Every 6 weeks......

So it seems as if I will never keep this blog going.  Perhaps it can be my New Year's Resolution.  It's pretty sad because these girls keep us laughing every single day and I want to be able to share all of their funny antics, but somehow the nights just get away from me.  So here we are mid December and I have missed Halloween, Thanksgiving and in 2 weeks Christmas will be here- what on earth?!  Where can I find the pause button? So a little recap.......
Halloween was a blast!  Macy, Mike, and Brandy joined us for Trick Or Treating.  Alyssa and Macy were fairies and Addison was Tinkerbell.  They were hands down the cutest babies out in the neighborhood. Addison was really excited about the amount of candy she received even though she hardly ate any of it!

Thanksgiving was full of family and food.  We ate till we couldn't eat any more and I think we had the prettiest and tastiest turkey we had ever cooked. We took our traditional turkey leg picture.  Addison was her usual self- eager to take a picture.  Alyssa on the other hand not even close.  She cried and cried.  You would have thought we were trying to make her hold a live turkey.  She was scared of it!

 Apparently Alyssa is going to be our scaredy cat.  When we went to pick out our Christmas tree, same thing.  She was terrified. Thank goodness this seems to be passing.  She walks by ours and says "tree" and points, but won't go near it.  That has definitely worked in our favor.  No worries about the ornaments. :)
Addison is still amazing us with her ability to retain stuff and learn things, often just by observing.  I am a super proud "teacher mommy" as I hear her count, recognize letters, colors, and tell me that when she is 5, she will come to my school.  It makes my heart smile!
Alyssa is walking- EVERYWHERE!!  She loves climbing and standing on things.  She loves pushing her baby in her stroller and holding her and saying "awww" while patting her back.  She has a handful of words"light, tree, dog, dada, and mama".  She is one of the sweetest, most lovable kids I know.   She LOVES Oliver.  She often says "dog" and walks over to him, pats him, and loves on him.  Oliver get a lot of love from Alyssa and the old guy deserves it.  He is such a great dog and takes all of Alyssa's "love".
Last, but certainly not least, we got our pictures back from Amy Smith Photopgraphy and as usual, she did not disappoint. She is amazing and we can never thank her enough for capturing these special moments.  If you want beautiful family pictures- she is your lady!  Check out some of the previews! 

Our Little Sea Turtle

Yesterday was a fun filled day starting with a visit to the wonderful Dr. Norton.  The girls had their 1 year old and 3 years old check ups. Their stats are as follows: Alyssa- 19.6 lbs. (25th percentile), 29 1/4" long (50th percentile) and her head is 18 3/4 (97th percentile).  Addison- 28.8 lbs. (25th percentile), 37" tall (50th percentile).  Alyssa got her 1 year old shots along with her flu shot with minimal crying.  Addison got her flu shot and didn't even flinch!  I was shocked and so very proud.  I was more nervous than her.  Dr. Norton was extremely pleased with the girls growth and development.  The girls were pleased with the toys in the office and the stickers they received on the way out! It was an extra special trip because Grandma was with us.

After the doctors we headed to IKEA for a day of shopping and lunch.  Addison had a great time exploring and Alyssa had a great time just hanging out in the stroller taking in all the sights.  After a day full of shopping, the girls crashed on the ride home.
That afternoon we headed to Daytona Beach for a photo shoot with the wonderful Amy Smith.  If you have not ever seen her work, I highly recommend visiting her website http://www.amysmithphoto.com/main.php  Amy is a sorority sister of mine from college and is an amazingly talented photographer.  She photographed Alyssa when she was just days old and we were lucky enough to have her capture some more family images this week.  The girls were excited and ready to go.  My dear friend Dawn made their dresses and they were looking adorable!  You can visit her website at http://www.addyandtabby.com/.  As we made our way down to the beach, Amy was working with another family.  As we got closer Brian recognized the mom.  It was Dr. D'Heureux, the doctor who delivered Alyssa!  It was the most ironic thing ever!  We couldn't believe we ran into her almost 1 year to the day of Alyssa's birth at the beach!  It would have made for the perfect picture, but I was nervous to try to impose that on her and Alyssa as we didn't want to upset Alyssa.  She has entered this stranger fear stage.  We chatted for a few minutes, said our good-byes and started our pictures.  The girls started out very cooperative.  Addison was smiling and Alyssa was doing the best she could. Poor Amy had to be exhausted from trying to get Alyssa to look at the camera and smile.  The day was perfect, cool, breezy and overcast, perfect picture conditions! The first chance Alyssa had to get her feet in the ocean, she took it!  She was like a sea turtle!  She crawled as fast as she could straight to the ocean.  I guess we never thought about how intrigued Alyssa would be with the sand!  All in all we think  it went well, we can't wait to see what Amy got!

