What have we been up to in February and March? Well... as usual, the only thing we ever do... enjoying time with our little girl Addison (who isn't so little any more). She will be two in one more month! Can't believe it! Addison has definitely kept us laughing these past few months. She is certainly developing her personality and her fun sense of humor.
Every day when I am doing my hair and make-up, Ad will come in the bathroom with me and climb up on the counter and sit in the sink. She'll get out all my brushes and put on her make-up too. A while back, I saw her grab something out of my make-up bag and she got down and sat in front of our large sliding mirror. I walked over to see what she was doing and found her tweezing the little "hairs" on her chin with my metal tweezers. (Something she has seen her Mommy do many times!) :) I am still laughing about it. Such a little copy cat.
Addison also did something silly at the Cheesecake Factory a few weeks ago. We got seated at our table and we put Addison into her high-chair. I looked at her and all of a sudden her eyes got very wide as she saw something special sitting on the table. She reached over for a big shiny fork and immediately started running it through her hair. Number one way you can tell your little girl has watched waaaaaay too much "Little Mermaid". I guess she thinks she's Ariel! Most days you can hear her walking around singing like Ariel too.
Addison has also been obsessed with her "dipped" recently and will go open the fridge and get out the ranch dressing and carry it around the house with her. For every meal, she must have her precious dip... whether it's ranch, ketchup, or fry sauce! Oh well... as long as it helps her eat, I'm all for it!
You can also hear her doing her whale sounds from "Finding Nemo" and watch her "helping" Dora and Diego in their TV adventures. If Dora or Diego tell her to climb, or run, or make animal sounds... she will do it and she really thinks she's helping. It is so fun to watch her understanding certain things. Her vocabulary is also getting better... she has been saying "happy", "yummy" and "Cynder" and even said "anemone" the other day while we were at the Aquarium. She is still obsessed with her trains, but lately has been asking to go to the park to go down the slides. Throughout the day she'll come up to me and say "Wheeeeee!" whenever she wants to go to the park.
One of the sweetest things she has been doing is saying her prayers each night. We will get Addison bathed and in her jammies and then right before she has her baba, she will point to either me or Clint to say our family prayers. Then she'll fold her arms and close her eyes. It is so sweet. During the prayer, Addison will also try to repeat words we are saying.... like "Jesus" and "Tess" and "Gamma". It seems like she is really trying to say her own prayers each night too.
Both Clint and I think that when Addison grows up she is going to be some kind of a care-taker or a doctor. She is always taking such good care of her dollies and her dogs. During the day, you'll see her wrapping up her dollies in their blankets and then giving them their babas and she will also give them their "shots" and listen to their hearts with her stethoscope. Addison will also put on the dogs collars each morning and is always wanting to give the dogs treats and feed them their food. And the other day, Addison came to me with a nail file and grabbed one of my hands and started filing my nails. She is always wanting to take care of others. In fact, my Mom had a knee replacement surgery 4 weeks ago, and ever since then, every day Addison will look at me with a very concerned look and say "Gamma..... Knee".... because she is wanting to know how Gamma is doing. She feels sympathy for her Gamma and is always concerned about how Gamma's knee is doing. She is so thoughtful and such a good care taker.
Over the last few days, Addison has also been making up songs about her dog Tess. I think this dog has become Addison's very best friend. She made up a song that goes "Hi Tess, Hi Tess, A Da Da Da." And yesterday she was singing "Hi Tess Tess" "Hi Tess Tess" over and over again. She has specific tunes that she uses for each song. They are so cute... and I really need to get them on video!
As for me and Clint! We had our 9th Wedding Anniversary on March 16th! Clint got off work early and the three of us drove out to Haggermann's Bakehouse for Sandwiches, Tomato Soup and Butterscotch cookies. Then, we came home and put Addison to bed and our good friend Annie came to watch Ad while we went to see "The Blindside". It was a great movie and it was awesome to have Clint all to myself for a few hours. Thanks Anno! Here's to the best 9 years ever!
