One day she will eat these words.....

One day when she's 38, closing in on 40, she is going to remember the day, b/c I will tell her, when she wanted to be 5 not 3....which would now make her 40 not 38.

Addi turned 3 over the weekend and well when you're an only child (as was her momma) you make a weekend of it. I used to get the whole month, then I got married....Josh settled for a week. Now a days I'm lucky if I get the actual day. ha! I took off on Friday and let Addi choose a friend to go have pedicures and lunch. She wanted Arden to go with her. I love that she loves Arden as much as I love Arden's momma. Its even sweeter because they rarely get to play or even see each other yet I still hear her in her room talking on her cell phone having a conversation with Arden all the time, or even better that she randomly will say how much she misses or loves her. Gotta love the heart of a child, huh?!
So anyway we picked Arden up & headed to get pedi's. Addi explained to her the whole way that it tickles & she laughs a lot. Watching these girls was just the funnest. They picked out their colors & both wanted pok a dots. Funny thing is that one picked green & wanted pink pok a dots & the other chose pink & wanted green pok a dots. They loved it & had so much fun but was definitely ready to hit Chick fil a for ice cream & the playground....um, I was more interested in the original chicken sandwich with no pickle please. After one tea spill, ice cream in the hair, ice cream in Arden's hair b/c of Addi they were eager to hit the playground. I could hear the shrills & screams from my window view. They had so much fun together & Arden wasn't very happy that I was taking her back to the shop, she wanted to come to our house and had Addi not needed a nap we'd taken her in a heartbeat.
Saturday was her actual birthday and we had her party at the Spiritbarn in Hixson. Fab....fab....fab....especially for summer birthdays when its blistering hot out. Its also awesome for those mom's who go to parties & have to do more work to keep their rollers/crawlers out of things. Here you can put the kids down & they can run wild. They ALL ran wild....even us adults.
We were all pooped and hit the hay early that night. Needless to say it was a success & I can't even believe I have a 3 yr old. I just have no idea where the time has gone. I love that little girl with all my heart & am very blessed to be her momma.
We love you Addi Grace!!! Happy 3rd Birthday!

So excited for girls day with Arden!

(who cares that mom

took the day off to spend with her)

Loving her Grammy & Papaw

My family

YaYa, Addi & Mommy....Group Hug!

NON STOP!!!

She literally loved on every gift and said Thank

you before I could give reminders....what a good

girl!

Ohhhh Yeah!!! MAKE UP!!!!!!!

Another year "burnt"

Straw...straw....ba...ba berry....

Strawberry Shortcake!!!

Dessert with Arden

Big girls getting their toes painted

Andi...this is SO fun!

Birthday Girl!

Hot...Hot....Hot!!!

Super Star


Wanting to be just like Maddie


Mommy is silly

Brad is even more silly

Gosh I love my family!

Do you see what I see????

Loves her daddy!

Just catching some rays

Riding tractors at the Cookie Jar


Such a diva

Man its HOT!!! I def do not remember it being this HOT this early unless I think back to about 3 years ago when I was about to pop at this time so maybe my judgement is a little cloudy. ha!

We've been busy just doing fun stuff as Miss Addi requests, needless to say that swimming has been a huge part of it. Above are just some pics of our happenings lately. Hope you enjoy and stay tuned.....some one is turning 3 very soon!

Happily Ever After

Josh's cousin Kim got married on May 1st. Their wedding ceremony was literally a page out of a fairy tale. I loved the fact that Kim allowed herself to have so much fun and be very light hearted about her wedding. I was probably, ok not probably I was, more uptight and stressed than the bride was. You know that discussion in my last post about that little girl that won't do anything ESPECIALLY if you ask her to or if all the attention is on her WELL she struck again. Kim asked Addi, and 4 other little girls to be "fairies" instead of flower girls in her wedding. Let me just say that there is by far a difference in an almost 3 yr old and almost 4, 5, or 6 yr olds. Can you guess who the lone defiant fairy was? I must say though when it came time to walk down the aisle she did just that, with much help from Caroline, Chloe & about 8lbs of sugar in suckers & candy..... and high tailed it to momma. The wedding was fun with music from 101 Dalmations, Cinderella and many other Disney movies and the ceremony was beautiful. We are so happy for Kim & Michael and thank them for including us in their special day.

Ready for Rehearsal

If I would have allowed it she so would've worn this ALL day!

