end of 2010 update

My, my, she is really growing up so fast! We've had quite a whirlwind since I've last posted and I don't even really know what to say to catch you up on her latest antics, but here goes!



She wanted to wear these party hats and be a cat.



Sayings of note...

1. "I don't care, whatever" - in response to practically any question you ask...so they say that the toddler years are a lot like the teenage years...I believe it, she already talks like one!

2. "Thanks everyone, have a good night" - she says this when she's done singing one of her favorite country songs. I think she's watched too many award shows this fall.

3. "Daddy is Flynn Rider and Mommy is Rapunzel and I am Rapunzel" - she saw Disney's Tangled movie in the theatre (her first real movie) and LOVED it!
4. Why? as typical, this comes repeatedly after pretty much anything you say...

Newest favorite songs:

1. "Mine" by Taylor Swift - this is the only song she thinks Taylor "Shwift" sings. When we play the rest of the songs on the cd, she wants Taylor "Shwift" again
2. "Turn on the radio" by Reba (a.k.a. "Ruba"). She will actually beg to watch CMT rather than Disney Channel at times...she's quite the performer!

She surprises me so much with what she says on a daily basis. She is hilarious and smart! Like yesterday, she said she wanted to go see "Ruba" (Reba). She asked Nanda if she could sit on Ruba's lap and Nanda said "I don't think so" and Addison said, "why not, she has knees like Santa?!" Hilarious, the way she reasons things out in her sweet little head!

Speaking of Santa, she was NOT interested in sitting on his lap and getting her picture made this year. She liked to see him and wave from a distance, but wasn't interested in getting anywhere near his lap. So, this is the closest we got to a picture with Santa!

I am amazed at her ability to recall things that she's only heard a couple of times. She's just starting to "watch" full length movies like Finding Nemo, Toy Story, etc. and she will repeat phrases and songs off of these movies after only "watching" them a couple of times! (I say "watching" because she's usually playing and not completely paying attention to the movie). The same thing with songs she hears on the radio, TV, etc. She was so cute during Christmastime when we were listening to the all-Christmas music station...when they would do their little station jingle, "K104.7", she would sing along with it!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas. What a wonderful time to think about how blessed we are with health, family, and friends. We are so thankful for the time God gives us to cherish these blessings.

I figured out this Christmas that it's a blast to buy things for your kids that you enjoy too! Addison got a little portable karaoke thing that you can plug an iPod into and she loves singing along with her favorite country songs. She also got a drum that will do the same thing - I think Daddy's had more fun with that so far!

Her big gift was a playset that Santa's "elves" put together in the backyard - what a struggle that was for the "elves," but definitely worth it. On our "Christmas morning" (we celebrated before traveling for the actual day), she was playing on it and said, "Mommy, I love this playset so much! We are not going back inside!". She loves the "shwide" (slide) and "shwing" (swing) best!

Giving big brother AJ his Christmas present

Leaving cookies & milk for Santa!

"Nemo" & "Dorey" fish bowl

Addison & her new Jessie doll Santa left in her stocking!

Our new Mickey & Minnie Christmas decoration in the yard. She LOVES her Minnie Mouse!

Checking out our new nativity set in the yard

Ready for the last day of school!

Yummy, yummy sugar!



She wanted "crazy hair" like Cindy Lou on the Grinch movie. Haha

Special times with special people

Addison has many very special people in her life. Here are a few pictures of recent special moments with just a few of those special people....

Why is this so special, you ask? AJ rarely gets to come inside and stay, so Addison and I were enjoying his inside company and she took a minute to pose with her beloved "big brother"

This one is special because Mimi sometimes has a hard time competing with Papa....see below

Self-explanatory...look at how she adores him

Precious!

Giving some sweet sugar

"Holding" her second cousin Emily

Playing on the trampoline with Mommy

This was my first french-braid attempt...not bad!

Playing at the park with Mommy on her day off. This is special because we rarely get to spend time together like this because we are always so busy going somewhere, doing something.
This is also "special" because uknowingly at the time, while we were playing on this playground, a pot of chicken was at home, burning on my stove. Thank God it didn't catch fire!

This was for a show-and-tell day at school. She took her Minnie and dressed as Minnie too!

This is her first time swimming by herself with swimmies! We tried to get her to wear them in the pool in Orlando, but she said they hurt her arm and pitched a fit. Thankfully she let me try them again when we went to my end-of-season church softball banquet. She had fun with her "shwimmies"

This is just her being cute before she goes to school one morning. She looked so grown-up to me that day in her little miniskirt!

Just cute!

Making a fashion statement with these headbands!

This is special because this is her "Pweacher Jewwy" that she loves so much! She went to "make him feel better" after his surgery.

This is "Miss Gail", whom Addison also loves very much

This is Princess Addison, wearing Nanda's crown from her office, where she is apparently Queen Wanda

Addi and her cousins

This is Addison with Ma at a very special Ninety Six High Football game. This is the night that they dedicated the sideline to"Pop" (her great-grandfather who died last year) for his 43 years of service on the chain crew for the team.

