Growing Up

I can't believe how big our little munchkin has gotten!  I still remember the first day we brought her home.  Dinky was in love and they have been best friends ever since.  We have taken a series of Ad pictures with Dinky as the years have gone by.  It's a real reminder of how big she has gotten.

We went to Ad's 2 year doctor appointment yesterday and she is still in the 90th percentile in height, but luckily she is not in the 20th percentile for weight.  Still long and skinny.  She is doing everything perfect and talking way above her age level.  

She loves swimming in her swimming pool.  So funny that she thinks that she needs to put on her puddle jumper whenever she gets in the water.  But I am totally fine with that.  Rather her be safe than sorry!

She often gets frustrated with me because I won't let her do her own hair.  On our way home from church she was taking her head band off and on saying "see mommy I pretty".  

Bubbles

I love that Allison and Ad still get to have a great relationship!  She loves bubbles and was so cute when opening her birthday present from Allison.  I am really bad about getting the mail so it was a little bit late. . . sorry!

Tea Sets

Grandma Shelbie sure did spoil Ad this year for her birthday.  We were getting gifts for days after her birthday on the front step.  Ad absolutely loves pushing shopping carts whenever we are at a store and so she bought her, her very own shopping cart.  Ad is in love!

 Not only did she get a shopping cart but Grandma also bought her a Strawberry Shortcake Tea Set.  She loves this thing.  I anticipate we will be having A LOT of tea parties in our near future.  She still hasn't put this it down. 

I love this little bug.  What I love most is her love for fruits and vegetables.  She inspires me to eat much better.  She loves to share a good bell pepper and hummus with me!

So Excited For Summer

With all of this nice weather we are anxious to finally have Oley home with us for good!  Ad and her dad make the most of his weekends home.  This weekend Ad wanted to be doing every thing Oley was doing.  Love this girls love for her dad.
She loves riding her little bike.  She isn't quite able to sit on the seat and reach the ground so she just walks around with it like this.  

 Aunt Dannie bought her some chalk for her birthday and she LOVES it!

 Ad loves music and loves to dance to it.  Since she learned what ear buds are she is always putting them in her ears thinking that she is listening to music.  Oley was out mowing the lawn with his head phones on and so she ran upstairs to get hers.

The Terrific Twos

We got to celebrate Ad's second birthday yesterday!  Oley took the day off from school and I took the day off of work and to spend the day with our little princess.  We started out by going to the zoo.
Once she woke up she loved it!

We spent the evening celebrating with Shawnie, Leimomi, and Emily.  Ad couldn't wait to open her presents.   She especially loved her new bicycle!

Dinner Prayers

Adelé is so excited to say prayers with us now days she will often start praying before we all even have our arms folded.  We have been talking with her quite a bit about biting.  She has the tendency to bite April and so in our nightly prayers we ask for Heavenly Father's help in being good and not biting.  This was her prayer tonight said all by herself. 
"Heavenly Father, help bite April, bite Kim. Thank you for pupcake.  Thanks for blankey. Thanks for Strawberry.  Thanks for strawberry. Thanks for Jesus.  Thanks for Strawberry. Thanks for toys. Bless the Food.  Jesus Christ. Amen."

I love her innocence. 

Giving Heart

Ad had a tough week of behaving properly.  Earlier in the week she had scratched my face.  I have had a scab for a few days.  She saw it today and cupped my chin in her hands and said, "What happened?" When I told her she hurt me a few days ago.  She grabbed my hand and looked in my eyes and said, "It's going to be okay."  Then kissed my chin. 
I love how sweet and concerned she can be.  She does this same thing with her stuffed animals when they have a little piece of dirt on them.  She is too precious.

Whale Whale

We have a little park in our neighborhood that Ad loves to go to.  Her favorite part of the park is the swing.  But when she is not on the swing she loves to be on the bouncing whale.  Every time she gets on it she chants "Whale, Whale wag your tail!" 

No idea where this came from.

