Brock's Birthday Party

Since we are moving to Minnesota again (I am already here, Kasey and the kids are flying up tomorrow) we decided to have a combined birthday party for Ady and Brock. We did on Brock's birthday and got together at Classic Fun Center in Sandy. The kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. We got them tickets to play on the giant inflatable bouncy things. Brock took a while to warm up to the idea and never did like the slides. But the others loved it. Oakley wouldn't even wait for her parents to go with her, she just kept climbing to the top and going down the slide.

Ady, Landon and Carissa enjoyed some of the kid rides. I like how Ady looks like she is trying to hang on because Landon is a bad driver.

Poor guy, you'd think the birthday boy wouldn't have to ride by himself.
No worries, Brock found a better game. Actually, this used to be one of my favorite games too. Just whack whatever pops up!
Brock found out that he loves cupcakes. And you have to like his technique; grab cupcake quickly before mom changes her mind, hold it with both hands in case mom decides to take away tasty big people food and shove it in your mouth as fast as you can.
Brock really enjoyed his cupcake.
Lately Brock has been obsessed with balls. Doesn't matter what type, basketball, football, foam balls and even Ady's pink princess kickball. So we decided that he needed to have his own ball to play with. Kasey talked to Ady and explained that Brock was going to get a present for his birthday and asked if she wanted to give him something. Ady was very interested in getting him a present so we took her to the store to pick out a ball for him. She was very cute, she made sure that he didn't see the ball and snuck it up to the cash register. He has really seemed to like having a ball of his own that Ady won't take away from him. Well, happy first Birthday Brock!

Brocks 1 yr cardiology check up

So here we are with Brock turning 1 and very grateful for a great check up at Primary Children's Hospital. After an echo-cardiogram and an EKG, Dr Su visited with us about Brock's heart condition. He was very happy with the results, which make us very happy also. Even though it took 2 procedures, it appears Brock's heart is doing very well. It still isn't perfect--the valves are still a bit thicker than normal, and his pressure from the right ventricle to his lungs is at a 15(normally under 10)but it is so close to being normal that we don't have another check-up for a year!
Last year, if we would have known that in one year we would have been having this kind of appointment, I don't think we would have believed it. We didn't know there would be anything wrong until several hours after Brock was born. That was the start of a very challenging week. With how crazy it was, I've wondered about the question "Would it have been better to have known about his heart before giving birth?" I'm still not sure the answer; in some ways it would have been easier, like not having to life flight our baby to Primary Children's and wait 3 days for his procedure, but in some ways it would have been harder, I mean, I am already completely incapacitated during any pregnancy, so any added stress of knowing my child might not be okay may have done me in.

I think Adam was the blogger during most of the "Crisis Year" we had last year, but I just wanted to add a few things I remember about Brock's birth and some of the things we learned. We had actually hoped to have Brock in Hawaii while Adam was attending BYUH, but things worked out, so we moved when I was about 5 months pregnant. I had been to the doctor and had a couple ultrasounds in Honolulu, I vaguely remember the ultrasound technician saying something about something (probly the heart) not looking quite perfect, but that it was perfectly normal that things don't look quite right and its common that things just get back to normal as the baby grows. It was nothing to worry about. So I didn't think much about it, but now when I look back, I think that this was the 1st time we could have seen that something wasn't quite right, but there was no real reason to see it, so we didn't.

Well, nothing more was ever discovered and Brock was born in the afternoon on a Monday; during the delivery, each time I had a contraction, Brock's heart rate would drop. This was really the 1st time I may have felt something might not be quite right, but the doctor assured us that nothing was too abnormal, and that a falling heart rate could be caused by so many things that it once again wasn't anything to worry about. So like the optimist I usually am, I just kept hoping things were normal.

Later, after being moved to postpartum, the nurse came in to check up on Brock. She was listening to his heart. She listened more, and then her lead came in and our nurse asked her to listen to his heart. At this point I was paying attention to them and thinking "Why are they continuing to check him?" This was the 2nd time i felt something might not be quite right. At this point the nurse confirmed to us that Brock had a heart murmur. But, like the other "problems," it was normal. Many people have heart murmurs, they usually grow out of them, and we were assured that it wasn't anything to worry about.

