Ho Ho Ho...Merry Christmas!?!

My little bunnykins is not fan of Mr. C!

AD's 1st Birthday Caterpillar Crawl

Well here are the pictures of Anna Dixon's party...finally. It was a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme and a family affair, but I think she had a blast. She was a bit timid with her cake a first, but as you will see from the pictures she very much enjoyed it in the end. She was also pretty oblivious while we were opening gifts but soon realized that they were all for her and dug right in! I can't believe my baby girl is 1 year already!!

Happy Birthday to the Bunnykins!!!

I can't believe that our little bunnykins will be 1 year old tomorrow! Anna Dixon is such a precious blessing and is growing so fast! Looking back through pictures from this past year, it is amazing to see how much she has changed. She has grown from a tiny little bundle into a baby on the move. She is not walking yet but is cruising like crazy. This past weekend we celebrated "Anna Dixon's 1st Birthday Caterpillar Crawl" with our family. Of course I have a lot of picture to post from the party, but today I want to post this video that sweet Tommy did of Anna Dixon's 1st year...enjoy!

Trick or Treat! (better late than never)

Yes, I am just now doing a Halloween post...but hey at least it is not quite Thanksgiving week yet! Anna Dixon was a garden gnome for Halloween, and a pretty cute one at that if I do say so! The most amazing thing was that she kept her hat on all night long! As is our tradition, we trick-or-treated with our friends, Mitchell and Gigi, and our god daughter, Anna Holt. They were a cute skeleton family. Garden gnomes bring in a lot of candy! Unfortunately, our golden retriever, Sadler, consumed ALL of our candy while we were out one day. Since she apparently has a stomach of steel, she is fine.

trick or treat!?!

all ready to go

getting the goods

the culprit!

A Pumpkin for Our Little Pumpkin

Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch with our friends, Mitchell and Gigi, and our god daughter, Anna Holt. Anna Dixon and Anna Holt are about 6 months apart, so we are hoping that they will grow up being big buddies. AD was not sure about the pumpkin patch. Although, it may have had something to do with the lack of a nap. We took a hay ride out to the patch where interestingly some of the pumpkins grew out of the ground with price tags on them...hmmm? Oh well, we had a lot of fun anyway. In the end, we found the perfect pumpkin for our little pumpkin!

Caught in the Act!

It's been an icky week. AD and I have both been battling the stomach virus, but I guess she was feeling better yesterday afternoon. I walked into the den and found her doing this.... (just had to share).

Really on the Move Now!

I just realized that it has been a month since I've update my blog...wow! I guess life has been pretty busy, although I can't exactly put my finger on what we've been doing. I promise to be more consistent in the future. Anna Dixon is doing great weighing in at 22 lbs. and 30 in. long. Someone at the library the other day asked me if she was 6 months. When I told her 9, she apologized. I thought please don't. I was thrilled she actually thought AD was younger rather than older. Usually people's eyes bug out and they say "Really only 9 months!?! Wow!" AD is still topping the charts for her age, but she is happy and healthy, and I couldn't be more pleased! She has officially started crawling/ scooting. She keeps one leg tucked under her, but it does not impair her ability to move. The other morning I tried twice to pull that leg out from under her, and she fell flat on her face both times...ooppps! So I've decided to just let her do her own thing. She is into everything. She loves to pull the dvd player out of the entertainment center, tries to get into Sadler's food and water, and has just started following me around from room to room. Lately I've been trying to get some action shots of her. Here they are...

watching the rain

helping with the laundry

chasing Sadler

exploring

all tired out and relaxing with Dad

Roly Poly Girl!!!

Anna Dixon is growing, growing, growing! She already has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom, and today I noticed that a third tooth has broken through on the bottom. She started teething around 6 months, and boy have they been coming in fast since then. She is sitting up but not crawling yet. Don't let that fool you, though, she is quite mobile. She rolled over at 4 months, but as a friend put it the other day she is now rolling with a purpose. I'm beginning to wonder if she is going to crawl at all because she rolls wherever she wants to go. The other day she was playing on the rug in our bedroom. I went into the bathroom for a minute, and when I came out she had rolled all the way across the room, pulled a fan plug out of the wall, and was chewing on the end of it. I quickly took the plug out of her hand, told her no, and turned around to wrap the cord around the fan to get it out of the way. When I turned back around AD laying flat on her back had scooted to the wall and had her hand up the wall trying to stick her fingers in the outlet! She will not be deterred! So, maybe it is time to baby proof the house. A couple of days later she was playing in our dressing room. I walked out of the bedroom, and when I came back in she had rolled into the bathroom and was playing with the shower curtain. Even though I was a little concerned that she might pull the curtain down on herself, I thought it was pretty cute so I grabbed the camera and caught it on tape. Here is our little roly poly girl...

Chattanooga Choo Choo!

