A Skyping Christmas

We have had a great Christmas this year. Addyson, Jimmy, and I have just spent time together and had so much fun. And we are still spending time together till the first of the year. Every year Jimmy's work shuts down till after the new year. I just love it. We are able to do so many things while he is off.

Addyson woke up about 7:30 am on Christmas morning. Before we went and got her out of bed I could hear her over the monitor singing Santa Clause is coming to town! And did I mention that we got a WHITE CHRISTMAS IN TENNESSEE ? When she came out of her room she was so excited to see all of her gifts that Santa had brought her. Before we started opening any gifts we set the computer up on the coffee table to be able to Skype my parents in Alaska. Addyson didn't want to open any of her gifts she just wanted to talk to Nana, Pa, Alex and Chris. Mommy and Daddy opened all of her gifts while she was Skyping! We didn't have to get her any gifts just let her talk to Nana and Pa on Skype. After we got done opening gifts Jimmy cooked us a wonderful breakfast. Later that day we headed over to Jimmy's parents house to celebrate Christmas with them. We ate and ate and ate till we were just miserable! Everything was just amazing.  Even though we have missed my family being her for Christmas this year we have had a great Christmas. So thankful for all of our family and friends that we have spent time with over these past few months. We just love getting together with family and friends. The gifts do not matter at all it is the time we get to spend with them ( and the food !) 

Addyson got a little black eye. She fell down the stairs at her granparents house and hit the gate that keeps the dog from going upstairs. She is getting very clumsy. It is a good thing she is super tough and never cries about getting hurt because I see a whole lot of accidents in her future.

Our White Christmas !!

                                       Her Easel that Santa brought her.

                                   This is her Jessie that she was dying to get.

                              Opening gifts at Nanny and Poppys house.

                 Showing off her boots that Uncle Jeffy and Aunt Cindy got her.

                                             Opening her stocking

              Skyping with Nana,Pa, Alex, and Chrish all the way in Alaska.

                                    Eating Christmas dinner. Yum, yum!

Opening her new camera. She loves taking pictures like mommy.

Where have We Been?

It has been super crazy around her. We have been all wrapped up in the holiday festivities that I have not even had a chance to write about what we have been up to. Sunday we got a big suprise of about 3 inches of snow. We were suppose to pick up my brother, Alex, from the airport at 10:30 am. Because of all the bad weather his flight got cancelled and delayed a few times and we ended up not picking him up till about 9:00 pm Sunday night. We were so glad for him to be home. Addyson was so excited for him to be here. She did not want him out of her sight for any amount of time!

This was when Uncle Alex first came in the door. Can you tell that she was excited?

 Addyson and Uncle Alex eating some dinner together.

Eating at Chick-fil-a for the first time in 6 months. He said that if his phone rang while he was eating he would definetley not answer it. He was going to savor every bite of it!

 Here is Addyson with her new friend Reese!

Last week I took Addyson to the mall for the first time in who knows how long. We were only going to go into Macy's but ended up going to a bunch of different places. She was done shopping before I was so I promised her to see Santa and get a cookie. She sat in Santa's lap and instead of getting a cookie we got a Build-a-Bear. She picked Clarice from Rudolph. She is Rudolph's girlfriend. Clarice is known as Reece at our house.We take her EVERYWHERE !! She had a blast picking out clothes for her. We BOTH had such a good time. Can't wait to go back to get Rudolph.

Well hope that it will not be so long before I update on all the fun things that are going on around here.

Home...

This week has been long. Monday we got a phone call that they could not wake up my husbands 90 year old Grandfather. He had gone into a comba and passed early Tuesday morning. He was a great man of the Lord. We were sad to see him pass but know that he is home with Jesus. So thankful for all the times we got to spend with him.

                   Look at him looking at her. He sure thought she was something!

                            Addyson moving Papa Robinson's chair up and down.

Addyson with Nanny Robinson

 

Black Friday

*Warning* I have only had 3 1/2 hours of sleep. So if things just seem to run together you will know why. Oh how I love Black Friday Sales!

