Christmas Eve...

We spent part of the day Christmas Eve making sugar cookies (with sprinkles) for Santa with Katie Belle at Lyndi’s house.  The girls had a good time making the cookies and tasting them too!

After that, we went home for a nap and then off to church for the Christmas Eve service.

After that, we headed to Nana and Papaw’s to celebrate Christmas with them.  The whole family was there and we had a great time eating appetizers and having punch.  Santa Claus made his usual Christmas Eve phone call to talk to the kids and Addi actually talked to him and told him that she had been a good girl and that she would like some toys.  She also told him that she loved him (awww)!

Talking to Santa

Then…it was finally time to open presents.  Addi really enjoyed that—even more than I expected!  She would open her present and then go around the room and help anyone that would let her!

TINK!!!

She got a Tinkerbell doll (that she absolutely loves) and a Tinkerbell sippy cup as well as an Aquadoodle mat from the Bartram’s.  She got an adorable pink and black coat with matching hat and gloves from Aunt Dee and Nick and she looks like an absolute doll in it!  And she got a Cracker Barrell rocking chair that is just her size from Nana and Papaw.  She likes to sit in it at night when I read her bedtime stories.  It makes me kind of sad though because she USED to sit in my lap in my rocker while I read stories and now she insists on sitting beside me in HER rocking chair!

Austin got an Orange Leaf gift card and a theatre-themed picture for his new room from the Bartram’s, an American Eagle sweater from Aunt Dee and Nick, and a new pair of Wallaby shoes from Nana and Papaw.

After all of the fun, it was time to go home and get ready for bed since Santa was on his way!

On Christmas Day, we came back over after having Christmas with the Smith family for Christmas dinner!  She slept most of the time while she was there but after waking up, Daddy read her a story.

LOVE this coat!  <3

Bedtime Prayers....

(Most) every night when Addi and I lay down to go to sleep, we say our bedtime prayers.  I keep it pretty short and sweet so that I can keep her attention.  It goes something like this:

Dear God,

Please watch over our family and keep them safe and healthy.  We ask that you please watch over Austin and keep him safe as he is learning how to drive.  We ask that you please watch over Addi and keep her safe and healthy.  We love you very much and ask that you please forgive us of all of our sins. Amen.

She has parts of our prayer memorized and will chime in during certain parts of the prayer.  She always says Amen at the end which is so cute.

Well, last night after we said Amen, she said, “what about Daddy?” So we asked God specifically to watch over Daddy.  Then she said, “what about Katie Belle?”  So we asked God specifically to watch over Katie Belle.  We went through this with several of the family members and finally she said, “what about Tinkerbell?”  So we asked God to watch over Tinkerbell as she is flying around. 

HOW CUTE IS THAT?

Our prayer, in general, asks God to watch over our family, which to me, means we are praying for grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, etc…  I thought it was so cute and sweet that she wanted specific names addressed!  Maybe she is ready for our bedtime prayer to get a little longer!

The "Real" Santa Claus

I received this story as an e-mail today and wanted to share it.  This story is very heart-warming and is a great reminder that giving is so much better than receiving... 

I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true. Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?" she snorted, "Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun. "Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car." Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!

I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that. "Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down. "Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it. Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially, one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going." I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were -- ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team. I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside: $19.95.

Merry Christmas!

No More Paci...

Well, it has been 3 days now since Addison has had a pacifier.  It was so much easier than I expected!!  She last used it on Friday during the day with my mom and Friday night, while I was giving her a bath, I asked Craig to go through the house and find all of the pacifiers.  He came back with a quart-size freezer bag full.  We put them away and that was it.  At bedtime that night, she never asked for it.  She had her blanky of course and went to sleep quickly and paci-free.  There were a couple of times throughout the weekend that she asked where her pacis were but I just told her that they were all gone and that we didn’t have anymore pacis and she seemed okay with that.

Mom said that she did say, “I want a paci Grandma,” on Monday morning but mom gave her the same answer—that they are all gone.  Mom said she was okay with that.  I guess she just had to try to see if she would get a different answer from Grandma because when “momma says no, ask grandma!”

I am hoping that potty training will be as easy.  I did set a potty chair in the bathroom at home so that she can start seeing it and I will start asking her if she wants to sit on it.  I am not going to really start working on potty training though until the week after Christmas when I am off work and have a whole week to devote to it.  If she resists it a lot, I am not going to worry about it because it is still really early but she just seems so smart, that I am going to give it a try.

