January Wrap-Up & A's Boyfriend

Seems like we've had a pretty low-key month.  We've stayed right here at home and enjoyed some family time.  Adeline is definitely growing by leaps & bounds.  I think she learns something new every day.  I decided I better document what I can remember of those things before I forget any.

1. She can put her shapes in her shape sorter if you point to the correct hole.
2. She can put 3 piece puzzles together, but can't quite get the pieces exactly in the holes, but she knows which piece goes where
3. She has learned how to put things in the trash when we ask her to (& sometimes when we don't ask her to)
4. She learned yesterday to "put your cup on your table."  Every time she does this now, she gets so excited & claps her hands & screams. 
5. She gives & blows kisses on command all the time & frequently gives kisses without being prompted
6. She signs "please" when she wants help with something or wants more food, but when she signs it, she says, "all done."  Poor thing has her words & signs all jumbled.  She also says "all done" when she really is all done.  I think it's one of her favorite things to say.
7. She carries on conversations & reads to herself all the time.  I wish I knew what she was saying!  
8. She loves to say "Da Da" & yells it all the time.  Jon absolutely loves it!
9. She got her first swat on her bare bottom last night.  We've had tried putting a stop to her feeding Tulip because once all the food is gone she then wants to pick up the bowl or play in the water, so we decided no more.  Well, she can't quite get it, so last night I pulled down her pants & diaper & swatted her on the butt.  
10. She climbs on everything & pretty much runs everywhere she goes!

Now, on to the next part of my post.  I think Adeline has her first boyfriend.  She and Westin spend quite a bit of time together and I really think they are starting to like each other.  On Friday we grilled hamburgers at the Davises and as we were leaving, Cody was standing Westin up right in front of Adeline to see how much taller she was than him.  Well, Adeline leaned right over & planted a big wet kiss right on Westin's lips!  Nobody had even said anything about kisses or sugars or anything.  It was so cute!  I wish I had caught it on video.  

Jon and I worked in Westin's nursery class at church yesterday and I held Westin a lot because he wasn't feeling well.  Adeline had no problem with that at all, but she did NOT like me holding or talking to any of the other babies in there.  I thought that was so funny!

I'll leave you with a few pictures of Adeline and Westin taken last Monday.

Is it May?

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous.  I kept asking myself if it was really still January.  I think we maxed out at 75 degrees and there was not a cloud in the sky all day.  We started off our morning with a hike around Lake Wilson.  It's a little-known hiking trail around an old pump station lake thing on the south side of Fayetteville.  It's really close to the house we rented when we first moved here so that's how we know about it.  We like to go there because not many people know about it, so we can let our dogs off their leashes to run.  We took my friend Katie from work and her dog Schuester with us, but I didn't get any pictures of them.

We were all pretty hot by the time our hike was done and Adeline was throwing a fit to get out of her carrier.  I think maybe her legs went to sleep because when we let her out, she stood very still for the longest time.

When we got home Jon & Adeline washed the cars.  (And Adeline carried around my Horned Frog all over the yard)

It's so funny to me that we were outside in shorts &/or t-shirts yesterday, but today it's in the 40s & they're thinking we may get up to a foot of snow by Tuesday!  I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather yesterday, because we're still in for some Winter!

Saturday & Sunday

We've had a great couple of days.  The weather is pretty cold and nasty, but that's to be expected in January.  Yesterday we celebrated Payton & Parker Hicks' first birthday!

Adeline and Zach playing with the toys 

Enjoying the balloons

Shannon & Westin

Time for presents & cake!  Payton & Parker were much more lady-like when it came to eating their cake than Adeline was.  :)

Such sweet girls!

The rest of the day we just enjoyed some napping, some dog-walking, and some video-watching.  

Today we went to church and have spent the rest of the day inside out of the cold!

More Snow Fun

On Thursday when Jon got home from work we took the family up to a nearby school for some sledding & play time.

Adeline loved watching the dogs run around in the snow and jump up to catch snow balls.  She was giggling the whole time.  We had a blast!

My Single Friend - Hold Onto Your Hearts, Men

Let me introduce to you my very dear friend, Rachel!

