The Knight Family

Time...or Lack There-of

2011-02-04T14:54:00.002-06:00

Just wanted everyone to know that we haven't fallen off the face of the earth since Christmas. We're still here, all alive and well! A quick apology that my blog is still "decorated" for Christmas, I promise our house is NOT still decked out in all things Christmas (snowmen, but NOT Christmas). I will get right on that, when I have time.......and I'd love to write a few new posts that sum up our pre and post Christmas adventures. I will get right on that, when I have time.

There seems to be such a lack of that (time) here lately. I am ashamed to say I JUST today got the pictures off of my camera and onto the computer from Christmas. They are wonderful. There are many. THAT might be why I don't have time to be writing a post about Christmas fun right this minute, because it just takes too stinkin' long to get all the pictures on here! And who wants a blog without pictures! I don't.

I am being real here. I'm still in survival mode (sort of) since Sam entered our family. It's busy. It's crazy. It's a whole lot of "hold me's" and crying and feeding and TV watching and disciplining and whining and wiping noses and changing diapers and clobbering Mama and replacing pacifiers and cleaning up accidents (people and dog kinds) and LAUNDRY, a whole LOT OF LAUNDRY, my friends. I am happy to say it's getting easier. I have finally started doing school with the girls again and We.Are.Loving.It! And then there's the school blog....why in the world did I think I could manage not one, but TWO blogs. I suppose that started before I had 3 kids. Hmmmm. So my camera has been stashed away for a while and we have just been trying to enjoy life, not document every little "educational moment" or fun time. I must say, my phone has a better camera on it than our smaller digital camera so that has come in handy when I want to snap a quick picture of someone being cute (or sometimes not so cute!) and send it to Daddy.

So there you have it. Excuses, excuses, but I personally believe I have 3 very good adorable and special excuses keeping me from sitting here on my rear writing this blog. I guess you could just call today's post a waste of time (especially with no pictures!), but I wanted everyone to know that we ARE still here. Loving life (most of the time!) as a family of 5 :)

We Have a 2 Year Old On Our Hands!

2010-11-30T21:37:00.005-06:00

Waaaaaaaaaaay back in October (seems like forever ago since today is December 1!), our middle blessing turned 2. It feels like she's been 2 all her life and now that she is actually 2, it seems like she should be 4! Time is flying and our sweet Lydia Mae has grown up tremendously in the past several months.

She potty trained herself sometime between when Sam was born and her birthday (following her big sisters footsteps almost exactly). She talks like she's 6 and has the funniest *spunky* personality, always making us laugh! While being incredibly challenging (and I mean INCREDIBLY) at times, she is also the most loving and snuggly little girl. She absolutely adores her baby brother and loves laying with him, holding him, and giving him lots of smooches.

This picture says it all:

Blowing out her 2 birthday candles

Opening presents the morning of her big day

Riding her new Plasma car with big sister

Our sweet handful of a girl (don't let that cute little grin fool you!)

Blue-eyed beauty (who was VERY tired after a VERY long day on her birthday)

My little 2nd born....don't you ever change! I love your adventurous personality and all your challenges. Although you sometimes bring out the worst in me, I know God put you in my life to help me become a better mother and person! I love you SO much, more than you'll ever know!

Summing Up Our Fall

2010-11-30T20:07:00.006-06:00

So we've been a little busy since Samuel came into our family...a good busy of course! Here's a little recap of what we've been up to the last 3 1/2 months (forgive me if some of the pictures are out of order, I barely have enough time to do this as it is!)

Loving on this little cutie A LOT!

Playing outside in the beautiful weather on Halloween

Dressing up like Mermaids and Butterfly Princesses (this was on Halloween, but I assure you they dress this way even when they're not going door to door asking for candy!)

Having fun on a little mini-vacation to Huber's Orchard and Pumpkin Patch in Starlight, IN. We also visited the Louisville Zoo on this trip, but sadly I only took a picture of the elephants :(

Addie had her first flower girl gig in my cousin Kathryn's wedding! She loved every minute of it, being the princess that she is. Although she was the youngest out of the 4 flower girls, she was the tallest and it sure seemed like she had done this many, many times before!

I might add that she was the ONLY flower girl (out of 4) who participated well into the night at the reception! That girl didn't want to leave the dance floor. She asked me when we pulled up to our house LATE that night, "Mama, why did we stay there so late, I'm tired!" to which I replied..."Girl, you were having too much fun and wouldn't leave the dance floor!"

Visiting with some favorite cousins over Thanksgiving was WONDERFUL! Here is cousin Hannah with the princesses, Addie, Lydia, and Grace

Cousin Chase getting some giggles from Sam the man!

Samuel and Simon with their grandmas! These two cuties are only 2 months apart and it's going to be so much fun to see them play together when they're a little older!

Lovebirds....boy, they really do love each other SO much!

Lots of smoochin' going on around here!

Daddy made the girls a tire swing at Papaw Mike's house and they LOVE it! Especially the more adventurous one ;)

Way back in September, we visited TJ's orchard again to pick apples and pick out our pumpkin. Love that place!

Pickin' a Granny Smith :)

So with Christmas approaching quickly, I'm sure we'll stay just as busy preparing our hearts for the birth of our Lord and Savior. I have also tried to quickly catch up our Homeschool Blog if you'd like to see what ELSE keeps us busy!

Merry Christmas a little early from our family to yours!

It's About Time!

2010-11-10T13:37:00.005-06:00

Introducing..........

Yes, I'm a little behind on my blogging and I can name three reasons why. I love them all more than life itself if that gives you any clue! If it's not obvious enough, we welcomed our very first little boy into the family WAAAAAAAAAAAYY back in August and it seems like he's been with us longer than that! He is WONDERFUL, to say the least.

Our last picture as a family of 4, right before leaving for the hospital!

Here's Sam's birth story:
I woke up very early Wednesday, August 18th with contractions and began timing them around 4 am since they seemed to be pretty regular. After timing several and realizing that they were not going to stop, I woke up Chris and told him that today would be the day! He decided he'd better go into work for a little while to get ahead on some things, knowing he would need to take a few days off. So he left for work around 5:30 and I tried to stay calm and stay in bed for a little longer and relax, but I was too excited. I couldn't do much, but I fiddled around on the computer and waited for the girls to wake up.....And when they did, I brought them both into my bed and snuggled and snuggled with them (and cried a little thinking about how this would be our last time snuggling, just the three of us). Chris came home around 8 or 9 after I had called the Dr's office and asked them if they wanted me to come in to be checked or just head straight to the hospital. They said to come straight to the hospital since this was my third baby and who knows how quickly things could go. At this point, my contractions were very regular around 5 min. apart and I was feeling fine.

My mom got here to stay with the girls around 10 or 11 (I honestly can't remember if this is even close to the right time but we'll just go with it!). I still didn't feel READY to go, so I just piddled around doing different little things to stay busy. All this time I was communicating with my best friend, Melissa, who is a labor/delivery nurse and she was trying to talk me into just going ahead and getting to the hospital....

On our way to the hospital, as I sat there in the car feeling JUST FINE, I thought we should run by the mall to pick up a going home outfit for this unknown baby. Chris was a little unsure about this idea, but he granted my wish and took me to Old Navy. As we walked into the mall, I remember saying "this might not last long" as I was feeling lots of pressure. We immediately found a bathroom for me and then quickly glanced in the newborn section at Old Navy until I realized we better get to the hospital. I headed to the bathroom yet again while Chris went on to pull the car up. People were looking at me like I was about to have a baby drop out of me...well, I was!

When we arrived at the hospital, I walked into triage and told the lady at the desk that I was there to have my baby today, with a huge smile on my face! I'm sure I didn't appear to be in labor. After giving her all of my information, she was informed that they did not have any rooms available in triage so she had to turn us away and encouraged me to stay at the hospital to walk. We tried that and I had to go in EVERY single bathroom and could hardly walk around without feeling like this baby was just going to fall out! So we went back to triage to see if they had anything open up and sure enough, they did not. Since I knew I was better off sitting, we hopped in the car and went to get a bite to eat. I took maybe one bite of my sandwich and just didn't feel like eating.

Then we headed back to triage yet again and she said they had an open room for me....And as we were sitting there giving her all my information AGAIN, an ambulance came in and they said that woman would need the room before me. Hmm, at this point I was ready to go outside, call an ambulance myself and have first dibs on the next open room. We waited. And finally they decided to place me in a regular labor/delivery room to have a nurse check me. If in fact I was in labor, I would stay in that room...and if I wasn't, who knows what they would have done with me! Sure enough, I was already 5 cm and IN LABOR, despite my calm (to them) appearance ;)

At last......I could relax a bit more knowing I wasn't going to have a baby in the triage waiting room or one of the many hospital bathrooms. So we waited....and waited....and had a visit from my wonderful Dr. who checked me and ruptured my water around 4:15ish. She lives only minutes from the hospital so she assured me she could run home real quick and be back in time to deliver our baby. It was all pretty quick after she broke my water and Dr. Leinenbach arrived back just in time for me to push our little man out in one contraction (I think it was 3 pushes to be exact). We were ALL so shocked that HE was a BOY!!! We had taken final guesses from everyone in the room right before and we all pretty much agreed HE would be a GIRL.

Just like I cried with JOY when Lydia was born because I was thrilled that Addie would have a sister, I cried for JOY knowing my girls would have a baby brother when Sam was born! I will admit that I felt a teeny tiny bit of fear in the unknown with having a boy, but let me just say.....that has all gone completely away and I am enjoying this little BOY to the fullest!

Our first photo as a family of 5!

So now everyone assumes we're done since we have three and especially because "we got our boy" (which we were never hoping strongly this baby would be, knowing we would have more!). God willing, we will have many more little blessings join our family.............

To My Big, Big Girl

2010-07-19T14:30:00.005-05:00

My dearest first born, where do I begin? Let me just start by saying how blessed you make me feel each and every day...you are the reason I answer to "Mama," you have and always will be that little being that started my journey into this wonderful world of motherhood! Watching you grow and change from baby to little girl has been amazing so far and I am so proud of the little lady you've become in the last three and a half years! Wow, time is flying!

I will never forget the first time you became a big sister when Lydia was born. I was emotional then about how you might react to welcoming another little person into our family, but you took to it right away and have been the most amazing big sister! I still remember when you saw Lydia for the first time and you said (without ANY prompting!), "I love you, Lydia" and gave her the sweetest kiss on the cheek. You were 22 months old! That moment will forever be imprinted on my mind...and still today you show her love in the most special ways. Just today when you two were playing together in my bedroom (destroying my bed, but having a wonderful time) you said, "I love you so much, Lydia" and I just grinned my biggest grin from the living room :) Then of course moments later I hear, "Lydias, Lydias for sale, fifty cents a Lydia!" a reference from the book Caps for Sale!

