This one is for Austin

I've got a couple of videos here...one of each of the kids. Aunt Emily has mentioned a couple different times that Austin is disappointed when he sees pictures on the blog-apparently, he wants sound and movement (not surprising, coming from him!), so here are some videos for Austin...and anyone else interested.

It's always exciting to see a new little soccer player in the family:

Addie got this rocking horse for her birthday, but was extremely afraid of it until a couple of days ago. She has now named her rocky horsey "Pumpkin", or as she would put it: "Punkin".

Easter Sunday

We were able to celebrate Easter Sunday by going to church as a family! This has been a rare occurence for us the past several months as is seems like someone has been sick most Sundays, keeping part of our family home various Sundays. However, we were all healthy enough to go this past Sunday, which was great news! The kids had their Easter outfits on, so we got a family picture before leaving the house bright and early:
We waited until after naptime on Sunday to do Easter baskets and such:

Addie had a mini Easter egg hunt, but she actually did fairly well with it (but not so good at smiling for the camera-big surprise):

Success!

I absolutely love the outfit Levi wore! He is cute in anything (or nothing!), but this outfit is definitely one of my favorites:

Trying to get a good pic of the kids together...maybe somday:

Happy Easter!

Uncle Joshua and Aunt Mamy!

Josh and Amy made the long drive down to spend Easter weekend with us. We had told Addie they were coming, so she was very excited to meet Aunt Amy and get to see Uncle Josh. Before they arrived, Addie had their names down and kept saying "Josh and Amy hungry." I guess she assumes all people like to eat often, just like she does. Anyways, once they were here, she warmed up to them quickly, but would confuse Josh with Nate a lot of times (another uncle that I do not think looks similar to Josh, but apparently Addie does). When she would get Josh's name right, though, she would call him "Joshua" and she would always call Amy "Mamy" thought she was totally capable of saying it correctly. We all had a fun time together and were able to do lots of outdoor stuff, which is always great. Josh and Amy, thanks for coming to visit-we look forward to seeing you again soon!

Just minutes after their arrival, Addie already had a great friend in her Aunt Amy:

They came with gifts-Addie got her first tutu!

They also brought a cool set of nursery rhyme books that Addie asked them to read to her over and over and over:

More reading:

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to go see some waterfalls!

Group pic:

After naps on Saturday, we decorated Easter eggs:

Uncle Josh got pretty into it:

Levi wanted in on the fun:

Josh and Amy gave Addie a pair of sunglasses, but she refused to put them on when she got them (of course now she wants to wear them all the time-when no one is forcing her to), so we let Levi model them for the camera!

Birthdays in Roanoke, VA

We wrapped up the birthday celebrations in Roanoke, VA with the Angoves. It was a big crowd-Granny (Addie's great-grandmother) made it down for the party, so it was good to see her and she also got to meet Levi for the first time! Addie had a blast playing with her cousins and eating lots of sweets-always a bonus when at the grandparents house. Unfortunately, I did not take a lot of pictures, but the good news is, Uncle Corey was gracious enough to do a little photo shoot for us, so I will post those once I have them-I know he got some really good pictures!

Michaela snuggling up with Levi:
Trevor has always loved Addie-she loves him too.

Nothing like ice cream cake!

Granny with the great-grandkids.

Pops and Dottie with all of their grandchildren:

Since this is finally my last post on Addie's birthday festivities, I figured I would give a little update on her. She had her well child check-up a couple weeks ago and we got a good report. She is a healthy girl! Addie has a weird iron thing (I won't go into detail about) that has made us give her iron vitamins to try to get her count up as much as possible. The good news we got was that her iron is in the "normal" range, which the doctor didn't expect to be able to happen, so that was great news! She is also a growing girl-weighing in at 25 lbs. 6 oz and 33 1/4 in. tall...both of which put her in the 50%! That's HUGE for us! When the doctor told me her percentage, I asked her to repeat it because I thought I had definitely misheard her seeing as 10% is usually big for our kids! The doctor was very impressed with her ability to talk (no signs of autism) and the fact the she is potty trained (for the most part). Addie enjoys to play with her baby dolls, her brother, Little People, Corduroy, ride scooters/bikes, play outside with the neighbors, eat, and sleep. She also recently got a movie called "The Letter Factory" which she begs to watch every day. Nana gave it to her for her birthday and within a week or so, Addie knew the sound that each of the letters in the alphabet makes. We thought that was pretty impressive! So, if anyone is wanting to teach their child the letter sounds, this is a great resource (unless you really don't like getting a song stuck in your head because it is bound to happen while watching this dvd). All that to say, Addie is such a happy, sweet girl and we love getting to spend every day with her. I'm not sure she understands that her birthday is over now, but that's okay. I don't mind continuing to tell her "happy birthday, Addie" every now and then!