Last weekend Tommy, Anna Dixon, and I took an impromptu trip to Chattanooga. We stayed at the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Tommy used to stay there when he was little (to my knowledge I've never actually stayed at the hotel), so we thought it would be fun to take AD. Well let me tell you, I don't think they have updated it since Tommy was a little boy. It was pretty gross to say the least! But, in spite of our not so stellar accommodations, we had a great time! We drove over on Friday morning and ate at Tony's one of our favorite restaurants in the Bluff View Art District (a really awesome area of town near the aquarium). Then we poked around some art galleries and walked across the river on the pedestrian bridge. We both agreed that Chattanooga is one of the few other places we could live. It is just a really cool city. All three of us did enjoy the pool at the Choo Choo and eating at the Station House restaurant. All the waiters and waitresses sing, so it was a really fun atmosphere. The next day we headed out to the zoo. We have been to the aquarium twice, so we thought we would try something new. Chattanooga has a really small but nice zoo. In the middle of our visit the bottom dropped out of the sky. So, we ran into the chimpanzee exhibit. We were in there for about an hour, but changed a diaper, gave a bottle, and fed AD while we were there! It turned out to be an awesome spot to wait out the rain, though. They had four chimps one male and three females, and I have never seen anything like it in real life. It was a circular exhibit with three huge windows. The male chimp would run from window to window banging on them or stand in front of them and beat his chest. At one point he swung from a branch and bounced off one of the windows with his feet. Apparently, the two young females were in heat. There was one x-rated scene that Tommy and I had to shield AD's eyes from, but we both agreed the chimps were worth the admission fee. Interesting fact: while we were there a tour group came through and the guide said that chimpanzees have an intelligence level of a 14 year old...who knew? Of course we took a few pictures. Can you believe AD will be 8 months tomorrow!

loves Mama's sunglasses!

laid back!

teething?!?

Crafting

I have always wanted to be one of those cool crafty moms, but to be honest those super creative moms out there with five children are really putting me to shame. I have a list of things in my head that I would like to do around the house but weeks go by, and I never seem to get to them. For instance, I was going to make pillows for my den sofas. I even bought fabric for them...never made them...saw some a Target that I thought would work...bought them instead. Well, I finally finished a crafting project for Anna Dixon's nursery! It only took me about an hour, and it probably should not have taken me that long. Tommy painted an old bookshelf of ours to put in Anna Dixon's room, and I wanted to get a lamp to go on it. I found the perfect lamp at Pottery Barn kids for $60+ dollars, so I decided to make a cheaper version. I got the base and shade at Target and the ribbon at Hobby Lobby. It was not the most complicated project but not a bad first attempt at being crafty. Here it is...

5 Month Photographs

The Saturday before we went to the beach we had some photographs taken of Anna Dixon. We are so pleased with how they turned out and can't wait to cover our walls with them! Stephanie Allums of S. Allums Photography took them. (www.sallumsphotography.com) We had a great time with her. She was so wonderful with Anna Dixon, and we can't wait to have her back to take some more. Not only is she a very talented photographer, she is also a fellow adoptive mama. So, we had lots to talk about. She has a precious little boy who was adopted domestically from birth, and she is waiting to bring home her other son from Guatemala. Here are some pictures from the session.

I see the beach!!!

"I see the beach!" is a little family inside joke. Tommy and I and now Anna Dixon go to the beach with my family every summer. This is a fun tradition we started a few years ago. As we make our beach plans, usually over email, we like to end with "I see the beach!" as a way of anticipating the trip and showing our excitement...yes kinda quirky but that's my family for you! Anyway, we went to the beach a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't say that AD loved the beach, but she was a champ and tolerated it well enough. Everyone says that AD looks like Tommy, and amazingly she inherited his very fair skin...through adoption...go figure? So, my fair skinned sweethearts spent most of their time under an umbrella. AD did however really like the pool. I'm sure that she will embrace both much more next year. She did love hanging out with all her aunts, uncles, cousins, and Bibi!  I've spent the last couple of years watching my niece and nephew playing in the sand wondering when our little angel would arrive. It was so precious to watch them play this year while holding my sweet baby girl in my arms and anticipating her playing with them next year!

Most of the week was spent relaxing by the water. However, one night after dinner we had quite an adventure. As Bibi was washing the dishes, she dropped a baking dish in the sink. It broke into two pieces and one edge sliced her hand just below her thumb. I was impressed at how we all sprung into action. We immediately sat my mom down and put pressure on the wound. Tommy grabbed his iphone and found directions to the nearest hospital. He also had the ingenious idea of wrapping her hand in a burp cloth (they are very absorbent), and my brother-in-law happened to have some gauze in his back pack (must have been a boy scout) that he used to tie around the burp cloth. We were in the car and on the way to the ER in a matter of minutes. Thank the Lord the emergency room was empty, so two hours and 8 stitches later we were on our way back to the beach house. Bibi was a real trooper bless her heart! Despite our little mishap, we had a great time being together!

Here are a few pictures from the trip...

on our way!

first walk on the beach

play time

AD and aunt SR

nap time

at the Red Bar

me and my sisters