Addie Kate - Cute Christmas Outfit, Gift, and Mischief

I posted last year about my child's love of the nativity. I am so glad that she loves it, understands it, and can tell you all about it. We have numerous nativities in our home at Christmas. Addie has several of her own, and I have my Fontanini one. Thank goodness my mother thought to the future when she started this set for me, and got me one that is virtually unbreakable, because it was one of Addie's favorite "toys" this Christmas season. She would drag a dining room chair up to the buffet and play for a while. We tried to explain to her that it wasn't a toy - her daddy more than me - but I finally just gave in and reminded her to be gentle.

I caught her "playing" one day and had to get some pictures:

Guilty! And did NOT want her picture taken of getting caught!

Only a mommy could love that face!

Then I tried to get a picture of her cute little outfit - that I never thought I'd put her in, but I loved it and so did she!

Thanks for the shirt Mimi! (My mom, AK, and I all have matching ones - of course mine did not grace my body this year!)

Then, we put together her gifts for her classmates. I had seen on a blog, somewhere along the way, the "recipe" for snowman soup. It was a perfect gift for all of her sweet friends and AK loved putting them together. (And although I do not view snowmen as a Christmas icon, you can't be picky when it comes to preschool gifts!)

Snowman Soup:

1 pack of hot chocolate

A handful of kisses

A spoonful of marshmallows

1 mini candy cane

Cute poem bag topper that I can't find anywhere.

And lastly, my little stinker. It was a girl's night - daddy was out of town - and we had a blast. Finished up the night as we did almost every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas, watching a Christmas movie. Life is good!

(She adores this quilt. She calls it her "rubby blankie." The different animals were embroidered by Tommy's grandmother, my grandmotehr, and my mom, who also put the quilt together. I think I love it as much as she does!)

1st Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party

As soon as I had a little girl (or any gender child for that matter), I wanted her to have a Christmas party of her own. I wanted there to be times in her life, other than her birthday, when she could throw a party and have her friends over. I thought gingerbread house decorating would be perfect for that. I wanted to start it last year, but figured Addie and her friends were still just too young. I had this year's planned for months. I wanted her to invite her little friends from school also. However, all that changed when Tommy had to go out of town at the last minute, and left these party plans and all the prep work to a pregnant woman with a toddler. The party dwindled down to our closest friends, the ones that are over here regularly and don't expect perfection! I also thought it would be a good trial run for a bigger party next year. We had a great time! I made a simple lunch of chicken salad, pimento cheese, and baked potato soup. Dessert was fruit and cupcakes!

After lunch, the decorating began. I had great dreams of making the gingerbread homemade for the houses. That did NOT happen! No one actually eats the gingerbread anyway, so why not buy the ready made kits?

The kids had a great time, the mommies did too. They are still a little young to get into it, although they did enjoy it. It'll be fun to see how far they have come next year! I was absolutely exhausted when we were through, so I guess we all had fun!

(I have no clue what's on my sweet girl's dirty face!)

A Christmas Craft

Addie is really into making things, you know, like crafts. It's not really my thing, but I do think it's important for children to do, so I try. Luckily, I get a lot of ideas this time of year. I read a lot of blogs, mostly by moms that are way more crafty than me. If it's easy and I think Addie will like it, it goes into my little bag of tricks. I save a lot for rainy days. This was one of them:

The oh-so-easy, we all did it ourselves, candy cane reindeer!

It didn't take us very long to do, in fact, I had sort of planned for it to take longer! But she had a blast, and I love doing these more older things with her!

You gotta pick just the right spot!

Turned out pretty cute!

Old Pics Recap

I finally got around to uploading some pics from various things - old camera, phones, etc., so excuse the quality of all of them. I have got to get caught up on this blog before the baby comes! I mean, it's spring, and I haven't gotten through Christmas yet!

Here is Addie's first dance class. She loved it and has loved it ever since. I am, however, sick of going every Tuesday. We have a wierd time - 6-6:45 - and it's hard with a child that goes to bed at 7:30. And, it's a 20+ minute drive, so we'd have to eat dinner at 5 if we eat before. I'll NEVER pick that time again!

Playing before the class started. There were a MILLION parents there, even some grandparents! 

 Sitting and getting directions. I guess she was taking it all in, because I rarely see her so attentive!

 (Sorry about the sideways pictures!)

 Love, love, LOVE those little chunky legs coming out of those tights! They are barely there anymore!

 And here are two pictures that were sent to me one night. I was having Girls Night Out and Tommy and Addie were having "Daddy Daughter Night" - apparently at ChickFilA. Addie ADORES "Daddy Daughter Night!" The last time she had it she sang "Happy Birthday" to Daddy Daughter Night. Not sure where that came from, but it's cute nonetheless!

 Oh my, those baby blues! I hope they don't change as she gets older, because they are GORGEOUS!

 Remember this post, where Addie had her Thanksgiving thing at school and she REFUSED to wear the vest? Tommy and I got it on her for about 7 seconds at home, long enough for me to take these terrible pictures!

So, there's a little update. At least I have documentation now of a few more things!

Disney Princesses on Ice

Back in December, the Disney Princesses on Ice came to Greenville. I was SO excited to take Addie! I knew she'd love it, and she did. She was absolutely fascinated! Tommy and I counted the number of live shows she's been to, and it's ridiculous, but it's because so many come to our area! This was by far her favorite though, and for that matter, mine too!

Tommy got us great seats! She was right there in on all the action!

I've been to numerous Disney on Ice performances, and I always wonder how they are going to be. Yet, I'm always amazed at what all they can do, and all the props they have, all on ice!

We got there early, and Tommy downloaded some apps on his phone to entertain Addie. And it has since caused an epidemic.

Addie's favorite was Cinderella, of course. That's all she talked about wanting to see. The first half of the show was little blurbs of all the other princesses, then we had an intermission, and then they did Cinderella. Addie's little face fell! I felt awful, but luckily, they redeemed themselves and did almost the entire story of Cinderella for the second half!