Addie's "Taylor Swift Stage"

So one day I was talking with Addie about what she wanted to do that afternoon; color, watch a movie, ride her scooter? She replied "Will you build me a stage like Taylor Swift, with a big red curtain so I can get ready behind it and then come and sing?"

uh...

I was doubtful but with Kassie's encouragement I decided to take on the task (not that afternoon but as a Christmas present).

It was a pretty simple task; take one wooden pallet, cover it with plywood, then take some wood laminate flooring and cover the whole thing.  We also decided to build a curtain setup with some PVC and curtains. Kassie found some cool microphone/speaker combos on Woot.com and BAM! we have the setup (a little less grand than Taylor Swift).

So here it is, the Addie Mercer Stage:







Mason Dance Moves

First MN visit of 2012

Recently, Addie has started asking why she doesn't get to see her grandparents very often. She doesn't understand why other kids in her school can see theirs anytime they want. Of course, this broke our hearts. Though unable to visit over the holidays, Addie & Kassie arranged a quick weekend getaway to MN in early January. Addie was SO excited. She especially couldn't wait to see her cousins, Henri & Stella...and their toys.

this is her new look for the camera. I call it the "mona lisa"

coloring with grandma

Addie & Grandma

Addie & Great-grandma

more mona lisa...

bundled up for MN in January!

fun at the trampoline park...

dance party!

you'd never guess that Addie is actually the older cousin! (by only a couple months)

showing Henri how to use her camera-it's was a hit! Here are a few of the snapshots they took:

again, look how tall he is!

couldn't get enough of Stella's dollhouse...still talks about it!

fell alseep on the way to the airport

who can sleep like this?!

sporting her new Hello Kitty gear

Addie's Hello Kitty Party

Addie LOVES Hello Kitty.
I'm not sure how she was introduced or what Hello Kitty even really is, but she's cute, so we're going with it. So we decided to throw a Hello Kitty themed birthday party for Addie at our house.
For the first time, Addie got to invite some school friends that we didn't know...big step! It was a fun mixture of school, church, & neighborhood friends. We opened up our whole house & let the kids run wild for a couple hours.

pre-partying with Addie & her buddy, Jacob

It also included face painting, courtesy of our neighbor, Paige! (contact her for your next kiddo party!) She did a fabulous job...all the kids loved it! Of course, Addie was Hello Kitty!

Click here to see more pics!

To send everyone off we had Hello Kitty cake pops...yum!

Daddy's special present to Addie-her first skate board! (Mommy has a Hello Kitty helmet & pads on the way)

Happy Birthday to our big girl, Addie! 

We love you & are so proud of the little lady you've become!

Addie's 5th Birthday

Our little girl is 5...that sounds so much older than 4!

Tradition in the Mercer Household is to take off the kid's birthday and spend the day together. Addie's birthday this year landed on a Wednesday so we took the day off work, sent Mason to daycare, and kept Addie home.

She started the day off going to the doctors for her annual physical, which meant get a few shots. She was tough, barely cried, and quickly forgot about the shots thanks to some ice cream at McD's. Well, I shouldn't say she forgot the shots, she was constantly bringing up how tough she was, she wore the band aids like a badge of honor for about 3 days.

After that we headed down to the Denver Aquarium to spend the day with the fishes. Addie loves the aquarium, we spent quite a few hours down there and had a blast!

We then headed home to spend the evening with the Milburn's...what a treat! Addie just loves Katin & Aubrey. She likes to say that Katin is Mason's girlfriend and compares every baby she sees to Aubrey. 

It was a great day, but the party was still to come!