Found some old pictures, Part One

As I've been trying to clean out every aspect of our life, including technology, I ran across about 20 miscellaneous pictures on different sources and wanted to post and document them. Hopefully this is the end of my random posts! However, it is nice to keep that small camera with me at all times, and just take our big one when it's both of us or a special occasion. That being said, the small camera gets a case of it every now and then and tries to quit working or takes awful pictures. So I don't know which is better!

I loved Addie's ensemble on this day. Bless her little princess, dress-up loving heart. It just wasn't working! That is her dress that she was wearing that day (the light blue/red polka dotted) coming out from the Snow White top and above the gold skirt. Ha! Those are Fancy Nancy shoes and a beaded necklace that she was given from a mermaid that you will see below!

Addie was given this sweater last year for Christmas and it was just too big. She doesn't wear jeans and didn't really have anything that she'd wear a sweater with, so when Mom and I were planning her fall wardrobe, I wanted to make sure that we made her something to make this sweater part of an outfit. I'd never put her in a sweater of any kind, other than a white sweater over a dress, so this was a big girl type outfit for her! I thought it turned out so cute, being so easy! Please note here my child's aversion to long sleeves. She gets this from her father who wears short sleeves 95% of the time. Any long sleeves we put on Addie, no matter how cold it is outside, she pushes up. Most of the time it looks awful, and I can't stand it, but heaven knows it's not a battle I choose to pick with her these days!

When we went to the beach for the first part of the summer, Tommy wanted to take Addie to the arcade that he remembered going to as a kid. I was in no way interested, and after he saw how downhill this place was gone, and how such places as arcades lose their grandeur as we get older, it was a quick trip. However, I do love some ski-ball and we thought Addie would too:

She really wasn't that interested!

We got a measly amount of tickets and she picked out a pink whistle/bracelet.

She didn't know how to blow it at first, which was FINE with us. She now knows how!

On that same day, we met some friends for dinner at their restaurant, The Seafare. They have changed locations and were a little under construction. They usually have pretty mermaids "swimming" in an indoor pool. That part was the part under construction, but the pretty mermaid was still there, and Addie loved her as usual!

Their mermaids "make" necklaces for the children - which is where Addie's necklace above came from. She's gotten quite a few over the years!

That's one of their little boys, Henry, to the left of Addie. They now also have twin boys that were about 10 months old at the time.

As I've written this I have realized that my phone has a ton of pictures on there that need to get on the blog. There will be a Part Two of this post coming soon!

Boone 2011

We had a blast on our trip to Boone. Tommy did a great job finding us a fun place, and the fact that it had snowed so much made for some fun sledding and playing! I think it made for some nice skiing too, but I missed out on that part this year!

Addie, in typical Addie-style, was hot and cold with what she enjoyed and didn't enjoy. She'd love sledding one time (as above with Tommy), then the next time freak out! What in the world? This crazy girl of ours!

We'd gone and gotten her some gear in Greenville - cute jacket and ski gloves. I borrowed a bib from a friend that was HUGE, so we found her one in Boone once we got here. Next on the list are snow boots - for Mommy and AK. Our feet were freezing!

We did have two scary moments - our house was down a big hill, and when we all loaded up in our car, it did not want to get up on the road, due to a big snow and ice pileup. I was scared to death. (I hate anything wierd happening in a car.) Tommy just tried to make it a case for needing one of those big, ole "man trucks" that I do NOT want! And on the way there, on all these back country, mountain roads, AK decides to yell out that her tummy hurt. We were nowhere NEAR a bathroom, and me being very motion sick, was worried to death. Luckily, we got to a gas station relatively quickly, went in, tried to get some fresh air, and bought a Sprite and some crackers, and she felt a little better. Next time, Dramamine automatically.

Yes, the snow literally reached up to the kid's thighs, and our knees. It was gorgeous and a blast. Good gracious was it hard to get this pregnant tail up the mountain though, with snow that high. At night, Tommy and Will would try to make a real fire. They've both been spoiled with gas logs, which I still prefer. We made fattening food and enjoyed every minute of being on a little winter vacay!

Here's the fearless skiing crowd - no doubt on a black diamond, which terrifies the life out of me. And yes, Tommy is skiing in ski pants, ski jacket, a t shirt, and a baseball hat. He gets so hot skiing, that he rarely wears more layers. I even get pretty hot skiing, so I can't really blame him.

Snowmageddon 2011

On a Sunday afternoon in early January, right after we'd been back at school for one week, Tommy left to go to sunny Florida. Later that evening, school was cancelled for the next day, and overnight, it snowed almost a foot of beautiful, white powder. Addie Kate and I got up and went outside to take pictures for daddy, and to play as much as she wanted.

Neither of us had appropriate clothes. She had to wear layer after layer which resulted in tantrum after tantrum, and her still not being dressed appropriately. I, who own ski gear, couldn't fit in them, so I layered whatever I could find, including some of Tommy's clothes. We looked like a "hot mess." A "cold mess" would be more appropriate, but still a mess nonethless.

Addie has never been a big fan of the snow. She has enjoyed it for little bits, but never really liked to play in it. She's definitely my child - doesn't like to be cold or wet or uncomfortable in the least! I, however, have learned to adapt and learned that some things are worth it!

Here, I tried to get a picture of the depth. It didn't work well!

 Addie's first reaction to it - she's so stinkin' cute in her layers of pajama pants over corduroy, 2 pairs of socks, rain boots (NOT snow boots- there is a significant difference!), two shirts, a sweater, mittens (again, not snow mittens - a big difference), hat (un-snapped under her chin), and raincoat!

 Couldn't stand it getting in her eyes.

 Another attempt at getting the depth. These bushes are about two feet tall.

 Here, as Addie gets more into the yard and not the sidewalk, you can see that it comes almost to the top of her boot!

 I went out to the road, or where I thought the road was, to try to get a picture of the house. And a certain little turkey followed me, even though I told her to stay up there! I knew she was safe in our yard and knew she couldn't step on or in anything that would hurt her.

 But she kept coming... love that girl!

 I love how the ground and sky are the same colors.

 Then as we turned to go back to the house, she missed the curb, because we couldn't see it, and fell. That was all she wrote. She wanted to go in and not back out at all. This would be where proper ski/snow clothing is appropriate, and necessary.

 Oh yeah, she was not happy!

We proceeded to not go outside not one more time. Mainly because I started to think about what a mess we'd both be in if I fell, or if she fell, and got severely hurt. I didn't know anyone that could get to us, and I darn sure didn't trust myself to drive in that mess. So, we stayed inside for 4 long days, just the two of us. We had a great time at some points, and other points, really needed some fresh air. We baked, cooked, watched movies, painted, and any other activity I could think of! We did finally get out on Thursday, to go not even two miles to meet a friend for lunch, and the roads were still quite scary. Tommy surprised us and came home Thursday night instead of Friday. We went out to dinner and went to every sports store in town to buy AK some proper snow gear. We were so happy to see him! On Friday, AK went to preschool, I went to work for a little bit, and Tommy went to work for a bit. Then we left and headed towards more snow! Tommy had been telling me all week about how he hated it wasn't there for all that snow to see AK in it. So he rented us a house in Boone for the weekend for tons of snow, some skiing (for him and our friends), sledding, and some fireside good food!

Best Christmas Gift

Here it is - possibly one of her favorites - other than the dozen princesses that she got. It's a $5 Target special and she loves it! She's now mastered it and can bounce her little self all over the house!