Cheering for those Ninety Six Wildcats with her face paint

This is her great-grandma who is currently recovering from surgery and undergoing chemotherapy. Please keep her in your prayers.

Thanks to all of you for sharing in these special times in our lives with this special little girl!

Playing catch up...

So it's almost been THREE MONTHS since my last post...not because there's nothing to tell, but I've been too busy to tell it! Let me see what I can catch you up on...

First and foremost, Addison is almost 100% potty trained!! Back around the first week of September she really started doing well and graduated from Pull-ups to big girl panties (during the day) sometime mid-September. She still has occasional accidents (mostly when she's too busy to stop what she's doing), but overall is doing very well. We are very excited that we don't have to buy Pull-ups or diapers anymore! One of the hardest things to overcome for her was using a public restroom, but she has conquered that like a champ! Thanks to cute and convenient travel fold up potty seats and covers, we've successfully mastered the public toilet! As a matter of fact, often she becomes obsessed with going to the potty when we are in public and I end up taking her repeatedly while we are out. I never imagined potty training could be so rewarding...and interesting. On a few occasions when we've been traveling, we've pulled out the froggy potty and let her go on the side of the road or in the car...those were definitely fun times. There were other interesting times that weren't quite so amusing, but I'll spare you the details of those.

Here she is proudly holding her Elmo big girl panties that she will be taking to school that day as a back-up

Hilarious things that Addison says: (Almost anything she says is cute, mostly because of the way she says it. She can't pronounce "L" or "R" (they both sound like "W") and she has a lisp when she pronounces "S")

1. Are you SERIOUS?! and Are you KIDDING ME?! These are fun and she will catch you off guard by throwing these out at the most random moments. She and I have a conversation that doesn't make any sense but is funny when we're riding in the car or need some entertainment. It probably won't seem that funny to you, but here goes anyway...
        Addi: Three hundred dollars
        Me: Three hundred dollars??!!
        Addi: Yes
        Me: Are you serious??
        Addi: Yes
        Me: That's a LOT of money!
   (Repeat from the beginning at least 5 times)

2. She likes to pray before her meals, before bedtime, and we've also starting saying a prayer on the way to school. Last week, as I was driving her to school, I asked her what she would like to thank God for and as usual, she said "Pizza!" so after thanking God for pizza, I started thanking him for family, friends, school, etc. and Addison started saying her own prayer, which was adapted from her nighttime prayer: "Thank you for this beautiful day. Thank you for my family and friends, keep me safe once again. Amen." I told her that was a beautiful prayer and she said "Shh, Mommy, don't talk." (Bossy, huh?) So I got quiet and she said her prayer again and this time, when she ended, I didn't say a word. After about a minute, she said, "Mommy, say Good Job Addison" so I did and she said, "Shh, Mommy don't talk!" I laughed so hard at that.

3. The other day, I was reading her numbers book to her and when I started counting, she said "No Mommy, do it in Spanish!" I looked at her in shock and told her I didn't know how to count in Spanish. So she promptly demonstrated in her Southern drawl "Uno, Dose, Trace, Quattro, Sink-o, Saese, Sietay, Ocho". I just about died! She's a little smarty pants!

4. She taught me a new song that she learned at school called "Days of the Week" it's cute to hear her southern self sing this song, while she points to the air (I assume her teacher points to each day on the wall, so she imitates). It's to the tune of the Addams Family theme song...Days of the Week (clap, clap), days of the week (clap, clap), days of the week, days of the week, days of the week (clap, clap). Dere's Sunday and dere's Monday, dere's Tuesday and dere's Wednesday, dere's Tursday and dere's Fwiday, and den it's Saturday." (start over)

5. Yes, I did! - when you ask her if she did something, she'll respond emphatically with this phrase (and her cute lisp)


Addison's favorite songs that she likes to sing and knows EVERY word:
1. American Honey and other Lady A favorites
2. Farmer's Daughter
3. Stuck Like Glue
4. You Make Me Smile
Actually, she knows almost every single song on country radio, which is disturbing at times. Can you imagine seeing/hearing a 2 and 1/2 year old singing her heart out to "Crazy Town" while she's dancing and holding her microphone??

Other favorite things:
TINKERBELL - she is absolutely obsessed with Tinkerbell. She has the Great Fairy Rescue movie and watches it constantly and quotes it throughout the day. She even talks in a New Zealand accent like the girl in the movie. She was Tinkerbell for Halloween and walked around saying "Mommy, I Tinkerbell!!" the whole time
CANDY - she's obsessed with candy and marshmallows, which probably had a lot to do with our success in potty training
CARROTS and RANCH - this is about the only vegetable I can get in her so I give it to her almost every single day
DORA the EXPLORER - the MOST annoying show ever

Addison had a fun-filled Halloween. She had a party at her GrandNanda and Pippy's house on Saturday night and went trick-or-treating at home on Sunday night. She enjoyed going around and getting candy from the neighbors, but I think she mostly enjoyed when we came home and she got to give out candy to the other trick-or-treaters. It was a blast!

Other great pics since I last posted:



Nanda and Pippy came to visit and we went to Black's Peach Farm in York