Mommy, Mama, Mommy

As I have stated before Mother's Day is always a difficult day.  Not that I am not extremely grateful that I have the opportunity to be a mother, but because I know exactly how those that do not have this same opportunity feel.  It's always just a hard day.  

With all that set aside I am so grateful I have my little baby girl to bring the joy, laughter, patience, and love I never knew I possessed.  I absolutely love this baby!  She is now to the stage where she will continue to say "mama mommy mama mommy mommy" until I respond and then even after I respond she continues to say it.  To others this may seem a nuisance but I treasure those words every time she says them.  I am so grateful to have her as my own personal reminder of the love my Heavenly Father has for me.  She makes me a stronger better person every day. I hope someday she will fully be able to appreciate the gift her birth mom has not only given her, but me, and our family.  I love being a mom!

First Airplane Rides

We got to take Adelé on her first airplane ride!  I had purchased a ticket for myself to just take Ad with me to Matt's graduation.  Oley was a little sad he wouldn't be able to experience this with her and so I talked him into going with us.  Lesson #1 of traveling with a toddler - ensure they get enough sleep the night prior to leaving.  I had mutual on Wednesday night so Ad did not get to bed until 9:00 and we had to be up by 4, world's worst thinking.  Lesson #2 of traveling with a toddler - when they say get to the airport at least 1.5 hours before your flight, cut that in half.  Keeping her entertained for an hour and a half and then getting on the plane and trying to entertain for another 1.5 hours was tough.  Lesson #3 of traveling with a toddler - pray that you get seated behind a nice couple that totally understands what it is like to travel with children.  
We learned our first lesson very quickly when Ad didn't sleep on the way to the airport, she was a very tired baby.  Although she was not showing this until after we had to sit in the airport for 45 minutes.  When we walked up to the terminal she was still being mellow and good, but as we walked up we could see the disappointment in everyone's faces that they would be on a flight with a toddler.  This ignited my desire to make sure she was the best little toddler ever....but she was tired.  So we walked and played at the window further down the terminal. 

The flight was one of the worst I have ever been on and not because I was wrestling a 2 year old, but rather the turbulence was awful.  Which was actually a blessing!  It got so bad that we were bouncing in our seats, people's drinks were being spilled everywhere and everyone was talking and laughing.  So no one even cared my child was talking loudly and giggling.  Laur met us in Boise and we drove Liz's car to Idaho Falls.  The car seat was a little different than what Ad is used to and so we had to take a pit stop in Pocatello.  This little turtle loved her! 

We spent Friday helping my mom in her yard and Saturday we attended Matt's graduation.  I am a horrible sister and don't have any pictures.  Ad got really good at saying "Good Job Uncle Matt!".  That night we threw Ad an early birthday party since we won't see anyone on her actual birthday.  She loved all the gifts she got.  It was so fun to watch her open up gifts and hug them. 

Sunday we journeyed home.  Our baby was exhausted.  

The flight home was much much easier.  Ad did 100 times better.  Once we got home all she wanted to do was play out on her trampoline.  Love this bug!

So Pretty

This girl definitely keeps me on my toes.  After we got home last night I ran upstairs to change my clothes so we could go for a run.  When I came back downstairs I found her getting "so pretty" by rubbing a cube of shortening on her belly.  The dogs were loving it! 

  She was so proud of herself!

After our run as we were swinging at the park she must have gotten bit by some sort of insect.  I noticed she had a little puffy by her eye.  I asked her if she could show me her eye and this is what I got.

I love how happy this munchkin always is.  I finally had to tell her I needed a grumpy face so I could send a picture to her dad of her bug bite.

As we were going to bed tonight she we laid down to read scriptures, she grabbed them from me and said "Jesus Loves Me" I am so glad her little testimony is already growing.  We then were reading a story book about mom's and babies and she took it from me and pointed to the human mom and her baby and said "my mom loves me".  I am so grateful to have her little reminders every day.