Back to normal...

Now that John is here, life is back to normal! It's been great having him home again. Not too much going on around here...doctor appointments, Speech for Addi, closing on our house after refinancing, running errands, etc. Tomorrow, John and I will be going to celebrate a late Father's Day at Ross Bridge. Mom is spending the night with Addison (thank you, Mom!!!!!). Addison is very excited to have a night with her Gigi! We look forward to eating at one of our favorite restaurants, Brock's! We might even go to a movie....

Here are 2 videos taken a week or so ago. Enjoy! (I'll have to post the others another day since they take so long to upload).

Addison loves giving Anders treats.

After children, grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren, Memommy is still the world's best story teller. Addison loves to climb up in Memommy's lap and hear her read, just as I once did!

Tonight is the night...

Well, tonight is the night that I get to go pick up John from the airport. I'm so excited! I haven't had a chance to update the blog in a few days so here goes...

Wednesday: Addison and I had a nice day at home! We watered the garden and ate strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries while we watered. (Actually, she ate... I watered). Then, we played in her little pool. It was fun just being at home together.

Thursday: We went to the pool with Ashley (Addison's 2nd mom who has kept her since she was 3 months old) and her kids (Mary Kyle, Connor, and Jeppa). We had a wonderful time, and Addi was worn out when we got in the car.

Friday: another relaxing morning at home. We read books and played in her sand and water table. At 2:00, Addi had a hearing test at the Hear Center. She did well for the first 30 minutes but then really started losing interest. So, we'll have to try it again in a month. The audiologist did say that she's pretty sure that Addi's hearing in her right ear is "normal." We thank the Lord for that! Tonight, I get to pick up John at 11:00 or so at the airport. Mary and David (John's parents) are going to spend the night and stay with Addi while I'm gone. Addison's asleep now, but she sure enjoyed reading books with her Grandma and Paw Paw. She's into "story telling" right now. She loves to help me tell the story of the Three Little Pigs. She especially loves the violent parts and yells "house down!" after the part about huffing and puffing. She loves to mix up her stories and will throw in a "not I, goose" (from the Little Red Hen) in the middle of the story. She also enjoys helping me do the "Hickory Dickory Dock" rhyme. She is too funny! This morning (I was dying my gray hair), Addison saw my pink "turbin" and said she wanted one, too. I found another turby twist turbin and put it on her head. She loved it and kept smiling at herself in the mirror. I took some pictures using the timer.

Addi and Mary Kyle - best buddies!

Ashley, Mary Kyle, Connor, and Addi playing in the baby pool

Addison kept taking Ashley's strawberries, though she had her own!

picnic at the pool

Addi kept saying she looked "glamorous"

Is this hysterical, or what?!

Addi and Mommy in our turbo twist turbins

one of Addi's favorite books- Goodnight Gorilla

another favorite book- Silly Sally

A fun day at Eme's...

Julie and I decided that today would be a good day to take the girls' picture that we plan to put on their birthday invitation. Bless their hearts (and ours). Our photo shoot started inside. Julie pulled out all of the tricks! The theme is "jumping into their 2nd year" I guess you'd say. So, first, we tried getting a picture of them jumping on a mini-trampoline. That didn't work so well since Addi doesn't know how to jump yet and neither girl would "ham it up" and smile. Next, Julie blew up the huge "jumpy." Emerson bounced like a maniac, and Addi would have nothing to do with it and held onto me for life. Then, we moved the mini-tramp outside, which was fine but HOT! Eventually, we moved the girls back inside, and by this time, Ashley and Griffin had arrived for the play date. Ashley, Julie, and I tried dancing, jumping, and acting oh, so goofy, but never got many smiles from both girls at the same time. Sweet Griffin played and tried to help the girls "smile" through the whole event. Then, we headed outside for water day, but again, the heat was just draining- even with water, overhead cover, and a fan. The kids had a good time but didn't seem to want to stay out very long. It was a lot of fun despite the picture glitches. I still haven't quite gotten the hang of uploading my pictures in reverse to get them in the correct order on the blog, so these are all out of order. I'm learning- slowly but surely.

John, I have to tell you just how much we are missing you and look forward to having you come home (and not for the reason that follows)! I've always known that you do A LOT around here, but don't know that I could truly appreciate all that you do until now. I'm pretty worn out! We love you and can't wait to see you!

I've also decided that "the terrible twos" start before age two. Today has been so much better than yesterday. Yesterday, Addi and I had a busy day. By the end, she'd bitten me twice, had multiple time-outs and spankings, and almost/had her mommy in tears. Not one of our best days together. I guess some days are like that.

water day play date

fun in the Elmo sprinkler

tired after a full morning of activities

trying to entice the girls to smile (with jewelry)

boy, was it HOT!

are we jumping yet?

sweet girls!

A relaxing Saturday...

Today was nice! Addison awoke at 5:20 (that part wasn't so nice). Around 7:30, we took Anders for a walk (it was already really HOT!). Then we ate breakfast and headed to Walmart. When we got home, Addison and Anders swam in their pools until Anders decided to make a run for it, and Addison and I had to grab the stroller and run down the street after her. Anyway, John is enjoying his time in Boston. The one thing he wanted to do while he was there was see a Red Sox game. What a blessing it was when an after-dinner-guest-speaker cancelled which left John and 2 of his new friends time to hit the game! Even though the Sox lost, he said they had a great time! John set up our computers and video camera so that we could Skype. We are able to see each other while we talk via computer, which is lots of fun! Addi kept trying to give him kisses and feed him papers clips through the screen. Too cute!

