Addison is FOUR

Its hard to believe Addison is already four! I can remember the day she was born and going back and forth to the hospital to check on Casey in the pouring down rain. Why I remember that, I'm not sure but almost every time it rains and I come home, I think about how hard it was raining that day and how many wrecks I saw on the one curve right before you turn in our neighborhood. Its weird!

Yesterday, the kids and I went to Casey's to celebrate Addison's birthday. She was so excited when she woke up because it was party day. The girls discussed her party almost the entire drive down there (which is almost two hours for those of you that don't know).

Casey did a candyland theme for the party and she did a great job! The kids had so much fun making crowns, playing on the slipe and slide, in the pool, riding toys, running around the backyard and playing corn hole. It was crazy but they all seemed to be enjoying it. The kids couldn't wait for cupcakes, so we brought them all otuside and sang to Addison. She wasn't really thrilled but managed to hang in there for a picture! Once the kids finished up, Casey broke out the next bit of fun. My dad, Papa E to Addison, Brandon (Casey's husband) and my brother, Baron were the ones chosen to allow kids to line up and put "pie" in their faces. The pie was actually just pie pans full of cool whip, but still messy and eventually burning to the eyes! Casey lined the kids up in three lines and her and two of the other moms filled the pans, spun the kids around a little and sent them on their way. The guys were troopers and the kids loved it. Here is a couple of pictures.

Addison went a couple of times, but on this one she chose to go for Papa EAshton got Baron

After all the kids were done, the war turned to Casey, Papa E, Brandon and Baron. They chased Casey around the yard and eventually she came back looking like this! It was comical to watch for sure.

As usual, I took a hundred pictures, but here are just a few more I got of Ashton and Maddie having fun. I love this girl!!!!! She is so darn cute and loves to have her picture made, as you can probably tell! Ashton enjoyed playing corn hole. Here he is playing with my niece, Emily.

The party was great and we were glad we got to go and spend some time with the Romers! Hopefully we will get to do it again before Dax's birthday! We will see.......

Fun Friday

Thursday afternoon, the kids and I went to Cool Springs and met Casey to pick up Addison. She has been wanting to play with Ashton and Maddie and so we planned a sleepover since we would be going to their house on Saturday for Addison's birthday party. The kids were all excited.

I like to do extra fun things when Addison comes to visit since we don't get to do it very often. They don't have a Pump It Up near them so I figured that would be a fun thing for them to do and would help them release some of their energy too, which is a bonus for me! Friday morning I let them play around the house while I got a few things done and then we headed out.

Addison needed a little extra help getting going. After this round, she opted to just keep riding along with Maddie instead. :-)
I think they probably went down the slides atleast a hundred times. I am not sure they spent more than ten minutes on all the other items combined. They were in heaven with just that!

Addison surprised me asking if she could climb the wall. I told her maybe later and she came right back with those watering eyes and said but sissy I really want to climb the wall. I said okay thinking there is no way she'd really do it and she did!!! I was impressed!

She didn't make it all the way up, but she sparked Ashton and Maddie to want to try.

Maddie didn't go but a few pegs and wanted off and Ashton went twice and this was the highest he made it.

They had a great time and were absolutely beat when we got home. Hopefully, Addison will get to come back for another visit soon! We enjoyed having her here.

Maddie is taking a hip hop class!!

Maddie has been doing a LOT of dancing lately around the house or in the car. She has some rhythm and so Alex mentioned that we should sign her up for dance. Of course, then he immediately started second guessing that choice. LOL I wasn't totally sold on the idea because I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to another class on potentially another day of the week. I figured I'd think on it and we'd decide in the fall when classes started back. On Monday, the summer session of classes started where she has been taking gymnastics. I had signed her up for the five week session of gymnastics already in order for her to work on some things she still hasn't mastered. While we were hanging out waiting on her class to finish, on Tuesday afternoon, one of the moms and I got to talking about the hip hop class. They had a summer class about to start so Alex told me to go ahead and sign her up. Its a great way to try out a new class and decide if its something you want to do since its only five weeks. Maddie was super excited! Thursday evening, she had her first class and it was very basic. Maddie acted a little shy, but we're hoping that next time she will be more comfortable! Here is a little clip of her first night.

Who knows, maybe I might pick up a thing or two from her?!?!? LOL I have NO rhythm whatsoever!!!!

Fun in the Sun at the Pool

Thursday morning, Ashton, Maddie and I met some friends at the pool. The kids got up excited to go. We got there and there were off and running. The water was pretty chilly so they backstepped a little and had to work their way in. Ashton didn't stay too close so I didn't get too many pictures of him but here is one right before he went down the little frog slide.

We have a new and improved, braver Maddie on our hands this year and she went down the slide. By the end of the day, she was doing it without her float and on her tummy like Ashton. She can't wait to show her daddy her new "trick". LOL
Here is another shot I got of Ashton. I think he was a little cold here!

Our new little water girl just a swimming around. I am so excited that she has FINALLY realized the float will keep her above water! It definitely made for a easier day at the pool than we're used to.

Someone wore herself out and was ready for some rest. :-)

After lunch and a little more swimming, the kids and I loaded up and headed to Cool Springs to meet Casey and pick up Addison. She is spending two nights with us and we're going to take her back home when we go to her house on Saturday for her birthday party. The kids have been having fun. We played at the house for the afternoon and then took Maddie to her first hip hop class. I will upload and video and tell you all about that later.

Slip and Slide

The kids were super hot after our morning at the zoo, so I decided that I would finallybreak out the slip and slide I bought a couple of weeks ago. They were extremely excited and wasted no time whatsoever changing into their swimsuits.

