broken laptops, sweet baby girl

Our laptop died. Grandpa Phillip is working on it, but it's questionable at the moment. I don't know when I'll be able to post again. Wish us luck.

In other news, Addison woke me up this morning by tapping my arm. When I opened my eyes, she waved and said, "I missed you, Mommy." I just melted. She said something similar to Robert last night after he got home from the football game. She's the most loving little girl ever. She's the best.

Also, I had a few minutes to change the background again. I got some feedback that the pale green "Merry Christmas tree" theme wasn't quite festive enough. :-)

experimentating

I have the best daughter ever. She's suddenly decided to take naps again, so I have two hours to play around with my blog now! I found a couple of sites that offer free layouts. Some were cute, but didn't seem to format correctly on my page. After several trials, I ended up with this one. Not the most colorful, but I think it's festive & I like that it says "Merry Christmas". It may change frequently now that I've mastered how to copy & paste HTML codes. :-)

In honor of my husband, who is currently braving the rain in order to support his team, I feel like I need to say "Go Noles"!

Happy Saturday!

Christmas has arrived!

Happy Black Friday everyone! Hope you all got some good shopping in...I know we did! We were out of the house at 8:30. We had breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, went to Target, and then hit the mall. Bath & Body Works had the longest line, but I was willing to wait. They have the best sales on the day after Thanksgiving. I stock up for the year on air fresheners for my classroom & their fancy soap. While I was waiting in the 20 minute line, I was suckered in to buying stuff I didn't need. Robert had taken Addison outside & I was weak & succeptible to salesperson pressure in his absence. We'll be going back tomorrow to return a few items. :-)
Overall, it was a pretty quick trip, but productive. We have almost all of our Christmas shopping done now! Whoo hoo!

Thanksgiving was excellent. We had lots of delicious food...including some new things. Robert ate sweet potatoes at each meal (we eat twice - lunch with Robert's family, and then with mine for dinner). I tried sweet potatoes, too, but I didn't like them as much as Robert did. Addison tried stuffing (not a fan), sweet potatoes (not a fan), corn casserole (loved it), and cranberry sauce (not a fan). We missed our Uncle Bubbles & Aunt Evelyn, but I'm sure they had a great day with Evelyn's family in Margate. All in all, it was a very happy day with our families.

We're going to eat some yummy Thanksgiving leftovers (thanks Mom!) for lunch, and then will continue decorating the rest of the house. Robert has lucked out big time today: it's raining, so he can't be forced outside to do outdoor decorating. Not to worry - I plan to get him outside as soon as the rain slacks up. Maybe tomorrow morning. His time will come.

Here's some funny for your day: Addison's reaction to our Christmas tree & some musical decorations. We put the tree up while she was sleeping last night. Sorry the video is so dark. We had the lights off so that she could really get a feel for the Christmas lights on the tree.

Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope you all get to spend the day with family & friends! Here's a quick message from Addison!

Again....HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

testing, testing, 1,2,6?

Today was some kind of day. Glad it's almost behind us. Car battery died when I was picking up Robert. Luckily his co-worker Mike jumped our car, we rushed to pick up Adds, then hurried down the road to Sears. We ate Addison's new favorite - Chick-Fil-a - for dinner. Sears was SOOOOOOO slow to fix the battery...probably took two hours total. Thankfully, we have the world's most patient & wonderful almost-two year old in the history of the world, and she cooperated nicely the whole time. She was anxious to ge thome, and fell asleep shortly after getting in the door. (This pic is from our trip to the fair, but I thought this post needed something cute to pick up the mood!)

Evelyn is a graphic design genius. She made the CUTEST invitation for Adds' birthday. Can't wait for you all to see it! Thanks Evelyn for all your hard work!

We're Famous!

Addison & Robert are in today's newspaper (page 4A) and online at: http://tallahassee.com/article/20081123/NEWS01/811230331

Whoo hoo!

Busy Day!

Today was a busy day! We woke up earlier than normal (6 AM). Don't know what woke Addison, but she was ready to go, so up we all got. We to David's Cub Scout den's pancaked breakfast around 8AM. We ate with David, Memaw & Pepaw, while Aunt Janie & Uncle Craig manned the ticket table. They were pretty packed when we left, so hopefully it was a successful fundraiser for them.

After getting home from the pancake breakfast, we noticed a neighbor was having a yard sale. We walked down the road & ended up buying several items for Adds: a doctor kit, Sesame Street placemat, playdoh, and Addison's personal favorite - a sit & spin.

She played on the sit & spin until Nonnie, Uncle Andrew & Aunt Evelyn arrived. Then we all headed out into the 40 degree weather to Bradley's Country Fair. Traffic was better than we anticipated, and the first event we encountered was Addison's most requested activity: pony rides. (See the video below). A newspaper photographer from the Democrat took Addison's photo while she was on the pony, so if you catch a pic of Adds either online at tallahassee.com or in the newspaper, please let us know! After the ponies, we went straight to eat yummy Bradley's sausage. Once our bellies were full, we trekked for two hours through the craft area, purchasing a princess crown (which Adds will not wear), cloth gift bag, kiddie-sized apron (thanks, Nonnie!), a necklace for Mommy and a bracelet for Addy. At the end of shopping, we ran into Addison's teacher, Miss Julie. Miss Jule also works as a clown & make-up artist with BJ's Party House (which Evelyn does the website for and who Andrew used to clown with), so Addison got her face painted. It was a GREAT day! Here are a few:

Here's the video of Addison & her Daddy riding the pony:

One more time about my friend Heather - please check out her blog. She is in serious need of some funding assistance to cover the costs of her new treatment plan as well as transportation to & from NYC for each treatment. If you have any ideas on how to raise money for medical costs or if you would like to make a donation, please let me know so I can pass the info on to Heather! Thanks!

