Happy Birthday to Allea!

Oh wow! How time flies!  Last year for Allea's birthday Addie had hurt her arm that seems like yesterday.  Allea turned 4 and we were so happy to get to see her again.  This year Allea gets to go to big school.  Lane, Allea's brother, turned 7.  They had a cheerleader, football birthday.  We took Grammy with us because she had came up to keep Addie while we did Homecoming that weekend. 

Addie liked jumping on Allea's trampoline, running around and around her house, and riding on their very fast Power Wheels jeep thing.

Ma is Coming!

Addie's daycare was closed on Monday, October 5th.  So Ma came up to keep Addie for us.  She doesn't have school on Mondays this year!  Of course no trip is complete without presents.  Addie received a ceramic bowl which Addie is now storing her hair bands in, a Dora outfit, and a book about Minnow Max from her Pa.  Addie had a great time.  Thanks Ma for helping out.

Before Ma came we got our Halloween decorations out so that Addie could learn about Fall and Halloween.  She enjoys are pumpkins and has carried them all over the house.  Mostly, she enjoys our fall harvest village houses and little people.  I paid $10 for it like 10 years ago so I figure if it gets broken oh well.  She loves the little people and has played with them a whole lot!  She also enjoyed sitting in the witches pot!

Happy Birthday to Maebrie!

Our bestest buddy, Maebrie turned 2 on October 8th.  She is exactly 7 weeks older than Addie.  Addie did a good job handing Maebrie her presents and only took out one sheet of tissue paper.  Addie had fun playing with all Maebrie's friends and presents.  We are so proud of you Miss Maebrie!

Birthday and Christmas Wish List

UPDATED IDEAS:
We took Addie to Toys R Us last weekend and bought a few items. Many of you have told me items that you would like to purchase for her. So please comment or let me know which items are being purchased since many people are shopping off this list. Below are a few other ideas that we had at ToysRUs. ToysRUs does have some items that only they have, I am not sure if these are exclusive items or not.

Dora the Explorer -- My Talking Backpack
Art Table -PURCHASED
Paints, markers, crayolas, and playdoh for table would be great!
Snow White Vacuum
Snow White Broom and cleaning set
Uno Moo (game for toddlers)
Pink and purple keyboard

Original Email:
As many of you know, Addie is somewhat spoiled and has so many toys and clothes. We were so blessed last year with the outpouring of gifts for Addie's birthday and Christmas. As we approach another holiday season, I can't help but wonder where all of this is going to go, the old and the new. We have started a list of things she needs and things she is interested in as well as things we just think she would like.

I would like to remind you that Savings Bonds and Stocks would also be greatly appreciated for higher education later down the road. I can assure you that we will not let her go with out any essential items at the current time!!!

Larger Items:

Little Tikes Cozy Coupe (red and yellow) ~$40.00

Little Tikes Picnic on the Patio Playhouse (available at WalMart, ToyRUs and Target) ~$200.00

Radio Flyer Tricycle (Pink or Red) ~$40.00 PURCHASED

Step2 LifeStyle Custom Kitchen Value Bundle ~100.00

Little People Happy Sounds Home by FisherPrice ~40.00 PURCHASED

Other Items:
Snow White DVD PURCHASED
Snow White Barbie-like Doll at WalMart PURCHASED
Barbie one without a lot of small pieces that she can play with PURCHASED
Dora Explorer- we now love Dora anything Dora would be good
A Baby she can bathe with--they make several of these PURCHASED
Puzzles
Play food and play items for her babies
Elmo and Sesame Street continue to be favorites as well
Educational Toys such as Leap Frog

Clothes:
Addie has alway stuck to her age in clothing. She is just starting to wear a 2T and will need more winter clothes.

Stocking Ideas:
Panties- size 2T-3T or size equivalent to around 25 pounds
Socks-(she has a big foot) Size 7.5 or something for 2T-3T
Crayons- Jumbo
Coloring Books
Story Books
Hairbows
Playdoh and tools
M and M's




Addie has been overly blessed with stuffed animals. She has recently began to play babies and with stuffed animals! We have a hamper full in her closet! We are making one request:

No Stuffed Animals!!!

Thank you but we have plenty!