So later after family visited, we noticed Brock's coloring wasn't real great.(notice the feet above) This was the 3rd thing that made me feel like something wasn't quite right. Well, they told us again that it was normal for babies to take a while to change color, and that when they are born it is normal for them not to be "pink." Well, we are glad that that night we had them take him to the nursery, since we later learned that he would have quietly passed away while we slept had he remained in the room with us. We later learned that a babies PDA will slowly close after birth, which causes the color to worsen if a valve or something isn't functioning correctly. And since we would have been sleeping, and in a low light room the grayish color isn't as noticeable, his heart would have slowly failed that night. Babies aren't hooked up to anything and no alarm would have gone off if his heart would have stopped. Sometimes we think back on how close we came to waking up and finding that Brock didn't make it through that first night.

It was in the nursery that the nurse there noticed his worsening color and had him sent to the NICU. The next phone call to our room in the middle of the night confirmed my previous inklings that something wasn't quite right and started a very long next few days. A few days where I pretty much cried the entire time. A few days where I saw a much anticipated and needed relaxing postpartum rest, disappear and be replaced by fear worry and stress. A few days of a very stressed family, waiting for a procedure to see if our son's heart was fixable.

I think sometimes the thoughts we have prepare us for the things to come, even when we aren't sure what exactly is going to happen. Looking back, we learned so much and received so much comfort and care from others. The road with having a child born with a heart defect was a bit rough and trying sometimes, but we've made it and now are very grateful for a pretty healthy baby boy who brings a lot of joy to our family. Our belief in prayer and faith of others has increased as well as our gratitude for those who remembered Brock in their prayers.

Mellow vs. Wild

People say that no two kids are the same. I don't know about the superlative nature of that statement. But I do know that our kids are very different. Ady is full of energy and a touch past high strung sometimes. Sometimes we call her our wild child. She only has two speeds, wide open throttle and out cold. She sleeps in, and is a very deep sleeper. Brock on the other hand is totally mellow. He loves to chill out. And he is so calm compared to Ady. He wakes up at the slightest noise and never ever lets us sleep in. Don't believe me that Brock is super mellow? Check out this picture.
Yep, that is fingernail paint all over Brock's head and face. Ady decided that she wanted to paint Brock. And do you think that Brock objected, nope, he just sat there and let her paint him. Kasey and I were upstairs and thought, "sheesh the kids are quiet, too quiet". Went downstairs and there the kids are practicing their artistic ways of expressing themselves. Hopefully someday Brock will figure out how to say no to Ady, and won't always go along with her half-cooked ideas.
Once Ady realized that she was in trouble she decided that the best way to get out of trouble was to let us know that she also painted herself a little. She had a very small drop, that is covered up by her finger.
Well my winter traveling is over. I completed the last sport show for this year. I was in Minneapolis, MN this last week and in Madison, WI just before that. I enjoy the pressure and difficulty of sales, but am glad that I will not be spending several weeks on the road again till next winter. By the way, something funny that Ady said last night. Ady was acting up at Grandma and Grandpa Haddock's house and Kasey was telling her to knock it off. Ady said something back, and Kasey told her if she was going to be sassy, she wouldn't get to play outside with her cousins. Ady's response was "I'm not sassy, I'm Ady.

Ady has also finally gotten past naming her stuffed animals generic names like horse, dog, and mouse. She informed us the other day that her blue stuffed dog she got for Christmas from Aunt Melanie has the name of Rufus. We asked her why she named him that. After about 5 tries to figure out her answer, I think we figured out that it was because he says "roof, roof!" She also decided to name her pink horse Buddy. No reason that we can figure, except Buddy is what we call Brock a lot...

And even though Ady can be a handful at times, she still is great to have around and I'm glad she keeps me company while Adam is gone. She can and does do and say some very cute things. This week that Adam has been gone, we traded vehicles with his parents. I was driving home and getting used to truck driving and mentioned to Ady that "I miss my car." To which Ady immediately replied "I miss my Dad." She makes sure to always bless him in her prayers too. "Please bless Dad while he is away on the airplane" Someday she might realize he actually gets off the airplane, but I just think it is pretty cute that she remembers him so I don't bother to correct her.

Teething and Climbing

Somebody is definitely growing up. Luckily he is a little more cautious than his sister. He climbed up on his own and then decided he couldn't go any further, so he just kept grunting and whining until I finally got him down.

Next, I know you can only see the 2 bottom teeth in this photo, but he does have 4 on top too; it's just harder to get a picture of all of them. Especially when Ady decides she needs to take over the camera.


and for one last picture: no, this is not of Brock, but we were going thru some of the pictures we have because Ady often requests to look at the pictures we have of when we took her to DisneyWorld. Well, she was in the same age frame as Brock is now and we came across some of her. Funny thing is...she thought it was Brock. They look pretty similar huh? Definitely some different boy/girl traits, but we won't complain that they look alike. In fact, last year in Minnesota, people would see us and and say "Oh, you have 2 kids, and they look so alike. Are both of them both of yours?" like it wasn't normal to have 2 kids from the same parents.

Kasey asked me to add something to today's blog so: I wanted to share something that happened today at church, Ady said something pretty funny. The speaker was talking and I was half paying attention, and half trying to keep Ady entertained/quiet. I heard the speaker mention Alvin Smith and then something about his death, and then something else. I looked over at Ady and she had this pained look of terror. I leaned over and asked if she was okay. She said, "Daddy, if Alvin died, Simon and Theodore will be so sad." I hadn't realized the kid ever listens in church.

Life in General

Dude was so tired. And so hungry. But while Kasey was mixing some rice cereal, crash went his head and down for the count was this little man.

Ady has this thing for finding one of our cameras and taking random pictures. Here is one of her random pictures. Aren't we all glad to know what she had in her mouth?

Two weeks ago I was in South Bend Indiana for some business and decided to visit University of Notre Dame. I am so glad that I took some time for this excursion. What an amazingly beautiful campus and interesting pieces of history. This is the Golden Dome. They suggest that when you go inside to lay down on the floor to get the best view of the painted ceiling.

This is a picture of the interior of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a cathedral on campus. Absolutely beautiful building. The stained glass windows, painted ceiling, the huge vaulted ceilings and all that devotion to Deity was awe inspiring. I was very grateful that they allow photos to be taken.

At various alcoves in the basilica are different displays or pieces of art. This was my favorite piece of art. No idea who it is done by, but neat none the less.

Last week I had a trip to Minnesota and while there I attended a dog sled race. It was pretty neat but would have been way better if the temperature could have been above zero degrees. The race was comprised of 16 ten dog teams. And yes the dogs are wearing socks.

Young at Heart

I heard the other day that the average human moves 11 times in their life. Well, Ady is 3 and she has moved 10 times. And we are probly moving again soon, so I hope she is well above average on this one, and will move a couple more times, cause while I love having the kids, someday she will need to move out on her own. Anyway, with moving so much(and knowing that we will be moving), we really haven't accumulated many things. We yard sell things because it is cheaper to buy them at the new place, rather than packing and transporting them. I hope we are getting closer to finally settling down, and being able to accumulate some things--like a kitchen table, instead of the flimsy card table we are currently using. Yah, that would be nice. But no matter. It just helps us remember that the most important things in life are not things, right?

So, what we do have is what we need and what was packed up in boxes in my parents barn during our time on the islands of Key West and Hawaii. Since we have moved so many times, Adam sometimes wonders why I keep some of the things I do, and I, likewise, wonder why in the world he keeps what he does. Well the other day I was going thru one of my boxes and found this cute Korean Han-bok that I got while I was there serving a mission(and have only kept it 7 years-but well worth it in my opinion.)

Ady fell in love at first sight. She was so excited to wear it to church. She had so many people tell her how pretty her dress was. What was funny though, was that on the walk from sacrament meeting to her primary class, she walked down the hall saying "Ola, Como Esta?" to everyone. She got some pretty funny looks...A girl wearing Asian attire, speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora the Explorer. I tried to teach her how to say "Hello" in Korean, but "Anyanghashimnikka" is pretty hard to learn, and she couldn't quite get it.

Anyway...I have another funny story from church. We attend the ward where I grew up and Adam told me this after we finished our block meeting when the men and women split to have class. All the adult men were in a combined class and the teacher was asking who was the youngest there. He looked around the room, and saw a guy who was several years younger than Adam or me, and pointed and said he was pretty young, but then he looked around to see if anyone else was younger. Then the following conversation pursues:

Teacher: "Oh, I know who is the youngest, it must be this guy on the back row." He looks at Adam.

Adam(who has Brock sitting on his lap): "Me?"

Teacher: "Yeah, how old are you?"

Adam: "Uhh...29"

Teacher: "Oh(pause), Sorry, I thought you were younger"

Adam(under his breath): I guess its not the worst thing in the world to look younger than I am."

Then the 50ish-year old guy sitting next to Adam says, " I wish I looked that much younger than I am."

This is even funnier since recently it has become very apparent that Adam's hair is thinning and he is convinced that he is going bald. Adam claims he will soon be a fat, old, bald man. So proof that I am right and Adam doesn't have to worry yet about looking 40.

I guess when you have a husband who looks like he is still 18 when he is gonna be hitting the big 3-0 on his next B-day, its not really a bad thing. I guess he'll just have to keep carrying his ID around, especially if he wants to ever drive a rental or BYUH car(but thats another story.)

Well, no matter what one looks like, I think its more important if you still feel "young." And as long as Adam doesn't hurt himself at the local high school's wrestling practice, where he helps out, he is still young enough to play with the kids. Here is Ady making her Dad give her a horse ride--her and her elephant, and her dog, and her doll, and her stuffed horse.

Ady Style

Ady still isn't over Christmas. I am pretty much okay with it, since I like Christmas enough to celebrate it all year if my husband would let me. This morning again, she asked me if Santa came last night. A couple of days ago I came downstairs and Ady informed me that she made a Christmas tree. Here it is.

A stuffed animal & toy collage on top of some blankets on top of a pilates ball on top of a bean bag. I love it that she doesn't need much to do what she wants. (and its probly good for her cuz it fits our current vagabond lifestyle) Its like the saying "The richest man is he who needs the least."

Here is a picture of Brock, too. I can't believe how big he is getting. Ady and Brock love to play with each other.

And now that Christmas is over, I had some time to do a project for us. I embroidered our names on our Stockings!(finally)

I love being able to use my mom's stuff. My Mom and Dad actually took off this week for a business/pleasure trip, so I get to take care of my mom's store, and now that I know how to embroider, I've even been able to do some jobs that came in. Its just been a little inconvienient that Adam is gone the same week for business also, but all in all, we are doing good. Especially since Grandma VT came and helped for a couple days last week. I've always been amazed at how single mothers do it, but once again I am reminded how much being a mother takes if you don't have help! But I've also been reminded how much I love my kids...and my husband.

Growing up fast

We have been wanting to get a family picture taken, but as of yet haven't done so. Kasey even got us an appointment at a studio, but then I had to leave for a business trip the week that we had the appointment. But before leaving, I decided to take pictures of the kids to show how big they are getting, and how great they look. We asked them to stand by a wall that is blank and hold hands. So this is what we got at first.
Ady wanted to "help" Brock. We kept trying to get her to just let him be. But no, she wanted to hold both his hands and help him stand.

After some love unfeigned and gentle persuasion(commonly called threatening, bribery and pleading) we got her to let go of one of his hands. Of course Ady decides not to smile.

So then we get Ady happy again and she starts grinning and I take the picture and not only does Ady open her mouth, but then Brock decides to not smile. Come on kids, all I want is one nice smiling picture.
So in the end this is what we ended up with. Aren't they good looking kids!? And here is one of Brock by himself. When we got done he just kept standing there smiling so I took an extra one of him without Ady helping/harassing him.

The Last Couple Weeks

Lately is seems that our life has been filled with shoveling snow, making t-shirts, and cleaning up after two very messy kids. A couple of days ago I told Ady that she had to clean her room. She wanted to watch the Tinkerbell movie, so I told her she could watch when her room was clean. She got this funny look where her eyes get real big, opens her mouth and looks at me like I just asked her to turn into a baboon. "The whole room!?" "Do I have to clean it all by myself?" I told her that she made the mess and that I am tired of picking up her toys and clothes so yes she had to do it all by herself. We went up to her room and I got the box for her legos, the hamper box thing, and the toy box. I got a chair, put the boxes by me, and told her to put the correct items in their boxes. I've never seen anything so ridiculous. Ady would grab one lego and walk it over to the box. Then she would grab one sock, or one toy and put the item in its box. Sometimes she would grab two legos, but then she had to stick them together walk the 5 steps across the room, take them back apart and put them in the box one at a time. Took one hour and 7 minutes to do a job that should have taken less than 10 minutes.

I am tired of winter. I hate shoveling snow and miss winters in Hawaii and Florida. I for one can't wait for winter to be over.