Yesterday afternoon I scanned through all the sale papers mapping out my plan for Black Friday. My list consisted of  first stop Walmart at 12:01am to get a $15 Shop Vac, a $12 Toy Story 3 Jessie (regular $30) and 4 mini choppers $2.97. Next stop was Belk 4:00am to get $19.99 dress boots. I left my house at 10:015pm and arrived at Walmart around 10:30. They had all of the Door Buster items in the middle of the isles on pallets and wrapped in plastic. There was people everywhere. I mapped out where everything was that I was going to get. At 10:45 they started taking off  all the plastic and letting everyone put the things they wanted in their cart. I got the Shop Vac, 4 mini choppers and the Jessie. Did I mention that there were only 6 Jessies in the whole entire store?? The man in front of me took 3 and the other lady took 1 leaving only 2 Jessies when it was "my turn" ( if "my turn" is what you want to call people grabbing things uncontrollable) That was the most important thing that I came for and it was a close one but we got her! 

Cooking For Thanksgiving

I am just super excited about Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays. We will be having Thanksgiving at my in-laws house this year.  Even though we will not be having Thanksgiving at our house I have been doing some cooking. I just love to cook and bake. It is definetley one of my favorite hobbies. For Thursday I will be cooking Aunt Helen's Broccoli Casserole, a pumpkin roll, and a Cranberry Salad. I have been making Pumpkin rolls for years. It is a long process to make one but is definetley worth it. Pumpkin rolls were one of my Nana's favorite desserts. She would have me make one every year for  Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Cranberry salad is very yummy! I thought I would leave you with this recipe. It would be a great addition to your Thanksgiving dinner!

Cranberry Salad1 cup chopped cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp grated orange rine
2 cups chopped apples
1 cup of pecans
13 oz. box rasberry gelatin
1 1/2 cup water

Pour 1/2 cup sugar over cranberries. Let set for 30 minutes. In a large mixing bowl mix together orange rine, chopped apples, and pecans. Stir in cranberries. Boil 11/2 cups water and add 13oz rasberry gelatin to water. Stir gelatin mixture into cran/apple mixture, place in shallow dish approx 8X10 size let chill over night.

I am so thankful for the abundance that we have. I know that we will definetley have way more food then what we need for this holiday! God has truly blessed our family.

Awesome Giveaways

This is such a great giveaway. I have been wanting one of these so so bad!! Shanty2Chic is giving away a Silhoutte. It would be great if I could win one instead of having to buy one. This machine will do just about anything you want.

• Scrapbook pages
• Etch glass
• Tattoos
• Vinyl decor
• Cards
• Iron transfers
• and so much more!!!!

Oh man how I would love to win this! Hopefully I will get lucky this one time. If anyone is interested in entering this giveaway head on over to http://shanty2chic.blogspot.com/! While you are there check out some of the amazing things that they create. They are some super crafty girls.

Infarrantly Creative is also giving away a Silhoutte! Visit this blog also to enter in this AWESOME giveaway! http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/  And also http://www.theidearoom.net/ is giving away a machine also!

Jessica's Baby Shower

On Saturday I hosted a baby shower along with a couple of friends/co-workers, Allison and Michelle. It turned out super cute. Everything went so smoothly and was just great. Here are some pictures from the shower.

 Isn't this cake just amazing? Jessica's sister in-law Rebecca made it. She also made the chocolate covered strawberry topiaries to accompany the cake.

                                                                                 

                                          This is some yummy mocha punch. It is super addicting.

                                                                           

                               These are the favors. They are small mason jars filled with homemade hot cocoa mix.

           This is one of my remakes of a Pottery Barn Christmas card holder. I will have to do a post on this real soon! For the shower we used it to hang baby pictures that everyone brought. In the invitation we asked everyone to bring a picture. During the shower everone was suppose to guess who each of the pictures were. It was a great game. Loved to see baby pictures of everyone!

           These are the clips that I made to hang the pictures from.

 This is Jessica. The soon mommy to be of her second child Jaya Grace.

We had such a good time at the shower. Jessica got some really cute things for Jaya. Can't wait to meet this sweet baby girl! It won't be long till she arrives. Just love having people into my home and having such good fellowship.

26 Months Today

Is she really 26 months today? Time is slipping away to quickly. Can't believe that she is this old. She has really started to come up with things that I have no clue where she learned them. Oh yeah and did I mention that she has a 13 year olds attitude?! Not kidding. But hopefully this will not stick around for long!! Here are some of the things that Addyson has been up to this month.