You have a huge heart and are quick to help anyone in need, especially your sister. I love how you call her "sweetie pie," "babe," or "binkers" and pretend you are her mama...you are and always have been so mothering, loving on baby dolls and stuffed animals, even diapering them long before Lydia was even born. I know I can always count on you to run and get something for me if I need you to and you especially love to help with chores, something I know you might grow out of, but I hope not!

You are my cautious child, who never hesitates to ask permission to do something, even if you see your sister already doing it...whatever that may be. You don't like to be barefoot in the grass and you don't quite have the "carefree" personality your baby sister has. You can't stand having messy hands, your food can't touch and you always ask for separate eating utensils so you don't cross-contaminate during dinner ;) Although these things are funny to us, I love that about you! You've always had funny little quirks and it just keeps getting more and more interesting as you grow!

What a reader you are! You could sit and look at books or be read to practically ALL.DAY.LONG. if it were up to you. You love all kinds of books, but especially enjoy our Bible readings every night with Daddy. Even when it's really late, you will not allow us to skip a story! I KNOW without a doubt your love for reading is where you get your very strong vocabulary. One of our favorite things about you is your ability to use big words correctly...but the best is when you get them mixed up or use them in a different way. You're always asking if we can "attract" Lydia while you're trying to do something (meaning "distract"). Or when you add "able" to the end of words just to make them sound longer and more important. You're so serious about your pretend play too...like the other morning you came to me first thing and said in a troubled sounding voice, "Mama, my mushy dark cake calls for condensed milk and I don't wanna use condensed milk!" I reassured you it would be fine to just use regular milk if you had it...and then proceeded to die laughing on the inside :) If I could only record our whole day together...you say and do too many funny things for me to remember sometimes and that saddens me.

While you are a total Daddy's girl, I know that deep in your heart you have that special place for me. I remember way back right before Lydia was born, we would have our daily snuggle time right after you'd wake up from your nap...and how you still enjoy that now (when you nap anyway). I know everyone thinks Daddy is the "funny one" but I also know you get to experience seeing how funny and goofy I am throughout the day when no one else is around and that's our little secret ;) I love when you tell me you love me out of the blue and wrap your arms tightly around my neck. Never having been much of a snuggly baby or toddler, those moments are especially wonderful to me.

You're growing up too fast, my princess, but I suppose that is life and I'm happy to be able to witness it all--day in and day out. As you anxiously await the birth of your new baby brother or sister, may you feel the special love we have for you, our first born baby girl. This time around is going to be a totally different feeling for me as I watch you embrace our new baby for the first time, knowing your excitement and understanding of what being the big sister means.

My girl, WAY too grown up!

Who IS just as sweet as she looks....

The BEST big sister anyone could ask for....

Even if she is FULL of quirks and loves hats....

One precious little human being....

Mama loves you right up to the moon and back!

Baby #3 Maternity Pictures

2010-07-18T13:20:00.002-05:00

Our good friend who has a photography business, Candid Xpressions by Leisa, took our very first maternity pictures last Sunday. I had actually never really considered doing this with either of my other pregnancies, but thought it would be fun to do with the girls included this time around. We had a great time taking these photos, although it was a struggle to get Lydia (who usually hugs and kisses my belly without prompting) to even TOUCH my belly. Leisa really captured the story of our family in these shots and we LOVE how they turned out!

Personalize a picture slideshow

It's hard to believe we only have 5 more weeks (or less!) until we get to meet the newest member of our family. We are ALL very excited, especially Biggest Sister Addie :) She laid in bed with me this morning feeling the baby moving around as it awoke for almost a half hour. What a special time for both of us :) She asks me almost daily when the new baby will be coming out...and changes her mind on the gender just about every day also. She thinks it's a girl because she saw me do the wedding ring dangling over my belly test, which said girl...but then some days she says she wants a boy. If it's a boy, we'll name it Daddy--according to her ;)

To My Baby Girl

2010-07-15T14:36:00.003-05:00

As the birth of your baby sister or brother approaches quickly, I am getting a little emotional about you, my current baby, becoming "the middle child." Precious Lydia, you have ALWAYS been a Mama's girl, even inside the womb it seemed....and I am expecting your little world to be rocked once this new little baby arrives. I want you to know how loved you are and always will be...and it'll be our little secret if you ALWAYS wanna be a Mama's girl :)

Although you have been a bit more "challenging" than your big sister ever was, I am trying to take in every last minute of you being our baby. Your personality is very strong and shines through in everything you do and say. You are funny...not just funny, but hilarious! Your daddy and I crack up laughing at you every single day. Not only are you funny, but you know you're funny. When we laugh at something you do or say, you say, "Mommy, funny?" and laugh at yourself too.

I love how you talk like a big girl and can put lots and lots of words together to make sentences and phrases. Just last night when we were getting ready for bed, you rushed back into the bathroom, got the brush down out of the cabinet and came back with it brushing your hair saying, "My hair messy!" even though we had just brushed it. One of your newer "Lydi-isms" is saying "minute" behind words. If you want me to hold you, you say "Mommy minute" or when we're getting dressed you say, "outside a minute?" as if you know we're dressing so we can go play outside. And if you want something someone else has, you might say "Lydi minute!" The fact that you call yourself "Lydi" because you can't manage to put that extra "a" on the end is the cutest thing ever! You DO sound just like your big sister when she was your age...even have the little attitude where you tilt your head and make a funny face when you're telling us something serious :) You are a HOOT!

You LOVE to sing and enjoy familiar songs like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," "The ABC song," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Jesus Loves Me," and "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep." And boy do you like to sing those songs ALL BY YOURSELF. If anyone else tries to join you, you shake your whole arm and scold, "No sing, Mommy!" You FINALLY love books...it took a while for you to have the patience to sit down and actually read books, but now that you have discovered them you're in love. One of your favorites is "Old Hat, New Hat," a Berenstain Bears board book and you read it (with help) like a pro! You love the Bible too and your favorite story is "Baby Moses." I love how every single night you MUST find Moses before you can go to sleep.

You haven't ever been much of a "self soother" and love snuggle time with Mommy...and while this made the first nine months of your life a little hard, I have grown to love knowing you'll always be my cuddly child :) You LOVE having your back rubbed and request it when you're having trouble falling asleep at naptime...you'll say, "back rub please, Mommy!" and how can I say no to that!

You're rough and tough on the outside, always falling off chairs, scraping knees, and getting lots of boo boos. You insist on kissing those boo boos yourself, which is just too cute, especially if it's in a hard to reach spot :) And while you may be a tough girl, you're also very sensitive. You get your feelings hurt easily when you're sleepy and act VERY shy around people you don't know. People always mistaken you for our "quiet child" and we just laugh.

I know once the idea of a new baby settles in with you, you are going to be a WONDERFUL big sister! You are caring, sweet, and especially snuggly and this little one is going to be looking up to you as "it" grows and changes into a little person too...just as you look up to and adore Addie. We are all in for some big changes soon, but I want you to always know how much I love you and have enjoyed having you as my baby for the last 21 months of your life!

Sweet, sweet girl!!!

A little silly....

Sometimes moody....

VERY inventive....

Always keeping us on our toes....

Your ears must be burning cause you're waking up from your nap now...I better go get you so we can have our daily after nap snuggle :) Mama loves you!!!

Summertime!!!

2010-06-23T14:56:00.004-05:00

Both girls are napping this afternoon, which is a rare occurrence lately so I thought I'd take a minute or two to update the blog :) Summer is officially here and we are enjoying lots of fun times! I can vividly remember last summer, watching Addie run around in the sprinkler by herself and thinking "next summer Lydia will be chasing after her!" and here they are....the best of friends, playing together and enjoying being sisters. I could not be happier, just knowing they have each other and love each other SO much :)

They truly ARE the best of friends :) They play this little "game" ALL.THE.TIME. where Addie calls herself "Mama" and she calls Lydia "Sweetie Pie." Mama holds Sweetie Pie's hand wherever they go and is just so mothering, patient, and sweet to her. I don't have pictures to document this part, but Mama even takes Sweetie Pie to the potty, taking off her diaper and pretty much doing everything I would do (all under my supervision of course). And the greatest part is that Sweetie Pie doesn't put up a fight with "Mama" like she does with me on occasion ;)

Lydia and her sweet friend, Jenna riding the Jeep :)

Since we didn't take advantage of Spring camping weather this year, we decided to have a little camp out in our living room a few weeks ago. We had planned to do some real camping over at Papaw Mike's house, but it was just TOO stinkin' hot....so we opted for the A/C and comforts of home.

Daddy pitched a little tent in the living room, we ate "camping" type food out on the deck, swam ALL day in our little blow up pool, and slept horribly (because that's usually how it goes when you're really camping, right?). Although the girls loved the idea of playing in the tent before bedtime, neither one actually slept IN the tent. Chris and I had mattresses on the floor for ourselves and Addie ended up sleeping between us....and the little Rascal a.k.a. Sweetie Pie, couldn't get settled down so she was banished to her crib. Needless to say, we only attempted the tent one night and everyone was back to their own beds the next night :)

We did go on one little outing while pretend camping....to the camp store (a.k.a. Target). Addie has been asking for a bicycle for a while now and we thought it would be a good almost half-birthday present to get her one. Since we don't have a very flat area for her to practice pedaling, we decided to get her a princess scooter instead which she was thrilled about! She has gotten better over the last couple weeks with lots of practice....we'll see about getting a bicycle for Christmas :)

This is how Lydia feels about Addie getting a scooter...just kidding!

Even though it's been HOT HOT HOT outside, we have been trying to get outside to play every single day....the earlier the better. The girls have discovered their love of sidewalk chalk and our driveway is ALWAYS decorated :) Addie taught herself how to write her name about a month ago so she is loving to sign her name by her art and trying to write other letters too. If I would let them, they would spend all day and night in their swimsuits playing in the pool on the deck. Lydia is so funny, every day looking out the window saying, "wet, pool, swim, outside" over and over. The other morning, they spent over an hour collecting bouquets of clover and berries, humming along just as happy as could be...getting sweaty little heads and rosy little cheeks :)

One of my favorite parts about being the mom of these two cuties, is that they don't NEED actual toys to have fun. They are so imaginative and creative in the way they play together. We have a good amount of their toys in storage right now while we're trying to sell our house and it just amazes me that we don't miss them one bit. The newest addition to their list of favorites is the box that our new dishwasher came in. Sometimes it's a house and other times it's a dress store or other places. When it's too hot to go outside, they are playing in and with that box! They use kitchen items and my decorations as their "props" and just go to town playing together.