1 Year Old- ALREADY?!?

So many times you hear, "they grow so fast" and as a new mom, you never want to hear it.  You want those snuggly infant days to last forever.  But no one told me how much FASTER the second one would grow.  I can hardly believe that little sweet Alyssa is 1 year old!  She is sweeter and cuter than ever, but getting bigger and bigger.  Every morning when she wakes up, it seems as if she has grown overnight.  It is such a bittersweet time for us.  We are so thrilled that she is happy, healthy, and growing like she should.  However, with each milestone met, it reminds me of how fast she is turning into a toddler and no longer my baby.  She has 3 words: Dog, Dada, hi, and Ugh-oh (if that counts as a word).  She is waving, trying to sign I love you and using the signs for milk and more. This past week, with the help of our amazing nanny, we transitioned off of bottles completely.  Alyssa had no problems, it took 1 day!  She is drinking only from sippy cups now.  The bottles are packed up and ready for baby Kamden who will be arriving in the next 45ish days. 
Alyssa's first birthday party was quite the event!  She has been our little "chubba-wubba" since the beginning.  When she started crawling, Addison called her a "paterpillar".  She also LOVES to eat and always have, so we decided to go with The Very Hungry Caterpillar as our theme.  The food was themed around the book as well as the decorations and favors.  We had a bounce house, for the big kids. Don't be fooled, Alyssa enjoyed it as well.  All of our family and friends were here to celebrate.  I had the best time planning the party (as I always do).  I know, she will never remember it, but with over 300 pictures taken that day, I will be sure to document it all in a scrapbook for her to look back on.
It seems as birthdays in the Logsdon house always seem to last for multiple days and I have decided that I am perfectly ok with that.  We have so many reasons to celebrate; smart kids, cute kids, and most importantly healthy kids. So on October 3, her actual birthday, we headed to Disney World for the day.  Our day started with a parade, then we had lunch with Pooh and Friends and then rode the rides and celebrated all day long! 
The biggest news is FIRST STEPS!!!!!  October 10th, she took 4 of them and we caught them on video- thank God for the iPhone.  It makes it so easy to have a video camera at our fingertips at all times. Our next big step is moving her out of the infant car seat.  She is still small enough to be in in, but she may be more comfortable in the bigger seat. Mommy is just not so sure she can handle anything more this week
Here are just a few of the hundreds (literally)of pictures that were taken at the birthday celebrations!

All for an Animal Cracker!

Addison took her first steps on the beach for a Cheese Doodle, so it would only be fitting for Alyssa to follow her sisters' lead and do it for food as well. Today we were in the playroom just hanging out and Addison was eating animal crackers. Well Alyssa wants ANYTHING that anyone is eat- no matter what it is. So we gave her a little piece and of course, she loved it. So I stood her up and tried coaxing her with it. Much to my surprise, she took 2 steps. I yelled for Brian and he came running with the iPhone of course. We tried it again and it worked! 4 full steps! At 1 year and 6 days, we can see walking is in our VERY near future!

Alyssa just LOVES her big sister!!! She watches everything she does and is trying to copy everything she does. While it is really cute now, I am sure at some point it will cause some drama for their Momma! Today they enjoyed eating dinner that Addison cooked!

