Not Me Monday...

I haven't participated in a "Not Me Monday", in quite a while, but after the week that we've had a "Not Me Monday" is definitely in order. If you think that I'm crazy, and don't know what I'm doing please head over to www.mckmama.com !

* After the snow had stopped on Saturday, my lovely little one wanted to go outside and I definitely knew where her gloves were, and I did not have to put socks on her hands because you know....things get lost in our house!

* Also because of the crazy snow, I did not get cabin fever so severely and jumped into my Nissan Rogue and backed up out of the drive and tried to get out (especially after my husband was standing in the car port advising me not to back out, because I could get stuck), and I did not get stuck, and it did not take my husband an hour to get me unstuck....oops!

* I also did not come very very close to running out of toilet paper, and I did not have to call my parents to bring us some, because we couldn't get out!

* And lastly.....I did not run out of deodorant and I did not wear my husband's Old Spice instead.

Addison's snowman

The snow is currently dumping down on us...we currently 8 inches of the cold white stuff, and it is still falling. We did get a chance to build this awesome snowman....we may attempt to build a snow family tomorrow!

Addison's Christmas Cookies

One evening this week I decided to let Addison decorate Christmas cookies! We have baked together on many occasions, we actually have a tradition of baking lemon poppy seed muffins every Sunday before church! But this was our first cookie decorating experience!

Before!

She loved the sprinkles!



All done Mommy!



I think that she put about 50 m & m's
on that one cookie!

The finished product!

I think that Addie did a fantastic job on her cookies, we will have to do this more often!

P.S. We have another new post below!

First Snow!

This morning we woke up to a blanket of beautiful snow in our yard! Addison and I had a lot of fun playing in it while Daddy was at a team meeting. Although, when Daddy returned Addison met him at the door, coat in hand to return to the cold! We love snow days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today's activities were filled with lots of food, fun and love from our family!

We spent our Thanksgiving with my parents, sister, nephew and my dear nanny. We ate your traditional thanksgiving meal (turkey, sweet potatoes...etc). It was so yummy!

I am so thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ for saving my soul and my precious family. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Oh Christmas Tree!

Well, the Christmas season is upon us. The Goodman family has already participated in several fun Christmas activities.

On Saturday we went to The Asheville Christmas Parade. We had a fabulous time & memaw came along with us! We sat in Pac Square in front of the most adorable little bakery and Andie McDowell ( from Groundhog Day) even stepped up on the curb beside us. Unfortunately, my husband wouldn't let me ask her for her autograph. Addison was such a great sport, the parade was really really long (lasting about an hour and half) and we even arrived an hour and a half prior to the parade starting, so we had to sit on the curb for a loooonnnnngggg time!

After the parade, Memaw treated us to a great lunch at Fuddruckers where we enjoyed some burgers and hot dogs!

We then decided that this was the year that we were going to get the "Christmas tree experience" as Josh has said that we needed for an entire year. Last year, Josh was really disapointed with the way that we got our Christmas tree. We simply followed some signs that we saw in Waynesville to a Christmas tree farm, picked out our Christmas tree that had already been chopped down and brought it home. Soooo, this year he wanted us to pick out our tree from a farm, chop it down, drag it down the mountain, and enjoy some hot chocolate afterwards. Well, our experience this year wasn't quite like that, but we sure had fun. Josh wanted to go to Spruce Pine, NC (where all of the Christmas trees are, he says) to get his Christmas tree. I had asked around at work, and googled several locations, and stumbled upon Sugar Plum Farms in Plumtree, NC (no, i'm not kidding). We drove about 2 hours from Asheville to get to this place, it is located in Avery County (the only thing that I know about this place is that it ALWAYS snows there). We FINALLY get there, and this place is like the Christmas tree capital of the world. First, you wait beside Santa's house on the hay ride and the hay ride takes you up a really steep mountain and drops you off while you search for the perfect Christmas tree. We were only looking for a 5 - 6 ft tree, and they had seveal to choose from. We settled on a 5.5 ft tree that was really full. We flagged down a worker and he cut the tree down for us, gave us a tag and then we hopped back on the hay ride down the mountain.

Once we got down the mountain we browsed around the ornament shop & bought a few Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, because of how time consuming the parade was we didn't get to partake in roasting marshmellows by the campfire or the free hot chocolate. They also had wreath making class on the premesis, but we didn't get to do that either. More reason to go back next year. So, we paid for our tree & gifts and headed back to Asheville, but not before Addison told Santa Claus that she wanted a new baby and a pizza (again, not kidding) for Christmas.

