randomness

so i think it has come down to this. i'm so busy with school and work, so phone pictures is what i am resorting to.


granny played pretty pretty princess with us one night. i enjoyed seeing her in the jewels! it snowed the first time this year, and my mom snapped a pic before she took addison to school. she was ready for the snow. we went to see beauty and the beast in 3d. of course popcorn was involved. addison and i both loved it {and maegen did too! she went with us :)} my mom got some chocolate covered fruit, so addison and i had it for dessert a few nights. addison really liked the bananas. we built towers at my grandmothers house, and took turns laying down and having a tower built on our head. addison really enjoyed knocking the towers down. and lastly, a few weeks worth of balloons. a ballerina, hula monkey, and elephant. wonder what she'll get this week?

the first week

last week was my first full week of everything.

i started my internship on monday {i'm working monday, wednesday, and friday}.

and had my monday night class for the first time.

i started my first grad classes on wednesday and thursday.

and the whole week wore me out.

we did a lot of training at my internship. there are 4 tax interns in total. i'm really glad there are other interns so i don't feel like i'm the only one. the other girl tax intern has never done any tax stuff before {like me}, so we're in the same boat. the other 2 guys have, so they know more of what they're doing. but hopefully the training will just stay in my brain and i'll get the hang of it!

we moved to our desks on friday afternoon, so yesterday we started doing practice tax returns all by ourselves. luckily i'm close to the other tax people, so i was able to ask lots questions {and i have lots!}

my first grad classes went really well. wednesday night is a tax class taught by my favorite teacher, so i'm actually excited about that. and thursday is audit, which i don't like. but i had the teacher last semester and he's really nice, so hopefully it won't be too bad.

i also have friends in both classes, so that makes it a lot better.

the biggest adjustment i've had to make is not seeing addison very much. since i have 3 night classes, it means i'm not seeing her before she goes to bed those 3 nights. i missed her a lot last week and i know that will continue. grad classes are only 10 weeks, so once they're over i'll get to see her 2 more nights a week, which will be much better. i know this is for the best and will definitely be worth it in the end.

i'm officially becoming a big girl.

an ogre and a panda

a few days after christmas, we took addison back to opryland to see the christmas shrektacular. it was a free event. it was first come, first serve as far as seating went. it was really crowded when we got there {which was 30 minutes early}, but we got a good place for the kiddos to see.

not only was shrek there, but kung fu panda was there too! addison was so excited and she sang and danced the whole time. she'd answer when they asked questions and everything. it was so cute!





i'm all about the free kid events!! although you could spend $50 a person to have your picture taken when the characters. um, no thanks.

merry madagascar ice

a few weeks ago, we took addison to see the ice exhibit at opryland.

the theme was madagascar, which addison loves.

i had never been before, so didn't know how cold it was going to be. i had always seen people wearing those ridiculous coats, but i didn't know if they were really necessary.

well, they are. i had thick socks, my boots, my northface, gloves, and a scarf. and the coat. and i was still a little chilly.





addison was so cute in her big blue coat.



she got to go down the slide too. she loved that. she went down at least 3 times.






we had a lot of fun! it's definitely something we will try to do every year!

addison's birthday

so, addison's party was over a month ago. and i'm just now getting around to blogging about it. oops.

anyway, addison's birthday was exhausting. i'm not going to lie.

but it was great. she had a blast and that's all that matters.

we rented a bouncy house. the weather forecast looked awesome about a week before the party, but then it changed and showed that it was supposed to rain all day. i was worried we wouldn't be able to do the bouncy house, but the rain let up right before the party and it was perfect! {just a bit muddy}





i was a little preoccupied with everything else, so i was the worst picture taker ever. i feel horrible and wish i had actually taken some. oh well.

we had goldfish, gummies, pretzels, and capri suns for the kids. my mom made salsa and i made rotel for the grown ups. but i'm pretty sure some grown ups dipped into the kid snacks :)

i also made cake pops for dessert. we got cupcakes from publix too {i love publix}.

i made a little addison banner with paper doilies. i used the left over scrapbook paper from the letters to cover the clothes pins. clever, huh?


a nice blurry picture of me, addison, and her daddy.


and the birthday girl's candle.


i was really surprised at the number of people that came to the party. i invited all of the kids in her class, but only 1 rsvp'ed. i was scared that only 1 would show up, but 3 did. it was great! addison had so much fun playing with them. a lot of friends and family came too. it was a great birthday!!

i'm promising myself to be better about pictures next year.

