Playing at Home

The girls have enjoyed playing together so much lately. I think it is so sweet how they share and they just always want to be together. They are teaching each other so much. I feel like they are truly becoming best friends. It brings me joy when they are getting along and playing with one another, which definitely isn't always the case. I hope their friendship continues to grow throughout their entire lives.
Here are some fun things we have been playing at home, especially since it's too cold to go outside most days.
Addison is reading her Bible to Ella. They actually spend a lot of time reading together.
We brought snow inside since it was too cold to go outside to play. They had so much fun eating the snow, throwing snowballs at each other, and then putting their feet in the snow.

Ella loves dressing up in the dog costume. Anytime she finds it, she wants to put it on. On this particular night, she wanted to wear both the chicken and dog costumes at the same time.

One of the girls' favorite things to do is to play tea party. We have several tea parties every day.
Just a sweet little picture of Ella. I can't believe she is almost 18 months old already.

Addison's Half Birthday

Last Tuesday, Addison got to celebrate her half birthday at school since her birthday is in the summer. She celebrated her half birthday on Andrew's real birthday, so she thought it was extra special.

We made "healthy" apple cupcakes for her class at school. Addison loved helping me make and decorate these for her friends.


Her teachers gave her a balloon and special birthday tiara for her to wear all day. She still talks about how much fun she had.

Show Week at the Little Gym Gymnastics

Last week Addison had her last gymnastics class and they did a performance for the parents. It was really cute.
Here she is in the middle of her floor performance.

She got a medal at the end. She is so proud of this medal and loves to show it to everyone.

All her friends from her class.


Addison loved her gymnastics class and all her friends in her class. However, this week she is switching to a dance class with ballet and tap. We'll see how that goes. I think she will enjoy this a little more. We'll see. I'm sure I'll have a post soon about this new adventure.

Christmas Time

I know it's kind of late to be doing a Christmas post, but here are some pictures from our Christmas season.
Addison had so much fun at her Christmas party at school. They made ornaments, played "snowball" games, followed the star to find Baby Jesus, and had special treats. I had a lot of fun meeting the parents of her friends in school and watching her interact with all of the sweet little kids.


The girls had fun playing in the snow. We didn't get much snow but they loved being out in it. Of course we had to build a snowman, but he was pretty small. They didn't care though. Ella thought it was so funny to run over and knock the snowman's head off. She would just stand there and laugh and Addison started getting really frustrated with her. The joy of having an ornery little sister.
Of course, Addison had to have a purse with her.


We did a lot of Christmas baking this year. Both the girls really enjoyed baking and decorating. Ella got into it a lot more than I thought she would.

This is Addison's finished gingerbread man masterpiece.Both girls really enjoyed making a gingerbread house with Daddy.

Then we celebrated Christmas at our house with just us.
Ella's stocking is almost as big as she is, but she was determined to get everything out of it.
Addison loved her new fancy Nancy dress. She is very into dressing up these days. She wears some sort of fancy dress every day at home.
Ella started hugging her new baby doll as soon as she got it out of the package.Here is Addison with her new presents inside her new bounce house. The bounce house is the best gift we have ever given. We set it up in the basement and the girls and friends have spent so much time in there burning up all their extra energy.

Addison and Ella are decorating cookies again, this time with Daddy.
Daddy let Ella get really messy. She loved it.
Then we had Christmas with the Wheelers. Addison truly loves her cousins and loves having them over.
Matt is one of the cutest little guys I know.

All the kids wanted to sit on Poppy's lap while he was reading the Christmas story from the Bible.
After all the presents were opened, Grandma and Poppy had a very special gift for the kids. They had to cover their eyes while the daddies brought the gifts in.

Addison and Ella got a Barbi Jeep and their cousins got a gator-type car.
Then we had a birthday cake for Jesus.The girls are loving their Barbi Jeep. We think it's really funny that Ella has never even thought about driving. Even when she is the first one in, she automatically just gets in the passenger seat. It's like she knows not to even go there. I'm sure I'll have a post in the future about when it occurs to Ella that she wants to drive too. :)

Then we had Christmas in Bolivar with the Woods family.My grandpa is so sweet to the girls. He loves playing with them and they love him so much too.

