Dancing with Daddy

There are no words to describe just how happy these pictures make me! These two fill my lives with such joy that my heart feels as if it is going to burst seeing them having such a good time together. If this is all I ever have in my life, then I am truly happy. I am so glad that I am able to say that, since there are so many people in this world that are just not happy, or dwell in unhappiness and misery, constantly wanting more, or something else. Thank you God for these special people - a husband that loves and provides for us, and a daughter that is a true miracle from you!

Mail Call!

Living out of town from relatives and friends has advantages and disadvantages. I could publish a book on all of them. However, one of the advantages is mail! I've gotten to know our post office better than I ever thought I would! I feel like I am an expert on the easiest, quickest, safest, and cheapest ways to ship things! But, when we get mail here at the house, especially from super special people, we get really excited!

AK got a package the other week from her cousin, Andrea, and her boyfriend, David. I've blogged about what fabulous babysitters my cousins Margaret and Andrea are, and how good David is with Addie Kate (and Sanders). I always feel like I need to pay them when I leave a family function! And man, is it EVER nice to be able to sit down and relax, talk and catch up, when I know Addie is in good hands! So, back to the package...

She didn't know what she was getting...

A package full of pink and green - what could be better?

A precious flower headband, that Addie knew exactly what to do with...

well, almost! (She did later correct her father when he called it the wrong thing, she quickly told him, "no, it's a headband!")

And wow! Slippers for her cute little tootsies!

And a card too!

Intently reading it... although she thinks it says, "It was a rainy day. Too wet to go outside and play. Mom said let's make cupcakes. What color do you want? Pink, I say, pink, pink, pink!" (for those of you who don't know, that's from her favorite book evah - Pinkalicious! And yes, she has it memorized!)

She had to get rid of those socks, so she could put on the slippers correctly - ha!

Yes, she is a stinker, and yes, this is a face we see often.

The whole ensemble. She's pretty stinkin' cute... and proud!

Thank you Andrea and David! I don't think anyone else in the world shares Addie's love for pink and green like Andrea! What a special treat! We love you!

Fashion Victim

Went to pick Addie Kate up from the babysitter the other day, and this was what greeted me! I immediately wondered why she had had an accident, but the babysitter told me that when she sat down to use the potty, she sat on her dress (which was kind of full and long). So, the babysitter having zero sense of fashion and being a mother of three boys whose wardrobe (other than church clothes) consists of only athletic shorts and t-shirts, just threw the back-up top on her that she had (which was sent at the beginning of cool weather and apparently is now incredibly small) with the leggings that we put on her that morning solely to go under the dress! I love the innocence of a child - she had no idea how rough she looked and was happy as could be. She immediately came home to don her high heels and I couldn't resist remembering this moment with a picture and blog post!

Fancy Nancy Potty Party

I love being fancy!

Plume... that's a fancy word for feathers!

What's a fancy girl to do?

A princess is supposed to keep her tiara on!

I curtsy and say "Merci!"

I go find - what is that fancy word? Oh yes! Some accessories!

Oooh -la-la! I am posh!

When we arrive, everyone looks at us - they probably think we are movie stars!

I tell my parents, "Thank you for being fancy tonight."

"I love you," my dad says.

"I love you," my mom says.

And all I say back is, "I love you."

Because there isn't a fancy - or better - way of saying that.

[On the first day that Addie went to the babysitter and had no accidents, which also happened to be the same first day that she told me she had to and went to poo in the potty, Tommy and I gave her a present. We had planned to get her the Leap Frog Tag Junior reading system thing, because everytime we went to Best Buy she played with it. But, once looking at it, I (being the teacher) and Tommy (being the one that thinks about things I don't) decided it just didn't do anything for us. So, he stopped by Target and came home with Fancy Nancy dress-up stuff. Now what could be better than that? Addie now has her own high heeled shoes (which she calls glass slippers), clip-on earrings, boa, and tiara - that look just like Nancy's in the book. She is precious in every possible way in them, and we love playing dress-up. For those of you moms of boys or those not yet familiar with the best books on Earth for precious little girls, the quotes above are from our favorites, Fancy Nancy.]

Build-A-Bear Playdate (aka shopping for the Mommies!)

While Tommy was out of town one weekend, Shannon and I decided to take the kids shopping. (She's going on a trip to Ireland and needed some new clothes. I just have a shopping addiction.) Normally, I do NOT shop with Addie unless it's a quick errand. Luckily, Cody kept her entertained, and we were there before the mall opened - shopping at the one store that was open. As a reward for them being so good, we hit up good ole BuildABear. Addie really enjoyed it this time (notsomuch in the past) and picked out a grey kitty. (I wanted her to get the cute little chick for Easter!) Other than just about tearing apart Panera at lunch and a meltdown on the way out, we had a great day!

A little Easter decorating...

I found these old window clings in some of my decorating stuff at school. Since I really don't use them in my classroom, I brought them home for Addie to use, since she liked the gel clings at Valentine's so much.

Well, I definitely see why we have moved past window clings to gel clings (or either these were just getting old) - they kept falling off! Some stayed up though, and she enjoyed it, so again, that's all that matters!

These were taken at the beginning of potty training, where she ran around with no pants on for a while! It was still cold though, so we'd put on her socks and pull them up to her knees (I thought about getting out her baby legs from when she was a baby!). She looked like Holly Madison running around the house!

I can't remember, but I guess I got hot and took my sweatshirt off. She wanted to put it on, so we did...

Then she got ticked because her arms were up in there...

and had a fit until I got it off of her.

Man, she is a MESS!