Kasey loves working over at her mom's store. She has been learning how to use the embroidery machines and working with vinyl. I'm starting to worry that she is going to want to buy an embroidery or vinyl machine of her own soon.

Brock is all over the place. He has figured out how to climb up stairs and loves to climb up the stairs and then whine till we go up, get him, and bring him back down so that he can do it all over again. Brock can stand on his own now for a couple of seconds and we are worried that he will be walking soon.

Ady loves being in the sunbeam class for primary at church. Every night we try to sing a song with her before she goes to bed. We usually let her pick the song to sing. But lately she only asks for two songs, the Sunbeam song and Rudolph. I've tried explaining to her that it isn't Christmas time, but she doesn't care.
We have managed to find time to just relax and play around. Recently we got a couple of new Wii games. I bought Kasey the Super Mario Bros All-Star game for Christmas. And I had a Cabelas coupon and after combining it with a gift card from Melanie and Ryan, was able to buy the Cabelas Dangerous Hunts 2011 for 11 dollars. Kasey has decided that it is a pretty sweet game and we go on hunting safaris together. As you can see, Brock likes to hang out and watch with us. Tomorrow I am leaving for Cincinnati where I will be attending the 2011 outdoor expo and boat show. Then the following week I will be in Chicago for a business meeting and the outdoor expo there. I'm pretty excited for the shows and having several days to check out all the new gear and boats that will be on display!

Christmas Activities

I had the best Christmas that I can remember in a long time. Ady woke up and the first thing she said was, "did Santa come?" Grandma and Grandpa Van Tassell came to visit late Christmas Eve and Ady got to open her presents with both Grandparents watching. For several weeks now Ady had been asking for a red present from Santa Claus. Well, the jolly old man came through for her, both Ady and Brock got a red present from Santa.
No, those are not all Brock's and Ady's presents. We all went over to Grandpa and Grandma Haddock's to open presents. Grandma and Grandpa Van Tassell happened to wrap Ady's presents in red and Ady thought that she had died and gone to heaven. She got 3 red presents! here she is in this photo holding a couple of them. She didn't want to put down her presents.
The look on Ady's face when she opened her present from Santa was spectacular. She yelled out, "Look, a lego train and it has Toy Story too!"Brock was mostly just interested in climbing on the packages. Ady then handed out presents to both Grandparents, her mom and me, and to Blake and Leslie. And of course, Ady wanted to help, (ie. do it all herself), everyone unwrap their presents.
This is what Kasey and I made for our parents. Kasey thinks that people have a hard time remembering everyone's birthdays. If you didn't know Kasey thinks that birthdays are a personal holiday and is second only to Christmas. Kasey found a picture of a birthday calendar online and thought we could "easily" make one. Ended up being not nearly as easy as she predicted.
We have had quite a bit of snow this past week. And everytime we get new snow Ady wants to build a snowman. Sometimes she wants to build other things too. Like a dragon or turtle. The other day she wanted to build a sea horse in the snow. I told her to go and ask Blake to help her. So she did.
We went up to Bear Lake the day after Christmas with Kasey's parents and visited Kasey's grandpa. We also took Ady sledding. She had soooo much fun.
Ady rode down the hill the first few times with either Kasey or me. But then she wanted to do it all by herself. She would laugh and giggle the whole way down the hill. We were laughing pretty hard just watching her.
Today I decided to give Brock a hair cut. He had 3 inch hair in some places and not much in others. It was a pain to get him to hold still. He loves chewing on "his" toothbrush, but even that wouldn't keep him still. Kasey ended up restraining him while I buzzed his head.

Christmas fun

We have this village Christmas set that Kasey and I bought in an after Christmas sale our first Christmas. It has been in a box and hasn't been seen since then. So this year we decided to get it out. The kids love it. Ady likes to re-arrange, on a nearly hourly basis, the villagers and trees. And Brock loves to shred the fuzzy stuff that is supposed to be snow. If you look closely you will see that there are tress in the middle of the road, a cow out by the road and shredded fuzzy stuff all over the floor.

