Building Trucks

The first Saturday of the month Home Depot offers a kids make and take workshop. They have a section if the store set up just like daddy's workshop would like to hammer, sand, and paint all sorts of fun stuff. Today they had the kids build a little truck. Addison's favorite part was to pound the hammer on the wood and color her truck that her and daddy built!

A Dancer, A Baker, A Construction Demolition Maker!

We have been having so much fun watching a our little girl learn new skills and discover new things in life. 

She has recently found a love of dancing! If dancing with the stars is on TV she is right there dancing along with the dancers, if music is playing of the radio she is most likely dancing away, and she has this toy tractor that plays 10 secs of music, yes she is pushing that button over and over and telling mommy and daddy to join her on the dance floor and dance with her:) here is a short video of her and her friend dancing away sorry it is a sideways view....

She aslo has a love for cooking or baking with mommy and daddy. She really loves helping daddy mix egg as she calls it Saturday mornings while making breakfast.  She pulls the chair to the side of the counter climbs up and and insists on helping us:)

We love to play with blocks around our house, build them up as high as we can and then Addison will come along and torpedo them all down to the ground!! She recently has started identifying each color that is on the block. The other day we were playing with the big duplo lego blocks and Rich was trying to teach her how to build symetrical(don't ask its an engineer thing) he had a tower going pretty good all the way up to the ceiling and here comes Addison to PLOW right through it all:)

A few other things that Addison loves to do is play in water(whether it is a puddle the size of a quater or a big pool of water, she is in it:) ) bounce around on anything she can make bounce, eating corn on the cob, taking care of her dolls/stuffed animals and making sure they have a clean diaper on, blowing bubbles, coloring, and she also has started using 2-4 word sentences!! Here are a few more pictures to enjoy!!

Boom Chicka POP

I was telling a good friend of mine cravings I was having during this pregnancy. One of them being popcorn. Around 2 o'clock everyday you can guess where I am, making a bowl of popcorn and indulging the savory taste of each popped kernel. She then proceeded to go grab a bag of popcorn she had picked up from the store and told me to try it out!!   OMG!! LOVE LOVE LOVE this popcorn!! and I don't feel guilty for eating almost the entire bag:) it is that good! I have found it at Byerly's and Rainbow Foods. 

 Boomchickapop

Quack says the Duck

My dear friend Annie became a super cool momma to 3 lil duckies(she is already a super cool mom to 3 amazing kids!!) so Addison and I went over to visit and got to play with the ducks. Addison chased the one for a bit and held the duck for maybe 5 seconds, but here are a few shots Annie did get of her playing with mr. duckie:)

pictures are copyrighted by annie torrini photography

Fun at Wisconsin Dells

We packed up the car last week and took our family to the Dells for a little mini vacation! We met up with grandma and grandpa VerStrate and cousin Cole. Although it was short, we had a lot of fun in that time. We found out if you put our daughter in a room with water and slides she is in heaven!! We couldn't get her out of the water park a few times without her kicking and screaming! She loved going down the waterslides(all the ones she could) running through the fountains and splashing around. She found out she could float with her life jacket on, so ever so ofter we found her belly up floating around just giggling away!! Here are a few pictures at the water park....

going down with daddy on the "BIG" slide was so much fun, as soon as they splashed down she would say...Again!!!

she had this fascination with the ketchup and mustard bottles. Opening and closing the lids and organizing them by color and size!

After breakfast one morning we headed over to the deer park to feed the deer and see the other animals around the farm.

off to feed the deer!!!

The best part of this last weekend was Addison telling the entire family that she is going to be a "BIG" Sister this November!!!

18 months and Growing

Ok, I know everyone who has a kid says this, but I will say it anyway...Wow I can't believe our baby girl is growing up so fast!! I know it has only been 18months but a lot happens in that time!!
Her vocabulary is accumulating new words almost daily!! (This would be a pretty long blog post if I wrote all the words down) but here are a few new words she says...luv you, up pease, help pease, close, plate, fork, hungry,coat, & night night, just to name a few. She also has the anatomy of the head down as well; head, hair, eyes, mouth, ears and nose!!
Some of her favorite things to do is color, play with her friends, go for walks, playing at the park, playing outside(morning, noon and night...I often get walked to the door bright and early in the morning by my little girl as she is saying "side, side...go!"), hanging out with daddy, helping mommy around the house, playing dress up, bouncing in her chair, and talking on the phone(even if no one is on the other end)!!
Addison's biggest milestone this last week is going peepee and poopoo on the BIG girl potty!! The first time she walked daddy to the bathroom and pointed at the toilet saying "poo" so he put down her Elmo seat and put her up there and a few minutes later she went potty!! (This is probably TMI but we are just so excited for her and very surprised!!) There were a few other times she let us know she had to go, it is still a learning curve and I'm sure we have a long, long, long way to go before she gets to big girl panties!!