Walking with Caroline

The bride with her fairies & their momma's

The Lewis clan (MOST of us)

Family Photo

Just a few of the Lewis ladies (Anne, me, Stephanie & Sherri)

Dancing during the father / daughter dance

(if that doesn't make your heart melt I don't know what would!)

Sherri & Rick, me & Josh, Anne & Allen during the reception

Time Out....SOCCER MOM!!

I think I deserve to put myself in TIME OUT for the lack of blogging. Our laptop is on the "DL" list and I've been putting off taking it to Best Buy for the Geek Squad to look at it and say "we have to send it off!"

I used to have a little down time at work that I could catch up on blogging occassionally but those days are so long gone its not even funny. Not funny at all.

So in a nutshell the Lewis' really haven't slowed down any even though the blogging has. We signed Addi up for soccer. Its been a learning experience for ALL of us. I think that if you have ever met Addi you know she's by far not shy. Usually she's having deep conversations with those she meets atleast 45 seconds into their meeting however soccer is a completely different story. The day before I stood in the Target aisle of shinguards, soccer balls, socks etc.....thinking to myself "where did the time go?" I seriously was trying to not let the tears that were building in my eyes to actually slide down my check as I grabbed the pink & white shinguards and jetted.

Day 1 of soccer - Addi woke up, bright and early of course, and was so excited about soccer. She put her shinguards on about an hr and a half before it was time to even leave the house. She carried her ball with her like a big girl and was talking all about soccer......we got to the field where our team (which consists of 5 kids and 10 parents...ha!) was warming up. WELL our team was short a member for the first game. Addi wouldn't step foot on the field, didn't want any party of it so she and I sat on the sidelines and just talked about the team, the field, the game, we also discussed the birds, who that was walking across the field, why THAT GIRL had her ball and anything you could think of that didn't have a thing to do with soccer. I think we went to the potty twice. Just as she was gearing up, said "I'm ready to play" it was "snack time" and the game was over. Needless to say it was a little stressful....I promised myself I wasn't going to get all ancy or uptight if things didn't go according as planned. (thats a whole blog in itself!)

The second week was better, not perfect but she at least tried. She kicked, ran but I will tell you when anyone cheers for her or tries to tell her good job she goes into panic mode, shuts down and is D-O-N-E, at least until she wants to be. She is ALL WOMAN!!!! We missed our 3rd and 4th game because of scheduling conflict with Addi being in Josh's cousin Kim's wedding (and yet another blog, jeesh I am behind, huh?). So tonight will be our last game & pictures. Needless to say this year was a learning experience for all of us. I just want her to be active. I don't care what she does, although we are extremely bias to softball....however what ever she wants to do we will be 100% behind as long as she is learning something & getting some sort of exercise and interaction with other kids. So here is to being a soccer mom, at least for 1 whole day!

Um, I think I'll hang here

with my mom.

If .......you will just kick it

mommy will take you to Chick Fil A

Ok, but just 1 time!

All that decision making on whether to play

sure did work up an appetite.

Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. ~Author Unknown

So this past week was a big week for me, in the perspective of years that is. I turned 30 whether I wanted to or not. I chose to go ahead with it. People keep asking me am I ok with it. Well for one do I have a choice? Uh, no but I do have a choice in how I perceive this "milestone" of a birthday. I wouldn't consider it a milestone as I think each year that I'm healthy enough to make it to see another birthday is in itself a milestone. I'm happy to turn 30. I feel like I'm starting a new chapter or heck even a whole new book in a way. I've never felt better - spiritually, physically & emotionally. I'm learning new things about me every day....some things I don't like, those I'm working on and other things I love - I do love me. That may sound so conceited and I don't mean it that way at all. I learned from Susan to learn to love me first, b/c if I love me then I'm willing to love others whole heartedly and I know that I'm worthy of being loved. And man.....am I ever loved. From the minute I put my foot on the ground that morning it was nothing but thoughtfulness all day long. I got some of the cutest gifts from wine glasses & stationaries to what some like most....$$$ & gift cards. I was told repeatedly how much I was loved, appreciated and thought of. There are so many people that continue to show me just how much I'm loved. My husband for one - forked over his wallet to Starla, Britt & Meg so that I could have a party I'd never forget. Every single detail of my birthday was so special. Mom made sure I had the oohhh la la boots I'd been wanting - Addi told me over and over Happy Birthday Mommy in the sweetest singing voice ALL day long. We had Formosa for dinner, yummy! I had one of the best cakes that Publix makes from the office. Seriously folks this cake was to die for. Its one of their signature desserts.

