Faces of Adison

She is smiling up a storm these days, she just loves to be talked to which is lots of fun for us.
I was trying to capture a smile on camera yesterday, but was always a second too slow. Thankfully, Kevin came home and did the talking while I did the picture taking and we have a little grin!
Be sure to click on the last picture of Kevin and Adison to see a larger look at her little smile.

The Best of Friends

I got a treat recently when my very good friend, Dana, visited me to see Adison and help out. We met over 15 years ago on a waterslide during a church youth group outing. We clicked, and next thing you know we were pretty much inseperable for our high school years. We were talking last night about it all, and said our parents must have thanked their lucky stars for our friendship, because our idea of a good time on a friday night was a slumber party watching Elvis movies (we've been to Graceland together twice).

She was great here, being an extra pair of hands, cooking us dinner and enduring a few tantrums by Dr. No (Grammy's new name for Cole).

I'm grateful to the Lord for bringing such a special friend into my life, and grateful that after 15 years we are still close and keep in touch, "talking" daily through online chats. Kevin watched the kiddies while we went out Friday night and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and did some window shopping at Southpoint Mall. It was so fun to just laugh and talk like a day hadn't passed since that day at the water park.

Helping Daddy

I've done posts like this I think every month, but it never stops being cute. Cole LOVES to help Kevin outside. They'll be out there together for hours. Today's project was picking up the leaves and Cole actually did a great job scooping up leaves onto his heavy shovel and putting them in the pile. :)

Peanut

I have this sling called The Peanut Shell, and it's super cozy microfleece fabric. We havent' used it much yet, but she's starting to be big enough for it, and she really likes it. It's great to to outside with Cole and keep her toasty warm. She usually falls asleep in it in a matter of minutes.

Anyway, just a picture of her all wraped up in it when I put her down for a minute. Look at those little eyes...wonder if they'll be brown?

Playing Around

I cleaned out our pantry last week, and it's not a large pantry but it's coniserably more roomy now that it's been organized. So roomy, in fact, that a 2-year-old can fit comfortably in there. I was cooking one day and Cole decided this was his new play space. He spent 30 minutes going in and out of the pantry. He'd go in, close the door, yell "I'm in the Pantry!!" , open the door, come out and say "Hi Mama! Glad you came here!" give me a hug and then repeat the sequence again.
He also added some battery powered lights to make it more cozy in there.
I took a picture and then he promptly grabbed the camera, got in the pantry and took another picture of himself.

Deck the Halls

Here are some pictures of the Chrismtas decorations at our house.

Cole had a good time helping decorate the tree, and he strategically placed alll the ornaments in a nice clump at Cole-level.

Kevin is once again master of the outside lights. My new favorite decoration is of our Moravian Star I got this year at Homewoods Nursery.

Who's Your Mama?

That's Right. I am the Mother. I am in Control (supposedly...).

This picture is a sampling of one of our daily battles as Cole moves through his 2-year-old independence streak. It's nap time, and I've started gating him in his room as a way to keep him in there. The rule is, if you're not going to sleep-- play or read quietly, but don't come out of your room. On this particular day, he'd run through all the stall-tactics, and all his little needs were met. So when he started screaming, "Mama! Mama! I NEED warm milk! I NEEEEEED warm milk!!" (which he'd already had, by the way) I simply looked at him from my bedroom and slowly closed my door. After about 20 minutes I noticed it had gotten pretty quiet so I peaked out and this is what I found.

He slept solid for 2 hours and another 30 minutes after that after I tried to get him up. I vacuumed, changed a screaming Adison in his room and he was still out. :) See? I knew he needed a nap...if he would just listen to his mother.

P.S. Mom: I'm sorry for every SINGLE time I didn't listen to you. :)