A Little Bit of This and That...

Not a whole lot has gone on this past week. I finished doing the primary binders for next year and am almost finished with all the little things I need to do. Avery is still a difficult and random sleeper. Some nights she goes down at 10:30 and will sleep through the night and others she cries all night long. I'm slowing getting used to just being tired all the time. Her smiles still melt my heart and she is pretty content during the day if I am holding her or if she is in her swing. Addi woke up on Saturday and decided she wanted to pee on the potty. I was not really wanting to commit to this again, but she is actually doing really well. We have had a few accidents, but she loves going and even will do her number twos on there! The only downer is that she insists on removing every single article of clothing to do it. Needless to say she has been wearing only sock and underwear this week:) Addison loves to wash dishes while I am cleaning or making dinner. It turns into a giant water mess, but she loves it. I just can't wait til she is old enough to do some real dirty dishes! Dave is squeezing in going to the school to study now, but can be home when I need him. I love it! I was able to go out to brunch with some girl friends today and go kid free! Things just seem more relaxed around here and it's nice for a change. 

Congratulations Dave!

The moment has finally arrived...Dave finished his last day of unpaid labor for his CRNA degree! We have scrapped and made do for 28 months and in just a few more it'll all pay off. I am incredibly proud of Dave and all that he balanced and accomplished during his schooling. Addison was just barely two months when we got here and now Avery is just over two months finishing. Addison and I ran around and got him a balloon, his favorite "ultimate white cake" from Wegmans and made him a banner. Addison kept shouting, "Happy Thanksgiving" to Dave:) She eventually changed it to, "Congratulations Daddy".  Dave went to a dinner that evening with his classmates to celebrate their success. We had the Quinn's over the following Monday for a pizza and root beer float party. Addi helped me make little graduation cap cake pops and Juana brought Dave white cupcakes with white frosting. He is so boring but,he loved them and eats about 5 a day. We're planning on going to a nice dinner with my family over Christmas to honor Dave. Now all he has to do is pass the boards in February!   

BFF Time

We had Will over the other night and Addi brought him over a dress up. He asked me to help him put it on and he loved it! His dad wasn't very happy, but Addi was thrilled to see him in it. They are best buds and Addi is really going to miss Will here in a few months. 

Sparkle Arrives

An Elf  on the Shelf  landed on at our house at the beginning of December. Addison was thrilled and named her Sparkle because of her sparkly red skirt. Sparkle moves every few days and Addison loves to run down in the morning to find her. Sparkle helps Addison behave since she flies to the North Pole to report to Santa each night. Addison continues to remind Sparkle that she would like a trampoline for Christmas. We shall see if Santa can pull that one off!?!?! Santa is sort of hoping she forgets about it and is happy with all the other wonderful things he found for her:) 

Spicy Addi

Addison still continues to keep us on our toes. She has such a strong personality and opinion that we never know what to do with her! She likes her socks jacked clear up to her knees. She wants her toe to always be painted and sometimes her fingers as well. She usually picks a light pink sparkle color. Having Will over is still one of her favorite things to do. They like to play kitchen together and run around jumping and chasing each other. Addison still only likes to lick the frosting of her desserts. No cake or cookies for this girl! Her hair is always wild and crazy even though I comb and style it every morning. She insists on having a clip in her hair when she sleeps now. Her ultimiate treat is having her very own spicy juice of rootbeer. It is amazing what I can get to her do or not do if spicy juice is on the table! We love you Addi June!

Baby Avery

Avery you are going to be a Mama's girl I can already tell! She loves to be held and will be full on screaming and then start to smile once you lean over to pick her up. We have spent a lot of time rocking in her room during the late/early hours depending on how you look at it:) I am still trying to figure out a night routine for her. She seems to change day to day on when or if she wants to go to sleep! You are content to sit in your carseat and be toted around to everything we have to do. Avery takes the best and longest naps sitting in her carseat. It amazes me that she will go sometimes 3 hours all bundled warm in there. Addison's latest big sister duty is to rip your socks off and go running away fast. Most of the time you only have one on depending if I have gotten to you before Addison sneaks the other! Addi still holds the award for getting Avery to smile the biggest. She is trying her very hardest to be a thumb sucker. I have had to start putting gloves on her hands again so she stops scratching her face so much. You continue to brighten our days with your contagious smile and constant drooling mouth!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

