Sister, Sister

I am so grateful that God has blessed us with a set of sisters! They are so much fun, both individually and together. Lydia continues to be such a wonderful addition to our family, so easy going and happy about 90% of the time. My favorite moments with her are when she first wakes up in the morning. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and laugh, which is priceless. I couldn't quite capture the gigantic smiles she possesses when she starts her day, but I tried my best and here's what I got...

Happy grins!

Good morning, sweet girl!

Then there's our independent, hilarious, one of a kind, hand full of a daughter, Addie. She just cracks me up all day long, and even during her middle of the night awakenings (sometimes). There are times when we can get so frustrated with her and then she says something so clever and "Addie-like" that we just have to lighten up and smile.

Yesterday, I asked her to go talk to Lydia while I was folding some laundry and she went over to Lydia's chair and told her this: "I have to need to watch Little Bear all day morning long because my daddy will come home soon." (Our daughter has an addiction to the sweet cartoon, Little Bear, by the way). She continued to tell Lydia the details of one of her favorite episodes that would only make sense to other Little Bear addicts. Lydia was getting a little fussy today while Addie and I were finishing up lunch and Addie said to her baby sister, "Your mommy can't hold you right now, she's eating her lunch." I almost choked on my food to hear her talking so sweet, but more to hear her talking about me in 3rd person :)

She came to the dinner table in this: Pink shirt, Snow White panties, winter beanie hat, and doll pants around her ankle :D

Yesterday's creation: purple dress, orange fairy wings, pink and purple rain/snow boots, and 3 mismatched bows (including a white fuzzy one right on top)

And you must take a peek at Addie's "new smile"...she chipped both front teeth on the kitchen floor on Valentine's Day! Good thing they will fall out anyway :)

Daddy snuggling on his girls

Lydia and Addie in their "boosta seats"

The future teacher showing her very observant student some bird pictures

A Day at the Museum

I have had a terrible case of cabin fever for the last few weeks so yesterday we made a last minute decision to head to the Children's Museum of Evansville (CMOE). It opened about 3 years ago and this was our first time to check it out. There are 4 huge rooms filled with a variety of hands-on activities for kids to do and Addie really enjoyed herself. Special thanks to Grandma (Mom) for going with us! Here are just a few pictures from our day...

Shoveling rice

Reaching for the balls in the "Wet Deck" room

Her favorite...pushing the "big duckies" into the huge bathtub

Making a water spout

The girls and Grandma in the "blue room"

Happy Heart Day!

We have had a great week of celebrating "Valentime Day," as Addie (and every other little kid I know) calls it! Monday, Addie made Valentines to send to her friends and family and she had a wonderful time coloring with her new markers and decorating the cards with heart stickers. She wanted to do it all herself and got mad at me several times for even offering to help her (how dare me!).

Busy making Valentines (Lydia is NOT happy in the background)

Today was the big day for cookie baking and Addie and I prepared the dough last night so it could cool in the fridge. We got a late start this morning because Lydia decided to sleep in (which I'm not at all complaining about) and I didn't want to have to stop in the middle of our baking to nurse her. Addie used the rolling pin to roll out the dough and then thoroughly enjoyed using our new heart shaped cookie cutter to make each cookie. We even had a little dough left over and made two cookies in the shape of her hands. She has really been into tracing her hands lately, so this was extra fun for her.

After the cookies were cooled off, we iced and "salted" them with red "sfrinkles," as she says. Looking at the cookies, you can definitely tell which ones she did ALL by herself when I wasn't looking. We (I) have a big mess to clean up now, but we had a blast together in the kitchen and I can't wait for our next baking adventure!

Rolling out the dough (with her tongue just right!)

Adding "sfrinkles"

Flour face :)

Addie posing with the finished cookies, wearing her "akron"

Amazing Addie

There is never a dull moment when you live with Addie! I've started writing down things she says and does and I thought I'd share. She is quite the singer and can sing the ABCs, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves Me (my personal favorite), and she even does Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes...and was caught doing this during the Children's sermon at church on Sunday :) She also likes Ba ba, Black Sheep and Little Bo Peep.

