Easter 2010

This Easter we travelled to Arkansas to visit Scott's family. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was good to see family and Addy had a blast playing with her cousins. She got to ride a four-wheeler for the first time this trip too -- she loved it (mom wasn't too thrilled that Addy liked it so much).

Singing

Goings on in the Bradford Household

The last few months have been pretty routine for us. For Valentine's Day we had the Seeber family over the Friday before to make homemade pizza and let the kids decorate heart shaped cookies. I have learned my lesson and this time I baked the cookies and then just had the kids decorate. I think they had fun.

The biggest news this month was our 10 year anniversary (For our anniversary we just ate out at a nice restaurant. No big trip or weekend away this year. We are decided to do a vacation with Addy later this year.) and the same week as that we also moved Addy into her "big girl" bed. She had been sleeping in her toddler bed for a few months and done so well so we decided she was ready to be moved into a full size bed. We painted her room and bought new bedding and wall decorations.

We are working on getting some hallways and our game room upstairs painted this week and hopefully our bedroom this month as well. I am ready to be done with the painting, but we don't have much more and then our house will be done.

So that's it. Not too terribly exciting.

Here are some pics:

10 Years

Catch up - Month of December

Sorry it's been so long. My laptop died and I don't like to come sit up in the office to update the blog, plus Scott works from home sometimes, so I don't have access to a computer most days.

December was a fun, yet busy month -- as usual. We visited Santa's Wonderland again this year. It was much, much colder (in the 30s) this year so we didn't enjoy it nearly as much. I don't have any pictures of this because I forgot to charge my camera battery and it was completely dead when we got there. We went with the Seeber's and her camera was doing some pretty funky things, so we have no pictures between the 2 families of this event.

Addy loved Santa this year, although she did get shy when she got around him. Her school brought in a Santa for pictures and our small group had my dad dress in a Santa costume and bring presents to the kids. They loved it, and my dad was able to pull off not being recognized. I don't think it will be so easy next year.

We celebrated several different Christmases this year. We celebrated with Scott's family in November (when we went up for Mernie's 90th birthday), we celebrated with my family on Christmas Eve and then we had our own family Christmas on Christmas day. I was kind of afraid we would be bored just the three of us on Christmas, but it was really relaxing and quiet -- nice. Addy really understood this year the concept of Santa bringing presents -- although she had no clue as to what she wanted, so I planted ideas in her head as to what to ask Santa for (of course it was things I had already purchased for her).

We celebrated New Years with my family this year (instead of with friends). We played Wii Fit and watched the ball drop. Pretty exciting things. The kids loved the noise makers and confetti though.

January has been pretty normal. Addy was so ready to go back to school (and I was ready too). It has been an unusually cold winter and so we have pretty much hibernated and not gone out too much. (I know 40 and 50 doesn't sound cold to some, but for Houston -- that's cold).

Anyway, that pretty much catches us up. I'll try to be better about posting -- Grandma :) I think you're the only one who reads this now.

Here's some pictures of the last few months (including some from Thanksgiving):

Runny Nose + Playing Outside Equals...

so...it has been almost forever since we posted something on here (thanks to a laptop dying and lez & i both getting iphones and doing more facebook lurking than blog watching), so i figured i'd put something on here so you all would know we're still alive.

anyway, addy had kind of a snotty nose this past weekend, but she and i still got out in the beautiful weather. the end result is a happy girl who doesn't care that her face is nasty.

Snow

We had a snow day last Friday. Now, I know it doesn't seem like much to almost everyone who reads this, but snow in Houston is very rare (even though it has done this now 2 years in a row), so it is a very exciting event around here.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Hope all our friends and family have a very happy Thanksgiving.

And, just because I have to put a pic of Addy ---

We are loving this cooler weather!