Nothing really new to report about baby #3. I am currently 31 weeks, which means I have NO MORE THAN 9 weeks to go :D This has been a wonderful pregnancy, other than trying to stay cool in this heat, and we can't wait to meet our newest little sweet pea sometime in August! Sorry baby #3 for not taking any belly pictures of you yet....that's okay, we're having our wonderful friend take some maternity pictures in a few weeks (which we've never had done before so that makes you special!).

Happy first week of Summer!

A Mini-Vacation

2010-05-20T14:48:00.003-05:00

Realizing we are quite short on time and money before our third little one arrives, we decided to plan a last minute getaway to St. Louis this past weekend. We got away on Sunday morning and arrived at the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House right after lunch. This place was amazing! As soon as we walked into the conservatory, butterflies were flying all around us. Of course my camera lens fogged up right away since it was so much warmer in there, but after being patient and finally wiping it off carefully I was able to get some great pictures of the beautiful creatures!

When we were finished exploring the inside of the Butterfly House, we headed out to walk around the garden. Although it must have been too cold for butterflies to enjoy the garden, we had fun walking around and looking at all the pretty flowers and plants....and the girls were able to burn off some much needed energy built up from the drive. There was also a wonderful, HUGE playground just near the Butterfly House that we took advantage of for quite a while. Both girls played and played until they crashed in the van on the way back to our hotel.

We made it to our hotel around 4 and you would have thought Addie had never experienced a hotel before! She was SUPER excited about our room and couldn't believe we were going to get to sleep there! I wish I could have caught it all on video, walking around showing us and telling us about every little detail of the room :)

We headed to the zoo in the morning and it was VERY cold (well for the middle of May anyway!). Good thing I packed pants and jackets for the girls....but Chris and I were out of luck when it came to jackets :( We survived! We had a great time wandering around looking at all the animals. The penguins were my favorite and we even got to see them eating their breakfast and listen to the keeper answer lots of questions. Lydia's favorite part was the elephants because she's really into saying "elphanenenenent" right now and it just cracks us up every time! Addie says her favorite part was the goat petting yard, probably because it was the last thing we saw/did and she actually got to pet and brush them :) So despite our wish for sweatshirts, we had a fun day at the zoo!

We decided to go to one of my family's favorite Italian restaurants on The Hill, Cunetto House of Pasta. We had taken Addie there with my parents when she was about 15 months old, so we figured we'd give it a try with TWO girls this time. I'm pretty sure none of the restaurants in that area are super kid-friendly, but we were quite sick of McDonald's and went out on a limb here. Of course when we got there, Addie had fallen asleep so Chris had to carry her in and sit with her limp body on his lap for the first half of dinner. The food was great, at least from what I remember. The experience.....well, let's just say eating out at a nice restaurant has changed quite a bit for us since having children. When one child says she has to potty....the second one continuously yells POTTY or sometimes even POOPY at the top of her lungs until she gets her turn to check out yet another non-child friendly public restroom. And I must say I have mastered the art of taking an 18 month old potty and putting her diaper back on her standing up in a very tight stall WITHOUT letting her touch anything....something only a Mommy could do (sorry Dads). Chris and I were dying laughing the whole car ride back to the hotel....I'm SO glad we can have a sense of humor about it, rather than getting upset and thinking that our children "ruined" dinner :)

We all slept very well that night.......and headed back home the next day. Short and sweet, but a great time away having fun, laughing, NOT whining or melting down, and enjoying each other!

Enjoy the slideshow:

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Strawberry Pickin'

2010-05-20T14:32:00.004-05:00

Life has been keeping us busy, especially with our house on the market and trying to keep two little ones happy. We are all doing wonderful (even baby #3) and enjoying springtime around here!

Last Friday, we ventured out to the strawberry pickin' patch with some friends and had a blast! This was a first for us and the girls and I really enjoyed it. I was a little worried about tackling the picking with both my rascals WITHOUT Daddy there to help, but they both did GREAT and I don't think any strawberry plants were ripped from the ground by the littlest rascal ;)

The rascal, working hard

You CANNOT go pickin' without a little taste here and there ;)

She truly was a good little picker

Big Sis finding the perfect berry

All the girls at the patch

When we got home, I had a VERY busy afternoon preparing all 8 lbs. 11 oz. of our strawberries :) We had strawberry shortcake for dessert that evening and I made plenty of strawberry freezer jam, which we had on our waffles the next morning. Mmmmmm, can't get enough of that stuff! I froze some of the berries, but I don't think they'll stay in the freezer for long because the girls and I are huge fans of smoothies for breakfast and I'm sure they'll get used quickly! This was a super fun experience and I'm sure it will be a yearly thing for us from now on. I never knew how much fun it would be to pick our very own strawberries :)

Springtime Fun

2010-04-03T15:20:00.003-05:00

We are LOVING the warmer weather and bright sunshine around here! Last week was beautiful and we took advantage of one of the nicer days and had a little Easter Egg hunt and craft time with our best friends. We are so grateful to have such wonderful friends who love to play and have as much fun as we do :)

The girls with their furry bunny ears

Lydia finding her first egg (other than the softball she already snagged!)

Addie checking out her "loot"

Lydia and Jenna going after the same egg (no tears were shed, I promise)

The whole crew after the hunt...this was one of the best of MANY pictures taken trying to get them all to be happy and look our way :) Luke's thinking, "Ugh, women!"

Our family spent some time outside at Papaw Mike's house on Friday and the girls enjoyed being able to run and run and run (and look for a few eggs in the process)! I just love taking pictures of them in their element, the great outdoors!

Addie enjoyed picking teeny tiny little flowers from the yard

Lydia hunting for Easter eggs

After a VERY emotional morning dealing with Attitude Addie (boy, I can't wait til she's a teenager!!), we attempted to dye some eggs. Daddy enjoyed doing this activity with the girls and I enjoyed watching the whole process and attempting to take a few pictures while supervising our little egg thief ;)

Add admiring her eggs and making sure they were drying properly :)

The cutest little egg thief (good thing they were hard boiled!)

We are so happy Spring has arrived and are enjoying the longer days! We have so much to be thankful for this Easter...MOST importantly for the sacrifice of God's only son, our Lord and Savior Jesus! Have a blessed Easter and Happy Spring!

Baby #3 Update

2010-04-03T15:04:00.003-05:00

We had the pleasure of "meeting" baby #3 via ultrasound last Thursday, April Fool's Day :) Chris and I decided to take Addie with us because we knew she would be excited to see the little one and could sit still long enough for us to enjoy it (unlike the other wee one in our family, who had some special play time with Grandma at home). Biggest sister did great and loved seeing our baby "on TV" as she said.

Baby cooperated for the most part and looked very healthy...I'll have to get a quick scan at my next appointment to finish up a few areas. The heart rate was 149 bpm today and our little one seemed to be quite squirmy in there, kicking and curling his/her legs up towards the face. Here are a few of our favorite pictures from the day:

"Hi family!"

Profile looking JUST like both sisters already :)

Adorable little foot

All curled up and hiding for the 4D image

I am feeling great for a pregnant lady who is almost 20 weeks, chasing around 2 very active girls every single day! Funny how I wasn't feeling much movement before the ultrasound, but have felt baby tons the last few days which makes me very happy :)

We absolutely can't wait to meet the newest member of our family in August!!!

"Tight"

2010-03-09T14:55:00.003-06:00

My blog entries lately seem to revolve around the second born, but she's just at that age where so many changes are occurring and I want to document everything just as I did with Addie dearest.

Little Rascal is talking SO much these days, but one of the words she has picked up on that has me in stitches is "tight"--used when things are difficult for her to do. I am laughing so hard because little does she know, her big sister used to say "oh tight" in the same situations. (See this blog post from July, 2008)

Rascal wants to do everything big sister does so this means trying to dress herself. She will "ask" me to take her clothes off of her just so she can attempt to put them back on ALL BY HERSELF. And I mean it, ALL BY HERSELF. There will be no assisting from Mommy, or a fit will be had. It's pretty hilarious and frustrating all at once. She actually does a decent job, but can't quite maneuver pulling her pants up all the way so she sports the "penguin waddle" look :)

I am in no way trying to potty train my 16 month old daughter, but yet again, she wants to do everything big sister does so she insists on wearing panties. Well....when she tells me she has to go by saying "potty" or "pot-pot" and I take her in the bathroom and she goes.....okay then, you can wear panties for a half hour or so my teeny tiny child! I am amazed by her daily. Especially because I always thought she would be my less independent sort of child seeing as how she was WAY more demanding in her infant days than Addie ever had been. Things are starting to change in that department....and while she still loves to be cuddled and loved on, and lets the hugs and kisses flow freely.....she wants things her way and by goodness, she will do them when and how she wants to do them!

Shortly after my last two blog posts explaining some of her "adventures," we had a little mishap one afternoon. Earlier that morning, she was sitting in the chair "reading" with Addie and realized she could reach the light switch if she wiggled her way up the back of the chair. It was "kinda cute" (famous last words) so I took a picture. Later, after we finished eating lunch and were snuggled in for some reading time, she attempted the same thing and fell off the back of the chair....landing with a thud on the floor. I did not see how she landed, but the only visible wound I could find after a thorough check was a tiny whole in her tongue where she'd bitten it. Ouch! Now for those of you who know me WELL, you know I am not a worrier and I don't get worked up about much of anything. Hmmmm....this child had me in a panic that day, thinking she just might die when I put her down for her nap. I checked on her frequently while she slept and she ended up taking a record breaking nap that day and I just couldn't WAIT for her to wake up (this is just not like her either...she's usually up exactly 2 hours to the minute after I lay her down). I'm sure her little body was sore from the fall, but she seemed to bounce back pretty quickly after a good rest. I think she will be the child I feel the need to pray the most for her protection!

Oh how I love my funny little adventurous baby girl!

Tap Dancin' and More

2010-02-17T15:03:00.003-06:00

One of Lydia's *talents* mentioned in the previous post:

I told ya she has an obsession...if the vacuum is out of the closet, I know where to find her :)

Just *one* of her hiding spots...behind my clothes in the closet

SHE IS ONE FUNNY GIRL!

Little Rascal Update

2010-02-10T13:58:00.003-06:00

I think Lydia's new name should be our "Little Rascal." Somehow that name seems a bit "boyish" to me, but that's exactly what she reminds me of these days :) I have come to the conclusion that God gave us an easy child first so that when #2 came along and rocked our world, we would be thankful for the somewhat simple first go-around we had with Addie.

I took the Little Rascal for her 15 month well check visit with her doctor last week and he laughed when I told him all about her "adventurous" side and said, "I think Addie was just exceptional and Lydia is just normal." Haha! She's definitely "normal" alright. Normally rambunctious, normally climbing, normally kicking and throwing fits, normally squealing and laughing, normally falling off of kitchen chairs, and normally getting right back up and doing it all over again! What a fun little child she is, and I DO mean that! She tests me daily and I have figured out that if I change my attitude to "I'm thankful she's growing and learning" by getting into all this stuff and doing all of these crazy things, we are all better off.