Santa

Last weekend the town had a Christmas celebration and we took the kids to see Santa. Ady was so excited, she kept telling us that she loves Santa. Kasey invited her mom to come along and we thought that we'd be able to snap a picture of the kids with Jolly Old Saint Nick. As you can see, Brock did not want to be jolly for the picture. Brock is at that stage where he only wants mom or dad. Usually only mom. Even the candy cane couldn't get a smile out of him.
Even though Brock didn't enjoy his meeting with Santa, Ady loved it. Before we went we rehearsed with Ady a conversation with Santa. We practiced asking her if she had been good, and what she wanted for Christmas. Well sure enough, Santa asked her the questions and do you know what her response was? She told Santa she wanted a red present. She has since seen Santa two other times since then, and everytime she tells Santa she wants a red present. We told her that we were pretty sure that Santa would get her a red present. The trouble is that the very next day she wanted to know why Santa hadn't brought the red present yet. Seems Ady has some time frame issues.
Ady never seems to stop talking these days. And she has serious issues with volume control. Last Sunday during church she just kept asking questions and talking. When the sacrament was being blessed and passed amongst the congregation I tried really hard to get her to be quiet, or at least quieter. So I sat her on my knee and got out a few pictures of Jesus. As soon as I opened them, she excitedly(in other words very loudly) said "look dad, its Jesus." I reminded her to be quiet and to try to whisper to me. It worked for a brief moment. But then she started asking me if I loved Jesus. I assured her that I do. Then she asked me if mommy loves Jesus, I told her she does. Then she asked me if I wanted to know who she loves. I said "yes, who do you love?" In a very confident and loud voice said, "I love Santa!" I told her that we were looking at pictures of Jesus, not Santa and asked if she loves Jesus. She said yes. And we looked at another picture. Then she asked me why I love Jesus. I told her a brief and short 3 year old type of answer. Then she asked me if I wanted to know why she loves Jesus. I said "yes, please tell me." Ady said, "because Jesus is going to bring me lots of red presents and come down the chimney, and mommy says I have to give him cookies." The lady in front of us couldn't help herself, she started laughing.

Sometimes Ady is very sociably awkward. Bold, usually not shy, but very awkward. She thinks that every kid who is about the same height at her is her friend. Basically that is her only requirement for her to be a friend. So often in the grocery store she will see some kid who we don't know and say "look dad, its my friend." We have become accustomed to this and just nod. The best part is hearing the other parent ask their kid if they know us or Ady. Last night we went to the Christmas party at our church and Ady saw another girl who was about her height. Immediately she pointed and told us that the girl was her friend. I asked her if she knew the girl's name and she said she did not. We told her that maybe she should go over and talk to the girl. So Ady got up and walked over about three tables, stood right next to the girl's chair, leaned over till her face was maybe 3, probably 2 inches away from the other girl's face. And there she stood, watching the girl chew her food. Didn't say anything, didn't move, just stood there waiting for the girl to notice her. Of course the girl noticed, she leaned away a bit, and gave Ady one of those weird looks that could be interpreted a dozen ways, none of them being particularly friendly and tried to ignore Ady. After about a minute Ady left the girl and came back to our table. Kasey and I had found Ady's antics to be far more interesting than the talent show we were supposed to be paying attention to. I asked Ady if she had made a friend, and she said that she had, but she didn't know her name. Finding the program to be vastly less interesting than Ady, I decided to see if we could extend this side show. So I rehearsed how to ask the girl her name and how to introduce oneself. Ady went back over, stood right next to the girl, leaned in close and didn't say anything. The girl's mother had seen the proceedings and told Ady that the other girl's name was Rachel. Without being asked Ady finally got bold enough to say something. Very loudly. And in a guttural, throaty yell said "ADYSON". Of course everyone one around us heard and now we weren't the only ones being entertained. The girl's mother correctly interpreted Ady's outburst to be her name and said something to the effect of, "nice to meet you Adyson". I assumed that Ady would go back to being shy. I was wrong. Ady turned to the mother and in a very loud voice, clear not guttural this time, said "I was baptized". Now, I didn't even know that Ady knew the word baptism. I had seen the picture that Ady had colored and brought home from her nursery primary class last week. It was a picture of a baptism. But I didn't know that she knew the word. Then the girl's mother said, "oh, you've been baptized have you?". Ady said, "yes, in the water". Then Ady turned around and walked back to our table.