Hands On Museum

As part of Addie's birthday celebration, we invited Addie's friend, Addisyn, to go to a nearby children's museum with us. Addisyn is in Addie's class at church, so they see each other at least twice a week-if not more. Both of them love to talk about each other while they are apart, but when they are together, they run up to each other to give hugs and kisses, then usually separate and do their own thing. I guess it's just their age. The Hands-On museum was a lot of fun, though. I know it is meant for kids older than these two, but really there is something for people of all ages-even Levi!

Ready to start the fun:

They had a stage with dress-up clothes next to it. Addie and Addisyn put these dresses on and danced around for a little bit:

The grocery store was a big hit. Addie filled her cart in no time! There's no doubt about it, she likes food!

Her full shopping cart:

Daddy happened to be the cashier:

In the dentist chair:

Sitting to enjoy some treats at the bakery:

Rocking her baby to sleep in the baby room:

Levi knocking towers down-one of his many talents:

Instead of a sand box, this was a rice box...the idea seemed pretty genius to me-much less mess, and the girls loved it!

Addie loves to brush her teeth, and apparently others' teeth as well!

It was a successful, fun morning together!

Round 2

More slides! We met Daddy at McDonald's to go down some slides and have lunch. Addie got to slide with each of us individually and would probably still be there right now if we let her. Now, she can spot the golden arches before we can and immediately start shouting "slide! slide!" Dare devils!

She got a special treat after finishing her lucnh-ice cream! I think Addie has decided she likes ice cream even more than chocolate-that is huge because she is a big chocolate fan. Recently, she has been asking for chocolate ice cream...a flavor she has never had and we have never even told her existed. I guess she just knows it must be awesome-her two favorite things combined!

We celebrated with cupcakes and presents after dinner on Addie's actual birthday.

She got a lot of stuff!

So proud of her basketball abilities.

Still working on learning how to pedal, but she loves her tricycle even though she makes it move by pushing off the ground with her feet

She got lots of birthday calls.

One of my favorite things about Addie's birthday was how excited she got about it all. Addie had no idea she was going to get presents for her birthday (which is why lots of kids are excited to have a birthday, I believe), but she was so excited all day! Just by us telling her it was her birthday and singing "happy birthday" to her, she was overcome with joy and energy. It was so fun to watch her. It was also fun to hear her sing "happy birthday to Addie" over and over and over again...and we still hear her sing it a week later. I think she wants her birthday to last!

Addie's first second birthday celebration

Last weekend, we drove down to Atlanta to celebrate Addie's second birthday...at least to have the first celebration. Since Addie doesn't have any grandparents, aunts, uncles, or cousins that live where we do, we decided to take some trips to celebrate with family. On Friday night, Nana had planned to celebrate Addie's birthday with cupcakes and presents. You will see as you look atthe pictures below, there are only 2 pictures from that evening. That is because Addie decided to chug 3 cups full of milk because she was drinking from an exciting new cup with a straw. About a minute after the below picture was taken, Addie threw up all over herself and her Mommy. That was the end of celebrating that night. Except Nana did pull out one gift for Addie before she went to bed-a scooter!

The main event of the weekend was going to a place called "Catch Air" with Olivia and Logan. We had thought Olivia and Addie could get some fun cousin time in while jumping on inflatables and sliding down slides. We were right! We never realized how much fun Logan a Levi would have, though...as well as Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Melinda! We don't have any inflatable type places in Asheville, but I really wish we did. This place was so fun, and very affordable! So, if anyone reading this lives near an inflatable kids place, go check it out!

Our attempt at a cousin picture:

Best sibling picture we got:

Crawling around with Daddy:

Sliding with Poppi:

Addie even convinced Nana to slide! These slides were Olivia and Addie's favorite thing to do by far:

Spinning!

The birthday girls. April 2 (the Saturday we were there) was actually my sister, Melinda's, birthday. She was so gracious to allow Addie to "steal her thunder." Happy birthday Aunt Melinda!

Fun times at Nana and Poppi's house.

This video was specifically taken for Nana. While we were at her house, Addie didn't really get the whole scooter idea-she is new to it. But, she picked it up right away when we got home and tried to teach her how to use it. So, Addie really wanted Nana to see how she was able to ride the scooter. You might even hear her say something about "Nana see" on this video. Every time she gets on it, that is what she says. So, Nana see!