Michael loves Addy ...and cats...and trucks

We got to spend the whole day yesterday with Michael and Melissa, Abbie, and PoPo and Pa Pa. It was nice to just hang out and let the kids play. Michael has a newfound LOVE for Addy. He kept hugging her and not letting go...otherwise known as "ultimate closeness". Addy's a good sport - she's experienced similar "love" for her whole life. Michael loves kitty cats in the same fashion. The funniest thing was Michael's love of trucks. He kept making dad take him outside to drive Joe's truck...over and over and over again. If we went outside Michael would take off running towards Joe's truck. He got upset when he had to come inside and leave the truck outside. It was very cute to see him that into something. We took the kids to the Riley playground and let them run around for an hour or so. That's a cool playground - they have equipment that didn't exist when we were little. Shows how old I've gotten :) Lily found a set of halloween teeth and tried them out - I thought this picture was HILARIOUS!

SHE WALKS!

Forgive the "crazy mom commentary". I've got to stop talking while filming :)

Yard Pictures

We had some landscaping done a few weeks ago and spruced up the yard a little bit. We replaced two hemlocks with Norway Spruce trees on the side of the house. They should grow really big and completely block the neighbors (mom and dad have a Norway spruce in front of their house that is HUGE). We also put a redbud out back and replaced the trees that were on either side of the garage with some prettier ones. THEN, we got 3 new flowering plants for the side. I can't wait till everything blooms and fills out. It was cloudy today but warm enough for the girls to play in the yard so I got a few pics of them and a few of the new landscaping.

Pooh Bear Party

Today we celebrated Addy's b-day with family. Po Po joined us at the zoo this morning. We were practically the only ones there b/c it was FREEZING. It was about 40 degrees when we were there. The girls did famously though. We saw the outdoor animals as quickly as possible and only really lingered at the tiger - b/c he's fabulous. Then we went into the warm dolphin pavilion and watched the dolphins swim around us. We went to the dolphin show. Addy loved it and boogied to the music. At one point during the show, Lily got to go down and help the trainers. She taught the dophin how to spin around. You can kind of see her in the picture - she's the itty bitty one in the picture with the "SPLASH" sign..too the right of the girls in the red shirts. Addison liked the sharks best. You could pet them if your arms are long enough (Addy's are not). Mom treated us to lunch at the new cafe patachou. It was so yummy! Here's the highlight of the whole morning....Lily left the house for 4 hours in NO DIAPERS. Amazing. She's done awesome at home and day care, but we'd not attempted an outing yet. So she's potty trained. It's official. We still put a pull up on her at night, but she often wakes up with it dry. Anyway, I digress....






So after naps we had Addy's birthday party. It was a Pooh Bear theme. She had pooh hats, plates, a banner and a Pooh cake. It was quite exciting. We kept it low key this year with basically just grandparents and aunts along with Jessica and Nikki. We missed Melissa and Mike b/c of stupid bronchitis, but we'll visit them soon when everyone is feeling better. It was a good group and Addy did great. She loved her cake, LOVED all of the attention and got a kick out of the new grocery cart from GG (great grandma). THEN, when everyone left, Addy took 4 steps! It's a big day!

My Baby is 1...sniff sniff

Addy B turned one year old today. I was kind of sad about the whole thing. She's supposed to be just a baby and here she is turning one! Now I'm even more committed to convincing Barclay that we need a third child eventually. We just do - let's face it. Who could argue with bringing more cuteness into the world? The last year just flew by...I really feel like we just brought her home. Oh well...I guess there's no stopping the clock. We're celebrating her birthday on Saturday, but couldn't let today go by without some cake. Barclay, Lily and I got Addy a sandbox for her birthday and we gave her that today as well. Boy is that messy! The cake really was good despite Addy's lack of interest. Lily ate it up!