A Celebration of life!

It has been a while since I have written a post. It has been a busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago my Grandpa passed away. He was 94 years old and lived a wonderful life. I only hope that I leave such a great and lasting legacy as he did. Over the last year he moved to an assisted living home and I loved bringing Addison to visit him on Sunday's after church. He loved to see her and it always brought a sparkle to his eye. I have so many great memories of him! We actually had the funeral on Addison's 1st birthday. What a wonderful celebration of life!

At night we went out to eat with our neighbors Mitch, Emily, and Kaden. I love watching the kids play together. The next day we had her birthday party at our house. We had a blast and Scott and I were reminded what wonderful families we have! I attempted to make her birthday cake with some serious help from my mother-in-law. Actually she did most of it and I helped:) It turned out so great! She got way to many presents and her favorite by far was the balloons. She still loves waking up and batting at them!

I love being the birthday girl!

Now balloons is what I do love!

Here is the cake that I helped with:)

Of course a family picture, but Addison was more interested in the cake and not having it on her hands.
Look all of my guests have arrived!

Here is the wagon Addison got!

We got Addison a trike and she really likes to ride it in the house or should I say likes to be pushed on it!
Scott and I are trying to get prepared for a cruise. We leave next week Sunday and we are so excited. We are going to the Western Caribbean for 5 nights. Our parents are watching Addison. I am so excited but starting to miss her already. How sad is that :) Hopefully the next post I make will be pictures from the trip.

Birthday Busyness

So it has been a while since I have posted something, but we have been very busy. See between December 30 and February 27, we celebrate 8 birthdays between Scott and I's families. And this year we will be adding a new birthday to the 2 month craze....Addison's on the 27th!!! We are already beginning to plan: party hats, plates, cakes, etc... It is hard to believe that it has almost been a year since she was born! I always questioned people who said "you need to cherish the moments, because it flies bye." I am starting to realize though how true this is. Anyways, here are some new pictures!

Bundled up and ready to go!

My crazy hair do with the bows Grandma made me!

Hey how did that get on my head!!!

Are you serious....who keeps putting those things on my head!!!

Despite the fact that Addison is only in the 50% percentile for weight, she is very strong...I think this frog weighs about as much as she does.

She loves playing with her ball!

Grandpa's LARGE PRINT birthday cake.....nice work Kristin!!!

Addison trying on Grandpa's birthday gift...quite the little ninja.

Happy Valentines Day!!! Grandma and Grandpa Pell brought me these balloons...and boy does Addison love balloons.
Addison and me on Valentines Day. Grandma Plakmeyer came to babysit so we could go out for a night on the town.
Scott got me flowers, and they looked really nice next to Addison's 9 month pictures we just got back...thanks Kris...nice work as always!!!

Walking on my Own

We finally were able to get Addison walking on video. Usually we pull it out and she just stands there and stares at it. We were so surprised when she walked from the family room to the kitchen on her own. She didn't really get into crawling much but walking is another story! She does great as long as you don't get her to excited:) but the falls are getting more graceful! Excuse the narrator in the background:) After listening to himself he says he needs to do less talking in the future! We just love every stage and feel so blessed to have her!

Happy Holidays!!!

Okay, so I know I am way behind in updating our blog. You would think that with having an extended Christmas break being a teacher, I would have plenty of time to do this. However, it seemed that the holidays kept us on the go, and it seemed rare that we weren't on the go somewhere. In addtion to Christmas, Scott and I also both celebrated birthdays between

Christmas and New Years!!!

Here is a picture of Addison and I braving the elements. It was amazing looking back at how much snow we got in December. One of Addison's favorite things to do was to watch her daddy snow blow the driveway.

Addison certainly enjoyed her first Christmas. However, we realized that she enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper, as much as she did with the gift that was inside.

Addison was so excited to get her first piggy bank...

and her first car!!!Every year my brother Josh gets the "boys" a surprise gift, this year it was a couple snazzy ties.

Picture of the fam on New Years Day celebrating both our birthdays. You will note that Scott looks fairly tired. Unfortunately for us, the holidays resulted in Addison catching a cold, an ear infection and teething. Needless to say, we got re-aquianted with what it was like to be new parents.....Addison was getting up 2-3 times a night.

New Year's Day was spent at a cabin in Fremont that Scott's parents rented on the White River. There wasn't a lot of snow, but we were able to do some hiking, snowmobiling, card(Wizard!!!) and watch some college football.

Addison was quick to find the piano at the cabin and loved to play the keys.

Scott even made a new friend! All in all, we had a great break and got to spend a lot of time with our families. Best wishes for the New Year!!!

I love Christmas presents!

We have been wrapping presents and getting ready for Christmas. Addison loves her knew stocking and loves presents especially the wrapping paper. Her favorite thing to do is eat the presents. The last 3 weeks she is really starting to move. Yesterday she took four steps on her own. At her nine month appointment the doctor said she may just be running by Christmas. I can't believe that! Here are a few pictures from our present wrapping days and of course Christmas p.j.'s to set the mood.

Christmas Tree Shopping

The day after Thanksgiving we went to cut down our Christmas tree! It was a beautiful day and we found just the perfect tree we thought! Of course we picked out one that was 10 1/2 feet tall and had a crooked top half:) We did though have a great time cutting it down. Here are some pictures from our adventure! I am not so sure that Addison loved it though:)
So the remainder of the story is that we got the tree home and decorated it and as the night progressed I thought I saw the tree move but my dear hubby said no way. And then we heard a loud crash at 4:30 in the morning! I swore that some one was breaking in the house but no it was the christmas tree that crashed to the ground. Only 6 of the ornaments were broken which was a miracle. The moral of the story is make sure that you have a stand that is big enough for your tree! But none the less a story that will be remembered forever!

Thanksgiving!

I beginning to see a pattern with this blog.... I am always behind! Well I guess behind is better than never posting! I promise though to never be more than a month behind! We had a wonderful thanksgiving and we able to spend time with both sets of families. We are so very thankful this thanksgiving for many things but of course the one that is neasest and dearest to our hearts is ............I can't take any credit for the adorable outfit. One of my students at school mom's made it for her and I am sure that Addison loved it. She wore it everyday of the weekend because by next year it won't fit. We were also able to get some pictures of the poinsttias that my dad grows which are beautiful.