Easter!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter, we sure did! Saturday was a fun-filled day for us. We went to My Gym in the morning, followed by an egg hunt at a local mall. We met up with Chris, Jen and the girls for that. They did age-specific egg hunts, and oh my, it was CHAOS!!! Addy got a few eggs, and she was fine with that, but what she really wanted to do was jump in the inflatables that were there! And she did. Thank goodness she has an older cousin to watch out for her! Mackenzie helped her out in the bigger ones. No pictures though, we hadn't planned on stopping by for this, so I didn't bring my camera.

Then we rushed home to get some lunch and to put Addy down for a nap. My mom and I went back out and met Chris, Jen and the girls to see the movie Soul Surfer. It was excellent! I highly recommend it! While Addy, my mom, and I were out and about in the morning Steven and my dad worked on installing our invisible fence for Maggie.

Everyone gathered back at our house for burgers on the grill and to play for a little bit. Maggie enjoyed the extra attention! Mackenzie, who is normally not a fan of dogs, did really well with her. She was happy to take Maggie on the leash and run her around the yard.


After dinner, the girls colored some eggs. Addy found it easiest to just use her hands to dunk the eggs!



Easter morning Addy woke up extra early (6:30). Maggie needed to be let out and I know she heard Maggie go out, so she thought it was time to get up! We just brought her into bed with us for a little while. When we got up, we showed Addy her Easter basket. We're totally lame and didn't hide any eggs for her. They were just in her basket. She got a little bunny and some coins in her eggs. She loves to put coins in her piggy bank. She also got some candy, but she really didn't pay any attention to it.



Here's Addy with us and Gamma and Gampa after church:



We had a delicious ham dinner, then Addy helped Mackenzie and Katie with their Easter basket.


Gamma bought some marshmallows that Addy helped herself to!



While all this fun was going on, there was a storm brewing outside. Our storm radio went off for a tornado warning for our county, and we were watching the storm out the windows. We saw the wind/rain change directions and decided it would be best to wait it out in the storm shelter. We had candy and cards, what could be better?


The boys waited it out in the living room. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the storm to pass. All was well, no damage in our area.

The rest of the afternoon we spent putting together a skirt for Katie's musical on Tuesday. It's super cute! Mackenzie made some hair bows, too.

Then we took Gamma and Gampa to the airport. Addy and I had a very quiet evening and went to bed early! It was a great weekend, and it wore us out!

Just a few pictures of how sweet our Maggie is! She was happy to get in some extra snuggle time with our guests.



And a little kiss and hug from Addy. She LOVES to give Maggie kisses on the nose! It's so cute.

Busy Week

It has been a crazy busy week for us! In a good way, of course. Steven was promoted at work recently (so proud of him!) which included a change in his schedule. That started this week, and it will take a little time for us to get into the new groove and adjust. It's a great move for him, and we're just so thrilled about it!

Mackenzie and Katie are playing softball/fastpitch this spring and their games started this week. Addy and I had a great time watching them on Monday night and Tuesday night. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, but trust me, there were plenty of moments I wished I had it! Good news is they have lots of games ahead, so I'll be sure to catch some pictures!

"Gamma and Gampa L." came down late on Wednesday night to spend Easter with us. They've been having all kinds of fun the last couple days. Here's a few pictures:

Addy picked out her own outfit. Then she was really upset that Mommy didn't agree that it was appropriate for our Maundy Thursday service at church!


She showed Gamma and Gampa how she can ride her scooter.



Gamma helped Addy grow a beard during bath time! Then she shaved it off!



Then they went to the mall today to get Addy's picture taken with the Easter bunny! I'll post those pictures as soon as Steven gets them scanned! :) In addition to seeing the Easter bunny, Addy got to ride the carousel 3 times! Definitely a Gamma/Gampa treat! She also played on the other rides there, you know, the ones that I'm pretty sure she didn't realize she was allowed to sit on until today!





Tonight before we went to our Good Friday service at church Addy and Gamma made some cookies! Addy is getting very good at cutting out cookies. She's super fast, too! Between eating the dough and re-cutting the dough over and over again, she keeps you on your toes!


In Maggie news...she's been doing pretty well. We've had our ups and downs with accidents in the house and adjusting to our neighbors' dogs. We learned more about her background, which really helped. She's actually about 2 1/2 years old. Her original family got her out of a newspaper ad when she was about 6-8 mo. old. That family also kept her as mostly an outdoor dog. :( Her backyard was very small with a very high fence. The rescue figured that she probably hadn't seen another dog until they took her to the vet to be spayed. Hence, the fascination/obsession with the neighbor dogs.

Last weekend we had some we-can-laugh-at-them-now-but-not-at-the-time moments! Sunday was a nice day, so we opened the windows and doors. Well, she couldn't see the screen door on the front door and bolted! Straight through the screen taking it with her knocking the door completely off it's track (it's a sliding screen door). Steven chased her down in his shorts and socks. No time for shoes! Then she wanted to see the dogs next door at the very moment I was bending over to pick Addy up. That resulted in both Addy and me being pulled to the ground, in our church clothes, grass stains included.

Here's a picture of Addy and Steven in their matching church clothes from Palm Sunday! It was not intentional to have them match, but they were so cute!