People were so thoughtful in the gifts they gave, which were so not even needed or expected. I'm just so blessed. Meghan designed the most adorable invitations & Starla made sure that I had the cutest of cute cakes for the party....and from what I hear my hubby was a champ b/c it wasn't cheap!!! And well probably the most favorite and most thoughtful gift.....Britt apparently had emailed folks asking for their addresses, most of the invite list actually. She sent them a letter which included a self addressed envelope & colored construction paper. Each person was to write down as many memories on separate sheets that they had that included me & them - they sent them back to her prior to the party. She put all of those memories into a "memory box" for me which was also on the cake table at my party for others who didn't get to participate with the mailing. When I opened the first piece of paper that read "I will never forget going ring shopping and planning the proposal for Starla" - Jeremy Painter....well I started crying.

There were memories from Jr High, memories from high school, college, maternity days, and so very recent days......it was so incredibly thoughtful. I have literally read them over & over & over. Some are so hilarious that I laugh out loud and some....well, some are like "memoirs of Marilyn Monroe", that is they will be taken to the grave. ha! If you know me well then you know that this gift meant more to me than any thing with a price tag. I have so many people that I love and to hear what our relationships with each other meant to them is truly priceless.

I feel like although I know there will be hardships to face, whether its death, the roller coaster of marriage, parenting, that I'm blessed and I love my life & everyone in it. I'm blessed with a husband who respects & loves me and a daughter that is healthy & makes me smile a smile no one else can.

So I say to the question of "how do you feel about turning 30?".......Bring on the Memories!

Paul said it would be like this.

Our road at 4:15 on Friday 1/29

Being silly girls

Cutest snow angel ever!

We all know that we all give the weather men grief throughout the year. They, unlike most of us, can completely foul up a prediction yet still keep their job. :) Its actually comical. And even though Paul did say we would be getting snow I'm pretty sure they missed how quickly it would arrive and they certainly missed predicting how much we would get. Predictions said 3-6 inches in the higher elevations. This is how those predictions affected the Lewis'.

I had attended a meeting up on BCBS' Cameron Hill Campus. Around 11:30 when the meeting was over I called to check in with the office since Sandra & Kim were supposed to come downtown & we were going to take Dianne to lunch. Kim was being told school's were letting out so that put a nix in our lunch plans since she needed to get her kids. It really worked out b/c I headed on into the office thinking that since I'd already been gone all morning I'd just work through lunch. We leave at 4 on Friday's anyway & I can assure you I have plenty of snacks in my desk. Sometimes a handful of teddy grahams or half a box of wheat thins later I get through a crisis...ha! Anyway back on track here....Sandra ran to get her some lunch and was literally going across the street, she called and said, "look outside" it was really coming down. Jeff came by and said just use your discretion. You know where you need to go and how long it will take. I knew I needed to go to the grocery....uhhhh yea. I mean we didn't have juice, milk, anything for Addi to eat so I knew I HAD to go. By the time I got to the Bi-lo in Hixson the grounds were covered, about 45 minutes later Josh calls to say the rr had called overtime & he was going in. I said "Really?? Have you looked outside?" He was like uhhh no I'm still in bed and then he says "oh...guess I better tell them I'm not coming." He went to get Addi and we all worked to get home. It was pretty slick and by the time I got to Highwater traffic was backed up to 27, two cars were in the ditches and we were sliding when we stopped. It took 13 minutes to get from 27 to Dayton Pk....probably not even the distance of a football field, maybe. We made it home and got a good play in the snow. By 7:00 that evening we had over 7 inches on our back deck. It was crazy how fast it was coming down and for how long. Addi was loving it and we got an extra night with Daddy!!! :)

Around 2 the next morning we lost power. It did not come back on until 9:45 that night. We didn't stick around to wait on it though. Fortunately for us we are loved! We packed up a ton of snacks (I mean I was at the grocery so might as well prepare for it!!) and got super comfy and we headed to Jeremy & Starla's. The kids played hard and we laughed hard. Its wonderful having such good friends to take care of us.

And while I thought it was beautiful andI'm glad Addi has seen it - done it I'm good with the snow now, I'm ready for spring. Yea alot of good you were Punxsutawney Phil!!