Addy and Auntie Karen take on Kanab!  You know you live in a small town when your friend takes your daughter to the grocery store and the library and are asked "This isn't your Mommy Addy who is this?"  I love it.

 Bryce National Park is only two hours from the house and the last time I visited was in 2008 with Kristy.  Why don't we go more often?

Addy and her neighbor buddy Braxton and Daron riding around the block on his new ATV.

 I got a little obsessed with taking my own picture with Bryce in the background.

A Dirty Shirt

Addyson regularly doesn't want to change into her pajamas.  Since there isn't a whole lot of difference between her pajamas and her regular clothes I started dressing her in regular clothes after her bath then when she got up in the morning she essentially was wearing a new clean outfit.  This morning Addy woke up in her blue (t shirt material) dress that had a spot or two from a fudgsicle that she and Auntie Karen had shared the night before.  No biggie.  We went on with our morning which included blue juice, cheesy crackers, watering the garden,  bugs, blue nail polish, more bugs and painting flower pots in the art studio. Just before lunch Addy's dress was wearing a bit of blue juice, cheesy crackers, water, dirt, blue nail polish and blue paint. Addy had painted her toes and finger nails all by herself of course.

Addy wanted to swing with Auntie Karen in the hammock but we told her she had to change out of her dirty shirt first (we are so demanding!).  You can only imagine what ensued.  Crying. Crying. More crying and an "I don't want to change my shirt." More crying and an "I don't want to change my shirt." More crying and an "I don't want to change my shirt." Auntie Karen trying to reason with her.  Mommy trying to reason with her.  Karen going to her room. Mommy going to her room. Addy yelling from the living room "I don't want to change my shirt. I want to swing in the hammock now."  Eventually Addy said "Mommy (sniffle sniffle) I want you"  in which I got up went to the living room scooped her up and took her in her room.  I set her down and said "Oh my goodness your shirt is so dirty I think that there are little bugs living in there."  Smile.  Yup, I got a smile out of her.  I then pretended that my hand was a bug and said "Addy I am a rolly polly bug and your shirt is so dirty I love it."
Addy: Giggle.
Rolly Polly bug: "Oh Addy your shirt is too dirty it is making me sneeze. A choo."
Addy sneezed. I kid you not! It was priceless.
Rolly Polly bug: "You see what I mean Addy even YOU are sneezing!"
Addy: Giggle.
Rolly Polly bug: "I must find a new place to live. Maybe I will go back to the garden."
Mommy: "Wow your shirt must be dirty if he is going back to the garden!"
Rolly Polly bug:   "Oh wait I want to live in this nice clean shirt."   (the hand bug scurries to the clean green shirt I had been trying to get her to wear.)
Addy: "No you can't live there this is my shirt."
Mommy:  "Addy you aren't going to wear it so let the rolly polly bug have it."
Addy: "No Mommy I am going to wear it."
Mommy imagines herself doing the happy dance and yelling  "there you have it folks she is going to wear it!"
Rolly Polly bug: "No I want to wear it."
Addy: "No, you can't have it."
Addy and Rolly Polly bug wrestle and tickle and wrestle and tickle. Eventually Rolly Polly bug is scared of Addy's blue toes and blue fingers which Addy informs us are aliens (brothers and sisters to be exact).

I wish I could remember her comments better but I don't. I do however know that she took off her dirty shirt dress and put on a clean tank top.

Today as we were leaving the swimming pool she said "Mommy say 'Addy I'm so happy you had so much fun at the pool today?'".

Daron just carried her on his back into the bedroom where I am typing this- here's how the conversation went:
Daron: "I have this weird lump on my back"
Addy just giggled.
Mommy: "That's a pretty cute lump on your back."
Daron: "It's a very wiggly lump."
Addy: "This is fun."
Daddy: "I am going to go in Addy's room."
Mommy: "Take the lump with you."
Addy: "Mommy say "It's a cute lump though."
Mommy: "Yes, it is a cute lump."
Addy: "Daddy take me into the kitchen."
Daddy: "The lump is kinda bossy."
Addy: "Actually the lump is kinda hungry."


Actually seems to be her new favorite word.

This could be boring unless you're family.  It is just a month by month slide show of Addy from birth to now.

Look Who's Talking

So the past couple of months Addy has been telling us what to say. It all started because ever since Addy was little  Daron and I would make voices for all of her toys.  For example, Mr. Zebra has worked swimmingly for getting Addy to put on clean clothes when Mom cannot.
 