Bittersweet

This week has been an emotion filled one. I am a bit stressed with all of the party planning. This is all self inflicted of course because I am trying trying to make everything perfect. Yes, a little OCD as best said by a friend of mine. :) I know, she will never remember it, but there will always be the pictures and memories we will document for her. My heart is sad as I am watching my baby girl grow SO fast! I can not believe how much faster a year went with a second child. It is unbelieveable. I feel like it was just a month or two ago that she was born and now in less than a week, she will be 1 year old. As if all of this wasn't enough, we decided to try to kick the bottle. Well Alyssa is apparently very ready to be a big girl. All it took was 1 day of milk in a sippy cup and "POOF" just like that the bottles are gone. While Jenn and Daddy are thrilled because they no longer have to wash bottles, Mommy is a little sad. It's just another reminder that my baby is not going to be a baby much longer! Alyssa Ann, I love you a bushel and a peck, and a squeeze around the neck! (My little song I sing her all the time) I should also mention, she is not walking, but CLIMBING on everything and anything!!!!

Looked Away for 20 Seconds.....

This weekend went too fast as always. Friday night we kicked it off with pizza and drinks at the Brubakers. The girls had a fabulous time playing. It is so great that they all get along so well. Saturday, Addison had dance and continues to do a great job. She is always so pleased with herself when she finishes. After dance class, we headed over to pick up Gram and do a little shopping. She treated us to lunch at Chick Fil A, a favorite of all involved! Later that afternoon, Mom and Dad came by to deliver our new Pottery Barn look alike table. I LOVE it! Dad did such a great job, I am so pleased with it!

Naturally we had to try it out! So Gram, Mom, and myself all grabbed a seat and a nice cold beer. We were sitting there chatting when I looked back and to my surprise, Alyssa had climbed more than half way up the stairs! I panicked at first, then ran to be sure I was there in case she fell while Mom did the most important thing.... grabbed the camera!!!!

Never look away, not even for a minute! Alyssa did check to make sure we were watching!

Game Day! College football is here!!!!

It's football season and while I could care less, Daddy is happier than a pig in mud. I've also decided to go with, "if you can't beat them, join them"! So last weekend I embarked on a craft mission and made the girls tutus to wear during UT games. As you can see Alyssa was thrilled to wear it and Addison, well she just goes with the flow. She calls it her "ballet" dress. The outfits were short lived last weekend because bedtime came quickly and the crankiness began. Not to worry, there are plenty of UT games to be played so taht means plenty of time to wear their new outfits!

Acting Classes in our future???

Addison's love affair with Disney movies started with Snow White or "White" as she affectionatly called it for a long time. Since then, the princess obsession has taken over our household. We continue to watch Snow White more than anyone really would like to, however, this is the latest laugh out loud "Disney" moment we have had.....

3 years and 3 weeks later.....

Addison FINALLY grew enough hair to get her first haircut! Of course we wouldn't dream about doing it anywhere but the Barber Shop at Disney World. They offer "bay's first haircut" which seems kind of funny since she is already 3! I have to admit I was a little anxious. The entire experience was perfect! We arrived without an appointment (gasp! I know I am normally much more organized) and only waited for about 20 minutes. While we waited, the parade passed by so we had a front row seat which passed the time very quickly. Addison was excited to get a "trim" as we kept calling it. We've been battling the "I don't want a haircut because I want it to grow long like Apunzel", but we finally got through that. When it was her turn, Addison climbed right up in the chair and sat perfectly still. She loved that they gave her tons of Mickey Mouse stickers and that everyone was making a big deal about her haircut. I had to close my eyes a few times as the combed out those long pieces and cut them off. Although her hair had grown, it was completely unruly and needed a trim-BAD, I was still scared all those adorable curls would be gone. Well, I'm happy to report that I was wrong, very wrong! I think it is curlier than ever now! Addison posed happily with her new haircut, certificate, and a pair of Mickey ears. The whole thing was a success and our "baby girl" is looking quite grown up with her new haircut!