Papa and EllaLater that afternoon, Nana decorated cookies with the girls. Addison made very fancy cookies.

And Ella enjoyed eating them.
Thanks so much to both our families for such a wonderful Christmas. We truly enjoyed getting to spend so much time with everyone.

First Day of Preschool

Addison started Humpty Dumpty Preschool on Tuesday. I am so sad to think that she's old enough for preschool, but am so happy that we found a great school for her. She loves everything about it, including her teachers and friends. Since she started in the middle of the year, I was a little worried how she would adjust. Her teachers said she has done very well fitting right in and following along with the rest of the kids. I was so glad to find out that there were several kids from her church class that are in her class also. I think that helped the adjustment process.
Ella definitely misses Addison when she is at school. She just squeals when we pull in the parking lot to pick up Addison. It's so sweet.

I love my little girl to death and can't believe she's old enough for this, but am so happy that she loves to go to school.
Addison loves her daddy so much. We are all so thankful that he is able to be home in the mornings (instead of being at work by 5:30 am), especially on mornings like these. I 'm so glad he could spend time with Addison before she went to her first day of school.

MIZ - ZOU

We thought it would be a good idea to take the girls to the Mizzou football game today. It was a beautiful day and for some strange reason, we thought they might actually last for a little while during the game. They maybe lasted an entire 15 minutes. So I took the girls walking and we played with one of our best buddies, Charlotte. The girls just ran around and climbed on the fence. Then we went to the hill for a while. The girls had a lot of fun together. I'm so glad Charlotte and Liz were there to play with us.



Here's how a toddler tailgates. We just put a little food in the "pouch" in her bib and she walked around while she was eating. She thought this was great.

Little Gym

Addison started going to gymnastics at The Little Gym this fall and absolutely loves it. Here are some pictures with her friends. The pictures seem a little fuzzy because I had to take them through glass.

Fun in the Kitchen

Tonight the girls were being silly while I was cooking dinner. I love watching them play together. It's so sweet. They had so much fun just playing with two big bowls.
Ella enjoyed relaxing in the bowl, until she realized she was stuck.

She got so frustrated as she was working hard to get out, but we thought it was really cute.



Then the girls decided to put the bowls on their heads. They both just laughed and laughed. I thought it was so funny that Ella kept running into things and then would just laugh and keep going. I also love Addie's sweet little laugh in this video.

Little Chickens

Having sick parents on Halloween doesn't make for a very eventful day. Both girls were feeling well, but Andrew and I were both sick, so we didn't do much. We let the girls dress up and play and then we took them for a little candy walk at Hy-Vee. Pretty lame! They're too young to know what they missed though.
Here are a two sweet little chickens. I found this cute little costume for Ella at a garage sale and Addison decided she wanted to be a chicken too. So we found a matching one.
It's hard to get Addison to stand still for pictures, so I bribed her with a little candy.

It's not hard to catch Ella smiling, because she's always smiling. She's just hard to catch because she doesn't stay still.She loved picking up this little pumpkin. Her face shows how heavy it was. She had so much fun picking it up and rolling it around.
Ella doesn't look very happy about being stuffed into this costume.

On Thursday evening, we carved our pumpkins. The girls were anxiously waiting for Andrew to get home so we could get started.

Daddy decided he wanted to make a special one for his girls.
The girls had fun playing with their bowls full of the gooey stuff.
They got a little bored so we gave them some M&Ms. This was Ella's first time to have candy. She had the biggest smile on her face the entire time.

The final masterpiece - Tinkerbell. I was pretty impressed for Andrew's first attempt at doing something different.

On Friday, Addison got to dress up for her gymnastics class. She decided she wanted to wear a dog costume instead of her chicken.

