Conner & Addison

Addison loves to be on the trampoline. She basically just runs back and forth but she's sort of getting the jumping part. 

Conner was driving circles around the house on the four wheeler and she was sooo excited every time he drove by. She would squeal, bounce up and down, and wave. She was waving in the photo above. Then if he took longer than she expected, she was peeking around the corner to see if he was coming. He did this for about 20 minutes and she loved it every time!! 

I love that she loves my dogs!! JJ is so good with the kids. We need to get Addison to the farm more often! 

Her and Conner have this game where one of them throws their head back and says "ooooo" and the other one tickles them. Addison loves this game and thinks it is hilarious. She likes to play with us too. I can't stand the substance, waiting for her to tickle me when I can't see what she's doing - haha!  She prefers to be the tickle-er rather than the tickle-ee. 

Here is Conner driving by. 

Addison & JJ - I'm not sure where Rocky was during our games. I need to get a few photos of her with Rocky too! 

Addison's first baby shower

Addison and I attended my cousin's baby shower in Fort Dodge at the Apple Orchard. It will might be Addison's last shower for a while.....She did really good for the first 40 minutes. BUT THEN. The wild animal came out. She took my silverware and wouldn't give it back. That included a butter knife. I tested it, she wasn't going to cut herself. She started running around with the silverware and I heard "Oh my goodness she has a knife! Who's child is that?". Mine. Yup she's mine and yes she has a fork and a knife. And she's running. At least she wasn't running with scissors. You can go ahead and present me with the Mom of the Year award. haha!!

She ran wild for about 20 minutes and people kept giving me suggestions of what she could play with. Which was very nice of them.....but I know my kid and once you let the animal out of the cage, it's hard to put her back. Meaning, you let her run around.....good luck getting her to sit still again! So since I couldn't chat and they were starting games (Addison's screaming was distracting) we had to leave early. She threw a fit when I had to take the silverware and everyone stared as we left the orchard. I was sweating. haha!! 

But we had to stop for a few photos first! We got to see the Julius' which was great. Only wish I got to chat longer! Kaitlyn looked amazing and we are sooo excited for her and Scott. Can't wait for another kid in the Julius family. THEN we will get another kiddo in February for Erin and Brandon. Yea! 

There are probably 10 photos of this set-up trying to get one of her sitting AND looking :) 

We got to see Conner and our dogs that weekend. Addison loved it as always. She can say JJ but we are still working on Rocky. She was not scared at all of them and loves going outside with them. 

It was nice to have Conner at the farm with us, she thinks he's hilarious. And he loves to take her outside with the dogs.

This scenario made me laugh. Rocky knocked her over and she got upset and wanted Conner to pick her up. Conner didn't know what she wanted, I had to give him a hint. 

He told me that either she lost weight or he got stronger from the last time he saw her because he couldn't pick her up then. haha! He liked lifting her up into her high chair too. He's much more attentive to Addison than I thought he would be - he's so into "big kid activities" that I didn't think he would slow down to "toddler games" but he does. He tries hard to make her laugh! 

My little Pumpkin

We were up at 4am that day, and I think I took this photo around 7am. She was tuckered out and watching TV. This was a very unusual sight, at this age she didn't slow down long enough to watch TV unless it's a theme song or commercial she likes. 

Anyone see Addison??? 

I spy :) 

She loves to wrap up and hide in our curtains. She hasn't pulled down the rod.....yet. 

My little pumpkin!! We got the mini pumpkins from Ohio when we went out there for Ryan's friend's wedding. 

This one is my favorite - I love that smile and laugh! No matter what kind of day we have, when you come home to that smile....it makes everything better! 

My Pet Rock

We went to lunch at Pizza Ranch one day and we let her run around out in the grass area for a while (She had been contained for a while and was getting anxious). She found some rocks. She loves to play with rocks - cheap entertainment! She insisted on bringing them into the restaurant. I will be honest, it's been almost two months and the rocks are in an ISU mug on our counter. They are my secret weapon when I really need to get something done :) 

One of our friends said their kid loves pudding. I hadn't thought of that. It's an easier food to learn how to use a spoon with. She liked it! We have been working on using spoons and forks. I think she does okay but I have no idea what to expect. We love watching her learn new things but it's hard to watch the struggle, haha! 

