Cheese Festival

Pine Island's town festival was in early June.  We always go to the parade with my family.  This year it was Blake's first parade!  ...not long into the parade and he fell asleep.  My mom held him the entire time with her hands on his ears to cover from the loud noises of the sirens and bands!

Addy was pretty tired at the beginning of the parade...so she wasn't sure what to think.  She did NOT like the loud noises at first.  But, after a while Aaron had taught her to yell "I want Candy!" and she was excited to pick up the candy.  By the end, she was loving it!  She went through about 7 suckers during the parade...but that is because she would open one - taste the flavor for seriously maybe 2 licks, and then be done with it and move on to the next one.  So, she probably didn't even eat one entire sucker!!

Look at that pout...not into the loud Fire Trucks!

CANDY!

After the parade we went to my moms for naps and supper...and then headed down for the rides.  I am in LOVE with this picture of Blake and Brynne :)

Addy was finally old enough but I wasn't sure if she was going to like it or not.  She LOVED the rides!  Her first ride was a fish that went in circles, and at first she had a hesitent look on her face, but all of a sudden a smile cracked and then she couldn't wipe it off :)

Her favorite were the kiddy version of the swing right - GRIN FROM EAR TO EAR!  She also went on the Ferris Wheel with Aaron, which he said that she wasn't so sure of until he showed her they were "with the birdies" which she thought was neat.  She was doing so well on the rides we also let her go on the Hustler with me.  This is similar to the Scrambler ride that I remember from when I was little...except we were in a circle that held about 8 people (we went with my sisters and their girls!) and it also spinned while we were getting tossed around.  I was nervous because of her car sickness.  She had a serious look on her face...but seemed to like it :) 



Swings are SUUUUPER FUN!



The last ride we put her on was a little horse/buggy thing that went in circles.  She actually seemed pretty bored with it (I mean, she had upgraded to the Hustler and all...!).  But, the worker was extremely nice.  It was the last night of the festival and Addy was the only one on the ride, so when it was over, he asked if we wanted to put Blake in there for a picture.  He legally couldn't move it with Blake being so little...but I wouldn't have wanted him too anyway. 

Blake smiled instantly when we set him down...although the picture doesn't exactly capture the moment!

Another fun Cheese Festival weekend came and went.  Gotta love small town festivals and fun family times :)

Our Little Sunshine

The party theme for Addalyn's birthday was Sunshines and Rainbows.  It was sooo much fun!  Complete with her rainbow dress and sunshine cake :)

 

Lots of colorful balloons that were not only for decorations, but entertained the kids throughout the night!



And of course a yummy spread of food :)



Dancing with the balloons while waiting for guests to arrive!

Once the guests arrived, we had dinner - grilled out burgers and brats with fresh fruit, chips, and all of that good summer food that is perfect for a June birthday party!  After that the kiddos played inside with the balloons and outside on the deck with our water table for a bit before we settled in for her gift opening. 

She got wonderful toys like a sprinkler, puzzles and books, movies, toys for her sandbox and water table, a new baby doll, and some dishes and food for her play kitchen!



Concentrating hard on opening presents!



Thank you everyone for the wonderful gifts.  She's getting good use out of all of them!

After gifts, it was time for the cake!  I'm EXTREMELY excited about how the cake turned out.  I made it myself :)



Her Sunshine Cake!!
The cake was chocolate, and we also had some rainbow cupcakes in white as an option too!



The birthday girl was singing Happy Birthday along with all of us!



One attempt and her candle was blown out!

She was MUCH more lady-like with her cake eating this year!  We did not have as messy of a girl to clean up :)

2 year birthday party!

One year birthday party!

(Still apparently makes the same lip puckers when she's eating though!)

Blake thought his sister's birthday party was a blast!

Addalyn had so much fun at her birthday party. This was a fun age because she "gets it" this year. It helped that she had celebrated her grandma Jean and daddy's birthday within the 2 weeks prior, so she recently saw others blowing out the candles and such. She LOVED it! She sings the song all the time and serves us cake a lot when she is playing in her kitchen!

She wanted to sleep with the balloons that night...this picture looks like it is almost daylight in the room, but it is because of the flash, it's actually REALLY late at night. She slept with balloons above her bed for a few days until the helium was gone.

