Candy Cane Cutie

Next to Santa, candy canes were the part of Christmas Addison seemed to look forward to the most. She remembered Grandpa Kirk giving them to her last year. I was completely shocked that she actually could remember last Christmas - She was only a year and a half old!!

So it seemed only fitting that our Christmas Cards had a candy cane theme this year. And you know that means I had to take a ton of pictures! Here are my favorites (and of course, I didn't narrow it down to just a few):









Don't you just love that shirt? Thank you Nana for making and putting that fantastic candy cane on Addison's shirt!

Here's our final product:


It took five minutes to make; but 5 hours to print. Seriously. Thankfully Phil was able to rescue me from my printing disasters, all the way from Anchorage. Thank you Phil!!

Sad part: I thought I was completely done with these cards on the 20th - but I just discovered that I still have about a half dozen cards, addressed, stamped and ready for the mail - they just haven't made it there yet! Good grief!

Ultrasounds and X-Rays

The day after the Kids Christmas Party, Clint flew down and drove up to Anchorage with Addison and I. Addison had appointments for Ultrasounds, a X-Ray and an appointment with a Pediatric Specialist. We've been to the doctors here locally, and to Addison's Peditrician to find out what was causing her severe pain.

Now here is where I get to brag: Addison was such a good girl during her exams, ultrasounds and tests. She did so good. Never cried never had a terrified moment. I am just so proud. NOW that is not to say she enjoyed it - she really could have done without the X-Ray. We had to take three and right as the last one was finished she looked up at me and said, "All done. No more please." Thankfully, I was able to tell her that we were done. Whew! But really, I could not have dreamt of her dealing with it any better than she did. Whatta girl!


So far they've narrowed it down to bladder spasms - which are apparently incredibly painful. It is something she should be able to grow out of; but if it happens again they want to see her again to do an internal exam. The thought of this scares me so bad. They'd actually have to put her under anesthesia and admit her into the Children's Hospital. I'm praying for that and many other reasons that this little nightmare is OVER!

Ahh, doesn't she look adorable in her little hospital gown? She was thrilled to have a mirror to entertain herself with while we waited . . .


On the upside, spending most of December in Anchorage has allowed us to spend lots of time with Nana & Grandpapadopolis.


Everytime we went to Anchorage we got stuck there. The roads home ended up closing due to bad weather - including a record-breaking 6.5 foot snowfall in less than three days! What a great place to get stuck - good company, good food and just a relaxing time (which was appreciated beyond belief - especially considering the reason we were there)!

You Better Watch Out . . .

Addison has been so excited for Santa. She has been talking about him since early October. She kept telling me that I'd, "better watch out . . ." The first few times it took me off guard because I couldn't understand why she was saying that. THEN we realized she was singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Ahh . . . Gotcha Addison.

The one chance we got to see Santa was at the Kids Christmas Party . . . And she noticed right away that there was something suspicious about this Santa . .


In fact, she just couldn't get over it. He just didn't look like she had expected and she didn't get a big jolly ho, ho, ho.


So, I was unable to get a smile from her.


But to be fair, the kid did a very good job playing Santa. He was good with the kids and I think that in about 50 years, he'll even look the part!

The Lone Christmas Party

We had hoped to have a Christmas Party with all of Addison's friends near Christmas; but a nasty cold took over our house and we couldn't have our own party. Thankfully we were well enough to attend at least ONE Christmas party this Season (we missed out on a lot of good ones) While at the Kids Christmas party we and got to hang with some of our friends there - you know, before the crud decided to move in and mess with our favorite holiday!

Kailyn, I wish you had been in this picture! These are some of my favorite girls!


We laughed so hard at this! Bella - you are so adorable!


Ring Around The Rosey turned into a Conga Line when this little one came out of no where and attached herself to Addison!


Addison just adores Bella.


It's all about Hailey these days - if Addison uses her pink cup at home she'll tell me, "the purple one is for Hailey." We don't do much without including Hailey in our conversations. SOOO cute.


Waiting to play Hailey's favorite game: Beanbag toss


And of course, one of our favorite boys was there too: Ireland!

This is too much! Just look at her face here:


This pose reminds me of a prom picture. Addison is so comfortable with Ireland.


Check out Ireland's cute little bow tie!


So glad we were able to make it to this party! Otherwise we wouldn't have been able to see our Friends again until after Christmas - because two days after this party is when Addison began getting sick . . . .

Do you smell that??

It's a brand-spankin-new MacBook Pro!!

Aww . . . . Nothing like that New-Apple-Smell . . . . .

My blog is back in business.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas - you obviously know I did! :)

You have GOT to be kidding me.

I finally decide to get back to my blog and it appears that my computer had other plans because it quit on me. Quit. Kaput. Done. Finitio.

Now I am without my camera AND computer. My two favorite toys - my only link outside of Mommyhood - are gone. I'm trying to handle it like a big girl and not cry ( advice I give Addison); but I'll have u know: I am screaming on the inside.

Just as I had been making plans for our Christmas cards . . . Bummer!

. . . And Thank You For My Snow

Referencing the first mountain top snow of the season, Addison closed out her nightly prayer with, ". . . and thank you for MY snow."

A few weeks later when the snow finally made it's way down the mountain to the ground Addison exclaimed, "It's Christmas!"

To say Addison has been excited about the snow is an understatement.


Addison got to spend some time playing in the snow during our first big storm.


Her cheeks were very red after coming in from the snow. This picture doesn't exactly capture how red they were; but you get the idea.


There were tears when it was time to go back inside. Poor lil girl. But I promised we'd go back out very soon. And as I type this we are in the middle of another storm. Guess it's almost time to go back out and play!

Change of Plans

Just the thought of getting caught up on the blog has been overwhelming. So rather than spending the next two months on the past I'm just gonna start with current postings. I'll throw in a few "flashbacks" here and there.

It's been a strange few months and ever since our cameras were stolen, it's been hard to capture moments in the way I prefer.

I've really missed chronicling Our Dream. Thanks to all who've checked-in wondering when I was gonna start back up.

Still Here . . . .

. . . . I promise!

It has been an entire month since I've updated my blog. Wow.

So much has happened since the last post and I'll try and get caught up and tell you how Addison got THIS BIG:


Now, all I need is a kick in the pants as there is so much to update that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. Yikes!

Messy Eater

I just love pictures of this girl all messy. Maybe I love it because it is so rare. My girl does not appreciate 'Dirty Face.'


When Addison is unaware of her 'Dirty Face,' I think she likes it too! Just look at how her eyes are all lit up!


But maybe that glimmer is because she realized that the goo on her hands made a fun sound when she did this:


Yep, think it was the noise . . . .