Friday, January 13, 2012

Holidays Part 2: Our Trip to NC

Mom, Addi, and I spent three days in Belmont, NC at the convent visiting family and friends. Addi and I also visited Carrie and her family in Kannapolis but it was only for a few hours. :( We did get a chance to eat at the Townhouse though - yum - and visit with Marty, Mr. Reed, and Mrs. Linda while at lunch. Addi ate all of Mrs. Linda's mashed potatoes, and I was glad that we are all like family otherwise I would have been mortified! After the initial offer, she kept going for them and eventually stopped asking permission. She normally doesn't like mashed potatoes but mashed potatoes with gravy from the Townhouse is another story! We had a great time at the convent visiting with Sr. Michel and Aunt Libby and the rest of our "family" there. I grew up visiting the convent and many of the sisters (such as Sr. Mary Andrew or "Sr. Boo" and Sr. Soledad) are like family. The day we had to leave Lisa and Chris came to visit. They were in town for the holidays and we were sooooo excited that we got to see them. It too was a short visit but a couple of hours is better than no time at all. I miss everyone so much so it was a wonderful Christmas present for us all.

Enjoying her first ice cream cone - we are spoon and bowl folks :)

Walking with Aunt Libby

Playing with Mary Elizabeth

So much fun! I can't believe how much M.E. has grown!

Her second ice cream cone...one perk of visiting the convent - the sweets!

Outside looking at Christmas lights with Sitti

Four generations - Aunt Libby on the left and Sr. Michel in the front right

We are family! Chris and Lisa join our picture. 

Lisa and Addi

Sr. Michel was bestowed an award for service from the President of Lebanon and since I couldn't make it for the ceremony, I got her to pose with her award for me.  

Addi got into taking pictures so here is one she took of the tree.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Addi is 2.5!

I have a lot of pictures and stories from the last few weeks to catch up on, but I will get to those posts another day.

Addison turned 2.5 years old last week! So naturally, I want to keep a record of what all she is doing now. She is 28lbs with clothes on and is 35 inches tall! So she has gained a 1-1.5lbs since she turned 2 and she is 2.5inches taller! Scott and I were discussing how her personality has really started to blossom. She still loves to count and spontaneously starts to count whatever it around or whatever is in books. She is working on counting up to 30 but still needs our help with that task. She LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Minnie Mouse is her best friend. She is nurturing and cares for her babies, animals, and Minnie, making sure we are quiet when they are napping. She is starting to express her feelings through her Minnie (awww, Minnie's sad; don't be scared Minnie it's just rain), and we even had to take Minnie to the ENT for our check-up. Minnie had to get her ears checked too. Addi's tubes are in place but her tonsils are enlarged. The doctor wants us to keep an eye on her snoring and make sure she isn't having apnea attacks. Other than that we don't worry about the tonsils unless there are problems. She can spot (or hear) an airplane that is anywhere in sight. She likes to look for the moon (even during the day and she will find it!). She loves to pet dogs and babies when we go out. She asks to pet the babies and we are working on her asking the dog owners. She is getting better at it and we are there to remind her. When she sees babies she often remarks, aww look at the little baby. She is speaking in full sentences and most people can understand her if they can hear her. She is really soft spoken. Lately, she has been asking us to do things with her (you wanna come sit with me? you wanna come play with me?). She makes us food from HER kitchen and if we drink all of our juice or tea she is a gracious hostess and gets us more. If she doesn't want something or doesn't like something she will tell us, I don't like it or I can't want it. She makes up excuses not to go to bed, and she is starting to try negotiation as a tactic to get her way. When she sees baby or little birds/animals she often calls them Addi animals. Example- outside our window is a birdfeeder. When we see a brown cardinal she says, look there is a mama bird. We see a red cardinal she says, look there is a Daddy bird. When we see a small bird like a chirping sparrow she says, look it's an Addi bird. She enjoys singing and usually claps when she sings. She is a good eater most days but it varies. We don't push it and figure she will eat when she is hungry. We are able to reason with her more than we use to be able to, although it isn't all the time. She seems to using her right hand more often than her left but when playing t-ball she bats left-handed like Scott. She certainly can throw a fit when she wants and is already starting to pout, but that too is just part of it all. Sigh...she is growing up so quickly.

Pictures from the holidays to come...