She is a remarkable woman.  Let me just explain how:

1. She graduated from Texas A&M in 2007 with a degree in Psychology (she was Valedictorian of her HS class in 2003)
2. After college she joined Teach for America & moved to Charlotte, NC where she impressed so many with her smarts that she was quickly promoted to Program Director at Teach for America and currently lives in Dallas, TX
3. Her hobbies/interests include: reading, learning to cook, playing The Michael Jackson Experience on Wi, listening to hip hop music, & refining her sense of humor
4. The things she looks for most in a man are: a love Jesus, sense of humor, confidence, passion about what he does, ambition, tall, athletic, enjoys watching sports, willing to travel but likes being at home too, & family oriented

Rachel is the middle child of 5.  Her father is a Baptist preacher and her mother is a music lover who now lives with Jesus.  She is loyal and trustworthy and loves those in her life with great passion.  She will do anything for anyone.  She is ambitious, hilarious, & a thinker.  Her personality will make your heart smile!  (And you can see for yourself that she's gorgeous)

Please comment or contact me if you or a friend of yours might be interested in getting to know Rachel:

lindseyrichey@gmail.com

To do some match-making of your own, visit this blog: http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/01/show-us-your-life-show-us-your-singles.html

What we're doing today...

Playing in all the snow we got last night and are continuing to get all day!

And watching the snow from the window & trying to stay warm....

Busy Week

Since the snow melted it seems like we've been going non-stop!  I'll document our week with a few pictures..

Loving her Magna-Doodle

Wednesday she really started liking her Rody that Jon and I got her for her birthday.  I think this is the cutest thing!

Thursday she woke up with some major bed-head!

I took some "before" & "after" pictures.  Her hair is getting so long!  It won't be long before I have to learn how to fix hair better.  :)

Friday we woke up to a beautiful sunrise.  

 If we have beauty like this on Earth, I can only imagine what Heaven is like!

 Then we read about some dogs (her favorite book) and played while we waited for Shannon to come over to pick me up.  Shannon and I left Friday morning and headed to Dallas for a quick shopping trip.  We spent the night with my friend Amanda and her husband and shopped at North Park Mall that night. Saturday we got up bright and early and got to IKEA before it opened.  We shopped there until mid-afternoon then headed back home.  We got home in time to put both our sweet babies to bed.  Jon sent me a few pictures of my sweet girl and himself while I was away.

 He puts her in these overalls every time I'm not around..haha.  They're officially too short now and have been retired!

 I bought lots of fun stuff at IKEA, but this is the only picture I have so far.  I got this chair in an antique finish.  It sits at a regular kitchen table and it's for kids once they're old enough to understand to sit still, but still not old enough (or big enough) to sit in a regular chair.  We are waiting to put it together.

 On the drive home we saw this beautiful sunset.  I know, lots of pretty skies this weekend!

Sunday, we skipped out on church because I was absolutely exhausted and Adeline is still getting over a cough.  I didn't want to make it worse by being around other sick kiddos at church.  We hung out some with Shane & Juliet and spent the rest of the day together being lazy.  Isn't my girl cute in her Rose Bowl shirt from her Great Aunt Carolyn?  I just love it!

Today we've had our usual Monday and I haven't gotten any pictures.  Adeline is napping now and I think I'm about to go do the same.  :)

SNOW!

Yay!  We got some snow!  It's nothing compared to some of the snows we got last year (I'm still holding out hope for one of those this year), but it got me out of work today.  :)  It snowed some Sunday evening, so Adeline and I played in it some yesterday morning.

After she fell she couldn't get back up very easily in all her layers and big snow boots so we went inside because I knew her hands must be freezing (she would NOT keep mittens on).

We didn't try out the sled yesterday because we wanted Daddy to be here for the first sled ride, but by the time he got home from work, all the snow had melted!  I was so bummed, but woke up very joyful this morning because MORE SNOW!  And I didn't have to go to work, so even better!  We didn't want to make the same mistake as yesterday, and Daddy gave us the ok, so we took the sled for a spin this morning.

I realize she's wearing the same thing as her pics from yesterday, but that's because it's the warmest thing she's got right now.  We have a snow suit ordered that is supposed to be delivered today, but may be delayed because of the weather.  :(  Anyway, it's only 15 degrees here and isn't supposed to get out of the 20s all day so I'm thinking the snow will still be around when Jon gets home from work.  If so, we'll go sledding again.  Adeline LOVES the snow.  Or maybe she just loves being outside, but we walked up and down our street this morning and her little nose & cheeks were so red so I brought her in, but she threw a big fit!  I told her we had to warm up & we'd go back out again later.  Now she's happy enjoying a video in her comfy new chair.  

I'm loving my snow day so much!