Addy's Birthday Party

This past Saturday we had a family birthday party for Adeline. To make it a bit more convenient for everyone time-wise we decided to do a breakfast party from 10-12 so that everyone's day wasn't taken up by a mid-day party (not that that's bad but we thought it would be a nice change.) Sadly some of our favorite family members weren't able to make it but we still had a blast and I was so grateful that my cousins made the trip out. They are the life of the party with their constant smiles and funny anectdotes. :)

Addy was more than happy to eat a big breakfast. Its become her favorite meal of the day! Here she is with a giant #2 balloon behind her while she waits for her food to be cut up.




Excited for a good breakfast.




With all the busyness she got a little help eating from Aunt Terri. Usually she refuses help but Aunt Terri must've had some favor with her!



The theme was "Elmo" so my mom found an Elmo cake pan. I made the cake but she did all the decorating! Addy loved it.




Is it possible that GG loves birthdays more than Addy? I think so.



Well we at least know GG likes the hats better than Addy did!



Shannon brought a date.... who wouldn't want Frank as a date?



Lindsey really did bring a date. It was nice to meet this "Nathan" guy that I've seen on her facebook!



John Michael did great until it was time for a nap. Surprisingly TuTu was able to get him to sleep despite the noisiness!




Party pictures

Mom Hamstra, Dabo Hamstra & Auntie Donna (Not a great picture... but it shows they were there!)



Shannon & me (wow, I just realized how excited Shannon is to be there... haha she's gonna love me for posting this!)



Johnny & Donnie



Addy wasn't quite as into her cake as she was last year. She was a bit shy and overwhelmed by us singing Happy Birthday to her. She kind of looked down the whole time.





But I think blowing out the candle was a bit more exciting for her. Can you tell?




Digging into the cake with her hands was a bit hard for her to do... she's SUCH a girl! So, she found an alternative way to taste test it.



And seemed quite pleased with the outcome



"Wow, does Mommy really know I'm eating this cake??"



"I guess it doesn't matter!"





Sharing is a new concept for the Adster pie but she seemed willing to let her favorite older cousin take a bite.




He wasn't as excited at the prospect of her offer.




Spectators



All in all she had a fabulous party! She got a lot of nice things (thanks to everyone for their generosity). Some of her favorites are her "Elmo buggy" (a beautiful baby stroller from GG & Bampa), her Dora tent from the Morfins, and her TMX Elmo from TuTu & Grandfather. Pictures of her playing with the toys soom!

Happy Birthday Adeline!

Well, I'm glad to say that the reason I haven't posted in so long is because we've been enjoying this warm weather as well as the festivities that surrounded our "baby" girl's second birthday!

Addy's birthday was last Friday. I spent the week before talking to her about birthdays and reading her a book about a birthday party in an attempt to prepare her. We woke her up singing Happy Birthday! and she was grinning. Then, we threw out the smoothies and oatmeal breakfast we normally have for chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes with bacon on our "You are Special Today" plate!

I love Mickey Mouse almost as much as I love chocolate chip pancakes!



That night we went with my parents to a nearby restaurant called Tyler's Tender. The whole restaurant was a train theme and since Addy loves trains she was in heaven!!

They have a detailed Thomas the Train track with buildings and lights set up on one side of the restaurant. Both Adeline and John Michael were mesmerized!










Let me in!



They also have a little train you can ride for 50 cents. The ride is pretty short but Addy loved playing on it.






She wasn't nearly as crazy about John Michael getting on with her though.



But she quickly got over it!



But, the highlight of the restaurant was a child sized train that you could ride for $1. It only goes around three times but she didn't care! She loved sitting in the front car and pulling the bell.



choo choo!



The only downfall was that she had so much fun she had a hard time eating... so I fed her on the way home! Overall though it was a raging success. We'll look forward to going there again soon - and know to bring plenty of cash for the endless train ride requests!



Coming next, Addy's birthday party!

A date with Julia

Julia, aka Joo-Joo and "the bun" came over this past week and I got a small taste of what its like to have three kids under 2 years old! It was eventful but fun.... how could you not adore having this brown eyed beauty around!?



Her and Adeline enjoyed playing outside for a little while until it got to cold to stay out.

Beep Beep!



Loading up the trunk with sidewalk chalk. Addy & Julia made some beautiful pictures. If it wasn't for the rain later that day I may have been able to get some money for them. :)



Backing up (which happens to be all she can do)



Here's Julia exploring her new surroundings. (She's little miss curiosity)



I like this car!!



But I'm not so crazy about my hood.



Hey, why's she getting all the attention Mom???



Note.... these two were hysterical vying for my attention. If I catered to much to one child the other one would let me know... and Julia, the compassionate one, would just break down crying if one of the other two was crying (She's gonna have a soft heart I think!).... which meant I went to care for her.... which meant Addy was throwing a tantrum. I felt like I was 8 years old at Celebration Station trying to smash the gopher heads before they went back in their hole. Odd analogy but its all I could come up with!

Addy remembered just where we kept her bubbles last summer and took me right to them so that she could play with them. But, when I tried teaching her to blow the bubbles herself she couldn't quite figure out that she couldn't be three feet away when she started blowing....

a bit closer sweetie...



there ya go



I've got some more pictures of Julia playing with John Michael - look for them soon!

We miss you Julia - come back soon!

King John Michael

John Michael is growing so quickly.... and like Abi he is totally a mommy's boy!! He loves me to hold him and snuggle with him and he'd sit on my hip all day long without a nap if he could! He's a big boy too... wearing 12-18 month clothes already. He can still wear 6-12's but some of them are getting to short on him. He's not that chunky but he has some tree trunk legs and a long body.

Here he is on Fat Tuesday. We were at the Bull's game and they passed out free masks and necklaces.



He's a happy little guy for the most part. As long as you aren't trying to get him to sleep or keeping him from his mommy he's quick to smile.





I think I might start calling him Dr. Drooler.... he has a seemingly constant flow of saliva flowing from that gaping mouth of his! We also like to call him "Oral Fixation Boy" since absolutely everything he gets his hands on ends up in his mouth. That is one of the many ways he is different from Addy as a baby. She rarely chewed on things and when she did it was always the same couple of toys.



He loves to read books.



I can't believe he's almost 8 months old! He's still not crawling but he wiggles his way around quite a bit. He scoots backwards easily and spins in circles but I don't think it'll be long before he learns how to move forward. He gets on his hands and knees and bounces like Addy did shortly before she started crawling. So, he's taking his time with crawling and also with teeth. There are no signs of any pearly whites and since Addy almost made it to her first birthday without a little tooth I'm not holding my breath!

He loved going outside when the weather was warm earlier this week (pictures soon) but I'm sad to say that we're back indoors for this thirty degree weather (it SNOWED yesterday!). But we're keeping warm!!



(note Oral Fixation boy doing a coat tasting below)



More soon!