Princess Castle

Addie's MawMaw, Granddaddy, and Aunt Christie gave her this princess castle for her birthday! She loves it! I can imagine being a little girl and liking something like this. I think the older she is, the more she'll like it - once she realizes it's a place to escape or play on her own. As for now, she just likes climbing in and out of it!

Addie doesn't have anything with the Disney princesses on it, but she is slowly starting to recognize them. She is so funny -she'll go around it and point out the "prinpress," but when she gets to Snow White (the only Disney movie that she's ever watched - and probably won't again for a while - that witch is mean!), she'll say, "That not a prinpress, that a Snow White!"

Like her outfit? To copy her style, sweat out a fever from Fifth's Disease during your nap, have your daddy get you up and change you into your Halloween pajama bottoms, and the shirt he got you from Singapore. Don't worry with the hair - it totally goes with the ensemble.

Oh, and the princess castle does not reside in our living room, but fits nicely in the playroom now!

Birthday Hat

Definitely not the best pictures of my girl, but I thought the hat was precious! Addie actually likes it too - amazing! Thanks Alice and Sanders!

Leaphart Reunion

For as long as I remember, we have had huge family reunions. I come from a long line of huge families and it's always been very important to them to keep us together if for only once a year. Since we've moved to Greenville, I usually miss almost all of them, but while we were in town for Addie's birthday, the fall festival at church, and a wedding, we were also able to squeeze in a reunion! It was good to see my huge extended family, at least on one side!

Here's Addie Kate and Sanders enjoying the best part of family reunions- the food!

(And this dress is the first bishop I made Addie -ALL on my own!)

Halloween

Halloween was the same day as Clemson's Homecoming, which was a rough one for us. When we got Addie home, who had fallen asleep in the car, she continued to sleep at home for a long time. When we got her up, she was cranky as could be. Later that night, she developed a fever and rash, turns out it was Fifth's Disease, so as soon as she broke the fever she was fine, but regardless, she was a little tempermental for Halloween!

We have a long standing tradition of going out to dinner then going to Tommy's boss' house to see what his wife has stirred up for Halloween each year. This year she had her students and exterior of her house set up as an insane asalym. This year Addie actually processed that it was scary and she didn't like it one bit! So, we said our hellos and got out of there!

We went next door for some normal trick-or-treating. The neighbor was sitting on his front porch in a Clemson shirt, so Addie just lit up and talked to him about his "Tiger Paw" and kept telling him "Go Tigers" and Tigers Number One!" He told her to take the whole bowl of candy for that! Of course, she didn't. She did get a few things and gave Cody some things - I thought that was cute!

We decided to forgo dinner and just get carry out for the house. When we got back to Shannon and Will's house though, it had stopped raining, so we trick-or-treated at a few more houses. Excuse the picture quality - it was chaotic and raining/misting on and off:

Excuse the picture of me - but can you see Addie's little rash around her face? It quickly spread to just about all over her body! (We had just had her 2 year well check that week - I bet she picked it up at the doctor's office!)

My sweet little strawberry and me! (We also decided against the pig costume due to her mood - this is much easier on and off!)

The closest thing to a good picture that we could get of Cody and Addie:

And they were finally happy when we stripped off the costumes and just let them play inside! Maybe next year they will enjoy Halloween!

Addie and Cody learned that they could roll and bounce on these balls and had a blast doing so!

Tiger Homecoming

I was so excited to take Addie to homecoming at Clemson this year, but, as usual for this football season, it was dreary and then turned rainy. So, my plans for homecoming quickly came to an end! Bowman was, as Bowman always is at homecoming, soupy. We should have brought the jogging stroller, but we are always leary of leaving it at the gate. We'd much prefer our $50 stroller get taken if someone were to do such a thing, than the $200 one! So, we trudged through a tiny bit of Bowman with the umbrella stroller, saw about 2 floats, then got back on the sidewalk and headed to TD's - our unofficial tailgate spot!


Addie was none too happy to be forced to the stroller. I too wanted her to be able to run and play on Bowman, but she would have never made it in the nastiness.



(Since Homecoming was on Halloween, I was able to put her in this cute Halloween outfit that just happens to be Clemson colors! I had to clear it with Big T to make sure it was Clemson-y enough - he approved!)

I thought this was a good representation of Howard's Rock:

Another float that I liked, entitled, "There's Something in These Hills" - our favorite Clemson writing!

