Addison's 3rd Birthday!

Addison had her 3rd birthday party this past weekend and we had all sorts of family in town. It was great to see everyone, especially those from Dallas that made the trip. Addison woke up from her nap to see everyone she knows downstairs ready to shower her with attention. This made her a tad shy at first, but she soon got over that and started smiling and playing. The overall theme of the party was the movie "Cars" by Pixar and Disney, which Addison absolutely loves.



Addison had fun opening the gifts, although she tended to like playing with the tissue paper more than the actual unwrapping. Luckily, Kelly was there to help out.

Addison received many fun gifts and some much needed clothing. My sister gave Addison a "sit and spin" toy that you can see in the pictures below. This was a real hit with Addison right away.
Here is a quick movie of Addison using the Sit and Spin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CysavOjPCZA


Next up at the party was the cake. The cars on top of it doubled as real toys, which was handy since Addison wanted to play with them.
Here is a movie of us singing "Happy Birthday" to her:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5c96cefYX0



After a quick juice recharge in her new chair, Addison was ready to go crazy again. She had a great time driving her new truck through her Grandad and Uncle John's legs.


Overall the party went really well, and Addison was in a great mood. We are hoping to have some more activities outside for Kara's birthday in the summer. We may even make it a combo birthday/pool party!

Leaves, and a Hidden Dog

We have had some warmer days lately, and everyone has been able to hang outside more. Kelly's Dad recently introduced Addison to the art of jumping into piles of leaves in our back yard. Addison has always walked on them to hear them crunch, but this took it to another level. She did have to learn that you can't jump into a small pile where there isn't enough padding the hard way.
While we were outside we heard some weird dog noises coming from the back fence. We thought maybe a dog was behind the fence and didn't think much of it. Kelly and her Dad spotted what appeared to be a dog stuck between our back fence and the stone fence that borders the trees behind our house. There is barely six inches of room between the two fences, however, a dog was indeed stuck there making noises. After prying a few boards loose the dog came running out. It had a tag on it with a vet's number and no address. I though this was rather pointless versus having the owner's name, address, or even phone number on there. Anyway, we figured out it had to be a neighbors dog, and after some searching, returned the dog to the neighbor to the back left of our house. They were repairing their own fence when the dog went through the small opening. Here is a picture of the crazy gal.

Daddy's Helper and Squirming

We'll start this one off with a picture of Addison "helping" me with Kelly's computer desk keyboard tray installation. I told her to get the flashlight and shine it where I needed to put the screws in the desk to hold up the keyboard tray. Instead of doing this, however, she would just shine the light all over and even in her/my face.
Kara has been getting more and more active every day. She loves to roll around on the floor, sometimes running into things like her sister, the coffee table, and also the surround sound receiver. We put down a comforter to prevent and bumps from occurring. Here are a few shots of her squirming and sticking out her tongue. She also does this swimming thing where she lifts up her arms and legs while resting on her tummy. She then flails her arms and legs as if she could just swim along the ground that way.

We also have a few movies of her in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iud6WJJ1yE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f6ZUQC1UZQ

Addison wanted in on the movies for this last one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWle5K2ON6w

Sesame Street Live

Back in February, we had a chance to go to Sesame Street Live with Addison thanks to Aunt Stephanie getting us some free tickets. We even had a "backstage pass" to meet some of the performers before the show. Addison was a bit intimidated by them up close, but absolutely loved them when they were performing. The theme of the show was using your imagination, and they had a postal worker that would read them post cards from different locations. They would then imagine that they were there and the stage would change depending on the location. They imagined they were in the woods with the bears, on a ship, and other locations. They had one that was under the sea where everything glowed too. Addison had a great time and managed to get a few fun items while we were there. We bought her an Elmo balloon and also a flashlight that has lights at the end of it that spin.


Here are two movies from the event as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNdPRszOStU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsloL5-pDqI

Addison Silly

My (Kelly) conversation with Addison last night. Addison, Kara and I were in Kara's room getting her (Kara) ready for bed. Addison is running around like a crazy girl, rocking like a mad woman in the rocking chair, etc.

Addison: Mommy, what is this? (holding a toy)
Mommy: That is a rattle bracelet.
Addison: Oh, a rattle bracelet. Mommy, that is so ridiculous!!
Mommy: Huh??? Did you just say ridiculous?
Addison: Mommy, that is ridiculous.

Mike and I laughed. That was the first time she has said "ridiculous".

Update

Below is a much needed update:

Kara has been doing well. Our little girl has/had a sinus infection. She is still taking antibiotics, but sounds much better. When I took her to the doctor last week they weighed her - 16 pounds 8 ounces. She is our growing little girl. Let's put it this way, Addison weighs 27 pounds now. Addison has always been small. We went to the store this past weekend to by some spring clothes for the girls. Based on Kara's weight, she should be wearing 12 month size clothes and I bought her a few 12 month outfits. We will see how they fit her this weekend and if I need to bring out the bigger sized clothes. She is wearing 6-9months stuff now, but some of the outfits are becoming a tight fit. She is only 7 months old (well, 8 months next week)!!!