"Keeys"

Our conversation's lately first thing in the morning and ALL through out the day goes like this...

Addison: Side(outside)

mom: no not yet(when she is asking to go out at 6 in the morning)

Addison: keeys pease---Side(outside)

mom: no you don't need those

Addison: starts to cry and pout like I just crushed her excitment to go outside with the keys!!

I didn't think this was suppose to happen until she turned 16!! She is only 1! We found out today that she can walk up to the car and try to open the car door and then once inside(as you will see below) crawl into the driver seat and place the keys in the ignition!! Oh boy!! We are in TROUBLE!!

Operation Tear Duct(s)

Last December we found ourselves taking our baby girl to the University of MN Amplatz for her first surgery!! She was born with blocked tear ducts and they were stubborn little ducts,  we massaged, and massaged, and massaged them, well let's just say her tear ducts decided they would stay blocked!!
We went on to see Dr. Anderson in November and she recommended we proceed with the probing of her tear ducts to open them up. They say 95% of babies who have this procedure is successful...Our daughter and her ducts decided they wanted to be in the other 5%, where it does not work!! This last week we found out her first procedure did not work and that her tear ducts were too small, which still caused her eyes to be goopy and teary.  The doctor then suggested we have another procedure to put in stints(or some call it tubes, the tubes are the size of fishing line) in her tear ducts to help the opening stay open(they should stay in for 4-6months) So this last Friday we went for round two of operation tear ducts... our day started arriving at the hospital at 9:30am and ended at 2pm with the tubes in!  Addison was a Rock Star!!! She is such a trooper and deffinately knows how to ham it up with the doctors and nurses:)  Her recovery went so well that you wouldn't even know she had them done!! Here are a few pictures of our journey at the hospital:

When we first arrived they had a whole area of toys for her to play with, she even got to color, her favorite was tooling the trains and cars around the track.

 

She did great with the nurses in pre-op (this is from round one)

practicing with daddy how to breathe through the mask

playing doctor while waiting she was know as Dr. VerStrate this visit(round 2)

daddy and Addison ready to go back for surgery(daddy went back both times)

In recovery, both times she was given popcycles, juice, and her favorite...cookies!! This time she got to watch Elmo on the dvd player they had in her room and she even went home with an Elmo balloon!!

Daddy's Little Girl

Recently the term "daddy's girl" has come very prevalent around our house! It is so fun to see her get excited to see daddy when he comes through the door after a days work, and say "dada, up pease" then give him a BIG hug!! She follows his every step and wants to be right by his side trying to do what he does:) Infact today I asked who she wanted to hang out with daddy or mommy, her answer...DADAA with a big smile!!

going up the ladder to inspect daddy's work

trying to walk in his shoes

her favorite place to be and "trying" to help daddy with his report!

just chillin' with dada

having a little treat and anaylizing daddy's report to make sure it is correct

A Prayer for My Daughter

I pray that you seek God daily and know in your heart that you were created by Him, that you are His Master Piece. You were fearfully and wonderfully made, blameless before God.  Give her the strength to not fall prey in letting the world define who she is. Help her to see her true beauty and self-worth. My precious baby girl, you ARE God’s creation – beautiful, strong and created with a unique plan and purpose.

