Addison's 2nd Birthday Party

Sweet Addison turned 2 years old!!!

We had a great day of celebrating her birthday at our house.

Here is the birthday girl ready for her festivities. (and one picture of her showing off her "terrible twos" temper tantrum- haha)


Her theme this year was "Ladybugs". Mrs. Beth Weldon made the adorable outfit to match her theme perfectly. Mom and I made the cupcakes.



Anna, Audrey, and Zoe Kate came to celebrate with Addison. We enjoyed making ladybug necklaces and ladybug picture frames.


After weeks of pleasant 70 degree weather (yes, in the winter), the day of her party the weather decided to be oh-so-freezing-cold and windy so we put the bouncy house in the garage for the kids to jump on and they enjoyed playing with the toys inside.



Then it was time for birthday cupcakes! Addison was so excited to blow out her candle and dig into all that icing.


We captured a few family photos and Addison tore into all her wonderful gifts. She kept saying "I escited!". It was adorable!



She got a new tricycle, fishing poles, tackle box, coloring books, crayons, a tea set, cute outfits, Sing-along DVDs, books, and money to spend.

It was such a wonderful, memorable day!

Audrey's 4th Birthday Party

We FINALLY got to have Audrey's birthday party. It was scheduled for April 30, but the tornadoes on April 27 completely interrupted those plans. The place where the party was to be held was right in the middle of the path of the tornado. While the building didn't suffer significant damage (surprisingly- everything around it was leveled), they were without power and water. On top of that, Corey was working overtime around the clock doing search and rescue for a few weeks.

So, we had to postpone the party until May 14, close to a month after her birthday. But all worked out well. Corey was able to attend and we all had a wonderful time.

Audrey had lots of family members and friends attend. Here are some photos of the fun...

And I had to share this photo... This is Addison and her little buddy Zoe Kate. They were born 10 days apart. Zoe's mommy and I are great friends and worked together our entire pregnancies. We always called these 2 partners in crime...even when they were in the womb. This picture proves it. Can't you tell they are scheming up something good??!! I just love it. They are so cute together. :)

And thanks to our friends D and Mrs. Don. They took a lot of photos so I could actually enjoy the day.

Audrey's 3rd Birthday

Audrey's 3rd birth'day' actually lasted for 3 days!! She was so excited this year about her birthday. We ordered the cake 2 weeks in advance and every day after that she asked when we were going to eat her birthday cake and have her party. Bless her heart, she just didn't quite grasp that time concept. But after lots of explanations and patience...we finally made it to her birthday---April 23.

We started the morning off with birthday muffins (blueberry muffins with a candle in it). We sang happy birthday and let her blow out her candle. Then she got to open one gift (since her party wasn't until the next day).



That afternoon Grammy and I took Audrey to 'All Fired Up'- a pottery place- to make her birthday plate. I started this when she was 1 year old and have continued it as a tradition every birthday. The plate has her hand and foot prints on it as well as the # birthday and year. Just a sweet keepsake for mommy :)

By this time I was watching the weather every 5 minutes hoping and praying that the predicted "horrible storms" for Saturday (party day) would miraculously disappear. Well, the prediction continued to look grim. So we decided 'just in case' we have to postpone the party, we would let Audrey play with the gift that Grammy got for her---a huge moon walk!! Fortunately, it would fit in our garage so we inflated it and let her have a blast.

After, Saturday morning's weather forecast and much debating with Corey and Grammy, we decided to postpone the party until Sunday. Audrey wasn't exactly happy about it...but was a big girl and went along with the plans.

Fortunately, Grammy bought some mini-cupcakes for Audrey when she came up, so we satisfied Audrey's plea for birthday cake with one of those. We lit a candle (again) and sang Happy Birthday song (again). That made it all okay for a while.

Sunday morning brought beautiful weather for Audrey's 3rd Birthday party. We had a great turn out with many special friends and family members. Audrey had a wonderful time eating her cake (finally) and opening her presents. She received many fun things.

And...here are a few photos of the wonderful time-

It's a Wonderful Life

This past Friday, December 5, was mine and Corey's 10th wedding anniversary. Whew! 10 long amazing years. I'd marry that sweet man all over again!

We left Audrey with the babysitter and headed out on a date! It was so nice to just have some quality time with each other. We ate at the Cypress Inn on the river then watched a movie- "Four Christmases". If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it! My jaws and sides hurt from laughing so much. It was a nice, desperately needed night out.

Thank you, sweet hubby, for 10 wonderful years! I look forward to many more with you.
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Every year the first of December, my mother heads up a Christmas party at a local nursing home. The members of her church purchase a gift for each of the residents there. They are also entertained by singing Christmas carols, usually by a group of children. This year was no different.

My cousin Vicky, who directs the little children's choir at their church, brought her group to perform. She so kindly invited Audrey to perform with them. I didn't think that Audrey would go for it since it was in front of a large crowd, but boy was I wrong. I could've kicked myself for not having my video camera. She put on a show with her dancing. She even tried to imitate the movements to the songs. When she'd get tired she would go sit in Vicky's lap then jump right back up for more action. (Thanks Vicky for helping make those memories!)

Audrey had to make sure they were doing the correct thing. (actually I think she was just pestering)

Of course at the party there had to be food! My delightful Uncle Jim made sure that Audrey got her share of chocolate cookies! Thank you! :)

Vicky's beautiful daughter "M" helped Audrey deliver gifts to the residents.

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Saturday night we took Audrey to the Bass Pro Shop. They had a "Christmas" section that was supposed to have lots of activities for kids. They had several things but most of it was too advanced for Audrey. However, she found lots of things to entertain her. Needlesss to say she had lots of fun.

I think she is putting one of these on her wish list to Santa.