We got our first of many snowfalls last week! It welcomed Jenny right as she came. Dave took Addi out a couple times and so far she likes it! She of course likes to eat it and make snow angels. Saturday after Jenny left we met the Quinn's at a hill to go sledding. It is now almost 4 days later and I'm still feeling it! I wiped out a few times to say the least. Addison loved to go down if she was with someone. Her and Kalie we buddies going down on each others laps. We came home and warmed up with come hot chocolate that Addi insisted needed to be eaten with a spoon! We got out our Christmas decorations as well and are in full swing for the holidays. Addison decorated our little tree all by herself and continues to take the ornaments off and on all day. Hopefully we still have a few in tack by Christmas. This is the year that Addison is starting to understand what is going on with Christmas. She loves to sit at her table and play with her nativity set. Her favorite is the donkey? We are working on perhaps baby Jesus making it to the top of the list. We have a small set of glass santa boots that Addison asks everyday, "What are those?" It makes me laugh that she is so fascinated by them. We bought supplies to make a gingerbread house and have been enjoying holiday music and books. Santa already knows what he is bringing the girls so hopefully no more naught behavior! This year we are getting a special visitor from the North Pole coming to our house. She is a little elf with a sparkly skirt. Addison still needs to pick a name for her, but she seems pretty excited to have her "watching" her behavior all the time. This is Dave's last week of school EVER! He has a nice dinner to go to on Friday to celebrate with his classmates and then we are doing rootbeer floats on Monday. I am so incredibly proud of him and all of his hard work and dedication. He has balanced so many things and still managed to be a good dad and spouse. To top it all off we finally found out where we are going to be stationed! DAYTON!! I of course and beyond excited. I keep telling Dave, "A Happy Wife is a Happy Life!" We are really looking forward to being to close to family and especially grandparents! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving 2013! This was the first year in I don't know how long that we didn't travel. It was kinda nice to have family come to us and enjoy a low key holiday. Jenny flew in from California from a Monday to a Saturday. We really enjoyed having her here and Addison was happy to have her BFF Harley back. Poor guy gets worked to the bone while he is here with Addison chasing him around. Jenny and I fit in two movies...yes I finally went to a movie! It seems harder this time around to leave Avery for some reason. We saw Catching Fire and The Book Thief.  They both were amazing movies simply because the theater by us has reclining movie seats! Jenny even brought a blanket the second time around:) I escaped having to do a turkey for one more year! Jenny made a really moist turkey with fresh herbs. We worked as a team to make the sides and everything turned out really yummy. Addison enjoyed eating not one, but four rolls for her meal! We all went around and said what we were thankful for and Addison said Harley and her Little Sister. She just says the cutest things! Dave and Jenny softened up and each were able to say something nice about each other. I of course told Dave I was grateful for donating an X chromosome so we could have sweet Avery with us this year. We watched a lot of movies and Addison and Jenny (and Harley) did a lot of tea partying.  Aunt Jenny spoiled everyone with gifts...including Dave! She brought Addison a new Rapunzel tea set and dress that she will only tuck under her arm pits?? She gave me fancy Vera Bradly slippers for my birthday that I love of course. She hand delivered Avery's cross stitch masterpiece! I love it and I know someday Avery will appreciate that hers is bigger than Addison's!! Haha I guess I need to keep having babies to keep her cross stitching sharp:)  Dave received the biggest bag of beef jerky possible. Addi has been begging for Jenny to take her for some more pink ice cream with sprinkles. They went out on a little date one night and Addi was in heaven!We went to an indoor trampoline place that everyone enjoyed. Jenny managed to do a few toe touches and I bounced around trying not to wet my pants! There was a lot of quality napping that went on and lots of snuggling. We were grateful for Jenny making the trip and feel very blessed this time of year as we reflect on our bounty!