We have started doing "school" in the mornings and she is very good at letter recognition. She actually can name almost every letter of the alphabet when I randomly point to them and even knows some of the lower case letters. Numbers are a different story and she is still struggling with the number 4. She likes to count: 1, 2, 3....7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. If I say 4, she then goes on with 5 and 6. We'll be continuing to work on that!

She also LOVES to help around the house. Her stool goes to every room with her so she can be more on our level (which can be dangerous at times ;) We let her help wash the dishes (she rinses) and prepare lunch and dinner when possible. Here she is helping daddy with the dishes...

Here are a few of my favorite Addie-isms lately:
"That's my favorite kind of sissy"--talking about Lydia of course
When I told her that Lydia wanted to play with her she said in the cutest way to her baby sister, "Do you want to build a tower?" (I can't wait for the day when this can really happen!)
"I need some cow milk!"--asking for milk during church
"Hello, I am named Addie"
Last week she informed me of this: "I'm getting married!"
"Hold me BIG!" --meaning standing up, rather than sitting down
"That's amazing!"
While spinning in circles, "Mommy, I'm getting busy" (meaning dizzy)
She is really into reading and loves books by Jan Brett...so every book she "reads" by herself is "by Jan Brett," even the Bible ;)

Here she is singing partial versions of Jesus Loves me (note "the Bible tells me so...big") and the ABCs (she is saying tag along K, and gets this from the book "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom").

Snow Days

Evansville got hit with a batch of ice and snow this past week that had a huge effect on many people in this area. My parents and grandparents lost power very early Wednesday morning until late evening Thursday. There were tons of families and businesses without power for a long time, even some who still don't have power back yet. We were feeling very fortunate that our power stayed on...until Friday morning when it flickered on and off and then finally stayed off. Not wanting to stay the night in the cold with our babies, we packed up and headed to my parents' house for a little sleepover.

Our power came back on at some point very early Saturday morning, but we decided to spend the day at grandma and papaw's house playing in the snow. This was Addie's first experience playing in the snow and she LOVED it. We bundled her up and put her new snow boots on (which she was SO excited about) and headed out for a morning of fun. Chris took Addie on the sled and she was loving every minute of it, despite her freezing cold, red nose. She even went down a smaller hill by herself again and again. I was thankful that mom watched Lydia so I could be a part of her experience and play too :)

We had warm cookies and hot chocolate waiting for us when we came inside, mmmmmmmm it was yummy! After lunch, Addie took a nap while I watched a movie with my parents (and Lydia) and Chris played in the snow some more in my dad's Polaris. I just love days like this and didn't really want it to end. I am hopeful that the ice will melt enough for people to get their power back on, but I must admit I'm a little sad to get back into the normal routine of the week.

A gorgeous icy tree


Big girl on her own


My snow angel


Beautiful girl


Pulling Daddy

Happy Baby Girl

Lydia Mae turned 3 months old this past week and I didn't even realize it until a good friend reminded me (thanks Stephanie!). I guess with all the snow and ice we got this week, my brain took a little vacation. Our chunky monkey is such a happy and wonderful baby, sometimes it's hard to believe she's really ours to keep. She has been "talking" and laughing more and more lately and she just loves to smile at people when they talk to her. Lydia especially loves watching her big sister and just smiles with delight when Addie talks to her. She's extremely mellow and goes with the flow most of the time...I'm hoping this is a reflection of how her teenage years will be ;)

I have been trying to capture her laughing on video for several days now and finally got a little clip. I apologize for the shadow on her face, the lighting was bad in our room and I couldn't get her to laugh on cue in the well-lit living room. Enjoy!

Eating her big sister


Hanging out with her pal, Rene (who was born the day before Lydia)


Mommas and our chunky girls--Josi, Rene, Lydia, Me