Summer Projects

This summer I decided to get a little crafty and create some projects around the house to do. Since I had my summer off, Addison and I stayed inside most of the time because of the scorching temperatures. I decided that Addison's room needed some artwork over her bed so I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up my 3 canvas panels and paint. I decided to paint 3 different panels to make it look like one big picture when hung on the wall side-by-side. My inspiration for the artwork was Addison's bedding and curtain hanging in her room.

This is a before picture of the wall above her bed .. very plain, don't you think?

These are the paintings that my sister, Abby and I painted one afternoon. I also chose to paint a scripture on the paintings. The scripture I chose was 2 Peter 3:18 "Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord." I'm hoping it will inspire and encourage Addison to do so as she grows older.

This is another after picture of the paintings. I did get Danny to hang them up, but I haven't taken a picture of them actually haning on the wall in her room. It is amazing how a small little picture or painting can make such a huge difference to the room.

Another project I tackled this summer was making pillows for my "Reading Center" for my classroom at Harvest Preschool. I thought it would be a fun and comfy way to encourage reading in the classroom and so far they have been successful. Once again, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick out some fabric and some throw pillows.

My fabrics that I picked out with the help of my sister, Abby. We tried to pick out material that the kids would like.

Here are the after pictures! I was very proud of myself for making these pillows and they are very comfortable!

I even had enough fabric left over to make Addison some pants. She looked so cute in them!

Beach Bound Baby!

Beach bound for a week and it was absolutely wonderful! Danny and I took Addison to the beach with some friends of ours and their little ones back in July. Addison enjoyed playing with Emma Grace and Brayden enjoyed laying around at the beach. This was Addison's second trip to the beach, but she was much smaller last year when we took a family trip with my family in June 2009. We spent our days on the beach and swimming in the pool and our nights eating out at the local eateries of Destin, Florida. It was so nice to take a "break" from the everyday hustle and bustle of life and enjoy a nice family vacation with good friends.

Can we go to the beach yet? Addison was ready to hit the sand and build a sand castle.

This was our view from the balcony of the condo. It was very nice and relaxing to just sit out on the balcony and listen to the waves crashing.

The family when we first arrived at the condo.

She loved the beach!

Beach babies!

Addison loved playing in the sand and the water at the beach.

Addison's sand castle built with the help of Daddy.

Sweet friends enjoying their fun time at the beach. This was right before we went out to dinner at the Crab Trap.

Addison caught the shark! This was a fake shark hanging outside of the BassPro Shop in Destin.

Family picture because everyone needs a family portrait on the beach!

Addison and Emma Grace helping us load up the luggage carts on our last day at the beach.

The ride home from the beach wasn't complete without a snack! We had a great time at the beach with beautiful weather and water ... can't wait for next year's trip to the beach!

Pizza and Splash Park

PIZZA! This is what we had for dinner one night and the coolest part about it was that we made it ourselves! Growing up I remember making homemade pizzas every now and then and I remember how much fun it was so I decided to let my child and her cousin, Kylee, have the same experience. They had so much fun playing in the dough and adding the toppings to their pizza. Addison played with the dough, but I had to add the sauce and all of the toppings to her pizza because she is not quiet old enough to do it all by herself. Kylee had fun playing in the dough too and didn't want to stop to add the sauce and toppings to her pizza. Hopefully we will get to have this same experience again when Addison gets a little older and then she will be able to make the pizza all by herself! The pizzas turned out great and were delicious too!

Addison playing with her pizza dough.

Kylee trying to roll out her pizza dough.

Addison wanted a turn to roll out her pizza dough too .... she needed a little help!

Kylee is getting her dough ready for the sauce and toppings.

Adding cheese to the pizza ... looking delicious!

The finished products ready to go in the oven ... delicious looking and tasting!

On day 2 of Kylee's visit with us, we went to the Splash Park in Opelika. This is definitely a plus in my parent book! Both of the girls loved playing in the water and there was enough water for everybody to play with! We will definitely be returning to this splash park and hopefully we will be able to bring other cousins and friends with us next time. Addison is such a water baby and it was perfect for her to run through the sprinkler like water area and slide down the little water slide that she could climb up the steps by herself on. She's growing up so fast and amazes me everyday.

