Christmas Vacation

Dave is HOME...no more Syracuse! Let the holidays roll! Dave met us at the ward Christmas party and Addison was squealing she was so excited to see her Daddy. The primary was in charge of organizing the ward party this year. It was a good learning experience and I am glad it is over. I carved my first ham and it wasn't half bad. I was in charge of a little craft for the children and it was a hit! It was a Santa bag puppet with a cotton ball beard. It helped keep some of the chaos down and the kids that fun. We all came home exhausted and Addison had found her second wind during cleanup and starting running around the gym yelling. 

We got up today, and I put the finishing touches on our traditional orange cinnamon. They were yummy and I am sure Addison will like them more as she gets older. She preferred just the oranges:)  Dave opened our 2012 ornament which was a Buffalo Bills snowman. He was thrilled:) Addison was a very careful present opener. She would peel one tiny piece at a time and hand it to you while saying, "Thank you!" Needless to say we opened presents for a long time. Her Grammie and Papa dropped off Christmas when they were here a month ago. Addison got some great church books, a shapes movie and a fun latch puzzle. She insisted that she watch the movie in her "chair" while playing with the puzzle. I made a little play dough mat booklet and Addison loved it! My parents gave us a beautiful Book of Mormon in large print that we will treasure. Thank you Grammie and Papa! We head out in the morning. Let the relaxing begin(once we get past the plane ride...)!

Aquarium

Dave got our family a membership to the Aquarium for Christmas this year! It had to be redeemed before the end of the year and since this was our last free weekend we went. We went last year, but Addison was only about 4 months old and slept most of the time:) This was one of the first outings where Addison wasn't strapped into her stroller the whole time. She is growing up and is now (most of the time) willing to hold your finger and walk. She LOVED the fish! It is a small place, but we were there for a long time. The sea lions weren't doing a show that day so we spent our time with noses pressed against tanks. Dave taught Addison to say, "blub, blub" as the fish swam by. I am looking forward to many more visits to see the fish!!

Early (really early) Christmas

We are down to ONE week for til Dave is done with his "deployment" to Syracuse. It has been a rough 7 weeks I have to admit. Addison seems to notice that her daddy has been gone more. We are very grateful for skype and phone calls. The bewitching hours of 4 until bedtime sometimes got the best of both of us and ended in early bedtimes. We have watched a lot of Frosty the Snowman, broke a few ornaments, ate too many cookies, listened to a lot of Christmas music, taken batteries out of a few noisy toys and eaten a lot of pizza to survive! I am still very happy that Addison takes great naps and usually sleeps in til almost 9(if only I could get to bed earlier).

 I begged Dave to let Addison have her "Santa" gift early (really early!) so that I wouldn't have to watch any Elmo this week to break up the long days. He agreed and we set up shop last night. Good thing Addison is young because I think this thing of celebrating happens way too often around here! We got her out of bed and started video tapping her coming down the stairs. Addison is like me in the mornings...awesome hair, grouchy and just wants to eat breakfast first thing. Her inital reaction to the masterpiece kitchen wasn't what I was hoping for. All the times that she saw it in the basement and would say, "WOW!!!" I wish we had gotten that on video. The kitchen is still a little too tall. I dragged her stool and put it in front. She was a lot happier being able to reach everything. She hasn't figured out just yet what it is, but I have good hopes for it! Merry early (really early) Christmas! We are "celebrating" Saturday morning with traditional orange cinnamon rolls and a few other little gifts for Addi. Then we are off to Cincinnati for a few days and then Idaho for Christmas!

Good Neighbors

We are so lucky to live just around the corner from some good friends from church. They have four kids and Addison adores all of them. When we get in the car or the wagon she says, "Kalei or Kamea!" Juana had parent/teacher conferences so we invited the kids over to decorate cookies. Addison wasn't really interested at first until a bowl of sprinkles landed on the floor and she started to eat them. She had a hard time figuring out why you can't just put the knife with frosting in your mouth. The decorated cookies didn't last long because we kept eating them! We managed to save a few to Dave when he got home. Teo discovered the Whirley Pop and I think we made 3 batches while they watched a Christmas movie. The Quinn's were nice enough to let us drop off Addi the next day so we could go out to dinner and run a few errands solo. Dave picked wings so of course we went to Duff's! We love the Quinn family!

Starting To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

I still didn't win the battle of getting a bigger Christmas tree this year. The tree is about the same height as Addison. Therefore, making it perfect level for little hands to go running off with the decorations (all 6 of them!). We hung out stockings and put out our holiday books. Addison has found a liking to the book that sings, "Joy To The World" over and over. I think I can almost sing all the verses as Addison dances around in circles. Addison gets really giddy and excited whenever she looks at the Nutcrackers. She knows not to touch them, but tries her hardest to get as close to them as possible. I got a new wreath this year and I love it! It has peacock feathers on it (fancy!). Merry early Christmas to me!! We made a few new decorations this year to add to the spirit. Addison helped me make salt dough ornaments. I got out her table and set everything up for her to help. She helped dump the salt and water in and started to stir. I turned my back to grab something in that time she had taken a big mouthful of salt! She started to spit it out and that was pretty much the end of her interest in helping. I had a lot of fun with her watching...from afar and they turned out pretty cute. Christmas cards got mailed and I am officially done with shopping. Now to get packing for our trip in a week! Happy Holidays!

18 Months

Addison is officially in primary! We were a little worried because the morning was a little rough, but she snapped out of it. I am so happy and Dave is a little sad he has to go to Sunday School now:) Dave dropped her off and said that she ran to his leg (which he secretly loved) and whined for a bit. She warmed up and didn't cry! She wouldn't color her picture, but sat in her chair. It makes me feel like I am losing my baby and that she is now a little girl! She played happily with the toys and I'm sure brought home some new germs! Sunday's will be a little less hectic for all of us!