• Went Trick or Treating on Halloween and loved it
• She was the cutest bumble bee ever!
• Still carries her trick or treat bag around with her and asks me to put candy in it.
• She is in love with Toy Story 3. Jesse is her favorite.
• She also has started to watch a little bit of Chuggington and a ton of Imagination Movers her favorite!
• She loves to go to Baskin Robins and eat "pink" ice cream. Also known as Rainbow sherbert.
• The other day I told her that she could not have any gum and went to her doll Sophie and told her " I JUST WANT A PIECE OF GUM SOPHIE!"
•  She is  becoming very dramatic!
• She can remember anything that you tell her.
• She is still in the process of being potty trained and it feels like we are never going to be, but I know someday she will be.
• She went to Chad and Lindsay's wedding and had a blast dancing.
• She followed the photographer around at the wedding  wanting her picture taken. (Wonder why ? )
• She had a long over due play date with her best friend Avie.

She is growing up way to fast. She thinks that she is a whole lot older than what she really is! And I think that they say that it doesn't get any better when it comes to girls! Oh well I love her just the way that she is. That is what makes it fun and interesting.

 Ready for Chad and Lindsey's Wedding

Visiting her best friend Avie

The cutest bumble bee ever!!

Just Like Poppy

We have already had a really exciting morning and it is only 9:00 am! Just like any other Tuesday I had to go to work and Nanny comes and picks Addyson up to keep her for the day. Well when I got out of the truck this morning I thought that I had unlocked the doors when I got out to get Addyson to put her in Nanny's car. (My doors do not unlock automatically when you turn the car off.)When I got to her door it was still locked. So I went back around to my door and it was locked! I had locked my keys and Addy in the car. I tried to call locksmiths and they were all different names but the same recording. (HOAX!) So I called the police department and they sent out the firefighters. Addyson was calm as could be while waiting for them to get her out. She thought it was great that firefighters "just like Poppy" were rescuing her. ha! Addyson could not stop saying "just like Poppy!" They were great.



Daddy's Prize

Daddy promised her a prize if she was a good girl at the doctors office when she got her shots. So he gave her a choice between a "chino" from Starbucks, she loves them, or ice cream. She told him she wanted pink ice cream. So that is what she got! And she sat and ate every last bite of it. Isn't this face just adorable?

2 Year Check Up

Today was Addyson's 2 year check up. She was so excited to get to go see "Dr. Keish" as she calls him. The nurse weighed her on the big girl scale and she thought that was just great. She weighed all of 37 pounds! And when I say all of it I mean it. She is getting to be hard to carry around. She is solid as a rock! She stood nice and tall for the nurse to check her heighth and she was 35 inches tall. Almost 3 feet but not quite. She was very still for the doctor when he was checking her out. She especially liked him looking in her ears. The doctor said that she was one healthy girl. She had to get 2 shots today. I had told her yesterday that she was going to get a shot. She has been watching her Nanny give herself insulin and was not scared at all. She said " I be a big girl like Nanny. It not hurt!" Well she made it through the finger prick and was fine, but the shots she was just not up for. She did so good though sat very still with tears coming down her face. This was only the second time that I was in the room with her when she gets her shots. Normally I stand right outside the door because I have this thing with needles. But I am trying to get over it and thought the best way to do that was to conquer my fears and stay in the room with her while she gets her shots. I felt so bad leaving the room everytime that I knew that I was going to have to suck it up and stay in the room with her. So needless to say Mommy did really good today too!

Addy has not been taking naps on the days that I don't work. It is hard for me to put her down when she wants to be with me because I wasn't with her the day before. So today after she went to the doctor I think that she was just so worn out from the shots and the whole day that she decided to give it up and take a nap. I just do not know what to do with myself this is unusual at our house these days. Well I better get back to my "me" time and get some things done that I have been dying to do.

Old Technology... New Home Decor

My "old technology"

So about a week and a half ago I posted on Facebook that I was in need of an old console t.v, hence the title "old technology." In less than a few hours someone at messaged me and said that they had one. I messaged her back and she said that I could pick it up any time. So about 2 days later I went and picked it it. The sweet lady was from a church that my dad use to pastor. I tried to offer her money for it but insisted I just have it. It is super nice. After posting this on facebook all of my friends curiousity had piqued. They were all interested in what I was going to do with it. Now that all of you think that I am crazy. I have started to take this "old technology" and form it into my own peice of home decor. I have never done anything like this before but would love to start doing a lot more of it. I just love some of the things that I have found that people have made their own with just some elbow grease and a little paint. Well I know that you are dying to see what I have done so far on it. With out any further blabbing...  here is what I have done so far.

