Happy First Brianna!

Yesterday was my little baby's first birthday. I can't believe it's been a whole year. Time has certainly flown by. We are having a little family party for her this Saturday so there will be lots of pictures to follow. Until then, here is a picture of Brianna doing her new favorite activity... climbing up the stairs. Poor mom.

Home Sweet Home!

We are all moved into our new house and we just love it! Special thanks to Alabama Papa and Uncle Kurt for helping us get this house in tip top shape. Uncle Kurt ripped out more carpet than he probably wants to admit to! More importantly, he logged some serious hours putting Casey's old playset together for the girls. Uncle Kurt was Addison's favorite person during construction! Poor Alabama Papa was just down visiting for Great Gran's birthday and got sucked into lots of manual labor around the house.
Despite all the clutter and craziness, we were able to have a great Easter with Nana Jo, Aunt Kim, and cousin Haylee. Addison must have told us four times this was 'the BEST Easter ever'! Brianna had her first hair cut just a few days ago to get ready for her first birthday and looks gorgeous! She is a great little girl and is getting so big, 24 lbs already! Addison is still loving school and turning into a beautiful person. But, I'll get to what you really want... some pictures!

Addison helping Daddy get his ball out of the hole. We were visiting Great Gran for her 85th Birthday!


Brianna at the Easter Egg hunt. She was trooper because it was hot!!


Addison hanging out in her new playset


Haylee and Addison right before the big Egg Hunt!


Checking out their treasures

Big Changes

We put an offer on a house and it's been accepted! Right now we are in the stressful world of appraisals, inspections, moving, and signing our life away. Closing is set for March 12. It's about 5-10 minutes from here. It needs a little TLC and upgrading that we aren't too concerned about because we plan on being in this house for the long haul. It will come with time! Plenty of room to watch the girls grow up. They even have little mini walk in closets... they won't know how lucky they are!

There has been a huge picture drought around here and I do have an excuse... Addison's first year of school has turned our house into a one big sick house! I'm hoping this last bit of cold weather will be it and things will start turning around. I feel like someone has been sick since shortly after Thanksgiving for all except a few weeks.

I will close with the one picture I took all month. I think it's time to take the bumper out. What do you think?

Okay, and one more...

Proud Parents

Okay, so it's almost February and I don't have the Christmas pictures up. I have to admit that I find myself staring at the 184 pictures and just can't even begin to narrow down which ones are 'blog-worthy'. So, I am currently attempting to post a slide show on the side of the blog so you can browse through all of them at your leisure. I will spare you some pain and narrow the stack down! Syberts and Alabama Grandma and Papa came to visit and we all had a great time. Aunt Kelly made the big announcement that they are expecting #3! She is due right around the same time as Michaela and Addison's birthday, end of July. We have our fingers crossed that we will find out tomorrow if it's a girl or boy. I'm guessing boy...
We had a big day at the Irish house today. This morning we had Addisons first Parent/Teacher conference at school. Bryan and I are so proud of the strong, independent girl she is becoming. She was very shy for the first few months and never wanted to sit in circle, sing songs, or participate in group activities. Thankfully, she has blossomed and even has a new little best friend, Sophia, that she pals around with. Her teacher thinks she is just the sweetest little thing and is always looking to please. She also couldn't say enough good things about her coloring and thinks we might have a budding artist on our hands!
I thought the most appropriate way to commemorate this entry was with Addison singing a song she learned in school... so cute. Enjoy!

Light Up UCF

UCF has a festival each year complete with tons of lights, a huge ferris wheel, a carousel and even an ice skating rink! Which, by the way is a joke in central Florida because it was more of a big slushie rink. We met up with some friends and went to a basketball game beforehand and then headed outside for the festivities. Bryan tried to take Addison on the carousel but to our COMPLETE shock, she told him to get off because she wanted to ride it alone! Can you believe my BIG girl?! To top it off, she hopped on the extremely large ferris wheel with daddy and had a blast.


Brianna watching her BIG sister on the carousel!


Daddy and Addison


The family

Addison's Christmas Play

Addison had her very first Christmas play this year. I think there were bets going on between the teachers on whether Addison would even get up on stage much less sing and dance. To be honest, I was leaning towards her not stepping foot on the stage once she saw all the people! But, not only did she sing, she danced too! Her favorite song was 'Away in a Manger' and we practiced that lots. We were all so proud of her. Even Brianna cheered her on from the audience.

The girls before the big performance

I've attached a video of Addie's class singing, I won't be offended if you need to mute it! This is the only one I have that she smiled in. She was so serious the whole time!

Brianna loved it!!