I'm a Big Girl Now

I have waited to post on this because I didn't want to jinx it, but Addy has been potty-trained for about 2 months now. Of course, we still have the occasional accident (mostly because she waits until the last minute to tell us she needs to go), but those accidents are getting fewer and farther between. We started the last week of August with potty-training boot camp. We stayed home for a week and tried to stay in our game room. I just her in panties and put paint tarps with sheets over them on the floor, that way if she had an accident, all I had to do was pull up the sheet and put it in the wash and didn't have to worry about it soaking the carpet. It took a few days to get it, but she has really done well. We had an issue when she started school because she refused to go there and still had to wear diapers/pullups even though she wears panties at home, shopping out and about, etc. But a couple weeks ago, when we got to school, I took her to the bathroom and since then she has had no accidents at school. So, her teachers have decided they want her to try coming to school in panties after the Thanksgiving holiday.

She has done so much better and it was so much easier than I expected. Once again, I'm amazed of my daughter.

Addy-isms

It seems like every day Addy says at least one or two funny things or she will say something and Scott and I will look at each other and ask, "Where'd she get that from?"

Anway, here are a few funnies from the mouth of Addy. There are more, but this is all I can think of right now.

WORDS SHE SAYS FUNNY:

clip-closs (lip gloss)
campecelope (cantelope) -- She was saying this this past summer, but I am sad to report to my Aunts that she now says it correctly.
pampakes (pancakes)
wowurt (yogurt)
poodoo (computer)

JUST FUNNY STUFF:

I was singing in the car the other day and Addy put her hands over her ears and said "Mommy, don't sing, you're hurting my ears"

We were shopping at a little boutique and the owner was talking to Addy. She asked her if she was ready for Santa to come, and Addy said "yes." Then she asked Addy what she wanted Santa to bring her and Addy said, "Lots of money."

During our Sea World trip Addy's Zoe doll's foot started coming off. Scott got a sewing kit from our hotel and I proceeded to sew up Zoe's foot. Addy held Zoe's hand through the procedure and kept telling Zoe it was okay.

Mernie's 90th Birthday

Happy Birthday Mernie!!!!


A couple weekends ago, we traveled to Arkansas to celebrate Mernie's (Scott's grandmother) 90th birthday. It was a fast, whirlwind trip, but we enjoyed getting together with family and friends to celebrate.

While we were there, we took advantage of having the whole family together and got lots of pictures.

Mernie w/great-grandkids

Cousins
4 Generations of Littles/Bradfords


And a couple of pics of two of my favorite people

We've Been Busy, Busy

I can't believe it's been two months since I posted. We have been so busy, it has gone so fast. We have been busy with birthday parties, garage sale, family picnics, getting the house painted and being out of town. It seems like all of Addy's little friends were born between the last week of September and Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, I didn't really take many pictures of Addy during this time. She went to some really neat parties, but I kept forgetting to take my camera. Her favorite party was at a gymnastics gym here in town. They got to jump on the trampolines, swing on the bars and walk the balance beams. She had a blast and has already told us that she wants her birthday party to be at the same place next year in August. Yes -- she knows her birthday is in August. She says "My birthday's in August" all the time. I don't think she has any idea what that means though.

Two weekends ago we went to San Antonio with my parents and my sister and her family, and visited Sea World for Halloween. It was a perfect time to go because the weather was great (not too hot) and there really wasn't a huge crowd. Addy really loved Sea World this year. Her favorite part was feeding the dolphins. Then on Sunday, we visited Oak Hills Church and heard Max Lucado speak and then headed to the River Walk for lunch and a boat ride. It was a great weekend.

Here are some pics:

Kids with Shamu & Dolphin
Addy feeding the dolphins
Riding the rollercoaster
Shamu
Cousins
Feeding the ducks
Getting ready to trick-or-treat
Trick-or-Treat

Happy Addy
Addy & Papa
Riding the boat on the River Walk

River Walk
Exhausted and sleeping with her new friend Ollie the dolphin

First Day of MDO

Addy's first day of Mother's Day Out was yesterday. She is going to a new school this year that I think she will really like. She is in a class of about 12 kids, and one little girl she knows from our church. She cried a little when I dropped her off, but it only lasted about 30 seconds and then she was down and playing. She was also very excited to be able to play outside on the playground.

