Daddy-daughter Weekend Update

**DISCLAIMER: I don't carry a camera around with me, but have learned this weekend that I need to!**

Those of you who worried how we have managed to survive, need not fret! Addi is surprisingly spontaneous, full of ideas and boundless energy. As soon as she woke up from her nap yesterday, we were moving at full-speed! I made the incredibly wise choice of telling Addi that we were going to append the evening with Aunt Dawn, Uncle Nate, Grant, Garrett, and Spencer. We had to run a couple of errands on our way, and every stop was filled with the question "We go Dawn's house?" Addi was incredibly excited to see her aunt, uncle, and cousins! It turned out Nate had a craving for homemade Japanese cuisine, and had bought a lot of it, so we joined them for dinner (which was delicious!) and let the kids play. My nephew Robert and his girlfriend Tracy dropped by later in the night too. It was so fun to see them--Addi actually talked to Robert. We love having them around and getting to see them.

It didn't take long for Addi and Grant to find the costumes, and for Addi to become obsessed with being dressed in an indian shirt and cowboy pants! She liked wearing it so much that she refused to take it off to go home. Only when we did get home and we got out her Minnie Mouse pjs did she relent. But we wore ourselves out, and fell asleep missing Mommy, but ready to play hard in the morning.

This morning the day started at 8, and we lounged around, ate cereal, and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We played Elefun and Don't Break the Ice in our jammies, and while I was getting ready, Addi contently found a stash of giant smarties. I think the stash is hers, because I don't know where she got them, and she wouldn't tell me, but she had them!

Before leaving for the day, we played on the swing and in the snow in the backyard, while Addi made up songs that she would hum as she jumped in the snow and used her garden shovel to shovel the snow!

At our first store, I let Addi walk around, and it was just so much fun to watch her stop and look at things and play with a Weeble treehouse and other toys. She has been such a good girl, but is also such an independent spirit with so much going on in her mind.

The morning ended at Sam's Club for lunch (Addi and I LOVE their Polish dogs), browsing, and food sampling (another of our favorite pastimes!). I learned that Addi also loves soda- so much that she doesn't care what it tastes like. She had downed a ton of it before I could taste it and realize that the flavoring in the machine was out and she had been drinking flavorless carbonated water!

Addi's down for her nap again, and again I find myself wondering what we are going to do this evening, but I have learned that if I just go with the flow, we will have plenty to occupy our time. And I am determined to enjoy and notice every moment of it, because it seems that every time I turn around, Addi has grown a little and learned a little, and before I know it, these days will have run out.