Before and after our header

This was the end result after a long and hardworking Saturday. Grandpa Gene, Cousin Matt, Dad, and Stef all spent the day taking apart the kitchen. :)

This is 3 days later after Bryan and his dad installed our header and framed in our sliding patio door area. What a difference!

Addie - 18 months

Addie is now 18 months old. She continues to amaze us. Addie is such a happy, friendly child. Some of our fun moments and memories with her:

-Her hair is now long enough to put in either a barrette or side ponytail. I barely have enough time to get her hair ready and put the clip in, before her little hand reaches up to take it back out. It's become a game now to see who wins.

-She likes pretending that she is going places. Addie will find a bag, basket, my purse, doctors kit, anything that carries and holds items, pick it up, turn around and wave and say, "Bye." She then heads out of the room and then the entire process starts over. She fills up her container, puts it over her shoulder and says "Bye."

-Meal time has become interesting. She now notices differences in our dinners and her own. If anything is different what-so-ever, she wants ours. Last night we were eating sandwiches, fruit and veggies (we are kitchen-less right now so this is the consistency of a lot of our meals). She noticed that we had Fritos on our plates and she didn't. She shoved all of her food to one side of her tray, signed to Stefan for more, pointed at the chip bag, and did her little grunt sound that we've translated to meaning "now". Seriously!!

-Neighbors of ours had two of their huge oak trees cut down about 3 weeks ago. Addie was fascinated in watching the men use the chainsaws and big trucks. Every time a branch fell, she'd say, "Uh oh!" "Uh oh!" lasted the entire Saturday morning.

-Addie learned how to smile for the camera in Palm Springs (lots of pictures being taken). She not only smiles for the word cheese, but anytime anyone has a video camera or camera even out in the vicinity, she taps them and starts smiling. It's the face crunched, eyes shut, chin up, type smile. Very flattering, and pretty funny!!

Her vocabulary is pretty consistent with the words: Buh bye, Bye, dog, ruff, mum, dad, ball, bug, bebe (soother), and Hi. She still signs for more (a lot) and does this hands up, shoulder shrug for what's that, wear's that, and I don't know (that's our interpretation). Every once in a while, I think I hear new words that are probably in the forming (Susie her daycare lady, Papa, Cheerios).

Our biggest news is that Addie will get her dream fulfilled around November 1st. Our daughter absolutely adores babies. She hugs, kisses, pats, taps, leans on, brings toys to, any baby she can find. Stef and I are expecting Baby Julien #2 this fall. We are super excited and can't wait for this new blessing to join our family! I'm almost 13 weeks along and feeling pretty good. It's crazy how already having one around the house, allows no naps or extra rest period for mom. I found myself just going to bed at between 8:30 and 9am each night!

We love you all and miss you tons. Stef and I will update our blog soon with our kitchen remodel pictures. Right now it's somewhat of a mess!!!

God Bless, Stefan, Betsy, Addie, Baby J #2, and of course Norm :)

Addie's picnic

Addie has this amazing ability to put a lot of food into her mouth at one time. Witness how she eats her favorite sandwich, peanut butter and jelly's.

Spring Break

We were blessed to be able to spend the last week in Palm Springs with the Julien family. Mark flew in from Australia the night before we arrived. We hadn't seem him since Christmas 2008. We missed him a lot, but it was awesome to hear about how God worked through his lives and the ones he touched while on his mission. Sarah and Carley also flew in later that week, so everyone was together for Easter weekend. Addie helped find all our Easter eggs, so that the big kids could divide them up and eat them. :)

Stef and I, overlooking the view from our place. It was overlooking the putting green on the 3rd hole at PGA West. Absolutely beautiful!

Nana, Papa, and Addie saying goodbye at the airport. Addie learned the word "cheese" this last week. Her smiles are quite interesting. She squints her eyes, wrinkles her nose, and give a big toothy grin. :)

Zoo

Addie took her first trip to the zoo while we were in Palm Springs. She'd LOVED looking at the giraffes. She kept pointing at the baby giraffe.

Warthog. We didn't realize how ugly they are. They only reason they are kind of cute, is if you think of the Lion King.

Addie was NOT a fan of the petting zoo. Something about lots of goats and kids all over. She kept climbing up in our laps.

The African drums.

Easter in Palm Springs

Addie was quite smitten with her uncle Marky. She loved having him read books to her, play in the swimming pool, and hang out with her.