Time is STILL flying....

Going back to work has made for a very busy Mommy! I didn't realize how much a school of 1000 kids would impact my daily jobs. We are all adjusting, but i still miss my old school and those who I worked with. It is so weird working with people who don't even know my girls! What a disadvantage to them! ;)
Our frequent trips to Disney continue. Peopel ask how we go theer so much and we just smile and say, it's all for the girls! Alyssa is really starting to enjoy it, at least I think so. She looks around, takes in all the sights, rides some rides, and even tried to eat Mickey's nose on our last visit! Addison still can't get enough of the princesses. She loves them!
Addison continues to amaze us. Her vocabulary and her animated conversations make us laugh every day! She loves her nanny Jenn, more than I can explain. So much that on the weekends we have the same conversation... Addison: "Mommy, you going to work today?" Me: "No, it's Saturday". Addison: "Oh, I want Jenn to come home" (instead of come over)followed by tears. This Mommy feels the love... haha! The time has FINALLY come for a haircut, well a trim. Addison has the craziest hair, I can't even explain how it grows. It took forever to grow and now it's just out of control! The challenge now is convincing her that a haircut will be fun. She wants her hair to "grow long, like Apunzel". She tells us that she doesn't want it cut becasue it will turn brown. Never underestimate the power of a Disney movie, thanks Tangled. We keep assuring her that it won't happen, but she is not convinced. We did tell her that since her first haircut will be at the barber shop (yes it's for girls too) at Magic Kingdom, it will be special. Now she thinks Mickey himself will be giving her a "trim".
Addison started dance classes 2 weeks ago and is loving it! She is doing tap, ballet, and tumbling. I was very impressed at how well she listened to the teacher and how mesmorized she was by the entire class. Nothing is more entertaining than 3 year olds in tights and leotards! They are all so cute!
Alyssa is growing faster than the grass is growing! Her 10 month appointment has her weighing in at 18lbs (50th percentile), 28.5 inches (75th percentile) and 97th percentile for head size. Hope that means she is going to be smart! She has 8 teeth. All 4 of her top ones came in at the same time. That was fun- for all of us! Alyssa got her ears peirced over the weekend and I'm not sure who was more scared; her or Daddy. There were a lot of tears shed, but she quickly recovered and looks adorable. Brian survived too! The biggest news is walking is VERY near! Yesterday she stood up for about 10 seconds on her own and again today. She looks so funny becasue she is still so small. Addison is thrilled and can't wait for Alyssa to get big like her. We haven't caught it on video or camera yet, but I am going to try my best to! I was lucky enough to catch Addison's first steps on video on the beach with lots of friends there to witness it!
These girls are something else. Time and time agin people said, you'll never imagine how much you will love your kids and they were right... nothing makes me happier!

Big girl earrings!

10 months old

Our Little dancer

Enjoying time at Disney!

Time is going by TOO fast...

It is so hard for me to belive that my baby girl is 3! Where on earth did the time go? Everyone says it will happen, but I really didn't want to believe it. Now that I am experiencing it, it makes my heart hurt. Even though Addison can be a challenging 3 year old, I don't want these days to end. thinsg that come out of her mouth are just too funny. I shoud write them down because she makes us laugh all the time. She is working on letter recognition and seems to have all of her colors and shapes down. We celebrated her 3rd birthday with a Mickey Mouse party at the splash pad with family and friends. Addison has so much fun! She ran and played and laughed all day long. It is so sweet to see her with her "friends". She loves being with them and playing with them. On this day she was so excited to give them the "goody bags" we made. All in all is was a huge success!

