Addison ~ 6 1/2

~We were so proud that Addison was chosen to participate in her school's Circle of Friends group for a friend in her class who has autism. Addison liked Thea from the first day of school and right from the start she began helping her in class, at the playground and on the bus. Their weekly meetings, where Addison, Thea and 2 other girls meet to play games and do special activities are a highlight for Addison. Last week we had Thea and one of the other girls over after school. They had the best time jumping on the trampoline. It was amazing to see how Thea interacts with the other girls. The can make her laugh like crazy!!!

~She loves school and is doing great. She comes home happy everyday. We work hard each night practicing reading, sight words and spelling words. I miss her like crazy all day!!!

~Soccer is finished. It was rough year for our little team. They won the first game by one point and then didn't score another goal all season! They never seemed to be bothered by it, thankfully they all had fun.

~She loves chapter books! The library here isn't the greatest, so it is a habit that costs us a fortune, but that is okay! We read her anywhere from 2 to 5 chapters a day.That is in addition to bible reading, her reading to us, picture books for little sisters and the books she goes to bed with each night. She listens for as long as we have time to read. Hopefully in the next year or so, her reading ability will catch up to her comprehension ability and she can read them to herself. Just a few weeks ago, she started reading the preview on the backs by herself.

~Every-other Sunday, she and I teach a pre-k Sunday school class at church. She loves it. She is always disappointed when it is our off Sunday. We teach the 9:00 service and then at 10:30 she goes to her class and we attend worship. Our class if full of boys....usually 5 or 6 boys and only 1 or 2 girls. It took us a little while to figure them out, but we love them!!!

~She often used the word "more-ly". Like she more-ly likes playing outside than doing homework. Girls more-ly play with Barbies than boys.

~Addison is animal crazy right now. She loves animals of all types. She begs us to take her to PetSmart so she can see the cats up for adoption. She reads about animals and all her favorite shows are on Animal Planet. She is always training/walking/taking care of Maggie. Anything to do with any animal, she loves it!! She always says when she grows up she is having tons of animals and no kids.

~We had the girls' Christmas CD playing in the car for the first time this year. They sang along for a minute, to "I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus", then Addison said, if Mama was kissing Santa, then Daddy would come in and say, "HEY, What are you doing kissing my wife?"!

~Addison came home laughing like crazy on Thursday afternoon and told me that she had missed lunch. Apparently they go from the playground to the lunchroom (both monitored by aides while the teachers have lunch). Many classes are coming and going at the same time. Addison and 2 of her friends didn't see their class leave and stayed outside for an extra 30 minutes. They came in just as their class was lining up from lunch to go back to class. They were never missed during lunch (???) and had to eat in the classroom when they got back.

~Addison in an expert on everything!!! She always has an explanation for any circumstance and she will ARGUE over her ideas until you just give up!!!

~She is impatient. Just like her Daddy, she does not like to stay in a restaurant for a minute longer than she has to. If she is in a restaurant (or anywhere) past when she decides she is done, she will persistently begin letting you know she wants to go.

~She has two best friends here, Chloe and Brooke. They are both sweet, precious girls with families (and little sisters) who we are friends with.

~We are starting down the orthodontic road. Addison's dentist said at her last appointment that she probably needed a spacer to correct her cross-bite. We are getting a second opinion from an orthodontist in a few weeks, but it looks like we are about to start shelling out cash for teeth!!!