Gabe's 3rd Birthday

Yesterday was Gabe's 3rd birthday so to celebrate the big day Tricia and I took all three kids to the zoo and then out to Burger King afterwards for lunch. It was a really good time. Addison just loves to play with Gabe and Micah. In between looking at the animals they had fun going down every slide at the zoo and playing on all of the climb on animals.

Trip to Arizona

Last week Addison and I took off for Arizona. It was hard leaving John for almost a week, but we had a really good time staying with my grandparents and seeing old family and friends. Addison was able to meet a lot of my dad's side of the family for the first time. It was nice to see her playing with and getting to know my cousins. It was such a nice and relaxing week.

Thanks to my grandpa Addison also learned some new words while we were there. She can now say mmmmm good after she eats something yummy, pa pa (for grandpa), tower, and kick ball.

It was hard to say good bye after such a good week, but it was also really nice to see John. It was so nice to see him when we landed and to feel the nice cool air outside.

Spring Break Visitors

Over spring break our good friends the Denherders came to visit us from Portland. We had a lot of fun with them. One of the biggest perks of them comming was to finally meet their son Noah. Noah is just a few months younger than Addison so it was really fun to watch them play together. The two of them got along great. Addison and Noah seemed to really enjoy playing together, but they also played quite a bit by themseleves. It was really interesting to see the differences between the two of them. Noah was much more active and loud (not in a bad way)and independent--more of what I think of when I think of a boy and Addie was more on the quiet side and wanted to read books and watch Tarzan more than play a whole bunch. The whole weekend was a lot of fun. It was really nice getting to catch up with John and Cari and have game nights after the kids went to bed. Hopefully it won't be another two years before we see them again.

Pictures

Here are some random pictures from the past month.

Dog Sitting

This past weekend we dog sat John's bosses dog, Toby. Addison had so much fun with her puppy as she called him. She absolutely loved having a dog around to play with. I was amazed at how much Toby kept her occupied. Anytime she caught a glimpse of him all she wanted to do was play with him. She constantly followed him around the house, threw his ball for him, would wipe him down with napkins, kiss him, try to ride on him like he was a horse, etc. Basically anything a little girl could do to a dog she either succeeded doing it or attempted it. Thankfully Toby has already tolerated a lot with the kids he lives with all the time and was a good sport. It was a really sad day when Addison woke up saying puppy puppy and he was no where in sight.

And although I now know how much Addison would love a dog. I still am not sure that I am. :) I never realized just how much hair one dog can shed in four days. So, I think that we will have to wait a little longer to add on to our family.

*Pictures still to come. We now have a new computer, but haven't recovered any of our pictures.

Addison Crawls!

Out of no where a few weeks ago Addison dropped to her knees and started to crawl.

For those of you who don’t know this is big news to us because Addison never crawled period, she skipped right over that phase and went straight to walking. So, now for those of you who were worried about her development (due to not crawling) there is no need to worry! :) At almost 16 months we can finally scratch the milestone of crawling off of the list.

Since she started she has been crawling numerous times a day. It is really funny to watch her, because she is pretty slow and looks really uncoordinated as she scoots around the house. She definitely still walks, or runs :) more than anything else, but it is good to know that she can crawl.

*Unfortunately our compueter crashed over the weekend. So, I won't be able to post any pictures this time. Once we get our computer fixed I will make sure and put up some more recent pictures.

Valentine's Day

Yesterday for Valentine's Day both Addison and I got all dressed up to surprise John with his favorite dinner. Addison helped me get everything together by drying off the green beans, wiping off the walls by the dinner table, washing her face, and by putting lettuce in our salad bowls. She is such a good helper. We ended up having a really nice relaxing evening home together. John's fire fighting class was canceled so we were able to spend the entire evening together.

During the day it actually warmed up to 50 degrees so we spent most of the afternoon outside playing. Addie loves to roll around in the grass, kick the balls around the yard, and touch all of the trees and plants.

First Haircut!

This past Tuesday Addie had her first haircut. It turned out to be quite an ordeal...for those of you who don't know Addison has always been a little bit possessive about her hair. :) I think that in a lot of ways her hair is like her security blanket. She likes to twirl her fingers around it and hold onto it a lot when she starts to get sleepy or is feeling shy. I had been trying to let it grow out and look past the shaggy bangs, but when I had two more people comment that her hair was starting to look like a mullet I knew that it was time for a trim.