Although I know it was time to get rid of the paci (per instructions from her pediatrician), I can't help but remember how cute she was with it (see below)...  Just another sign that she is growing up...

18-months old...

Addi had her 18-month well-baby check-up yesterday…  She is actually close to 19-months now but oh well.  And she wasn’t exactly well as she and I have been battling a cold since Thanksgiving! 

She is in the 80-95%ile for height and is 33.5 inches long.  She is in the 50%ile for weight, weighing in at 23.7 lbs and is in the 50 %ile for head circumference.

Dr. McKinney told me that now was a good time to lose the pacifier as it can start to affect her teeth so this weekend we will probably gather them all up and make them disappear.  I actually think she will do fine.  It seems she depends on them less and less every day.  My baby is growing up.

We also talked about potty training.  I know most kids aren’t ready at this age but I really think she is.  She has been waking up in the mornings dry a lot and she is very aware of others going to potty and tells us when she is. 

Other statistics for her at this age are:

She has 11 teeth total – including 3 jaw teeth; she is wearing mostly 18-24 month clothing; she wears a size 6 shoe; she wears a size 4 diaper; her eyes vary between a bluish/grayish/greenish color—we still aren’t sure what color they will end up being; she has started using primarily her right hand when holding a crayon or pencil; she likes to eat with utensils but still isn’t that great with them; she can count to 11; she can say most of her ABC’s; she loves to sing; she likes to play with fairies and her kitchen;she does NOT like to wear hair bows anymore; she loves to brush her teeth; she teases Craig and I about whose girl she is (I’m momma’s girl; I’m daddy’s girl); she loves to put on her pjs at night or any cute outfit and then “go show daddy”; she speaks in sentences and has been for quite a while!

We have so many nicknames for her!  Her latest is Stinkerbell.  We call her that because she loves Tinkerbell.  She answers to all of the many names we call her—Booger, Sweet Pea, Sissy, Stinkerbell, etc…—she always knows who we are talking about!

Picture Time!!!

Well believe it or not, it’s that time of year again!!!  Time for CHRISTMAS PICTURES!!!  I remember last year, I had Addi’s 6-month pictures taken when we were there for Christmas pictures.  Well, this year I once again killed three birds with one stone and had her 18-month old pictures taken and Austin’s individual pictures when I took the kids for Christmas pictures.   Austin’s school pictures were horrible this year so he needed individual pictures too.

The pictures turned out so much better than I had anticipated.  She is at the age where getting a picture of her is next to impossible so I was very impressed with the finished product!

I also got my Christmas cards done and ordered while I was there so I can check that off of my list too!  Now the fun part will be getting them addressed and mailed! 

Trick-or-Treat

I found Addison’s Halloween costume at a consignment sale this year.  It looked brand new and she was adorable in it.  She was a little elephant!  She loved wearing her costume except sometimes the hood came down a little too far and she had a hard time seeing.

She was a champ at trick-or-treating and was even able to say Trick-or-Treat and Thank You (her manners lately are making momma super proud – she says “bless you” when she hears someone sneeze,  “please” when she wants something (after being reminded) and “thank you” when she is given something).

We took her to a Trunk or Treat at Ann’s church and she loved it and got lots of candy and we also did the usual neighborhood trick or treating on Halloween night.  We started out in Craig’s parent’s subdivision and walked around for about an hour and then headed to my parent’s church for their trunk or treat.  The sweet elephant has a BUCKETFUL of candy.  Obviously there are only a limited number of things she can have so the rest of us (me, Craig, and Austin) made out pretty nicely on the candy stash! 

After all of that, we had to be at Austin’s school at 8PM for a Halloween concert and skit.  It was really good and a great end to a very fun night!

My Sweet Little Singing Bee….

Not only does Addison have a fabulous vocabulary, but she also sings!!  In the last month, she has really started showing us how talented she really is.  It’s the most adorable thing ever.

She started out with Happy Birthday.  It seemed like there were several weekends in a row where we were attending birthday parties for her little friends and she heard that song a lot. I also have a CD that she listens to in the car with nursery rhyme songs on it and “Happy Birthday” is on that CD too.  She sings that song constantly.  She puts different people’s names in the song when she sings it.  Happy Birthday to Daddy, Mommy, Bubby, Addison, Con-Con, Memaw, Papaw, Nina….. The list goes on and on. 

She also sings Twinkle Twinkle, Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the ABC song.  She chimes in on certain parts of other songs but those are the ones she is pretty good at right now.