It's been a while since I last updated our blog. We've been really busy, but have been having a lot of fun.
Ella is now climbing EVERYTHING. Today, I was cleaning the kitchen and Addison yelled, "Mommy, she's on the table." I thought, there's no way. But when I ran in, Ella was on her belly on top of the table. She has learned to pull the drawers out and climb up those. I put her on the floor and the next thing I knew she was back up there again.


She is always so proud of herself when she gets to the top of something.

This past Sunday, our church had their Fall Fest. Both girls had a lot of fun and loved the smores, the hayride, and the bounce house the best.
They had fun playing with their good friend, Charlotte. Charlotte and Addison walked hand in hand when they were going to all the different activities. So sweet!

Addison sat so still while getting her face painted. I haven't seen her sit this still in a long time.Last week we went to the Parents as Teachers Fall Fest. Here the girls were scooping seeds out of the pumpkin. Ella thought this was pretty fun.


They also both loved the cereal necklaces. Maybe that's why they didn't last very long.
Addison asked me if I could braid her hair like her cousin Noel. So, here's my first attempt at braids. Addison loved it.

So, I decided Ella needed her first pigtails also.We love playing with Harrison. He's such a sweetie!

Here are some random pictures of the girls. They are finally both sitting still long enough for me to get a picture.

Here's what happens though after I make them sit too long for pictures. Daddy has taught them how to wrestle quite well and they both love it.

Our Little Walker

Ella is now walking everywhere these days. She just started walking really well last week. This video is of one of the days that she started walking a lot. I'm still surprised when I look up and my baby girl is walking over to me. I love it! It's also more fun to be outside because she is able to walk around as opposed to crawling.
You'll notice her little temper when she gets close to the camera. That's when I backed up and she was wanting to get the camera.



Ella also got to walk around on the farm this weekend. She LOVED the cows. Whenever we were inside, she kept pointing out the windows because she wanted to see the cows. Both the girls had fun going outside with Poppy and Grandma to see the cows.

Ella loved getting close to the cows with Poppy.

Grandma made all these adorable hair bows for Addison and Ella. Addison decided to put them all in her hair at once.

Busy Weekend

On Friday, Addison had her first gymnastics class at The Little Gym. She LOVED it and is already excited about going back to her next class. There are only five kids in her class and she jumped right in with them. I was afraid she might be a little shy, but she wasn't at all. Ella and I had fun watching her through the glass windows. Ella kept waving at her.
Here is a picture of her right before we left. She was too excited to stand still for a picture. She has also started this cheesy smile when I ask her to smile for pictures. Andrew says it's like the Chandler smile on the Friends episode when him and Monica are getting engagement pictures.


Friday afternoon we went to Magic House in St. Louis. I used to go there a lot as a child, so I have really been wanting to take the girls. Addison absolutely loved it and it brought back a lot of wonderful memories for me. Friday evening was the perfect time to go. There weren't very many people there at all, so we didn't have to wait to do anything.
Both the girls loved playing at the water table.

Addison the mechanic. I was so amazed at all the fun things they had for kids to do.
Addison's favorite part was the grocery store. She loved shopping and then checking herself out. It must be in her genes or something. :)

Ella was a pretty good little checker also.

Here we are at the static ball. Neither girl was very excited about doing it at the time, but Addison thought the pictures were pretty funny afterward. Their hair is so fine that it just stood straight out.

I think Daddy had as much fun as the girls playing with everything.
Here is Addison coming out of the three story slide.

After a rough night of very little sleep in a hotel, we headed for the zoo. Andrew decided to stay in the car with Ella while she slept (which she slept for a little over 2 hours) and I took Addie into the zoo.

Addison wanted to see the penguins the entire time. As we were trying to get there we would stop and look at other animals, but she just kept saying she wanted to go see the penguins. As soon as we got into see the penguins one of the penguins was making a really loud squawking noise and she was ready to leave. That's a three year old for sure.

We also took a ride on the carousel.

