Binge Blogging

OK, this is my 3rd and final post for the evening, I promise! I will end my blog binge soon, because it is almost 8pm... that is late around here at the Dowell house!

Last night we made homemade pizza (still using that free breadmaker, Grams and PaPa!)- and helped from start to finish! She helped roll the dough (more of a poke & pound, but whatever), spread the sauce, and sprinkle the cheese. Then she watched me put it in the oven and take it out in awe... I thought it might increase her appetite a bit for dinner- but it didn't. But we sure had fun making a big to-do about "Ada's homemade pizza!"

Then I walked into Ada's bathtime (which she enjoys with Casey while I either bathe myself or do random chores), and I totally thought this was picture/blog worthy... she looks like Cindy-Loo-Who!

And lastly (and most randomly), this is me (and Dax)- at 22, almost 23 weeks pregnant!

Happy reading, blog followers! :)

'Tis the Season!

We also put up the Christmas decorations after Thanksgiving! Here are some pictures- I don't think I need to go into much detail about the grueling process!! :)

Waiting on Daddy to come down from the attic with the Christmas stuff!
Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Finished product! :)

Now to the indoors- Christmas tree here we come!

I. Love. This. Picture! They are so cute.

We are having a great time with Christmas this year- Ada already is anxious for "Santa to bring presents!"

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!

Weekend Update

Same 'ole, same 'ole for The Dowells- here are some random pictures/updates/words for thought!

This weekend we drove to College Station for Bella Boswell's birthday party at McDonald's. She and her Mom (my good friend Roxy) have had a really rough year, so it was good to see them both and love on them. That's Bella in the green dress, and Ada in the black and white top. I completely forgot to get a shot of Roxy and myself!

MiMi came along, and our next stop was Northside to pick up Uncle Drew for lunch. We went to Cheddar's- and took some family shots by the pretty plants! :) I hadn't had a cute one of Ada and I in a while- not that this one is necessarily cute, but it'll do as my Facebook profile picture for now.

Ada and MiMi:

Ada, MiMi, and Uncle Doo. It has improved from Uncle Jew! :) As you can see, he brings out the mischeif in her!

Even more random, and more old news. I got a new camera! The day of Ada's birthday party I went to charge my old one up, and could not find my charger ANYWHERE. I'm sure I probably either left it in Mexico or San Antonio for our Sea World trip. I was hormonal, and cried, and pretty much acted like my 2 year old. So, I was planning on asking for a new Canon for Christmas anyway- so we went ahead and bought it early (Casey being nice, or Casey in crisis-aversion mode? No one will ever know!)... and I L-O-V-E it!! It's not an SLR, which I thought I'd wanted (the kind you have to change the lenses and flashes on- a professional grade!)- but they were WAY more $$ than I'd expected- so we decided on a fancied-up digital point-and-shoot. Best decision ever- it takes really great pictures, and you can see from the photo below how far out the lens comes for a super close, clear zoom.

And while we're talking technology and frivolous spending, I also got a new memory card for my camera- one because I just physically cannot make myself delete one more picture on the old memory card. And two because this new one is DIGITAL! It is set up to automatically upload pictures to Snapfish (and Facebook, if I want it to) everytime it's within a certain distance to the computer. It's awesome, and proves how lazy I am that I complain about hooking up my camera to a USB via a cord.

I think that is all for now. We are actually switching Ada's schools (and therefore Dax's- who is a wild monkey in my uterus, by the way) starting in January- which took a LOT of courage, faith, and financial decision making (aka- cutting out anything frivolous from our budget to send them to the Harvard of daycares, haha!)- so that is for another post. Love you all!

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Happy Birthday, Grandma (Sandra)!!! We miss you a ton. We shot this video message for you before leaving for school this morning about 6:15am- so Ada is not on her A-game, but sends you lots of love and kisses! :)

Holy Relic!??!?!?!

You've all heard about the lady who saw the Virgin Mary appear in her moldy bread...
Well I have seen Baby Jesus in my sweet potatoes!!!!

This is seriously how one of our sweet potato fries came out of the oven, LOL!

"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: