Monday, November 22, 2010

Birthday Photo Shoot

My Aunt Rochelle bought Addison this adorable outfit when she was born. We upsized her clothes this past weekend and so this outfit made it into her closet. She wore it to church on Sunday and it was a huge hit.
My birthday - Addison's photo shoot - I love it! She loved the texture of her skirt and loved to chew on it...

Birthday Snow

We woke up Sunday morning to this:
Some might say say it was such a nice birthday gift or that it ruined my birthday or whatever. I don't love the snow if I have to go anywhere...but since it was Sunday and we didn't have any plans then it was beautiful. It was really wet and heavy snow and we have some downed tree limbs to deal with but no damage at our home which is a blessing.
Four years ago for my birthday Oliver bought me a gorgeous bracelet. Well, it got lost somewhere during our move from our townhouse to our current house. I have really missed it and so I was really excited that he replaced my lost mountain bracelet for my special day.
Aunt Missy bought Addison this snow suit while I was pregnant. She got it on a great sale and I have been waiting for a reason for Addison to wear it. After admiring the snow we decided to get to work shovelling so that we could get out of driveway and get to church.
It's the only thing that Addison can stand up in - it is so comfy and cushioney it doesn't allow her to fall over :)
She sat outside in a camp chair to supervise the shovelling. She also doesn't normally sit up by herself so this is a very specially powered snowsuit :)
White-winter-wonderland.
I had a great birthday. My only request was to stay home all day - it is so nice to spend time at home sometimes. Addison slept in until 7:30 and then other than church - I got my wish. I made my own dinner and dessert but I didn't mind because I didn't have to go anywhere or do anything! I was in bed by 8:30 and it was wonderful!

Fall Leaves and a Little Lovin'

On Saturday morning we watched our friends kids and we put them to work :) We needed to get the leaves racked and the Christmas lights up because it was supposed to snow. Here's Jackson getting ready to help rake.

Addison and Londyn watched from the leaf pile. Londyn was really helpful for the first hour raking and carrying bags and entertaining Addison. She did a fair amount of jumping into the piles and carrying small piles from one pile to another all over the yard. Eventually she and I went inside to make muffins because Oliver was a little tired of re-raking everything four and five times and he just wanted to get it done.
I tired to get a picture of all three kids. Jackson sat for less than half a second...needless to say it's not that easy to do...
Londyn loved jumping into the huge pile!
Jackson was smitten by Addison. He started this far away from her and would turn to look at me to make sure he was a good safe distance and not getting into trouble.
It didn't last long...he wanted to love on her...



Addison would just laugh and giggle and then Jackson would laugh...they were so funny playing together.

And Jackson loved her hair bow.
They were such a joy to have over to play. We can't wait for them to come back again! Addison is really looking forward to going to play at their house next!

Rubba-dub-dub in the Kitchen Sink

Addison's bum exploded up her back, over her shoulders and into her hair...needless to say she needed a bath STAT! But I was in the middle of dinner with stuff in various stages on the stove-top and Oliver wasn't home from work. So I stripped her down and put her in the kitchen sink to play.
Oliver walked in from work and was wondering why she was in the sink...sometimes you just have to make do with what options are available at the moment.

She loves the water - doesn't matter if it's the shower or bathtub or kitchen sink - she's a water baby and we love her!

Daddy's Little Monster

I bought this outfit for Addison for Halloween because I thought it was so cute. I bought it in the 3 month size 'cause that is what she was wearing...well she only wore it two or three times because the sleeves were SO TIGHT! They would leave seem lines on her arms and it would make me feel bad. So we dressed her in it one last time just to snap a picture - because it really was so CUTE!
Addison doesn't mind having her bum in pictures yet :) It's still adorable.

Shutterfly's Holiday Cards

I love Shutterfly.

It's easy to use and affordable. Their prints are cheaper than Costco and great quality. You can also pre-pay and load your account with money and then choose cheaper print options. If you're going to be printing pictures anyway then this is a great choice!

One of the best things about Shutterfly is that they have sales and discounts often and it has allowed us to print lots of pictures that would otherwise be waiting on our external hard drive.

We're using Shutterfly this year to make our Christmas cards. Their site is easy to use and even easier to navigate. They have plenty of options for templates or I can upload my own if I get around to being photoshop crafty :) I love that I don't have to leave my warm cozy house and go work at a photo kiosk - I just do everything in my pjs from bed and then wait for the mailman to deliver my creation - it's AWESOME!