Kasey nearly breaks my knee

Kasey has been wanting Ady to join a dance or tumbling class since she was a week old. I kept on insisting that we wait till Ady wanted to join the class. Well Kasey convinced Ady that she wanted to learn to dance and tumble so last week she started her class. The class is about an hour long, half dance and half tumbling. Ady loves it. And so does Kasey. Of course Ady saw the other girls wearing tutus and leotards and thought that she wanted one too. So Kasey bought a leotard and Melanie made Ady a tutu. Ady still has trouble pronouncing certain letters, and she often gets her L's and R's mixed up. So today Ady was wanting to wear her "reotard". This of course caught us a bit off guard and we asked her to repeat herself. This time she was very clear. She wanted to wear her retard. Kasey spent several minutes trying to help Ady say leotard, and sometimes Ady says it correctly, the rest of the time, she wears a retard.

Ady loves the tutu that Melanie made her and wanted to do the dance that she learned while wearing the leotard and tutu. So Melanie got out her camera to record it for all of us. What she didn't expect to catch on video was Kasey's wicked Wii golf swing.

Snowman

We got about a foot of snow in the last 24 hours. As soon as it started snowing Ady wanted to build a snowman. She has never built a snowman before, actually she hasn't been around snow much at all. But her favorite song is a nursery song about a snowman. So I told her that if she waited for today that I would help her build a snowman after church. Of course, I was somewhat expecting and maybe even hoping that the snow wouldn't stay. But it did. And so out we went.
Ady also helped me shovel the walks and driveways. Her way of shoveling is a bit different. She lays her shovel down and using her hands she scoops snow into the shovel. Then she drags the shovel over to the side and calls me over to help her dump it out. I thought we were done being outside in the snow, but Ady found out that her cousins were out next door building more snowmen. So we had to go join them. Ady helped build 2 more snowmen, one snow turtle and enjoyed a snowball fight. She was soaking wet and smiling when we finished. She informed me that tomorrow we have to do it again, but this time, she wants to build a snow dragon not a snowman.

Brock is really getting better at crawling. He still scoots mostly but knows how to get up on his knees and crawl. He has also started to pull himself up and stand. He loves being played with and will laugh and smile if you play with or tickle him. Ady likes to play ring-around-the-rosies and patty-cake with him.

This summer Ady started saying her whole name. We found her to be pretty funny when she would introduce herself as Adyson Van Tassell. She would even shake hands with us and introduce herself. So then my reply would be that I am Dad Van Tassell. She refuses to accept this. She says that Kasey and I are not Van Tassells. I have tried explaining that we have the same last name as her, but to no avail. Well we found this town in Wyoming.
Maybe someday Ady will realize that her and Brock aren't the only Van Tassells out there. Ady said something kind of funny the other day. She had just gone to the bathroom and I asked her if she went potty. Her response was that she had not gone potty, she had gone pee. Well, Kasey has gotten after me several times about watching what I say and do around Ady because she will copy or repeat us. We thought that "potty" is a better term for a 3 year old to use than pee. So I asked her if she had gone poop or potty? She told me that she had gone pee. Obviously I'm not careful enough at times. Trying to figure out how to better explain why we wanted her to say potty not pee I crossed over to the toilet to flush the handle. Looking in I saw that she had indeed pooped. So I turned to her and said, look you went poop and potty too. She looked right at me and said, "no dad, I went poop, pee and potty three".

Signs

I found some "odd" signs recently. I wasn't able to get pictures of all of them, like the billboard in Chicago about Carlos Boozer. But I did take pictures of two of them, and I thought I should share them. Here is the first one.
This is a sign at Ford's Theater, the place where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The sign says that firearms are prohibited. Now, I know that signs like this are in other places also, but I found it somewhat ironic that it was here. Maybe they should have had the sign up some 140 years ago?
I have never seen a parking sign like this. Not a drop off area, it is a "Kiss & Ride".

Why we don't climb on stuff

Ady climbs on everything. Sometimes I swear we spend all day telling her to get off this or that. It doesn't matter; the fence at the zoo, the kitchen table, the back of the couch, me, every rock that is bigger than her, and anything else that seems inviting at the time.

Maybe this time it was partially our fault, obviously Brock was put on the cannonball. We were at Fort McHenry near Baltimore a few weeks ago and as soon as Ady saw Brock on the cannon ball she wanted to climb on the cannon. The funny thing is that I was able to catch what happened next.
She was putting her foot on the cannon and it slipped off and down she falls. Next frame...

The funniest thing about this isn't that she fell. It is that Kasey never moves and is smiling the whole time.