Cousins are FUN!

We are finally home after a very long and VERY fun trip to Oregon!
On the 17th, the girls, I and Great Grandma flew from Burbank to Pasco. Jackson, Noah and Ellie, (Jason's 3 oldest) were already there. They are SO fun!
It was so fun to arrive at the airport in Pasco. Addison saw Grandma Smythe and just took off running for her. She looooves her Grandma Lady.
Straight from the airport we went to Red Robin to celebrate Ellie's birthday. She was the big 2 and had the sundae to prove it. All the kids got balloons and were having so much fun. Until the employees from Red Robin came to sing to Ellie, sang WAY too loud and scared her to death. Poor girl. and I hate it when you go to restaurants and they sing some retarded birthday song that isn't even Happy Birthday to little kids. seriously. Stick with the traditional people!
Anywho, the next ten days were filled with a tornado of activity. There were five kids under five and then Jimmy came for the weekend and that made 6! Here's a rundown:
Jackson 5
Noah 3
Jimmy almost 3
Ellie just turned 2
Addison 19 months and
Allie almost 3 months
What a zoo! It was wonderful.
One bad thing did happen to me while I was there though. The first Sunday home I woke up at 4am throwing up terribly. Mom and Dad took Addison to church with them and Great Gma stayed home and took care of Allie all that day because I was completely incapacitated. Seriously at one point I was worried. Throwing up SO bad and just SICK. I was SO thankful that Grandma Smythe was there to watch Allie. It almost literally was a life saver for me.
We were also able to see Grandma and Grandpa Vandecar while we were there and even Aunt Nichole drove over from Salem. Aunt Carol and Gary came down from Kennewick as well, I bet Addison felt like a celebrity!
The flights went great both directions. We were able to take Adds car seat on for the long flights between Burbank and Seattle so that was nice. She is a seasoned flyer so she slept for most of it. One flight from Pasco to Seattle was cute though. We had a seat but didn't take her car seat on. I just buckled her in the seat like a big girl. We talked about how big she was and her little buns did not even try to budge out of that seat. We did eat some smarties and sing songs and she had a great time. At one point she was sitting beside me, and Great Gma handed Allie over to eat and it totally was not a problem. They were both amazing flyers!
What a lifesaver it was to have Great Grandma fly with us. She put up with my "mild" (haha) stressing out on the way there and was a wonderful extra set of hands to hand off Allie to whenever I needed to get Addison or her car seat in or out of the planes. I don't know what I will do if she ever decides she can't put up with me. I hope that never happens. Thanks again Grams!
I also celebrated a big birthday while we were there. The big 30! We had my party complete with a big barbecue, homemade french fries and jello cake, my favorite! Ellie kept telling me "Happy Day Day" with a big huge smile. Cute.
All the kids did so great and had such a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's. I made MANY great memories including watching Jackson play Mario Kart, Noah sweet talking Allie into a smile every time he tried, Ellie and her four million word vocabulary and her tubbies with Addison, Jimmy and his obsession with everything always having to be perfectly organized and Addison swinging for HOURS with the kids. Allie was a snuggly baby the whole trip, such a sweet girl.
I am waiting for a thumb drive from dad for the pics to post, but those will be on here soon. Thanks to everyone for a great trip and a great birthday!

Sweetie Allie

Girly girl

For as rough and tumble as Addison is, she loves her shoes and hats.

Ventura beach was fun!

Addison looks so big running down the beach. It makes me proud of her but it makes me cry too. What a little athlete!


Last weekend we went to visit Seth and his family in Ventura. Rachel's family owns two beach houses there and they were down here for a week. Anywho, we went over and stayed a night and the kids had a GREAT time! Jimmy and Addison are good friends. and they have a relationship much like Seth and I did growing up. She teases him, he tells her NO NO NO Addi, and then she laughs and runs away. haha. I love it!
Then after playing on the beach we went to San BuenaVentura park located right off the sand. Addison has never liked to swing. I always try to make her like it at the park, but she never goes for it. Until this wonderful day when Robin put her up in the swing and she loved it so much she didn't want to get down. yay!

Holy Wheat Thins!

Those of you that have been around Addison in the last few months know of her obsession with Wheat Thins. (Especially you Lisa!=) She would eat these morning, noon and night if we would let her. After nap it's the first thing she signs almost every single day. So anyway, today after nap I got out the wheat thins but threw her a curve ball kinda trying to get her off the kick and on to other things... instead of her regular wheat thins, I gave her French Onion wheat thins. and let me just tell you the flavor is VERY strong on those things. I got one weird look and then she licked it to death and now she is downing them as though they are chocolate.
My attempt at sneaky has obviously backfired.

Mom!

Addison uses the word mom liberally. As in, Rob and I are both "Mom". At first this was hilarious to both of us, but now it is hilarious to only me.
Rob has corrected her hundreds of times, but she just laughs and says "Mom!" louder.
So anyway, we were at McDonalds the other day, Addison is chomping down her nuggets and Rob goes across the restaurant up to the counter to order something else. Addison looks over and yells "Mom, Mom". and of course Rob is just dying and NOT responding, but everyone in the place knows whats going on. So getting no response, Addison proceeds to yell louder as though he can't hear her. Now I am feeling sorry for him so while laughing hysterically I am trying to distract her. She is not having it and is starting to get miffed that her Daddy is ignoring her. So she calls Mom until he gets all the way back to the table with her milkshake. Classic. She will appreciate this one later I think.