Addie Turns 1

Saturday, March 3rd we celebrated Addie's first birthday.  Even as I am writing this I cannot believe a whole year has already passed!  While our first year with her went by fast it was filled with many wonderful memories...first smiles, first words, learning to crawl, learning to walk (which happened 1 week before her birthday), learning to give love to Mommy and Daddy and the list goes on.

It is always amazing to me that when children are born they come into this world with their own individual personality and that as parents we get to witness those personalities grow and develop.  In no time at all you figure out what gets them excited, what frightens them, what foods they like and which ones they want nothing to do with.  It was around Christmas when I discovered Addie's love for balloons.  "Uncle" Matt and Abbie gave Lexie and Trey this shark, which with a controller you can "swim" through the house.  In addition to the shark they provided us with one of those helium tanks you can buy to blow up balloons yourself at home.  The tank came with a package of balloons, so once the shark was inflated we blew up some balloons for the girls to play with.  The look on Addie's face the next morning, when the balloons had floated back down, was of pure delight!  Then, on Valentine's Day, Mimi and Papaw, gave each of the girls a mylar balloon attached to a weight.  Addie crawled around with hers for days and days.

When it came time to pick a theme and plan her party I wanted to do something that she would truly love and have fun being at.  Let's be honest a first birthday party is as much about celebrating the child's birth as it is about celebrating the fact that as parents you survived the first year.  Another very important thing I wanted to take into consideration is that Addie doesn't love being the center of attention (this is the polar opposite of Lexie).  Therefore, I wanted something that when Addie woke up from her afternoon nap she would get really excited to see.  The answer was easy, it simply had to be all about balloons.

The morning of the party Trey and I blew up balloons, sewed them together in groups of four with dental floss (his idea, but to my surprise worked really well) then strung the groupings together to create a balloon banner.  Next we hung the banner so that it would stretch above our fireplace and we sat out pictures of Addie from her first year along the mantel.

Continuing with the theme we proceeded to decorate the rest of the living room and breakfast area with even more balloons!

 

Our goal was accomplished because Addie absolutely loved having so many balloons to look at and even though she was not feeling 100% (yes the week before her birthday she had an ear infection and both she and Lexie had tested positive for RSV...not a fun week) she seemed to cheer up for the party.  No tears were shed, even with a house full of people, which could have been overwhelming for such a little person!

 

Her birthday menu consisted of Caesar Salad, Spaghetti with Homemade Meatballs, Stuffed Shells, Garlic Bread, Birthday Cake, Rice Krispies Treats and Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Her favorite part of the meal...the cake!

 

 

Addie also enjoyed getting to open presents, although I think Lexie had more fun being the big sister who got to "help."

 

It was a fun party and a great way to celebrate the first year of her life with us.  As she gets older she won't remember how we celebrated her first birthday but she will have this picture frame with the signatures of everyone who attended as well as a quilt made from the fabric we used to decorate with and we can tell her all about it!

We are so excited to see what the next year of her life bring us!

Having a pre-party snack with Aunt Allison



First taste of sweet tea

Weekend at Snowshoe

This past weekend Trey and I left the girls behind with our parents and joined some friends in Snowshoe, WV for some winter fun.  I was pretty excited to go, not necessarily for the skiing, but also because they offer snowmobiling.  I LOVE snowmobiling, it is something I had the opportunity to do for many years after Christmas with my parents.  It is also something I haven't had the chance to do since having kids.

The weekend before we were to leave on our mini-vacation we searched snowmobile tours to find one we could go ahead and book in advance.  To my disappointment they were no available openings.  Clearly we should have planned further ahead.  I am not going to lie, I was completely bummed.  Snowmobiling was something Trey and I were going to do just the two of us and I am not a skier.  So, Trey suggests that maybe I take a ski lesson and then afterward he and I can ski together.  He really wanted me to learn to ski, especially now that he has Lexie so excited about it.  Not to mention he wants to go on this week long ski trip to Colorado with his family next winter.  I conceded and agreed to the lesson.  All week I was nervous about taking the lesson!