So to make a long story short the entire experience was horrible. Addison screamed and squirmed in my lap from the time the stylist put the smock on her until she fell asleep in the car on the way home. The stylist was really nice and was offering her all sorts of treats, but not even a sucker or her juice would calm her down.

In the end she did end up with a hair cut, it didn't come out looking perfectly even, but for how much Addison was moving I was impressed. With her hair shorter and more shaped to her head Addison really looks like a little girl.

Aunt Joy's Visit

Last week we had the chance to spend some extra time with John's sister Joy who was in town visiting from Virginia for a week. It was so nice to getting to see her. Addison just adores her. They had a lot of fun playing "dress up" and trying on jewelry. Joy also helped us paint our living room...having her paint all of the edges made the rest of the room so much easier. It was a really good visit.

Fun Weekend

Yesterday was John's 26th Birthday. We had a pie party for him on Friday night and then on Saturday my parent's watched Addison and we went to a nice dinner AND a movie after. It was so nice and relaxing.

Animals

While we were visiting John's family Addison had fun getting to know Pat's two cats and Joy's puppy, Jackson. It took her a few days to warm up to them, but by the time we left she couldn't get enough of them. She especially loved to pet Pat's cat named Ellie and to feed Jackson table food.

Christmas In Virginia

This Christmas we took a trip to Virginia and spent the week with John's family. Addison and I flew out a few days before John so that we could spend some quality time with John's mom, Pat and sister, Joy. After getting through the long day of travel (which luckily went relatively smoothly) we had a great time.

Running Around

Over the last week or so each night as I am getting Addie ready for bed she has been running into her room, digging through her basket of shoes, and then running back to me carrying the selected pair of shoes for the night. She plops right down on my lap and will start trying to put them on herself. Most of the time she has chosen shoes that are still way too big for her, but the last couple of nights she has picked out a pair of blue and white nikes that finally fit her perfectly.

These tennis shoes used to be my little brother Jason's when he was a baby. And for the past ten years my mom has held onto them because she thought that they were too cute to give away. So, even though they are pretty boyish looking we have kept them in the basket knowing that someday she will fit into them.

It was just too cute watching Addison run around wearing tennis shoes for the first time. I know that I am imagining it, but she really looks like she is running a lot faster when she is wearing them. :)

Thanksgiving

This past week has been crazy busy for the Bonine family and Addison has been such a trooper. Addison had a great time at Thanksgiving dinner. She tried a little bit of everything, but her favorite hands down was corn. She just couldn’t get enough of it! This Thanksgiving was also special because my grandparents from Arizona were able to be here for an entire week. Addie warmed up to both of them real quick and had a lot of fun playing with them.

She is now tearing around the house very confidently. She has been walking by herself for almost a month now, and surprisingly enough she hasn’t gotten into too many things she isn’t supposed to. Her favorite things to get into trouble with are the garbage cans, toilets (I know it is really gross), the little rubber stoppers on all of the cabinets (she loves to pull them off and put them in her pocket), and the outlet covers. But, other than that so far it really hasn’t been too bad of an adjustment. Although I know as soon as our Christmas decorations start comming out we will have more of a battle on our hands.

Trick or Treat

For Halloween this year Addison dressed up as a butterfly. We went over to my parent’s house and had Halloween treats. Addison had a lot of fun “helping” us hand out candy—smiling and waving at all the kids. She even had her first sucker, a strawberry dum dum. And of course she really seemed to enjoy that. :) I ran across this top picture of Addison last year at Halloween. It is so hard to remember her being this tiny. She has grown and changed so much over the past year. Babies are such miracles!

Addison's First Birthday!

Yesterday Addison turned one! It was such a fun day. I don't think Addie had any idea what was going on, but she still had a good time. She had a party in the afternoon, complete with her very own chocolate cake. Surprisingly she didn't eat much cake at all, she seemed to have more fun playing with it and making a huge mess. John's Grandma Anita even flew in all the way from Georgia for the big event. Addie had a lot of fun getting to know her Great Grandma for a week.