Strummin' on the Old Banjo

Addison saw Daddy's guitar out today and wanted to play it.  Since Daddy wasn't home at the time to help her, my answer of course was no.  However, I looked on the counter to see the Disney Princess box from her snow boots we bought yesterday and remembered the paper towel cardboard I'd recently thrown in the recycling and immediately had an idea:  homemade guitar.  Shoe box, paper towel cardboard roll, rubber bands, duct tape, staples, and we were in business!  I was a little worried that she'd reject it once she discovered it sounded nothing like Daddy's real guitar, but was pleasantly surprised that she loved it.  She even performed this concert for us after dinner tonight. 

Happy Halloween!

 Many weeks ago I asked Addison what she wanted to be for Halloween.  She replied "A princess".  When asked what kind of princess, she always answered "A Minnie Mouse princess."  Easy enough, we happened to already have a Minnie Mouse costume!

They had advertised that kids could come trick-or-treat in the afternoon at Town Hall, the police station, and the fire station, so we met up with Addison's friend Max for a little early trick-or-treating.  It was a good thing we did, because it turned out that would be the only trick-or-treating for Addison that day.

 Afterwards, I decided to swing by Kroger for a few groceries on our way home.  Addison had come down with a nasty cold the night before and apparently all the mucous wasn't setting so well and she proceeded to throw up all over the floor right in front of the deli... and some in my purse...and my wallet...phone...shoes.  Yeah, it wasn't pretty.  Bless her heart, the lady from the deli came and cleaned it up with such a great attitude. 

So this is how we spent most of the rest of the day...

The next day Addison was trying to burp and I told her to stop or she may throw up.  She told me that if she did "the lady will come to our house and put blue stuff on it and sweep it up with her sweeper sweeper."  No Addison, I'm the lady and I don't have any blue stuff.  :-)

Minnie Mouse pumpkin

Mickey Mouse pumpkin

Flowergirl

 Addison's birth parents got married (to each other) a couple of weeks ago.  Addison had the honor of being their flowergirl.

 This is when Addison saw Nicole for the first time in her wedding dress.  Addison was so excited to be wearing her beautiful dress, her dancing shoes, and have curly hair!

Here she is playing with the junior bridesmaids, waiting for the action to begin.

 Addison with Mr. and Mrs. Esten!  After missing her nap for the wedding, this took some real work for her to sit for this picture!

Gummy worms were a big help :-) 

 Playing with the ring bearer and jr. bridesmaids at the reception.  After a catnap in the car between the wedding and reception, Addison caught her second wind on the dance floor.

Fun in New York

 My younger brother Matt and his family live just a couple of hours away from our parents, so we were blessed with their company for a couple of days while we were in Rochester.  Brogan and Addison did a pretty good job playing together on this trip and Addison showed poor Payton the same "disrespect" he usually gets from his brother.  Poor Payton :-)  Life is tough when you try playing with the big kids' toys.

Grandpa raked up a pile of leaves to play in and then took the kids on a ride in his wagon. 

He made the mistake of stopping by the raspberry bushes along the way.  Addison and Brogan remembered that little stop and were sure to return there after Grandpa had gone inside.  Poor grandpa; no more raspberries for him!

 The next day we went to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester.  Pretty sure we've gone there every time we've visited Rochester thanks to Mom and Dad's grandparents membership.  So much fun to be had...

 Super Addison climbing up the wall of a tall building...

My, what big eyes you have!

Riding the train with Brogan, Uncle Matt, and Mommy.

Silly faces!

Dressing the scarecrow.

And last but not least, a ride on the carousel!

Niagara Falls

 This post is several weeks late, but every now and then I remember that there are people in our lives who aren't on Facebook and don't get to see all of our pictures and posts on there.  So this is for them!

We took a vacation a few weeks ago to New York.  Addison's birth parents were getting married and that was the main purpose of the trip, but we decided to extend it a little and make it into a fun little vacation.  After an overnight stop in Ohio to meet up with some of our old small group friends from Minnesota, we continued on to Niagara Falls for another overnight stop. 

We took a little trip on the Maid of the Mist.  I knew we'd get wet, but it was a bit more wet than I expected.  We had fun though and Addison enjoyed it as I expected she would. 

After checking into our hotel (U.S. side) and a delicious Italian dinner, we decided to take a walk across the bridge over to Canada to see the falls at night.  It was a good sized walk to cross over, walk all the way down to the end and back, but I'm glad we did it.  The view was beautiful.

Addison's first trip to another country!

Mommy is in the U.S. and Addison is in Canada!

So long, old friend

It was spring of my junior year when my parents took me shopping for my first car.  I believe I was home for Easter break at the time.  We were preparing for my student teaching the following year and knew I would need my own set of wheels.  Maybe it was because I was the girl in the family (or more likely it was just because I was their favorite), but my parents decided to purchase new instead of used for me, unlike the two boys.  The deal was that mom and dad would pay for the first 2 years of payments and then the rest would be my responsibility.  Don't I have great parents?  I remember when we were looking at different cars actually taking into consideration the fact that I would probably still own it when starting a family, so I wanted 4-door rather than 2-door.  But I never really expected to own it as long as we have.  I have been with Pepper longer than I've been with David.  That's really something!

So anyway, I'm thrilled that we sold our car tonight and can I just say that David Gafford is THE MAN when it comes to buying and selling things for amazing prices.  However, there will always be a place in my heart for my first car.  And her name was Pepper.  So long, old friend.