 Addy: You have brought more light and "bright sunshiny days" into our lives and our hearts than you will ever know. I love seeing the little girl you are becoming. Keep being you...it's the best!

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are gray. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away.

Handsome Man :)

We did Blake's "6 month" photos in late May (more like 7 months).  I was initially waiting because he was SO CLOSE to sitting up at 6 months that I wanted to be able to get photos when he was officially sitting up...then I just got busy so a month ended up passing :)

We went to Portrait Innovations again, and they did awesome!  These pics aren't even some of my favorites.  For some reason I cannot get my pictures to rotate if it should be "landscape" when I'm uploading from a CD.  So, I'm just posting ones the "portrait" way.  However, there are some SUPER CUTE close up ones the other way, so I wish I could share!

I just love him!

Terribly Terrific Two's!

Little Miss Addalyn turned 2 earlier this month!  I can't believe that she is already 2, and I actually was pretty sad about it!  To me, 2 means she's officially not a baby, which of course she isn't, even though she will always be my sweet baby! 

Addalyn is full of life!  She has so many interests that I want to make sure to document.  She LOVES Dora and Barney.  She loves to color, play outside with chalk and bubbles, sing, and dance, play with her kitchen, read books, do puzzles, help in the kitchen, play with Blake and so much more.

She has a long list of vocabulary words and speaks in small sentences.  She knows her A, B, C's and several other songs.  Barney really peaks her interest because of all the songs they sing.  She'll randomly sing songs from there when we aren't watching and sometimes the only thing you can pick up on is the tune...not the words!

She knows her colors, however I'm not really sure how we taught them!  Other than saying things like "your plate is pink" or things of the like, we didn't do anything else...but she picked up on them.  She also counts to 10...this she definitely got from the Barney Numbers video!  They play hide and seek in it and she loves to count to 10 and say "ready or not, here I come"...but then she doesn't come find you.  She goes and hides herself, and eventually runs out yelling "Barney" and then you have to pretend she found you!  So fun...you get to play with her but go about whatever you are doing at the same time, LOL!

Addalyn LOVES her "Blaker" as she calls Blake.  She says good morning to him every day, giggles at him, tickles him, tells him to say things, and just this morning she was saying "Go Go Go Blaker, like a doggy!!" in which she was trying to show him and encourage him to crawl.  Way too cute for words.  I never get my video camera out until the moment is over, but I hope to document her love for him soon!   

She's starting to do the Imaginative Play where she is a mommy, or cooking us food, or acting things out like being a doggy.  This is so fun!  Her bear is typically the baby.  She'll spend a long time playing mommy and telling us all that she is doing.  Like: "bears hungry...tired...crying...need a paci...taking a nap...going to go to the store (and then puts him in Blake's car seat)...going in the stroller...etc" and doing all the "mommy" things that go along with these descriptions. 

The other day she had to take her purse and her baby doll to the store with us, and that is when it hit me...she's a little girl/toddler and not a baby.  It is so sweet to watch her grow up, but I sure do want her to stay little.  Those little toes and fingers and her sweet little words and giggle...they get me everytime!  Ugh - this girl has so much to love!

She definitely has her own little attitude.  She wants to do almost everything by herself and when she can't, she gets frustrated, and we have some crying times.  It goes with the age, of course!  She is still really good at going to time-outs, which is nice.  She is sad when she has to do them, so she definitely knows it's a punishment - but she'll stay there and usually when it is time to take her off of them, she's calmed on her own within the minute or less that her timeouts currently last. 

I can't really put into words how much this sweet girl means to me!  I try all the time to think of the right descriptions, but I can't...I get super emotional and really do sound like a "cheesy mom".  But, I guess that's what I am!!  I've been meaning to write in her baby book a letter from me on a page reserved for it...but I have always struggled with being able to share how much my love for her is without sounding overly "cheesy! 

I don't know if that even makes sense...but basically, as all of you parents know - Addalyn and her little brother mean the world to me, as their mommy.  As soon as I get in my car after work and start driving to their house, I often find myself smiling and getting excited to see them and give them big hugs and kisses.  They make the stresses of the day go all away.  Of course, they also add to stresses sometimes when I have some tired kids or something...but I'd take those days ANY day of the week over anything!
Here are her 2 year stats: 

Height: 34.8 inches (81st %)
Weight: 26.5 pounds (46th %)
Total BMI: 22nd %

I'll do her birthday party in another post - it deserves a post in itself!  Here are some pictures of my little Addalyn in May and early June!

