"Hot"

Addison's trick this week is saying "hot" and blowing on her food. There's something new all the time! She continues to love all bodies of water, and will do anything to hop right in. On Saturday we went to a pool party, where Addison attempted multiple times to climb into the pool by lowering herslef over the side (like she does on the stairs) and going in backwards. Don't be alarmed, we were right there with her of course, but her confidence in her abilities is growing daily. We then high-tailed it to a party with my Target co-workers and family/kids, where it proceeded to downpour and Addison and my boss's children insisted on crawling around in the rain becoming soaked. The woman and her husband hosting (no children yet) were panicked - it was hilarious! The kids had a good time though. I have no pictures of that event, but plenty of bath-time, and a few of the pool party. Enjoy!

HOT

Como Zoo

This past weekend Logan was visiting with us (and is here all week) so we decided to make a family outing to Como Zoo, one of the best FREE zoos I have ever been to! There is a beautiful carousel ride, tons of fun animals, a sea lion show and even a little amusement park for kids. This season there happens to be a beautiful butterfly exhibit, which was amazing - a huge tent shaped like a catepillar filled with flowers and plants and butterflies of all shapes, colors and sizes! We got some pretty cool pictures and Addison even tried to reach out and touch a few.

We also spent time on Saturday afternoon at DJ's softball playoff tournament. Addison got to hang with her buddy Cailin who is one day younger than her. Lots of July babies last year!

At the softball tourney

She was ALL OVER this little pug puppy


Trying on the pink cowboy boots from Grammie Pam :)

She likes them, I promise!

Eating lunch on Como Park before the zoo

Before the carousel ride - yippee!


Huge lillypads

I couldn't resist - these are the worst jeans I have ever seen on a man!

The tortoise, my favorite

my other favorite

Addison trying to get a better glimpse of Sparky the Sea Lion

Reaching for butterflies



Carousel clip

Before the Sea Lion show

Video clip blast - Enjoy!

Addison loves to "answer" DJ's de-activated cell phone

Pushing the cart :)

Scaling the stairs...backwards!

Fun with Callie

"Hi"

Addison is picking up new words every week and has quite the repetoire! She can now say "night-night", "no", "dog", "spider", "woof", "this", "that", "sit", "stay", "dadda" and her favorite of all..."hi". I happened to catch a couple of "hi"s on video, so check it out below! Her eye teeth are poping through so there have been a few rough patches with heavy teething in the last couple of weeks - poor thing! Other than that she continues to be a happy, curious, book-loving litte munchkin. We had a wonderful weekend of good weather and good friends, and look forward to the new week ahead!

"Hi"

Being rocked to sleep by daddy during a traumatic teething moment

Hanging out at Lake Harriet

One thing is for certain - Addison is never short of attention; as soon as we step outside the neighbor kids make a bee-line for the baby. This weekend they made an umbrella fort during a quick rain shower

Leo did a dance to Singin' in the Rain!

Flying kites after the rain shower

Addison's big 1st birthday bash!

Saturday, July 11th was Addison's big 1-year birthday party in our back yard and it went off without a hitch! We couldn't have scripted it better ourselves - from the perfect weather, the wonderful friends and neighbors, Addison's fantastic mood all day and even the Zeman's bouncy castle, a huge surprise and big bonus for all the kids!

DJ and I both took Friday off of work, and with Grammie Pam in town, we had some extra help running around that day tying up all the loose ends with the food, party favors, cakes (yes, plural - Addison had her own personal cake, and the rest of us got a sheet cake) and decorations. Saturday morning was perfect and clear and we got an early start in setting everything up. Our yard was slowly transformed into a balloon filled oasis!

We had about 45 guests (adults, kids, babies) who gathered for a casual and festive BBQ, with cake and presents that followed. We were kind of worried that Addison would be overwhelmed by all the excitement and people, but she had an absolute blast! She loved every minute if it and didn't even show signs of wanting to go down for a nap. The sugar from the cake likey helped propel her through the day. All the older kids catered to her, so DJ and I were able to socialize with our guests. The kids had a ball juping in the bouncy castle (we are SO getting one) and recieved gift bags before they left.

All in all it was a great day, and we are so thankful for the friends, family and neighbors who helped us celebrate Addison's big bash. As we look around at all our neighbors' backyards, we can still see random balloons tied here and there on people's decks that the kids took home, a nice reminder of a special day.

Funny moment on Friday at the pediatrician's

for her 12 month check-up - this was right before 4 shots :(

She is doing great!



Addison's first spaghetti dinner. She also switched from

breastmilk to whole milk without a hitch - such a trooper!

An after-bath faux hawk on Friday night

A quiet moment before the guests arrived on Saturday

Everything is set and looking good

Party time!

Presents!

In the bouncy castle

The Target baby buddies

This was after everyone left - we couldn't resist the crown.

Clearly, Addison did not agree!