santa ornaments

i know this is a little late to help with this christmas {since it already passed}, but it may be helpful next christmas!

my mom found a really cute santa ornament on pinterest, and i recreated it.

my mom had the clean ornaments that split open in the middle already, so didn't need to get any of those {and i also don't know where you would buy them. maybe a craft store like hobby lobby or joann's}.

what you'll need:
clear ornaments
red scrapbook paper or card stock
scissors
cute ribbon
black craft paint
white puff paint {i used sparkly}
small paint brush


cut the red paper in strips {probably about 1/2 an inch wide} and then curl it with the scissors like you would ribbon. it was a little more difficult than ribbon {as you'd imagine}, but you just have to do it a couple times to get it curly. and i actually would curl them around my finger to make them curlier.

then i put the strips in the clear ornaments. my mom helped tie the ribbon through the hole in the ornament. then i painted a thick black line around the ornament. by the time i finished the last one, the first ones were dry {i did a little over 20}. i used muffin tins to hold them while they dried and it worked perfectly! before i painted the white belt buckle, i used a fine tip sharpie to write "from addison - christmas 2011" on the bottom. just so her classmates would know who it was from :) then i used the puff paint to make a belt buckle. that was probably the easiest part. i let them dry overnight, and they were good to go in the morning!


i think they turned out super cute!! and they were pretty fun to make, too!

we didn't forget about jerry

so my goal of taking pictures of jerry every day...i failed.

anywho, we didn't forget about him! just the taking pictures part. but i did snap a few pictures when i thought it was a very cute/clever idea.

he played pretty pretty princess with hello kitty and monkey.



the little beanie baby snowmen tied him up one morning, which wasn't very nice.


and he went fishing! i found the idea on pinterest.


so that was jerry. he also hid in a stocking, rode in santa's sleigh, hid in the fridge, made a snow angel, had a snowball fight, and lots of other things.

hopefully i'll be better at documenting next year. addison was sad to see him go, but i know she'll be really excited to see him next christmas! she has already threatened to call santa and tell him i've been bad. silly girl.

2011

here's a recap of 2011 on the blog...


january - i went to chicago for new years. it was my first real trip away from addison. we also had a lot of snow, so addison got to have a lot of snow days. and we got to play in it too!

february - i celebrated my 22nd birthday. we also got to have a fun valentines day that included yummy treats and some car riding.

march - addison moved up to a big girl bed. she did so well with the transition! we played with photo booth, which is one of her favorite things to do on the computer. addison also went to some classes at the zoo with gigi, and i got to tag along for one.

april - we went to the zoo for an easter egg hunt. addison was actually talking about it the other day. it was crazy to me that she remember something from 8 months ago. we also dyed eggs for the first time, and it was a lot of fun!

may - i finally started using my new white iPhone. and i still love it!!! addison got to ride in gigi's jeep for the first time, and loved it. she requests to ride in it all the time.

june - addison went to the dentist for the first time and joined the no cavity club. we also got to go see trucks in the park. and addison started swimming lessons, which was a little rough. thankfully it got a lot better!

july - addison spent a week away from me and took a trip to the beach with her daddy, which was also her first trip to the beach {outside of my belly}. we went to see elmo live and addison had a blast. we also went to the chattanooga aquarium and saw lots of fun fish {and butterflies and turtles}.

august - i had a big girl vacation with my friends to hilton head. it was also the month of concerts because i saw maroon 5 and katy perry within the same week. addison finished up swim lessons, and also had her first sleepover with her second cousin georgia. we also had a visitor from alaska, my cousin liz and baby finn!

september - i was very busy with school this month {as with most others}. we were able to make a trip to the zoo, though!

october - addison started preschool {and still loves it! as do i}. she went to her first fall festival at said preschool. we went see the lion king and it was addison's first time to see a movie at the theater. it was amazing {and beauty and the beast comes back out soon! we will definitely see that!}. she also halloween party at her school.

november - we celebrated addison's 3rd birthday with an awesome party that included a bouncy house. it was also the month that i announced getting an internship, getting into graduate school, and applying to graduate undergraduate school. woo hoo!

december - we visited santa {which addison LOVED} and addison had her first school performance where her class sang rudolph the red nosed reindeer. omg i died of cuteness.

better late than never, right? so ya, that was our 2011 all in a huge collage. i can't wait to see what happens in 2012! i'm excited about big things happening for me, and most of all, i'm excited to see addison grow and do new, even more awesome things!