Houston

The day after Christmas, we drove down to Houston to visit Mike's grandparents. I was nervous about this over-night trip, because believe it or not, Addison had not been on an over-night trip since she was an infant. She resisted napping until the last hour of our drive out there (a good two hours later than her normal nap time). At least she finally did give in and sleep for just a little bit. Our stay in the Hotel didn't go much better. She's definitely a creature of habit, much like her Mommy and Daddy.

Here's Addy with Great Grandma and Grandpa Adair.

Addison was almost immediately presented more Christmas presents- from Grammi and Grandpa!- a new Barbie swimming pool, car and two new Barbies! I can't believe I have a two year old obsessed with Barbies.

Waiting at Chuy's for a table. Eddie kept teasing Addison that her Belle doll was "his Barbie". Here he is showing his affection for Belle.

Mommy and Addison.

I'll admit it. Seeing everyone drinking their margaritas during our hour long wait for a table made me jealous. So I ordered a virgin margarita, lame, I know. Have to say, though, Addison liked it just as much as I did.

The Indianapolis Adairs, Alpana, Austin, Tristan and Eddie.

The whole gang, minus Ben and Barbara.

Christmas with the Days

I must say, Christmas Day was better than Christmas Eve, as far as my illness went. After Addy had plenty of time to play with Santa's loot, we headed over to GaGa's. Our favorite Uncle (I feel comfortable saying this, as I am 99.9999999% sure none of my other Uncles read this fantastic blog) is in town, which made the day that much more special.


I hate to make these posts all about what gifts, but that's kinda all I took pictures of. No real family shots this year. Sorry :-(

Here are the kids posing in front of all of the presents. (they were stored in a pack n play to keep Mom's psycho dog [I say that with affection] from tearing into them). Why are all of the kids arms up? Not so sure.

Addy got a Princess Barbie collection. Holy Moly. Jackpot!

Here are the kids giving Uncle Frank a big hug after presenting him with his gift from them. A poster that says "My Uncle can run faster, swim faster and ride faster than your Uncle". (My Uncle is a long- time triathlete. Even an iron man competitor!)

Micah.

Addy and Micah playing with their new little V-Tech Learning Systems. How cute is that?

Yep, a Merry Christmas indeed!

Santa's visit

Hmm. I hate to start each of these posts with how sick I was, but I truly feel that this plays an important part in these stories.

For example, at this point, I was doing the bare minimum I needed to do to carry any of my Christmas duties. We did attempt to bake Santa some cookies, and well, I lost steam so went to bed and Mike let the cookies burn. Like to a crisp. So, I decided that we made a good enough effort, so Santa would just have to get his damn cookies from the neighbors this year. I wasn't about to start over. Rewinding to the night before, our Christmas Eve celebration at Mike's parents... I was responsible for bringing a sweet potato bake (Paula Deen's recipe, you should try it, it's deelish). I got so far as boiling the potatoes, again lost steam, went to bed and said "Screw it" when I woke up. Nu-uh. It just wasn't going to happen this year. When it came time to out out the reindeer food that Addison had made in school, well, I didn't remember til I was in bed (yes, again), and I'm gonna be honest- it wasn't enough to get me out of bed. Or to even call Mike, who was downstairs, and be forced to talk- which was pretty much torture.

SOOOO. OO. Santa. You all know how excited I was to be Santa. So I slept on the couch while Mike assembled anything that needed assembling. Two hours later, he woke me up, and we laid all of Santa's gifts out. The set-up wasn't nearly as pretty as I'd imagined it, but I didn't care at the time.

Santa WAY over-did it. Addison needed a third of what she got.

Oh, and again... sorry about the lack of pictures!





Yes, that's it for tonight. I fully intend on completing the Christmas saga tomorrow. One less thing to think about.

Christmas Eve

I really just wanted to post this now so that I can include as many details as possible. In case you hadn't noticed, my memory is awful. And the more days that pass, the less detailed these posts will be. Problem is, I'm not feeling *great* (but not *awful), but I'm going for it. I'm going to attempt to blog the big daddy of blog subjects: CHRISTMAS.

SO. I'm going to break these posts up into sections, in case I don't have it in me to post everything tonight.

CHRISTMAS EVE.

Day two of my rapid decline in health. What started as a cough turned into head, cough, fever, aches, etc. This happened to be my worst day in this stupid bout of yuckiness. I felt like, oh, an hour away from death.