Here's the site I'll be using: Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

To be a mom...

One of my greatest friends posted this tribute about her mom:

My mom had 5 kids-can you believe it-I don't even know if I can handle having one and she had 5 and to top that off she had all 5 kids without drugs. Needless to say, my mom is one tough cookie. A great example of this is when we lived in Michigan, I had to have been like 5 or 6 years old, my mother made tuna macaroni casserole. My oldest sister and a pill at the time as she was going through her pubescent years of her life said "Mom that is disgusting. I am not eating that." Mind you to set the scene my mom isn't a lover of cooking, so if she made a meal you better be proud of her and grateful cause she did it out of love for her family and not cause she loved to cook. So my mom was a bit fed up by my sister and just walked behind her and dumped the whole pan of food on her head. My sister was covered from head to toe in tuna macaroni. Way to go Mom! I learned right then and there to eat whatever I am served. So thanks for that and thanks for being so great.

I love her mom just a little bit more today and hope to be so AWESOME of a mom!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Bumbo

Addison and I spent my last day of maternity leave hanging out with my sister. Our neighbor gave us a Bumbo for Addison but she cries when we try to use it at home. However, Addison sat in her cousin's Bumbo for 20+ minutes...finicky little girl (whom we love). Maybe she enjoys sitting in a Bumbo more at Holly's because there are little people to watch. She is absolutely fascinated with Kyle and was so happy that he was sharing his play-dough with her.
(PS: Can you tell it was almost Halloween by all the orange shirts?)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Exer-saucer and Cousins

Our friends' son is turning one this month. He is done with exer-saucer so his mom offered to let us test it out and borrow it. Here is Addison the first time she tried it. Not to sure - but not unhappy either.
Well, it's amazing what a night can do for you! She was all smiles about it the next day.
We watched our nephews on Saturday night and Addison loved to watch Kyle while he played with all the toy attachments on the exer-saucer. It was the same one he had when he was little so it must have been bringing back good memories. Addison was mezmorized by him...
Aiden was happy to be getting fed by Oliver while I was busy making dinner.
Our couch pillow was in the middle of the floor and Kyle would not walk around it - or move it. He walked/tripped/lept/fell over that pillow at least a dozen times and I just giggled. It's fun to see how a two year-old's mind works. (I did eventually move it for him).
After his dinner Aiden laid on the activity mat. He is getting great at grabbing the toys and keeping them in his mouth.
Yep, my nephews are still cuter than yours :)

Three Months

Addison is three months old today! By our home measurements she weighs 14.5 pounds and is 25 inches long. She is happy and smily and loves to suck her fists, fingers, hands - whatever part she can get in her mouth is the tastiest!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

8 New Posts

I got a little behind in our blogging - so please feel free to peruse the eight new posts that follow.

They include pictures and stories about Halloween and several of Addison's firsts including FIRST family vacation, FIRST shots, FIRST snow, FIRST voting experience and FIRST toy grabbing moment.

Addison is getting bigger and bigger and we love her. She is so interactive and she loves to smile. She recognizes us and lights up when we are with her. I started back to part-time work on Monday and while leaving Addison is really hard - she makes me feel so great when she grins really big when I got to pick her up.

More stories and pics will follow - and hopefully be a little more timely.

We Voted

Oliver and I vote by mail because we get our ballots about three weeks before the election so we know what is on them. We always have great intentions to sit down and discuss the issues and candidates and take our time so we can make an educated vote. We did manage to discuss a few things in advance, but not as much as we would have liked. Here's Oliver and Addison filling out his ballot 2 hours before the polls closed.
While I drive our ballots to the polling location every year since we don't seem to mail them early enough - I am grateful to cut the line and just have to drop them off instead of waiting for my turn to vote at the polls. It's good to be involved (it gives us the right to complain about what's happening later-on) and Addison is learning to be patriotic.

Halloween Pics Part Two

On Halloween we had a Lyon family party at Oliver's parent's house. Here is the whole family with Addison.Addison with grandma (the giver of the outfit - thanks again!).

Trick or Treat

Since Halloween was on a Sunday this year the big trick-or-treating night fell on Saturday (yep, that's Utah for you). Since Addison doesn't eat candy there wasn't any reason to go trick-or-treating but she got dressed up to help hand out candy instead.


She was dad's big helper at the door.
We carved pumpkins like always - but we were bad parents and didn't take Addison to the pumpkin patch - surely we'll take her next year.
They aren't our best work...
But for this year, they'll do.