Addi Goes to Dance Class!!

Here's the videos from Addi's first dance class. She had a blast!

Ballet:

Tap:

Halloween Weekend

(Posted by Kathy & CJ) Sooo, we had a blast this past weekend. Addi has celebrated Halloween before, but this year it was really special. She seemed to actually understand what was happening better, and besides that, she was absolutely adorable as Shirley Temple. Kathy made the entire outfit, then we bought some shoes and socks at Wal Mart. We even made the lolipop.

Addi started out with a Halloween party at her school. They got their faces painted, played games, ate pizza, and painted Jack O'Lanterns. Kathy went by during the day to see them and take a few pictures.

After school, we headed to San Antonio so she could see everyone. She got to stop by Ma & Pa's, Nana's, Granny's, and a church festival. The kid has enough candy to last her until next Halloween. She even sang "Goodship Lollipop" all through the night.

On Saturday, Nana, Granny, and Sebastian came up to San Marcos to join us and Lacye at the Great Texas Pumpkin Drop. We all got to go up in a hot air balloon and throw our pumpkins all over the ground below. Of course, Nana was playing target practice with the workers and almost killed someone. Addi ended up being too scared to ride the balloon, so she was content with just playing in the bouncy castle.Overall, we had a terrific weekend and we found out just how wonderful it is to finally be back home.














The full set of Halloween pictures is on our Shutterfly account. If you don't have the password and want it, let us know. Here's some video from the weekend:

Major Update

(posted by CJ) Okay, so we've been a little busy and have fallen down on the job as far as updating. Sue us. So here's the quick, quick version of what's you've missed...with pictures...and videos.

Summer '08 - Went to the zoo. Rode the train at Brack. Golfed. Swam. Moved to San Marcos.

Fall '08 - All of us started school. Addi had a Teddi Bear picnic. Cubs broke our hearts. Went to the Deyton Family Reunion. Tailgated homecoming. Went to Willie Nelson concert.

Currently - Just finished Halloween weekend (see above). Realizing just how blessed we are. Looking forward to the holidays.

What A Month!

(posted by Kathy) Well, we haven't been on here in a while. Sorry for that. I noticed that the last time we posted was after the rodeo. The rest of February passed pretty uneventfully. Addi got a little bigger. That's about it. March has been a fun month. Maybe that's why we haven't gotten on here. Addi got the chance to jump in a moonwalk for the first time. She got to meet CJ's student, Brittany's new donkey named Jack. He's really sweet. About a week later we travelled to Dallas for a debate tournament with a couple of CJ's students. It was pretty neat for Addi & Lacye to get to see snow for the first time! She (Addison, not Lacye) continued to want to go outside and "Play snow!" although it sounded a little more like "pay hno." Cute stuff. She is just more adorable every day. All of the things she does are just amazing! When spring break hit for us, we went to Garner State Park. While there, we went to the dance every night. Addi, of course, danceed her heart out. She gave everyone high fives and knuckles after each song. She then asked where the music went and was ecstatic when the next song started up. It was a bit cooler than we had hoped for, but one afternoon it was warm enough to go ahead and jump in the river. The Frio was not as frio as we were expecting, which was nice. Addi also got to do a little early Easter egg hunt. After Garner, we visited in San Antonio a bit. So, going from the cold of snow to the comfy coolness of Garner, we returned to warm, almost hot Houston. Thankfully we have a nice breeze going on. We decided the day was looking to be so nice that we went to the Houston Zoo. Another first for Addi this month! She had a blast!!! We started off riding the carousel. Then we walked through the children's area followed by the regular part of the zoo. Her favorite was the Giraffes. She also enjoyed all of the water, as she pointed it out to us every time there was some flowing near us. The zoo ended up being too much for her and she fell asleep in her stroller before we got to the monkeys. Oh well. Another time. The Houston Zoo doesn't hold a candle to the San Antonio Zoo, so we are looking forward to taking her there over the summer. Our week ended by going to Jersey Village Baptist Church where Kirby & Wendy go to see the Path to the Cross. Kirby was a great Jesus and Wendy sold those chickens & eggs like a champ. The whole experience was very moving. Easter morning we went back to Jersey Village for worship. That afternoon we came home and did our own egg hunt in the back yard. She found all her eggs really quickly. She then sat down to see what was in them all. When she got to the cascarone, she squeezed it like the plastic ones and it broke all over her. She loved it. Addi was looking adorable all day. Our family has been so blessed! Addison has grown so much and is really becoming her own little person. She picks up words like nobody's business these days and knows all the capital letters of the alphabet. She is just amazing. I think I've already said that. If I did, then I stand by it.

