Pella Post #2

We decided Addison deserved some ice cream at lunch. Typically we always eat ice cream with a spoon, but she saw Ryan lick it so she wanted to try too. This is her first "lick" from an ice cream cone! 

We figured that we were already a little crazy being out and about on a super hot day....why not be completely crazy? So we went to a park. With a black rubber surface. It was a cool park and we were the only ones there. Because no one else is that crazy. ha! We all had sweat just dripping off us, but Addison was happy as a clam. 

Her cheeks are red she's so hot but by golly she wasn't going to slow down! We did find some chairs in the shade but she didn't sit long. 

We were "peeking" in these photos. I was trying to find a way to get her to actually smile and let me take photos. This actually worked. haha! She called the little shelter a "house" so she was "peeking, house".

She was having a good time...she kept going back to the "house" to "peek". Oh and she says "PEEK!!" each time she pops her head out. haha! 

I feel like this is another pose we should re-create at senior pictures.....

And our last photo in Pella. We were still at the park, but they had this little window that she loved running to. I didn't take photos, but we did go to a bakery. We bought ourselves a couple pastries. We probably should have bought a Dutch Letter (I've never had one), but there were so many things that looked amazing. Plus the way the bakery was set up, you weren't allowed to browse very easily. You stood in a long line (probably 25 people), then when it was your turn, and an employee was "assigned" to you and stared at you until you made a decision. If you walked around the cases, they followed you. There were a bunch of people working and they all worked quickly. Trying to juggle an antsy toddler, jogging stroller and decide on pastries was more stress than I anticipated walking in the door. haha! But it was a good trip to Pella and I'm sure we will go back sometime.

Pella

Another weekend adventure - this time we went to Pella! We had never been there and it hasn't worked the past couple years for us to go to Tulip Festival. It's always a busy weekend at work for me. So we went in July. It was forecasted to be about 98 degrees that day. We left the house about 9am and I think it was already 90 degrees when we got there. Addison insisted on having a blanket on. We teased her that she has hung out with Grandma Rita too much. She also put her own sunglasses on....which is why they look a little goofy :) 

Addison was terrified of the giant shoes, so Mom had to get in first. 

She has her head down, almost in tears. She didn't want to be in the shoes. Little does she know, if she would just look it me and smile so I could scrapbook, then it would all be over quickly. haha! 

Clearly, I wasn't going to give up. We were in Pella, we needed a picture in the shoes!! 

And we needed a picture with the windmills too. We saw 4 or 5 windmills. We could have gone on a tour of a bigger one, and there was some little town or something we could tour, but it was an hour long and we would have been the youngest guests by about 30 years. So I'm guessing the others would have liked to listen to the tour guide and not our rambunctious toddler. ha! So we passed this time.

No pictures this time.....

I need to do a better job of keeping track of other milestones. I take so many photos partly so I remember what's going on when I go to write later! But a few things that I don't have photos for that I think are worth remembering:

- She calls Ryan by name. A lot. I think it's funny. Ryan tries to get her to call me Brooke, but she mostly calls me Mom. I think it's really funny when she puts her hand next to mouth and yells "Ryan!!" or even "Dad!!"

- When she chases a ball when we are playing catch she says "I get it" in a high-pitched nonchalant voice. I need to get a video of that one, it's pretty good!

- When you say something like "oh be careful" or "please don't spill that" her response in that same nonchalant voice is "no problem mom" or "no problem dad". It's hilarious - neither of us ever use that phrase.....which makes it even funnier!

- She will try to say something and you don't understand so you start guessing. If you say "oh! did you say park??" she says "okay" and goes to get her shoes. She tricks you into saying what she wants, then makes you commit. "did you say pictures?" then she says "okay" and goes to get your phone and demands you show her pictures of herself. She does this with everything, food, games, etc. Now it's to the point where we keep saying "oh I don't know what you are saying.....do you want a carrot?" haha :) Ryan and I now have to speak in code if one of us knows what she's saying and the other doesn't!

- Bubble Guppies rule all. ha! That is her most favorite thing in the world. We bribe her to do things sometimes (like take medicine) with Bubble Guppies. I actually don't mind the show, I like the catchy songs and she actually learns things (shh...I've learned a few things too). Today she was telling me there was a tadpole on TV. Neither Ryan or I had heard her say "tadpole" before. She learns animal noises, body parts, etc. I thought I was being a good mom but now regret it....I checked out two Guppie books from the library. Ryan and I have been reading those two books on repeat. And one is super long. But thankfully she's too young to know if we are skipping pages :)

- BUT Paw Patrol toys are the top dogs (ha). She doesn't watch Paw Patrol on TV very often, but man those toys are the best money spent! She loves them. They have helped deviate their fair share of melt-downs.

- We have started thinking about potty training. We have gotten the potties out and we talk about it. Sometimes she wants to sit on the potty. Yesterday, I was folding laundry in the spare bedroom and I heard her and Ryan talking. She said she needed to poop and when Ryan asked if she wanted to sit on the potty, she said yes. Then I hear them talking and I can hear nothing's happening. About 10 seconds later, I hear Ryan yell "OH NO ADDISON!" She apparently ran out of the bathroom without a diaper and then proceeded to poop in her room. Ha! I find this hilarious because Ryan allowed her to run out. He always takes the diaper off right next to the tub, so she is never running around naked. Ever. And the ONE time he allows it, she poops. ha! He took her back to the potty and she did actually pee in the potty. So mark that down as a first! No commitment to potty training, but we are still marking that one down :)

That's all the milestones I can think of right now. It's amazing how fast time flies and how easy it is to forget something. I will try to be better at writing them down!

