Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car Pictures

***Please note - I am having trouble getting the video to work. Not sure what to do. Hopefully it will work soon.
***Don't forget to read the post right before this one!

Addison was VERY excited when she found out who the "special friends" were going to be. This is Tony showing her inside the auditorium what we were doing and her reaction! We loved seeing how excited she was to be seeing The Wiggles. The Wiggles house was all Addison saw when she entered the auditorium, and knew immediatly what she was going to get to see! She just could not believe that she was going to see a "Wiggley Concert". We of course had to get in line with all the other parents to see how much we could spend on souviners. We opted for a cup with the Wiggles on it, as it seemed the most practical. While waiting for the concert to start, daddy taught Addison how to blow through the straw to make it sound like a whistle, a very loud ear-piercing whistle! Mommy was not real happy!!

Addison wanted to know if she was going to be able to see her boyfriend, Jeff. She loves the purple wiggle, Jeff the best. She has a little boy in her class named Jackson; who she told us was her boyfriend the 1st few days of schools. About a month after school hd started, we ran into Jackson and his mom in Walmart. I asked Addison after we left if that was Jackson her boyfriend, she politely reminded me that only Jeff was her boyfriend and she could only have 1 boyfriend. How silly of me to forget!

Our seats were good, not too far away that Addison could not see, but far enough away that some of our pictures were not real good. Here are some pictures of Addison, our dancing Diva.

The diva dancer in action:

Bye Wiggles! Hope you had fun Addison. Mommy and daddy REALLY, REALLY had a fun time with you and you were so good on our trip!

Toot Toot, Chugga Chugga, Big Red Car

Yep, that's right...Tony, Addison and I went to the Wiggles Concert on Friday night! Addison was so excited and could hardly believe that she was going to get to see your boyfriend, Jeff. We did not tell her where we were; we dropped Olivia off at Bubba's house and headed back out on the road to Ames, Iowa. All Addison knew was that she was going on a date with daddy and mommy and was going to be able to stay in a hotel and also go swimming. Early Friday morning when we were getting ready to leave, Addison was kinda whinning that she wanted a friend to go with her to the hotel. I tried to tell her that we were going to see some special friends while we were there. She pushed the issue all day long!!

When we arrived at our hotel, Tony went and checked in and the manager asked what we were doing in town. Tony told him and he said he was noticing a trend with the clientele coming into the hotel. We were worried that our nosy little peanut might here someone talking about it, so we tried to shield her from everyone. I am sure we looked a little silly. Anyway, we went to dinner at the Pizza Ranch, and she was still talking about seeing her friends - still no idea who it was going to be!

We arrived at the Hilton Coliseum at 5:50 pm for the 6:30pm show...the man who took our tickets asked Addison if she was excited, I told him she had no idea yet what she was doing that it was a surprise, he said, "oh she'll have tons of fun then"!! We walked right into the coliseum so that she could see what we were doing. I think she was in shock as she realized what we were doing...

"The Wiggles mom, are we seeing a Wiggles concert"?

"Addison, your friends are the Wiggles; mommy and daddy wanted to surprise you because we love you so much and you are such a big helper".

"Do I really get to see my boyfriend Jeff"?

She was beyond excited. I will load the pictures tomorrow.

Happy Halloween Raggedy Ann's

Let me preface this with this comment: if any of you out there that read this have more than 1 child you will know what I am talkig about - it is absolutly IMPOSSIBLE to get a GREAT picture of both your kids smiling and looking at the camera at the same time! So with that said, enjoy our halloween pictures of the tops of heads, closed eyes, stuffing our faces with candy and minimal smiling!

Both the girls dressed up as Raggedy Ann for Halloween this year. We were able to get som clothes from Mamo (Tony's mom) to wear. She collects and makes Raggedy Dolls and even makes some life size dolls, so she already had the outfits. Addison enjoyed trick-or-treating this year, with minimal fright. She tried VERY hard to talk herself out of ever scary costume we walked by. I had to remind her numerous times that under the mask and make-up, that little boy of little girl was just the same as her. She would look at me and relpy, "I know mom, they are silly. I am just laughing". All the while standing behind my leg so as not to see them. Olivia is getting a cold, so she got to put her costume on and then had to head to bed shortly after. She needs her sleep right now since I can't buy any cold medicine for her (apparently, the FDA thinks it does not work...Tony and I disagree).

Enjoy our febble attempts at catching the Raggedy's together:

After dinner Kristin, Brian and Keyara came over and trick-or-treated with us for a little while. Addison and Keyara were about as cooperative as Addison and Olivia were earlier in the evening. Kristin even said she didn't pull out the camera because it just wasn't worth it...true!!!

We did have a memorable Halloween and even found a few new traditions that we want to start!