Eating a Cheerio snack (best way to keep her happy while hanging out by the pool). :)

Addie 16 months

Addie and her buddy Norm. They are still attached at the hip, and are often found together in the midst of a minor crime.

Addie new snazzy outfit from Ashley. Lots of compliments at church!

Addie found a new best friend (not that she doesn't love you too Ben)! Addie loves babies. Olivia was quite patient with Addie while she gave multiple tight hugs to her while watching the hockey game on Sunday.

Mommy's purse

Addie found mommy's purse on the bench last week. The pictures tell how it went!

Baby Shower

We accidentally found out that Addie was proficient in eating an apple on her own. She likes to dig through my backpack each night, sometimes taking out items and other times leaving me treasures for work the next day. On this particular evening, she had found an uneaten apple, pulled it out, and sat down in the corner and started eating. Only when she had it almost half gone, did she reappear in the kitchen with a sticky face and half soaked front shirt. :)

We had a couples baby shower for Liz and Steve Smith a couple weekends ago. Lots of fun. They are due in the middle of April.

Addie 16 months

Addie continues to love bath time, probably her favorite time of the day. When we ask her if she'd like to take a bath, she starts taking her shirt off and heads to the bathroom.

Addie loves her big girl chair. Thanks Nana and Papa. I tried to have her sit in her chair and watch part of Veggie Tales while I made supper (it lasted all of 2 minutes).

Addie feeding Norman Cheerios

Watch carefully. Addie was willing to share as long as she actually got the last bite. :)

Addie finds a bug

Addie is really fascinated by the Box Elder bugs that manage to make their way into our house during our cold Minnesotan winter. She's not afraid of them and enjoys carefully picking them up for closer inspections. This series of pictures demonstrate her successfully capturing one, but then it eventually ends up down her sleeve. :)

Addie and Norm

Addie feeding Norman

Every breakfast and lunch, Addie enjoys feeding Norm his meals (she likes to try and give him snacks too). She actually picks up his bowl, walks it to the closet, opens the container, "pretends" to scoop out food (I have to help with that part), puts the cover back on, carries his bowl back into the kitchen, and sets it down right next to his water dish. My mom captured the last part of this routine on video yesterday. So funny! She is really proud of herself, and sometimes even claps as if to say, "Yeah Addie!!" Love and miss you all, Betsy

Family Photo Shoot

Stefan, Addie and I are up in Canada for Christmas. We are having a wonderful time visiting with Auntie Carley, Nana and Papa. Auntie Sarah and her beau are coming in today (Sarah from Australia and Fergus from Edson). We were able to Skype with Uncle Markie on Christmas Eve. Addie can't wait to give him a hug in March. We were also blessed with a surprise visit from Stef's Auntie Allyson and Uncle John from Vancouver. They called on Saturday and asked what we were doing this weekend, and when Sue walked downstairs, they were just pulling up in the driveway. We had fun watching two Canucks games (they won both of them because Addie wore her lucky jersey), going to Stefan homecoming basketball games, and playing Rockband.

We had our family photo shoot yesterday with Heidi and wanted to post a couple of the pictures. http://hmckelveyphotography.blogspot.com/Thanks mom for the adorable toque, Addie wasn't very cooperative with wearing it, but Heidi was able to snap a couple pics with her wearing it. We love you all and hope you had a blessed and relaxing Christmas with family.

See you soon! God Bless, The Minnesota Julien's

Addie - Almost Christmas

Addie is almost 1 year and 2 months (the technical term I believe is 15 months). Stefan and I cannot believe how quickly she is changing. She has turned her toddling into a full fledged run and a game of chase. She LOVES to sit in her room, and read. I will come in after 20 minutes, and she is in exactly the same spot with a huge pile of books around her. She continues to LOVE playing with Norman. Last week she suddenly surprised us by attempting to feed him. She picked up his bowl in the kitchen, walked it to the front hall closet, opened the door, and took off his food cover. I then helped out by scooping in his food. She then set or shall I say tipped over his food bowl and started feeding him handfuls of dog food (I only had to pry out 2 pieces from her tight little lips). We leave for Canada in 4 sleeps and Addie is super excited to hang out with Nana, Papa, and her aunties. She's misses her uncle Mark, but we'll definitely have to Skype. We wish you all a very blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year! Lots of love. :)

Addie walking

Toilet Paper

Addie has discovered the wonders of toilet paper. She's not satisfied until A LOT of paper comes off. We have to be careful, between Norman and Addie they can make a pretty big mess (Addie pulls it off and then Norm shreds it up all over the house).

Addie is SO ticklish!