Getting in the Spirit

Seems like the moment Thanksgiving was over, it was time for Christmas! We rounded up the troops and made some cut out sugar cookies. Thankfully, we opted for one batch because that was about the extent of the attention span of 3 and 4 year olds. We had fun but I'm pretty sure Addison's favorite part was eating the final product. And if it wasn't for adult supervision, I don't think too many cookies would have made it to the final stages before she ate them!


Brianna was there for moral support. Next year she can join in the fun!


Yum, yum!

Haylee putting the finishing touches on the cookies

After the cookies were baked, decorated, and eaten (woops) we decided it was time to get the tree up. We researched going to a tree farm and cutting down our own tree but then thought better of it and loaded up the kids for a trip to Lowes! Addison had a great time decorating the tree with her daddy. She loved to hang out in the living room at night with only the lights from the Christmas Tree on. Since I'm doing this retrospectively I have a funny story to add... As some of you may know, Bryan likes to take our Christmas trees and sink them in the lake behind our house to make a place for fish to hang out. Addison was completely boggled by this idea and said, "Daddy, you are so silly... fish don't live in Christmas trees!"


And it's perfect!

Slacker Mom on Thanksgiving

Looks like my last posting was November 9th. It's going to take me a while to get caught up! Things have been quite busy around the Irish household over the holidays and posting pictures unfortunately dropped to the bottom of the 'to-do' list. So, we will start at the beginning,

THANKSGIVING!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home with Nana Jo and Uncle Kurt. I finally broke the streak of serving an overcooked or undercooked turkey and cooked a perfect turkey this year! I'm taking a moment to congratulate myself.... ahhhh. When Addison woke up Thanksgiving morning she wanted to wear her cheerleading outfit which is odd because she never asks for it. Bryan just happened to be the one getting her dressed and he had no problems putting it on her!

Go Cowboys! Thanksgiving is Bryan's favorite holiday. He gets to eat all sorts of fattening food until he falls asleep and then watch the Cowboys play. What could be better?

Uncle Kurt and Addison spent lots of time coloring while Mommy and Nana were busy in the kitchen.

Our Trip to South Carolina

We just got back from a GREAT trip to Greenville to check out Aunt Elizabeth's and Uncle Tommy's fabulous new house. Not only is the house wonderful but the neighborhood is picture perfect and they have an awesome backyard. It's just the right size for getting the 'wiggles' out... for both the kids AND the dogs! Addison and Caleb had fun together and got along surprisingly well. Brianna was a happy little girl (for the most part) and played with lots of new toys since Caleb was such a good sharer. Addison also went to her first (but not last, I'm sure!) karate lesson taught by none other than Uncle Tommy. Yeah! They have a 3 and 4 year old class on Saturday mornings so Addison was their honorary student for the day. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we took full advantage and took all the kids to the park. Here are a few pictures.


Bed time!


After class


Caleb at the park


Grandma and Brianna on the front porch


Hangin' out by the back fence

On a very happy note, we picked up Lexi from being boarded (all safe and sound thank goodness) and the doc said no bandage needed on her sore. Looks like she is finally on the mend! I am knocking on wood right now, trust me.
Our latest and definitely greatest round of pictures is available for viewing online. When you have lots of time to kill, check out all 218 of them! Click here and click on Kara and Bryan. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

First off, to continue on with the last post of 'Firsts', Brianna got her first tooth! I noticed it on Friday. This definately explains all the drool and waking up in the middle of the night the past few days! Addison was 11 months old when she got her first tooth so I wasn't expecting this so soon. Speaking of Addison, she reeled in her first fish today while fishing in the backyard with daddy! It was a cute little Blue Gill caught on the Barbie fishing pole from Alabama Gramma.

Halloween was a big success this year. Lots of good candy for Mommy and Daddy! Addison had a super fun Fall Festival at school on Thursday, Friday we went to Brenden's house for a 'Halloween Playdate', and Saturday we went to Kenley's house to have chili and Trick or Treat. Kenley is the daughter of a girl Bryan works with and her and Addison are just a few weeks apart in age. Addison finally got the hang of Trick or Treating this year. She and Kenley held hands the whole time and just walked right up to all the houses screaming 'Trick or Treat' and 'Happy Halloween'. It was very cute. Here are some pictures from all the events...

Brianna waiting to see her Big Sister in the St.Peters Fall Festival Halloween Parade

Our little Tinkerbell!

Baby Tinkerbell (as Addison liked to call her) hanging out watchin' the big kids at the Halloween Playdate at Brenden's house

Addison working very intently on decorating her Halloween cookie

Our attempt at a picture of both the girls on Halloween... not so good!