Kara is rolling around all over the place and is in love with her big sister. She will reach out to touch Addison. Addison talks to Kara and plays peek-a-boo with her. It is just too cute. Kara has been eating solid foods. She did not like rice cereal or green beans. When we were trying these foods on her I just assumed she wasn't ready for solids yet. However, we decided to buy some of the other veggies and see how that went. SHE LOVES CARROTS!!! Who knew! She pigged out on her first ever jar of carrots and ate the whole thing. To say we were shocked is an under statement. She likes carrots, sweet potatoes and squash. I'm not sure where she gets the love for the last two, since Mike and I do not like them. She is starting to sleep a lot better through the night, however, she still doesn't make it the whole night. Most nights she wakes up just once around 2 am. Kara isn't sitting up on her own just yet. She enjoys sitting in her little support chair on the floor. I'm not pushing her to sit up, since she will sit on her own when she is ready.

Addison is just our silly girl. I can't imagine when Kara is her age and having two silly girls running around playing and telling us their crazy stories. She is doing really well at her Mother's Day Out school. She goes 3 days a week for 5 hours a day. She has learned her ABC's. If you tell her to find the letter "a" she can. To my amazement, she can find most of the letters. Before she started school, we taught her how to count to 10. School has taught them how to count to 20. She has known her colors and basic shapes for a very long time now. I'm biased, but she is a smart little girl.

We've been potty training her and for many weeks (setting an hourly timer for potty time) with little success. She might pee in the potty once a day, if we were lucky. For some reason this week, she has decided to pee every time in the toilet. The light bulb suddenly came on. Some times she will tell us that she has to go pee, and other times you have to ask her. The one thing she doesn't understand is that she has to go poo-poo in the toilet as well. Last night she did that in her diaper. Oh well! I am just glad she is starting to pee in the potty. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Addison got her hair cut...short, a little past her ears. I like it. It took some getting use to at first because her hair had gotten so long, but I really do like the shorter hair on her. Of course it makes her look so much younger.

As some of you may know, Addison will be turning 3 in the next few weeks. Yes, we are having a party for her at the house. Invitations will be in the mail today. I know I know, I'm cutting it a little close. I didn't realize how quickly February has flown by. For privacy purposes, I won't give the date, but if you remember when her birthday is, it will be the Saturday before. Sorry for the short notice.

That is all I have for this update. If I can find the camera one day we might update with some new pictures.

Computer Fun and Booster Chair

Addison loves to use the computer. What is even more amazing is how good she is at it. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised considering who her parent's are. She especially likes to use the paint program and story modes on the playhouse disney website.
Now that she is older, Addison is now using a booster chair when she eats her meals at the table. Kara will be using the high chair soon, so we wanted to transition Addison into something more advanced. She can eat off of her own little tray or at table height with everyone else. She has really liked using it since she can sit with the rest of us.

New Year

Fresh into the new year, we'll start off with a picture of Addison sleeping like her father:
Anyway, Kara has now been using the old circle walker that Addison used. This is the one where the kiddo can orbit a central play center in a circle but not actually go anywhere. We use a towel under Kara to support her better. She enjoys hitting all the same buttons and such that her sister did. As usual, Addison suddenly gets interested in her old toys when Kara is using them.

Day After Christmas

Kelly's mom came down from Dallas and we had our third Christmas unwrapping the day after Christmas. Below you can see some crazy silver pants Kelly's mom got for Addison to match her silver shoes she already had.
Addison also received a set of Mickey Mouse ears from her Uncle Danny and Aunt Marquetta. She did not take to them right away, and got angry when we wore them. We had to ease her into them, since Addison is sometimes fussy about wearing ha
Below is Addison playing with a pretend makeup kit that Kelly's Mom got her. I have declared that she can not use the real thing until she is at least 30.
Kelly's brother John gave Addison a toy school bus that had passengers you can arrange in the seats. It also makes noises when you push down on the driver of the bus. Addison had a great time with it and would push it around in front of her like it was a shopping cart. This was funny to watch since she was really hunched over the whole time.
Kara's gifts were quickly interpreted by Addison as being her gifts. We had to explain the concept of sharing to Addison, which was not popular right away. Most of the time Kara would play with something only to have Addison declare it to be "her toy". Then Kara would find that toy snatched from her hands by Addison. Explaining the sharing concept to Addison helped, although she would still resort back to the "mine" phrase from time to time. This started off with a small keyboard that lit up and played music when you touched it as seen below. This was a gift from Kelly's mom. You can see the "sharing" going on already.

Christmas Part 5(Christmas Day)

This continues the unwrapping session from Christmas day when my parents and sister were over. Yes, it has been a while since I updated. Below we have a shot of me with my new multi-wrench that my parents gave me. I took this of myself if you couldn't tell.
I also received a griddle from my parents, that works really well for cooking a lot of bacon at one time. It also cooks pancakes very quickly.
This little guy below was supposed to be part of a bathtub kit for the girls, however, we ended up having a lot of fun playing with him as a and puppet. This was from my Aunt Mickey and Uncle Hector.
Our girls both love Mickey Mouse, and they received a nice book with some good activities in it. This was also from my Aunt Mickey and Uncle Hector. Kelly is modeling this one for us.