Miss Alyssa is following the "growing too fast" trend as well. We are already thinking and preparing for her 1 year old birthday party which is just 2 months away!!! Again, where is the time going?!?! Of course she will not remember it, but we are having a bash! :) Mommy and Daddy survived the 1st year, this calls for celebration! She has her 4 bottom teeth and we are watching 3 top ones all come in at the same time! Poor baby girl! No wonder she was so fussy a few weeks ago! She has just started to say "Uh Oh", she waves, claps, crawls everywhere, and smiles- NONSTOP! I didn't think we could have a happier baby after Addison, but then came Alyssa. Her giggles are the sweetest thing you could ever hear and those big blue, turned green, turned hazel, and now looking a bit brown eyes just looking at you makes you smile!

We had a short summer break in July while I was off from work. I attended a week long conference at Disney so Brian and the girls joined me. After my conference day was finished, we swam in the pool and headed to the parks. Despite the HEAT, it was a great time. We also had Noelle, Dave, and Matthew down from NJ. We had a fantatsic time while they were here- more Disney, 4th of July bbq, and lots of quality family time.
Now summer is over, I'm back to work, the teachers came back today, and the kids return Monday. Let the fun begin! I think the girls were happy to send me back to work, not a single tear was shed and the shouts of joy were heard when Jenn returned. We are SO incredibly blessed to have her in our lives. She is the very best thing that has happened to our family.

I'll post some pictures soon. These girls growing faster and faster and in my opinion getting cuter and smarter everyday! :)

Summertime!!!

Today marks my 6th day of summer break. I have been VERY busy checking things off my to do list. Painting Addison's room (pink of course), cleaning closets, cabinets, printing & organizing pictures, completing birthday scrapbooks, the list goes on and on. I have to say I am quite proud of my accomplishments! I also have a new appreciation for Jenn, our nanny. She has the patience of a saint! These girls are a lot of work!!!
Tonight I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my nephew/Godson Matthew and my cousins Noelle and Dave. They are flying down from NJ for the week. We are all looking forward to their visit which will include a trip to see the mouse!
Alyssa is doing great now that her "virus" is gone. We had a few days of very high fevers which skyrocketed to 105 and landed us in the after hours weekend doctor's office. After some poking and prodding, the consensus was viral. Poor kiddo was a mess, but I have to admit I enjoyed the extra cuddle time every minute of the day. Day 5 the fever finally broke and about 12 hours later the rash appeared, just as the doctor said it would. Along with the rash came a broken blood vessel in her eye.We had to cancel pictures and are waiting for that clear, beautiful baby skin to reappear!
Addison is turning into a kid without a doubt. It hurts my heart to think my baby is growing so fast! She proudly announces to anyone (and everyone) that she will be this many, as she hold up 3 fingers, at her party. Her memory amazes me and her one liners keep us laughing all day long. We have made some huge strides in the potty training. She is even doing number 2 on the potty now. We venture out without diapers on and pray for the best. She has done amazing and hasn't had an accident yet!
When I was pregnant with Alyssa, I had so many people tell me that nothing will bring you more joy than watching your children together. They were right! It often brings tears to my eyes as I watch the girls interact. Now that Alyssa is moving and getting into things, she and Addison really enjoy playing in the playroom together. Today I even noticed Alyssa starting to imitate Addison. Alyssa even knows what to do to get Addison to laugh. Alyssa shakes her head no back and forth and smiles from ear to ear. Addison thinks it is so funny! This is a must-catch on video.
Stay tuned for pictures from our week with the cutest little boy around! In the meantime, here are a few of my latest favorites!

MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO!

SISTERLY LOVE

CRUZIN' THE NEIGHBORHOOD

On the Move!!!!

