Birthday Traditions...

On Addison's actual birthday, we followed through with the tradition of taking her to Build-a-Bear and to the Jacksonville Zoo.

This year Addi picked out a puppy that we named Prissy the Puppy...

She helped stuff her...

Listened to her heart beat...

Sewed her up...

And squeezed her tight!

The Zoo is always a fun place for Addison and this year was no different...

This little girl isn't afraid of ANYTHING!!!

Train ride with Mommy...

The carousel!!!!

I loved looking at this comparison...Addi and Daddy for the past three years with the gorilla on her birthday.

 What a difference a year makes...

 That evening, we celebrated 43 years of marriage with Jilly and Pops at Caps on the Water...

Happy 3 years Sunshine and happy 43rd anniversary Jilly and Pops!

Addi Kate is Off to see the Wizard!

Addi Kate had wonderful third birthday party. We had a Wizard of Oz themed party...complete with ruby red slippers, the Wicked Witch of the West and a Horse of a Different Color!!!

Our little "Dorothy" had a fabulous time, but I think this dress and her ruby red slippers were one of her favorite parts of the party. 

Our guests were greeted with this sign when they arrived. I was able to reuse this sign from her 2nd birthday party...

The Wicked Witch was standing guard after the Pink House fell on her sister!!!!

Pops made us this apple tree and the kids enjoyed throwing apples through its mouth. And of course we had to create our traditional Pin the ____ on Addi Kate game. This year, we pinned the Tin Man's heart on Addi Kate :)

This little diva is TOO much!

Addison and Mikey on top of Addiland at PonderVille...

Mom and I created this rainbow arch, yellow brick road, and the "hot air balloon"...

This biggest surprise was the Horse of a Different Color....

The kids (and adults) took turns riding around the block on the horse...

These girls :)

Here are some of the food tables we made....

Somewhere over the rainbow Fruit Tray

Lollipop Guild

Glinda's PB&J Wands...

The birthday girl's little cake...

Addi Kate with her friends the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Lion...

This little girl was OVER the rainbow at her party!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Addison Kate.

We love you MORE than the world!!!

Christmas 2015...

We were so blessed this year!! Christmas morning was a blast with Addison. She loved all her gifts and  played for hours with her toys. She is at a stage in her life where she is SO surprised and SO thankful for every single thing. I hope this never changes. She pulled out her glue sticks from her stocking and was SO excited, then she did the same with her pink scissors, and with her umbrella. Bless her heart :)

She loved her chalkboard and spent a lot of time drawing...she is definitely an artist.

I was a little nervous about her  bike because I wasn't sure she was big enough for a "real" bike, but just like every stage of her life, she surprised me. She is already able to ride around the pool deck by herself..with the training wheels, of course.

That afternoon we headed to PonderVille to spend the day with Jilly and Pops and the rest of the Knight Family. Again,she was mesmerized by all her gifts and thanked everyone :)

Another FAVORITE was her Elsa Jeep. She rode all around PonderVille in her Jeep...and to my surprise is a pretty good driver!!!

If I have to choose one word to describe our Christmas this year, it would have to be "thankful." I am so thankful for this sweet little girl, so thankful for my family of THREE, so thankful that we are able to buy her special Christmas gifts, and so thankful to spend time with family and friends. 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2015...

We spent Christmas Eve at D-ma's house again this year. We had a great time spending time with family and opening gifts. It was fun to watch Addison open gifts this year...unlike most children that just want to open and open and open gifts, Addi opened one gift and wanted to play with it FOREVER before she moved on to the next gift. Actually, we had to take the gifts away and have her open the next one :) I think her favorite gifts from D-ma and Uncle Brian were her pink guitar and her hot pink feather boa. 

Here is our family of THREE on Christmas Eve at D-ma's house.

And yes, this picture is blurry because our little girl will NOT stop moving :)

I absolutely love this next picture...

Addi adores her cousin Mikey. I remember the first time he met Addison...he was so unsure of her. I also remember the first time we tried to have their picture taken together...we literally hide to bribe Mikey with m&ms to get him to sit next to her. Times sure have changed because they BOTH look forward to being together and playing with each other. 

After all the fun at D-ma's, we headed home to get ready for Santa's visit. Addi set out cookies and milk for  Santa and some carrots for Rudolph. Addi had to eat a few of the carrots first :)

Santa left Addi the sweetest note and ate and drank all of his goodies!

This year, Santa accidentally left snowy footprints on our hearth...Addi was mesmerized with these on Christmas morning.

And Santa did a great job with all his gifts this year...a chalkboard/dry erase board, pink Radio Flyer bicycle, and a soccer goal! 

And just in case anyone doubted that there really is a Santa...

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Our 2015 Christmas Tree and Random Christmas Photos...

This is our 2015 Christmas Tree...

Our really enjoy coming up with different ideas for our Christmas mantel and tree each year. I think this year's decorations were pretty similar to last year, but Addi made it a lot more fun! She was convinced that Santa brought the tree, so she was excited to see it finally up and decorated.

We went to Daddy's annual Marina Christmas Party this year and Addi was the start of the party...

She has SO much energy and honestly never stops moving and dancing :)

The look in her eyes and her smile in this next picture is the best example of PURE JOY! 

I just can't get enough of this sweet angel!

And one last random photo...

Daddy (with Uncle Mike and Uncle Tim's help) made this picnic table for Jilly and Pops for Christmas. He watched a YouTube video for instruction on how to build it...and it turned out PERFECT! We surprised Jilly and Pops with it on Christmas Eve. 

I am going to be so sad when the Christmas season is over...this time of year just keeps getting better and better with you Addison!