Lollipops & other good news

So as we turn onto the access road behind Costco today - well before the view of the "Lollipop" water tower - Addison says, "Lollipop, are you?". When it finally comes into view she says, "Lollipop! I see you!". Talk about a memory.

In other news, my dear friend Heather got some encouraging news today at the doctor. She saw a specialist in New York City who explained just how severe her condition is, but created a specific treatment plan and set her up with a team to assist her with what I hope will be a very speedy & successful recovery! I am looking forward to the day that Heather will be healthy again! Here's to a new chance for Heather! I'm hoping for the VERY VERY best!!

One week until Thanksgiving....which also means one week until it's time to put out Christmas decorations!

David's birthday

Happy 9th birthday to our nephew David! For those of you who know David, yes, he really is 9 years old already. Here's a cute pic of him from our family dinner tonight at Logan's.

Funny Addison story from yesterday: on the way to school/work in the AM, she looked out the window as we were driving on the access road behind Costco and suddenly said, "Lollipop! Lollipop! Lollipop!". We were totally confused until I noticed in the distance out the window was a water tower. Poor kid sees candy everywhere! :-) I guess the water tower slightly resembles a lollipop...

North Florida Fair

Today we went to the North Florida fair with my family. We were there for almost four hours! The food was better than I remember from years past. Addison & I ate grilled chicken & french fries which was not too bad, considering. Mom was none to pleased with her pulled pork sandwich, though. Dad bought everyone funnel cakes & fudge - yum! We went on the merry-go-round twice, which Addison loved. She wanted to ride on the pink pony, but both times the pink pony was unavailable. Luckily, she was flexible and compromised on a white pony the first ride, and a brown pony the second time. We played lots of carnival games. Uncle Boy (Hoyt) won Addison a cute purple bear, and Daddy won her a black puppy dog. The dog immediately became her best friend. Sadly, it already has a hole, from which there are Styrofoam beads leaking. While she's sleeping, the dog will be undergoing an operation to repair the damage! Addy's favorite part was the petting zoo. She fed goats with her Uncle Boy (Hoyt). She laughed every time the goat licked her hand. It was hilarious! After all that fun, Addison fell asleep on the way home.



Addison used the potty twice today. She's still inconsistent, but we're working hard at it. Robert & I would love to not change diapers anymore!

Next weekend we plan to go to Bradley's Country Store Days. The weather should be great, and there will be yummy sausages to eat!

Market Days & the Winter Festival are coming the first weekend in December. Really looking forward to both of those. It's unfortunate that they happen on the same weekend...it's a lot to do in two days!

Last but not least, I must make up for not including Amaly's long-awaited return to Tallahassee on my list of reasons why I'm excited for December. So, to add to my previous post:
December 12 - Amaly finally returns! Can't wait to hang out & catch up! (Love you, Amaly!)

Robert's 27th "birfdee"

So, I'm exceedingly late on this whole blog thing. Based on the number of attempts I had to make at getting a blogspot address, everyone except for me, Robert & Addison must already have a blog. I talked with my sister in law Evelyn after she started her blog. She told me how she wanted a cool title. I think I failed that effort here. But I got really tired of trying to come up with something witty. I even tried "wittytitle"...and it was taken.

Tonight, Robert has gone to the FSU vs. Boston College game. Prior to that, we celebrated his 27th birthday by ordering pizza from our favorite place - Paulina's Pizzeria - and playing Mario Kart. Robert's parents came over to eat lunch with us. Addison's birthday present for her Daddy was that she took a 2 hour nap! First voluntary weekend nap in over a month!

We had fun while Robert was at the game. We spent time watching movies (animals, of course!), eating "birfdee" (birthday) cake, and braiding Addison's hair. We tried two times. The first attempt was a regular french braid. The second was french braid "pig tails" as Addy called them.


Later, she was completely uninterested in going to sleep. We spent about two hours negotiating. She kept asking for her Daddy. It's fascinating to me that kids - even infants - can notice the most subtle changes in routine. Children are amazing creatures.

I'm excited for December to arrive for MANY reasons:
1. December 5 - Photo proof session with Long's Photography. You know how much I love photos of my family, so I cannot wait to see what shots Linda got of us!!
2. December 19 - Last day of school! Whoo hoo! I love my children, but I really look forward to the extra time with Addison!
3. December 21 - I thought there was something happening on this day...oh wait! It's FENELLA & MARK'S WEDDING in Edinburgh! :-( Sad I can't be there, so I HOPE it will be broadcast via webcam.
3.5 December 21 - Addison's 2nd "birfdee"! Oh how time flies...
4. December 24-25 - Only my absolute favorite time of year. Nothing* makes me happier than the Christmas holiday!
5. December 27-28 - Beach trip with my best buds. It's the first big vacation we've ever taken as a group...and it's about time!

*Except my family!

Happy 27th Birthday, Robert!