Super Parents

We tried to have a fun family night last night. Fun was had by all, except Olivia. Addison had told us earlier in the week that she wanted to cut a face into the pumpkins and also wanted to paint them. What a great idea, lets do that. So we ordered pizza, moved the table and chairs and spread an old sheet on the floor. Got the pumpkins cleaned off, plates to pour the paint onto, and paint clothes on the girls. We were ready for this fun evening. Addison was the 1st to dive into the paint, and she thought it would also be fun to paint her legs black. Olivia was next, we tried VERY hard to show her that the paint went on the pumpkin, NOT in her mouth. She was not a good listener. Even Addison tried to help her with painting the pumpkin. Olivia was not hvaing any of the pumpkin, only paint in the mouth. It became apparently obvious to me that this was NOT going to be enjoyable if I had to continue fighting her off and holding her hands out of her mouth. I had visions of how this night was going to go, and that fiasco was not in my vision. (Reminded me of Addison's 1st birthday party) So, unfortunatly Olivia was not allowed to participate in the fun anymore. She went right to the bath and then to bed.

Once Olivia was in bed, we got right into getting the "guts" of the pumpkin out and continuing to paint the pumpkins. Addison even asked if she could put more paint on Olivia's for her! Addison loves her sister sooooooooooooooooooooo much, it melts my heart!!

This little video sums up the evening well. We really did have a fun time, and Addison enjoyed it so much. I think we will make this a yearly tradition! I did find out something I had not know about Tony, he has NEVER carved a pumpkin. He tried to get the "guts" out of the pumpkin, but there were still seeds and strings hanging...I took over and scooped it out!

Happy Fall Ya'LL

The girls have been enjoying trips to the Pumpkin Patch! Addison has been less than cooperative with picture taking, and Olivia just smiles everytime we say "cheese"! Last weekend, we had "grandparents weekend" at our house. Addison got to take her grandparents to preschool with her and then we all headed out to The Scarecrow Patch. We thought we would only be there an hour or so, it was after lunch and we figured the girls would get tired and need a nap. Well after 3 1/2 hours, we finally left, hoping they would fall asleep on the 20 minute drive home! Nope, both wide awake and singing in the car! Needless to say, it was dinner early, baths early and off to bed early!

While at the pumpkin patch, Addison got to ride a slide (a million times), ride the zip line, ride a pony and pick out a pumpkin. Oh, and she has a tendency to not watch where she is walking or running, and ran smack into the corner of a truck flatbed. We got some ice on the boo-boo and cleaned it up. She was good as new, and ready for more playing. Olivia enjoyed playing in the corn and watching Addison run around! We tried VERY hard to get some good pictures of the girls together in the pumpkin displays, but when one was looking or smiling, the other was not. So, not too many good pictures! A lot of pictures though.

We are anxious for Halloween to dress the girls up and go trick-or-treating! Addison likes to try on her costume EVERYDAY! Matter of fact, she enjoys trying on ALL her clothes everyday. She has made it her personal goal to see how many outfits she can wear in a single day. Sometimes, it can be as many as 10! Last night Tony and I went to parent-teacher conferences for Addison! She is doing great and her teacher thinks she is fitting into their program very well! We are so proud of her! We love you so much peanut!!!

Enjoy some pictures from the pumpkin patch!

And some more!

A Trek to Idaho

Happy 1st Birthday Leo! Mommy, daddy, grammy, Addison, and Olivia made the 15 hour trek to Pocatello Idaho to see Leo for his 1st birthday. Addison was a complete angel in the car. I could not have asked her to be any more well behaved...now she did have a constant companion to entertain her, thank you mom! Olivia, well she thought it might be fun to see exactly how many times she could poop in a day. It turned out to be 5 times just druing the car ride! I am sure that slowed us down a bit. We were up and ready to leave at 4am from Grand Island and pulled into Pocatello at 6pm - it was 70 degrees when we left and 38 when we arrived at Kevin and Jenny's house. We were able to let the girls play for a little while before starting thier baths and getting them to bed. Neither one slept much in the car on the way there, so we figured thay had to be exhausted. Addison and grammy were sharing a bed, and Addison would not go to bed without grammy, so off to bed grammy went at 9pm; good think, cuz Addison was up and ready to go at 5:30am the next morning. Tony and I learned that Olivia talks in her sleep and was rather loud, disrupting our sleep. But she slept great! Saturday, we woke up to about 2 inches of snow on the ground and it conitnued to snow all day. Jenny says 6 inches, Kevin says 3 inches! So not really sure how much snow there was. Addison, daddy, grammy, Kevin and Leo all went to the Idaho State University Homecoming parade...yes, in the snow! I think Addison had fun, she brought home a "true Idaho potatoe"! Jenny and I stayed home and got ready for Leo's birthday party! Hard to believe it has already been a year. I remember getting a call from Kevin on the evening of October 11th saying "Ker, we might have a baby...I just had to tell someone". I think cried tears of joy for them for quite sometime. I waited nervously the next day for Kevin to call me and say he was theirs. I was still home on maternity leave with Olivia. This was the 1st day I had taken Olivia to the babysitter because I had to run into work for a few hours. Well, on my way to work, I realized, I had the wrong day. So, I turned around and was just going to go home and sleep for a little while. I got the call, "his name is Micheal Leo and he is all ours! We are on our way out the door right now to go get him. What do you think we should take for him". It was so awesome to hear the excitment in their voices, a true miracle and the working of God. God has truly blessed not only Kevin and Jenny, but Leo with parents who love him uncondtionally and with so much love! I decided to head to Walmart and buy a "few" things for them. A few things turned into much more, and I filled a diaper box full of "stuff" for them!! I couldn't wait to tell Addison about her new cousin! We finally got to see them in February, when they flew into Omaha for baptism for Olivia and Leo! Leo was an answer to prayers for Kevin and Jenny, and was also a great addition to their family awhile they wait for the call from China to go get their daughter to make thier family complete!