Friday morning, the day of my lesson, we get up and get all our snow gear on.  Planning ahead we picked up my rental equipment the night before so all we have to do that morning is get our lift ticket and head to the lesson.  As we are waiting for a shuttle, in the rain, we hear that the slopes have just been closed due to lightning in the area.  At this point we decide we should ask one of our friends to just drive us down to the lesson, since the shuttles are busy getting people off the mountain, and in case they do re-open and the lesson happens I don't want to be late.

Once we are dropped off we head to the area where the lesson is going to happen and wait for further information.  The instructors let us know that just as soon as the slopes re-open the lesson will begin.  We continue to wait, the rain stops, but then the wind starts.  Now not only are the slopes under a lightning advisory they are now also under a wind advisory, which means the lesson is going to be pushed even further back so the instructors tell us to go home and come back at 1:30.  While on the one hand I am thinking maybe this is a sign that I should just throw in the towel on this whole skiing thing another part of me is grateful that I am finally comfortable moving around in ski boots (it only took 2 hours of waiting), which has to mean once I strap into the skis I won't feel as awkward. 

The slopes re-open and I arrive back at 1:30 slightly less nervous ready to do something besides wait around.  I am kind of relieved to discover that the lesson is with about 8 other girls, who like me have had zero ski experience.  The instructor, whose name I cannot remember, was great.  He was a no nonsense kind of guy who tells you straight up what to expect, what to do, doesn't care to hear excuses all while being encouraging and teaching us the basics of what we need to know.  Straight up skiing is not a sport to be fearful about.  You just have to put your fears aside and go for it, because being fearful will probably be what gets us beginners hurt the quickest.

After learning the basics and practicing using those skills down the training section he sends us up a chairlift.  Now, one of my biggest fears was the chairlift.  I have a huge fear of heights and in my mind I assumed as soon as you got off the chair lift you had to head straight down the mountain with no time to prepare.  The instructor told us exactly what we needed to do to get on the lift and what we needed to do to get off.  You have 6 seconds to get off, don't wait until the 7th second or your going to be in trouble!  The first time was a little less than smooth but not as bad as I had anticipated.  We went up the chair lift at least 4 if not 5 times and each one was easier and easier.  In fact at the end of the day it is the one thing I had the most confidence in myself about.

At the conclusion of the lesson Trey was back, waiting on me, hoping I would be up for some skiing with him.  He was really patient with me and we went down the slope I had been practicing on a few more times before we headed down some other green slopes.  We must have skied together for at least another 2 hours, until the daytime slopes closed.  I had so much more fun than I ever expected to have, and in fact enjoyed myself more than I thought I would.  That's not to say I didn't fall a lot, because I did!  I was exhausted when we returned to the room and I was incredibly sore the next two days, but I am not going to lie...I am looking forward to going again!

Learning to Ski

Over the Christmas break we decided to take Lexie on her first ski adventure.  Trey's dad, who Lexie calls Augraddy, is not only a great skier but a really good instructor.  While in college and during the first few years of his marriage he used to be a ski instructor in the winter months.  Both Trey and Augraddy had been talking to and getting Lexie both interested in and excited about skiing.  Not to mention she had been watching a dvd of her favorite show Caillou, where in one episode he goes skiing.  I myself have only been one time and that was on a youth trip in high school, or maybe it was middle school.  I don't remember much, other than I was terrified and I don't think I ever made it off the bunny slope!

Trey and his dad were convinced this was the perfect time to teach Lexie to ski because children at her age are typically fearless.  I on the other hand was incredibly nervous to let her go!  However, Lexie really wanted to go, infact it was all she had been talking about for weeks.

We went on the Friday after Christmas to Cataloochee along with a what felt like a million other people.  After getting her suited in skis and gear Augraddy took Lexie to the area just outside the bunny slopes.  The first thing he did was go down the small decline while holding onto her, so she could feel what it was like. 

That only lasted about twice and she was ready to do it all by herself.  Aunt Allison would take her up and then Augraddy would stand down at the bottom to catch her.  She loved it!  A few more runs and she no longer wanted Augraddy to catch her.  Next thing we know she is ready to go down the bunny slope so up she and Augraddy go.  Two times down the bunny slope then she was begging to ride the chair lift and go down the big mountain.

