botanical gardens

when we were in florida, we went to the botanical gardens. it was a really nice day (actually kind of cold for florida) and we decided it would be nice to walk around outside.

when we got inside, they had this sign in front of the gift shop. it read unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy! i thought it was so funny!

addison was excited to get outside and have stuff to look at. she likes exploring.

this cat followed us almost the whole way around the gardens. it was a really sweet cat. and when other people would come close to us, it would hiss. it was pretty funny.

they had these really colorful frogs that were going up the tree. so cute!

and, of course, an alligator. i mean, common. we were in florida!

here are the cousins (from left to right, liz, me, addison, and markie).

while we were there, i tried to take a lot of good pictures. i didn't use the flash, because i wanted to use the natural light. i thought these pictures looked really pretty...

we climbed in the bamboo. i had to squeeze in there. i was kind of scared it was going to fall on me, but it didn't!

they had a very pretty lake/pond that had these huge lily pads. more on that later. but liz got up on the bench, and i was positive markie was going to push her in the water. but he didn't. he tried though!

here are the giant lily pads. markie wanted to put addison on one, but i, of course, said no.

addison posed for a picture with markie...

they had a rose named bailey's red. i had to have a picture. something named after me :)

addison played with one of the ceramic frogs. i think she wanted to take him home.

i really liked this bridge that i took a picture of. i just think it's really cute!

now i'm off to paint with my mom for her birthday! adios!

guest blog post

i recently wrote a guest blog post for my blog friend valerie. she's on vacation, and i told her i would do a post for her! it posted today, so you should go have a look :)

she asked me to write about my best moment in 2009. and my best moment was...well, you'll have to go look to find out!

and check out her blog while you're there!

christmas eve & christmas day

warning: this post contains a large amount of pictures! beware!! :)

i'll start out christmas holiday off on christmas eve. i took addison over to my dad's after she had lunch so that we could exchange gifts.

this is my dad's cardboard christmas tree. yes, it's cardboard. but it's still decorated, and actually looks pretty good. i'm just glad he has a tree at all!

my dad got me photoshop for christmas. i was so glad to get it so i could start designing blogs. and i did mine first :) i had done mine before with just the photoshop 30 day trial, so i got familiar with the software.

i knew i was getting photoshop (because i suggested he get that for me, and because i ordered it). but my dad surprised me with a book for the camera. i've started reading it, and hopefully it'll help me know how to use the camera and help me take better pictures!

chris and i got my dad a new phone for christmas. since chris works at at&t, he can get some phones cheaper, and my dad hated his phone. so he picked out one and chris got it for him. and my dad says he likes the new one! good, because his old one was crappy.

that night, we went to my mom's house for dinner and to open gifts. we usually go there on christmas day, and go see chris's family on christmas eve. but this year, chris's mom had to work late christmas eve so we couldn't go then, so we just switched everything. and it worked out just fine.

i took lots of pictures of my mom's christmas decorations. i love them. i love mine, but i love hers too :)

this is what she has on her kitchen table. it's really cute!

my mom's friend made this for her. i always joke that it looks like the ball is in jail, but it's pretty cute. and she has two little sequence trees on either side.

my mom usually has 3 trees, but this year she only put up 2. she has 1 in the foyer, 1 in the living room, and 1 upstairs. but since i don't live at home anymore, no one really goes upstairs, so she didn't put that one up.

here's the one in her foyer. i love it because it's so tall...

here's the tree in the living room. it's fuller and we put all the presents under this tree. and we had a lot of presents this year! mostly for addison...she's spoiled (just like her mommy!)

this is the little tree that used to be in my room. i would put it up in there when i was younger. then we got a bigger one for my room, and the small one never got put up. but my mom got it out this year to put on a shelf in her bookcase. i think it looks so cute! i might steal it for addison's room next year, because the one we have in there now is a little large.

my mom has these 3 jars on her formal dining room table. she never uses the table, but i just love the decorations!

here's chris and addison right before we started opening gifts...

addison wasn't that into opening gifts. she just tried to play with all of her other toys. but we blocked her toys off and she started opening some stuff.

she was pretty into the tissue paper, wrapping paper, and gift bags. not so much the presents. but once we got her new toys out of the packaging, she played a lot.

she got a shopping cart for christmas. she really liked pulling stuff out of it. she hasn't really grasped that she needs to walk when it moves forward, but we're working on it!

chris had to help addison open most of her gifts...

here's my mom helping my granny open her gifts...

after we opened gifts, we had a very yummy meal of ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green peas, rolls, hashbrown casserole, and deviled eggs. i think that's all that we had...and it was really good!

addison had some food, but not much. it wasn't time for her to eat again.

i gave her a bath at my mom's and chris fed her dinner there. she wore her christmas pjs that night :)

santa came christmas morning...

i ordered this really cute painting from paint me a picture on etsy. i just love it!

addison got a laptop, 3 refrigerator magnet toys (which are really cool!), 2 shirts from luna b tee, her painting, a pair of pjs, and some other stuff. that's only what chris and i got her. she got a lot more from other family members...

addison helped me open my stocking. i got some candy, and Dear John (i really wanted the book because i want to read it before the movie comes out).

this was when i opened my present from chris. my super cute pink mini laptop. i love it! i'm actually writing this post on it now :) it's going to really come in handy for school, especially since i have 2 online classes next semester.

addison enjoyed playing with her groceries from her shopping cart...

i got chris a drill, a pullover, and a penguin game (he loves penguins). and i got him some things for his drill for his stocking. and an itunes card and lots of candy.

christmas was a lot of fun this year. addison was more aware of when was going on, and i had a lot of fun shopping for her!

oh, and if you're wondering what the refrigerator magnet toys are, leapfrog fridge phonics magnetic alphabet set, leapfrog fridge farm magnetic animal set, and leapfrog fridge wash & go magnetic vehicle set. they're all really cool, and if you have a small child, they're great! i'm sure addison will use them for years to come, and they're great to keep her entertained while i'm doing stuff in the kitchen!