Mommy: "Addy lets put this cute new outfit on."
Addy: "No I don't want to."
Mommy: "Addy it will look so nice."
Addy: "I doooooon't waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaant tooooooooooooo."
Mommy walks to kitchen.
Mr. Zebra: "That is an awesome outfit I bet Addy would like to wear that."
Mommy: "No Mr. Zebra Addy said she didn't want to wear it."
Mr. Zebra: "I wish I could wear that cute outfit."
Mommy: "I know me to Mr. Zebra you would look so nice..." and then we are interrupted by the pitter patter of feet.
Addy: "I want to wear it."
Mommy: "Are you sure? I can hang it back up." (start to walk towards her bedroom)
Addy: "NO I want to wear it."
Addy puts on the outfit.
Addy: "Look at my new outfit Mr. Zebra."
Mr. Zebra: "Ohhhh you look so cute Addy."
Mom does the happy dance and all is great until I have to talk her into the next task at hand.

Daron and I have been horse from doing so many damn voices.  In fact, Daron is so good at it that he has different voices for each one. All of my voices sound the same.  Daron does a mob boss voice for the aardvark "Hey kid what'r you doing over dare?"  "Hey kid, you seen any ants around here?" and my personal favorite the praying mantis with the Indian accent (from India not Native American).  "I am in the sinking that dis bath is bedy good for me to be washing my little feeties in, no?"

Now when we are hanging out and she has a stuffed or plastic animal she will say "Mommy make Mr. Zebra talk."  or "Daddy make Daddy Lion talk."  One day she was crying ALL the way from the house to the park.  It is 15 minute walk so it made for a long, long walk. I can't remember why she was crying but I am sure it is because she was playing with the neighbor and we had a play date at the park etc. It was a bit unnerving when seeing the park didn't make her stop crying.  With no toy animals in site I busted out the following -
Mommy: "Hi Mr. Park sorry that Addy is crying but she doesn't want to play with you today."
Mr. Park. "Oh I am sorry to hear that I had saved her a spot on the swing."
Mommy: "Mr. Park that was so nice of you but I don't think she wants to swing."
Addy: "I WANT to swing."
Mommy: "Oh Mr. Park I guess Addy wants to swing today."
It went on and on and Mr. Wind was blowing like crazy so he had to talk and then Addy asked me "Mom is Mr. Wind friends with Mr. Park?"  of course I said yes. When we left the park an hour or two later Addy asked "Is Mr. Sun friends with Mr. Park and Mr. Wind?"  I am afraid this all might backfire when school starts.  It is doubtful that her parents have a Mr. Zebra en all vocabulary.
      This is D, we also have little smoke (from the backyard fire pit) who talks to Addy and tells her he's going up in the sky to make more clouds.  He then tells her that he's getting together with his little wood friends that Addy and I have gathered to make Mr. fire.  Once Mr. fire shows up he teaches all of the sassy little fox-tails  a lesson for getting in Zeena's fur.  Addy finds only the most sassy foxtails for me to throw in the fire.

foxtails have microscopic barbs

The other day Addy went to the office with me.  When you work at Best Friends Animal Society work can be pretty fun for a three year old.  Addy took photos the whole way up to work and while we were there.  It was awesome to see the world from her perspective.  I did not alter any of the photos at all. 

Her view and her legs!

Our shadows.

My desk after Addy took over.

Riding to work.

Our office giveaways.

Her view of my desk.

I guess this is her view of me at work. 

The ride to work.

A card at work.

Addy took a photo of one of our garden flowers.

Another flower.

Addy took a photo of Mom.

Puppy dog at work.

Stuffed animals in the office bookshelves.

Heading down main street.

Pulling up at the office.

My little Humming Bird!  Addy loves to help me make humming bird juice and picks a different color each time to see which one the little guys like the best.  The other day she decided to be a little bird and test the juice, but she wanted me to scare her away like the humming birds do when we make a noise.  LOVE this kid!  D

Addy saw an old photo of Daron and I and asked Dad "Where was I?"  Daddy told her she wasn't born yet. She said "No Where WAS I?"  So Daddy said you were still in Heaven.  "Oh I was with the dead dogs." Addy replied. 

Yesterday Addy and I were at the park.  There were a ton of kids there and a lot of distracted parents. I pushed Addy on the swing and played one of our favorite games.  I push her high and then stand in front of her at just the right distance so her feet hit me.  I say "I am just standing her minding my own business looking at the birds"  and then WHACK Addy kicks me and I pretend to stumble and fall and yelp.  She laughs SO hard that I can't help but laugh to the point of tears.  Then I say "What the heck? A big bird just flew by and knocked me in the head."  Well while we were doing this we got quite an audience and Addy was thrilled that all the kids were watching and laughing too.  After 30 minutes I told her she needed to give another kid a chance to swing on the kiddie swing and we went to the slide.  There were a bunch of boys throwing rubber at each other. Where were the parents?  The playground is covered with rubber pieces from a local stamping company.  Addy wanted to pretend she was driving the boat - they have a steering wheel on top of one of the  jungle gym.  A little boy saw Addy going for the steering wheel and ran to it and said "No, I am steering it."  I threw him off the play set - no kidding that was just my mommy fantasy.  I ACTUALLY said "Oh I thought you were going to go down the slide and protect the ship from sharks.  We needed someone with big muscles to take on the sharks."  The kid looked at me like I was from outerspace and then said "No I have a knife." (He was pretending he had a fake knife on his hip) If I was still in Houston I might have had to pat him down to make sure. So the kid left and slayed the sharks periodically coming back for more encouraging words and a handful of "fish."  Where were the parents? In the meantime this little girl about 3 or 4 hurt her bottom on the slide (not bad but where were her parents). This was Daron and my conversation later that night.