She was trying on her new shoes - we bought glitter flats for our 18 month photos. These quickly became and obsession and she wanted to wear them around the house quite a bit.

Yup she came to me with this pile of rags (I think the blanket is in there too) and said "up". Well, I guess she whispered "up". I can't remember if I've said, I probably have, but she still only whispers "up". One of the first words she learns and she will still only whisper it! 

The hair is getting longer but it's still wild! I can't get it to go back or to the side like a girl's should. It still comes forward. It's now in her eyes, almost to her nose, without a pony tail holder! haha

First Football Game!

We took Addison to her first football game on Thursday Sept. 28. The weather was nice so we thought we could try to take her. We met the rest of the family at the Dekalb tent for a quick burger before the game. 

Trying to entertain her during the game. There is a little girl her age that sits still and very well behaved, we thought Addison would be like that. 

Wrong...... ha! This is her throwing a toddler-fit by the concession stands. She thought she saw Grandma Rita and tried to follow her up the stairs. It wasn't Grandma Rita and this is what happened when Addison realized it! She rolled around on the ground. A little boy about 4 came over, very concerned about Addison and asked if she was okay. Addison was screaming so loud she didn't hear him ask. Haha! 

She actually did fairly good considering her age and what we were expecting of her. She is just wild and doesn't want to sit still!! We sit on the aisle so she kept wanting down. In the photo on the right, she was watching the band. They came up our aisle to play. 

If we sat closer, it might have been better. Oh well! 

My mom and I took Addison home about 9pm. She was SOOO tired as you can see. She fell asleep immediately in the car. We stayed in Ames that night. 

She found a 2nd wind once we got home. Here she is with the cat from my Grandma Julius' house. I told Ryan we were going to bring it home (my mom was taking it to Salvation Army)

Just watching the end of the game with my kitty :) 

The game didn't end well, ISU lost. But we are over that lost as the rest of the season has been fun!! 

Keeping Busy!

We were looking at the big fish that Conner caught so we got out our fishing pole. We just threw back the ones we caught this time. 

This was a happy accident. I was putting games away in the cupboard......and then there was a crash. The Mexican Train game fell. Dominoes everywhere. But this entertained her for probably 15 minutes. So we consider that a success.

This little girl LOVES Chex Mix. Who would have guessed? And she picks out the pretzels. I thought that was funny, I thought she would have gone for the cereal. We apparently didn't shut the pantry door and she helped herself to a snack. I was changing my clothes after work and came downstairs to this - ha! 

Our little cheerleader going to daycare on game day! There are lots of cheerleading outfits in our future. We have not mastered "go cyclones" yet, when she sees Cy she says "arff arff" still. We are working on it! 

Wedding in Ohio

Ryan and I went to a wedding in Ohio and we sent Addison to the farm for a long weekend. She had a good time! She ate beef and noodles (my least favorite meal) and loved it! Addison warmed up to the dogs quick and LOVED going outside to see them. Her and JJ became friends.

She got put to work on the farm. Grandpa Ron was getting the combine ready for harvest (this was in mid-September). First time on the big four wheeler, she has watched Conner ride the small one.

She was checking out the corn to see if it was close to being ready. She was trying to put the ear back on the corn stalk :) I said she should just feed it to Rocky. Crazy dog loves ears of corn! But instead she fed the dogs dog food (photo on the right). She had to feed both dogs and pat JJ on the head so he would eat.

She slept well and behaved for Grandma and Grandpa (or so they say), so that made us happy! She sure missed us though, drop off at daycare was rough the next week.

Ryan and the groom, along with the beer can flag. It was an American themed wedding. 

The wedding was in the woods and absolutely beautiful. Very well done! 

The groom and me

I hadn't had this much fun in a long time. There was almost 400 people at the wedding, so many people we hadn't seen in a while. It was almost like we were back in college! It was fun catching up with everyone. We told Case he has to have an anniversary party in a year so we can party again! 

You can see Ryan's pumpkin-koozie - Case's family has a pumpkin farm, so that was many of the decorations. Case used to make a pumpkin football-helmet to wear while tailgating in college. I preferred my wedding koozie, the pumpkin was heavy and too big for my hands! 

This flag is on the grain bin, biggest flag ever. It was pretty awesome!
We rented a van and drove to Ohio with some friends. It was great to see everyone but we were happy to get home to our little munchkin!