I have been really proud of Clint these past 2 months. He has lost almost 20 pounds! He has been running and biking and cutting calories... and now his pants are hanging off of him! Soon he'll have to get a whole new wardrobe! He is just a few weeks away from his 1/2 marathon!
Today it is March 31st, and it is snowing outside. I for one am so tired of winter and I desperately want Spring to be here. I want to go to the Zoo and the park and swimming and to be able to walk our dogs outside in the warm weather. Spring... please come soon!
Here are some pictures from the last few months:
The whole gang in San Antonio for Crown Council's 15th Annual Event! The hotel was gorgeous and the food was so good... and the Event program was amazing! Everyone did an awesome job, especially Stuart who created all the video for the event. Oh Crown... how I miss you!
Dr. Woody received his "Lifetime Qualified Member" Award at the Event. This means he has completed all the requirements to be a Qualified Member for five years in a row. Good job Woody!
Kristin, Marianne, me and Ad right before dinner!
Uncle Steve and The Gregor! My incredible Dad works his butt off and not only keeps the Crown Council running... but he comes up with new and creative ideas, raises millions of dollars for Smiles for Life, plans the Annual Event, takes care of his house and yard, spends lots of time with his family, and somehow finds time to be a bishop of a singles ward. Gregor, you are an inspiration to us all! You are superman!
Every time Addison goes to Gampa's office, he gives her a huge bag of change. So, we decided for Valentine's Day, we would get Addison a piggy bank for all her money. She is already rich. I swear that bank probably has at least $50.00 in it already!
Not the best of pictures... my camera was having issues on Valentine's Day morning. But, anyway, Addison received a piggy bank and some fun new cars for her train table.
Daddy and Ad on Valentine's Day at Gamma and Gampa's house.
Addison made special valentines for everyone in the family and we also gave chocolate covered strawberries from Zupas. Yummy! Gamma and Gampa gave Addison the book "You Are Special" and lots of candy, and a sweet pink Hello Kitty shirt. Stu and Kristin gave us hand made cookies... and um... I ate all of them myself. (which is why Clint has lost 20 pounds, and I have lost a whopping 3 pounds.)
Cute girlies with Gamma and Gampa.
CANDY!!!
On Valentine's Day morning, we all went to the Discovery Museum together.
Ava picking out her groceries.
We found this hat, bandana and train whistle at Toys R Us and couldn't pass it up. I took these pictures in the morning, and they are all so cute, I couldn't choose which one to post. So, I will post all of them! Look how sweet Ad's "morning hair" is. So beautiful...
Tessy Dog! She is getting so big! She is 6 months old! She pals around with Cynder Dog all day and likes to chew and destroy everything in the house. She is such a smart dog, and gets bored very quickly. We have to constantly keep her entertained! We have been taking the dogs to Crestview Elementary School recently and letting them run wild. I have been very surprised as to how good they are when we take them there. They stay right by us and come when they are called. Tess can also keep up with Cynder when she is running too! She is fast!
Sweet Girl all ready for Church and Nursery in her Persnickety outfit Gamma and Gampa gave her for Christmas.
First trip to the Zoo after a long winter! It was actually a pretty bogus visit... the train was closed, carousel closed, and a lot of the animals weren't out yet, but it was still so much fun to be there again and to let our girlies run around. (Although they didn't do too much running this time, as you can see, both of them have on their leashes!) On this visit, we got to see the baby giraffe for the last time. We are very sad that he died and quite mad at the zoo for letting it happen. We will miss you little Raffe!
One afternoon while I was gone, Clint got Addison up from her nap and did her hair. I told Clint I didn't like it because it made her look like such a big girl! I don't want this baby to grow up! Look how sweet...
Poor Gamma after her knee replacement surgery! Ad has been very concerned about her Gamma!
My Mom being silly with Theodore the Chipmunk. I think she is going crazy at home after surgery! It's been a long four weeks for her. She fell twice in the hospital and bruised her tailbone, which has made her recovery very painful and crappy. Not only does she have to worry about her knee, but she is dealing with a lot of pain in her back. She finally started driving by herself the other day, and although she thinks things are going slow... we all think she is doing very well considering her surgery was just a few weeks ago.
