Giving Thanks

This year for Thanksgiving our family tried to spend more time reflecting on the specific things we are grateful for. Obviously, it didn't take long since we seem to be surrounded in blessings. Here are just a few that come to mind...

This little girly. My little buddy Addison. And Christmas lights of course! We were lucky enough to see the lighting ceremony on the Bentonville Square last week.

Kind strangers....that take blurry pictures. I'm always grateful when I meet kind people. Even if they speak limited English. Thankfully, once I performed a few charade moves they got the hint and happily snapped our picture. :D

Pies. Seriously, no joke! These 13 pies fed the whole Hufford clan for Thanksgiving. Can you say 1 pie per person? Thanks to Uncle Richard for constructing a pie gurney to carry all of them on as well! We are also thankful for the delicious dinner that came before the pies!

Kind cousins. Addison loves playing with them. Especially the older girlies that do so well at including her and sharing their crayons and paper. This kept her occupied for 30 minutes! Thanks Karah and Brianna!

Dogs. Addison loves the time she gets to spend with Gracie. Not sure if Gracie feels the same towards her. She's the perfect size for Ms. Addibell.

Christmas music. We've been listening to this one even before Thanksgiving. John grew up listening to this CD and we've adopted it as our own family tradition as well. Thanks to Ebay and some mad bidding skills from John, we are now owners of a mint condition, out of print, "Christmas Through The Years!" Woohoo!

Uncles that read to cute little girlies. Thanks Uncle Tom for giving Addison some one-on-one time and reading to her. It's her FAVORITE past time. And thanks to Bryce for sharing your Daddy - even though I think you are giving the stink eye in this pic! ;-)

Family. All of 'em on both sides of course! Grandpas, Grandmas, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, etc. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families that love and care about us.

Little helpers. Especially the cute ones. I love when Addison joins me in tidying up the place! One of the rare times she's seen cleaning a mess instead of making one! :D

And most of all, Daddies & Daughters. Especially Daddies that love their Daughters as much as this one does. He's a hard worker for our family which makes me lucky enough to stay home and raise this cute little cheesin' girl. He spoils us rotten. Which reminds me of one more thing I'm thankful for....Girls Weekends in Branson! Just got back from a day and a half of nothing but eating, sleeping, shopping, and laughing with my Mom and sisters. Couldn't have done it without a wonderful husband who assumed the role of Mr. Mom while I was away.

So so so grateful for so so so many things!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Nursery Times

It's official....Addison is indeed growing up. It has been confirmed. She is now a church nursery-goer.

Technically she's still a couple of weeks away from the 18 month mark but we were lucky enough to get a jump start on the transition phase. And frankly, I think Mommy is having a harder time transitioning than she is. I'll admit it, I was the one who chose to sit w/her in nursery the WHOLE time her first Sunday. Even though she seemed perfectly fine. But I've since weaned myself and am doing LOTS better!

I'm so proud of how well she has adjusted. She cries a little when I leave but thankfully is easily sidetracked w/toys and other children. (Secretly, her ability to be easily side-tracked is one of the qualities I L.O.V.E. about her. I use it to my advantage quite often. I'm sure as she gets older I'll enjoy it less and less though). I was terribly shy when I was younger so I'm definitely relieved she isn't as much.

John was able to snap a few pictures of her undetected. Here is an adorable one of her coloring her picture at the table. Am I the only one that just wants to sqquuuueeeezzzzeee her when I see this? Yes folks, she is my first, the little things still excite me. :D


There are so many benefits of having her in nursery. John and I can actually enjoy church again without chasing a toddler around. Addison can learn to socialize w/o her Mommy by her side. She can be entertained much better than we ever could with our diaper bag collection. And she comes home completely tuckered out and ready for a nap! Two thumbs up for nursery!


A Bit Of Randomness:

And just for documentation purposes, Addison has hit the "lovey dovey" stage. We are LOVING it as well. She has learned how to give hugs and kisses. Granted her kisses sometimes involve a booger exchange but I'll gladly take it. Plus, her hugs are nice and long (surprising for an active toddler) and she takes the time to lay her head on you and pat you during the hug. She seems to initiate them a lot just on her own. But is also very obliging when we ask for them too.

Funny Story #1: As we were shopping in Walmart the other day, I kept leaning in for kisses. Each time I'd make a buzzing sound and get louder and louder and then plant one on her. She liked the game at first but quickly got annoyed when I kept on. However, despite her annoyance she still begrudgingly participated as if she had to. You could see the look of frustration on her face as she kept leaning in w/a kiss. I think she even grunted a few times in disgust when I wouldn't stop. I LOVE that she doesn't realize her free agency yet! Mom's way is still the only way apparently! Woot!

