Christmas 2011

Better late than never on this post, right?!?  We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year with so many gatherings with family and friends.  Truly a lot to be thankful for!  A few weeks before Christmas (on Ryan's birthday to be exact!) we got the news that Ryan got a promotion with his company and we would be moving to Kansas City, Kansas.  WOW!  Huge transition for us, but exciting at the same time.  All of that deserves another post of its own, but I mentioned that here because it really made all of our events with family and friends that much more special this year, knowing that next year will be a little different.  Having said that though, next year will be good kind of different because when we do come in town it will be 24 hours a day of Ryan, Lisa, Addyson and Ben so get ready for that!!!  :)  

Addyson wanted to have big carrots for all the reindeer, so that is what we did!  And one little cookie for Santa!

Addyson with all her loot!

Ben with his new tractor.  Ryan was probably more excited about this than anyone!  Ben loves Daddy's "big" John Deere and so we had to get him one of his own.  He loves it!! 

A Christmas favorite- the Happy Napper!!  She watches way too much TV! 

Ryan surprised me with my "stay-at-home-mom" purse!  Loved it!!!  Hands free while I'm out with the kids!

During the present opening, Ben wandered off to sissy's room and found a random marker!  Poor baby was not happy when I took it away from him! 

Ben just HAD to try out his new tractor! 

Addyson't big present this year was a Kindle Fire which she loves!  (And so do mommy and daddy- those things are cool!)

More posts to come of Christmas with the Dwinell's and Foushee's! 

Things I love about Ben right now....

The boy loves to EAT!! Mommy loves this and it just makes me smile that the boy loves him some food!

Mmmmm cupcakes!

I love the way he says lots of words. He is talking so much and I love it!

Here are a few words that he says and the way he says them:

Waffles are Wapples

Yogurt is Go-Gur

Bananas are Nanas

Milk is Urk or something like that!

Juice is Uice (just the last part, no "j")

Ready is "weddy!"

Addyson is "A-Syn", which he usually yells at the top of his lungs! Or sissy!

Goldfish are "ishies" for fishies

Crackers are "Kakers"

Love how he says "Bess Eeeew" if you sneeze and "Ank Eeeew" for Thank You. So sweet! He draws out the "You" part!

He has a few of the baby first words books and he can point to a lot of the pics and say the word. Not perfect speech, but I know what he means!

He is loving all of the holiday stuff right now. Surprisingly, he does not mess with the tree, which amazes me! Good boy! When he sees santa he says, "Santa, Oh, Oh, Oh". So cute!

Loves his choo-choo trains and Thomas books. Also loves Elmo, teddy, his "binkies" (blankets), Go Dog Go book, mommy's phone (pone) and anything electronic.

My sweet baby!! Love him to pieces!

Addyson turns 5!

Our sweet, precious Addyson turned 5 on November 6th, 2011. 5!!!!! Oh my- that is a big girl! I have always joked with Addyson that I will cry when she turns 5 because that means she is so big! It has been our little joke for the past year and she loved to remind me that she was 3 months, 2 months, 5 weeks, etc away from being 5! Well, the day came and I could not be more proud of my baby. She is such a blessing in our lives and I cannot imagine one single day without my sweet girl!

All ready for her birthday party!!
Being goofy!

We had her party at Pump It Up.....Again! She loves this place and she really wanted to have her party here again, so we did!
Sweet Kallie!

Ben LOVED the bounce houses as well! I see a Pump It Up Party sometime in his future!

Uncle Stewart helping out!

Addyson and Hallie posing for the camera!

The best (and only!) family pic we got!

MiMi and Addyson

Nana and Addy Tate!

All the kids at the party! We had a great turn out- I think there were 27 kids there! Fun and crazy!!

Funny faces!!

Kim and Noah

Addyson requested a rainbow cake. Thanks honey- that was super easy!

All excited to sit in the big chair!

She loved having everyone sing to her! She doesn't like attention or anything ;)

She had a great time at the party and we were so happy that so many friends and family were able to make it! It means the world to her and us that you all came to celebrate her special day!

Party Part 2......Addyson had originally wanted a Tangled Party. I had done some research and found these big paper lanterns on Amazon and so I ordered them. After the Pump It Up party we had the family over for pizza and lanterns. They were awesome!! Well, when they worked that is! It does have one disclaimer- do not use them if it is windy. Well, it was windy but we "attempted" anyways! Out of the 7 we tried, one or two acutally worked!

Here is one of them floating off into the distance. Very pretty!! They are supposed to disintegrate in the air- hope I didn't burn anyones house down! ;)

And then there were the few that didn't "take off" as planned.....a big roll of burning paper rolling through my yard. Probably not the safest thing we have ever done! Right after this Ryan tripped in a low spot in the ground while chasing the fireball lantern and rolled his ankle and himself over several times in the yard. Jennifer and I were rolling with laughter!

Addyson and Clayton enjoying the floating lantern show!

She had a great day!! On her actual birthday (her party was the day before), she asked when everyone was coming over again and when we were going back to pump it up. Poor thing, thought that the first party was just a pre-party and that on her "real" birthday was when we were having the "real" party! Ha! Sorry sweetie!! Some of her presents this year consisted of:

Baby Alive (she loves this!!)

Lots of My Little Pony stuff, which she loves

Lots of Barbie stuff, which she loves

Lots of Hello Kitty, which she loves!

A Groovy Girls horse, chair and doll- so cute- I love this!
Cookie the talking dog- so fun!!

Cute clothes!

Cute purses!

Lots of girly stuff- nail polish, scarves, shoes!

