Happy Birthday Addie!

Today (Saturday) we celebrated Addie's 2nd birthday...I know, hard to believe she's already 2! We had a small party at my parents' house where we celebrated with grandparents and uncles. Addie was a bit cranky at the beginning (because we tried to encourage her to take a short nap beforehand and she wasn't quite awake yet), but she began to perk up when she saw her Winnie the Pooh cake :) Many, many thanks to my brother's caregiver, Misty, for decorating the cake for us this morning. She "taught" me, so maybe next year I can do it on my own! Here are a few pics from the party...

Ready to open some presents!

Lydia hanging out with grandma

Admiring her cake!

Beautifully done, Misty!

Blowing out her 2 candles...I got a bit teary eyed because she totally did this without any prompting, getting to be such a BIG girl :)

Taking a bite--yum yum!

Trying out her new apron

Wondering what this present is...

Pushing baby in her new stroller

Ooing and Aahing over the playdough, or "my colors" as she calls them

Thanks to everyone for all her wonderful gifts, she is so blessed! There were many "thank yous" said throughout the party and I even caught it on tape...listen for "I love it" also.

After the party, Chris and I took Addie to see her first movie in the theater. We saw, The Tale of Despereaux and it didn't hold her attention (or ours) very well. She did great for her first time, although sometimes forgetting to whisper and shouting "where'd that mouse go?!" so everyone in the theater could hear! I think she thoroughly enjoyed the popcorn and cherry icy we shared with her.

Before heading home, we took Addie to dinner at Los Bravos, one of our favorite authentic Mexican restaurants. She loves their quesadillas, beans, and guacamole dip. She was on her best behavior, even though she had such a busy day and was extremely tired.

I'll never forget this day 2 years ago...one of the most memorable and joyful moments in my life! Addie is such a blessing to us and we are so thankful that God gave her to us!

Christmas Celebrations

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas...before we turn around and celebrate Addie's birthday, I thought I'd post about our Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Eve morning, Addie and I made Christmas sugar cookies and snicker doodles. Addie did a wonderful job rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutters to make the different shapes. Her favorite was the gingerbread man since we have been reading the book, "Gingerbread Baby" a lot lately. She had a great time and even sampled her "work" before it was baked (doesn't everyone do this!).

Rolling the dough

Sprinkling the "salt" as she called it (sugar)

After a nap, we rounded up the troops and headed to the early Christmas Eve service at church. Following the wonderful service, we celebrated Christmas with Papaw Mike, Kim, and Uncle Mikey. Addie enjoyed opening her presents and even thought it might be a good idea to try on some of her new clothes.

Opening her first present

Lydia giving Mommy a Christmas grin

Trying on her new dress

Christmas morning, Addie and Lydia gave us our first present by sleeping in! When everyone was up, we began the fun process of opening gifts. Addie was an absolute hoot this year and she tried to guess what everything was before opening it (takes after her Daddy!). My favorite moment was when she was opening a soft cover book, she said, "Oh, this is my favorite magazine!" Addie helped open Lydia's presents also and even "read" one of her new books to her.

After opening all of our gifts at our house, we headed over to Grandma and Papaw's to celebrate with them and Uncle Jake and Great Grandma and Pa Downing. Addie slowly opened the rest of her presents and then headed downstairs to find her new kitchen! This was the highlight for her and she immediately washed her hands at the sink and began cooking.

Washing her hands before cooking

Stirring up a lovely concoction

I believe I can speak for Chris and I both when I say that the greatest gift for us this year was our beautiful girls. They have brought so much joy to us and our love for them just keeps growing!!!

My two favorite presents :)

Missouri Trip

Friday morning we set out for Missouri to go to my cousin Noah's wedding. The morning started off on a bad note because none of us woke up on time (the alarm was set for 7:15 and I didn't wake up until 8:50 and we were hoping to get out of the house by 9!). I suppose that meant we all needed some extra sleep before getting on the road. Once we got moving, things went extremely well...both girls were absolutely wonderful on the trip. We made two 1 hour stops along the way for lunch/bathroom breaks/snacks. Addie stayed dry the whole entire trip, which we were very impressed with! The drive out there ended up taking us 8 and a half hours, including stops. It wasn't bad, but we were pooped!

Noah's wedding was on Saturday and it was just beautiful. We were able to spend time with family afterwards and it was so nice to be able to catch up with everyone. Addie enjoyed running around the gym, skipping her nap, and wearing herself completely out. She loves my cousins' cousin Brooke, who is 8. They met at Rebecca's wedding last summer, but Addie can say Brooke's name now and actually play with her which really made Brooke's weekend I think. Addie has already stated, "I have to need my Brooke" several times since we've been home :)

We began the long trek home on Sunday morning and caravaned with my parents who had spent the whole week prior to the wedding in Branson, MO. It seemed like we had a few more stops on the way back, but both girls were wonderful again and we couldn't ask for better travelers.

Addie ready to go!

