Addie's Big Girl Bike!

I got a pink tricycle for birthday! Thanks Grandma Michele and Uncle Scottie!!!

Happy First Birthday Adeline!!

I thought today would be so much more emotional and difficult to get through, but I did it! My baby turned ONE today! I only cried once and that was out of frustration of raising a 3 1/2 year old...not even the sadness of my baby getting so big! Addie had a fun birthday! She LOVED the little hat I got her. She would take it off and then immediately try to get it back on her head! So cute!
We spent our morning at a park. She went on the slide a couple times (not the whole thing, I just put her on where I could reach...TALL slide!) But her absolute favorite part of any park is the swings! She could swing for an hour and still not want to get off. When we go to a busy park and we have to get off to give other kids a turn, she always cries and makes a scene about getting out of the swing!

For dinner we had spaghetti. As you can tell, I'm not brave enough to give her "real" spaghetti...she gets noodles and meat! I guess if I was a professional carpet cleaner then I would give her real spaghetti to eat on Michele's nearly WHITE carpet! I just don't have the time of day to clean like that, so she gets it plain! Oh, and she is telling you, "I'm ONE!"

She was crying until everyone started singing...then she got very quiet! I think she was trying to figure out what was going on. We made giant chocolate cupcakes and she got one pink candle in the top. She didn't know how to blow it out and so before she just grabbed it with her little fingers, I blew it out! She loved the cake and aside from being too tired at the end of the day, she had a great first birthday.

To My Dearest Addie,

When I look at you I see endless possibilities for you. You are bright, beautiful and engaging. In your young life, you already have a way about you that demands attention and makes people smile. I look forward to seeing how you use that gift to make this world a better place. You are loving, playful and daring...I only hope I can keep up with you as a teenager! I might be in trouble. I love you with all my heart Addie. I am blessed that God has chosen you to be my daughter. Words are failing me right now, I feel like I'm not expressing my joy, love and excitement that I feel when I look at you and hold you in my arms. All I can say is, I love you. One day, when you are a mother, you will understand the magnitude of that statement. I know I didn't understand it fully until I held you and Tucker in my arms. The love of a mother is like none other and I don't expect you to understand how deeply I feel for you until you hold your son or daughter for the first time. Then, and only then, will you understand how very, very much I love you. Happy First Birthday, my Adeline. All my love, Mommy

Practice!!

Here Addie is practicing for  her first birthday by wearing her birthday hat and bib...she is also practicing taking her first steps!!!!!

Deny it or not...

...it's coming!  The background has made its official change in honor of my baby girl turning ONE next Friday!  

Ready to Ride!

Tucker decided it was time to ride!  He went in the garage found his helmet and bike....good thing he didn't crash.  Good on him for trying!!!  Hey, at least he was wearing a helmet!  

Seaside, Oregon

My Mom, the kids and I decided to mix it up and go to the beach for the day and see Batbah!  Grandpa Dan (aka Batbah...Tucker named him when Grandpa came out sounding like Batbah) was working in Astoria and met us in Seaside, Oregon for a day of fun.  This was Tucker and Addie's first beach experience!  To my surprise, they both loved it.  We will be planning our family trip to Lincoln City, Oregon very soon.   

We made our first stop in Seaside, well after some fish and chips of course, at the Seaside Aquarium.  Tucker and Addie both loved it.  Luckily, kids under 5 get in free because I'm not sure that the money that they charge is compensating you for the little bit of entertainment that awaits you inside.  Our favorite part, by far, was feeding the seals!  Some of the seals would do cute tricks to get some chopped up fish and another would just splash you if he'd had enough of waiting for his treat.  Of course I was in charge of touching the nasty chopped up fish because Tucker wouldn't do it and I didn't trust Addie not to drop one "down the hatch".  But like many things in motherhood, all the yucky was worth the looks on their faces to see the seals act silly.  

My Mom with the kids.  They are checking out a huge octopus in that tank they are leaning on.

When we left the aquarium, we decided to go to the beach!  I wasn't sure what Tucker would think because he can be skittish about new things.  He loved the sand right away but getting his feet wet was a different story.  Once he got in and started having fun it was like he'd been there a hundred times before!  When we decided to go change clothes and see more of the town, he cried.  Then when I convinced him to leave, he walked away from the water with me and then he suddenly turned around and bolted back to the water!  It took us a while to actually leave the sand and water.     

Tucker touching the beach sand for the first time. 

Once we got on the beach we saw a swings and we were drawn to them!  After being on the swings for about 15 minutes we joked that we drove 2 hours just to swing!  
Mommy and Addie's feet in the sand. Tucker running and running and running.  I think he will be a cross-country runner for sure.  Addie would cry if you tried to pick her up...she HAD to be walking on the sand.  Her little feet got so cold they were as red as the cherries on her sweatshirt!  But she didn't care, she was having a blast!One of the fun things that Batbah said we could do if we left the beach (hear the bribes?) was to drive the cars!  Batbah failed to mention to Tucker that they were bumper cars!  He HATED HATED HATED this ride!  He kept yelling at me, in between sobbing, that I was running into people!  Yeah I am!  I'm driving this bad-boy with one hand and T-boning people like crazy!  I'm an excellent driver, yeah, excellent driver.  (Rain Man anyone?)The next stop was the arcade!  Tucker is seriously good at air hockey!  He loves it.  Tucker won some tickets from playing the games so of course we had to go check out the cheap toy counter!  Tucker earned enough tickets to buy ONE tootsie pop and ONE tootsie roll.  He was SO proud!

Then we drove up to Astoria to have dinner near Batbah's hotel.  Addie has turned into such a ham for the camera!  Could she BE any cuter? (think Chandler!)

Tucker and Batbah enjoying some ice cream after dinner.  

