Has it already been 7 years?

How could this little thing turn into

This grown up girl?

Time keeps flying by around here. Addy turned 7 just two days ago. I remember the day she was born so clearly. It's hard to believe that she's been with us for 7 years. Addy is such a good kid. She is very kind and usually quite happy. She is very sensitive to others feelings. She can tell if I'm having a bad day and will try to cheer me up. She loves reading. She loves reading! (Yes, I know I repeated myself, Addy really loves to read) We can't keep enough books around for her. She is reading on a 3rd grade level and loves chapter books. She reads most books in one or two days. Addy is a great helper and just an all around great kid. Ben and I are so lucky to have her in our family. We only give the kids friend parties every other year starting at age 5, so Addy was thrilled to be able to have a party this year. She wanted a princess party with some of her friends from school. The girls came dressed up like princesses. They played games, ate pizza, went on a treasure hunt and ate cupcakes. I was amazed at how much noise six little girls can make. It was a great party and the girls had a lot of fun. I'm glad we get next year off though.

February Photos

February...The Highlights

February has dragged on forever. I've been feeling the winter blahs for a while and haven't felt like posting. I saw some tulips coming up today and some freshly planted pansies. This gives me hope that spring is actually going to come. So I'm in the mood to blog today, so I'll just write about the highlights of the forever long month.

• I've been working on my photography skills and I have a great "photo shoot" with Sydnee, Maren's shoot, not so good. I'll keep trying.
• Sydnee gave her first talk in primary. They asked her to bare her testimony through art. The theme for the month is Jesus is my savior and redeemer. Her first picture was of President Monson, I tried to get her to draw a picture of Jesus. She finally told me that President Monson was easier to draw. What a sweetie!
• Valentine's day is not one of my favorites, but we managed to have fun anyway. We had a great homemade dinner the night before and we gave the girls cards and treats. Addy and Sydnee had lots of fun at their school parties also.
• On Presidents day I was able to spend some girl time with my mom and sister. We had fun shopping at our favorite little stores.
  
• Ben and I went on a date and found that we still like each other (okay, so we always have liked each other, we just don't get to go out very often) We had lunch at Cafe Rio and shopped for Addy's birthday.
• I took Sydnee to register for kindergarten. I can't believe that in 6 months she will be going to school.
  
• Maren hit the 7 month mark. She can sit up by herself, army crawl and scoot all over the floor and feed herself fruit puffs. She also graduated to a bigger carseat. No more baby bucket for her.
• We went to the Jazz game. Ben received a nice little package of ticket from one of the vendors at work. We had free parking, a fabulous free dinner at the top of the energy solutions arena where we ate like kings and queens. The club had an amazing view of the city and the food was super yummy. The girls were given Jazz bear umbrellas. We watched the first half of the game, the kids were too worn out to stay for the whole game.
  
• Sydnee went to the grocery store and fire station for her pre-school field trip. She had a great time and I was able to visit with some of my old friends from my ambulance days.
• I have been exercising every day, except Sunday and reading my scriptures every day. I definitely have more energy and I'm able to get more done. So far, Turbo Jam is my favorite workout. I also love the Wii fit, I'm a calorie torcher!
  
• And finally, Addy turned 7 on the 26th. She was so excited and happy. All of the kids in her class sang to her and made birthday cards. We had a great birthday dinner and cake. The next day we had a princess party for her.