Here are just a *few* of her current antics that I just love:

*The cheesy faces she makes just to be funny (I wish I had pictures!)
*The way she "tap dances" in the kitchen
*Her ability to climb....nope, I don't really love this one, but it's part of her and I love her
*Her love for cooking...she gets out all the measuring cups and spoons and pretends to measure and pour :)
*Her "splashy-ness" in the bathtub...if I didn't close the shower curtain, the entire bathroom would be drenched and I'm not kidding!
*The way she takes my hand and leads me to the bathroom when she has to go "pot-pot" (potty)
*Her long, drawn out smoochie cheek kisses she gives freely when asked
*Her snuggles and tight squeezes
*The way she rides the vacuum cleaner (she has an obsession I think)
*Her deep, sort-of-scratchy little voice
*The way she hides...and when she hides, she's SO quiet that it takes us FOREVER to find her (scary thought sometimes!)
*How she wants to do EVERY. SINGLE. THING. her big sister does
*The way she whispers (something we're working on daily and she gets the biggest kick out of it!)
*The way she says "Amen" when we finish reading a book
*The way she prays at bedtime, repeating words after me :)
*Her extreme LOVE for her big sister.....

(some floor hugging)

I absolutely cannot get over how much she is saying these days. We really thought Addie started talking pretty early, but this one is a different story. I am truly amazed! I will *try* to remember as many of her current words as I can and of course some are in "her language" that probably only we can understand: Mama, Dada, Addie, Addie (for Lydia, but she points to herself), Joe, Papaw, Maw-Maw (for grandma), Amen, hi, bye-bye, bird, snack, bowl, bird, chick chick (for chickadee), kitty, doggy, ball, up, down, hold me, shoe, sock, eye, nose, teeth, ear, hair, cheek, wa-wa (what she calls her drink whether it's water or milk), baby, beep (she likes to beep Addie's belly button), morning (for good morning), pigtail, pen-pen (penguin), mon-mon (monkey), duck, night-night, snow (comes out "no")...oh and of course she knows NO. And our favorite, she says "oh my" when someone makes a mess or something funny or bad happens. She picked that up from one of her favorite books, Mr. Wishy-Washy. She makes several animal sounds like meow and woof woof, but the best one yet is "who who" for an owl!

Here they are "wearing" their babies (won't they make wonderful Mamas someday!) and Rascal with her first piggies :)

I am extremely thankful that Addie has learned to be very patient when Lydia does things that could easily annoy her. She no longer gets mad when Lydia knocks over her block castles, she just says "oh well, I'll build it again." She doesn't get upset when Lydia climbs up into the chair and practically shoves her way into the booster seat with her. We have our rough days, that's for sure...but I am so blessed to get to spend every single day at home with my princesses (well, one princess and one dragon as of right now). Looking at their differences makes me SO anxious to see what qualities this new little one will bring to our family! OH boy! or girl...which is what I'm thinking she is :)

An Itty Bitty Teeny Tiny Announcement

2010-02-04T13:32:00.004-06:00

We are thrilled to announce:

Yes, that's right, baby Knight #3 is on the way! My due date is August 26th and I am 11 weeks along today :) This first trimester has FLOWN by, probably because we have kept our little secret quiet and life in general has kept us busy enough to lose track of time a bit.

We found out shortly before Christmas and I decided to make sharing this news with Chris a little more "surprising" than with the other two. I took a picture (see below) the day I found out and wrapped it up in a gift bag (fitting since Christmas was so close). I waited until the girls went to bed....which was SO incredibly difficult!.....and told him that Addie had found some of the wrapped Christmas presents and she decided to make him a present that day. He was a bit confused as he was opening the bag and unwrapping the little picture, but the expression on his face was priceless and we were both just gleaming!

We gave this same picture to our families as gifts on Christmas as well and everyone is so excited! Lydia was actually the first one in our family to know because I knew she could keep the secret...and we discussed it in detail with Addie a few weeks later. She is super excited...even talks about having a baby in her belly, which I remember her doing toward the end of my pregnancy with Lydia. They will both be wonderful big sisters...I'm sure our life will become a bit more challenging with 3 little ones, but a fun challenge it will be! We are SO blessed and thank God daily for putting these little lives in our hands :)

Let it Snow!

2010-01-11T13:53:00.002-06:00

We had our first real snow last Thursday and as soon as Addie saw it coming down early that morning, she immediately put on her new snow boots, mittens, and fleece hooded jacket and claimed that she was ready to go "snowing".....well before 8:00 a.m.

Rather than waiting until Chris got home from work that evening to venture out into the fluffy white stuff, we bundled up right after lunch and headed out to play. I'm not sure if the 20 minutes of getting ready was worth the 10 minutes we played, but it was fun (cold, but fun) and both girls napped very well that afternoon :)

All bundled up!

Making a snow angel: this was the first thing she did when she stepped foot in the snow ;)

Taste-testing the snowflakes

The snow stuck around (and is still here today) over the weekend so we decided to take the girls on an impromptu sledding adventure over at Chris's dad's house on Saturday. Bundling up was a little quicker this time since Daddy was here to help and we loaded into the van and headed over to check out the big hill! We all took turns on the purple sled and Chris and Addie occasionally went down on the toboggan together, racing Lydia and I. Although it was VERY cold (like 18 degrees cold), both the girls LOVED their time sledding.

Lydia's sledding debut video...and I know you can't tell by her facial expression here, but she had a blast and wanted to go again and again when we got back to the top of the hill!

Addie turned 3!!!

2010-01-04T15:38:00.003-06:00

With our Little Bear having a birthday 2 days after Christmas, we try very hard to make it special for her. So.....on December 26th, the tree and all the Christmas decorations come down and get boxed up until next year. It's kind of funny because Addie acts very sad to see "her" Christmas tree get dragged out the back door, but I don't think she fully realizes that we do that to prepare ourselves for another big celebration!

This year was a bit different than other birthdays for her because her birthday fell on a Sunday and that just so happened to be the day when ALL of my mom's family (who ALL live out of town, other than Grandma and Grandpa) were in town getting together for Christmas. So we had to be a little creative in how we made this day special for Addie....and I'm pretty sure she had a fabulous day!

We started the day by letting her go to the Donut Bank with Daddy to pick out her own donut. Rather than packing all of us up to go eat AT the DB with the Sunday morning (and holiday) crowd, we decided we would all enjoy our donuts at home. After eating her donuts at the "Princess Table" (which was just the kitchen table decorated with all sorts of "princess-y" stuff), she got to open her presents from us. "Princess" was definitely the theme this year, as she received Cinderella figurines, a Princess Glitter Glue set, and a few books, including "Fancy Nancy" and "Pinkalicious" (which are her new favorites!).

At church, we got to sit with our ENTIRE Downing family (which I might say, filled up the first 3 pews on both sides of the church!!!). After church, we let Addie choose what she would like for lunch so we made our stop at McDonald's to pick up her Happy Meal :) When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted me to make for her birthday this year, she said, "Chocolate with strawberry icing".....and so, that's what she got. Although the combination was a bit interesting to Chris and I, she LOVED it which is all that mattered! Here is our princess, blowing out her THREE candles.

We all enjoyed a good nap after lunch and then we headed over to my parents' house to gather with the Downing family for a Christmas celebration. It was amazing to have ALMOST everyone there...just about everyone traveled in blizzards and harsh conditions to make it so we were SO excited to have everyone there safe and sound. The whole family helped Addie celebrate her special day by singing "Happy Birthday" to her before digging in to her Disney Princess cake! She was more than thrilled about that!

Here she is tearing into her present from Grandma Jan, Papaw Jerry, and Uncle Jake...a Fancy Nancy DOLL and some Fancy Nancy books :)

I think she is already a few steps ahead of Fancy Nancy when it comes to fashion...this girl LOVES to put crazy, ahem, I mean "fancy" outfits together! Now she is just making sure we eat with our pinky's up and call each other "darling" at the dinner table ;)

I think I'll say this EVERY year, but it's SO hard to grasp that she's been in our family for THREE WHOLE YEARS....and then there are days when I feel like she's been around forever (and I mean that in a good way, I promise!). Addie certainly adds "life" to our family with her funny, quirky ways and we feel so blessed to be called her Mommy and Daddy. She is such a wonderful big sister to Lydia, which I know our little tiny girl will always appreciate! I am so glad they have each other and even more, I am so thankful Chris and I were chosen to raise them for the glory of God!

A Very Merry Christmas

2010-01-04T15:06:00.002-06:00

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year with the girls and all of our family! Chris and I spent a lot of time preparing Addie's little heart for the birth of Christ and I think she really got the idea of WHY we were celebrating, which just made our hearts smile :)

We celebrated Christmas with Chris's mom, "Granny," and his brother, "Uncle Mikey" on Christmas Eve after church. On Christmas morning, we got up and had Cinnamon Toast Cake for breakfast...and even put a candle in it and sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. After breakfast, we headed into the living room to open gifts. The girls were so thankful for all of their presents and had some time to enjoy playing with them before we headed to Papaw Mike's house for lunch. After opening gifts and eating lunch at Papaw's, we came home to take naps (and ALL of us took naps, which rarely happens!). Our celebrating continued that evening with Grandma Jan, Papaw Jerry, Uncle Jake, Grandma Jackie, and Papaw Bill.

Needless to say, we were all pooped by the end of the day, but we had a terrific time with our family remembering the REAL reason for Christmas. Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Cookie Baking

2009-12-23T15:35:00.004-06:00

I completely forgot to mention our Christmas cookie baking extravaganza in the last post, but I believe it's worth its own post anyway. A few weeks ago, my prayer group got together at one of our member's house to make and decorate cookies. Although one of our friends could not make it because her little girl was sick, the girls and I had a great time with Grandma (my mom) and two of Addie's Godmothers :)

Addie loves to help me in the kitchen, so she got a huge kick out of being a part of the cookie making. She got to sift the giant amount of flour...and said it looked like a "flour mountain" in the bowl.

Linda let her pick out what color she wanted to make the dough and the first color she picked was PINK, imagine that. She also got to pick the design for the first batch of spritz cookies and she chose a flower design.

Using the Spritz gun was a bit challenging at first, but she got the hang of it quickly. I love her face in this one, squeezing with all her might!

While the spritz cookies were baking, she got to decorate a gingerbread girl cookie with lots of icing and sprinkles. In this picture, she is deciding what color of sprinkles she should add next (as if it needs more).

