Brayden's Basketball Game

I got a little out of order, two weeks before the Big 12 Tournament, I went to Kansas City for the day. There was a baby shower for Nicole that I went to. Then I went to Brayden's basketball game. 

Look how cute he is! His shorts were so long! I was impressed with the skills of these little guys. 

And I took a picture of Brayden and Cooper to show Addison when I got home. It was a quick trip but it was a fun day! 

Big 12 Championship

Funny how I'm just posting about the Big 12 Tournament and we are getting emails to renew our basketball tickets right now :) Well last March, the Julius family decided not to go to the Big 12 Tournament. We weren't really sure which ISU team we would see, so we didn't want to risk taking the time off and spending the money this year. BUT..... all of the sudden, we were in the championship! So Saturday morning, Ryan and I woke up and called my parents to see if they were interested in going. And we called Landon to see if we could get tickets. So we dropped Addison off with my mom, picked up my dad, and headed to KC! 

We saw some women's basketball players at the Power & Light District. Other people were getting their photos with them, and Ryan snapped a picture of them too. He got called out. Ha! They made fun of him for taking a photo of people he didn't know and told him to get in for a picture. It was quite funny! Bridget Carleton is the one on the far left, and she is probably one of, if the not the best, woman player ever to play at ISU. She's in the WNBA now. 

Brayden got to come this year! 

Our seats weren't fantastic, but it didn't matter! We were in the building at least. :) 

We beat Kansas 78-66. It was a fun game! 

Family picture at the end. 

Brayden had a blast! So glad he came with us this year. 

BUT even more exciting we was that we met our new nephew that night!! I was bummed we didn't have time to see him before the game, but I was excited we could see him when we got back. Nolan Michael was born just a few weeks earlier. He spent a week in the NICU but was home by the time of the tournament. He was so tiny and super precious. I felt really bad we saw him without Addison, she was so excited about him! 

BunnyMallows

Addison had sheer excitement for the Bunny Mallows that Grandma Rita gave her in her Valentines gift. But who doesn't love bunny mallows?!? 

This was the first time Addison used her Paw Patrol sleeping bag that she got for Christmas. Granted, she had a fever and was just laying around, but she did take a nap in the sleeping bag. 

I love watching her imagination grow and when she pretends. She was ready her babies the stories, it was super cute. She really tried to get the words right. Green Eggs and Ham is our favorite to listen to her read. 

Eating our food isn't always the easiest task, so one night when she cleared her plate she got really excited. I told her that she gets a thumbs up for clearing her plate. Eating with Addison tests our creative skills. We always have to think of a game to get her to eat! 

Just working on her plank. She's got to work on her upper body strength to be able to plank and lift the weights. Ha! 

"I need a snack"

"I need a snack" are probably the 4 most frequently said words from Addison. The kid is always snacking! She likes to get in the closet and pick a snack. Who needs a step stool when you have a 5 pound tub of animal crackers? This is how I found Addison looking for a snack one night. 

Reagan sent us a photo with her new donkey. We hope she loves him as much as Addison loves hers! 

Dried milk splatters were hard to get up from our hardwood floors, so I enlisted Addison's help. Her floor scrubbing skills could use some polishing, but she's got a good start.

Just working on our numbers! I think when this photo was taken, she was counting to about 50. We got to 70 in May for Grandpa Ron's 70th birthday. She's good at the actual counting part, but we need to work on recognizing the numbers when written. 

Women's Basketball Game

It's it fun to see snow on the ground when it's 90 degrees out? haha! I got free tickets to a women's game as an ISU employee. So we took advantage of it. 

I can't remember what she was watching but I love this picture! 

She refused to take the Cy Hat off for the longest time. 

This one makes me laugh, he was not choking her, just trying to tickle her so she would smile for the picture. We took probably 20 pictures just trying to get a decent one. No go. 

It was the pink game that day. I had my pink Cyclone Alley shirt from 2008. Ryan wore my RAGBRAI shirt from last year. Addy had no pink ISU clothes. We tried, haha!

She was yelling "Go Cyclones!" 

Looking for Cy. 

It was a fun game to watch. Bridgette Carlton was a lot of fun to watch. Now she's in the WNBA. We really should have gotten to more women's basketball games, they were a fun team! Maybe next year. 

Happy Valentine's Day

Addison with her Valentine's gifts. 

Clothes! Just what every kid wants :) 

She was pretty excited about her new puzzle. It has pieces within pieces, she thought that was cool. It was a hand-me down, haha! 

She also got a little LeapFrog thing that talks to her and has her trace letters. She thought that was pretty cool too. Thanks Parker, haha!

Dear Reagan......

Reagan's birthday was in February so we wanted to make her a card. I thought this picture was super cute, she looks like she is thinking hard about what to write to Reagan about. 

It's been a while now so I can't quite remember, but she probably had me draw her and Reagan as princesses - haha! 

We sent Reagan a donkey like ours, Addison thought "that would be a good surprise". The donkey has been entertainment for a couple years for us! 

Magnets don't work on our fridge, so she has to do it on the old file cabinet in the office.

Had to document this, she is terrified of this stuffed Olaf because Ryan chased her, pecking her with Olaf's carrot nose. She was terrified for months! Then we were home sick one day and she gave him a hug. I had to take a picture and send it to Ryan - ha! 

When I was little, I always watched "Wilbur" aka Charlotte's Web. I watched it on VHS, recorded from TV so I had commercials. When I was sick, my dad would come in the house every 90 minutes and rewind and restart the movie for me. My dad jokes that he doesn't know why they didn't buy me the actual tape, as I watched it non-stop. I could still tell you what some of those commercials were. I got the DVD in high school, so at least Addy doesn't have to watch it on VHS with commercials. ha! 

I got Addy hooked on Wilbur and she asked to watch it one night when she was sick. So I made her stand next to the TV and we sent the picture above to Grandpa Ron. 

Bones for Rocky & JJ

We were playing with play-doh and she wanted me to make two bones. She told me she had to give them to Grandpa Ron for Rocky & JJ. 

We were at Grandma & Grandpa's house in Ames and Grandma wasn't there. She told me to take a picture for Grandma. Ha! Addison was sitting in the bar stool without her booster and she was pretty proud. She was also excited about the spaghetti pie. 

But she was more excited about getting a peanut butter cup cookie! 

She made a path with her rags from the door to our bedroom to her step stool. She was pretending it was a bridge and she couldn't fall off. It's fun to see her imagination growing, I hadn't seen her make up a story like that before! 

Who wore it better?

We keep Addison around because she catches all the mice - ha! 

Addison found all the beads, put them on, then told me she was a princess :) 

We had this pink furry vest in our closet from Makena. Addison always picked it out when it was about 80 degrees out and wanted to wear it. "Finally" it was winter and she could wear the vest. I thought she looked pretty darn cute!

When she's in the right mood, I can have lots of fun taking pictures :)

Found this old photo of Makena, who wore it better? haha!