Happy Father's Day (tomorrow) to John, Paw Paw, Randy, Tucker, and all of the other dads out there.

These are some pictures we took a few weeks ago at the zoo with John's family.

Dartmouth and Addi relaxing in the wagon

Fun in the water

Here is a video of Addi and John's dad ("Paw Paw") taken a few months ago.

This video cracks me up! John styled her hair this way. Can't you tell how thrilled she is?

Addi, Eme, and Weston had a lot of fun dancing for our family.

I think I'm finally caught up with pictures and videos, so maybe next time I'll have some new pictures (from that day, or at least that week) to post.

Already lonely...

This is one of my favorite videos of Addison dancing. It was taken on Valentine's morning. Our plan was to send it to everyone that day, but as you can see, it never happened. So, happy late Valentine's Day!

Well, John left for Boston today to begin his PhD program, and I am lonely already. He will be gone for 8 days. It is, by far, the longest amount of time we've ever spent apart. I hope that he really enjoys his time there, and that it gets him even more excited about the program. I guess, on a positive note, maybe I'll spend the time after Addi goes to bed perfecting my blogging skills. My goal is to get some videos uploaded. I've been teaching summer school this week (5th grade math! Scary!) on top of having laryngitis, so I must say that I'm looking forward to tomorrow (FRIDAY)! Addison, Anders, and I plan on having lots of "girl time" this weekend and next week. We sure will miss John, though (especially on Father's Day). Here are some funny things that Addison said today:

(in the bath tub)

"No soap!"

No, there's not any soap.

"need soap"

"Mommy get some."

I'm not sure where any is?! (trying to make her forget about getting my bar of soap)

"find some"

*I thought that was hysterical!

(on the changing table)(Sorry- it's a little gross, but too cute! It's neat having actual conversations now!)

"poo-poo"

Yes, you have a poo-poo, and Mommy's going to change it.

"poo-poo in potty"

Yes, you need to learn to poo-poo in the potty.

"no floor"

That's right, you don't poo-poo on the floor. (She poo-pooed on the floor yesterday, so we had to have a talk about that. At least she listened!)

"no pool"

Yes, you don't poo-poo in the pool. (Thankfully, she's never done that, but she sure does talk about it.)

This is a cute video of Addison being entertained by her cousins, Dartmouth and Jett. I just love to hear her sweet laugh!

Catch up time!

I'm playing catch-up again! Here are some pictures from the last, oh, few months.

fun at the zoo!

first pig tails

Addi's and Anders' first snow!

Will we ever get them to come back inside?

Addi and "Uncle Bryan"

more fun at the zoo

marshmallow roast

sharing a marshmallow with Aunt Laura

Easter pictures

four generations!

pictures with cousins

Easter egg hunt with Jordan

Addi loves her grandpa!

Grandma brought Addi some bubbles.

feeding a baby goat

Weston's birthday!

kisses from the birthday boy

telling the bottles "bye-bye"

potty time!

Addi loves her new potty!

Don't I look glamorous?

Summer is here!

Here are some pictures from our trip to Destin. Scroll down below the pictures to read about our trip.

John bought plastic bugs for all of the kids.

Braden and Randy catch some fish!

Addi enjoys the sunset at the beach.

The kids listen to a band at Baytowne.

family photo

Gigi's sweet grandchildren

Braden is a super reader! Addi loves to hear him read.

Hey! How'd you get in there? Can I come, too?

our baby-crazy daughter befriending babies at the playground

Weston's new "do"

fun on the carousel (no smiles, though!)

Addison's first fish

more smile-less fun on the train

Braden and John build a sand shark

Addi loved dropping sand in buckets of water.

can't go to the beach without taking our pool

Gigi and the kids explore a bug on the balcony

Okay...summer is finally here! Maybe I can improve at "blogging." You'd think with Julie as my sister, I'd be a pro. Anyway, here's how the end of our school year went...The day the kids left for summer vacation, we had to take John to the hospital and found out that he had viral meningitis. After a week or so of viral meningitis, 3 trips to the hospital (1 via ambulance), and a blood patch John returned to "life" and wellness! Thank you, God! Emotionally exhausted (speaking for myself) we headed to Destin with the family and couldn't have had a more fabulous (and relaxing) time. Addison loved spending time with Gigi, her cousins, and her aunts and uncles. She was much happier in the sand this year, and really enjoyed swimming in the pool. She let us put her head under the water and didn't mind it one bit! She caught her first fish, with the help of her daddy and uncle Randy, and had a great time "petting" it. Some of her other favorite activities included: riding the airplanes, train, and carousel at "the Track," feeding the fish and turtles, reading books with Braden, "cooking" with cups and shovels in the pool, eating ice on our walks to the beach, and playing in the huge beach house. Addi's new experiences led to new vocabulary! She is really beginning to express herself with words. When we would leave the beach each day, she'd say "fun." One funny thing she said was, "Wait, Eme...Comin'!" She was trying to tell Emerson to wait on her b/c she was coming. It was a vacation we'll never forget, and one in which we continually thanked God for good health!