Lydia took part in the decorating as well....her first task, UN-decorating a gingerbread man cookie! I decorated it and encouraged her to add more, but she had a better idea: to eat the M & M candies as I kept putting more on ;)

While big sister was focused on baking cookies, little sister practiced her dance moves on Dana's kitchen floor!

She had the time of her life running around and keeping me on my toes! I think her favorite part of the evening was when Dana's dog, Maggie kept making appearances in the kitchen...and she even got to pet her. Maggie was quite the talk of the evening once we got home!

Very special thanks to Dana, Linda, and Grandma (Ma) for making the girls feel so special! I was sure worn out by the night's end, but we all had a blast!

A Blogging Hiatus...well sort of

2009-12-22T15:50:00.007-06:00

Wow, I haven't blogged on THIS blog forever! I HAVE been blogging, a lot however, on our school blog so if you'd like to see a little more of what we've been up to and more pictures and videos of the girls, visit Sharing Our Learning Adventure.

I will try to sum up the past two months by using some of my favorite pictures. Our little baby girl, who is just about to turn 14 months, is growing and changing SO fast! I just love this age when her personality is REALLY starting to shine (although she's been showing us her strong personality for quite a while now!). Lydia actually says more words at this age than her sister did...she says, "Mama," "Dadda," "Addie," "Joe," "Papaw," "Amen," "baby" (her favorite), "bird," "ball," "bear," "bowl," "snack," "Pot" (for potty), "bye-bye," "hi," and a few others I'm forgetting at the moment. She is walking like a pro and rarely lets anything get in her way! Our chunky little baby has thinned down to be a miniature replica of her big sister, skinny Minnie :) Here are a few of our favorite pics from her one year photo shoot (taken by our wonderful friend Leisa of Candid Xpressions):
This little sweetie pie has started becoming a Daddy's girl, just like her sister. She has always favored Mama until recently when Daddy started to become her favorite snuggle buddy. I could just EAT HER UP! She's so snuggly and loving, giving kisses and hugs frequently....SO much different than Addie ever has been.

The girls just love each other so much...and pretty much do everything together now. Bath time is their favorite playtime together, one a little wilder and more "splashy" than the other (if you know my girls, you can guess who the *wild* one is!). Everyone has been telling us lately that they are looking more and more alike....well these next two photos show their similarities and one big difference: their skin tone! Addie is fair like her Daddy and Lydia has an olive tone like me. You can't really tell just by looking at them with clothes on so here they are being silly in the bathtub :)

So sweet and innocent :)

Wild and Crazy Girls!

The tiny one had a bit of a run in with our coffee table a few weeks ago and managed to give herself a pretty awful looking black eye. It had cleared up a little by the time I took this picture, but you can still get the idea of *who* won this battle. The day I took this picture, we were at a friend's house baking Christmas cookies and I found Lydia in the spare bedroom ON TOP of a little kiddy table....hmmmmm, wonder how she gets hurt so often!?

Just wanted to show a picture of how you dress when you have a big sister who is into fashion...pajama shirt, brown leg warmers (or warm leggers as A calls them), and big sister's swim suit. And just to clarify, this was all Lydia's idea (well the leg warmers were my idea to keep her warm). She sees Addie going through numerous outfit changes daily and wants to be just like big sis! She will grab an article of clothing that Addie has recently thrown off and bring it to me and raise her leg wanting me to put it on her (yes, even if it's a shirt, she'll still raise her leg!).

We received a package from some very special friends of ours yesterday and among many WONDERFUL gifts, was Addie's birthday present from them: a Princess Book/Playset!!! She immediately got it open and set up at the table...and said, "Oh I love my Princess Bible!!" I guess she knows how important the Bible is and this Princess book/playset ranks right up there with it! She makes me laugh so hard! Oh, the helmet was an early Christmas gift from Gma and Papaw and it was worn the entire evening also.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! We hope everyone enjoys the blessings of the season and the true meaning behind CHRISTmas! I suspect I will take lots of pictures of the girls over the next week, as we have a big birthday celebration coming up right after Christmas...and I won't make any promises, but I will try my best to post some of the favorites :)

I'll sign off with our tiny singer in the family...singing a song I sing all the time and Addie loves it, the "Amen song"

Loving her big sister to pieces!

Random Funnies

2009-11-11T14:11:00.003-06:00

I think I'll start a little "series" of blogs and title them "Random Funnies." Addie has always had a funny personality, and we are happy to say that her little sister is following in her foot steps. Although Lydia can be shy and reserved at times (only around others), she is a HOOT around us and we have the pictures to prove it! We feel so blessed to have these adorable little beings in our lives who make us laugh DAILY! Enjoy :)

Addie has mastered the art of dressing herself: her outfit this particular day included her baby sister's swimsuit top (to be used as a baby sling for, not 1, but 2 animals) and her beach hat...and more than likely, she didn't have pants on...it's fall. Oh and she is mailing her "yucky nummy" (pacifier) to Alabama in this picture :)

We are extremely lucky to have a Butterfly Fairy Princess who comes to feed our little baby for us every day...just wish she'd do all the laundry and cleaning too ;)

Anyone interested in having a Tiny Baby Girl for dinner? She does this often and is very proud.

There is nothing more exciting than receiving a package in the mail...even if it is just used as a dancing/jumping stage!

I see this face MANY times a day and I LOVE IT!

Second borns must be more adventurous...she is ALWAYS climbing in/on something!

Several weeks ago, we did an Apple Unit for "school" and Addie became obsessive about making Apple Cider and Apple Juice....she tells about it here: (yep, she has on her sister's swimsuit top again)

Little Tiny is growing up SO fast! She is such a little talker, always repeating words we say. This video was taken when she was not feeling well last week, but she still manages to do some jabbering :)

Celebrating A Sweetie

2009-10-30T21:19:00.002-05:00

We can hardly believe that a year ago today, we were meeting our sweet baby Lydia for the first time. She has absolutely been a blessing to our family since that day! We love her dearly and can't wait to spend MANY more years celebrating her birthday with her!

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but keep in mind she did not feel well at all so she didn't smile for too many pictures :( We'll start off with a smiling one though:

Maracas from Big Sister Addie

She LOVED her shape sorter, thanks to Grandma and Papaw and Uncle Jake

A special snuggly kitty from Uncle Mikey

King Size Cupcakes, Mmmmmmm!

Wondering what to do with the cupcake :)

Getting a little taste

Checking out the icing on her teeny fingers

Big Sister enjoying a chocolate cupcake!

Thanks for all the cards and gifts for our baby girl! We are truly appreciate to have so many wonderful people who love her as much as we do!

A Treasure Hunt?

2009-10-06T14:44:00.003-05:00

Nope, just a *few* couch finds from when I decided to vacuum under the cushions ;) Can you identify ALL of these random objects?

I couldn't help but add these fun pictures taken of the girls yesterday. Lydia woke up from her nap with the fluffiest, sticky-uppy hair and she was just so happy that I was amused by it. The pictures really don't do it justice...it was pretty wild!

And a view from the back:

Addie has been quite the little Mama lately, as in feeding her babies (no bottles involved, if you get my drift) and carrying them around on her back in her "Ergo carrier" as she calls it (that's the brand of our carrier we use for Lydia). This scrap piece of Minky fabric actually works perfect for a wrap-style carrier for her dolls...her baby looks pretty happy about it, don't ya think? Please excuse the pajama shirt, Lydia is really the only one who got dressed yesterday :)

Pretend Camping and REAL Camping

2009-09-30T15:29:00.009-05:00

PRETEND CAMPING:
A few weeks ago, we had a last minute urge to pack up the camper and head to Harmonie State Park for a weekend away. So that's just what we did...slaved all day Friday getting "ready" to go camping. We grabbed some McD's on the way out of town and got ourselves all excited for a weekend under the stars. To our disappointment (HUGE disappointment), one of the cables snapped and broke when Chris was trying to pop up the camper and we had no other choice but to head back home. We had 1 really sad girl, 1 girl who didn't know what was going on but loved eating her dinner at the picnic table, and 2 really sad parents (who were probably more sad for our girls than for ourselves).

So.........to make the best of the weekend, we decided to take our already packed cooler and make the trip back to New Harmony on Saturday to spend the day. It turned out to be a WONDERFUL day, filled with bike rides, picnics, hikes and lots of playground time. We couldn't have asked for better weather and the girls were both GREAT, even though Addie seemed to be coming down with a cold and there was no time for napping. I'll let the pictures do the talking......

Momma and Lydia after a walk along the river

Daddy and Addie near the river

My favorite

Eating her first Smore

You have to open wide to fit it all in!

Bike riding, loving their new "car" as Add calls it

Sunday, we headed over to Chris's dad's house so we could take a look at the camper to see if it was fixable. We took our lunch and had another picnic and even pitched two small tents for the girls to play and nap in. So even after a huge disappointment, we made the most of the weekend and had some much needed family time together!

REAL CAMPING:
This past weekend we were invited to join some friends for camping at Patoka Lake. Rather than trying to rush and fix the camper, we decided to revert back to tent camping but we needed a much larger tent to house the four of us, plus all of our "stuff." We ended up purchasing a wonderful cabin tent from amazon.com and I would highly recommend it if you are interested in a good size family tent that will keep you dry. Yes, dry. After a little drizzly rain on Friday night and a LOT of heavy (and even sideways) rain on Saturday night, we only found a few spots of water that dripped in.

The weekend turned out to be pretty relaxing and nice, despite the rain. We were very thankful our friends were renting a pop-up camper and welcomed us in out of the pouring rain and gusty winds. The weather was beautiful during the day on Saturday and we went on a pretty good hike and did some bike riding too. Lydia did so well on her camping debut! Addie kept herself entertained and didn't even touch any of the toys I brought for her. She was very helpful with the two babies and enjoyed every bit of being outside the entire time.

Lydia getting ready to slide!

On the hike to Totem Rock

I think we'll call it "Trusty the Tent"

Sleepy girl after a bike ride

If you look closely, you'll see the green inchworm reaching out off the wood right by Addie's nose...she was so excited about all the "nature stuff" the whole weekend. Lots of deer tracks and various animal "scat" (poo). We even saw this on our hike:

Yuck...it was about 3.5 inches long...gave me the heeby geebies ;)

Little Tiny is 11 Months!

2009-09-30T14:48:00.007-05:00

This little baby is not going to be such a little baby much longer! One more month until Little Tiny turns one! She does not always have such a serious expression, but I couldn't resist playing around with this beautiful picture of her :) Those pouty lips are irresistible.

Lydia is our more adventurous daughter by far. She climbs and bounces and wants to be in the center of the action at all times! I've recently started taking the girls to a place called Pump It Up about once a month and they play in the inflatable "bounce houses" and slides. This past week, Lydia went down the huge slide with me and loved it. She was fearless when it came to climbing up on things and bouncing by herself in the bounce house. I just have to keep reminding myself to allow her to explore and enjoy her independence.