Naptime! Isn't she sweet :)

Daddy and the girls playing in the back of the van during one of our stops

The girls love their daddy

All dressed up for the wedding

Addie and "her Brooke and Grace"

It's Christmastime

It seems like time is flying as Christmas approaches. Since we'll be out of town this coming weekend, we decided to start a little tradition of going to see the Fantasy of Lights this past weekend. Fantasy of Lights is the largest public display of lights in the state (I had been before, but didn't know this fact!). There are many many displays set up and you drive slowly through the park to see them all. You can even take a carriage ride through if you'd like, but we opted to stay in the van this year since Lydia is still a bit young. Addie REALLY enjoyed the lights and commented that they were "beautiful" over and over. Here are a couple of our favorites:

Addie admiring the pretty lights

Lydia has been smiling a LOT lately when she's awake...I caught tons of pictures of her last night and chose this one to share. I think both girls look so cute in their Christmas jammies :)

Addie is definitely feeling better and hopefully over her cold completely now (knock on wood). She's been eating much better and her "spunk" is back. We've had a few issues with sleep habits, but we are getting through it.

I am excited for next week when Chris will be off work and I will be able to finish up some last minute sewing projects for Christmas and Addie's birthday. It will be so nice to have him home to share some special family time together for the holidays. Merry Christmas to all!

Updates

It's been crazy nuts around here so I haven't had much time to take pictures or post. Just wanted to catch everyone up to speed a bit before it gets even busier...*crying baby, hold on*...okay, ah.

Lydia has a new friend who entered the world yesterday, Jenna Susan Schimmell (my best friend Melissa's 3rd child). Lydia and I went to meet her at the hospital this morning and she is such a sweetie. I am so excited that our girls will grow up together :) While at the hospital, I decided to take Lydia to the lactation office to be weighed. I knew she was a chunker, but didn't realize she weighed 12 whopping pounds already! I guess she is getting plenty to eat :) She's definitely grown out of lots of clothes and never even got to wear several of Addie's cutest outfits, oh well.

Addie is entering yet another "fun" phase of being almost 2 and that is not wanting to go to bed. She comes out of her room and rounds the corner and says in the cutest little voice, "Hi!" like we're just meeting her for the first time. It's hard to be mad at her, but after a long day of dealing with 2 kiddos, it's completely frustrating. We are trying to be consistent in our discipline and I think I finally discovered what might work today at naptime when she didn't want to stay in bed. Wish us luck there!

We are gearing up for the holidays and I think Christmas shopping is 1 or 2 presents away from being finished so I'm thrilled about that. We are all looking forward to watching Addie open her gifts this year and turning right around and celebrating her 2nd birthday 2 days later. I am already giggling at the thought of what next Christmas will bring with a 1 year old and a 3 year old...oh what fun! Our family lit the advent candle at church last Sunday, which was really special for us. Addie "helped" daddy light the candle while I read and Lydia sat with pastor Lynn (who just adores babies) right behind us. Here is a picture from the day, it's also our Christmas card, so sorry to ruin it for everyone but I couldn't resist putting it on here!

We are attending my cousin's wedding in Missouri next weekend and are getting excited about our first road trip as a family of 4. Hopefully it will go well...just might take us 10 hours to get there, rather than 6. I'm sure I'll have more pictures and updates after we get back so I might just be MIA in blog world until then. Enjoy this beautiful Christmas season!

Big Girl

I failed to mention this in the last post and it's special enough to be on it's own so here we go....Addie is potty trained! I was not even going to touch this subject with a ten foot pole right after Lydia was born, but Addie managed to do this on her own without any prompting from us.

She's been dry all day for about 10 days now (probably more, I have lost count). She loves wearing her "princess panties," and is even starting to work on pulling them up and down on her own. She gets a sticker every time she stays dry and goes on the potty and I thought it might be fun to collect them on a little chart on the back of the bathroom door...she had other ideas and decided it would be more fun to "collect" them on her belly each day. So at the end of the day, we end up with lots of stickers on her belly or the inside of her shirt :)

I am so proud of her, I could spit! She is officially our big girl now! (I'm singing the "I'm a big kid now" song in my head...is that from a pull-ups commercial or what?) WAY TO GO ADDIE!

Thanksgiving, etc.

Just realizing it's been a while since I've posted and I better get some recent pictures on here for everyone! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving...we sure did! The girls wore their turkey shirts that I finished up on Wednesday night along with their beautiful "hair turkeys" (as Addie called them) made by my friend Brandy at faithworksboutique.com. We enjoyed the day hanging out with family and eating delicious food. Addie actually made it the whole day without napping and ended up going to bed a little early and sleeping ALL THE WAY through the night.

Our littlest turkey

Things have been going pretty well for the most part, other than Addie continuing to keep this nasty cold. I don't think it's developed into an ear infection because she doesn't have a high fever, but it's hard to tell since she doesn't complain about anything. She looks and sounds miserable, but just continues to tell me she's okay. Her eating has picked up a bit in the past few days (incase I didn't mention earlier, she hasn't eaten well since Lydia was born). Lydia is doing great! She sleeps so well for us at night and must be gaining lots of weight because she is looking extremely chunky these days!

We put up our Christmas decorations last Saturday and then ventured out to get a real Christmas tree on Sunday (the nastiest weather day of the weekend!). We dropped Lydia by for my mom to watch so Addie and Chris and I could pick out a tree in the bitter cold and rain. This is the first year for a real tree and Chris was absolutely thrilled that I gave the "go ahead" this year. I'm not sure why I haven't wanted one in years past, just too much trouble I guess. Addie was mesmerized by the whole experience, but decided she loved her tree when we got it home. She even wanted to hug it! I have to say she's done fairly well not bothering it, although the bottom limbs are a bit bare at certain times of the day when she feels the need to "undecorate" for me.

Addie and her new best friend, Mr. Snowman

That's about it for now. We're getting into the Christmas spirit and remembering why we celebrate this glorious holiday....Happy Birthday Jesus!