Ryan's Track Meet

This year, Ryan signed up for the Corporate Games through Ruan. He signed up for the long jump and the 100 meter dash.

Addison and I had a good time. We got to run around the infield for a while and were right next to the long jump pit. Then we went up to the stands to start watching the 100 meter dash. 

Addison watching Ryan run. He's in the red shirt on the left. She stood next to the railing for each race....and insisted I squat right next to her. My legs got tired. ha! It was a beautiful night and good free entertainment! 

Speaking of free entertainment, Addison with a pile of rags on her is free entertainment. She's gotten more talented, now she runs around with rags on her head AND takes care of her baby. If you look close, you can see her baby's legs sticking out. ha! 

Go Cubs Go

The MBA program offered free tickets to an I-Cubs game for alums. I like free entertainment :) 

She was terrified of the giant bear and wouldn't look. 

And I was trying to get a picture of her with Grandma when she wanted to sit on my lap...so she had a meltdown. ha! 

So with our free tickets, we also each got $10 vouchers to buy food from the concession stands. So we got lunch too. Ryan and Addison were walking around the stadium (because what two year sits through a baseball game) and they were out in the outfield at the splash pad. The gator with the hot dog gun starting driving around, and they tossed a hot dog up to Addison. We were pretty happy, we have never caught a hot dog! ha! 

Looks like we will do an annual photo in front of the Kris Bryant poster (well as long as he's there, which we hope is a while). 

Love this!! We couldn't believe the big smile she had in these photos. 

It was a good day, perfect weather, free tickets and free food. Guess that's a perk of all the money we paid the MBA program :) 

Photographer in training

The above photo is of the french braid that Kia (daycare's daughter) did for Addison. Apparently, she said still while Kia did her hair. Maybe that's what I need to do instead of her pulling me around while I try to put her hair in a ponytail! 

She's playing with the play-doh toys....with no play-doh. That morning, she played with the play-doh toys for a good 45 minutes. She loved lining them up, organizing them, then putting them away. 

This was another weekend morning. We were in the kitchen/living room and could hear Addison playing with the bins in the cubbies by the front door. You can see she emptied the koozies and had some kitchen utensils. She was quiet for quite a while so I went to check on her. This is what she was doing. I think she was thinking about her life goals.

 Don't mind the Welcome flower on the floor...the darn thing won't stay on the door. We have a hook that suction cups to the glass door....it stays up for a week or two then falls. Then I try to wait for the temperature outside to cool off a bit because it seems to stick better and I try again. I am stubborn and keep trying to hang it up because I literally have no where to store it - haha! 

I got out my first digital camera from college and put batteries in it. Ta-da! It still works! I'm trying to teach Addison how to use it. She gets the concept but her hands are too small and she struggles to balance the camera to push the button. And you have to hold the button down for what feels like forever, so it's pretty hard for her to take photos. But she will get it. 

We take turns sitting and taking each other's pictures. I'm only posting Addison's because mine and Ryan's aren't cute - haha! 

She loves to use an old phone at daycare and pretend to take photos of baby Weston. I saw it one day, I thought it was pretty funny. She is definitely the mama bear for Weston, she makes sure the other kids are nice to him (aka don't get too close). I should ask if she has shared her rag with him yet.....then you REALLY know she likes you. ha! 

Play-doh

It was pretty hot out so we thought we should get Addison's pool out. She was pretty anti-pictures so I couldn't get much. This was the best I could get, snapping a picture while she took a drink of water - ha! 

She's not a big fan of the water and hasn't been to a pool since April. She won't sit down, just stands there. And she insisted she wear her crocs. I stood in the pool with her for a while and she wanted me to wear my shoes too. She got a little more comfortable that she would splash around, but never sat down.

We brought home the little picnic table from Grandma Rita's and Aunt Kelly gave us a whole bunch of play-doh toys. Parker always had to play with play-doh on the lunch tray, so we made that rule for Addison too. 

I'm not sure who had more fun, Ryan or Addison. Parker had a ton of toys! 

I don't think she fully understood how to play with play-doh, but she sure enjoyed the toys!

The Pirate Park

The third Saturday of the month, there is a breakfast at the American Legion in Bondurant. Ryan and I used to go before we had Addison. It's a good breakfast for a great deal. We decided to take Addison in June. She was a little hesitate of all the older men trying to talk to her, but once she got some pancakes she warmed up. She wouldn't let me take pictures of her first Legion breakfast, but I took one of her smelling the flowers outside :) She actually was pretty close to these flowers, normally she's three feet away and sniffs. 

This is one of my favorite recent photos....She is fighting me sooo hard on photos. So I told her "If you stand here and take a picture, then we will go to a park". She ran to the wall and smiled. I was shocked that worked. haha! This was one of Makena's outfits so I wanted to send it to Tracey. Please note her choice of socks and crocs too. The crocs were Makena's too. 

We went to a park in Altoona - it was pretty cool! She didn't know what a pirate ship was back in June, but now she watches a Bubble Guppies episode with pirates. She says "aargh" now, it's hilarious (to me and Ryan). I will try to get a video :) 

She loves the side by side slides and makes us go with her. 

Doing some hiking. 

I've read articles about how you need to take photos with your kids. Typically, women don't like being in pictures and avoid them, not to mention mom's are usually the ones taking the photos. I'm no different. I need to be better at making people take photos of the three of us and making Ryan take ones of me and Addison together. Although, I should really plan ahead and shower and do my hair.......

Which brings me to mention, it was probably 9:30am and 90 degrees out already this day. By 10:30am we were sweating and ready for AC!