Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Big Girl in the Making




I say this ALL the time, but I just can't believe how fast our little baby is turning into a big girl! She is changing every day and I feel so blessed to be able to witness every single bit of it...

The fact that God makes siblings SO different from one another just amazes me! I am in awe of how different our two girls can be at times. Although some of their differences don't make me happy (I'm not going to talk about Lydia's sleep habits!), we are rolling with the punches and trying to focus on all of the "fun" differences :) Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks......


Standing with her sister at the back door...Addie says to me, "Mama, I like how Lydia can stand like me!" I do too :)


One of her favorite new faces...isn't she silly!?

This girl is into EVERYTHING! This particular day, she entertained herself for quite a while tearing apart one of my Hancock's catalogs (fabric magazine...that a girl!)

Adorable little toesies

This was her favorite pose last week...she got bored with it and just goes around pulling up on EVERYTHING this week! Ah, how fast they change!

Those little hands are moving so fast you can hardly see them! She learned to clap a few weeks ago and it's the cutest thing ever! She's enjoying Pat-a-cake to the fullest!

It's bittersweet as they grow.....but we can't stop it so we'll just rejoice in every change that allows her to become a BIG GIRL!

Monday, July 6, 2009

So THIS is 2 AND a half....



Addie, a.k.a. Rufus, Ruthelton, Addie-Waddie Doodle all the Day, Sissaroo, and Addica, turned 2 1/2 on June 27th. This girl has always been a "character," but let me tell you that 2 1/2 is much different than just plain old 2. I thought I'd make a little list of why we are loving 2 1/2 around here.

*Her curiosity about things hasn't changed, it's just easier to explain things to her now that we know she has a MUCH better understanding. You can't really get much past her anymore!

*She's what I call "sing-songy," meaning she likes to sing, but also enjoys making up songs about the most random things. She also combines songs like Jesus Loves Me and Row, Row, Row Your Boat. It goes like this, "Jesus Loves Me, this I know, Merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream (only she says something else here that I cannot quite understand).

*She prays for all her friends and family.....AND the silverware. Every night. I'm not kidding.

*Her love of using describing words continues to grow. Her new favorite: bantaskick (fantastic) and she uses it A LOT, especially to describe how she looks :)

*She LOVES to dress herself. In dresses. And that's all. I'm not sure why I bought her shorts and t-shirts for summer because she ONLY wears dresses.

*Along with dresses, she MUST accessorize!!! She's usually wearing something on her head, some sort of jewelry (mine) and princess shoes (also mine).


*She IS most definitely a PRINCESS. She has princess panties, princess pajamas, a princess baseball set, a princess fishing pole, and recently has started quite the collection of princess crowns and Barbie princesses (thanks to her Granny--not me).

*She refers to me as "Mom" more than "Mommy." Which I DON'T like so I've asked her to call me "Momma" if she doesn't want to call me "Mommy." I LOVE being called "Momma."

*She talks about getting married.....and collects flowers (clovers) from the yard for her wedding bouquet. She's going to marry her Daddy.....and her Mommy, so she says.

*Her memory astounds me. She remembers relatives who she's only met a couple times, along with their spouses and anyone else who "belongs" with them.

*If she doesn't want to do something we're doing, she says "I have an idea" and tells us what SHE wants to do instead. I like this method better than a tantrum.

*Tantrums, or meltdowns as we like to call them, DO occur in our house. Probably at least one per day. These mostly consist of crying and stomping, but sometimes include throwing her whole self on the floor. You just have to have a few of these now and then when you're 2 1/2.

*She's really good at telling directions to do something, such as a front flip. She says, "You put your hands down, then put your head down, then flip!" It's really cute listening to her explain HOW to do things....I can imagine she'll be quite the "leader" when it comes to being the big sister in our family ;)

*Her manners are GREAT...we hear a lot of "Please" and "Thank you SO much" around here lately. Just recently she has started thanking me for our meals when we sit down to eat. Melts my heart every time!