Tucker feeding Batbah some ice cream!  We had so much fun.  We were all burned out and it was a beautiful, magnificent, and lovely quiet ride home.  My Mom and I could actually have a real conversation!  It was so much fun!  Thanks Mom and Dan!  

Would you like fries with that?

Yesterday, while riding in the back seat of the car, Tucker asks me, "Mommy, you like fries with no pickles or onions?"  OMG!!!  What the hell?  So I ask him, "Tucker, what does that mean?".  Unfortunately, he says exactly what I thought he would say...."Mommy, that's what you like at McDonald's!"  I always order the cheeseburgers with no pickles or onions.  I'm working on a Mother of the Year nomination for apparently going through the drive-thru one too many times!! Nice work Tami! 

You Think My Tractor's Sexy?

Tucker's Big Day of Firsts! PART 1

Tucker's first "first" of the day was fishing! He had never been before and Grandpa Tom and Grandma Karrie wanted to take us out to a lake. Dad got the pole all set up and Tucker loved it! He never caught a fish on his own pole but whenever we would catch a fish, we would let him reel it in. He didn't want to touch the fish or the worms, but neither do I, so I don't blame him.

We didn't get rained on, and other than the wind, we had a really good time....UNTIL.....

Tucker's Big Day of Firsts! PART 2

We made a special trip to Providence Hood River Hospital! Tucker fell down on a rock and hit his head, HARD! This is his first ER trip for injury. It was very traumatic...more for me than him, I think.

He was fishing with his new Spiderman fishing pole when it started to fall into the water. He tried to save the fishing pole when he lost his balance and fell down on the rock. His head was not bleeding, but instantly swollen and bruised. I was freaked out and he was screaming! I realized after a minute of screaming that he was screaming about his Spiderman fishing pole...not his bruised face!!

He is fine and the doctor just sent us home with an ice pack and a list of warning signs of concussion. I think in the end, Tucker enjoyed all the attention from me and the doctors. Here are a few pictures and videos of our time at Providence Hood River!

Ice cream made his head feel SO much better!

My Dad ordered a large ice cream cone and THIS is what they gave him. None of us had ever seen an ice cream cone this big before! I had to take a picture of him with that half gallon of ice cream on a cone!!

Here are 2 videos I took of Tucker while we were waiting for the nurse and doctor. He is telling where he was and why we were there. The first video shows why I'm pretty sure he enjoyed all the attention, despite the splitting headache I'm sure he had!

Vietnam Veterans of America

This isn't my usual post with cute pictures of the kiddies and funny stories about their mischief.  I wanted to let you all know about something that I have discovered and feel very strongly about and would invite you to join me if the services are available in your area.  I have started donating (everything I would normally take to Goodwill) to the Vietnam Veterans of America.  You can schedule a pick-up of your goods online, super easy, they come right to your house and pick it up for you.  My bags are sitting at the end of the driveway right now.  I have donated to this organization 3 times now and this is SO much better than the Goodwill for several reasons.

 1. You are donating your goods to be sold and the money goes to support Veterans.  

The website says this:

"The VVA is a critical support service for our returning veterans. VVA became a membership organization in 1979 and set to work on the issues it remains committed to today:

• Improving the general welfare and hospital care of all veterans, especially homeless and disabled veterans
• Assisting veterans suffering from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and other disabilities
• Working closely with veterans of other conflicts
• Taking the lead on women and minority veterans' issues"

2. They take EVERYTHING!

Items accepted:

• Clothing of all types & sizes (men’s, ladies, children’s, baby’s)
• Clothing accessories – purses, belts, ties, wallets
• Shoes (all kinds)
• Baby items
• Housewares, glassware, and home decor
• Books, toys, bikes
• Stereos, radios, and other electronics
• Bedding, linens, draperies, curtains
• Kitchenware
• Usable small furniture & rugs
• Small appliances
• Tools (all kinds)
• Jewelry and cosmetics
• ALMOST ANYTHING!

3.  They pick it up at your house...so no more excuses why you haven't dropped that junk off at the Goodwill!  

Schedule your pick-up here!

Zoo Day Fun

I'm not even sure how these pictures are going to look because it just looks like a free-for-all!  I guess this is the part where I give up my perfectionist needs/desires and just write about what a great time we had and forget that my pictures are wacky!  Maybe I'll say I did that on purpose and that it was my vision to "scrapbook style".  Are you buyin' my lies yet?  :)  

We had a great time at the zoo!  It was busy and pretty hot, but we still had fun and got some super cute pictures out of the day!  I didn't take my camera out very many times because I feel like we have a ton of pictures at the zoo, but these weren't very zoo-y, so I thought I would post them.  

Must Save Memory of Mother's Day

I didn't post the Mother's Day stuff I was going to because I just got too busy to do it, but there was something that I remembered today that I can't let go undocumented.  

It was Mother's Day night and Tucker was in his bed, I was across the room in the glider nursing Addie.  Tucker sits up in bed and says, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy."  That just warmed my heart beyond words and I said, "Thank you sweetheart.  That was really nice of you."  "Your welcome, Mommy."  So he lays down and settles into his sheets.  A moment later he sits up in bed and says, "Mommy, you say Happy Mother's Day to me too?"  With a giggle so soft that he wouldn't hear, as not to embarrass him to think he had said something wrong, I said, "Sure, Happy Mother's Day, Tucker."  He thanked me, cuddled up in the covers again and fell asleep.  

Comedian?

Today we met my Mom for lunch and when Tucker saw her he said, "Nana, I tell you a question?" She said yes and he told her a joke!  I didn't know he knew any jokes, and this was a real, and sort of funny, joke!  I was laughing so hard.  

So here's the joke:

Why did the banana go to the doctor?

Because he wasn't peeling well.