Funny Story #2: Again, shopping at Walmart (yes we frequent the store uh.lot). We walked down an aisle and she shouted "MOU!!" in a growly excited voice. I couldn't see exactly where she spotted Mickey Mouse but she is rather good at finding him. Anyway, as we turned down the aisle in the opposite direction, a lady parked her cart right in our way and started looking through a rack. At the exact same time Addison again spotted the mouse and used her excited growly voice to shout "MOU!!!!!" The lady jumped and quickly apologized and moved out of our way. Apparently she thought she was getting scolded by a toddler. It was hilarious but I tried to reassure her as we passed. I won't lie, it kinda scared me a bit too.

Baby Mama

I am this baby's mama. But, she is the little baby's mama. And she is a VERY good one at that.

(Just disregard the messy hair - it was a long day.)

She's at the age of baby dolls now. It is soooo fun to see what motherly qualities she has and she's not even 18 months old yet! She loves to carry her baby around, give it kisses, and hold it close to her while she lovingly pats her.

Because she loves her baby so much, I've joined in the festivities. We've adorned her with a new dress (aka Addison's swimsuit), draped the toy necklaces around her, given her rides in the cardboard box (just like Addison), shared her food and bottles, given her a bath when Addison takes hers, and rubbed lotion on after the bath. We even let her take the baby to bed one night until I had to wake up three times just to see her flopping and flailing on the baby doll.


I swear, each phase Addison grows into, I seem to love it more and more. Granted we still have our tantrums, whines, and rough naps but more often than that we have our giggles, our play time, and happy moments. She's growing up into such a little girl and losing all of her baby chunk.

She knows where her nose, eyes, belly, ears, hair, fingers, piggies (toes), teeth are and points to them on command. She jabbers away in her own little language while she turns her hand up and acts like you should know exactly what she is saying. Yes, I've had grocery checkers ask me to interpret as if I know what it all means.

She is learning a lot of words, even though most don't have the ending part, but it's still adorable. I know it's bad to encourage the baby talk but I just love speaking her language with her. I guess if she grows up with a speech delay we can blame it on me ;-)

Just a few words she has learned so far:

"Nack" - Snack
"Bye Bye" - she says this over and over every time we put on her shoes and she waits by the door until it's time. She LOVES to go bye-bye.
"Side" - As in outside or inside. She mostly likes to go outside of course.
"Doh" - Dog. She shouts it each time she hears one bark and gets all excited
"Dad" - Simple as that. No Da-da or Daddy.
"Mom" - Again quite simple. Sometimes I get a "Ma".
"Up" - Usually when she wants on the couch with us but has now decided that every time I ask her to use her words it means to say "Up" even if she wants down, out, in, etc.
"A,B,C,D" - Repeats us as we say the alphabet. Seems to fade about the time we get to "E" though.
"Cat" - Likes to say the word but did NOT care for them when she had her first encounter with a kitten a few weeks ago. A girl after my own heart I suppose. ;-)
"Mil" - Milk. She signs this one well and tries her hardest to say it too.
"Baybeh" - Baby. A favorite of course.
"Ju" - Juice
"Shoe" - Loves to play with them and loves to repeat it over and over while we put them on.
"Sock" - Again loves to repeat it as we get dressed each morning.
"Mou!" - Exclamation included because she gets sooo excited each time she finds him somewhere.
"Go, go, go," - Usually is running full speed with excitement while she says this one.
"Boon" - Balloon. She LOVES them and spots them everywhere. Especially the ones w/"Mou" on them.
"Jumpy jump jump jump jump" - This is from a CD of Gabba that we play in the car. I just noticed her singing it while we were walking around the block yesterday. Adorable.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some so I reserve the right to re-post as they come back to memory!

I just want to say that I'm sooooo grateful that I get the privilege of spending my days with this cute little girly. Yes, some days can be looonnngg but I wouldn't trade it for any other job on earth. She is the best co-worker I've ever had. I'm enjoying the days where I can just be her buddy. Before you know it she'll be a teenager and then I'll have to be the mean Mom!

Grand Slam!

This past Saturday, Addison & I scored a Grand Slam!! Every once in awhile, when the moon is full, and the temperature strikes juuuusssttt right.....John makes us breakfast. :D I really look forward to those days. See why?

Something similar to Denny's eh? But much MUCH tastier!

Although he seems to cook breakfast few and far between, he definitely makes up for it with beautiful and tasty creations. Plus, I actually cook breakfast even fewer and further between than he does. Most days we just fend for ourselves and dine on cereal or a granola bar....if that.

I always feel like I'm eating at a fine restaurant when he cooks simply because presentation is just as important to him as taste. Heck, I'm lucky if the food I cook actually makes it from the pan to the plate! Sadly, I couldn't find very many past pictures of our delicious and beautiful meals he has created. I'm definitely documenting every.single.one.of.em from here on out. Just to make all my blog readers jealous of course ;P.

We are very lucky to have such a fine cook in our midst. He spoils us rotten in many ways - cooking is just the tip of the iceberg. Addison and I are lucky to call him ours. I could go on and on about all of his great qualities. Hmm....maybe if I do we'll score some more fine meals! :D