Good news is we do think Maggie's adjusting well. For only being home one week, she's come a long way. It no longer takes her 45 minutes to "take care of business" like last weekend. She's still super sweet and gentle. She loves it when Addy kisses her on the nose! She doesn't beg for food! She has discovered that sitting by Addy during dinner is the best spot, though! And, she likes her bed! Poor thing probably never had one before, so she didn't know what to do with it or just didn't like it at first. It won't be long and we'll turn her into the pampered indoor dog she should be!

Here's a picture of her in one of her beds (the other one is in our bedroom to sleep in at night):


I also forgot to mention that getting Maggie was our birthday present to Addy. We didn't get her any other gifts for her birthday, we were just waiting on our sweet Maggie Sue! Steven called her that one day, and I loved it! So it stuck, Sue is her middle name. :)

Adding to the Family

We have a new member of our family! We would love for you to meet Maggie! She is a golden retriever, with red hair (something I've always wanted!), she's somewhere between 1-3 years old, we aren't quite sure. She's a petite little thing only weighing 45 lbs. We got her from a local golden retriever rescue. We just love her!




Check out that smile! In many ways Maggie's facial expressions remind of us our sweet Sadie dog. We think she might be a shadow chaser, too!

Addy is excited about Maggie. She was really excited when we told her we were going to bring her home! Addy's already started to give her commands, it's so cute! Addy also wanted Maggie to see some of her own tricks, like jumping! So, here's Maggie just lying on the floor while Addy jumps in front of her!


I find myself saying to Addy all the time, "Addy, the world is your trampoline, isn't it?" She jumps everywhere!

I'm sure we'll have a lot of cute Addy/Maggie moments to come, I'll try to catch some video, too.

Weekends Update

The last two weekends have been lots of fun. The weekend before last my parents were able to come down to visit. This is the first time they'd been here since Christmas! That is the longest stretch that they haven't been here to visit since we moved 4 years ago! They tried a few times to get here, but the flights just didn't work out for them.

Anyhoo, Steven and I took advantage of them being here by running some errands and spent some time getting things done around the house. They helped us with that stuff, too. We put another coat of stain on some end tables that Steven made for me, and my dad painted my flower boxes for the front porch. The front porch was in desperate need of something, so Steven made the benches and flower boxes for me.



We rarely use the front porch, which means we neglect that area for the most part...which translates to nothing stays alive out there very long! So, we "planted" fake ones. Yup, no shame in it at all. They look great, right? And they'll stay that way which is even better!

Jen, Chris, and the girls popped in over the weekend as well. We had a great dinner at a new-to-us Italian deli, too. Not many pictures from that weekend, unfortunately.

I did get a picture of "Gampa" with Addy in one of the Minnie Mouse dress up dresses she got for her birthday, and one of "Gamma" and Addy reading together.




Then this past weekend, we had wonderful, record breaking weather! It was 91 degrees on Saturday! Oh how we're ready for summer! It was great. I got our garden planted while Addy napped. Last year was a huge success for us, so we're excited about it again. I planted tomatoes, green pepper, and onion. Not much, but enough for us!


After Addy's nap, we went down to Ms. Wendy's house to jump on the trampoline! She does such a good job and has come such a long way in her jumping ability, I just needed to get some pictures and video!






Time for a juice break!


Saturday evening we were playing in the back yard and watering our rose bushes we transplanted, and Addy remembered how much fun it was to play in the hose water!



That water was cold, and she didn't care one bit!

Yesterday was another great, hot day. Addy insisted on eating breakfast outside. I asked her, "Addy, do you want a waffle or cereal for breakfast"? Addy's gave me the same response 3 times in a row, "outside". Stinker! So, I made an executive decision and she got cereal, outside, on the back porch. She was quite happy about it, too.

We came home from church and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the back porch as well!



I was so excited for another hot, sunny day! I planned to put Addy's swim suit on her and get her water table out for her to splash around. Which I did, at 5:00 pm! My little sleeping beauty slept the day away! I put her down for a nap at 1:30 and she didn't wake up until 4:50! But, we got outside and played until dinner time!



Such a fun weekend! It just makes such a difference to get outside and play in the sun!

And, a little note about Addy's memory. She amazes me all the time. Saturday morning I got out her pink crocs to wear and she excitedly said, "beach"! I said, "no, honey, we're not going to the beach". Without skipping a beat, she said, "pool"! We bought those shoes new for Costa RIca, and she hadn't worn them since February! I can't believe she remembered that and made that association. I really hated to disappoint her that we weren't going to the beach or pool! That sounded like a good plan to me, too!

2 Year Well Check

We took Addy to her 2 year well check on Thursday, and boy has she grown! Although, she's very consistent remaining at 90% on the scale for height and 50% for weight. She is 35" tall and weighs 26.2 lbs. It was reassuring to hear Addy is right on track doing all the things she's supposed to be doing at this age.

This is a little info mostly for my memory. She's wearing mostly size 2T clothes. Some 24 mo. clothes still fit her, and some 2T clothes are too big, especially in the waist! She must have the adjustable waist in all her jeans! She's just started to outgrow her size 6 shoes, but the size 7 shoes leave her with plenty of room, almost too much room. And, she's still wearing size 4 diapers.

One thing Addy loves to do these days is dance! She LOVES to dance with us and on her own. I think one of the reasons she likes to watch The Wiggles so much is because of all the singing and dancing. The show Dancing With the Stars is right her up her ally. She loves to dance along with the dancers on the show. Here's a little video of her dancing. Notice she likes to watch her reflection in the fireplace! So cute!