The rest of our trip in Idaho was spent just having fun and watching grammy run around with all her grandkids!! It was so fun to watch her with them all, and truly enjoy EVERY single minute, every single cry and every single whinning moment she had with them. Addison and grammy played puppets, grammy read books to the kids, got up at 5am with Addison, grammy gave baths, put all the kids to bed, feed the kids, took them for walks, carried them and entertained them in the car! They all veyed for her attention. I wonder what she will do when they all are as opinated as Addison and want grammy with them ever second of every day! Better get your running shoes on mom!!

We spent some time at a beautiful park and tried to get some fun outdoor pictures of the girls and our family.

Enjoy the rest of the random pictures from Idaho! We sure had a great time and can't wait to get together again!

The trip home seemed to go much faster; we got home in 14 hours, but still a LONG trip, and again the girls did perfect. Olivia did not try to break her poop record, but did decide once mom was driving that it was time to poop a few times. We really enjoyed our trip and hope we can get to see Leo again real soon. Prefably before Cassie and Lou's wedding in April.

Next, we have to find a weekend to head to Wichita to see Addison and Olivia's newest cousin, Sydney. Tyler and Latisha had a baby girl this morning! Londyn is being a great big sister, although really wants mommy to hold her!

Thanks for coming by! Don't forget to check out the post before this with additional pictures!!

A LONG overdue Update

So it has been quite awhile since I posted, where has the time gone? I will try to do better. This post will be in 3 parts because we have so much to share with you all! First will be pictures from Addison's 1st day of preschool and then Kevin, Jenny and Leo's trek west to Idaho to their new home and fianlly our trek west to see Leo for his 1st birthday!! So get ready....

Addison was quite the cheeseball on her 1st day of school - she would not sit still for me to take any pictures. She has loved preschool and enjoys singing us new songs and having Jesus time with her baby dolls. She struggled with Jesus time in the beginning, not sure why, but she loves it now. Today, she was having a pajama party at school and thought it was so funny to wear her pj's to school.

Kevin, Jenny and Leo have moved to Pocatello, Idaho from South Carolina. I think they need to buy winter jackets still. There has already been 2 snowfalls! Much more snow than they have seen in the last 9 years living in South Carolina. Along their trip west was a stop in Grand Island for a few days of rest, relaxation, and chaos as we celebrated Addison and Olivia's birthdays with them. Leo decided that the trip the day before was way to long and he needed a good nap, so he slept through the party and woke up just in time for the start of the Husker game. It was fun to visit and see Leo again. We had not seen him since February. He was so big, and almost walking. Addison had a great time following him around, try to give him loves. He was a sport! Addison enjoys reading and having books read to her. Kevin always likes to take advantage of this and read to Addison when he sees her. He had a hard time keeping a straight face this time, as he thought we were all staring at him. He apparently gets the giggles when he is around me.

We even missed daddy's birthday in here, sorry Tony!! I did not forget about you!! We did not forget his actual birthday, just forgot to mention it on this blog! Happy Belated Birthday Daddy! We love you ! For his birthday, we went to York to visit his mom and dad. Tony was playing in a golf tournament, and I got to go with him. Very rarely do I get to go out to the golf course with him, so it was a nice treat. Although it was ab it chilly, actually it was freezing. I think Tony would have loved to have had Addison out there watching, but I do not think she would be able to keep quiet and last through all 18 holes. So Mamo watched the girls, and Addison and her made daddy a birthday cake for when the golfing was all done! The girls made daddy a picture frame for his office (actually just Addison made it, Olivia was sleeping!). He just needs to find "the perfect" picture to put into it!

So this blogger is giving me some trouble, so I think I will post this and then do our Idaho trip this afternoon. I promise I will get it done, I have the pictures with me! Enjoy reading about the last month!!