She has started walking with a little push mail cart that Addie used when she was about this age. It's funny to watch her little brain process each step as she goes across the room :) I know that once she has walking mastered, we will be in for all sorts of fun! The poor girl already manages to get a new bruise or scrape just about every day from all of her courageous maneuvers!

I usually do school time with Addie while Lydia is taking a morning nap, but sometimes we extend some of our activities later in the afternoon to involve Lydia. Just today, she helped pick up the blocks by putting them back in the bucket one by one. I was kind of surprised she let go of each one, but she wanted to mimic her sister and was very helpful :) A new trick she started today is to put her head on the ground and bottom up in the air as if she's about to do a somersault. I then flip her over and we cheer. It became such a fun little game and she did it over and over and over again all around the living room. I'm just getting such a kick out of how quickly she is changing.

Even her food is changing...she wants to eat what we are eating now and refuses to take a bite of her food until she gets a taste of what we're having. She's still mastering the pincer grasp and practicing with a LOT of Cheerios and goldfish crackers. I think if I let her eat them all day, she would. With her new food habits, we are working on the sign for "more" and she has almost got it down. She would actually rather say it than sign it, which is just fine with us! Some of her newest words are "grandma" (which sometimes sounds like Garmin), "papaw," and "amen" after we say our prayers. Addie talked at a pretty early age, but I'm starting to think that Lydia might have her beat by the time she turns one! She definitely wants us to know what's on her mind!

Along with her adventurous side comes a very loving and snuggly side. I love every little thing about her, but this is probably my most favorite part of Lydia. She LOVES to snuggle...always has and hopefully always will :) Recently, she started giving kisses and snuggles when we ask for them. I just adore her open mouth, gentle smoochies! She is a sweet sweet girl :)

A Friend Named "Mim"

2009-09-20T16:17:00.002-05:00

One day a few weeks ago, Addie mentioned something about her friend named Mim. Hmmm....I thought for a minute and wondered if this could be her first imaginary friend! After asking her a few questions about Mim, I realized that Mim is indeed imaginary.

Addie informed me that Mim lives in a place called "Basanta," which she says is in Indianapolis. We're not sure where she came up with Basanta, but she does have an uncle and lots of good friends who live in and around Indianapolis :)

Mim has blond hair and always seems to be wearing an outfit that matches Addie's :) She is the same height as Addie too. I have never heard Addie talking to Mim, but apparently Mim tells Addie things like, "Mim said I need to send my yucky nummy (her pacifier) to Jamaica." I think I like this Mim character very much! Of course Mim is totally WRONG when it's naptime or bedtime, at least that's what Addie tells me for now.

We asked if she had any other friends who live in Basanta with Mim and one other character has been mentioned. This friend is a boy and his name is "Kylophone"...you know, like xylophone with a 'K' :) We don't know any other details about Kylophone, other than he's a boy. I almost fell over when she said this, but I'd never laugh at her! I don't EVER want to crush her beautiful little imagination!

2 Months and Counting...

2009-09-01T14:56:00.004-05:00

....that is, until Lydia turns ONE! We can't believe it, of course. Mostly me. We are having SO much fun lately! While Peek-a-boo is still a favorite, she has figured out how to do things that make everyone laugh, especially herself. She'll do things like knock over a stack of diapers or wipes I've just folded and when I pretend to "get mad" (of course in the most playful way) she just laughs her head off...and so do the rest of us. Then she does it over and over and over and over again.

I keep thinking she's just going to take off and walk somewhere because she has learned to "cruise" around the furniture and even stands by herself for a few moments. I can't wait to have 4 little feet running around the house, instead of just 2 :) I also can't wait to hear 2 little voices chattering back and forth! Lydia is starting to mimic words after us and she says, "Hi," "Addie," "Momma," "Dadda," and "Uh Oh." I know she has tons more to say and I love watching her little brain work to try to figure it all out :)

Peek-a-boo!

I'm not going to say much about it, for fear of jinxing myself, but Little Tiny's sleep habits have shown great improvement in the past month. Even with her little teeth breaking through, she has been such a trooper. Speaking of teeth, she has 2 on the bottom and 2 on the top now. You can almost see them all in the cheesy funny face she's making here:

Say cheese!

They Make Me Laugh!

2009-08-17T15:43:00.006-05:00

These girls really are priceless. I most certainly have days when I want to pull my hair out and have a meltdown just like Addie does when things aren't going her way...but the days like that are soon followed with moments of pure joy when I think about these two little blessings.

Addie's personality continues to amaze us as she grows. It almost makes me sad to report that "bantaskick" has become "fantastic" now and several other words that she has mispronounced have recently transformed into the real words. She seems to be picking up on lots of different vocabulary lately, whether it's from us or Little Bear. She says "not quite" when we ask her if she's ready for something. She has been really into using directional words, such as "nearby" and "I'm running after you" (as she runs in front of us-oh well). She tries so hard to use "yesterday" and "this morning" correctly when talking about things that happened in the past...but she usually mixes them up and says things that happened a long time ago happened "this morning" and things that really happened this morning happened "yesterday" or sometimes even "yesteryear."

She thinks outside the box most of the time, which just astounds us sometimes. She sees things in a totally different way than I do and I love that about her! We have started doing more and more school type activities recently and the way I do things and the way she sees them are usually completely different. She will definitely be my "challenger," but I am excited to try to stay one step ahead of her, if I can :)

Addie's newest obsessions....seeing how many American Flags she can spot when we are driving in the car AND finding the letter "A for Addie" or "L for Lydia" everywhere we go and in anything we read.

I've mentioned before that she is "sing-songy" so I thought I'd share a little example of one of her most recent debuts. Of course she does this several times a day so I had many opportunities to catch her in the act. Pay close attention when she tells me who wrote the song :) Here's my princess:

Little Tiny is just growing way too fast. It's so hard to believe she'll be 1 in a little over 2 months!!! She had a check up last week and she weighs just under 20 pounds and is 30 inches tall! Off the charts for her height...I think we're going to end up with 2 very tall ladies in our household and they didn't get that from me ;)

I have this feeling Lydia's going to be our more adventurous child...she's a little less cautious than Addie has ever been. She's at the "play hard, fall hard" stage where she goes after everything and she will come out with battle wounds if that's what it takes to get what she wants! Her new favorite game is Peek-a-boo, and she will try to hide her face behind just about anything if it gets you to say "where's Lydia?" and "Peek-a-boo!" She's also been quite into imitating whatever we say and do lately. Her newest talent is making animal noises. She's always been highly skilled at making a very good monster noise, but recently she's trying some new sounds. We LOVE hearing her laugh and act like the rest of us (like a goofball!).

See, I told you she was very good at the growling/monster noise!

Big Girl in the Making

2009-07-29T16:22:00.006-05:00

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!

So THIS is 2 AND a half....

2009-07-06T22:09:00.012-05:00

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"

Summer Fun

2009-07-05T14:30:00.006-05:00

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

8 Months Old Already?

2009-06-30T14:40:00.008-05:00

Our sweet baby girl turns 8 months old TODAY! Although sometimes it feels like she's been with us forever, I can't believe Lydia has been a part of our lives for 8 whole months! I guess once babies pass the halfway mark, it just keeps going faster and faster as they approach the giant age of 1 :) I keep trying to remind myself how FAST these little ones grow, but I also can't help it that I'm looking forward to her first birthday already! I see the love my girls have for each other now, I just can't imagine the amount of joy we'll be experiencing when they can run around together and talk to each other (in a language we can understand)!!! Here's a little clip of them being sisters, "bouncing" on the bed together...Lydia's little laugh just cracks us up!

One of the things I love the most about having two girls is the fact that they are SO different! Although they are beginning to look more and more alike physically, I can't help but think about all of the things that are different about their personalities. Lydia is definitely more of a snuggler than Addie ever was as an infant. I knew this about her when she was still in the womb...isn't it funny how mother's can tell things about babies before they are even born!?! Pretty amazing. Another big difference is their sleep habits ;( Which I might add, Addie totally takes the cake in that department! I am starting to think that God made Addie to be able to sleep through a war because He knew who she'd be sharing a room with one day ;) I know I don't have it as bad as some, but that doesn't make pacing the floor in the middle of the night any easier on my eyelids!

Teething has been rather rough for this little girl...and we're only on tooth #2! She's definitely not one to keep quiet about getting a new tooth :) I don't remember Addie handling it this hard, but who knows...I may have chosen to forget.

Miss Lydia has just started to do the army crawl in the last week or so. She especially LOVES going after things she is NOT supposed to have...which I find funny. I love the curiosity of babies! My favorite pose of hers is this one:

Push-up position and spitting all at once :)

She LOVES books...and there's no shortage of those around here!

My favorite part of this little darling is her sensitivity...yes, her sensitivity. Addie has always been Miss Independent and does things pretty much on her own time (she is rather sensitive at times too). I have a feeling that Lydia is going to be the opposite, always needing that extra reassurance before entering a new phase of life. She is SO sweet and sensitive and I can just see that trait when I look into her eyes. I love you, my little Lydia Mae!

A Fish Story

2009-06-18T09:01:00.006-05:00

Thankfully, both of our girls enjoy being outdoors as much as Chris and I do. Last fall, before Lydia was born, Chris and Addie built a swing set in the back yard. It has gotten a LOT of use so far this spring by both girls. Lydia LOVES to swing and sometimes she gets upset with me when I take her out! Addie has learned to share the "baby" swing and she uses the big girl swing most of the time now. She's working very hard on pumping her legs forward and back so she can swing herself. As you can see from both girls, it is all about getting the tongue just right! :)

Addie also LOVES to play in the dirt and help out with the yard work in any way. She recently got her own pink shovel and she helped Chris plant his tomato plants. She definitely doesn't mind getting a little dirty ;)

Saving the best for last, here is the "Fish Story!" Addie has been asking for a princess fishing pole for several weeks now. I caved and bought her one at Wal-mart yesterday. She knows how much her daddy enjoys fishing and she has also learned a lot about fishing by watching episodes of Little Bear (whose father is a fisherman). So last night, despite the horrible heat and humidity, we ventured over to Papaw's lake so Addie could try her hand at fishing.

And of course, my camera lens was fogged up for the first catch (which happened right when they casted, practically). Lucky for me, the lens cleared up just in time to capture her with her 2nd fish. Yes, she actually reeled them both in, with the help of Daddy of course! She was SOOOO excited, to say the least...talking to the fish and everything. She really wanted to hold it, but we didn't think that would go over well for any of the parties involved ;)

Little Sister watching from the sidelines

Waiting for a bite

Touching the "little tiny baby fish"

So happy!

