Happy 4th Birthday, Addie!!!

Wait.  Did everyone else blink and miss that?  It was 4 years going by in a FLASH.  

Can you believe Adeline Eve is now FOUR YEARS OLD?  She's no longer a baby, she's a little girl!  Addie is many many things.  She's super super sweet.  She's an amazing big sister to Cole.  She is dramatic and loves to pretend.  She's an amazing reader for her age!  She's reading signs like "Rockville Town Square" and the back of cereal boxes, and can read real books now--Amelia Bedelia, Curious George, Arthur, Frog and Toad, etc etc.  She does need our help occasionally, but overall, she's reading a ton of children's books on her own.

She still loves to dance and does it all day every day.  At school one day I was reading her the list of "opportunities" that her teacher posts outside of the classroom. I said "Oh, Addie, look, today Ms. Janice is coming in and you get to do dance." and her teacher looked at me and said "Addie dances EVERYday" :)  She's also stubborn and sassy, and sometimes I think she's 4 going on 14 with the way she talks back to us.  But I think we'll still keep her ;) because she's SO good at snuggling, giving bear hugs, and throwing us daily birthday parties.   Speaking of birthdays...

Addie's birthday started out to here waking up to balloons in her room again! 

A few presents to get the morning started

And of course a birthday hat

Some special pancakes for the divine Ms. A

Addie and Cole got to watch a movie in the morning, complete with a chocolate milk treat.

Then at school she got to bring rice krispy treats in for her classmates.  Then we ordered her favorite dinner: Pad Thai!

On the day of her birthday party, Addie had her last ballet class of the session

Then later in the afternoon she had her "Mystery Detective Birthday Party"  Sadly, we were all running around so much that we didn't take many pictures!  Here is one of Steve leading Addie and her friends for the big mystery!

So I leave you with some sweet Addie pictures....she is the most amazing little girl and we have loved every day of being her parents.

Happy birthday, my sweet girl, little peanut, little bear, Adelina Ballerina, Addie Bear, Adsaloo

WE LOVE YOU!

Louisiana Trip #2!

The last time we were on a plan we flew to Louisiana to visit Steve's side of the family.  Here are the pictures--how little was Addie?   

Steve's cousin Greg was getting married so we made the trek again, this time with two kiddos in tow. 

Checking out the airplanes at National Airport--a long day of traveling ahead of us. 

Don't worry, Cole, I'll share my toys with you

We flew into New Orleans, opted not to stop for Hurricanes, drove 2 hours to Lafayette and promptly had some chicken fingers and amazing Frozen Yogurt.  Feel free to ignore Cole's look of disdain--perhaps he had a bite of strawberry when he meant to have Coconut? 

It was so much fun to see the whole family staying at the same hotel! 

Addie and Yaya wore the same Booktrader of Hamilton shirt :) 

Off to Aunt Robbie's house to see Grammy! 

And the wedding!  The kids got all dressed up for the ceremony.  Cole and I watched all of 4 minutes of it until he became loud. Not crying...just loud. "MOMMY?  MOMMY?  DIS?  MOMMY? CAR." Needless to say, we made a quick exit to the back vestibule where Cole and Julie had a dance-off. 

Addie was an angel and watched the whole ceremony--I mean what's as cool as a princess?  A bride :) 

Family pics!! 

The next day we got to spend more time at Aunt Robbie's to hang out with the cousins.  Julie sits on a pot to reach the table--apparently a Granger family tradition. 

 We did some tree-climbing

And some awesome swinging

Family!!!! 

Aunt Robbie and Aunt Ada

Cousins Agustin, Steve, and Doug

Ricardo, Cole and Agustin

Grammy, Steve, and Cole

Cole's turn to sit on the pot

Restin' and relaxin'

Go Kart Racing! 

And too soon it was time to go home.  The kids on the shuttle to the airport

Who doesn't love floor pizza? 

Both kids passed out on the plane ride back (not simultaneously, of course) 

A great trip!  Congrats Greg and Courtney and to the Picco family--we all love you!

Pumpkin Patch!!!

This weekend we had GORGEOUS weather and we were lucky enough to head out to Butler's Orchard for their fall festival and also visit the pumpkin patch. We love fall fun!

First we headed to the tractor-drivin' pit.  Cole totally dug driving the mini tractor.

Addie pushing Cole on the tractor.

Then we headed to a big box of dried corn.  There were a bunch of dump trucks, buldozers, and back-hoe loaders (see I'm starting to learn more of the "boy lingo") but not enough to go around--next year, Butler's Orchard, more toys and you'll have less tears in the corn box.   Not pictured--Addie in tears because she didn't get the truck right away.  And Cole doing is typical "Addie duh duh saaaaad" (with a finger running down his cheek like the drop of a tear).  My children the actors--hysterical!

Addie and Steve rocked the giant slide....WEE!  Cole didn't want to do it this year, we were all pretty hungry.

So while Steve got in line for the food, the kids and I hit the hay-loft.  They LOVED it. 

It was bouncy!

It was fun to throw in the air!

It was tiring--they're having a little sibling conference and I wasn't invited.

Then there was a post-hay-jumping game of Ring around the Rosy to shake out the rest of our sillies.  Not pictured: our lunch of junk food and ice cream.  The kids were too distracted to eat much food, but they both looooved the ice cream.  We finished our cones while standing in line for the hay ride.

See you take the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch. We didn't realize this last year and came home empty-pumpkined.   But this year we were determined to get the perfect pumpkins.  Well, our rule was "you can bring home whatever you can carry" (hey, it was pay by the pound!)

Cole was almost lulled to sleep by the hay ride...almost but not quite.

We had a blast picking our pumpkins!  But by this time we were all tired and a bit cranky. 

Me proudly displaying our (easy to carry) festive decorations.

Happy fall everyone (or those who are still reading this blog!) enjoy the warmish weather while it lasts!!!