just because

looking through photos, trying my damnedest to finish up the "addi birthday weekend" post (oye...its taking me, like, over a week now to finish that post! for some reason i get started and then half way through i get bored, close the computer, and get this, go do laundry. i know! i get that bored! but digress...) and i found these from our last walk around the bay / bayshore.

they're nothing extraordinary or special, but i wanted to post them. just more great memories of the time we had here in tampa. these pictures were taken on new years eve, 12.31.11. the weather was (and still is) ah-mazing!

on this day it wasn't the dolphins that joined us on our walk, it was a group of stingrays. daddy was pointing them out to conner.

conner waving to the stingrays

we're not 100% sure on where we're headed after this fellowship is over (5 1/2 more months...hollah!), but staying in tampa wouldn't be too bad ;)

xoxo
michelle

* sei, sex, hat, se', szes'c', zeks, SIX!

DISCLAIMER: THIS POST WAS WRITTEN THE SUNDAY MORNING BEFORE I FELL ONTO MY DEATH BED WENT TO MEET THE ER STAFF AT TAMPA GENERAL. SO THIS MAY POST ON FRIDAY 1/13/12 BUT IT WAS STARTED AND MEANT FOR MONDAY 1/91/12.

monday's child is fair of face

tuesday's child is full of grace

wednesday's child is full of woe

thursday's child has far to go

friday's child is loving and giving

saturday's child works hard for his living

and the child that is born on the sabbath day

is bonny and blithe, and good and gay

needless to say neither one of our children were born on a tuesday. damn it. rather they both were born with fair faces (what does that even mean?) unlike her brother, addison chose to be born on a monday (conner was induced the morning of his monday birth)...a whole week earlier than expected. and of course it all started in target (one of her favorite stores). little did i know that after she was born i'd be spending 5 out of 7 days a week in that damn store.

yes, six years ago today, monday, january 9th, 2006 at 10:55pm our brand new, sweet, large (8lb 2oz), beautiful (later down the road a bit retarded looking, per her father) baby girl was born. addison danielle sweeney. hard to believe it's been six years. i need to give justin and i more credit. we can't keep plants alive for more than six days, but we managed to keep a baby alive for 6 years (that's 2190 days) ! and she's a brilliant, attitude filled, gorgeous (not retarded looking anymore!) little lady of a 6 year old.

in honor of addi's 6th birthday i thought i'd write down a few of the things she's currently doing. people do it for babies so why can't i do it for my 6 year old. 6 year olds are doing waaay more than babies anyhow, so hopefully this list is more interesting than a baby's. (sensethesarcasm?)

1. she poops and pees on the potty. nice job, addi! babies can't say that!

2. she likes to make her own nutritious breakfast in the mornings - eggo's chocolate chip waffels (if i'd let her, she'd live on chocolate chip waffles) and chocolate milk.

3. she can ride a two wheeler, by herself - again, can babies say that!?

4. she can swim on her own. and underwater too! - some babies can say that.

5. she's in the last half of kindergarten...and she hates school. she says its boring. her two favortie parts of school; lunch time, and leaving-because she gets to ride the bus. although recently she's been asking me to pick her up from school vs riding the bus. supposedly some little girl named 'ocean' (yes, her real name is ocean) and melitsa (again, her real name) are annoying...which leads me to #6...

6. she puts the addi in addi-tude! justin and i are scared about what the pre-teen years hold for us...please pray for us

7. she has a crush on a boy in our neighborhood - damen - he's very artsy/rock-'n-roll looking for his age (9). he has the beiber haircut, wears jewelry (silver rings and necklace), always very calm, cool and collective at the bus stop, and he dropped off lipsmackers lip gloss and a birthday note on our door step yesterday for addison. poor zachary never stood a chance with damen.