Here's my big girl on her first day of school.

Human Anatomy 101

The other day Peyton and Addy were taking a bath together. It is the first time Addy has noticed a difference between boys and girls. Did you know that boys have pelicans?

Happy 2nd Birthday Addy!!

Saturday was Addy's birthday and we had a party here at the house for her. Mimi (Scott's mom) came down for the celebration, my family, and some of Addy's and our friends were able to celebrate with us.

We set up a blow-up pool, a slip-n-slide and a beach ball sprinkler in our backyard and let the kids have some water fun for a little bit. We then all got dried off and changed and then came inside to eat dinner, have some cake and open presents.

Addy was much more "into it" than she was last year and even more so than we expected her to be. She had a b-day party for a friend of hers about 6 weeks ago and she had no interest in the presents. She did understand that you get cake for your birthday though, because every time we asked her what she wanted for her birthday she answered "cake." She was so into opening presents this year that I got one bite of cake and then had to run because I was informed that Addy had started opening her presents.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family. We had a great time -- and I think Addy will be talking about her birthday party for a while.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Philadelphia Trip

WARNING: Long post ahead.

We just got back from a great week in Philadelphia. It turned out to be a great place to go for all of us. They had lots of things to do for Addy and we also got to get in some good history and siteseeing for us.

DAY 1: We left Houston last Saturday. Addy was so excited to fly on the airplane, but the poor thing was so tired from being woke up early and she was asleep before we took off. After we arrived in Philadelphia, we got lunch, took a nap, and then headed off to Citizens Bank Park to see the Phillies crush the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a really great game -- we got to see a grand slam with an immediate home run after. It was an exciting game and Addy did extremely well - considering she was tired and pretty much sat all day.

DAY 2: After much needed sleep, we got up and headed to the Philadelphia zoo (the oldest zoo in the U.S.). It was a pretty good zoo, better than the Houston zoo. That afternoon, we caught the Phillie Phlash (a tourist bus) and headed to the Old City to see the Liberty Bell and take a tour Independence Hall - the building where the Declaration of Independence was signed. We were really lucky because the line for the Liberty Bell was farely short and you normally have to reserve a time to see Independence Hall - but we walked right in. On our way back to the hotel, we went to Franklin Square which had a really nice playground area. One side was for children over 5 and the other side was for 2 to 5 year olds. Addy had a blast.

Day 3: We started off the morning going to see Betsy Ross's house, Christ's Church - where Benjamin Franklin worshipped, the burial ground where Benjamin Franklin is buried, the site where Benjamin Franklin's house stood and a few other sites. We wanted to go into the U.S. Mint, but they wouldn't let us come in because we had cameras. For lunch we had our first Philly Cheesesteak. Then we headed to the National Constitution Center. After the Constitution Center we went back to Franklin Square and played putt putt golf.

Day 4: Today we rented a car and drove to Langhorne, PA to go to an amusement park for young kids -- Sesame Place. It is a Sesame Street themed amusement park that has rides and a water park designed for young children. Addison was able to do most of the things in the park -- I think there were only 2 rides she wasn't allowed to go on. They also had character shows and a parade. It was a really fun day and Addy still talks about going to Elmo's house and seeing Big Bird and Zoe.

Day 5: We drove to Lancaster County -- one of the Amish communities here in the U.S. It was beautiful land. Also, it was really neat to see farm after farm. We saw the Amish riding in their buggies along the road -- it was definitely a difference world. We ate lunch at a traditional Amish place -- family-style dining -- and shared a table and food with an older couple from South Carolina and a family from the Canadian side of Niagra Falls. It was an interesting experience. The food was also really good (especially the mashed potatoes and the dessert). We also took a buggy ride through the Amish farmlands.

