One of the things that I began praying for as soon as we found out that Ashton was being created in my belly was that Addy and Ash would be great friends.  I prayed for a peaceful home, for their acclimation to one another, that they would love each other deeply, respect one another, and be wonderful friends throughout the course of their lives.  God has answered this prayer to the fullest at this point in their young lives.  It is so great to be a witness to the prayers that I prayed and continue to pray.

Ash is so close to crawling! He still hasn’t figured out how to move forward, but he does a lot of rocking back and forth on all fours.  Here are some pictures of him trying to figure it out. . .

Happy 3rd birthday, my sweet, sweet Addy! You are such a joy to our lives! I cannot even express how much Daddy and I love you! You have become full of so much personality over the past year! I love your compassionate heart and how sensitive you are to people who are sad! I enjoy your sense of humor and your laugh when you think something is really funny.  I adore how much you enjoy going to church.  You love to sing and dance, and we love being your audience.  Recently you have become very outgoing and friendly.  It is so fun to watch you in public!  Daddy and I love all of your big vocabulary words that you use (most of the time correctly.)    It is also so entertaining to watch your imagination at work.  You love to play airplane, dress up, grocery store, and “mommy.”  Every day I find more and more that I love about you! I look forward to the next year! You are my favorite little girl in the whole world!

I don’t remember exactly when Addy began calling our family outings “family dates,” but we think it’s adorable and have adopted the term ourselves.  Any time we spend time away from home with just the four of us, we now refer to our time together as a “family date.” 

Last night, Andy planned a special “family date” to help celebrate the cool, fall weather.  He packed all the accessories needed for a picnic dinner, picked up fried chicken and sides, and we headed to the local park.  It was such a nice fall evening and we enjoyed throwing frisbee, eating dinner, laying in the shade of some large (for Texas) oak trees, and watching Addy enjoy the playground.  It was a picture-perfect evening, so here are some photos to share.

There is nothing like a precious baby that has been freshly bathed and is wrapped in a towel! 

As we were driving around town this morning, I heard a voice from the back seat say, “Go faster Mommy! I like feed (speed)!”  She acquired this new phrase during a get-away with friends at their lake house in Missouri.  While there, Addy went tubing, went knee-boarding, went swimming in the lake every day, rode a four-wheeler, “drove” a boat, and was thoroughly spoiled by our friends, “Uncle” Chris and Miss Rhonda.  She had a blast, as did all of us.  Thanks to Chris, I’m sure we will be hearing all about the “extreme” activities she wants to do for a while.

Last week we enjoyed a wonderful family vacation in the Poconos with my Mom, Dad, brother, sister-in-law, and adorable new nephew.  Each day of the vacation we had a key word around which our activities revolved.  On Monday, it was “train”, on Tuesday it was “sweets”, on Wednesday “lake”, and Thursday was “outdoors”.  On Wednesday’s “family date” as Addy refers to them, we went to a lake and played on the playground and enjoyed the outdoors.  However, the temperature kept us from getting in the water.  As we watched many northern residents swimming and boating, our Texas blood kept us all from getting into the lake when the temperature was only in the high sixties.  Addison had a hard time understanding why she couldn’t go swimming with the other kids.  We promised her that she would get to enjoy the water the following day via paddle boating with Daddy.  On Thursday we headed to Bushkill Falls, an amazing place where we hiked among gorgeous waterfalls, picnicked, and enjoyed some of the kid friendly activities on site.  After lunch, we walked toward the small lake.  Addy was brimming with anticipation for her paddle boat ride.  She had practiced how to move her legs, we had talked about seeing fish and turtles, and she was ecstatic about having one-on-one time with Daddy.  As we approached the counter to pay for the paddle boating excursion, she was beaming.  The sweet girl behind the counter asked, “How old is she?”  Andy quickly responded, “Almost 3 (seeing the sign that read 3 and above were admitted.)  Her polite but very firm response was, “Children under 3 cannot go.”  Addy clung to Andy and turned her head away from the girl as big tears welled up in her eyes.  Then, not being able to contain her disappointment any longer, she began crying.  It broke my heart to see her like this.  She had been so excited and her hopes for a great adventure had been dashed.  Andy, however, used it as a lesson.  He hugged Addy and comforted her, but gently told her, “We don’t ever lie even when we want to.”   Since last Thursday when this happened we have had multiple discussions about the paddle boating experience (or lack there of) and it continues to be a teaching point for her.  Plus, Andy and Addy still got to have their time together putt-putting when the boating didn’t work out.

Yesterday I ran upstairs to wake Ashton from his morning nap, leaving Addison downstairs coloring.  As I was tending to Ashton, Addy boisterously ran upstairs to find me.  She paraded in and proudly asked, “Am I fancy, Mommy?”  with her arms spread wide.  Confused but thinking, “How cute!” I responded as any mother would, “Yes, baby! You are so fancy!”  Then, she began repeating over and over again, “I am pretty.  I am so pretty.”   At that point, I looked more closely at her as she danced around and recited her oh-so-humble-statement.  It was then that I realized that she had scribbled all over her legs and arms with pen.  All I could do was  laugh! I hope you do the same.