I think they went down the green slope at least three times.  While doing the big mountain Augraddy did rig up some rope and teether himself to her so she wouldn't completely loose control.  Nevertheless she LOVED the entire experience and has been begging to go back ever since.  I was so proud of her for being so adventerous!

When she first started her lesson with Augraddy a reporter came up to us from The Smoky Mountain News.  She said she had been watching Lexie having fun and wanted to ask us a few questions.  A couple of weeks later this article appeared in the newspaper!

Needless to say, and being the proud parents that we are, we have several copies of the newspaper in which the article appeared put up for safekeeping.  It was a really fun experience and one that none of us will ever forget.

Lexie's Seussical 3rd Birthday

Choosing a theme for Lexie's 3rd Birthday came to me very easily.  Every night before bed she gets to choose 2 or 3 books for either mommy or daddy to read to her.  Almost always those books are by none other than Dr. Seuss.  Trey and I can pretty much recite Go, Dog, Go!, Marvin K Mooney Will You Please Go Now, Big Dog...Little Dog and the list goes on, you get the idea!  At first I thought let's focus on just one of the books, but which one, it was too hard to choose so instead we decided to go with all things Seuss.

My first stop on the road to planning was to find a really fun invitation so I turned to one of my favorite sites ETSY.  I love, love, love this site.  I wish I were as creative and talented as the sellers on there.  After much searching I settled on this design.

I chose this invitation because I loved the iconic hat from Cat in the Hat as well as the color scheme and not to mention classic Seuss wording.

Next was deciding on a location.  This was the first birthday where we decided to invite some of her school and church friends, so I wanted a place where the kids could let loose and have fun.  STJ's was the perfect spot because the kids and the parents could both jump/slide and everyone had an absolute blast!

My next task was to come up with a menu, my goal, to be Seuss inspired.  Lexie is a pretty picky eater so I wanted to stick with her favorites.  Green Eggs and Ham is synonymous with Dr. Seuss, the only problem, Lexie won't eat eggs or ham!  However, she will eat pretzels, M&M's and chocolate, put them all together and you get Green Eggs and Bacon.

I borrowed the idea from this creative girl

One of her favorite snacks is cheese cubes and wheat thins, so borrowing from the book Fox in Socks I decided to add Three Cheese Trees to the menu.  I took 3 styrofoam cones, painted them green, and then used tooth picks to attach cheese cubes, which gave the impression of leaves on a tree.

Since the party was during dinner we needed some sort of heavier food and most kids love chicken nuggets, so we got some popcorn chicken, served it in a movie theater sized popcorn container and named it "Hop on Pop" Corn Chicken.  Lexie's favorite fruits include strawberries, blueberries and grapes, we put them on small skewers and called them Truffula (from The Lorax) Berries.

   
We rounded out the party's menu with some colored goldfish and called them "One Fish, Two Fish", some pink lemonade, which we named Yink's Pink Ink Drink (also from Fox in Socks) and of course cupcakes!  A special thanks to my sister, Krystal, who helped me create some decorative cake plate wraps out of foam stickers, ribbon and scrapbooking paper.

To help the Party Room at STJ's feel more Seussical I put light blue plastic tablecloths on the remaining tables along with vases filled with blue or red paper as well as ribbons and more foam stickers.  Then we dropped screws and washers tied with balloon ribbons into the vases so it appeared if the balloons were coming out of the centerpiece.  In addition, we displayed new Dr. Seuss board books for the girls to add to their collection.

I was really excited how all the decorations and food turned out!  My mom and sister really helped me piece together the ideas in my head and make them party ready.  Thank you so much!

The party was a success.  Lexie had so much fun, she still talks about her birthday at the bouncy place.  Thank you to all our friends and family for helping us celebrate 3 wonderful years with our blessing from God!  She is one of a kind!  Here are a few more pictures from the festivities.

Of course baby Addie wore Seuss attire to the party!

Bennett, Keaton and Lexie - the 3 amigos at  MCCS

Lexie's Marvin K Mooney birthday shirt came from this great Seuss site

She was thrilled to get her first big girl bicycle - and of course a pink helmet to go with it!