In Memory of Mr. Micheal Gier

A few weeks ago, we lost a great friend to Addie's blog, Micheal Gier. Mike was married to one of my dearest friends Donna. She is a coworker and teaches 3rd grade at Decatur. I had the honor of sharing what Mike meant to me at his service. I have included that below:

The first time I heard the name, “Mike Gier,” it was about 2 and half years ago when my friend Donna told me that she had met someone. She and a group of church friends had been out to eat dinner and introduced her to Mike. Their evening concluded with her already putting him to work, by having him cut out some stuff for her classroom. Donna is notorious for having all of us help her at school so I thought this man is heaven sent to all of us if he is going to help her cut stuff out because then I don’t have to do it!!

Mike became a regular figure at our school building helping deliver pizzas for parties, lunch for teachers, or unloading and rearranging furniture in our new building. Even though we would call at the last minute, Mike was always patient with us and never became upset. On Friday morning, as we shared the news with Donna’s class, one student said “He’s the man who brought us pizza.” You will forever be the husband of the year at Decatur Northside Elementary! Always helping Donna and all of us when needed!

Mike was also an avid reader of my daughter Addie’s blog. I try to post something every week so our families can keep up but sometimes I get behind. It would never fail I would call Donna and I would hear Mike’s voice in the background saying, “I sure would like to see some new pictures of that sweet baby” I will miss your precious comments about Addie and your encouragement to keep her blog update!

I know that if there was one thing Mike could tell us right now it would be, the best decision he ever made was the day that he accepted Jesus Christ into his life. I know that in the years I have known Mike he has lived his life as a man of God and there is no doubt in my mind that Mike is singing with the angels right now.

Mike we love you for the wonderful joy that you brought into Donna’s life. You will forever hold a special place in my heart and we will miss you so much.

The Garage is Clean!

Addie just being cute in the yard!

I believe that most of you know that since the arrival of our bundle of joy almost 2 years ago our dogs have lived outside and have a dog door that goes into the garage. Our 3 car garage belongs to the dogs. It is dirty nasty and smelly and I can't park in there. So we built them a dog house! Addie was super excited about the lumber, the screws and the drill. She worked very hard with daddy to build a house for her friends, Bigby and Bella!

Labor Day Weekend- 1st Football Game!

After about 20 pictures and neither girl looking at the camera at the same time! This is what you get. The first football game of the season was in LR and of course we are ANTI-LR games. Sorry to those of you who aren't. Anyways, we bought the game on TV and had the group over to watch it. The girls of course provided the entertainment.

Labor Day Weekend Trip to the Safari!

We have had the opportunity to see several of the Safari animals in the last year and half. Mr. King, one of our principals, family runs the safari so the animals show up at a lot of school events. However, we had not taken Addie to the safari. If you have not been you should go! The last time I went it was winter and it was so much better this time. Well and now that I have a child to enjoy it! This picture is of Addie throwing bread into the monkeys!











She loved feeding the goats. They were a little aggressive so we found that it was best to feed them through the fence instead of being in there with them.
















This is Jeremy and Addie looking at something while I drove us through. We did let Addie out of her seat for the drive-thru.

















Okay so normally blogger auto flips pictures but not this one. This was the baby monkey Chloe we have met her many times but this is the first time she ever jumped on us. She made many jumps onto me and Addie. I couldn't figure out who to protect Addie the monkey or myself!

Labor Day Weekend!

We made a quick trip to Mansfield on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend for the Henson girl family reunion. I believe we are all in this picture except for Jeremy and the Newman family and Uncle Kenneth who had just left.
We had a shrimp boil by Uncle Davo and it was yummy!








This is Addie with Annabelle! Jordan and Susan's baby! Addie was completely in love with her. She loves all babies and wanted to keep her.

Just a few fun shots!

Everyone in this picture is making a silly face! Addie, Daddy and Bella playing in the yard!











Addie playing Tea Party at her table. She is putting something in her mouth here granola bar or fish or something!










Addie playing outside making a camel face!

Our First Day to Mrs. Lora's House!

This year Addie is going to Mrs. Lora's in-home daycare/preschool. Jeremy and I had to start school on August 12th so on August 10th and 11th, Addie went for a half day to prepare her for the routine and for getting up in the mornings while Jeremy and I worked in our rooms.

These pictures are of her wearing her backpack. The mini Elmo backpack was the last one that Target had and she loves it! Addie of course cries for a few minutes at drop off but is quickly adjusting and has usually stopped crying before I leave!

