my first in a long tradition of Nutcracker ballets, Mami says. Maybe I'll even be in one some day!



And here are some cute pictures of me looking mature and all that.

Here's Mami singing back-up to my lead. We're practicing for the Lexie and the Adventure Femmes Holiday Special. It comes one right after the Shields and Yarnell Christmas Mime Show, followed by the Captain and Tennille Variety Hour.

And here's the video:

That's about all I have time for today. Have a great week!