Addison "talking" to her shadow .. not really, but it sure does look like it in the picture!

Kylee sliding down the water slide .. they loved the slide!

Playing in the water ... don't get wet!! Haha

Kylee got soaked under the bucket! Addison was walking by and one of the buckets turned over and got her too and knocked her down. We stayed away from the buckets after that, but Kylee kept running under them waiting for them to turn.

Kylee was catching Addison as she slid down the water slide.

Water fun at the water park!

I think it is safe to say that she was having fun! Woohoo!!

Addison at the end of water play at the splash park ... time for a nap now!

Two's Company

We recently got to visit with one of Addison's cousin and my niece, Kylee! Kylee lives in Montgomery with her family and will be starting "Big School" aka Kindergarten next week. Since we won't get to see her too much, Kylee came to spend a few days with us for the summer. The two days that Kylee was here were filled with fun! We took a few trips out of the house to show Kylee how much fun our town can be. We ventured out to Froglegs in Auburn on the first day. I know what your thinking if you're not from the area ... FROGLEGS?? What in the world is that? Well this was Kylee's same response and once we arrived at our destination she quickly figured it out! For those of you who don't know what Froglegs is .. it has inflatables indoors for kids to run around, bounce up and down, and slide down the bouncy slides. Needless to say, Kylee had so much fun and I think it wore her out! Addison got to play around at Froglegs too, but she wasn't so sure about it at first. She didn't want to jump around or slide down the slides which is so not like my child if you know her ... she's not scared of anything!


Addison and Kylee at the bottom of one of the slides at Froglegs.

Kylee sliding down the slide at Froglegs.

Addison finally decided to slide down the slide with a little help from Kylee and she loved it!

Kylee was worn out by the end of our trip to Froglegs!

When we were all exhausted from bouncing around and sliding down the slides, we took a lunch break at Chick-fil-A and then headed home to rest! We had more fun played for later that night and the next day which I will tell you about in another post!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July! We spent our day attending church that morning, eating watermelon that afternoon, and watching fireworks again that night. We had a very nice, relaxing extended weekend with the family.


The family outside of church on Sunday morning. We were all dressed in our red, white, and blue for Independence Day.

I love this little girl so much ... she brings such joy and happiness to our lives! Addison is being patriotic by wearing her red, white, and blue dress to church.

This was Addison's first time eating watermelon. Last July 4th she was only 3 months old so she wasn't old enough to enjoy any, but this year she is 14 months old and got to try some. I don't think she enjoyed it that much or it might have been more difficult to eat compared to some other fruits she enjoys eating. She looks cute anyways trying her piece of watermelon!

Addison and Mama waiting on the firework show to start in Auburn.

Miss Red, White, and Blue! She looks so cute in all her clothes and it's so hard not to take pictures of her!

Addison laying with Daddy watching the fireworks in Auburn. Auburn's firework show seemed to last longer than Opelika's show, but we enjoyed both shows!

I thought this was a cute picture of her watching the fireworks.

Below are some pictures of the fireworks from Sunday night.

We had fun watching the fireworks and are so thankful for all the men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to protect our country. God Bless the USA and the soliders who protect us!

Fireworks

It's Independence Day and we celebrated the day by watching fireworks in Opelika and in Auburn on different nights. We were dressed in our red, white, and blue and enjoyed seeing all the pretty fireworks. It is truly wonderful that we live in a country that is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Thank you to all the men and women, young and old, for serving our country and allowing Americans to enjoy the country known as the land of the free. I personally do not have any family members in service, but I have had grandparents and cousins who have served in previous years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those in service and their families too ... God Bless!

Mama and Addison waiting for dark when the fireworks would start.

They had skydivers and this is a picture of one of them waving an American Flag.

The family watching the fireworks in Opelika!

Addison sitting with her Daddy enjoying the firework show.

Addison sitting with Mama having fun watching the fireworks in Opelika.