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Holiday in SC (Part 1)

Addi and I have been in SC for over a week now. Scott is in Florida working, and I worked from here until Friday and am now taking some time off. Here are some of the pictures of our trip so far. We've visited with friends and are really enjoying ourselves. We spent a couple of days in Charleston and Michelle and Charles took Addi to the Children's Museum in downtown Charleston. While they were at the museum I worked on grades and collected the last bit of my dissertation data (yippee!!!). We also went to the James Island Festival of Lights. We got to finally meet little baby Cholly and spent time with Lindsey and Dana. Addi loved baby Cholly and wanted to hold and cuddle him. I didn't want to put him down! We went to the zoo with Erin and Eli. Addi LOVED the penguins, and we fed the giraffes. She was so excited to see Eli and was so sweet with him. She spent a weekend with Mimi and Granddaddy and has also enjoyed time with her Sitti and Papa. We decorated Christmas cookies twice - once with Michelle and once with my mom. This morning we visited with Meg and just hung out this afternoon. So far we have had a blast! Tomorrow we head to NC for a few days. We just love being here!

decorating sugar cookies at Aunt Chelle's

Look!


Yes, mom!?!

Festival of Lights

Addi and Michelle wore Uncle Charles out at the museum 
Holding baby Cholly

Look at that smile!

Dana and Addi

Giving kisses to the sweet baby boy!
heading to ugly sweater party 

Eli is ready for the zoo! 
I've got my ride!

Can we take him home?

Oh the penguins! The penguins are fun and exciting!

So we are actually in here with the kangaroos and wallabees?

Mom and Addi

Feeding the giraffes!


Addi, Erin, and Eli

Chuck and Maglio

Just hanging out with my cows

Talking to her cows



Playing in the yard

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Just us girls

Last weekend Scott went to NC to watch Clemson play in the ACC championship (GO TIGERS!) and Addi and I had a girls' weekend. I had a lot of work to do so I couldn't make the trip, but with help from Natalie, I was able to get a huge amount of work finished. We had a busy weekend...after Addi's trip to the playground with Natalie, Addi took a nap and then the two of us went to Lake Ella to see the ducks, pet the friendly dogs, listen to the music, and just hang out. That night Natalie, Brandy, and Cristal came over for Natalie's 30th birthday, and we had more girl time with dinner and drinks! Sunday after church, Addi and I went to Vanessa and Sylvie's for a play-date, and then had lunch at our favorite restaurant. Scott ended up catching an earlier flight so we picked him up early and were able to spend some family time before the day ended. It was a nice weekend filled with a lot of friends, family, and fun!

Addi wanted to help me clean...of course she was wearing pjs and her birthday tiara, but that is the fun of it!


A rainbow at Lake Ella

Seriously watching the ducks

Rocks and leaves!


Happy Birthday, Natalie!


Cake pops at Sylvie's house

A few pictures from Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures of our trip to SC for Thanksgiving.

We had a lot going on during that week...

Wednesday: Michelle and I spent time in Charleston doing baby stuff...I LOVE baby stuff and Michelle is gorgeous!
Thursday: Two Thanksgiving dinners with family - oh my the yummy goodness and lots of fun with family!
Friday: Black Friday Shopping with Mom, Michelle, and my aunts and cousins - so fun and great deals!; Aunt Mary's 50th birthday party
Saturday: 60th birthday parties for Mr. Ricky and Aunt Jane and Clemson/USC game
Sunday: Travel home

I have a TON of pictures that I will put on Shutterfly and send out via email. Miss everyone dearly!

This is the face Addi makes if you ask her to say "cheese"



Addi's first roasted marshmallow...she looked at PaPa like he ruined the marshmallow and asked for a new one (haha!)

Happy 60th birthday! Orange velvet cake!

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

My AECT Trip

I won the 2011 AECT Internship award and went to the conference back in November. I had a great time and learned so much from the experience. It was such an honor (although I knew this I didn't REALLY know this until we got to Jacksonville). During the week, I spent time learning from the top leaders in our field and when I left Jacksonville, I was a different person. I learned so much about our field, about research, writing, publishing, academia, mentoring, what being a leader truly means and so on. It was eye-opening! My experience doesn't stop here. During the next year the other interns and I will work on our service project to the AECT organization, and we will determine how we can best give to our field and this professional organization.


Monday, November 21, 2011

Santa Pictures 2011

Addison was very excited to see Santa Clause and said this multiple times on Saturday. When she saw him she said hello and waved excitedly. But she did not want to sit on his lap...I felt a little guilty making her but figured it was a rite of passage. Until this year we were 2-0 for Santa pictures (2009 and 2010) and 0-2 school pictures (although not smiling and happy at least she took them). The tables have turned :)

Picture 1
Picture 2 (Picture 4 really but they didn't give us the ones of her grabbing me - I am to the right of the chair)
Last picture - she was like whatever let's get this over with and go get a cookie