Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park

Addison is quite the busy girl lately! This weekend we traveled over to Great Gran's house in Homosassa Springs. It was a beautiful day so we all packed up and went to a wildlife park just down the street. There were so many manatee swimming in the Homosassa River... it was amazing. The fun won't end here though because Papa and Grandma Irish are in town for another week and there will be lots more pictures to come. Here are some of my favorites from the day.


Addison with Daddy checking out the deer


A mommy and baby manatee. While there were manatee in captivity, these were wild ones just swimming around the park.


Addison and her Papa snuggling while watching the fish.


The classic "stick your head in a cut-out" picture. She loves these things.

MJ & Mattox are in town

This past week, the Syberts came to visit to take advantage of some warmer weather here in Florida. The kids had a blast playing together! It's amazing how fast they are all growing up. We attempted many times to get all the little ones together for a picture but this is about as good as it gets with four antsy toddlers! I have quite a lot of respect for the patience of photographers!


Addison, Michaela, Mattox, and Haylee


All the girls (and Mattox) loved the keyboard from Grandma & Papa Irish. Here is Haylee belting out a tune for us!


The girls practicing the Moon Walk... they just LOVE to dance!


Nana brought over lots of crafts for the kids to do. They all had so much fun!

We all had a great time and were sad to see the Syberts leave. Hopefully we will be seeing more of them in the future????
Also, Baby Irish is doing great! All of my check ups are going wonderfully and I'm enjoying just watching my belly move ALL around! This little one is definitely more active than Addison was and I'm a little intimidated by that! We've started slowly transforming the office into a baby's room... one of the many sacrifices Daddy will be making in the coming years! It's all worth it, though.

Monkey Joe's!

After a rather uneventful weekend, I jumped at the invitation to an afternoon at Monkey Joe's with Addison's younger boyfriend, Brenden. For those of you who don't know what Monkey Joe's is, it is basically a big room filled with tons of bounce houses for the little ones all the way up to the older kids. Addison absolutely LOVES it. She can run around anywhere and mommy can just sit and relax and let her have at it. It's great! Thankfully, Brenden's mom brought her camera and caught a few pics of Addie in action! Here they are...


Addie on the little slide... I think this one is her favorite!


Brenden taking Addison for a ride in his Jeep.


My little baby climbed up that huge slide and slid down at top speed!

Sea World

Happy New Year! Here's wishing the best to you and all your family.

Today we went to Sea World to get the new year started off right. Is this girl spoiled or what? First Disney, now Sea World! As we sat waiting for one of the shows to start Bryan commented on how lucky we are because people come from all over the world to do what we can do any day of any week. It's wonderful!

Addison did have a great time mostly due to the Elmo and Abby show that I think she could have sat and watched for hours. Fortunately for mommy and daddy, it was only 20 minutes long. She spent most of the morning asking to see the polar bears and when we finally found the exhibit, there was one... fast asleep on the rocks. She had fun watching the penguins and told us she wanted to touch them. I don't think she realized how cold it was in there and how mean penquins are! The dolphin show kept her attention because there were birds flying and dolphins jumping all over... almost sensory overload! She touched a stingray too and wasn't scared at all! Bryan and I are looking forward to using our passes in a few months to ride the new roller coaster that is under construction now. Thankfully, it doesn't open until the summer and I will be able to ride then! YEAH!

Yes, there is a polar bear in this picture, to the right of the blue bucket. Not too exciting!

Daddy and Addison outside the shark exhibit

Say Cheese! Eating ice cream before the dolphin show.

Touching the stingray. She kept saying, " I did it mommy!"

Christmas in Alabama

The final stop this busy Christmas was in Alabama at Grandma and Papa's lake house. We loaded up the car and drove, this time for 11 hours! It wouldn't have been so bad if Lexi wasn't sitting behind me and breathing on me, stinky! We were greeted by a house full... Grandma, Papa, Great Grandmother, Elizabeth, Tommy, Caleb, and their exchange student Christian. OH, and I can't forget that Lexi was also greeted by Bailey, Elizabeth and Tommy's dog, and Kelly, Grandma and Papa's 5 month old puppy. We had a perfect long weekend filled again with lots of eating and opening presents. The weather was unseasonably warm so we were even able to take a few trips out in the boat! The dogs got to roam free and while Kelly was having a ball, the poor old dogs, Lexi and Bailey, could barely walk up and down steps by the time the trip was through! Grandma and Addison made the best Christmas cookies I've ever tasted. Addison has gotten to be pretty good at making cookies... I'm thinking that next year, she'll be telling me what to do! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Hurry, Papa! Put my Dora jammies on!!