Without a doubt, Alyssa is learning very quickly by watching her big sister. She has been doing this crazy army crawl/scooting thing until today. Literally overnight she started to crawl on all 4! She is loving the speed she has gained now! We've spotted a 4th white bump on her lower gum which explains her very unusual crankiness the past week or so. Guess her tooth was hurting. :(
Addison has developed this aversion to bedtime. She is tired and she wants to sleep but has to have someone lay with her. Tonight I put my foot down, closed the door and although it made me sad, let her cry. Until..... Daddy came out of the shower. All Addison had to do was bat her big brown eyes and say "Daddy, please lay with me" and the answer was immediately yes. To make it even harder for him to say no, she said "Daddy are you going to lay with me"? When Brian answered yes, her reply was "Oh thank you so much, I am so happy now." WOW- she is learning the art of manipulation at such a young age! Those big brown eyes and long eyelashes are winning over many! Jenn also can not resist the sweet batting of the eyelashes. Seems she has been getting some afternoon rest at nap time as well! Brian made a very good point the other night, he said we should embrace this time because soon enough they won't want us to lay with them... sniff, sniff. Don't even want to think about that!!!

Our New Look

A very good friend of mine just gave me another much needed push to get on this blog! The Biggs family just welcomed a new baby boy to our circle, Ryan! We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet this cute little guy! She did a little updating to her blog look and inspired me to do a little changing, so here it is. I think the polka dots fit the girls well, but we still need to work on some color schemes.
Alyssa just turned 8 months old. She is scooting everywhere and trying to pull herself up on everything and anything! She is sporting 3 bottom teeth and loving Mommy's homemade baby food. Sweet potatoes,zucchini, and yellow squash are her favorites. Tonight was a first encounter with peas and she is not loving those. She did some gagging and we all did some laughing.
Addison's 3rd birthday plans are well underway and while July 31st will be sure to be a hot celebration, we are certain it will be enjoyed by the kids. Seems that our frequent trips to Disney have inspired a Mickey Mouse birthday party!
I am anxiously awaiting June 23rd when I will get to spend a moth with the girls. We don't really have any big trips planned, but we are going to have loads of playdates and a visit from Aunt Noelle, Uncle Dave, & Matthew from NJ! Hoping to get some pictures uploaded soon. You won't believe how these girls are growing!

Bad Mommy...

As I look at my blog today, I wonder where did the time go and why I am so so terrible at blogging?!? People LOVE to say oh it's becasue you have 2 kids now and you are busy, but I do not like that excuse. I go out of my way to try to do all for Alyssa that I did for Addison and this blog should be no exception. I blame it on Facebook! If I sent half as much time on the family blog as I did on Facebook, not only would it be current and up to date, but it would be the prettiest, most advanced blog out there! A very close friend of mine loves to tease me about my lack of updating and she has every right! She is so good about updating hers and I am her biggest fan. I love to read all about her girls growth, development, and mostly the funny things that happen in her house. So, I am making a promise to her as well as myself that I will get on this blog at the very weekly.
So, here is what is new... Alyssa just turned 6 months old! She is a cute, chubby, chatty little girl. She is sitting up on her own, rolling everywhere, babbling like crazy, and getting her first tooth. She is really starting to notice her big sister. Alyssa smiles and gets so excited to see Addison. She has also taken a pretty strong liking to Oliver. She makes a point of rolling over to him whenever she is on the floor. Oliver is such a good dog, he just lays there and let's her do whatever she wants. Of course he sneaks in the ocassional kiss/lick! She has her 6 month appointment tomorrow so we are very anxious to see where she is as far as weight and height. I am certain she is in the 90th percentile unlike her peanut sister Addison. And that brings me to my next topic.... Addison
So many people told us how great having kids would be. Of course we believed them, but we never in a million years realized how hard we would laugh. We never know what to expect out of her little mouth. She has become such talker. She wants to know all about everything every minute of the day. She surely keeps us busy and on our toes. This week's funniest story happened while Brian was outside preparing the front yard for new mulch. She came walking down that front pathway in her little jean shorts and announced "It's friggin hot out here". I really couldn't believe my ears, so I asked, "What did you say?" Without any reservation she repeated exactly what I thought she had said. Guess Mommy needs to be a little more careful with her word choice!
Stay tuned.. I PROMISE to get better at this. If for no one else, for the girls. I want them to be able to look back, read this stuff and laugh as hard as we do!