Our Week

Since the weather has been getting colder Addison and I try to keep ourselves busy inside. We have an activity we go do in the morning and then come back for lunch and nap. Then we only have to pass a few hours till Dave gets home! We are on a two week countdown till Dave is done with Syracuse(hopefully for good!) and then we are headed to our families for the holidays! Here is the breakdown that we do during the week:

Monday- We grocery shop and run little errands

Tuesday- Go to the church to exercise with friends(Addison runs around with Will sharing snacks and sippy cups)

Wednesday- Playgroup

Thursday- Library story time (Addison is still adjusting to participating with the group. She mostly runs away from me and tells me, "NO!")

Friday- Open gym which Addison LOVES!  

Addison has added a ton of words to her vocabulary. She repeats everything! However, she has her manors a bit confused. When you are in her way she says, "Sorry!". When you hand her something she says, "Thank you/your welcome!" I have tried to tell her to say excuse me and that you don't say your welcome when someone gives you something. It is so incredibly sweet when she squeaks out these words though. We are teaching her to say, "I love you" and "Miss You". Some of her new words are pencil, nap, turkey, nap, run, tumble and a pile of animal sounds. Our little chatterbox! On a really high note Addison has started (finally) to drink MILK! She started to drink it about two weeks ago and now asks for it. I am one happy Mama!

Thanksgiving 2012

Well, it happened! We were kid free this past week for 4 whole days! My parents took Addison down to Pittsburgh early for Thanksgiving to give Dave and I a "staycation". We wanted to do a whole lot of nothing and that we did! I had a minor melt down as they backed out of the driveway, but I pulled myself together and had a great weekend. We went out to dinner for some friends birthdays (and didn't have to pay a sitter or check my phone the whole time!) to a yummy Thai place. We were extremely late to church since we didn't have Addison to wake us up (and we forgot to set an alarm...oops!). Dave didn't know what to do with himself during Sunday School and I was able to run around like a mad woman in primary! We went to some new people in our ward for a really nice dinner so I didn't even have to cook. I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done and a whole bunch of other errands that are hard to do with the little lady. We skyped with Addison a few times and she didn't even seem to miss us. She called everyone "Mommy"and chased Harley around all weekend. Thank you Grammie and Papa Fajen!

Jenny and Paul hosted Thanksgiving at their house this year. I still have yet to cook a turkey and I am happy about that! Jenny had everything planned out really nicely. I was in charge of the pretzel jello salad that Dave likes to have. Addison didn't appreciate her thanksgiving meal and chose to throw it on the floor. Poor girl was cutting three molars at once! I made everyone play a little thankful game before we ate. Everyone had a box and you had to write something you were thankful about that person and put it in their box. It turned out to be a really nice thing that wasn't too painful for even Dave. We stayed up too late every night playing games, watching tv and doing a giant puzzle. My dad even enjoyed playing the games! Jenny got a babysitter for Addison on day and we went to the new James Bond movie and out to dinner. I was a little nervous, but Addison did just fine:) On the last day we went down to the strip district of downtown Pittsburgh. We rode an old wooden cable car and went in a bunch of fun little shops. I found an amazing spice store that I could of bought one of everything, but settled for some cinnamon.

As this time of year comes and goes I realize how grateful I am for so many things. I feel like I spend a lot of time wanting what I don't have and wishing for different outcomes. When I take a step back and ponder on my life I am truly blessed with an amazing family. I have a beautiful daughter who is so much like my personality it makes me want to cry. She is independent  determined, curious, happy, cranky, a good sleeper, hates veggies, loves fruit and loves her dad the most! Dave is an incredibly hard worker who tries so hard to make Addison and I happy. I often take him for granted, but he means the world to our little family. Being able to spend so much time with my family since we have moved to Buffalo is something that I will treasure. My parents have gotten to be a part of Addison's first year almost every month. This most likely won't ever happen again, but a girl can only hope! I have fun, loving and kind siblings who love me and have been so welcoming to Dave in our family. They each love Addison more than I ever could have hoped and know that she will always have people around her to lift her up. I am also grateful for Dave's family. It is hard to be an in-law sometimes, but they are all very thoughtful  and are great aunt and uncles to Addison as well. Lastly, I am grateful for my Savior. I have a testimony that he heals and hears my prayers and heart. These past few months have been challenging for our family. We continue to be tried with patience and I am thankful that is our only trial. We are so blessed! Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

Santa Is Coming To Town

I got a hair brained idea last year that I wanted to make a play kitchen for Addison. Dave didn't think that I would ever get it done...Well I am proud to say that for Christmas this year Addison is getting a pretty light blue kitchen! I went to a ton of garage sales this Summer looking for a cheap, but sturdy nightstand. I found one in my neighborhood for $15. I spent a lot of nights sanding after Addison went down for bed. It took me a lot longer than I thought it would. It was solid oak and the stain was on there good! My dad took it home with him to cut out the hole for the sink and to add a back to it. He took his laboring job very seriously! He did an amazing job and added some fun touches. He put a touch light over the sink, a chalkboard on the side, a spice rack on the other side and a wire rack in the oven. We set up shop in the basement and started priming. We painted the next day and it was a lot harder to paint than I thought it was going to be! I bought an oil based primer which turned out to be a mistake. I will know for next time:) The best part was putting on all the finishing touches. I found a pig shaped kitchen timer with matching utensils. My dad is a saint and always comes to my crafting aid while Dave is busy. The hardest part will be waiting til Christmas to give it to Addison!