Getting a manicure from Daddy while watching a cool video on the computer. Good thing Daddy is very good at dealing with small, detailed things.
Oh yeah! Disney on Ice at Energy Solutions! Just getting of the car... and Ad is excited to see Ariel!
Look at this sweet girl. There is honestly no way she could be any cuter. I love how she is posing in this pic...
Waiting patiently before the show. I don't think I have ever seen Addison sit so still. She just sat in her chair with her arms in her lap as quiet as could be, waiting for the show to start!
Still waiting patiently! Getting excited! She is wearing a special silky princess dress that Gamma and Gampa bought her at The Disney Store in San Antonio.
It wouldn't be Disney without a $14.00 snowcone! Ava got one, so of course, Addison had to have one too:)
Eatin' Kettle Corn and watching Ariel.
I can't tell you how awesome it is to have Stu and Kristin just 30 seconds up the street from us. We see Kristin and Ava almost every day, and it has been a blessing to be able to raise these girlies together. It was fun to be there with them.
Taking a breather at intermission. What an angel...
Here is a picture of all of us... the biggest suckers in the world who showed up to support the most evil corporation on earth. But, it sure was fun!
Time to go home and have dinner, a warm bath and a cold baba and call it a night!
Gampa is home bearing gifts from the Dominican Republic! We missed him! Gregor spent 10 days on a dental humanitarian trip serving the people of the Dominican Republic. He mostly served in the North East corner of the Dominican in a city called Samana. He said it was absolutely the poorest of the poor, and was happy Smiles for Hope had picked that area to serve. Dad brought back shirts, hats, key chains, bags, necklaces, and scarves. It seemed like he was gone forever and we are very glad to have him home! We had fun listening to his stories about power outages and buses running out of gas!
Here is Addison at our most favorite park on 4500 South. She can play on this playground all by herself without any help. And just look at that view of Mt. Olympus. I have grown up looking at that majestic mountain for 33 years and as lame as this sounds, it is my rock. I love that mountain. Looking at it means I'm home.
Big girl climbing all the way up to the top and sliding down the slide by herself.
Our three ring circus! Yes, we took all three dogs to the park, and you should have seen me and Kristin trying to juggle all of them at once. I'm sure we looked like two idiots trying to keep their leashes from getting tangled and trying to keep them from smelling each others butts. Oh Fergie Dog, Tessy Dog, and Cynder Dog!
One last picture... of Addison getting her nails painted by Lisha at Salon of Italy. Since Gamma couldn't drive after her knee surgery, we took her to her nail appointment each week. Addison would walk in the salon, pull up the chair and promptly put her hands up for Lisha to paint her nails. She would pick out the color all by herself. She is going to be a girly girl just like her Mommy!
Today as I wrote this post, I had somewhat of an "apifory" as Michael Scott would say:) I wrote this post as I was sitting in my warm home with clean running water and power. I wrote this post while my angel was asleep in her soft comfy bed. I wrote this post while my pets were sitting next to me on the floor and while my husband was at his job. I wrote this post while a sweet girl was diligently cleaning my entire house. This girl who cleaned my house today is from Moldova, a country that is next to Ukraine. She rode 1 1/2 hours on the bus to get to my house, slaved for 8 hours straight to spring clean my house, and then told me she charged $10 per hour. I gave her $20 per hour and spent the entire afternoon and evening thinking about how blessed I am. We have no major illnesses, my husband has a job, I have a beautiful home, I am surrounded by family and friends. I spent the day playing with Addison, shopping, going out to eat and dinking on the computer... while there are millions of people on this earth who are fighting battles. I can't believe the great life we live. I do not take it for granted. I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the things I have. I hate it when people complain about things like healthcare and taxes. I have spent time in a 3rd world country where there is no clean water, no transportation, no healthcare, no immunizations, no power, no food, no jobs, and no hope. We don't realize how great we have it here. So today, I am feeling extremely blessed for the life and opportunties my Heavenly Father has given me. I only hope I can always remember to be positive, to not be a complainer, and to give back as much as I can to other people in need.