Saying bye to the fish in her sweetest voice :)

11 States in 11 Days!

2009-06-11T14:41:00.009-05:00

That's right....Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin...all in 11 days! Our "Wedding Adventures and More" trip began last Friday at 2:45 a.m. when we jumped in the van and headed west. Our first destination was Altus, Oklahoma to attend my cousin Michal's wedding and visit with family. Some of you may remember reading this blog from last year's trip out to OK for Rebecca's wedding. This time, we decided to leave in the middle of the night with hopes that the girls would sleep a good while and we could get several hours in without stopping. Our plan worked and Chris and I enjoyed watching the sunrise (behind the clouds) and talking while Addie and Lydia remained in dreamland. I think we arrived in Altus around 5 p.m. and the trip was basically uneventful, which is always a good thing.

The wedding and reception on Saturday were beautiful and it was so nice to spend some true quality time with our Oklahoma family. The weather was HOT...around 95 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, but no humidity like we have here at home so that was nice. We stuck around for another night and hung out with the family again on Sunday all day. Addie enjoyed playing with Grace and Abraham (the younger of the 6 cousins). Thanks so much to the "Oklahomas" for welcoming us into your home and feeding us :) We had a GREAT time!!!

We got an early start on Monday morning, preparing for the 7 hour trip to Kansas City, Kansas. Our next destination was the Great Wolf Lodge, which is a resort-like hotel with a huge indoor waterpark. We had heard from friends that this was a great place so we wanted to see for ourselves. There are 12 locations around the US and you can learn more about the Great Wolf Lodge here. Addie wasn't sure about the waterpark at first, but she ended up going down both of the kiddie waterslides (only once each though) and even went on one of the BIG waterslides with Daddy (only once also). She loved the lazy river...which we enjoyed as a family, just floating along without any cares in the world! Lydia even fell asleep one time while we were on it :) We stayed two nights and spent half the day on Wednesday in the waterpark after checking out. This was such a fun "treat" for our family and I'm glad we were able to experience it!

We absolutely LOVED the drive through Kansas...you know most people think it's SO boring because there's just a whole lot of nothing, but this was by far our favorite part of the drive. It's true, it is a whole lot of nothingness, but it's GORGEOUS nothingness and here's why:

After lunch on Wednesday, we piled back into the van and headed north for the Omaha, Nebraska area. Our 3 hour, non-stop drive seemed SOOOOO quick compared to the previous drives. We actually stayed at a hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but it was minutes away from Omaha. Thursday morning, we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha and it was FANTASTIC! We got in for a GREAT price because we're zoo members here in Evansville so it was practically the cheapest and best part of the trip (besides the priceless time spent with family of course!). We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather...it was mid-seventies and sunny and breezy.

I think Addie's favorite part of the whole zoo was being able to pet a goat in the petting zoo part. My absolute favorite part, hands down, was the butterfly exhibit! It was AMAZING to say the least. Addie and I went in by ourselves because we couldn't bring the stoller and Lydia needed a rest anyway. I WISH WISH WISH I would have taken my camera in with me, but I'm glad I was able to enjoy these magnificent creatures with Addie and I will always remember how cool it was. When we came out of the exhibit, they actually had a window where you could stand and watch butterflies actually hatching out of their cacoons! I got to do a little teaching too because there was a foreign man who just had no idea how all of this worked...so that kind of made my day to be able to explain one of God's miracles to him ;) We were all SO tired after our walk around the zoo, but it was so worth every ounce of energy. I would highly recommend this zoo!!!

Friday morning, we hit the road early to make our way to Grand Forks, North Dakota for my cousin Cole's wedding. This was another 7 hour drive, but probably ended up taking us about 9 hours. Let's just get something straight right now...South Dakota is full of even more nothingness than Kansas. And there aren't any places to stop! We managed to find lunch and luckily had enough gas to get us to our destination so that was a blessing. The temperature dropped almost 20 degrees as we headed north so I began worrying about my little ones who were in tank dresses (since it was warm when we left Iowa!). Lucky for us, our hotel was right across the street from Old Navy, Kohl's, and Super Target (which we visited all 3 immediately upon arrival to hunt for warm clothes!).

Cole's wedding and reception was also very nice, although much colder than the wedding we attended only a week prior ;) We all had a great time catching up with family and dancing at the reception. For those of you who don't know me well, I used to spend my summers in Minnesota with my mom's brother Jeff and his family so I got to be pretty close to his in-laws too. It was so wonderful to be able to spend time with everyone. Sunday, we traveled south to Minnesota (doesn't that seem funny to say!?) to Jeff and Jennie's house, where we spent the next two nights before making the long trek home on Tuesday. We are so thankful to the "Minnesotas" for welcoming us into their home and bringing back some of the old memories and making new ones ;) Oh, I almost forgot to mention how COLD it was in Minnesota also. Addie had to borrow a sweatshirt from an in-law cousin (if that makes any sense) so be sure to notice her wonderful outfit in the pictures below!

We didn't get a really early start on Tuesday morning for our 12 hour drive home, but we were really in no hurry to end our vacation. It took us about 14 hours total including stops and both girls were angels. We both feel so blessed to have such good little travelers and making it through this trip with only minor meltdowns here and there just confirmed that we can take them anywhere! Thankfully, Lydia's first tooth is peeking through today (causing major grouchiness) so I'm sure glad that was saved until we got home ;) Now, here we are...trying to get back into routine in the warmth and rain. Until the next trip.....

...we'll be catching up on rest ;)

Mother's Day and a Few "Firsts"

2009-05-15T14:37:00.004-05:00

First of all....a late Happy Mother's Day to all Mamas out there reading this! I love Mother's Day for the specific reason of celebrating my own mother and what a blessing she's been in my life, but it is of course even more special to me now that I am a mommy :)

We were traveling home from Indianapolis on Mother's Day so I didn't get to celebrate with my own mom and grandma until Monday evening. Our church had a "Mothers and Others" dinner that was such an amazing treat for all of us. The ladies who planned this event did a wonderful job of including ALL age groups and I think it was a tie between my grandma and Addie of who had the best time! (They both won lots of door prize goodies :D ) I felt extremely blessed to spend a nice evening with all 4 generations of "ladies" in my family!

Sweet Lydia had her 6 month check up on Monday as well (that's why she's not smiling in the above picture!). She weighed in at 18 pounds and she's grown 3/4 of an inch and is now 27 inches tall....which are both 90% for her age. In the last couple weeks, she has become the cutest rolly polly baby, managing to get herself moved all over the floor! I can see it in her eyes that it won't be long before she's scooting around to get to all her sissy's fun toys :) She is also sitting up by herself for long periods of time. Lydia has changed drastically in the last month and it excites me to no end to watch her learn right before my eyes! She loves to grab EVERYTHING and nothing is out of her reach if she puts her mind to it! I absolutely can't wait for the day she starts crawling and chasing Addie all over the house.

Along with turning 6 months old, baby girl has started eating some yummy veggies. She's been eating rice cereal for a while now, but we added carrots and peas to the menu last week. She seems to prefer carrots over peas for now, but I think she's still getting used to the texture of the peas. I decided to try making baby food this time around and so far, it's going very well and Addie also enjoys trying some of the purees now and then :) My only issue with feeding this child "solids" is the spitting habit she's developed along with it! As soon as I put the tray on the high chair, she begins spitting at me! It's hilarious, but I have to keep from laughing because I'm trying to teach her NOT to do it (as I shield myself from the yumminess spraying all over me!).

"What Mom?"

Enjoying her carrot mess! (This mess was mild compared to some days)

Addie's hair has grown so much (for her) in the last couple months. She got to get her very first haircut on Tuesday this week! It was just a little trim, but it was fun for her to sit up in the big chair. She wasn't sure at first, but after our friend Mikaelah offered her a sucker, she was good to go! She talked about it the rest of the day and was still mentioning "I got a haircut yesterday" at the end of the week!

I love her serious expression here!

Sucker time

Showing off her 1st Haircut Certificate!

And everyone knows what goes perfectly with a new haircut....a pedicure of course! Addie loves her new "painted toes" that match Mommy's. Here I am...not much of a girly girl at all...painting my baby girl's toe nails and enjoying every second! I will leave you with this picture of these cute little toes:

Happy Half Birthday Little One!

2009-04-30T14:36:00.008-05:00

Wow, six months has really flown and I know it sounds so cliche' but I can't remember what life was like before Lydia joined our family! She has grown and changed so much since the day we brought her home from the hospital and I can't even remember that 8 lb. 5 oz. little (but seemed HUGE to us at the time) baby any more. Her laid back personality has thankfully stuck with her and she loves to take in all of her surroundings, especially if that includes her big sissy :) Lydia and Addie love each other so much, it just melts my heart daily.

It took the chubby one a little while to get rolling over mastered, but she has it now and actually enjoys spending time on her tummy playing "airplane" (legs and arms flying off the ground). I keep telling Addie that one of these days Lydia will be crawling around chasing after her...and I can't wait to watch them interacting when they are both mobile :) Recently, Lydia discovered her voice and she sings and babbles on and on, especially when she's sitting at the table with us while we're eating or when she's in the Ergo carrier with me at the store or wherever we may be. I love hearing her "talk" to us in her own little way!

I love you, Lydia Mae, all the way from your blue eyes to your cheeky grin, right down to your dimpled knees and adorable little toesies...and everything in between!!!

Wondering what her sis is up to

Laughing at "you know who"

These will be walking feet oH sO SoOn!

My favorite cheeky grin :)

She's a heart melter, watch out!

This was my favorite pose from Addie's 6 month pics so we had to recreate it!!!

Love that baby girl!

Our Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T15:44:00.013-05:00

I'm going to avoid writing a novel here simply because the pictures alone show the joy we felt this weekend celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Here are just a few of my favorites:

Sweet sisters

They are really this sweet, I promise

Serious Addie :)

I have decided this is my all-time favorite picture of her...it's just simply her, lovey in hand and all!

Proud of her decorated eggs

Checking out the Easter basket filled with goodies, including her 1st Strawberry "Fruitcake" (as she says) movie

Little one LOVES her chick!

A kiss before church

Beautiful baby, chunk and all!

Love, love, love getting my girls outside

Another favorite of this girl

I could not resist this picture of Addie interacting with Papaw Mike's dog, Odie. You see, Odie is a beautiful dog, but he is afraid of EVERYONE except Addie. He loves her and it was so neat to watch them run together on Sunday afternoon.

Camera-Happy!

2009-03-31T14:33:00.002-05:00

I recently got a new camera and I have been especially camera-happy lately...trying to capture every little moment of my precious girls. I am sitting here -inside- on this rainy day, just thinking about how fast life is going...and how fast it's going to continue going the older they get. I dream of the day when my two little birds can fly around the room together, but I certainly don't want to rush either one of them into getting one bit bigger :) Here are just a few of my favorite moments from the past two weeks:

These are the sweetest cheeks in my world!

