Thanksgiving 2010

Many things to be thankful for this year! Thankful for my awesome hubs; our sweet, smart, adorable daughter; our healthy boy coming soon; our cozy home; our jobs; for our wonderful family (we love y'all- and miss most of you, too!!); and the life we live every day.

We packed up and drove to Tyler to Pop and Honey's this year for Thanksgiving- and we had a really great time! Here are some pictures-

Trying to get a good picture of Ada with Granddaddy Bill... not working-
Grandaddy Bill with a bunch of grandkids and some significant others-

Ada playing with Aunt Kendall's 15 year old dollhouse with MY baby cousin Kellen-

Ada and Daddy (and Pop) exploring in the "forest"-

Pop and Ada playing on the trampoline- the "jump circle" as Ada has been calling it!

More jump circling-

THEN we went to see the new Disney Rapunzel movie "Tangled" in 3D (it was the only one playing when we got to the theatre)- it was ADORABLE and Ada LOVED IT (and kept her 3D glasses on the entire time)!

She stroked her Rapunzel doll's hair that Pop and Honey gave her the entire movie.

And, she loved it SO MUCH- MiMi took her back 3 days later and she still couldn't get enough of it! We'll be buying that one when it comes out on DVD.....

The Sunday before everyone returned to work and school we went to the Texans vs. Titans football game (which was an awesome game, by the way!) with our friends Brent and Katy Schilhab- we had a blast!

Brent and Casey on the field! (Not really....)

Tailgating-

Katy and I look so much alike it's scary (I'm the one in the big coat if you couldnt' tell, ha!). We even dress alike usually (on accident, I promise)- and we are both pregnant with BOYS, due around the same time! So freaky!

We did all of our Christmas decorating in there, too, but I will blog about that next..... there are already too many words and pictures for one post here!

WhOoP!!!!!!!

The Ags just upset Nebraska- the game was amazing (OK- a little slow- it was a showdown of the defenses), and I sat here on the couch all by myself and hooted and hollered! (Casey got to go, little stinker!)

But this is not why I'm posting at 11:40pm- over 2 hours after my bedtime. I have to copy down a Facebook conversation stemming from my "status update", simply stating "WhOoP!" that has left me laughing out loud, still to myself!

Alicia: "WhOoP!"

Emmy (Huskers fan, met her in Mexico): "I like you, Alicia.... but can you really feel good about that win? That officiating crew has more money in their pockets for the way they called that game."

-FYI: Nebraska got a TON of penalties- and they were SERIOUSLY all well deserved. I paid very close attention to the reasonings because I was going to be really embarrassed if the game had been called in our favor that blatantly!-

Alicia: Absolutely! They were all completely valid. #81 is a douchebag, Bo Pelini is a hot head, and Trent Hunter's (who went to high school at Katy) left foot touched inbounds before his right touched out on his first interception. The only thing I feel bad about is that Martinez's ankle was further injured by his own center!"

Alicia (again): "And I feel really good I can show my hubs my answer to prove to him I watched this game at home- since he got to actually go!"

Emmy: "Is this the first time you have watched football?"
AJ Pitzer: "hahahahahahahahahaha I just saw my old Chemistry teacher say douchebag! LMAO!" (Text slang for "laughing my a$$ off")

Emmy: "By the way, #81 was trying to get Mathis to get his finger out of his a$$, that's why he kicked him. Check your DVR."

Alicia: "OK, let's say that ONE pentalty gets revoked- the other 20 were still totally valid! And AJ, now you know why I make you guys wait until you've graduated before I accept you as Facebook friends!"

One Cute Toot

Ada has done some pretty adorable things lately. Things that make this Terrible 2 nonsense seem like no big deal. (She's really not THAT terrible- but for someone like me who likes order, cleanliness, obedience, and calmness... I'm not necessarily enjoying those little "episodes.") Here are a few things that have melted my heart lately:

-During our night-time prayer the other night, we were thanking God for good things in our day. This is what Ada was thankful for, verbatim: "Sandwiches. MorMor's card. Swingsets. Swingset book (this is a catalogue of swingsets that she can't get enough of- dropping hints for Christmas??). Bikes. Sweet dreams. And Mickey Mouse." Then we name people that we love and love us back- and of course you all make the list! :)

-I asked her what she wanted for dinner tonight. "Tomatoes. Avocados. And Chips." And this is exactly what she scarfed down.

-She has several "sets" of Lovies, that belong together. One set is her Aggie Snowman and Pirate Olivia doll. The other is a trio: a pink puppy, a white lamb, and a small bunny named Bunny Foo Foo (it's actually the Velveteen Rabbit, but I haven't read her this book yet.) And of course Shamu- but he is our car lovey.

-She has tons of books somewhat memorized, and lloooovvvess to pretend she's reading them- especially books about a cat named Nicky, and 2 geese named Gossie and Gertie. She even points to words as she says them (My faves: "Thank you, Nicky!" and "Yes we do!")- which according to our family literacy specialist (MiMi) is impressive! :)

-When we were checking out her new school, she hopped right down, joined a circle, and introduced herself by placing her hand on her chest and saying "ADA!" That's when I knew she'd transition just fine! (We will certainly miss Kash and Chloe, though.)

