Giving Thanks!

We went to my mom's house in Troy, MO for Thanksgiving this year, and had a great time with my whole fam.  My brothers Jimmy and Shawn ran in the annual Turkey Trot and had fun with that.  We ate a lot while we were at mom's so they were glad to run a little of it off!  We opened Christmas gifts from each other because we are not going to be together for Christmas.  It was a good visit and as always went by way too fast!

This has been a very blessed year for us....so much to be thankful for. We are thankful for our newest addition little Addie, who is such a snuggly little critter...so lovable and sweet! It feels so good to know that our family is complete. We have our family of three kids just like we always wanted from the start of our marriage.  We are thankful to God for blessing us with three healthy, happy children!  Each one of our kids is so unique and special...not at all alike.... which keeps things exciting!

Cousins!

Kelly got us all matching scarves in case you were wondering!

Ava loves her Belle doll from MeMa!

Check out that toothy grin :)

Notice Addie's cast...she got it taken off right when we got back from MO.

Right after the run..check out those hideous shirts!

feeding the turkey some donuts.

Chillin with Uncle Shawn

We did our annual Christmas tree hunting the weekend after we got home.

"Accidents happen"....

I've been hearing this statement a lot lately, by people having pity on me.  You see I have a sweet little nine month old with a cast all the way up her left leg!  It's horrifying! I mean, babies aren't supposed to have broken ankels...they can't even walk yet...what kind of mom lets that happen???  Well....when the baby has a very active, bouncy 4 year old big sister who wants to be the mommy...it can happen very easily, I guess.  Poor little Ava means well, but as I said in my post last month....she is ALWAYS all over Addison.

The incident took place last Wednesday evening shortly before Eriik was home from work.  Ava and Addison were playing and I stepped out of the room for a bit.  Shortly after I heard Addison scream out. I instantly knew something bad had happened...and I went running.  I found Addison in Ava's baby doll stroller screaming.  I scooped up Addie and asked Ava what happened and she said "I think I ran over her foot".  From what I gathered...Ava lifted Addison into the doll stroller (which she has done before...see previous post) and was pushing her around the room when her foot got twisted underneath the stroller and Ava kept pushing.  I didn't see it happen, but that's what I'm guessing from what Ava told me.  So, it took Addison a while to calm down...and after a search I couldn't see any visible signs of injury. She went about her business crawling around like nothing ever happend so I thought it was over. Then she tried to pull up to stand against some furniture and screamed while holding her left foot up.  I thought maybe it was sprained, so I waited to see what it was like the next day.  The next day she was still happy and fine when crawling but cried when she pulled up so I took her to get an X ray.   We were at the clinic for 2 and a half hours...and they finally came back to tell me that she had a fracture of the tibia and fibia...just above her ankel! I was shocked!  It literally made me sick to my stomach.  They made an appointment for her to see the orhopedic the next day and get a cast. 

She is doing great with her cast.  I thought she wasn't going to be able to get around and that she would be miserable, but she is happy as can be and crawling as fast as ever with it.  So, she survived...she's going to be ok, and hopefully Ava has learned a lesson...Addison is breakable!   

Kicks, Twirls, and Giggles!

How do I  summerize September in this house: kicks, twirls, and giggles.

  Kicks, because Alec has been doing alot of Tae Kwon Do with his new intructor Master Sam, and he also started up Soccer again.  These two things keep up busy Tues- Fri nights right around dinner time each night (I've been learning lots of interesting ways to use my crock pot!) Alec scored his first soccer goal in a game last Saturday!  We were so proud of him, and the look on his face was priceless!  He's doing great in 1st grade and loves his teacher Mrs. Malloy.  I think she's a bit more strict than his teacher last year, but that will be good for him.  We just started ( a couple weeks ago) doing a goal chart with him at home, to get him to be more responsible with daily tasks...it's been working great!

Twirls, because Ava started Ballet.  They do a combination of ballet, gymnastics, and tap...she absolutely loves it!  She is so proud of herself when she shows us her new "moves".  I have to say I think she looks pretty adorable in her little tutu :)  She is still being the little mommy with Addison.  She really loves her baby sister which is truly a blessing!  I have to remind myself of what a blessing it is when Addison is screaming because Ava is smothering her with hugs AGAIN.  Ava also loves to pick Addie up (when I'm not looking) and put her in her babydoll stroller to take her on a walk around the house. The first time I saw this I panicked and laughed at the same time...didn't think that was possible.  I've since seen Ava carry Addison and dance with her...this is also scary and funny at the same time.  Ava is such a tiny little thing...Ican't believe she has the strength to pick up Addie!

Giggles, because that's what little Addie does so much.  She's such a happy little baby these days, and VERY busy.  She will be 9 months old tomorrow!  She just now finally started crawling with her belly off the ground.  Since she was five months old she had been doing the army crawl...and let me tell you she got really good at slithering herself around the house at lightning speed.  But I am very thankful that she has finally lifted her belly up...for her clothes sake (they were getting pretty dingy!)  She also just started pulling up on furniture to stand...she is soo proud of herself, it's really cute.  Another thing that has changed about Addie is her smile...she started doing this super cheesy wide smile with her eyes half closed....it's really funny.  Oh...and another biggy is that she started waving bye bye... actually she waves at everyone almost anytime they look at her.  She is becoming quite the little charmer!  So, I guess a lot has been going on with Addie...I didn't even realize it till I started writing it down!

Ava's first day of ballet

Alec's first day of 1st grade

Ava planted a watermellon seed and we got lots of great big giant yummy watermellons!

Notice Ava hugging and Addison screaming...very common.

Ava's first day of preschool room H

Seriously the yummiest watermellon I've ever tasted! Ava has a green thumb :)

Addison doing some yoga :)

Guess who got ahold of Addie?

Doing a little light reading

Alec and Ava have panther paws on their cheeks for homecoming

Addie wanted to help me vacume

High fiving the coach after he scored a goal!

After he made the goal he really got after it!

Reunion at the Lake!

At the beginning of August Shawn and Stephanie invited my mom and all my siblings and their families out for a reunion at a Lake House in North Carolina.  Stephanie's parents own a beautiful lake house and we were so grateful to get to use it for the week!  We had such a fun time with everyone, swimming at the beach, jet skiing, going out on the boat, tubing, visiting goat island (yes it's a tiny island with goats living on it...random and fun!) It was fun to see Ava and Laura playing...they are both little divas :).  Oh and how can I forget the corn hole tournament....good times!   Stephanie fed us really well the whole week...it was just a really fun, relaxing great time with the fam!

 They made a "sand monster" with Cousin Tiff and Aunt Kelly.

 Uncle Jimmy reading her a story

 Ava loved hangin out with her big cousins Titus and Rex

 Ava and Laura just happened to have the same shirt...sweet girls.