8. she's in "honors" science, math and reading at school. i was informed last thursday that she was just upped another level, beyond the "beyond level" reading class. i asked her what the new level was called and she said, "i'm the first and only one to be in that level, so they created the level for me and ms saul [her teacher] hasn't come up for a level name yet." woo-who, addi! babies totally can't say that! (addi-3 babies-1)

9. her favorite shows; phineas and ferb, wizards of waverly place, spongebob (yes, he's still on the list. slitmythroatnow), icarly, victorious and big time rush. her favorite movies; diary of a wimpy kid, the smurfs, and unfortunately twilight. she's team jacob too, by the way. she thinks "hes hot"

10. the friends she plays with here in florida; feberney aka febe (7), psalm (7), damen (9) and mason (5)

11. she loves playing outside (and riding her bike)!

12. she can't fall asleep with the TV on (conner can...and right now, they sleep together)

13. she told me the other day that she's a "monster whisperer" and she converts the monsters in her  closet from bad to good monsters (her and i love watching ghost whisperer reruns together)

14. she LOVES dancing and singing. her and conner both will make up songs and put on a mini concert for us after most dinners. (we got her a kareoke machine for her birthday - she's gonna flip! okay, okay i too am kinda excited for the kareoke machine) i feel sorry for our neighbors, the kids are LOUD.

15. i asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she said, "uhhhhh...a rock star (shaking her head to confirm)"

16. shes still, after all these years, a HUGE snuggler

17. she wants nothing more in this world right now than to loose a tooth - all of her friends have lost teeth and she's got nothing. not even a wiggle. unfortunately for her, her dad and i were both very late bloomers

and that's just a few things about this little girl that you never knew, but now you do! i tried to make it a nice round number to end this list, but let's face it, this post has almost taken me a whole freaking week to write. its been one of those weeks. okay, really, it's been one of those few months!

happy belated birthday to my sweet six year old little lady! sorry your birthday was such a bummer, but we promise to make it up to you on your 7th!

xoxo
mommy + daddy

* the number six translated into; italian, german, hungarian, irish, polish, yiddish and english. addison's heritages.

merry christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone!

we miss you all *so* much!

xoxo

justin, michelle, addi + conner

i'll be home for christmas...if only in my dreams

i admit...i miss my cold st louis christmas. its probably not so much the cold that i miss, more so my family and the christmas feeling i get around this time of year. that feeling has been missing down here in florida. obviously the warm weather isn't helping matters. but not having family around is just the icing on the not-so-christmas-feeling cake. i'm known for not being a big fan of christmas. i think it was the cold weather that i always associated with christmas - and i *loathe* cold weather!

until right now.

(our small tropical inspired christmas tree...being climbed by an elf)

i've been trying everything to get myself in that *christmas spirit* that everyone talks about - i decorated the house (as best i could for a 900sq foot place) extra early knowing i would need help to get in the spirit. i bought christmas smelling candles and have been lighting them since november! i personally searched and found the "christmas radio station" down here in florida - i NEVER listened to the christmas station in st louis, it made me wanna barf. but here in florida, i'm trying everything i can to get that feeling of christmas. and nothing seems to be helping.

and that makes me sad.

(she found richolas aka ricky in the fridge one morning...that's her stylish morning bed-head. don't be jealous)

christmas is in 2 days and this christmas season is going to come and go and i feel like i never got that "christmas feeling" - that makes me really sad. in st louis that feeling came when i would walk outside and smell the fireplaces lit up in the cool winter air. walking into my parent's house and smelling my mom's christmas candles in the dinning room and the family room. the smell of winter in your scarf as you wrap it around your neck and chin to bundle up before going out in the winter air. the smell of the kids' hot chocolate whafting up into the front seat of the car - you can't have hot chocolate in florida, its like an oxymoron! the look of the steam from your starbucks coffee cup floating up into the winter air - we don't see coffee steam down here in florida. we just see normal florida swamp steam. the feeling of jack frost nipping at your nose - the only thing nipping at us are the god forsaken mosquitoes! YES! they eat you all year long.

i seriously hope justin doesn't read this post - he would laugh in my face. all the things i'm missing right now, this christmas season down in florida, are all the things i would complain about to justin the past 7 years we've spent christmas together. craziness! did i mention that i smelt like 50 different candles at walmart and target back in november, trying to find that certain christmas smell that mom uses?? NUTS! people at the stores had to be thinking i had some kind of OCD or something the way i sniffing all those candles. and i don't think i ever really found the right smell - think its because its a party lite smell maybe??

