Happy Birthday, Addison!

Wow, it is hard to believe that my little Addison is One year old!!! It seems like only yesterday that we were eagerly anticipating her arrival. And now she is this incredibly sweet little person with so much personality.

Addison had a wonderful birthday. She looked at her birthday cake, took a couple tastes of the icing and then dove in with both hands. She really liked her cake!!

Addison, I love you so much baby girl. You are a blessing to us all. I can't wait to see all of the new things you will learn to do over the next year. You are and always will be my baby!!

Happy Birthday, Micah!!

On Sunday, we celebrated Micah's 7th birthday. We told Micah stories of when he was born and had a great day celebrating with him. With each year that passes, it is hard to believe that our baby boy is another year older. Here are some pics from his birthday and his party at the skating rink!!

Sweet Treats!!

I am the room Mom for Micah's 1st grade class this year. Which basically means that I am in charge of the parties. Tomorrow is the holiday party and I have spent the entire evening making sweet treats for the party. Jesse and I together have made some beautiful creations...so I wanted to share the pics with you guys. The first two pictures are of our Cupcake Christmas ornaments and the second picture is just one of the many White Chocolate Rice Crispy Candy Cane. Hopefully the kiddos will enjoy them tomorrow!!!

Tis the Season...for peanut butter balls!

One of our traditions is to make peanut butter balls (you know the ones covered in chocolate)during the Christmas season. We give them out to our neighbors, Micah's teachers and of course eat them ourselves. We also make chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered rice crispy treats. Are you seeing a theme here...we love chocolate. The Christmas season, with all of the yummy treats, gives me a good chance to practice some discipline...moderation!

Wild and Wonderful West Virginia

I am visiting my family this week in West Virginia. I haven't been here since July, so I was excited to come back for a visit. Micah and Chloe have been able to attend the Christian school where my Mom works. This is the same school where i went (Kindergarten - 12th grade). This is the same school where Jesse and I taught when we lived in WV, so it is neat to be able to see my kids get to experience some of my past.

My sister is the queen of consignment stores. She can go in there and uncover the hidden treasures like no one I have ever seen. I spent Monday, with her, doing just that. We hit three different consignment stores. So we go in to the first one and are looking in the room that holds the kids clothes (Chloe and Addison's sizes). We looked through all of the clothes, or so I thought, and I turned to walk out of the room. I looked back to see if Amy was coming and I see her going through a laundry basket full of clothes. She had found it back behind some clothes...we found 4 or 5 things out of that laundry basket!! She is amazing! Similiar things happen ever time I go with her. Amy, I think you might want to consider a career as a personal shopper...because you know how to find a great deal!

Update on Jesse: Jesse has called twice since he has been in the Dominican Republic. I talked to him for about 5 minutes the first call and about 10 minutes the second call. Needless to say, I don't have alot of info, but I do know that he is having an awesome time. He has been to the Dominican many times and always returns renewed and refreshed. Thanks for all of the prayers for him. Pray for a safe return.

Crawl, Baby, Crawl!!

Well it has finally happened. Addison has taken her first few "crawls" around the house. She has been scooting and rolling for some time to get where she needs to go, but now it is official...she can crawl! It is exciting and exhausting all at the same time. Let's just say we need a gate :)

With each milestone that Addison hits it is exciting. However, she is our last baby and so I think, "This is the last time we will experience a first tooth or the first time she says "mama". On the other hand there is a sense of accomplishment. With the addition of Addison, our family was complete. Now we can look forward to lots of other fun things like Disney World (in a few years) or any number of things that you can't do with a baby. I have a feeling the fun is just beginning!

A fun day at the pumpkin patch!

Fall is my favorite season! The temperature is perfect in the 60's or high 70's...not too hot, not too cold. The leaves change into these amazing colors that are beautiful. I just love fall! One of our family traditions is going to the pumpkin patch. We always take the kids to the pumpkin patch in October and last year we found a really fun place to go. Today we went there and had a great time with the kids. They each got to pick out a pumpkin, they have a giant jumping pillow, a tram to ride on, a box of corn kernels to jump, roll and play in, and a corn maze.

We had a fantastic day with the kids enjoying some fall festivities!