You are:

• Created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27)

• Fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)

• Precious and honored in His sight.(Isaiah 43:4)

• Redeemed and forgiven. (Ephesians1:7)

• A new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

• Holy and blameless before God. (Ephesians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 1:30)

• Chosen by God. (1 Peter 2:9)

• God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)

• Created with purpose to do great works for God’s Kingdom. (Ephesians 2:10)

(this prayer was inspired by a Proverbs 31 daily reading)

"Dents"

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." Hebrews 3:13 NIV

Wow!!! Do you ever have those devotions when you feel like God just gave you a Holy Spirit butt kicking?!!?? Well today's quiet time with God was one good swift kick in a good way:) I am kinda embarassed to even blog about it, but here I am...I signed up to get emails from this Proverbs 31 ministry and todays email was titled "seeing beyond the dent".  It started out with a verse from Thesselonians 5:11 "encourage one another and build each otherwise up..." When I first read the verse I was like well duh...I am great at encouraging and building others up. Then I read the story  that followed the verse and that is when I felt HORRIBLE!!! This gut wrenching feeling that I sat there and thought that is sooo me!! Ugggggg, I am not fan when I am correctted on things!! Who is...I mean do I really have to be encouraging when I don't like what someone is doing or saying!! I don't know about you but sometimes ivket my mind go on spin cycle(like the washing machine) and I let one little sent turn into one gigantic dent, when all I could've done is looked past the dent and looked for the good!!! Ok Lord...I get it!! :-)
I will let you read the story for yourself(I encourage you too) but the just of it was that too often when  "dents"  are present in situations or in people ,we are more likely to be critical or judgemental of that person or situation. So, instead of just seeing the "dent" to look past it and encourage or build up the situation you are in!!!  Whew!! I am thankful that God DOES see the good in me and He is not critical or condemning, instead He celebrates the progress I make. Lord give me Your strength to look past the dents in life and to be an encourager.

Valentine Fun

Happy Valentine's Day!!
My morning started out with waking up to beautiful flowers and a cup of coffee waiting for me...my husband is AMAZING!!

After breakfast and a little play time, Addison and I got all dolled up for our Valentine Parties with our friends

the first party was at her friend Adry's house. They had so much fun!! We made crafts, played with lots of fun toys, exchanged Valentine's and of course there was SNACK TIME!!

the second party was at our friend Cassidy's house. There were more fun toys to play with and Valentines to exchange, oh ya and don't forget the good food... Pizza and Cupcakes!!!

After a morning filled with parties we headed over to Gramma and Grandpa's house to give them their Valentine and play for a few hours!!

(this is gramma and Addison at the zoo)

We ended the day with a yummy dinner,

Broiled Halibut with Lemon & Herbs and Dijon Roasted Potatoes

and for dessert....

Strawberry Chocolate Ganache Cake...mmmmm and a glass of wine!!

Finger Painting made EASY!!!

Hi my name is LaDonna, and I am a Pinaholic!!

Yes I jumped on the Pinterest band wagon and it is so ever addicting. It is quite fun actually, not to mention all the way cool ideas you find on there. One of the most "popular" pins lately has been this no mess finger paint. It looked fun so I pinned it on my Craft Board. (I figured if you are going to pin things you should at least try them!!) So I set off to find an "easier" recipe for finger paints. There are numorous ones out there and with a 1 year old who has more energy than I can keep up with the easier the recipe the better!! It literally took me 5 minutes to measure, mix and color. I also wanted to find one that if we decided to do a finger paint session with the mess that I should find one that if my daughter decided the paint would be better in her mouth I wouldn't have to worry that she would digest something she shouldn't (I did taste test the paint and it tastes like bland pancake batter;-) ) and a fun time of messy finger painting would turn into a not so fun for mom finget paint session:)

 Easy Finger Paint

(this is where I found my recipe)

I googled "finger paint recipes" and almost every mom out there has come up with their own version  and blogged about it, so it wasn't hard to find one that I liked and copied it. 

All you need is 2 cups flour, 2 cups cold water, and food coloring! Once I stirred the flour and water together I separted it out in my little mixing bowls and added the food coloring. So Simple!!

Then I found some gallon Zip Lock bags place a piece of paper in it with a few globs of the colors

AND.....

           

Walaaa! No Mess Finger Painting!! Maybe after nap time I will let her get messy with the paints.

CHEESE!! (waiting for mom to make paint)

Mo...Cookcaa...MOooo

While my parents visit to New York to see my sister, on a an outing one day they ran into Addison's FAVORITE Sesame Street Characters:)  Elmo and Cookie Monster. (pretty sure if we had a name that Elmo tune contest, I would win. I could sing you his songs forwards and backwards...oh ya I could sing them in my sleep!!) I showed her the picture they took standing next to them and she was sooo excited to see Mo(elmo) and Cookcaa(cooking monster) 

Bella

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