March 14, 2009--St. Pat's Parade

One Saturday while I was working, Aaron took the girls downtown to see the St. Patrick's Day Parade. They both seemed to enjoy it and have been playing with the beaded necklaces they received ever since. Addison loves looking at all the balloons!

March 24, 2009--Planning the garden

Gardening plans are already taking shape.This is the current plan for the garden. The red is tomatoes--grape, cherry and full size. The yellow is corn, the brown is compost, the orange is summer squash or zucchini, the dark green is banana and bell peppers and the light green is bok choi and cabbage. The corn, bok choi, cabbage, and summer squash/zucchini will be new additions to the tomatoes and peppers, which I grew last year.

Last Saturday, I added a truckbed load of compost to the garden and was able to till on Sunday. I also planted the bok choi and cabbage on Sunday. Addison really likes cabbage, so we are looking forward to her watching it grow. She also wants to help me plant some tomatoes this year.

I tend to grow lots of tomatoes, as I am a supplier for family and friends. Last year, with all the spring rain, we had a bumper crop of bell and banana peppers, many of which we chopped and froze for use during the winter. We still have several bags left! Kate also made several batches of stuffed peppers and froze those.

I think this year, if we have enough squash and zucchini, we will slice and freeze them so we can enjoy them over the winter. Finding quality produce is always a challenge in winter, so it’s nice to have good stuff already prepared in the freezer! We are really in the mindset this year to not waste any produce, since we have a tendency to let too much spoil on the vine. We will be freezing, canning, chopping, cooking and giving away as much as possible to avoid throwing anything away.

I’m going to try corn again this year. I tried to grow it several years ago, and the stupid squirrels destroyed them all in a matter of days. This year I'll be armed with my Red Rider BB Gun and my killer attack dog to fend them off.

Also, this will be our first full year without our big apple tree. It was starting to rot and literally split in half during a wind storm last summer, so we took it down minus the stump, so I won't have nearly as many apple trip hazards hiding in the grass this summer, even though I now have a mole that will probably make me wish I had a paved backyard before the summer is over.

--Aaron

March 7, 2009--Creve Coeur Park

On a warm spring day, we took advantage of the great weather and visited Creve Coeur Park to walk the 3.8 miles around the lake. Addison got to ride with Brooklyn in a bike trailer around the lake. Uncle James buckles Addison in.

The girls put stickers on each other.

The family at the waterfall (Addison's favorite part of the walk).

March 5, 2009--Here she comes!

She's...

coming...

to get...

you!

February 26, 2009--Before school

Generally we don't have too much time in the morning for pictures, but this Thursday in February we did. Addison's hair has gotten long enough that we can now do something with it! Here she is sporting a ponytail. Whenever I pull the camera out, Avery zooms over to me. I don't know when she got to be so fast! Here she is doing "So big".

February 25, 2009--Starting to cruise

Having been able to pull up on the furniture for awhile, Avery has now figured out how to walk along it. Her favorite thing is to walk along the couch to get to the cat.

February 25, 2009--Sometimes a basket is better

I don't know what inspired Addison to get into a laundry basket, but she looked pretty comfortable reading in it.

February 14, 2009--Visiting Springfield

For the long President's Day weekend, we visited Aaron's cousins in Springfield: Sara Elizabeth and Jason and their kids Samuel (3 1/2) and Lauren (1, three months older than Avery). It was great to see their house and let the kids have time to play together. Samuel had a lot of cars and trucks that Addison liked to play with, since we don't have many of those things at our house.

Avery and Lauren playing with one of Lauren's birthday presents.

Addison in a box, guarding some toys.

After lunch, we headed to Bass Pro.

Addison loved the waterfall.

Samuel and Lauren at Bass Pro.

With the younger girls in bed, Aaron read a bedtime story to Samuel and Addison.

February 11, 2009--Hanging out at home

After dinner, we get some playtime with the girls before they have to go to sleep. Addison likes to listen to music with Daddy on the iPod...
while Avery plays with her gumball machine. One is supposed to drop the balls in the top and push the lever to get them out at the bottom, but Avery is fond of pulling them out of the top as well.

February 7, 2009--Almost walking

Avery has been practicing walking while pushing the car at Grandma's house.

It's so funny to see her take off walking down the hallway!

January 31, 2009--Fruits basket

Aaron thought it would be fun to put Avery in the food toys basket. It resulted in some cute pictures! And of course when little sister is having fun, big sister has to join in (and vice versa)!

January 29, 2009--Eating finger foods

Avery has been enjoying more big kid food, such as cereal puffs and Cherrios! She is doing great with her pincher grasp (first finger and thumb) to feed herself.

January 27, 2009--Sledding

We took advantage of the six inches of snow in St. Louis to go sledding. We talked with Addison about it all the way home after work, and she was really excited to go. But once we got there, Addison did not want to go down the hill. Aaron took her down twice

but she was done after that:

After Addison decided she was done sledding, I went down with Aaron. Apparently Addison laughed as we went down the hill, but as soon as we stopped at the bottom, she started crying again. By the time I made it back up the hill, both girls were crying, so I took them home. Maybe we can try sledding again next year!

January 17, 2009--Cousin fun

Brooklyn came to our house for a few hours while her parents when to Larry the Cable Guy. We tried to get a group picture on Addison's bed, but someone was always moving!

The girls played very well together and we had a minimum of fights.

January 16, 2009--New year, new skills

Avery has been growing in leaps and bounds lately. She got her first tooth in mid-December, right at the 7 1/2 month mark. New Year's Day arrived with her top two teeth coming through. She has also started pulling up on the furniture and standing with support, and loves to walk around the house holding onto my hands.

Late January, she started crawling! She had been leaning and reaching far for awhile, but with a little motivation (in the form of cereal puffs), we convinced her to crawl. She drags her right leg, though, so doesn't crawl very efficiently, but she is fast when she wants something (usually something of Addison's).

December 30, 2008--Christmas in KC

Visiting Kansas City for New Year's, we celebrated Christmas with the other side of our family.

D & K, Aaron loves these bags. He uses them every chance he gets.

December 25, 2008--Christmas is here

Christmas 2008 began with opening stockings at our house. Addison was most excited by the candy in her stocking.

Obligatory Christmas pictures in front of the tree,

then off to Grandpa and Grandma's for breakfast and presents.

Behold, the Princess couch. This present of Brooklyn's caused many fights and tears on Christmas, mostly because Addison wanted to sit on it constantly!

Soon Addison got tired of opening presents, opting instead to roll around in the paper and read her High School Musical book.

Avery slept through most of the present-opening, but Santa's little helper arrived in time for her own presents.

Hardly a day goes by without Addison asking to wear a High School Musical shirt. She would wear one every day, if I would let her.