Maddie wanted to start out and then Ashton was quickly behind her.
As you can see, they are too good at this concept yet. I guess they will need some more practice. LOL

Ashton trying to fix the sprinkers just the way he wanted them.

Maddie almost went off the edge.

They've not totally mastered the skill of slipping and sliding but they are having fun and definitely enjoying the cooling off part of it. It was a good idea after this morning after the zoo. Tomorrow we might break out the octopus sprinkler. We will have to see.

Day at the zoo

Today, we made a trip to the zoo and joined up with some friends. This is the first time we've taken advantage of the membership that Ashton won in his school's fundraiser but I think that we will get some good use out of it. :-)
Here is Maddie crossing over the bridge at the playground.

Kaleigh looks so enthusiastic here! LOL

Ashton hardly slowed down long enough for me to get any pictures of him, but I did manage to get this one of him running over to where I was. I'll take it!

My sweet girl handing me a daisy, my fave.

Two of my favorite people, after some lunch in a great little shaded area with a fabulous breeze on a REALLY hot and steamy day.

This anteater is just the weirdest looking thing to me. I don't get it. Its crazy!

The kids learning about ostrich eggs and feeling zebra skin.

Ashton and Kaleb

Katrina and Kaleigh checking out the zebras.

Our silly little crew!

Happy Father's Day

This morning, the kids and I got up and made cinnamon rolls for Alex for father's day. We woke him up and Maddie couldn't wait to give him his gift. She literally stood at the bathroom door watching him brush his teeth, she was so excited. Why, I'm not sure. LOL Once he got dressed, they gave him his gifts and then sat down with him to eat breakfast while I finished getting ready for church. The kids both wanted to say the blessing so they each took a turn and said the sweetest things! It makes my heart melt!

This is Alex and the kids before we left for church. Alex is a fantastic daddy! Ashton and Maddie are very blessed to have him. He works so hard and I can never thank him enough for that!!

They each had to have their pictures separately.

Here is Alex and the kids yesterday laying on the hammock that we got for him. Since it was pouring down rain, they just tried it out in the garage. :-)

Saturday Night Drills

Yesterday, Ashton spent a lot of time in the garage since he couldn't go outside in the rain. He asked Alex to come outside with him. He said he wanted to work on his hockey skills. It was cute!

Alex took this video and I couldn't help but share it. It amazes me that he is so good on skates and he's only SIX!

Recital Video

Here is a video Alex took of Maddie's recital from Friday night. She did a great job and we're very proud of her!!!

Maddie's 1st Recital

Maddie had her first gymnastics recital tonight. She has been working on the routine for several months now and couldn't wait to wear the outfit with a grass skirt as she likes to call it. After dinner, we rolled her hair and then began the process of putting it up and added the twenty something bobby pins and half a can of hair spray! She was loving every minute of it though. She even got to put a TAD BIT of make up on. Daddy's wasn't very happy about that, but he made an exception! Here is the finally product from the side. I wasn't sure how well it would hold up but it did!
The girls had a couple of rough rehearsals but managed to do a great job tonight! Maddie didn't miss a single thing that I noticed. Alex and I were both VERY proud of her. That is a lot of people to get up in front of at four years old! Heck, I can't do it now and I'm way over four years old!

After the show, we went for ice cream. Here are a few pictures of us afterwards with the flowers that Ashton gave her. It was so cute! He just kept telling her what a good job she'd done and how proud of her he was. Aaaahhhhh!!!!! He is such a good big brother!

This is Casey (aka KK), Dax and Ashton right before the show.

I couldn't resist this one. I love Addison's pose! Normally she will not look at the camera at all but off in any other directions. Tonight, she looked at me but added the pose instead! Its great!!!!

One thing I really like about playing baseball in Mt Juliet instead of Lebanon is that they play in the spring and fall and not the heat of the summer. His season ended just a couple of weeks ago and Tuesday night they had their team party at the coach's house. It was a little cookout and pool party and the kids had a great time! The boys all played around with water guns and toys.

Ashton even decided that he wanted to jump off the diving board!

And Maddie found a friend in the assistant coach's daughter.

Emma was very sweet to Maddie and seemed to enjoy getting to play with a girl instead of her brother!

After a little swimming and some food, the boys all got their trophies and then finished out the night with a game of kick ball.

We are looking forward to the break from ball but will be ready to start back come this fall.

Favorites

On our way home on Saturday, Alex and I talked to the kids about our trip and what they enjoyed. I can't remember what all they listed, so I asked the kids again what their favorite parts of our trip were and now I'm going to share their responses.

Ashton said:

He first liked spending time with me and Daddy.

His favorite rides were the roller coasters, especially the one with the broken track (aka Big Thunder Moutain).

He also liked that he got to play with his friends.

Maddie said:

She said that she liked getting her picture made with the characters.

She said her favorite ride was the one with the firework (Soarin). Ashton immediately said, "Maddie, that is the one I threw up on!!"

She also liked the race car ride. (That is extremely funny to me seeing as she cried and talked about how much she didn't enjoy that. LOL)

She was also glad she got to go swimming.

Day of relaxing

Our last day in Florida we spent playing in the pool. Ashton and Maddie really liked the pools at the resort where we were staying. It was excellent for kids with the sloped floor and sprinklers. As you can tell my two kiddos enjoyed the sprinkers!!

After an entire day of playing in the water and laying beside the pool, we met up with the Reeds for dinner at a brazillian steakhouse. It was great food and even better company!

These are a couple of pictures Alex and I got with Maddie after dinner. Ashton was too busy playing with Kaleb for pictures!

She knows who's girl to be when she needs to!

I love my family!!!