The grass

This is my new favorite picture.  I think it encompasses what Summer, childhood and being a girl is all about all rolled into one.

A slideshow of the birthday pictures...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

ADDISON IS 2!!

A few pictures from the birthday party. Just a small family gathering, nothing huge. We all had a great time and Addison loved all her gifts. Our evening entertainment was watching my mom put together the dollhouse bookshelf she and my dad got her for her birthday. Didn't know you'd have to do that, did ya mom? Anyway, she loves taking all the nice boxes off of it and dumping the toys out. The bookshelf looks nice and orderly most times because there isn't anything but empty boxes on it. Pan out and you'll see the pile of tiny toys on the ground. Ah well...baby steps, right?

Christmas

So Christmas went very well and we were all relatively unscathed afterward. There is always a mound of paper and boxes, but for that I am grateful. I know Addison doesn't quite understand grateful yet, but I'll be grateful for her too until she knows. She received lots and lots of adorable clothes, lots and lots of cute toys, and lots and lots of attention! I think in her quiet way, she likes that most. I think her favorite toys were the big interactive kitchen that boils water when you put a pot on the burner and tells you what your cooking, her pink castle and all the little royal people that congregate there and I'd like to say she liked her dolls (especially the one Greg and I got her), but I do see them strewn about the house unclothed or half-clothed. I'll say the dolls were my favorite just because I love dolls, always have. Hopefully one day she'll enjoy them as much as me. I have a ton of them waiting in the attic for her.

I already see signs of her pretend play. It's very cute and exciting. She loves to pour "tea" or "cocoa" from her little tea set (which she also got for xmas). If you're lucky, she'll hand you a cup, but you mustn't hold on to it very long. She has other customers to wait on and unfortunately they must all use the same cup even though she has a bunch of others. If you're really, really lucky, she'll share an invisible cake or cookie with you. She plays quietly with her royal family in the royal castle too. I love watching her play. She speaks her little royal language that we don't really understand, but when we do catch the words, they are beautiful. She speaks precisely when she knows the word and is confident about it. She's repeating everything we say. This morning I caught her repeating the numbers on Sesame Street. I interrupted her, so I only heard "fourteen", but I was impressed. Granted, she wouldn't know 14 if she saw it, but her speech is progressing. She sings more of her ABC's and has added extra verses to "Twinkle, twinkle" and "Jingle Bells" instead of just repeating those words.

Along with the beautiful words, comes her opinions as well and she's working on her tantrums. Mostly when we're in public...so bravo to her for learning so quickly that it works better when people are around. We're still struggling with potty training and it seems like we're doing worse than we had been. I suppose this will come with time, but I'm getting discouraged. She has to be potty trained before she can attend daycare, so now I'm quicker to worry about it.

End of the week she'll be 2 years old! Hard to believe that 2 years ago I was anxiously awaiting her arrival.

The Trauma of Santa

Not once...but twice!



We took Addison to see Santa twice. And neither time did she enjoy it in the slightest. I can only imagine what it's like for a child to be thrusted onto the lap of a portly white-haired stranger with a deep voice and white gloves while your trusted parent backs away leaving you all alone. At 2, she doesn't understand this at all, but we had fun. :) The first time we went it was in a small, we'll call it a cottage. Of course, as soon as we get ready to do pictures, the camera has some kind of malfunction. I'm pretty sure this happened last year too. Anyway, we had to hang out with Mrs. Claus, who luckily had an Elmo Christmas book, so Addison calmed down slightly before the trauma of Santa. Finally, they get the camera situated and we rush to put her in his lap so we might capture a tear-free moment. Ah, no such luck. I barely let go of her before she started crying. We fussed over her to try to calm her down. Santa gave her presents, we even tried candy, but she was having none of it. She even pushed Santa's hand away when he offered the candy. Finally she calmed down enough that we could get a couple pictures without active crying. I still like the crying pictures best.

The second time was at a party. He entered the room from behind her and immediately she sensed what was going on. We were coloring and I saw her glance at him out of the corner of her eye. You could feel the tension in the air. We remained coloring for a bit while the mass of children thinned out a little. Grandma and Grandpa stood in line with her. Then the time came. As you see in the second picture, it didn't go any better than the first time. She was clinging to me for dear life...but again, it makes a cute pouty picture.

Santa is everywhere. He was at Sam's last week by the checkout. She stares for a little while, then gets up enough nerve to wave at him...but she's not going close and we're not going to push it. 2 bad Santa experiences in one season is probably enough. Maybe next year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

Halloween

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

Where to find my pictures

Where can you find current pics like this of Addison?
Why, it's as simple as clicking on this link: http://photobucket.com/xiemoon
I upload all my current pictures here so I can play with them. I like to edit photos and can do so easily with Photobucket and also Picnik.com. I edit them occasionally, so you may see new ones in a particular folder from time to time.

So, if you're looking for some good FREE ways to edit your digital photos, I'd recommend both of them. You can also upload your pictures from Photobucket.com to Picnik.com and I think you can do more at Picnik. Those are just my recommendations.