happy birthday, gigi!

i don't know what addison and i would do without you. i'm so lucky to have you as my mom. thank you for your support and for everything you do.

i hope you have a wonderful birthday!

santa!

after we went to see ice, we took addison to see santa. we were already out by opry mills, so we figured why not. bass pro has a santa and you get a free picture, so we hit that up.

addison was very excited to see him. maybe even more than last year. i love watching her get so excited!

it was actually addison's 4th time to see santa this year. she saw him with her dad when they saw christmas lights, during her breakfast with santa, and on the train ride. and then again at bass pro. she knows that they are all different santas {she pointed that out one day}, but she still believes in him. so i'm not too concerned :)


she told santa she wanted some princess dolls, a princess doll house, and some unicorn stompeez. i kind of coaxed her into saying she wanted a princess doll house because that's what santa is bringing her. i don't think she'll object. i had no idea what stompeez were, but her dad told me and i got her some. her papa and mimi are giving her princess dolls on christmas eve {when we do presents with them} and on christmas morning she'll get her princess doll house.

now i just need to put the thing together. probably after/with a few drinks.

shrek the halls ice

tuesday night went to ice at opryland. this year was shrek the halls. when we went last year, it was merry madagascar.

it was pretty awesome. i love shrek, so i enjoyed it. i wasn't as prepared for the cold this time though. last year, i had a ton of clothes on. and gloves. and a scarf. this year, not so much. i guess i just forgot how cold it actually was. and i froze.

i didn't get any good pictures, but addison got to go down the big slide this year. last year she went down the kiddie slide and loved it. she loved the big slide even more.

we had lots of fun! i think it will be something that we try to do every year. i'll just try to be more prepared for the cold next time. who am i kidding, i probably won't be.

train ride with santa

saturday morning we got up bright and early to go on a train ride with santa.

my mom heard about it and thought it would be fun for all of us to go. i thought it sounded fun too, so we got tickets and went!

it was definitely worth it. i don't really know what i expected, but addison had a blast on her first train ride. and she got to see santa too!


we were on the last car, which meant that we got to see santa first as he worked his way up to the front of the train.


the ride was about 2 hours long. addison brought some money because she wanted to buy a snack. she decided on oreos. she did get a little antsy towards the end and wanted to get up and move around some. but even so, she was great! and it was a lot of fun.

they have an easter train ride in the spring that has an easter egg hunt. i think we're going to have to do that one too!

christmas program - 2012

last week addison had her school christmas program.

she was SO excited. she practiced her song at home and it was adorable. she kept telling me who all was invited to come and asked if everyone was excited.

it was at a bigger location than last year {thank goodness. it was packed last year}. it was still packed this year, but only a few people had to stand. and there was actually a line to get in. a LINE. all there to see addison sing. because, obviously.

she was a little put off at having her picture taken. she was ready to go see her friends and get ready to sing. but she looked super cute in her santa jammies.

they told us that we needed to stay in our seats during the program and not go to the front to take pictures. we may have not listened. we weren't the only ones though. and i'm not gonna miss taking pictures of addison singing adorably with her friends. common now.


her class sang silver bells. i don't know why, but it seems like such a grown up christmas song. listening to her sing it just melted my heart.



and we may have gone out for ice cream after to celebrate. can't pass up a chocolate milkshake with chocolate ice cream {i kinda like chocolate}.

i can't wait to see her sing next year!!

randoms

i'm finishing up the semester this week {tomorrow is my last night!!}. there's been a lot packed on at the end, so that's why i've been a little MIA lately.

anyways. on to our randoms from the past week and a half or so.


addison got some puzzles at sams with gigi. they're actual puzzles. not the little kid ones with the big pieces. like puzzles with small pieces. so we put one together. and, not gonna lie. it took a while. oh well. we got it done!

we had a little incident. with a deer. and my car. long story short, the deer ran into my car on the drivers side. my mom and addison were both in the car. we were all fine. well, i was a little freaked out. this was my first run in with a deer {when i was driving, at least}. my car didn't make it out unharmed, though. the deer took out my rear view mirror and made a nice hole on the side of my car.

with the deer incident behind us, we went to breakfast with santa the next morning. addison's school provided the tickets, so of course we were even more excited about it. FREE breakfast. WITH santa. what more could a girl hope for?? anyways, we sat with some of addison's friends from school. it's so fun watching her with her friends. the grinch was there and addison wasn't a bit scared. although she didn't want to get too close in a picture. she also got to see santa and we got a free picture. MORE free? i'll take it. and they had a train ride outside. it was pretty awesome, if i say so myself.

after breakfast, we decided to continue the holiday activities and we went to the parade. the weather has been so un-december. or at least was. it's supposed to get cold today and stay that way for a while. but last week it was warm. like 60s warm. we rode to the parade in the jeep. with the windows out. in december. i'm not complaining. addison got to see frosty and lots of floats. some may have been pretty cheesy, but she still loved it. which is all that matters. personally, i enjoyed watching {and listening} to the old men in a trailer singing.

and then addison just looked adorable going to school. she said she was a rockstar, so she couldn't wear a bow. because rockstars don't wear bows. i mean, obviously.

holiday nails

i love thanksgiving. family and food. and it means it's closer to christmas. so it's safe to say, the day after thanksgiving is one of my favorites. i don't really get into the black friday shopping. unless it's online shopping. i don't really want to get out with all those crazy people. although addison did go black friday shopping when she was just a week old. i guess i was crazy once.

wow, i'm rambling.

anywho, addison wanted me to paint her nails. it was the weekend after thanksgiving, so i thought i could do something festive. i gave her the option to have candy cane or christmas colors. she chose candy cane.

my initial plan was to just alternate white and red. so i did.

and apparently it wasn't good enough.

"but i want stripes! like a candy cane!"

finnnnnnnnne.

painting a 4 year olds nails is a task. well, painting any small persons nails is a task, regardless of the age. their nails are tiny and their version of staying still is definitely not actually staying still.

but, alas, she got holiday nails. and i'm pretty damn proud of them.

needless to say, they're all chipped now. but they looked good while they lasted!! and she was so proud, too. she would show them off to everyone. and she even gave me the credit!!

4 year appointment

unlike last year, i actually scheduled addison's 4 year appointment closer to her birthday. it wasn't even a week after her birthday. mom of the year here!

she was awesome and entertaining, as usual. she talked to everyone. surprise surprise. she's definitely not a shy child. unless she wants to be.

one of the many fun things about the doctors office is having your child pee in a cup. this isn't the easiest task for a 4 year old. obviously i have to assist. lucky for me, it wasn't messy. this time. i foresee some messes in the future though. maybe i should take gloves next time.

her stats were:

- 36 lbs {up 5 lbs from last year}
- 41 inches {up 3 1/4 inches from last year}
- 20/20 vision {same as last year}

the vision test always makes me laugh. they have one chart with numbers and letters, and another with shapes. she did the one with the shapes because she knew more of those. there was a ship on it, and she kept calling it a pirate ship. silly girl. when the shapes got really small, i had a hard time seeing what they were, but she could see them just fine.

she didn't have to get any shots this time, but next year she'll need all of her shots for kindergarten. woo hoo! that should be a fun visit.