We had a wonderful time with our girls. It has been so much fun having Andrew around more during his research year.
*Note the black eye in all the pictures. I was playing chase with Addison the other night and she ran straight into our desk and hit her eye. I felt so badly for her.

Ella's First Birthday

Ella turned one this past Sunday! I can't believe my little baby is already one. This year has gone so quickly. Several of my friends have recently had babies and it's hard to realize that Ella was that little a year ago. She has been such a blessing to our lives. We have soaked up every minute with her and have enjoyed all her little phases she has gone through in this first year. It has been fun watching Addison and Ella develop a loving, (most of the time) sisterly bond. I hope they grow to be the best of friends. Addison already tells us that Ella is her best friend.
On Saturday, we had a birthday party with Andrew's family.
She didn't really seem very interested in opening presents so Addison and Matt helped her out. At one point we found them opening her presents on the side. They are quite the pair.

Ella loved riding her horsey from Grandma and Poppy.

Ella was very close to taking her first steps at her party. However, she waited until just a few hours after everyone left.
Ella spotted her birthday cake and got very excited. I don't know how she knew what it was or that she was really going to like it. I guess maybe she has seen Addison get really excited about cake.

Ella really enjoyed her cake. She tried to put her face into it but couldn't reach it, so she just dug in with two hands.
She amazingly didn't get very messy. She got most of it in her mouth.

Grandma made her a cake that looked like a ball. Ella is very into balls these days. She will chase them all around the house and actually plays catch with Daddy. It's so cute how she throws the ball to him.


Ella and her sweet cousin Noel.
On Sunday, we went to the Lake to celebrate with my parents.
Ella was very excited to get to eat cake again. This time she knew what was coming and again loved every minute.
Addison was pretty happy to get cake two days in a row also, especially pink cake.


Addison helped her open presents again and was definitely more interested in all the new toys.

Ella just loved playing with the paper. Ella eats everything, so of course she had to try out the wrapping paper.

Ella loves riding in her car from Nana and Papa.

Thanks to all our family for making Ella's first birthday so special.

Cinderella

I took Addison and Noel to see the play Cinderella at TRYPS yesterday. The girls got to wear their princess dresses, dance at the ball during the play with the actresses, get autographs and pictures, and go to a tea party after the show. They were pretty cute little princesses. It was such a great little musical. I was really impressed with all the talent from the young actors and actresses. Addison was very shy when it came time to dance. At first, she wouldn't look at or talk to her partner. She was just in awe the whole time and stared at everyone around her instead of dancing much.

Addison and Noel truly enjoyed the afternoon. Addison couldn't stop talking about it because she was so excited. She has never gotten to any thing like this before.
I should have real tea parties with her and her friends more often. She loved this part the best.


It was a lot of fun taking these girls to see Cinderella.

Happy 3rd Birthday Addison

Last Saturday was Addison's 3rd birthday. I can't believe she is already three. Addison is such a sweet little girl and we are enjoying every little minute with her. She keeps us laughing with her imagination, the things she remembers, and her multiple purses and bags filled with random things.
On Saturday morning, we opened presents first thing. She most loved her back-pack that she immediately filled with many things.

Then we had mickey mouse pancakes with candles for breakfast. She burned her hair on the candles. Daddy had it out so quickly that we really didn't even know what had happened. We were lucky. You can see the ends on fire in this picture.

Then we had a family birthday party. It's always fun having family around. Addison loved all her new presents and is having so much fun playing with all of them.
Matt and Noel are helping her open presents.

On Sunday we had a birthday party with Addison's friends. It was so much fun having everyone here to play. We have been blessed with such wonderful friends.


Grandma was going to make Addison a castle cake for her birthday. However, she ended up being sick. We were so sad that she couldn't be with us to celebrate. So, we went to Hy-Vee and got a princess cake. It was no where near as cute as the one grandma was going to make, but Addison loved the princesses.

What a fun weekend for our sweet little princess!!