should we end up back in st louis after this fellowship, and be subjected to that god awful winter / christmas season again, i'm going to have to read and re-read this post to remind myself how special and important that winter is to me *before* i start complaining.

tomorrow is christmas eve - we usually spent christmas eve at my parent's house with my dad's side of the family. we would have a big chrismas eve feast, lots of homemade cookies, my dad's bourbon slushies and watch the kids open early christmas presents - but this year we're not sure what we're doing yet. we had thought about maybe staying down in st pete's and waking up christmas morning on the beach. but one of justin's residents had also invited us over to their house for chirstmas eve dinner (the same house that we carved pumpkins at). i think i prefer the christmas dinner at rohit's house, a sense of family would be a great feeling tomorrow. and we love ro. he's like the kid's uncle chris, except in florida!

(lowry park zoo at the "wild wonderland" light display. conner looks posessed, and on some days he is, but i assure this night he wasn't. that is just the really cool flash job of my camera)

whatever we end up doing tomorrow, i'm just thankful that our small family is together, healthy (for the most part - justin has bronchitis. joy. even without the st louis winter weather my two boys end up sickly), happy and in great company! being without family is tough, but looking around our small apartment, hearing the excitment in the kid's voices, looking at *all* the presents under the tree already, i know we are truly blessed! like, seriously blessed! and i'm so lucky to have such a *Wonderful Life* :)

xoxo
michelle

what else are shop vacs good for if not for making jack-o-lanterns!

after our pumpkin patch at the "horse track" (per addi) we headed over to one of justin's friends house - Roe (row). i know. we have friends! well, justin has friends so i guess that makes them my freinds by association. but i will say, i do have at least one friend. and funny enough her and her family are from the midwest too...good ole chi-town! but i digress.

leaving the "horse track" we were emptied handed...no pumpkin. the "horse track" was good for farm fun but not so good for pumpkin picking. so on our way to Roe's house we stopped by a church with a make-shift pumpkin patch in front. yeah, it wasn't the same as STL when you get to go up and down the patch to find the perfect pumpkin, but it'll work. we found 2 great pumpkins and headed off Roe's.

we couldn't help but stop by starbucks though! j got his usual, grande pike, extra cream and sugar. and i got a grande hot mocha...with the motive of stopping by publix liquor store and picking up some bailys and vodka! hollah!!

we get to Roe's house and the joint is filled to the brim with food, drinks, carving utensils, people and pumpkins!

one smart little lady...originally from the midwest no less...brought her contractor husband's shop vac with her. she suggested that shop vacing the pumpkins guts out of the pumpkin was a quick and easy way to de-gut your pumpkin...and not to mention totally cool! and she was right - it totally was faster and fun! and also a lot less messier! (you should try it next year)

something that was really nice about being able to carve your pumpkin outside rahter than inside your kitchen, because it's usually so freaking cold out by nightfall in the midwest, was the FL sunset! it was pretty amazing that night (although, it usually is here on the beach).

we stayed at Roe's chatting it up with everyone while the kids played in the grass until it was addi and conner's bedtime (830). another nice thing here, its like STL summer nights all the time!

thanks to the shop vac, the vast amount of carving tools, friends for the kids to play with and the baileys in my coffee, we managed to carve ourselves 2 very interesting pumpkins. we let the kids trace the face they wanted on their pumpkin and justin and i carved the face. daddy helped conner and i helped addi...conner's was quite the interesting face :)

this "carving party", coined by Roe himself, took place 2 weeks prior to halloween. i had raised the concern that "would our pumpkins last long enough for halloween?? will they melt in the FL heat over the next 2 weeks?" well, let's just say if we're here next year for halloween and Roe insists on another carving party, that party will be held the weekend of halloween. yeah, our pumpkins totally melted / rotted and then we had gnats and flies to contend with. like, massive flies. fun.

up next...aunt "lelly's" halloween visit!

xoxo
michelle