Addison and Kenley Trick or Treating

Firsts

Seems like we are plowing through all of Brianna's 'firsts' faster than I can keep track of. My big girl is rolling over and eating solid food and even sitting up! Brianna recently went to her 6 month check up where we found out she weighed 20 lbs 2 ozs. She is in the 97th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height! To put this in perspective, Addison weighed 20 lbs 3 ozs at her 12 month check up. I've been told she has 'Irish Genes'! We are counting down until Brianna is taller than Addison. Won't be long! Here are a couple classic First Meal photos that every Mommy takes...


Look at those adorable thighs!!


Yummy Rice Cereal!

Getting Ready for Halloween

On the first (and only) cold morning so far this season, we decided to head out to Sea World to go to Spooktacular. The kids get to dress up and go trick or treating around the park. Addison wore her Tinkerbell outfit but I didn't bring Brianna's tutu. I was worried we would be pushing it just taking her there but she ended up being such a good girl! She is quite the trooper. Here are a few pictures.

Trying to keep warm courtesy of Great Grandma Bea's warm blankie.

It warmed up! Time for Tinkerbell to pop bubbles!

This guy didn't care either way... he was giving Addison quite a show!

Also, special thanks to my poor family and friends who endured email after email of Lexi updates. She is feeling so much better since the surgery and getting in trouble just like she always did. For those of you who don't know what happened, she dislocated her hip by jumping off a couch at a doggie daycare. After numerous (stressful) unsucessful attempts to get the hip to stay in and heal naturally, we opted for surgery... Femoral Head Ostectomy. Here is a picture post op... poor thing!

Happy Baby!

Brianna was hanging out in her exersaucer the other night and all Addison did was walk up to her and she just started cracking up. Since Addison was very encouraged by this, she kept doing it... over and over! Turn up your speakers and enjoy!

Max the Monkey

Addison had the cutest project in school so I just have to share it... I think I had more fun than she did! Max the Monkey is a cute stuffed monkey that gets passed around to a new family each week. While Max is with you, you get to document your activities in a notebook that gets shared with the class at the end of the week. We had our first 'cold front' the week that we had Max so we just had to go to the park! Here are the pictures we took with Max.



Max can't wait to get out and play!



On the slide with Max.



We couldn't get Max off the Monkey Bars! They were his favorite.



Max had to take a little break with Brianna... he was getting tired.



Max getting ready to climb the rock wall.



We all came home for a snack. Max loved his banana!

Go Knights!

We headed out to our first UCF Knights game this year as a family this past weekend. Brianna stayed home with Nana thankfully because it was still ridiculously hot. We didn't make it for the whole game but we got home in time to watch the Knights win on TV in the air conditioning!


Coloring Tinkerbell while Tailgating


Brenden & Addison

Poor Lexi

Our poor ol' girl Lexi has had quite a week! She got dropped off at a fun doggie daycare a little early last Thursday so I could get all ready to head out to Texas to visit Amy really early on Friday. A few short hours later, I got the call that she had jumped off a couch about and hasn't put any weight on her leg since. We took her to the vet and found out she had dislocated her hip. Sadly, I had to cancel my trip and take care of a three legged dog instead. It's been a crazy week, in and out of the vets office and LOTS of stress and worry on my part trying to keep her still. She ultimately has been put on 'kennel rest' and isn't allowed out except a couple times a day to go potty. To top it all off, she had to get stitches on her good foot because she stepped on something and sliced it open! It's looking like she will ultimately need surgery but I will keep you posted as we learn more. Addison has been quite the helper and likes to occassionally check Lexi's heartbeat on her forehead to make sure she is okay.

Weekend at Home

We have been busy, busy, busy and I've been bad about posting pictures! Addison is doing great in school and seems to be settling in just fine. She likes her teacher and talks about some of the other little girls in the class. Brianna is growing like a weed on Miracle Gro. She is 5 months old and easily fits into 12 month clothing. She is very close to growing out of her infant car seat which is good because I can barely carry her in that thing anymore! She is working on sitting up but still needs a helping hand to get stable and stay up. This weekend, Haylee, Aunt Kim and Nana came over and the girls played. Here are a few pictures...

Okay, so this wasn't from the weekend but I had to post it. Addison got left alone with a marker for a few minutes. I started to yell at her (why she's crying) but then couldn't quite finish because the Charlie Chaplin mustache just cracked me up!

Both girls just HAD to hold Brianna as soon as she woke up so we stuck her in the middle.

How cute is this?

Haylee and Addison

My adorable Chunky Monkey!!