Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas again this year. The big difference between this year and last, I was pregnant and uncomfortable last year and this year we celebrated Ty's first Christmas!

The season was great and pretty low key, not too many events. We had Troy's winter guitar concert which was nice. They performed my favorite Christmas Carol, Carol of the bells, on guitar. It was beautiful. We of course went to Candy Cane lane, Holiday in the park at Six Flags, and I hosted this years ornament exchange party which was a blast.

Sandy came for Christmas this year which was nice. It's been about five years since she has been here for Christmas and the kids were excited to have her here. Our usual tradition is a large traditional dinner on Christmas eve (prepared by me) and then Chevy's and a movie on Christmas day. Brian and I have decided that this will be the last year for this tradition seeing as how Chevy's is NASTY! We are going to find another restaurant that's open on Christmas. We did see the movie Old Dogs. It was cute and as usual Ty was an angel for the movie.

Well, here's a scroll down Christmas 2009 in the lives of the Addington's:




The house...





These are the cupcakes we made for the girls teachers, chocolate fudge with a homemade peppermint buttercream...yum!






We also made chocolate covered bacon for the teachers and Brian's work.
No one could imagine and then they tried it, it was a big hit...ye of so little faith!



The cupcakes I made for our friends:
Coconut rum with coconut buttercream (Morgan's favorite), chocolate fudge with peppermint buttercream (my favorite and the single reason for my weight watchers failure this month), and lemon with lemon buttercream (Brian's favorite.)
YUMMY!



My family looks forward to my homemade honey bread every Christmas Eve. Morgan helped me with the braiding this year.




Ty loved the bows!!




This puzzled look was Ty wondering why in the world we were all cheering (and not scolding) after he ripped the paper on this beautiful box.




Once the cat arrived all thoughts of the gifts went out the window. Salem's favorite place to sleep during the holidays is under the tree.




Morgan with her Christmas eve gift.




Troy and Brooke with theirs.




And Cody with his.




This was my favorite Christmas photo. This is truly a candid shot. They were so excited and grateful for all of their gifts.




Ty sure loved his bean bags that Aunt Cari made him!


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

...walking in a winter wonderland.

Every year we take the kids on a trip to Candy Cane Lane. Candy Cane Lane is a street in Vacaville where nearly every house decorates for Christmas. The next street over also participates but it's not quite as elaborate as Candy Cane Lane. It was beautiful as usual, not quite as cold as years past.

Ty was cranky as we were taking him out of the car and putting him in his stroller but the moment we rounded the corner and he caught glimpse of the lights he was in heaven. We never heard another peep out of him as he stared at all the bright lights.

I'm happy to be able to do this with my kids because I have fond memories of going as a child and I'm glad the economy hasn't dampened the spirit. I was afraid it would be more toned down this year to save on energy costs but it was still as magical as ever.

Playing catch up...again!

Under pressure from my cousin Shelley to get my act together and update my blog, I have posted several things. I have more to post so hopefully I can get caught up again over the weekend. Be sure to scroll down as to not miss anything!

My son's favorite toy...

Even in his sleep he can not part with it!

A five generation Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving up at my Granpa's as always this year. I was so happy for my Granpa because not only did he have 27 of his family members there, but he had his son, my Uncle Kent, home for the first time in 13 years and we had 5 generations of Leslie's there! Absolutely incredible and my Granpa was beaming!

I'm so thankful for my family and I delight in every year that we get to go up there; I know one day it will sadly come to an end so I try to soak up every minute while I can. I love you Granpa!!

5 Generations: Granpa (1st gen), my mom (2nd gen), me (3rd gen), my niece Krystal and Ty (4th gen), my great-nephew Christopher (5th gen)!

Ty loves his Great Granpa.

Granpa and his two baby boys, Ty and Adam.

Halloween 2009

So backing up a little bit, I wanted to post Ty's first Halloween. We started Halloween with our schools annual Trunk or Treat. It's a stressful time for me because I am in charge of it and there was about 600 people there. We collected 800 pounds of candy to give out to the kids, yes we weighed it!

The following week was Halloween. The kids had a great time and it was beautiful outside. Ty was exhausted even before it started but he enjoyed his first piece of candy when we got home from trick or treating. Troy went as Kate Gosselin, we tried to get him to wear a bra and makeup but he refused.


Our Trunk or Treat...

Morgan was Pebbles and Brooke was a spanish princess.


This is what 800 pounds of candy looks like!


Yes, these are both SUV trunks!






Halloween...


Troy as Kate Gosselin








Ty's first lollipop!

Just taking a break...

All mothers have that cute picture of their kids passed out cold in some weird position. I've been waiting for Ty's moment to come. He loves his jumper, so much that he doesn't know how to stop jumping! He will be bawling his head off and still jumping. In this picture he literally was jumping one second and a second later was fast asleep. So cute!!!!





Cody was the worst at passing out cold in odd places...

I do believe it's magic...

I'm not sure what makes the pumpkin patch such a magical place but it once again worked it's magic this year. Maybe it's the brilliant colors or the beautiful mild weather or maybe it's the memories I have of going to the Nut Tree pumpkin patch every year as a kid to see the scarecrow competition. Whatever it is, I love it!
Only in Northern California can you drive through a vineyard in 70º weather to get to the pumpkin patch. It was peaceful and beautiful and there was a lot of fun things for the kids to do. They loved the 5 acre corn maze and Ty loved the straw!
I'm really sad that today is Halloween and come tomorrow it will all be over. I don't feel like I've had my decorations out or been able to enjoy all the pumpkins long enough! This is my absolute favorite time of year! Goodbye Halloween, I'll miss you, can't wait for next year.