Addi & The Livestock Show

(posted by CJ) Addi had a great time this past weekend, as she got to go to her first Livestock Show & Rodeo in San Antonio. Kathy and I had a great time, mostly just because we got to have the fajitas from the Van De Walle booth. Addi got to see every animal there was and had a blast. She kept running in circles in the petting zoo visiting the same animals over and over. Not much to say about it in this blog, this is pretty much just an excuse to post a couple of cute pictures.

We did have fun seeing everyone though, and really enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden for Lacye's birthday. Of course, seeing my dad become a pro at Guitar Hero in one night was pretty sweet too. See ya'll soon!

Eating, Slides, Potato Heads, Guitar Hero, and More!

(posted by CJ & Kathy) Soooo, here's the latest, since we haven't really updated anything since Christmas.

Addi is growing a foot a day and she seems to be learning or doing something new each day. First of all, she loves driving her new car she got for Christmas. She drives it in the cul-de-sac in front of our house and rides her ATV in the house. She's quite the little driver.

As for talking, she is saying so many new things its hard to keep up. She's very, very clear in everything she says too. Her new thing is to tell people, "I'm the baby," in case they don't realize. She also loves the number two. We will count with her 1-10, then she will count back with us, "two, two, two, two, two..." Her please and thank you is awesome as well, and she loves reading her books out loud to us. We pretty much know every Dr. Suess book by heart. She's also saying her very own little prayer each night.

Speaking of words, a new favorite is "E-tar." This is her version of "guitar." She loves dancing while we play Guitar Hero and really loves when we let her hold the guitar herself.

Playgrounds remain a hit. She isn't afraid of the slides anymore and can get around pretty much all the equipment without much help. She will slide on a slide, run over to be pushed on the swing, then slide, then swing, and so on. A decent sized tantrum follows when we finally have to make her stop playing.

Her Mrs. Potato Head is also a big hit. She loves changing out the parts and also loves wearing them herself. She especially loves putting the pieces on Mommy and Daddy.

And finally, just today, she ate her first meal all by herself. I simply put the food down in front of her and she used a fork and a spoon to eat the whole thing. She finished her plate, drank her juice, and even said thank you. She rules.

Thanks to everyone that loves her and loves us. We wish we could see you all more and share our little angel with you. Keep in touch!

Addi Says No To Santa And Jesus

(posted by CJ) Sorry for the provocative title, but you will understand in a moment.

First of all, we'll talk about last weekend. Mom came into town and we did some Christmas stuff all day Saturday. We went to First Baptist Church in Pasadena and watched their Singing Christmas Tree, which was amazing. All day long we had been asking Addi questions like, "Do you love Mommy?" or "Where is Nana?" and she had answered however she wanted. Well, in church, she was playing with the program and I just read off the slip of paper you drop in the offering plate. I asked her, "Addi, do you want to take Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?" She looked up at me, and loud enough for everyone to hear and in the same sarcastic tone she uses when I ask her if she wants me to tickle her she said, "Nooooooooo."

Next up was Moody Gardens and the Festival of Lights. I've had more enjoyable kicks to the groin than this "Festival" crap. Seriously, they basically just bought every decoration Lowe's sells for frontyards then made a crappy trail out of them. Of course, just as I had complained for about the twentieth time I noticed that after 45 minutes of the same crappy lights, Addi was still screaming "ohh" and "ahh" to every one of them. She didn't complain a bit and had the time of her life. I really need to look at the world through her eyes more often, its much prettier.

So, today we go to visit Santa. All's well, despite the 45 minute wait in line with the family that's just more than happy to share their life story with me. (Seriously, there's a reason you're called a stranger and I do not want to make idle chit chat. Didn't you see me pretending to make phone calls and talking to nothing, all the while hoping my phone wouldn't ring and allow you to find out to what lengths I had gone to ignore you?) Anyway, we get to Santa and Addi is talking with him, shaking his hand, and showing off her Rudolph shirt, so we figure all is well. Then, we try to put her on his lap. She wasn't having it. After mulitple shots of a 30-year old man shoving a screaming 2-year old onto the leg of a man who had spent far too many hours of his life in this exact predicament, we end up with our Santa picture. So that's why this year, you'll have to look at my ugly mug alongside Addi in the '07 Santa picture.