Twas the Night Before Christmas...


I'm such a happy baby!


Not too cold for me!


Cookie Time!


A special thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers for cousin Mattox. He was diagnosed with ITP and we all let out a sigh of relief that it wasn't leukemia. He will still need to be monitored closely by doctors and the family will have to keep a close eye on him to make sure he isn't too rambunctious... that's an almost impossible task with an 18 month old boy! I will keep you posted on his progress. Thank you again!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Christmas in Orlando

After a fun filled weekend in Winter Haven, we hopped in the car and headed back home to another Christmas celebration, this time with Nana Jo! Addison was so excited to see MORE presents under the tree to open up with cousin Haylee. We all loosened up the belt one more notch and ate some more! I fortunately have an excuse for all my weight gain although, the doctor may not see it that way!

The girls got the matching Barbie Diamond Castle dolls that sing. That sounded like such a great idea until we heard that Katherine McPhee song "Connected" for the hundredth time!

Another favorite toy was the classic doctor set. Addison checked everyone's heart and gave us and all her babies shots so that we would have a healthy holiday this year.

Addison did start to get a little tired and needed a helping hand to get into some of her presents and Nana Jo was happy to step in but... she got her second wind!

One of Addison's new favorite baby dolls from Nana Jo. She even made the trip up to Alabama.... which leads me into the third and final Christmas celebration.

Christmas in Winter Haven

Addison is such a lucky girl to have SO many family members to shower her with gifts that she needed three Christmas's this year!

First we set off to Grandma and Papa's in Winter Haven to celebrate with Haylee, Aunt Kimmie, Uncle Richie, and Uncle Woody. To get in the Christmas spirit, Addison decided to put her feet in the pool! Only in Florida, right? Papa must really love Addison to stick his feet in there with her! Haylee couldn't help but join in the fun too.

Addison got a new baby that she loves to serve tea to on her new tea set from Grandma and Papa. After lots of opening presents and eating, it was time for a little R&R. Grandma was happy to step in with a good book... and a little help from Lexi!

First Trip to Disney World

This past Thursday, we took Addison to Disney World for the first time! She loved it! Thanks to our GREAT friend HJ, we were able to go for the 'friends & family of Mickey' discount! She loved the shows were she could watch the princesses and Mickey sing and dance. I think that 'It's a Small World' was her favorite ride. She was mesmerized the whole time! She also loved 'Storytime with Belle'. Belle came out and told the Beauty and the Beast story for a small audience. It was perfect for her!


Addison and Daisy


Addison riding It's a Small World

I'm a big girl now!

My back finally ached enough from heaving all 30+ pounds of Addison over the side of her crib everyday that she is now sleeping in her toddler bed! YEAH! Bryan and I were very nervous about marking such a major milestone because of all the horror stories you hear about the big move. Much to our surprise, Addison has handled it wonderfully... so far. She asks permission to get out of bed after nap and in the morning and hops in when we ask her to. She loves her "big girl bed" because she can get in and out all by herself. I know enough to know that after a while, she is going to figure out that she can get out without me telling her it's okay to! But, until that day...







On a more serious note, we are all asking for a little prayer for cousin Mattox. My sister had been noticing the he was bruising pretty badly for bumps that shouldn't have and then he had a few nosebleeds for what seemed to be no reason. After quite a few blood test the doctors are fairly certain he has Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP). In a nutshell, it is a rare blood disorder where his immune system attacks the platelets making it difficult for his blood to clot. While very serious, it is something that he should be able to overcome with time. There are still a few other possible reasons for what's happening but we are all praying the final diagnosis isn't something he can't handle.

The Best Part of Christmas

Cooking Making! Yeah! This is the first year that Addison has really tried to make and decorate cookies. She is a natural! All the other girls were so jealous of her perfectly rolled dough. Addison and I worked very hard to cut out and decorate sugar cookies only to have them gobbled up by none other than Lexi when the family went out to dinner that night. Ugh.


Chocolate covered Oreo's... yummy!

I think I might have to get a new title!