We then went downtown for about 3 minutes - it was way too crowded. And Addie didn't want to be held (here with her Granddaddy) or be in her stroller, so we just gave up and headed to TD's. [Notice the cookie in all the pictures. She is notorious for insisting on having a piece of food, then just holding it until it falls apart (then has a meltdown) and never eating it!]

Almost every time we have gone to TD's this year, there has been a wait for a table - something we are NOT used to! But, the rain held off for a little bit and we let Addie out of the stroller to have a little fun with Mommy and Daddy while we waited. She was loving his hat this day:

(No, I do not have my child in too-short pants, we just pull them up that high so it takes longer to work down!)

Oh man how I love that happy face!

Finally in TD's, she was being SO good coloring, for a little while... (Excuse the picture quality - but her facial expressions were so cute that I had to include them!)

Tommy decided he would go to the game, and Addie, her grandmother, and I stayed back in TD's to watch it. Well, she was beyond tired and quite cranky so I gave up and she and I hightailed it (in the rain) back to the car. I called Tommy, picked him up at the stadium, and we went back to Greenville. Turns out the little stinker had a fever and the beginning of Fifth's Disease - no wonder she was cranky. Bless her heart!

Pumpkin Carving

Addie Kate didn't pay much attention to Tommy's hard work carving a Tiger Paw into our pumpkin! Here are a few pictures where she did sit still! (Please excuse her no-kind-of-cute outfit - I have no clue what on earth her babysitter lets her do all day to get so nasty, but I have given up on dressing her cute to go there anymore!)

This Little Piggy Went... to St. Peter's!

The weekend we were home for Addie's birthday was jam-packed with fun. We did that all on purpose, so we wouldn't miss a bunch of stuff in Lexington, and wouldn't have to make a dozen trips. I don't know what it is about fall, but it is so darn busy.

Anyway, I went ahead and prepped Tommy that St. Peter's (our home church) was having their fall festival after Addie's birthday party, and we were not missing it. Good thing about it was, after the festivities, they had a fabulous dinner, so we got our tummies full and got on the road. Sounds like a plan to me!

Addie was the cutest little piggy I've ever seen. After much bribery, she wore her hat almost all night. It was so funny how she went right to Rachel, a friend of mine from church, and attempted bowling - some people she goes straight to and others she'll have nothing to do with! She could not get the concept of bowling down - she just wanted to throw the ball - and then had a little trip, so she was done with that. However, she did find the prize bucket and had a blast the rest of the night taking prizes out of the bucket, and letting Handy Manny (another friend of mine's little boy) put them back in. It was hilarious! She just loves digging in things and finding treasures - I've seen lots of "homemade" games/treasure hunts, etc. in various therapy settings/classroom settings, etc. - I'm going to have to see about making one of those for her!

I'm so glad Addie was able to wear her piggy costume for the festival, because on Halloween she was CRABBY and Tommy and I just put her in the strawberry costume because it was so much less - everything. Surely one night was worth a $40 costume, right? It certainly was for me!

A not-so-great family picture, but I'm thankful to have what we do! (Oh, and this picture, the top picture, and the next picture were all taken by our dear friend Larry James, who has a fabulous camera, but I had to scan the pics in, so that's why they don't look so fabulous!)

Tommy tried to get some pictures of our little piggy before we went outside... (she would NOT put this book down!)

(In case you are wondering, she is saying "cheese" in every picture!)

She looks like such a little baby in these pictures!

The fall... bless her heart! We also got it on video!

Our dear friend Joe (and a few others) took one for the team and did the dunk tank - and it was FREEZING outside! (The water was warm though!)

Our sweet friend's little girl, C, as a pink cowgirl! (Kristen - I see this in your future!)

Addie Kate and Handy Manny hanging out at the treasure chest... all night!

Addie got up and walked away for a minute, and "Manny" looked up and said, "Where'd she go?" SO sweet! They had only been around each other a little bit before, and they just hit it off!

This cracked me up - there were little rubber bugs and mice in the treasure chest too (along with candy and pencils, the more calm things) and Addie grabbed one and freaked - she cannot stand stuff like that. "Manny" just went and got it out of her hand and took care of it (put it back in the treasure chest) just like a man does!

Addie and her Uncle Paul, having a heart to heart apparently!

And now we've lost the hat... and would NOT put it back on!

Loving watching her crazy Uncle Paul and Aunt Sue bob for doughnuts!

"Manny" and Addie enjoying a doughnut! (He's cute enough to forgive the Carolina hat!)

What I thought was a quick kiss from Daddy...

but was instead a little attitude adjustment. It had been a long weekend and a long day... meltdowns did take place!