Jen: "Addy and I had fun at the park today but where are all the parents (then told him about our games)"
Daron: "Addy and I play that game too.  I don't know how the parents can't watch their kids closer"
Jen: "Is it our age"
Daron: "I don't know.  You don't think we are smothering her?"
Jen: "I was the only adult on the jungle gym today......"

Mimi and Papa from Florida sent Addy a cute little hat from their cruise.  Addy loved it but DID NOT want me to take a photo of her. 

Daddy turns 38!  Addy made a chocolate cake for Daddy and really wanted to decorate it with balls.  Footballs, golf balls, basketballs etc.  Mommy however wasn't on the ball enough to get that done (no pun intended!)  Addy put three candles in the cake representing that Dad was still in his thirties ( unlike her old mom).

singing happy birthday to Dad

Addy and the Butterfly

"I have Braxton"


Yesterday Addy made a new friend. Her name is Cedar and she is turning four next month. We met her and her Mom at the library and they invited us over to their house. On the way over Addy kept asking "What was her name Mom?" and I would say "Cedar" and she would say "I am so excited to go to Cedars house!". We literally had this same conversation at least 6 times. It was pretty cute.

Cedar asked Addy if she had any brothers or sisters {Cedar has two older brothers}. Addy said "I have Braxton". Braxton is Addy's neighbor friend. He is 5 and can come over all the time and they play like brother and sister. The benefit for me is I can send him home when they start to bicker.

Addy had her first "Satan" episode in front of Daddy the other night. In her defense I let her have too much sugar and didn't make her eat enough good food. It was her Dad's birthday so we had cake and ice cream and then during the bath the meltdown began. Ironically, I had just mentioned to Daron that most of my friends had started a time out for their little ones. His response was "I can't see why we would ever have to give Addy a time out" and then something about her being perfect ;) Not that I blame him. Most of the time he can turn a grumpy situation into a funny situation. He has an amazing knack for getting her to do what we need her to do. He also makes voices and persona's for all of her plastic animals - the anteater for example calls her "kid" and talks like a mobster. But I digress.
Somehow she got stuck on "I want bubbles" as we pulled her out of her bubble bath after she had been in there an hour, the water cold and her skin pruned up. 45 minutes of yelling "I want bubbles" while crying, pulling Daddy by his shirt to the bathroom, making Mommy look at her as I tried to ignore her. We tried every trick in our book and nothing worked. She didn't even know what she wanted or how to calm herself down. When I felt myself losing my temper Daron took over and vice versa. I don't think either one of us would have been surprised if her head spun all the way around and smoke came out of her ears. Finally Daron and I were exhausted and defeated and we just flopped down in our bed. She crawled up on the bed still crying, still saying "I want bubbles" and kicking or hitting to get our attention. We ignored and protected our vulnerable parts :) Eventually, she tired herself out and Daron started reading a kids book. We acted like we didn't want her to read with us so of course she wanted to read with us. A few little whimpers throughout the book but it worked. Daron left Addy and I to fall asleep and I am sure he went outside and smoked a pack of cigarettes.

The next morning Addy and I were sitting in the living room and out of the blue she said "I want bubbles" I froze. I think I have post traumatic stress syndrome...

Congrats to my Uncle Bill and Addy's Great Uncle Bill!
 William ["Bill"] Corbett (or Uncle Bill) is now the Senior Vice President, Sales. He works for Rémy Cointreau USA, Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of Rémy Cointreau S.A., France.

Kirsten, Addy and I after lunch at Best Friends. 

Addy enjoyed the sand and water at Zion.

Fairy Addy contemplates flying over the canyon.

Addy loved the lip couch at a little store.

Kirsten and Addy at Zion

Observation Point hike on Sunday - Addy stayed home with Daron.

6508 Feet

Slot Canyons are my Favorite.  So is hiking without many people!

Kirsten and I hiked the 8 mile round trip to Observation Point in Zion National Park.  It took two and a half hours to hike up there and two hours to come down.  The first thirty minutes about killed me - it is a 1.5 mile ascend and I thought I would die.  After that it was all good.