The Nutcracker

I took Addison to see Ballet Austin's The Nutcracker on Sunday. I can't describe how much fun we had.

We started with lunch at the Shady Grove. Here's a classy photo we took in the restroom.


The first thing we did when we got to the theater was look for a keepsake. Addison saw a Clara Nutcracker and never saw anything else.


One of my old students now dances with Ballet Austin and got us discounted tickets, 10th row, right on center. The seats were AWESOME.


Once the show started, Addison was in HEAVEN. She gasped when the Snow Queen came onstage. She watched the young dancers intently, taking in their every move. She loved the snow. She loved the music. She loved the costumes. It was all so magical.

They have the Trail of Lights display out around the venue and Addison wanted to take a photo with all of the different pieces. :)






To top it all off, Addison said to me as we were leaving, "Momma, today was the most SPECIAL day EVER." I couldn't agree more!!

Thanksgiving, Day 2

I've tried to write about our Thanksgiving at my mom's house numerous times, but I kept giving up because words simply can't do it justice. Sooo I'm just going to throw it all out there whether it makes sense or is entertaining or not.

In one word, our day was: Crazy.

15 minutes before we ate, the scene was this:

Small kitchen. Very small kitchen.
Adam is laying on the floor, head under the sink, body completely across the entire kitchen. This is because Adam broke the faucet earlier that afternoon. Mike "ran" to the store to buy a new one, since a working kitchen sink is crucial on Thanksgiving. I say "ran" because Black Friday kept him out much longer than it typically would.
Blah blah blah blah BLAH... gah why is this story so hard to write?
So while Adam fixed the sink, we were doing the following. All at once.
Mom making mashed potatoes, stuffing
Mike carving the turkey
Melissa making sweet potatoes, cranberries
Me making peas, green beans,
Me realizing I didn't heat our rolls.
Mom realizing we didn't have gravy yet.
Me realizing I hadn't started my dessert, which needed to cook while we ate dinner.

Um where were the kids during all of this? I literally have no memory of the kids. Yikes.

So yeah. Maybe it doesn't sound crazy. Or maybe it does. Whatever. I finally got it all down in words and I am officially DONE with this post.

Oh wait, one last thing. Here's one of the only pics I got that day. And I LOVE it.

Thanksgiving, Day 1

Dinner at Grammi and Grandpa's house. Delicious as always. I only contributed macaroni and cheese, but yummm was it good. It's John Legend (the crooner)'s recipe. You should go here and make it. Everything else was standard Thanksgiving fare. No complaints at all. All perfect and delicious!

May I interest you in some photos?



The following is a series of unfortunate photos. It's all we got.







Tomorrow we will celebrate with my side of the family at GaGa's house. I will be making the mac and cheese again, peas with pancetta, sausage balls and APPLE DUMPLINGS.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Thanks for reading this lil' ol' blog!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday we attended two costume parties: First we went to Auntie's house for a fall (not Halloween)/ birthday party for Annalie and Micah, and then Kassidy's 4th birthday party.

Who am I? I didn't take any pictures. Ugh. Thankfully we have friends and family who love us and take pictures of us.

This year we were superheroes. Addison was Spidergirl. She was SUPPOSED to be Wonderwoman, but since I bought the costume a month ago, she grew at least 2 inches! The wonderwoman costume doesn't fit her anymore! A last minute trip to the store got us a Spidergirl costume. Whew. Aiden was Superman. So stinkin cute.

Mike and I were Super Mom (actually "Super Momma") and Super Dad ("Super Daddy"). Mike had a tool belt with diapers, bandaids, goldfish, toys, etc. It actually came together really well!

And now, here we are: The SUPER Adairs!

Easter

The kids looked so cute (and so did I, if I do say so myself), and THESE are the only photos I have to share. Boo. Having 2 kids makes taking pictures much more difficult, evidently.








Hope all of you had a fun, love-filled Easter!

Christmas on Walsh

Well, it took a while, but the craziness of the holidays caught up with me, and I'm now very behind on blogging. My apologies. Trying to get up to date, one post at a time...

Christmas Day:

After our lovely Christmas morning, we headed over to Grammi and Grandpa's house. We had a great time! Grammi made a traditional holiday meal, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, etc. And NaNa outdid herself and made her famous pumpkin pie again. So yummy!

It's so different, going over to Grammi and Grandpas, compared to hanging out with my side of the family. Addison and Aiden are THE entertainment and focal point of every conversation, whereas with my family, they're just two of six! I'm sure my kids LOVE the attention they get from Grammi, Grandpa, NaNa and PaPa. :-)

Addy with Grandpa and with Grammi.

Aiden and NaNa.

Mike, Addison and PaPa.

Three generations of Adair men!

Grandpa and Addison playing Barbie, Grandpa's favorite ;)

Christmas Morning

After staying up until FOUR IN THE MORNING putting everything together, here's Santa's loot. (Once again, he really went overboard. Someone REALLY needs to talk to him about this.)

Here's Addison's spread. The kitchen on the left makes cooking sounds (sizzling and boiling) and talks. The Barbie house on the right is so detailed- it has everything! Food in the fridge, silverware, a dishwasher, a hot tub, a closet with a shoe rack and hangers, an ELEVATOR!

Aiden's spread. The exersaucer is kind of like a walker- he can move himself around it.

Santa left a note for Addison and Aiden.

The view from the stairs- first thing the kids saw on Christmas morning.

We had a wonderful Christmas morning. When Addy came into our room after waking up, the first thing she said was "Did he come?". When I told her that I peeked downstairs and that yes, he did come, she simply gasped and ran to the stairs. After taking a look at everything Santa brought, we sat around the tree and exchanged our gifts that we bought for each other. Addison gave Mike a basketball and me the new Glee CD :-) We spent all morning playing with all of our new toys and enjoying each others company. Couldn't have asked for anything more perfect!

Merry Christmas Eve

While Mike sits on the floor assembling Addison's gifts from Santa, and I'm sitting here on the couch like a bump on a log, I figured I might as well make myself somewhat useful. So I'm going to blog about our day today.

We spent our Christmas Eve with my family at Melissa's house. Uncle Frank and Cheryl are in from California, and we always love having them here. It was a wonderful, laid back day filled with love, laughter, food, drinks and merriment. Oh, and with GaGa around, of course there were lots of PRESENTS!

Uncle Frank and Cheryl gave grandma this throw with a photo of our entire family. Needless to say, she loved it.

Micah with his rocket ship we gave him.

Annalie loved her xylophone! (she could win a cutest baby contest. easy.)

A glimpse at the chaos. About halfway in.

My pretty Grandma.

Handsome brother in law, Adam.

My sassy sister :-)

The cutest.

Sweet Jude.

Yeah, my mom got all of the kids (gently used) itouches. They're new to the kids! And they love them!

Adam got out his guitar and sang Christmas songs. And we all sang along. Sounds cheesy but it was fun!

Uncle Frank watching Toy Story 3 with the kids while they waited for dinner to be ready.

Melissa's beautiful table.

The kids table.

Aiden seems to have found his tongue recently. He had a fun time with Daddy at the dinner table.

The whole family!

Blog done, and Mike is still working on the first big gift from Santa. (There are three. Too many, I know. A barbie house, a princess kitchen and an exersaucer for Aiden.) Yikes, it's gonna be a long night!