*She still can't say "breakfast" correctly and I can't even begin to think about how I would type it as she says it (it's different every day!). She usually says we're eating lunch no matter what meal it actually is.

*She is SO much like her daddy, yet I see myself in her every day. Especially when she's explaining something or talking to Lydia. It's mostly her body language and expressions. I find myself thinking, "do I really do that?" and the answer is always YES.

I could go on and on and on about my sweet girl forever. She is certainly a blessing in our lives and I look forward to watching her grow and change in the years to come. It's already going too fast...so we're trying to cherish each and every day, including both the good and not so good moments of 2 1/2!


Her outfit of choice on the HOTTEST day of the year!

My Princess, complete with "glass slippers"

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Summer Fun

We are LOVING summer around here, so I thought I'd share a few of the fun things we've done in the last couple weeks. The heat wave came mid-June this year, rather than waiting until July (as I sit here on July 5th, the thermometer says 70!). One really HOT day back in June, I whipped out the sprinkler and Addie and I ran through it while Lydia was napping. Addie had such a blast and I thoroughly enjoyed getting many action shots of her with the camera. I got a lot of really cool pictures so these are just a few of my favorites. I LOVE her expressions and flailing arms....just a reminder that we all need to let loose and run through the water sometimes :)







The day after running through the sprinkler, Chris got the inflatable pool out of the shed and we filled it up. We spent that entire weekend lounging and playing in the pool as a family. The next weekend, we had a few friends join us in some backyard fun. Check out these cuties in the pool!


Addie, Conner, and Rene (Lydia was napping!)

All the kiddos together (can you tell Lydia JUST woke up?)

On the Friday before the 4th of July, we went to Harmonie State Park in New Harmony with our good friends. We hiked, had a wonderful picnic lunch, played on the playground for a bit, then headed to the pool for some cooling off. The weather was beautiful and the girls all had a blast! We LOVE New Harmony and are so thankful it's not too far of a drive from home!


Chris with the girls on the trail

Addie LOVED going down the slide with Daddy

Lydia with her swimming buddy, Rene

Cheese!

We were for sure that both girls would nap on the way home from New Harmony and Lydia proved us right....Addie however....kept herself wide awake and entertained by putting sunscreen on herself! She was quiet for a few minutes and I hadn't looked back at her for a while, then she says, "Momma, I need a paper towel." When I looked back at her, I saw this:

I burst out laughing and I'm surprised I didn't wake Lydia up I was laughing so hard! We got her all cleaned up and needless to say, she didn't get to play with the sunscreen bottle the rest of the trip home :)

On 4th of July-eve, I was trying to explain to Addie that the next day we would be celebrating "America's birthday" in a way. I told her that we were going to a party and that we would see fireworks later in the day...all to celebrate America's birthday. So in the morning on the 4th, she says to me in the sweetest voice, "Momma, I don't know who America is...does America have eyelashes?" She was going around singing the Happy Birthday song too, still not quite grasping the concept that America is not a person. I did some further explaining and she figured out that America was a place. So on the way to my aunt's house, she asked us if aunt Sheree lived in America and told us that our house was in America....ah, I think she *sort of* got it. As soon as we got there, she asked for some cake so she could celebrate the birthday! I absolutely LOVE this age and the things that come out of her mouth!

After doing lots of celebrating indoors during the day due to rain, we were actually able to go see the fireworks later that evening. We put the girls in their pajamas, made a stop for a special ice cream treat, and then headed to Chris's work to watch the fireworks! Addie enjoyed watching (mostly as she ran around our chairs, probably trying to keep herself awake), but Lydia LOVED them! At first I thought she might sleep through them, but she was alert and kept her eyes on the show the whole time. We had a great time and can't wait to see it again next year!

Lydia LOVING it!

Addie waiting for the show to start

Enjoying the night