Baby Kate Shower- August 1st

Addie and I hosted Tracie and baby Kate's NWA shower with friends and coworkers on August 1st with some help from our friend Lisa! We can't wait to see you Baby Kate only 8 more weeks!

Summer Update!!

First of all apologies to all three of you who actually read this blog! It has been summer and I have not been very diligent in posting! We started off the summer with a bang! Jeremy had inservice and I had began working seeing kids privately! I have been very busy with that more busy than I wanted to be! But summer is over and we made a little extra cash for vacation and such!

We traveled to Florida for our summer vacation and had a blast! We took 1500 pictures so we will not be posting those! But maybe a few here and there.

This week we started back to school! Addie is going to a new in home daycare preschool setup with 8 other children between 17 months and 3 years. She is one of the younger ones! It was a hard week last week but she is doing well or so they claim. Mrs. Lora seems really great and has a curriculum for the children to follow. I am super excited to watch Addie learn and grow this year! We will keep you posted with updates!

First Baseball Game

Last Friday night, we traveled to Springdale for the the Naturals vs.Travelers game! We had not been to a game but had a great time. Jamie and Matt were suppose to go but had a change of plans so they passed their tickets to us! Thanks guys!

If you haven't been you need to go! It has beautiful facilities! T-shirts, cotton candy, beer, food anything else you need at a game! It was Strike's birthday! So they had a lot of kid friendly things like the petting zoo was there! We sat with Alix (who also works with Jamie) and all of their work friends who had all bought tickets together! They were super nice and accepting of us and Miss Addie.

She made friends with all of the people around us and was able to run around a little bit. The stadium is very child friendly and has a playground in the outfield, a grassy area to sit in the outfield, and an outdoor restaurant setup with picnic tables.

18 Month Check Up, Update and Ear Infection

Addie turned 18 months old on May 26th!

Things have been so crazy with the end of the school year that I have not had an opportunity to post. We have big changes for summer. Daddy attends a professional development next week at the UofA , it has a nice stipend so Mommy said he could go. He finished up the 2nd portion of his National Board yesterday with a four hour long essay test. Please pray that he passes because it is a HUGE pay raise for us! For the summer, Mommy will working in Decatur and Gentry on Monday and Wednesday, seeing both school kids and some private kids from school that wanted summer services. That turns into extra money for debts and fun stuff like vacation. On Tuesday, I will be working for a friend that has a clinic right here in Centerton. Jeremy and Addie will be spending these days together. On Thursday and Friday, I have enrolled Addie in Gymbo classes at Gymborre. She will be going to Art and the Play and Learn time.

These are the things that are coming to mind right now that she is doing:

• CLIMBER!- You are very adventurous! You can climb on top of the dining room table, fireplace step, back of the couch, and just about anything else!
• EATING!- Not as good of an eater as you once were. You are enjoying "dip, dip" which is ketchup. You are good at staying hydrated and drink very well. Sometimes you request "Sweet Tea and Pepper" No I do not give these to you but sometimes you steal a drink of Mommy's!
• SLEEPING- Well I guess we all have our battles and this is one I have not chosen to fight! When you sleep all night in your bed, we are super excited; when you don't, we go get you and you sleep with us.
• TALKING- To have a mom that is an SLP, most of the time no one can understand you! But you do have excellent vocabulary. You enjoy naming all the people in the room and the animal sounds. You say no in the sweetest voice ever. However, you all but refuse to ever answer yes. You have started a grunting phase which is making your dad a crazy person.
• GROSS MOTOR- I guess your climbing ability is your big jump in this area. I am still concerned about your feet turning in. We have an appointment on Friday with a podiatrist.
• COGNITIVE/LANGUAGE- I am so amazed at what you understand. For example, tonight I said I want to see that paper and you just brought it over to me. You are trying to count to three. You can identify and kinda name these body parts: head, hair, ear, eye, nose, mouth, tongue, beard, belly, arm, finger, leg, knee and toes/feet. You will do the following activities when requested: dancing, marching, fast feet, circles, swimming, jumping (which is also gross motor). You love to identify objects and who they belong to, you have began sorting all the laundry by Mommy, Daddy, and Addie
• GAMES- Your favorite has to be chase and hide and seek. You are enjoying your shopping cart and love to push it around the house and place all your items on the table and then check out! You kinda resemble a bag lady!
  