I recently realized that as baby Irish #2 updates pop up every now and again, I'll probably have to give this blog a new name in a few short months! Today was our 20 week check up and we had "the" ultrasound. I call it "the" ultrasound because it was the one where most families find out if it's a boy or a girl. BUT we are in the minority of people who are waiting to find out so the only thing I have to report is that the baby looked like a healthy baby should and for that I'm very grateful. The baby weighs 13 ozs and is in the 60th percentile... this is new to me, I didn't realize they had growth percentiles for babies before they were born! The baby was quite the little wiggle worm... moving ALL over the place and even playing patty cake! I gained a few extra pounds that I would love to attribute to my growing baby but, I'm pretty sure I ate too much over Thanksgiving... Anyway, here is a picture of the little bambino!

Speaking of Thanksgiving... I went to upload my pictures and realized that I have a picture of the table and that's it. I think I got a little sidetracked cooking the turkey! Woops! I will be better at Christmas time, I promise!

Weekend trip to Vero

This weekend we loaded up the car and headed down to Vero to visit the Wilson's. Jason was Bryan's mentor when he first started at PSS so he pretty much lived with them for about 6 weeks. I think that is where Bryan got bit by the fishing bug so guess what the boys did on Saturday... you got it! They went fishing! And crabbing just to mix it up a little. Of course, all I could imagine was the show 'Deadliest Catch' but logic tells me it wasn't near as dangerous in the in Intercoastal! The Wilsons have 3 boys and Addison just loved each one! She must have asked them their names 100's of times.... I'm not exaggerating!! It was the running joke of the weekend, "what is your name? what is your name?" Here are some pictures...

Feeding the ducks in the backyard

Cameron's turn!

Addison has a new buddy to push her on the swing!

Addison caught a fish! YEAH!

While we were down south, my favorite photographer Sara Kauss came and took family pictures for us. Hopefully we will have another fun Christmas card to send out! Wish me luck!

My New 'Twins'!

It's not what you all might be thinking, we didn't find two babies in my tummy but it's something just as wonderful! The 'Estate' washer and dryer (haven't heard of that brand? There is a good reason for that!) that Bryan and I purchased for $550 for the pair finally bit the dust. While I was a bit stressed at first toting clothes around the neighborhood in search of a dryer that could finish the job mine had started, all my stress has been relieved having done my first round of laundry in my brand new HE front loading Electrolux washer and dryer! I'm on the Kelly Ripa bandwagon! I guess this is one of those "you know you are getting old if...

you take a picture of your washer and dryer!'"

And for the reason you all actually read this blog... here are some pictures a few weekends back of Addison and Lil Noel having some yummy cupcakes at a UCF game tailgate. As you can tell, they had a great time!

We have some baby Irish milestones as well too... just the other night, Bryan felt baby kick. He just happened to have his hand on my tummy when my little soccer player had one of the biggest kicks to date! Guess bambino was just saying "Hi!" to his/her daddy!

At the Zoo cont'd...

During Storytime... I swear she wasn't trying to hurt him!



Brenden and Addison... how cute are they?

Storytime at the zoo

Today Brenden and Addison took a little trip to the zoo for storytime! Addison loved it but Brenden was ready to go look at the monkeys about half way through! They still had lots of fun checking out the animals. Mommy was bad and forgot her camera but Brenden's mommy pulled through with this video clip of the kids posing for their pictures. :)

I'll post some pictures soon. enjoy!

From the Mouth of Babes....

While I fortunately have no picture that goes along with this story, I just had to share this with everyone...
Bryan had been cooking all night long making some boiled peanuts to have at the UCF Homecoming tailgate this weekend. We all know what boiled peanuts look like, right? Well, Bryan took a peanut out of the pot to taste test it. Addison watched him closely, looked at me and said, "Daddy's eating my poopie." Gotta love kids! Ha!

Happy Halloween

Halloween night we went Trick or Treating with Haylee, Aunt Kimmy, and Nana Jo in downtown Sanford. All the cute little stores on "Main Street" hand out candy. They set up a little kid area with games and bounce houses. There was a little rain but after that cleared up it was a great night! Addison was in the costume contest but didn't win... the judges were paid off. ;) Here are some pictures of her and Haylee.


Uncle Bobo, Addison and Haylee


Daddy and Addison


Addison & Haylee

The girls

Trick or Treat!