Lovin' that finger lately!

Enjoying "Mommy's swing"--the non-baby swing

Who could resist this face?

Spring is Here!!!

2009-03-20T16:19:00.008-05:00

Yay for Spring, the most refreshing season! Everything is beginning to bloom around us and the weather is turning warmer, birds are singing, days are longer, and children can run free outside! Happiness all around, if you ask me :)

In celebration of this new season, I thought I'd post a few new pictures of my sweethearts and let you all know what we've been up to.

Addie's "Ace Ventura" hairdo after nap

Piggy tails and dirt digging--it doesn't get much better

Squeezable Sissies

Lydi loving her excersaucer

The "little one" (as Addie calls her) is growing so fast! She is the size of an average 6 month old and is wearing 6-12 month clothes already. We started her on some rice cereal this past week and so far, she enjoys the spoonfuls of milky-mush. I just dug the excersaucer out of the closet the other day and Lydia LOVES it! At first, I wasn't sure if she was old enough for it...but after a few minutes of giggles and obvious entertainment, it's a welcome addition to the many other toys taking up space in our living room ;)

Lydia gave us a few sleepless nights last week, but I think we are back on track now and into a good groove (but that's all I'm saying about that, so we don't jinx it!). I think she was going through a stage where she wanted to be awake ALL the time, even during the night just so she wouldn't miss anything. She's definitely more alert and loves to interact with us. Here is a little clip of her laughing at her silly momma.

Big Sister Addie is also growing to be quite a little girl. Sometimes she says things that just make me laugh until my stomach hurts. One evening this week, the girls and I went to dinner with my parents. Addie was sitting next to Lydia in the booth and she said, "You're getting chubby, aren't ya?" Mom and Dad and I were just tickled by this statement. She definitely mimics us in the most adult-like way. Just this morning, she slung my purse over her shoulder and said, "Bye-bye, I'm going to work, see ya later!" and closed the "door" (moved the kitchen chair) behind her. As usual, she's constantly coming up with cute sayings and I have trouble keeping track of them all, unfortunately. "Okay, then" is another one of her current quotes...you know, it just makes the usual response of "OK" a little more formal ;) So when I ask her to take her dirty clothes to the hamper she responds, "Okay, then" and off she goes, happy and willing.

Addie just loves her baby sister SO much! She enjoys reading books to her, making her laugh by blowing on her belly, singing for her, and even decorating her!

I walked in the living room to see my sweet baby being "decorated" with heart stickers :)

Reading to the little one

SWEETNESS

Precious Lydia

2009-03-05T14:22:00.007-06:00

Another month has flown by quickly and our little baby is 4 months old already. Sweet Lydia is getting so strong and has almost mastered rolling from her back to her belly. She loves to kick her little legs and arch her back, especially during diaper changes. It is so much fun to watch the growing and learning process of a sweet innocent baby all over again. I'm trying not to rush her into growing up, but I'm looking forward to the exciting changes that I know lie ahead. Check out these squeezable cheeks (I do thoroughly enjoy squeezing my "squishy" baby several times a day!)...

She loves her big sissy :)

Nakey girl ;) (She'll love me for this one day)

"A" and "L"

Had to put this one on here too...baby #1 turned into a big girl!

Looking back over these pictures, my girls sure do favor their daddy...maybe one of these days I'll have a child who looks a little like me...but for now, I'm thankful I have a beautiful husband ;)

Sister, Sister

2009-02-20T14:43:00.008-06:00

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

2009-02-20T14:28:00.003-06:00

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!

2009-02-13T14:38:00.005-06:00

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

2009-02-10T10:23:00.007-06:00

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

2009-02-01T13:43:00.005-06:00

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

2009-02-01T13:33:00.004-06:00

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

A Great Ending

2009-01-09T15:25:00.004-06:00

Other than a great visit to the doctor on Monday, our week did not start off so well. Among many other little issues, our old man dog, Joe, started in with doggy diarrhea very (I mean VERY) early morning on Tuesday. It wasn't a fun couple of days, but he visited the vet and I think his medication has kicked in. Addie decided to add to the sleeplessness by getting up very (once again, I mean VERY) early the few mornings when we desperately needed just a few more minutes of sleep. Lydia, well, she's Lydia and just slept through all the chaos and was a little angel.

Thankfully, Thursday was a WONDERFUL day around the house and everything went so well I thought I was dreaming. Addie got to have her first experience with finger painting and it was so much fun!

Trying out blue

Making a sweet little mess :)

Smelling it (and almost tasting, but got caught)

Friday, our friend Josi brought her little girl (who was born the day before Lydia!) over for a visit. We had a great time watching the babies play and staring at them in disbelief that they're just about exactly the same size (little chubbers :) Unfortunately, I forgot to get my camera out to catch these two together, but we know another play date is in our future soon.

My favorite moment of the week happened today at lunch. Addie and I were eating spaghetti and she hopped down for a moment to give Lydia a kiss and call her "sugar plum"...I didn't think anything of it and I looked back at Lydia a few minutes later to see this:

Spaghetti sauce eyebrow!

I wonder who did it!!!

Isn't she innocent??

These are the moments I cherish and hold dear in my heart...sisterly love at it's best!

Winding Down in 2009

2009-01-06T14:17:00.010-06:00

After all the excitement of Christmas and Addie's birthday, it has been very nice to be on a slower paced schedule so far this year. We didn't do much around here to celebrate the New Year, in fact Chris and I both forgot it was even New Year's Eve most of that day. We did our usual routine of putting Addie to bed and we watched a movie (I don't even remember what we watched, how sad!). I am proud to say that we made it to midnight, but that's been kind of a normal thing lately too.

The first full week of January started off by a visit to the girls' pediatrician on Monday morning. I had been anticipating this visit for a while, just to find out how much weight our little chunky monkey had put on and talk with the doctor about some of Addie's not-so-great habits that have developed since Lydia's birth.

Little Miss Lydia Mae weighs a whopping 14 pounds and 2.5 ounces and is 24 1/4 inches long. She is off the charts for her age, to put it nicely. Needless to say, she is a wonderful little eater and we are both doing very well in that department :) She is also a great sleeper and I won't say much more on that subject for fear of jinxing our good streak we have had going for a while ;) We are enjoying getting to know her little personality more and more every day. She responds with smiles and even almost laughs when we talk to her...and she also babbles right back at us in her own language, it's so sweet.

Love those rolls :)

Big sister Addie is tall and skinny, but we knew that already. She weighs almost 26 pounds and is 36 inches tall. We discussed the pacifier issue with our doctor and decided to "leave the nummy with Dr. Cochran so he could give it to a little baby to use." So far (only about a day and a half in), she is falling for it and doing pretty well. Getting down for a nap was tough yesterday and I decided to pull out a different brand of "nummy" that she can use only at nap and bedtime. The next few days may be difficult for all of us, but we figure if she mastered potty training and carried on complete conversations with us before she even turned 2, getting rid of the nummy should be the last big step into two-dom. Wish us luck (and pray hard!).

I walked in the kitchen only to see the cutest little girl in her Little Mermaid panties and apron

Cooking up somethin' good

Lovin on my girls

Happy Birthday Addie!

2008-12-27T22:45:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-26T14:32:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-23T11:45:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-16T22:40:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-11T15:46:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-03T15:05:00.004-06:00

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.

2008-12-03T14:28:00.009-06:00

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!

Thank You Mommy!

2008-11-21T14:44:00.006-06:00

I know how awesome it makes me feel to hear those three little words come out of Addie's mouth when I do something as simple as helping her blow her nose..."Thank You Mommy!"...so I thought I'd take the opportunity to say a big THANK YOU to my Mommy for a change!

I could not have made it through the last 3 weeks without the help of my mama. She stayed with Addie when we were at the hospital (not to mention all the times she watched her when I had doctor and therapy appointments before I had Lydia), and she has been available to watch Addie or Lydia (not yet both at the same time!) when I've needed her to. I have always been a mama's girl and love spending time with my mom and it means so much to me to have my two girls share that time with her as well. Even though our outings are a bit more stressful now with 2 kiddos in tow, we (mom and I, maybe I'm just speaking for myself here) are never afraid of an adventure.

So, THANK YOU MOMMY for all you do for us...we love you!

"Gamma" and her girls

3 Week Check Up

2008-11-20T15:41:00.004-06:00

Lydia had a doctor's appointment this morning to check her weight and see how she's doing in general. I was extremely pleased to find out that she weighs 9 lbs. 4 oz. which means she has gained 13 ounces in a week, wowsa! Despite all of our issues we've had with nursing, she is definitely getting what she needs (which of course makes a mama feel much better!).

Luckily, our doctor had some time to take a look at Addie while we were there and she is "trying" to work on an ear infection, but our hope is that this little cold will go away without it coming to that. She was such a trooper and was SOOOOOO good for the doctor as he checked her out. Anyone who has taken a 12 mo.-24 mo. old to the doctor can probably vouch for me that it's not always pleasant (screaming and crying out of fear of the doc!). Addie was so brave and even got her flu shot...and she didn't even cry!

Here is where I must brag on Addie a bit more. Yesterday she kept her diaper dry all day, letting me know when she had to potty and I was SO proud of her. I figured that since we'd be out and about today, she wouldn't be as successful, but I was wrong. She went potty at the doctor's office for my mom and then when we were at the mall later on, she let me know she had to go and sure enough, her diaper was dry and she went! We haven't really been pushing the potty training issue lately with a new baby in the house, so she is totally doing this on her own! I am guessing she will be our self-teaching daughter since she pretty much handles things on her own...she also weaned herself from nursing with no issues, so we're hoping the potty training will just come as she's ready as well.

Sweet Sisters :)

The Newest Junebug Model

2008-11-18T16:36:00.004-06:00

A few weeks ago when we still didn't know the gender of "bubsis," I was doing some thinking about my motivation for making itty bitty baby clothes for Junebug Creations (boy or girl). I thought if we had a boy, I would be more motivated to start a little boys' line of clothes. I didn't really think of what I would do if we had a girl, other than get really excited to make matching or coordinating clothes for my girls :) Before now, I had never made anything smaller than size 6-12 months because I started making Addie's clothes when she was around 9 months old.

When we were still in the hospital two weeks ago, I was trying to rest while Lydia was sleeping, but couldn't help the brainstorming process of what I would make for her first. The idea of a onesie dress came to me in the middle of the night and I'm so excited to present Lydia's very first Junebug "creation." Of course this one will not fit her for long, the onesie is a newborn size and was a bit snug to begin with. I can't wait to make her Christmas dresses and other little outfits to match the ones I've made for Addie already.