Busy Month

I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last wrote! We have been really busy, but I didn't realize that it had been that long. Well, I guess I will just go over the highlights of the last month...we spent a week in Virginia with John's mom, dad, and grandma which was a lot of fun. We stayed at their time share in historic Williamsburg. We had a good time relaxing, taking in the history and of course shopping. :) Addison had a lot of fun swimming and looking for the rabbits (or bunnies as she refers to them) that would come out in the evenings just off of our patio. It was nice to see her spending time with her nana and grandpa.

After that trip we came home for two days and were off once again this time on a camping trip with John's work. We went to Silver Creek Plunge. The weekend ended up going smoother than I had imagined, but it still isn't something that I would want to do frequently. It sure is different camping with kids. :) But, Addison did pretty good. The worst part was the 20 miles of bumpy windy dirt roads to get there. The roads were bad enough that I was pretty close to getting car sick. But, we made it and had a good time in the hot springs and going for short hikes with Addie.

Then the next weekend John threw me a surprise 25th birthday party. Which definitely was a surprise. Surprise parties aren't my favorite thing (especially when it is for me), but John did such a great job putting it together, it ended up being a lot of fun. John was so sweet--he put so much thought and planning into the entire thing. He made all of my favorite foods, including the cake and even tracked down a recipe for my favorite salsa. It was so good.

Last but not least was Father's Day. We celebrated the whole weekend. Our main goal was just to take it easy and relax. So, on Saturday we went to Meridian Dairy Days (a local fair) and then John got to pick where to go to dinner--Carrabas. Sunday we went to the zoo and then made John a special dinner and dessert. It was just a real nice weekend. My family was in Oregon over the weekend so we are heading over there tonight for a bar-b-cue in honor of my dad.

In between all of the trips and parties Addison has been loving summer. She has playdates almost everyday with either the little kids next door or the family two streets over or with kids from church. It is so much fun to see her play with all of her friends. I will make sure and get some pictures of them up. They usually just run around the house, or play outside in the pool or on their bikes. And of course she is learning new things all of the time. Way too many things to remember them all. Here are just a few of them: she can pull up her pants on her own, she sings, says I Love You, can almost peddle her trike, puts the keys in the car's ignition, turns on the car's emergency flashers, can catch a ball, and oh yeah she talks all of the time. Addie no longer likes silence. :) She talks about anything and everything and I now understand almost all of it. Okay, now that I have completely bored you. I will get going and get the pictures up.

Spin Spin

My sister has already taught Addison some annoying things. :) They aren't neccesarily annoying while Terra is over to help Addison with them, but just annoying when she goes home and I am stuck with Addison requesting her new skill over and over again.

Most recently Terra has been holding Addison in our office chair and spinning her for as long as Addison pleases or until they both are too dizzy to keep going. Which you would think that at that point Terra would say no more, but of course not within a few minutes Addison is ready for more...and so is Terra. :) When it comes down to it I am not sure who has more fun, Terra or Addie.

So, as you can imagine as just because Terra is gone doesn't mean that Addie thinks she can no longer spin. So, she will repeatedly pat the chair and say spin spin until someone gives into her. These pictures are ones that Terra took earlier this week during one of their spinning sessions.

Terra's Engaged!!

This past Friday, Terra's boyfriend Aaron proposed!!! He popped the question downtown at a park with five wrapped presents that had his favorite moments with her written on them. The boxes kept getting smaller and smaller until he got to the ring box which of course was his favorite moment! Isn't that cute? And of course her ring is beautiful. It is so sparkly! I am so excited for the two of them. Aaron is a great guy and together the two of them make an amazing couple. As of now the date is going to be November 24th. The Saturday after Thanksgiving. So, save the date. :) After the proposal Terra and Aaron came over to our house for ice cream cake and martinellis (not sure on spelling, Terra's favorite special drink). It is so nice to see Terra truly happy and with someone who really loves her. I can't wait for the big day.

Bubbles

Terra came over a few weeks ago and took a whole bunch of pictures of Addison playing with her beloved bubbles. Right now bubbles are one of Addison's favorite things to play with outside. She recently figured out how to hold the bottle of bubbles, dip the wand, and blow the bubbles all by herself.

Birthday Fun

Last week we celebrated my mom's 48th Birthday over at our house. It was a lot of fun. We had a nice relaxing dinner together and then played games the rest of the night.

Easter Celebration

Eater morning we woke up to a whole bunch of rain outside, but we still had a great Easter Sunday. After church we went over to my parent's house and spent the rest of the day over there. We had a really good ham lunch and then Addison got to find her Easter basket which was hidden behind my parent's couch. Then Addie went down for her nap. After she woke up we had an inside Easter egg hunt (since it was still raining outside). Addie had so much fun. She really got into finding the eggs. She ended up being able to find quite a few all by herself.

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.