This is my "new home decor" so far. Excuse my husbands legs in the picture. He took out the t.v part for me. He is so good to do that kind of stuff for me. I hope to get the rest done pretty soon. You know we stay pretty busy around here.

Addyson at 25 Months

So has it really been a month since her second birthday. Wow is time still flying by or what? I am a little late on getting this up but we have been super busy. Addyson has been up to a lot of things this month.

• Celebrated her 2nd birthday
• Went camping at defeated creek campground and had an awesome time
• Started to love swinging again
• Played with Play-dough for the first time
• Went to see Mrs. Polly at her pumpkin patch for the 3rd year in a row.
• Visited Honeysuckle Hill Farms and had a great time
• Learned to say her ABC's
• Sings all the time!
• Loves watching the Movie The Chipmunks
• Went to Kameryn's birthday party
• She is still singing happy birthday to herself after a whole month.
• She can count to ten.
• Asked her Nanny if she was nervous. ha! and she used it in the right context.
• She is talking to me in conversations now! I can talk to her as if she was an adult.

She is just growing like crazy and learning so many new things. Love to hear her say new words it is so cute.

No Surgery for Me!

After a month of preparing myself for going under anathesia and the IV, because those two things I dread more than anything, I am NOT having surgery thanks to good ole bronchitis. This is the fifth time this year that I have had bronchitis and I am totally annoyed by this sickness. I was really disappointed that I was not having surgery because preparing yourself mental for something like this is the hardest part and I had reached that point at the begining of the week. Now I have a whole month to sit and think about what could happen and how much the IV is going to hurt. Ha! I know that I am crazy but I can handle all the pain that comes after the surgery but cannot stand the thought of a needle in my hand or bend of my arm or back side of my wrist. I know that sounds pitiful, but I just am really afraid of IV's!

So you ask what kind of surgery am I having? Well about 6 years ago I had a skiing accident and hurt my knee. Ever since then I have had problems with it. They told me at some point I was more than likely going to have surgery. So about 2 months ago a friend of mine dropped by unexpectedly and scared me. When she did I jumped and came down on it the wrong way. I had an MRI and they found that I had torn my meniscus. I am sure that the skiing accident just made the meniscus weak and when I came down on it the wrong way it just torn in half. So I am having surgery to repair my meniscus.

So now until Nov. 22nd I will be preparing myself for my surgery. I will tell my husband a million times how nervous I am and my daughter will hear me and she will say "Nanny, you nervous?" And by Nov. 19 I will be mentally ready for my surgery, because believe me physically I have been ready since my accident. It has not been easy but when your a mommy and a wife and work a job you just have to suck it up and keep on.

Another Pumpkin Patch

I am so behind on things that have been going on. We have been super busy and have had no time for "blogging". But I know that I have to do it cause this is like Addyson's baby book. I don't want to forget the things that we did  or the new words that she said. So on with the post enough of all the excuses of why I haven't posted in forever.

We visited a local farm with Jimmy's parents. They have a bunch of activities for small children. It was such a great trip. Addyson loved it. Her favorite part was the pumpkins of course. She is completely obsessed with pumpkins right now. She carries a small pumpkin around the house with her all day long. It is so cute! Oh yeah and her other favorite part of the trip was getting an icee while we were there. Yum! The drive there and back was beautiful. The leaves had already started to change making the drive even better. So glad that we found this great place.

 This place was super cute.

 It had a petting zoo and pig races.

 Milking the cow.

 Drinking her icee. Yum Yum

Her favorite part. The pumpkins!

A Week of NO Work

Ahh.. a week with no work for my husband or me! It was amazing. We spent our week at defeated creek campground. We had such a great time. We went last year and Addy was not that much into it, but this year she absoulutly loved it. She played so hard every day that by the time it was 8:30- 9:00 she was more than ready for bed. We ate a ton of food while we were there and I am not exadurating when I say a ton! Everything we ate was so so good though. While we were camping we also took our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Addyson loved being able to pick out her own pumpkin. All she kept saying while we were there was "big punkins"! We love every second of our trip. Can't wait to go back next year.

Fishing with her Daddy for the first time!