Holiday Happenings

Oh Joy, the holidays are here!!

First up is Thanksgiving. Yaya and Poppy came back down even though they were just here for Addie's birthday--thank you for making the trips!

Here Addie is eagerly awaiting their arrival. I love this picture.

Addie and I made placecards again like last year


Cheers! Not the best pic in the world (especially of Addie's weirdo wink) but since I only took TWO of the big meal...beggars can't be choosers.

We are all grateful for nightly rock n' roll concerts

Addie and I have been working on some fun projects. We made these cool applesauce-cinnamon cut out ornaments.



Look cool, huh? Yeah, big fail--they all fell apart!


Sad about the disappointment of the ornaments, Addie wanted to get ready for the next holiday--Hanukkah. Addie decided to cuddle with the menorah while watching TV


And here she is with Princess Hanukkah (P.H. even has little menorah confetti in her skirt)


Lighting the first candle...Here is where Cole shows us that he's a big ham for the camera. Concentrating on the candle, then...
...oh, hey, photo op!!

Addie got something each day--some more practical things, like her winter coat, and some fun stuff like this set of blocks. I just like having some things to keep her busy as the weather has been way too cold to play outside.


Back to the christmas-esque holiday festivities, one night we bundled up and headed to Rockville Town Center for their big tree-lighting.

You're never too cold when you're cuddled with love!

Back home we decorated a gingerbread house thanks to the magic of a Trader Joe's kit

Evidence #2 of Cole's ham-y-ness

oh, hey, photo-op!


Cute, huh?

Then came tree-trimming time!!

Addie took this job VERY seriously.

Cole wanted to eat the ornaments so he kept busy hanging out in a box.

Addie hanging her special name ornament

Addie took a picture of the newest member of the Silvestro household, "Panera" the penguin. Yes, he was named right after a trip to Panera for bagels last weekend. I only found out that this picture was taken when I uploaded them to the computer, so I thought he had to be included in the holiday photos. Oh excuse me, "she"--all of Addie's friends and stuffed animals are girls.

Back to some Hanukkah fun, we headed to Gaga's house for some latkes!
While we waited for the food to cook, there was some crazy Candyland action...
...and some riding toy fun...
...and some Busy World of Richard Scarry.

Yum! Delicious food, thank you Gaga! Wait, where's Cole? Oh yes, he was napping during the big meal.

Don't worry he enjoyed his carrots and matzo ball soup later :)

oh, hey, photo-op!! :)

Mmm....food coma.....

And just last night we headed to the Gaithersburg Winter Lights Festival. We had an early dinner, brought lots of extra snacks and toys, and despite all our preparations, Cole cried for almost the entire 90 minutes we were in the car. Eep. Addie was a trooper and the light displays were really cool, the pictures don't do it justice.


So yeah...we've clearly been in the thick of the holidays in the household. Hope you are all having a good holiday season, too! Stay warm!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Addie!

Addie is 3!!!

I can't believe how grown-up she has become in even the last few months. She has a crazy vocabulary. She knows how to properly use big words like indentation and echolocation. Just this morning she was playing with something and said "careful mommy, these are fragile" and I asked "what does fragile mean, Addie?" and she answered: "Delicate. Fragile means delicate." Um...yeah, wasn't expecting such a good synonym! Coming home from school on a rainy day a few weeks ago Addie said to me "Mommy, my carseat is a little damp"--I don't even know if *I* use the word damp.

She is still an amazing big sister to Cole, though now that he's crawling, she is getting a bit more frustrated with the toy-sharing, but that's okay, she still loves and hugs and kisses on him all the time.

Addie sings pretty much all.day.long. She makes up songs about what she's doing in the minute and she knows the words to everything from nursery rhymes to her favorite Beatles song "Baby you're a rich man." She's also always always dancing--her versions of Irish dancing, ballet, her own interpretive dancing, doing yoga--and instructing everyone else how to do it exactly like she does.

And she just cracks us up. Ever since Dan and I ran the Army 10-mile race last month, Addie has been running daily races in the living room--she always straps on her armband (just like I wore on my training runs) before she runs and then makes us wave the flag that she and Steve made to cheer me on. Last week she shows up in the living room naked except for a pair of socks.
Addie: I'm going to race, okay?
Me: A naked race, huh?
Addie: Yeah, because they let naked people race now.

She's also quite the sassy pants sometimes.

Me: Addie can you please take your cup into the kitchen?
Addie: No, YOU.
Me: Addie, I asked you to put your cup into the kitchen.
Addie: No, you asked yourSELF to put the cup in the kitchen.

Yikes, is she 3 or 13? I'm not sure because she recently said "Well, I'm almost a grownup acuz I have hair on my legs!" :)

Well we had to celebrate Addie BIG to celebrate turning the big THREE, huh?

We started her big celebration by filling her room with balloons so that she would see them when she woke up in the morning. She LOVED it.


After our family hat picture...

Addie got to open some presents!
She LOVES books

That morning, Addie and Cole and I headed to the mall and Addie go to do her first Build-a-Bear! Addie had a blast getting her new bear Coco's heart ready
and giving her a bath.

She then had her favorite meal out--mac and cheese at Noodle "George's" (aka Noodles and Company--we named it Noodle George's exactly a year before at her 2nd birthday!)

After nap, we got her her favorite smoothie. Not a shabby birthday, eh?

Then the New Jersey Silvestro's came down to visit for the big weekend party.

Addie and Julie bonded all weekend!

We had the party at the party room in the apartment complex where I grew up in Va (and even had some of my parties there, too).

Addie wanted a Diego party--for those who don't know, Diego is Dora The Explorer's cousin.

Diego is an animal rescuer, so we set up quite the adventure for the kiddos. First, they had to get across a river by jumping on the turtle's backs.

Then they went under the hanging snakes---ooooh!

Then they dug in the "Quicksand" to rescue the animals.

Then they cleaned off the animals in the rescue center.

Julie wanted to participate.
Cole, too. I think they were content in watching, though :)

Happy birthday cupcake!
Oh yeah, that's good stuff!


Again, not old enough to partake in the big kid fun and eating of cupcakes, but these cousins still know how to have a good time!

After the cupcakes, we went outside because the weather was absolutely phenomenal. I ordered it from Mother Nature herself just for Addie's birthday. You're welcome. :)

Super Addie!

We went home to open some presents....


And had pizza for dinner. Cole dug the breadsticks. And since he has a "little" food in his hair, so then it was--as it always is--a hairwash night for him.

which means...nakey kiddos!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADDIE! We love you SO SO SO much.