Day 6: This morning we went to the Children's Museum. I've not been to many children's museums, but this was one was really neat (they say they are one of the best in the nation). Addy's favorite part was a water play area. They also had a music room, a transportation room, a space room, a hospital where they could pretend to be doctors, a little house with a garden and kitchen, a grocery store, a McDonalds, a shoe store, a construction site, and an Alice in Wonderland play area. We were only there a couple of hours, but Addy wore herself out playing so hard. That afternoon, we went back over to the Old City to see a few history shows they were showing at the Visitor Center.

Day 7: This morning we caught a bus across the Delaware River to Camden, New Jersey to see the Adventure Aquarium. This aquarium was really pretty neat. They had lots of fish, seals, penguins, sharks, and hippos. We also saw a 4-D show. Addy loved the fish and hippos. She wasn't too sure about the 4-D show. She was fine until a man on the screen spit water and she got wet. We spent the majority of the day there and were going to go back to Philadelphia and go to a park to let Addy play, but it started raining so we just headed back to the hotel and ordered pizza and called it a night.

We had a really great time, and Addy once again showed us what a good traveler she is. She slept well at night, took naps in her stroller, let us tour the boring things and played hard. We think she had a good time too.

Here's a long slideshow of our week:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Here's a couple of cute videos from the week:

My Day in the Kitchen

Since we have moved into our "new" house, I have really enjoyed cooking and baking so much more. I love that I can be in the kitchen and Addy in the living room playing or watching a movie and I can see everything. I've also found a recipe site online that I love browsing and finding and trying new recipes. So, today I decided to try several new things. With Addy's birthday coming up, I am going to start trying out cake and icing recipes. Today I made a yellow cake (using a cake mix, but adding things to it) and buttercream icing.


I have also been eyeing a recipe for homemade hamburger buns for quite a while (since I got my bread machine) and finally decided to try. (I'll just say that as long as I have the time to make them, I will never buy buns again -- so good to have fresh buns:)


Then we also tried a new roasted potato recipe.



Everything turned out YUMMY!!

4th of July & Lake Vacation

The Thursday before the weekend of the 4th we headed to Northeast Oklahoma along with my parents, and the Seebers. We rented a house right on the lake. It was wonderful. It had a great deck that overlooked the lake and was shaded throughout the majority of the day (although it wasn't nearly as hot there as it is here -- and we actually had some rain -- I was beginning to forget what rained sounded like). The big reason for our trek to OK was to go to my cousin's wedding, then we just decided to make it into a vacation. My cousin Brit got married on Friday evening in a beautiful sunset ceremony. It was really great to be able to go and see family I haven't seen in years.

On Saturday we celebrated the 4th with all the family at my aunt's house and we got to experience my cousin Jarred's firework display for the first time. He really goes all out -- and this year they went across the cove from my aunt's house so the fireworks were out over the water.

Sunday the guys went golfing and the kids and me and Mindy we were able to hitch a ride with my aunt and uncle on their boat. Addy loved the boat and thought the more rough the water was the more fun it was. She wanted to walk around on the boat, while we were moving, and did not want me to help her -- needless to say she had a "drunk" walk and thought it was hilarious.

Monday the guys rented jet skis and we got out on my aunt and uncle's boat again. This was the first time Scott and ridden a jetski. I have ridden one before, but never got to drive one. We loved it. We even got Addy to ride with Scott and she had a blast. She kept saying "more fast". I also skied for the first time in at least 8 years. I was really worried that I was going to embarass myself, but was able to get up the 1st time, slaloming. (The boat must have had a really good engine.)

Tuesday we had to come home to real life :( We really thought Addy would cry when we left because we were leaving everyone else there, but I think she was ready to get home.

We had a blast at our lake vacation and visiting with family and can't wait to do it again. Here's a slideshow of our week (I wish I had taken more pics):

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Also, I just have to share my new favorite picture of Addy taken a few weeks ago. It shows just how blue her eyes are.