-She sings along with songs in the car like a pro. Pop songs, Christian songs, country songs- if she hears it once, she knows the beat and parts of the chorus. Her favorites right now are: Amazing (Bruno Mars), DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love (Usher), G-6 (FEM), anything by Rhianna, and most of the Christian songs on KSBJ since they just cycle through the good ones in the morning!

-And I'll leave you with a cute picture of us last weekend before our bike ride, which she shouted "Faster Daddy, Faster!" and "Come on, Momma! Let's go!" the entire time!

"Tickateat!"

Another sugar laden Halloween has come and gone! This was Ada's 3rd Halloween-but take a look at her first two before I blog about this one:

Halloween 2008 (5 weeks old):
Halloween 2009 (13 months old):
And here is Halloween 2010! We started the day by carving Ada's second pumpkin of the season:
We roasted the seeds, but I burned them...

Ready to Trick-or-Treat! Jesse from Toy Story 2 and 3:

Into all things spooky and scary- this ghost did nothing but intrigue her:

She would only whisper "tickateat" and then "thank you." Since when did Ada become bashful!?

Chowing down on a sucker on the way back home:

Ada's Jack-o-Lantern window decor:

Our real Jack-o-Lantern from earlier in the day:

Trick-or-treating Daddy:

Then the REAL fun began- giving out our own candy to trick-or-treater passerby! (Ada would fling open the door and yell "TICKATEAT!!!!!!!!!" And then say "Thank you! Thank you!" as she divvied up candy- it was hilarious):

"Tickateaters go!?"

And here's a video of her haunting the neighborhood:

18 Weeks Preggo

I'm 18 weeks along! And I've already caved and started shopping for Dax already this week- he got 2 polos at Tommy Hilfiger, a pair of little beige boat-shoes, and his nursery bedding!!!

His walls are a shade of green that this set will look really cute with, and I was pretty set on doing Safari animals anyway! :) I'll post pictures of the actual nursery once I get it going. Not like he'll set foot in it until he's almost 1 if he's anything like his sister (who slept in our room in a pac-n-play for 9 months because she wanted to nurse 1,000 times a night-I didn't mind though!)- but it's an American tradition to have it ready beforehand! :)


And here I am- this is actually taken at 17 weeks, but same difference.

PooP!

Someone pooped in the big girl potty this morning- and initiated it all herself! She's been tinkling in it for a while, but not consistently- and has never asked to go #2, so we were really proud! Yes, I took a picture of the actual poopie- but I'll save you (and Ada in the future if she reads any of these) from that!

Halloween Festivities

You may or may not remember my post from this summer about Ada's obession with Toy Story 1, 2, and 3- but it's still going strong! So she's going to be Jesse from Toy Story 2 and 3 for Halloween this year- and MorMor MADE her costume! Here is Ada all dolled up ready to go to her school BFF Chloe's "Wear-Your-Halloween-Costume" birthday party! (And a few more pictures at the end of the actual party - those two are adorable together!)
"Ada, Jesse, Match!"

Gotta have the braid!

At Chloe's party- they decorate pumpkins at "The Sweet Toothe Candy Shop:"

The girls hanging out- Chloe didn't want her picture taken ANY more!

Do I have anything in my teeth?

Playing outside!

Future Hula Hoop champion- she gets that from MiMi.

Gender Reveal!

I'm 16 weeks along! And we KNOW WHAT THE BABY IS! We bribed my doctor to do an ultrasound at my appointment today:

Catchy poem-

Pink and blue homemade sugar cookies-

And she agreed despite being uber busy and tired! (Hard to resist baked goods and stupid poems.)

Waiting in the ultrasound room with Ada (and Casey, behind the camera! An audience made us even more persuading.)
Here is that sweet baby-

Presh-

...and....it's a... BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WELCOME TO THE FAMILY,

DAX DOWELL!

Fly Like a G-6

Here is Ada's rendition of the popular "Like a G-6" song out right now....

Nice Day for Another Zoo Visit

It was basically the same price for Ada's zoo party last weekend to either purchase a membership and get the "member discount" on the party, or throw it as non-members... so obviously we went the annual pass route! The weather this weekend was GLORIOUS, so we packed up again early this morning for our second zoo trip in one week! Here are some cute pictures, and I thankfully remembered my video camera on the carousel ride this time! :)

Zoo entrance: kind of a sugar high from donuts and chocolate milk

Walking around holding Daddy's hand.
Hanging around, watching monkeys.

A lion says "RAWR!"

Loved this large lizard for some reason...

The leopard and panther were the most active animals out today... and the most beautiful!

They actually got into a little tiff while we were standing there- Ada thought it was awesome, I thought it was creepy.

Leftover sunglasses from unclaimed party favor bags! (Obsession of the week.)

Took a train ride! (It was totally lame.)

And OF COURSE we went on the carousel again- Ada just can't get enough of this!

And here is a cute video of Ada riding it!