Christmas Eve was held at Mike's parents. It was lovely, I'm sure, but I can't lie (people always say they appreciate my honesty), I wasn't at one point aware of any of the loveliness of the evening. Of course, the high point was Addison opening her gifts. She had so many gifts given to her (THANK YOU GRAMMI, GRANDPA, NANA and PAPA), and was so happy with the first one (and pretty much only the first one at the time), that we all decided to just stop while she was happy, and save the rest of the gifts for her birthday.

Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures. Hard to take lots of pics when a truck has just run you over (metaphorically).



Her new doll house with furniture, a little family, and her favorite part, the family car.


Posing with Grammi and Grandpa.

So... the moral of the story: I hope it was wonderful for everyone in attendance, I sincerely am sorry if I was a kill joy in any way. Thank you for hosting, Grammi and Grandpa. All I know, is next year I had better be healthy.

Just Trying to Help

Pregnant and sick don't mix. I don't suggest it.

A Couple of Things

1. I have recently discovered the wonders of chiropractic care. Big shout out to my friend Laurel's husband, Kyle, at Woytek Chiropractic. I started seeing him for my headaches, and he has made me feel better pretty much head to toe after a few adjustments. I am new to the chiropractor world, and I am a believer!!

2. Having said that, "I feel better head to toe", I am sick :-( However, I am more and more convinced that it is just allergies. I've never heard of allergies that start in the chest (painful coughs!) and leave the chest, moving into the head. But, this is what I am dealing with right now. I'll take constant sneezing and nose blowing over painful coughing. Good ol' Kyle gave me some fab supplements (all natural, safe for pregnancy) to boost my immune system and hopefully kick this, if it is more than allergies.

3. My first batch of See's Candies came in yesterday! Thanks Uncle John and Oro! See's are my FAVORITE. Believe it or not, I do not have them upstairs next to my bed. I have enough self control and wherewithal to know that this would not be a good idea. I say this is my first batch of See's, because I believe Uncle Frank and Cheryl are arriving tomorrow with another package! AND, I think I remember my mom saying she ordered some for us to have to nibble on Christmas Day. I don't think it's possible for me to get See's Candied out, but if it is possible, we will see in a couple of days.

4. CHRISTMAS EVE IS TOMORROW! No matter how crappy I feel, I will SO enjoy spending the next three days with our families. (tomorrow with Mike's family, Friday with mine, Saturday with Mike's Grandparents and Uncle's fam in Houston). AND I CAN'T WAIT to be Santa Claus tomorrow night! I'm so excited!

That's all. Goodnight. Hope you all enjoy your Christmas with your families. And to my fellow bloggers, you'd better post blogs and pics of your fun with your families! Don't let me down!!

Zilker Park Tree Festival

YAY YAY YAY for my girls!! They made me SO proud at their Trail of Lights performance on Sunday! Or Zilker Tree Festival performance. Whatever. Here are some pics I took from the side of the stage.

Oh wait, here are a few of the girls backstage before the performance.

Me with my Juniors.

Rising Star Purple

Rising Star White

Envision

Purple Jazz

Junior Lyrical

White Jazz

EnVision Modern

Oh, and yes, Addy did come with us. We didn't get many pics of her. Unfortunately, when Mommy is working, she goes off with Daddy, and this time Daddy didn't have the camera with him. Here's a picture I was able to snap at the beginning of our night, under the tree. Proof that she was there :-)

Christmas at school

After missing over a week of school due to various illnesses, Addison got to return on the most fun day of all- Christmas party day!

They made reindeer food for Christmas Eve.

Everyone got a turn to stir.

Pretty girl.

Addison with her good pal, Erin.


Making and decorating a Candy Christmas Tree.

The finished product. When Ms. Amy asked the parents if we'd like to take them home, she was answered with a resounding "NO!"

With her teacher, Ms. Amy. She's so wonderful and we are very lucky to have her as Addy's teacher!

I always love when we are invited into the classroom to get a peek at how the kids behave and what they do. The party was super cute and Addy had lots of fun!!

Christmas Recital

This morning Addison had her very first Christmas recital! She did great! I videoed the dance, but can. not. figure out how to get the video on this blog! I'll probably figure it out in a couple of months... seems to be how I operate.