I took her in to the doctor today for her 5 year well check and she checked out great! She was 43 lbs (50-75%) and 44 1/2 inches (90th %) for height. Tall and slim as the doctor put it! Developmentally she is ahead and she is just a little ball of knowledge. She soaks up everything she hears and is constantly asking me for definitions of words, how things work and all of the fun questions 5 year olds come up with. She keeps me on my toes, that's for sure!

Some of her "funny" saying lately have been:

"This is the most horrible (pronounced harrible- English accent from Nessa!) day I've ever had!!" (Usually stemming from me asking her to go somewhere or do something she doesn't want to do!- Ha!- oh the drama!!)

"I'm not wearing that if it's the last thing I ever do!!!" (She is extremely picky about her clothes....again- drama!)

"I'm not going to have you for my mommy or daddy ever again!" (Sorry sister- you don't get to pick this!!)

Now all of these are negative sayings, but those are the ones that stick about because they are so funny/cute when she gets all mad. Oh, and speaking of the word "cute", I am NOT allowed to call her cute or adorable. Every time I say, "Oh, that is so cute", she rolls her eyes like a 14 year old girl and says, "Mom, you are NOT supposed to call me that!" Ha!! She cracks me up!

We love you Addyson Tate!! Happy 5th Birthday!

Pumpkin Patch!

This morning I ventured out with the kids to the Pumpkin Patch. Ryan was playin golf and I have really been wanting to go, so we just went! It was fun- kids were both good and cooperated some-what for pictures! I told Addyson to go pick out a pumpkin and sit on it so I could take her pic. She ended up posing like this on her own....:)

Not too bad for a family (minus Ryan) pic!
Another Addyson pose!

Ben playing in the hay! He wasn't too sure about this!

Such a beautiful day- I love fall!

Birthday weekend!

My 31st birthday was last weekend! Woo-Hoo! It wasn't quite as fun as 30, but that's okay! And actually I am really happy to have a birthday because you know what that means....I am here and alive! Definitely something to be thankful for each and every day!

Friday night started off a little rough- I was meeting Ryan up at Tierra Verde for an after golf tournament dinner and silent auction with Jennifer and Tammy. I was dropping Ben off at Keith and Cheryl's house and right when I got Ben out of the car he majorly barfed ALL OVER ME! And yes, it was everywhere. Hot Dogs and Cheese It's Barf covering my shoulder and all down my shirt, bra- you get the idea. Neat-O! I had been driving for almost 3 hours (long story) and at that point I was just ready to have a glass of Chardonnay in hand! So, my SUPER sweet mother in law took Ben (insisted that he was just car sick) and gave me a shirt to wear so I could still go. Seriously, that was so sweet of her! We went to the dinner and then came back to pick up Ben and take him home. Fun night- no pics :(!

Saturday, my actual birthday, my Uncle David came in town for the week. I have not seen him in over 2 years and so it was great to see him. The main purpose of his visit was to see sweet Bennie Boo as he has not ever met him. I was pregnant with Ben last time I saw my Uncle so it was very sweet of him to make a trip out to meet him! And of course, it was great to have him here to celebrate my birthday! My mom made fajitas and my fav chocolate cake and we had a great evening!

Sunday we all went out to the Fair. Fun times as always! This has been a yearly tradition with my side of the family for the past couple of years. This is the first year we have taken Ben and he had a great time. His fav was the petting zoo! He would squeal and stomp his feet and run around at all the animals. Too cute!

Addyson was an old pro at this!

Ben was getting sleepy and so Ryan put him up on his shoulders and Ben just rested his head there. It was really cute!Me and LeeAnn!

Ryan and Stewart took the girls and Ben on the log ride. Ben had a front row seat. Not too sure what he thought about all of that!

The real thrill of the day was my dad, Ryan and Addyson riding the SkyCoaster (bunjee swing thing). I was not thrilled about this but I try not to let my scaredy pants self rain on anyone else's parade! They were all excited about this and so off they went to get suited up!

Poor thing- she didn't know what she was in for!

Yikes- here they go!

Ummmm. Yea. 180 feet up in the air my baby is about to fall. She's 4 people! 4!!!! So brave! They are that little speck on the top of the middle pole. YIKES!

My dad bought the video (Ryan had a chest cam attached to him) and it has audio too. On the way up Addyson was saying that she did not think this was a good idea and that this was not fun! Ha- too late now! If you can zoom in on this pic, it's pretty funny. My dad is smiling, Ryan is giving the thumbs up and Addyson is hanging on to her daddy for dear life! She said it was really fun though and when I asked her if she would do it again she said, "Ummm Yea!!!"

After the ride giving me the thumbs up! Ryan said it was REALLY scary and that you free fall for 4 stories in the air before the slack of the line catches. No thanks peeps- you won't catch me doing this!

Daddy and his little sidekick!

Uncle David and Addy Tate

Now on to the next thrill of the day! The Haunted House at the Fair! There was a really scary haunted house where kids were coming out crying- oh, but of course that didn't phase Addyson. She really wanted to go. I sent Ryan with her so I could stay with Ben and we spotted this lady.....

I mean is that not the creepiest thing you have ever seen??? She was standing at the end of the Haunted House and when people would come out of these doors she would jump out and make her dog/warewolf/whatever that thing is attack people. CREEPY!! She was actually really funny though because they were playing loud fun music and she was just over there smiling and dancing and scaring people. Every single time that she "got" someone she would bust out laughing. I mean, that had to get old doing that for hours a day! I was standing next to another lady and I was saying how creepy she looked and the lady said she is there doing that same job every year! So, make sure you go by and see her next year!

I had a great birthday weekend!! I am so thankful for all of my friends and family and I am so blessed!