B.E.A.R.

Wil came home from Costco Friday night excited about a bear he wanted to buy for Addie. I had heard other people talk about this huge Costco bear and thought, sure...let's buy a big bear.

We wanted to give it to Addie for Easter, but Costco was already closed by the time we got there at 6:15 Saturday night (WHY does Costco close so early???). We went to get it tonight. I sat in the car with Addie while Wil ran into the store to make the purchase. When he said big bear, I had no idea he meant a B.E.A.R. - Big, Enormous, And Really, REALLY huge bear!

The new bear got to ride shotgun on the way home, because really, where else were we going to put him? Not sure if you can tell, but he's even wearing his seat belt!

Addie LOVES him! There was much giggling and squealing and hugging and tackling going on at our house tonight!

My Own Little Prank

Before we played an April Fool's Day prank on everyone else, I had to play one on Wil. Two years ago, a day or two after April Fool's Day, I came across an idea to switch the door knob on the bathroom door and then lock it. Then, when someone goes into the bathroom in the morning and shuts the door, they will be locked in.

I was too exhausted last year, when Addie was only 4 days old, to even attempt to care about April Fool's Day, but this year I was determined. After Wil fell asleep Saturday night, I tiptoed out of our room, and down the hall. One screwdriver and two simple screws later...my trap was set!

He called my cell phone three times before I went to unlock the door...it was awesome! :-) Later that day, I snuck down the hall and locked the door again while he was in the bathroom. I can't remember the last time I giggled so much in one day!

April Fool's

My family loves playing harmless, but funny, pranks on each other for April Fool's Day.

The week before April Fool's Day, I read an article in Disney Family Fun magazine about kids making a fake cast to make friends at school think they broke their arm. Light Bulb!! We could make Addie a small fake cast and have her wear it to go visit my grandma and Wil's parents for April Fool's Day...and maybe a few other relatives, too!

We went to work right away to create our cast. The first one was too big, so we tried again...perfection! April Fool's Day came and we tried on Addie's cast to make sure it fit. As soon as we got it on her, she pulled it off. We hadn't considered she might not want to wear the cast! Time to rework our plan...

A picture message! We put the cast on her one more time, just long enough to snap three pictures - two with the camera and one with my phone to send to everybody!

She was SO MAD that she threw a little fit, which actually ended up being perfect, because the tears TOTALLY sold the broken arm/cast! (She was only upset for 30 seconds, I promise! Then we took off the fake cast and she was fine!)

Wil and I worked out our story - We told people that we didn't know what happened, she just started screaming in the middle of the night. When we went to her room, Elvis came running out - we think maybe her arm was sticking out of the crib and he ran by and broke it.

Wil and I giggled all morning as the "Oh no! What happened?" text messages rolled in! Tee hee!

Happy April Fool's Day!

We Wish It Was Our Birthday So We Could Party Too!

We had Addie's first birthday party at the park on Saturday, March 31. We had a great time visiting with family. Even Addie knew it was a special day and let everyone hold her!

I'm still missing a few pictures, but I'll post what I have and add the rest later.

The cake...

Opening Presents...

The party favors (giant pixie stick wands)...

Riding on her new car...

Beep, beep!

March 28

Addie's first birthday...in pictures!

She woke up...

Drank her bottle...

Played by the dog...

Went to the library for story time, where she got to play with the parachute...

And bubbles...

Took a nap - no picture for this one.

Played in the Portrait Innovations lobby while she waited to have her One Year Old pictures taken...

Sang If You're Happy & You Know It Shout Hooray while eating dinner...

Opened presents...

Got super excited about her new socks (mommy and daddy buy the BEST presents!)...

Tried on her fancy new tennies...

Put on her new jammies and went to bed.

It was a pretty great day!

Ketchup, Katsup, Catch Up

Oh man, I've been a blog slacker...here's a quick, catch up post to bring us to today...which is what I really want to post about.

In the last two months...

Wil got in a small accident coming home from work in my Corolla. It looks like no big deal, except the car bounced into the curb and the wheel on the other side is bent at an angle. It doesn't take much to total a 16 year old (1996) Toyota Corolla with more than 150,000 miles...

We had way too much fun with the rental car the insurance provided for a couple weeks! Who knew satellite radio would be so awesome?

Then we finally settled on a 2003 Toyota Highlander as the newest member of the Gonzalez family. Would you believe insurance is actually cheaper on this car than it was on the Corolla?

Elvis learned the joys of hanging out by a baby's highchair.

Wil got new work boots.

Elvis learned the only good time to have a baby around is when she's in a high chair.

We checked out a book from the library called Tails Are Not for Pulling. Addie loves it...but apparently she doesn't understand it...either that or she's trying to act it out.

Pet's are for petting...

Not pulling...

I stopped pumping when Addie turned 11 months old (HOORAY!). I'll spare you a picture of this one.

Addie celebrated St. Patrick's Day with a Gonzalez Family tradition - green breakfast. For her, that meant green formula.

We built our first family fort. We tried to put sides on our fort, but Addie just pulled them down, so we only had a top on our fort. Addie LOVED it!

Elvis developed a complex and couldn't decide if he'd rather be outside and safe from the baby, or inside where the baby could potentially be eating.

Addie figured out how to get into the cupboard. She wanted to bake a cake!

I'm sure there's more, but these are the highlights of life in the Gonzalez household since January.

The Way We Sleep, Part Four

This makes me want to pick her up and hug her...

I never knew a little girl could be so in love with her stuffed animals! She has to take at least two to bed with her every night, and when I go to get her in the morning, the first thing she does is grab her animals before I lift her out of the crib! She even crawls around the house with one in each hand. Oh, how I LOVE this little girl!!!