Loving that Sweet Bear of hers!



Feeding her "baby"



Let the Terrible Two's begin...our eyes were off of her for about 2 minutes and this is what she did!  She didn't draw anywhere else, and it came off in one bath with no trace of red, thank goodness!



Bringing her baby on her walk :)



Helping mama plant!



Helping daddy with our backyard landscaping project!

Addalyn Jane on her 2nd Birthday!!

May Recap

Before I move on to all of the exciting things that have already come in June, I wanted to recap on a few things I planned on blogging about in May.  So, I'll attempt to do lots of pictures, little talking to get through it all :)  (I am long winded like my mom, so no promises!)

We started out the month of May with a sick little girl.  She came down with Hand Foot Mouth disease.  If you haven't heard of it, it is a viral infection that causes high fever and you can develop sores in your mouth and on your hands/feet.  Addy had a high temp and 4 days in she said "mouth owie" and when I asked her to open her mouth I saw a ton of sores (like little canker-sores all over) on her tongue.  She was miserable for about a week straight.  Lethargic, crying, not eating/drinking anything...not fun.  I remember having this when I was little (but older than Addy) and I was out of school for 2 weeks!

Luckily Blake didn't come down with it (it is highly contagious).  Apparently it is like the Chicken Pox in the sense that once you have it, you have immunity to it.  So since I had it when I was little, the doctor said that Blake likely still had some of my immunity in him being so little. THANK THE LORD!


Cuddling with Daddy



Sad, Tired and feeling "icky"



This is the expression we had for a week straight.  Poor babe.  I will say though, this mama was EATING UP the cuddles that came with "the icky's"

 She bounced back - thank goodness.  Blake was a sweetheart and beyond while she was sick.  He was not needy, just sort've "chilled" a lot by himself in his bouncy seat and was very content.  I felt bad because she required a lot of attention - so he still went to daycare everyday so he could get some attention too!  He's such a sweetheart!


My Cute Messy Food-faced Boy!



I feel better!

Later in the month Aaron had a birthday (he's now 34)!  We gave him an early birthday/father's day present and sent him for a guys weekend in the Dells!  When we are in MI - we typically spend time with family, so I arranged a surprise weekend away for him to spend time with his friends.  And, I'm SO GLAD I DID!  He honestly had not seen some of them since our wedding - and had not hung out with some of them since his bachelor party almost 4 years ago.  Everyone deserves some time away every once in a while :)



Happy Birthday!



Singing Happy Birthday to daddy :)  (I didn't have a #4 candle at home but I thought I did so we made due with him just blowing out the 3 - LOL!)



I'm just adding this picture of the two of them playing in Blake's crib because I like it and love the little ducky's they are playing with.  My mom made these ducks out of a yellow bath robe my grandma Supalla used to wear.  She has given one to each great grandchild that has been born since my grandmother passed.  I have these ducky's sleep with my kiddos...I like to think it is my grandma keeping an eye on them!  So, they are always tucked into their crib bumpers.  They love to play with them though so every once in a while I let them. 

 We completed the month by heading to Michigan over Memorial Weekend.  Our nephew Brandon graduated from high school this year and his open house was that weekend. 

I was super awesome and forgot my camera that weekend, but Tina took some good photos of the kiddos!  I had tons to choose from...but I limited it, I swear!

Alesha, Addy & Holly playing @ the park



Ugh, can't get it to switch directions - Blake looking at the kite flying!



Watching the kite!



Holly Sue loves her cousin "Baby Blake"  --- I heart this photo!

And, I stole these phots from Tammy's facebook page!  Tammy, please email them to me so I can print them off - they don't print good when I try and do it from facebook :)  THANKS AND LOVE YOU!


Cousin Photo after church!




Family Photo complete with both Aaron's mom, dad and grandma Barb!

We have been very busy people these past few months...believe it or not it is actually starting to slow down now that summer is here.  We have a few things on our schedules each weekend, but we aren't out of town until July so it helps a little with feeling like we can get other things done around the house.  Posts on that exciting stuff soon also!