Happy Birthday, Addison Claire!

Addison's Birthday fell on a Grammie and Papa day. She had a fun day doing lots of great things!

She went on a walk enjoying the beautiful weather and some yummy raisins!

She got a balloon from the store then had a Happy Meal for lunch!

Can you tell how happy she is?

Grammie and Papa sang Happy Birthday to her and she blew out her 2 candles!

Yum yum!

Delicious!

Thanks for a fun Birthday, Grammie and Papa!

Time to eat dinner. Addison asked for "noodles" which is spaghetti- she doesn't like sauce- just butter and parm cheese (just like her Mommy as a child).

Slurping a noodle!

Time to open cards and presents!

Addison is yelling "now open cards and presents!"

A new personalized CD and learn to dance DVD from Aunt Patti and Uncle Bill- she'll have fun singing and dancing!

A present from Grammie and Papa!

Look at my new book!

Do you think she likes her new Ariel book from Grammie and Papa?

Elmo pjs!

And Elmo slippers!

Fancy wrapped present from Mommy and Daddy

Her very own vanity! Just like Isabella's!

Putting on her makeup!

Cookie Cake!

Happy Birthday, Addison!

Blow them out!

One more!

Mmmmm good icing

Addison was trying to get Abby to lick some icing off her finger, but Abby isn't too sure and kept running away.

Almost 2!!

We had a fun Saturday watching the Seminoles win! After dinner, Addison enjoyed a popsicle outside with her pumpkin friends. Every time she walks by this big pumpkin, she wraps her arms around it, gives it a big hug and a kiss right on the nose! It's too funny. While eating her popsicle she kept saying "watch me eat popsicle pumpkin". Then she told the pumpkin to lick some popsicle. She makes us laugh so much!

Big licks!

On Sunday morning, headed to church with her purse.
After church, we went to the Brandon Mall to pick up Addison's Halloween costume. We had no idea the door we chose to go in through was where the Merry Go Round was! Addison has only been on a merry go round with me, so she had to have her first ride with Daddy. They both had a fun time on the 2 story merry go round! I love her face in some of these pictures. It was going pretty fast, sorry the pics are kind of blurry!

Did you have fun? "Yes Mommy!!"

After the mall, we went to Grandma Kerry and Grandpa Barry's house to celebrate Aaron's belated Bday with them. Here's Addison helping Aaron open his card and gift.

Cleaning up before going to dinner.

Addison loves chips and spicy salsa!

Tuesday evening after work I was cooking dinner and Addison was cooking in her kitchen. She started talking on her phone to Grammie, then Papa, then Isabella. She was having quite the chatty conversations. By the time I grabbed my camera, she was on to Aunt Amy, then Uncle Chris. She must have been all talked out, because during these two conversations, she was just agreeing! They must have been asking her lots of questions :-) It cracks me up how many times she says "yeah". She must be used to people asking her questions on the phone. If you scroll down and pause the music, you'll hear her better.

Beautiful Saturday Morning

It's amazing that Addison will be 2 years old in 4 short days. She makes us so happy each and every day and we are so proud of the toddler she has become. Her sweet personality has us so thankful.

I realized I haven't given an update of her in a while. So here you go- a short synopsis of what I can think of off the top of my head! She is talking in 4-5 word sentences with a great vocabulary- she is very descriptive when she talks to us- gives us lots of details with "big girl words". She says lots of clever things that make us look at each other and wonder where she came up with that! She often asks us for kisses and hugs for no reason. Even when she's in the middle of playing she'll take a break and run over to ask us for a kiss or hug or both then go back to what she was doing. She knows her colors, most of the letters, how to spell her name, and count to 10 with a little assistance. She gets 1,2,3,8,9,10 but if we tell her 4, then she can usually finish the rest. She has an awesome memory and reminds us of things that happened MONTHS ago. She loves to dance and has moves that are all her own. She is doing well with learning how to go potty on the big girl potty and enjoys earning M&M's for doing so. She is very independent in getting things done and frequently tells me, "no mommy I do it" for many things.

In Gymboree at the mall yesterday, she was directing a 3 yr old girl where she should sit- telling her "you sit orange chair, blue chair mine". She was even telling stories to the girl's grandmother. I could overhear them while I was shopping. The grandmother came up to me and asked me how Addison was so well behaved! You can imagine how happy I felt after hearing that. Of course I had to call Aaron afterwards, along with Grammie and Papa. They have so much influence on Addison's development. Not only do they provide great structure for her, they follow through with our "rules", and give us great ideas whenever we need them.

Addison is learning her manners- says excuse me if you are in her way, in fact, the other day she ran her stroller into the door and said "excuse me door". She uses please and thank you most of the time without reminders. In 2 short years she has learned and changed so much. As each milestone age has gone by, we often find ourselves thinking they just keep getting better and better. Even if Addison decides to venture into the "terrible twos" I think we will still think this age is the best, until we reach the next!

We took advantage of the beautiful weather this morning and went on a bridge walk. Perfectly blue skies, temps in the 70's and a nice breeze made it a perfect morning to walk.

Daddy's girl- Addison said to Daddy "hold hand please Daddy", so of course, Daddy did!

She found an interesting squirrel to talk to. The conversation started out with "Hi Squirrel"...
Then she started directing him where he should go... see her finger? She uses her hands when she talks...hmmm where does she get that from?

Telling us that she wants to go play on the playground. "Playground over there Mommy"

Whee!!! It was so nice because the slides were not hot today!

So excited about the "big blue slide"

"Again Daddy"

My Special Grandpa...

My Dad was notified that Grandpa Lucas is going to be recognized again for all his wonderful service to the youth of our community. Last time he was recognized at a City Commission meeting. Now, the County Commission will recognize him at their meeting where they name the Cal Ripkin baseball park after him. We were told this presentation would be in October then they would have a ceremony to recognize the dedication of the park in February.

Addison and I were driving down Tuttle today when I saw Grandpa's name!!! I was able to grab my camera quickly to take a picture while driving by. What a surprise to see the sign sitting there waiting to be put into place!! Of course we knew about it but had no idea they had already started working on it!! I am looking forward to seeing his name on that sign every time we drive by!

Having Fun

I've been terrible at taking pictures lately. Here are a couple of Addison having fun around the house.

Doctor Addison was "on call" Sunday while we were watching football. She enjoys checking us out to make sure we are healthy. She laughs when we call her Doctor Addison!

Giving Daddy an eye exam. She loves the commercial on TV with the Eye Doctor. She's taken her Great Grandma Lucas to the eye doctor several times... maybe that's what she'll be when she grows up!

Chatting during breakfast on Thursday.

Our little "Dancing Queen"!!