• OUTSIDE- You are loving your backyard. You enjoy playing in the water. We are going to buy you a sand and water table but haven't yet. Your firetruck is out there, lawnmower and a big basket of outside toys. In the front yard, you love the rose bushes and enjoy watering all of our plants. Checking the mail with Daddy is another favorite.
• 18 month Checkup- You went to see Dr. Harmon today and got your first MMR shot. He seems to think that you feet are going to correct themselves. He looked in your ears and apparently your allergies have turned into an ear infection. This is your first one in 18 months. You have an antibiotic for 10 days hopefully, that will take care of it. You don't have to go back until you are 2!

We are so proud of you and amazed by your learning everyday!

Finishing Up School!

We want to wish our precious girl a Happy 1/2 Birthday!

She was 1 and 1/2 years old on May 26th!

We have been super busy with end of the year so I am hoping to
get caught up this weekend with a big blog about all that she is doing!

Our family always enjoys our summer but we have lots of transitions
to summer: work schedules for Mommy, week long science inservice for
Daddy and National Board Testing for Daddy.

Please pray for Addie and us as we change scheduling and move to a new
routine for the summer!

Yeah Kris Allen!

We had a nice surprise visit from Grammy this week. She had to come up and do a reset for deodorant with her friend before the shareholders meeting. So she came up Tuesday and worked from 10pm to 4am! YUCK. Addie went to Anna's and then Grammy came to pick her up around lunch. We were so thankful for Grammy this week because Addie had a fever and diarrhea and just wasn't herself so Grammy spent the rest of the week here keeping Addie for us. At first we thought it was teeth but then her fever got pretty high. I am pretty sure she had a bug. She seems to be feeling better. She also seems to be developing some 2 year old fits. There has been lots of screaming, crying and tears and some really good acting on her part as well.

So we were all watching American Idol and super excited when Kris won! I put my hands up and said Yeah! Addie started mocking me so Mom got this picture of us. I look kinda silly but Addie looks precious!

Pictures below

I uploaded these pictures on the smaller image. If you want to look at them close up you can double click and it will appear bigger!

Outside Work!

This blog post is not about Miss Addie, it is about landscaping and angry Daddy and dogs.
But we thought we would start it off with some cute baby feet in flip*flops!

This is a picture of our new beautiful recycled tire mulch! We love it!
It cost a lot more than the regular mulch but it is suppose to be good for 10 years, not fade or float away! Note to self: It takes way more than they claim on the bag!
Ideally, we want to get rid of some of the bushes that came with the house landscaping and replace them with something else, but after 22 bags of mulch there was no more $ for that!
And it was kinda too late to dig them up!
We will work on that in the fall and next spring.
I would like to relocate them to the backyard where they can try to survive the dogs.
Daddy got angry with Mommy during this process because after load number 1, she made him wait until his stipend check came before load number 2 came.


This is the tree that came with the house. If you will remember back to January there were pictures of Jeremy out hammering the ice off of it! We put a ring of pavers around it and planted some sweet potato vine there. Hopefully, it will take off soon. During this project, Daddy got upset because Mommy sent Daddy to the Lowe's and he didn't think that he knew what she wanted but he did an excellent job.

Last summer, I dug up some monkey grass from a work friend and planted it in front of our green electrical box in our yard. Bigby has enjoyed leaving his mark on it all winter. But if you look carefully it is turning green and growing! Jeremy wanted to plant trees and I encouraged him to be patient. Wal*Mart marked there trees down so we got these 2 trees for $5 each! Jermey and Brad planted them and then we went out 2 days later to put some little pavers around them and this is what we had:

A tree that had been gored! No bark about 8 inches all the way around the tree!
This is what made Daddy the most mad! You may ask yourself how did this happen:
It is about 85 pounds of red shakiness with a 7 inch long tongue!
I took this through the window so it is not the best picture.
Daddy said we were giving her away, Mommy said No
Daddy said we were setting her free, Mommy said No
Needless to say, Bella still lives here

Parker Came to Visit!

This is Addie and Parker on the couch before Sarah, Brad and Parker had to leave. They came to visit for a graduation.

Parker still in his jammies, Addie sitting on the fireplace.

They both really enjoyed the outside and both really needed a bath. This is our first co-ed bathing experience!
Addie taught Parker to climb onto the fireplace and she is reading him a book.

Addie pushing him in the firetruck or maybe pushing him out of the truck!