So, instead of video, here are some pictures!

Her cousin, Micah, is in her class. Here they are hugging before their performance.


It's performance time! Hands on knees.

The "boo hoo" part" :-)

Pointing her toe!

And the other toe!


Blowing a kiss.

Running to mommy once the dance is over :-)

Say Cheese!!!

We are so proud of our little dancer. Way to go, Addison! :-)

Nothing To See Here

Oh, hello. What, you were expecting to find a long, self-indulgent pity party post here? Sorry, that train has left the station. Check back later, though, as I am sure I will decide to whine to the whole wide world again.

Meeting Santa

This morning Santa visited our neighborhood's community center. It was a very, very dreary day- constant drizzle with quite cold temperatures. The good thing about this is that the line was very short (10 minutes compared to an hour and a half last year!), and Addison got to watch Santa interact with all of the other kids the whole time we were waiting.

When our turn came, Addison marched on up to Santa by herself, but only stood next to him, she wasn't about to sit in his lap. (and her dancer doll had to come with).

I like this picture. I'm sure she was saying, "Mommy, you're still there and watching me, right?"

I'm fairly certain that if Mike had left Addy's side she would have been fine, but whatever... he stayed with her the whole time. I can't say he's ever anything but a sweet Daddy :-)

Showing Santa her nail polish.

High five, Santa!

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!

Cuteness

This video isn't for everyone. (I'm looking at you, Danny)

BUT, if you like Glee, you should watch this. Adorable Puck doing a sweet homage to Glee.

Enjoy. Not only because the song is cute, but also because he's totally easy on the eyes :-)

First gift of the Season

December 1st. First day of Christmas Calendar!

Of course, Addison was super excited to open "my first present!". She totally understands that once she's opened all of the calendar gifts it's THE BIG DAY. And, like I said, she's VERY excited.

Figuring out the whole opening presents thing... "how can I do this quickly?

Yay! Santa Claus candy!! (sorry it's a bit blurry)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Can I get a big YAY for Christmas?!? My Christmas spirit has been revitalized (I hadn't realized I'd lost it!), thanks to having a two and a half year olds eyes to see it through.

Everything is so much fun. We finally put lights on the house! Addison thinks this is just the coolest. (I do, too) The trees are pretty puny still, I'm aware. It's a work in progress.
I never knew how hard it is to get a good shot of Christmas lights!

In addition to decorating, this is such a wonderful time to pass along family traditions. There is one in particular that I've been soexcited about. Growing up, we had "Christmas Calendars". My mom sewed these amazing wall calendars, with a place to hang a small gift for each day in December- counting down to Christmas. I LOVED this every year and, like I said, I couldn't wait to introduce this to Addison. My mom sewed Addison her very own calendar, and tonight I hung it up. I hung it crooked, but whatever.I suggest clicking on these images to see the detail of these calendars. My mom's wonderful!!

Tomorrow's the big day- she gets to open her first gift!! (It's a Santa Claus Pez Dispenser). She has lots of goodies in store for her: Sleeping Beauty lip gloss, silly putty, nail polish, Tinkerbell lifesavers... :-) I didn't put the calendar up until she went to bed, so this is what she's going to wake up to tomorrow.

Here's what else she'll wake up to tomorrow:

This is Elfie, our "Elf on the Shelf". In case you don't know, "The Elf on the Shelf" is a little elf sent from the North Pole to watch children to see if they're being Naughty or Nice. He flies back to the North Pole every night to report to Santa Claus what he saw that day. The next morning, your Elf is in a new spot in the house, and apparently children have a blast trying to find him. (I totally am sure that's true!)

We introduced Elfie to Addison tonight. Tried to read her the book that came along with him, but she wasn't having any of it. We'll see if tomorrow she'll listen. She definitely knows who Elfie is, though, and what he's here for :-) What a great idea, huh?

So. We've decorated, started new traditions, carried on old ones... I am just in heaven! So much so that I've got all of our Christmas cards mailed off and have about 90% of our shopping done. I can't remember that last time I didn't put off 75% of my shopping to the few days before Christmas.

I'm sure I'll blog tomorrow night about our Elfie experience, and her first Christmas calendar experience as well. Can't imagine I won't... I'm kind of camera and blog- happy lately (in case you hadn't noticed).

Night night, sleep tight!