It was a great day & Sugar Plum Farms was well worth the long drive out there. This will be one Christmas tree experience for the scrap book.

Clemson vs Florida State

Last weekend "Spunky" and I were given tickets to the Clemson vs Florida State football game in Clemson. Thanks so so so much Uncle Riggs! We were given 4 tickets, so we gave the other 2 tickets to our friends Brandon and Jennifer (even though they are huge FL State fans). Addie stayed in Waynesville with Nana & Papaw!

The game started at 7:45 that evening, so prior to the game we had a great time tailgaiting with Bojangles chicken and biscuits! We all had a great time, especially when the tigers scored 2 touchdowns in the last quarter, beating the seminoles 40 to 24!

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was filled with lots of tricks and treats! We dressed our little witch and headed to the street! Main Street that is, main street was filled with lots of ghosts and goblins that gave us quite a scare, but it was all worth it with the amount of candy that Addison recieved in her spider trick or treat bag! After trick or treating we settled down with a great dinner from

Nick-n-Nates!

We're Back

Yes! We're still alive. We've had major computer issues at The Goodman home, and Geek Squad diagnosed our computer as "brain dead" and we ended up having to purchase a new one. Here's a few pictures of what we've been doing over the past few weeks.

Addison celebrated her 3rd birthday party!

The Beach trip was a success, and everyone loved the ocean!

Nanny celebrated her birthday!

Addison was awarded her Cubby vest

in Awana!

We've also had a few answered prayer requests, shortly after my last post we found a car for hubs to commute to Fruitland in. It's a gorgeous 1997 Toyota Corolla! The best part about it is 38 mpg! The worst part about it is that it is a straight drive, and someone is having to teach me how to drive it! Please continue to pray for hubs, as school is very time consuming and difficult!

Changes...

This is going to be a quick post.

Please be in prayer for my husband as he starts classes at Fruitland Bible Institute on Tuesday. He will be attending classes two nights a week from 6 - 10 PM. This will be a huge change for Addie and I not having hubs around as much. Please be in prayer for some specific prayer requests...

* That GOD would grant Spunky safety to and from classes each night

* That GOD would grant Spunky concentration while in class each night after working all day

* That we may be able to find a reliable car for him to purchase to save money on gas and wear and tear on the Ford Explorer

* That Addie would understand this different schedule and things would go smoothly for her with this transition (she's SUCH a Daddy's girl).

Again, thank you for supporting our family with your thoughs and prayers!

Keisha :)

P.S. Yes, I will eventually post pictures from our wonderful beach vacation & Addison's room make over....give me time!

Clemson Tiger Cheese Dip

Like I said in my last post, we LOVE college football. Most Saturdays in the fall you can find us lounging around the house watching football games while supporting our Clemson Tigers!

Most Saturdays, I try to prepare one of my husband's favorite snacks. The Cheese dip that I prepare is his favorite. Hope that your family likes it as much as mine does (I'm not exactly sure where I found this recipe, possibly from a Gooseberry Patch cook book).

Clemson Tiger Cheese Dip

Ingredients:

1 package Mexican Velveeta cheese

1 package hot Italian sausage

1 jar salsa (I usually buy Medium, because the Hot, is WAY too hot for this dip)

Brown the entire package of Italian sausage and drain. I then chop up the cheese a bit so that it will melt faster & add salsa. Place all ingredients into a crock pot on high, stirring occasionally. Cheese dip will be done in about 45 minutes. Serve with chips and root for the Tigers!

Football

In the fall we eat, breathe, and sleep one thing... Clemson Football! You see, like everyone in Spunky's family was a Clemson graduate. So naturally, he grew up going to Clemson football games and wanted to do the same with his family. We have been going to Clemson football games since we started dating, and now we are passing (or trying to pass) that tradition down to our daughter.

Thursday, October 12, 2006 was a big deal in our family on two parts, one because of the birth of our daughter, and secondly Clemson was playing Georgia Tech on a Thursday night game, and won! The game was actually on, while I was giving birth to my daughter! And Spunky was there....Clemson hat on, to welcome his bundle of joy into the world! I am just lucky that he was there with me and not at the game.

Prior to Addison being born, I remember rubbing my big fat pregnant belly in one of my husband's Clemson shirt dreaming about the day that I could take my baby girl to her first Clemson football game, I always adored seeing the little tots in their cheerleading outfits waiting for their turn to have their picture taken with the famous Clemson Tiger.

Spunky's uncle Riggs had given us tickets to the opening game of the season against Middle Tenn. State University. We figured that this would be a perfect game to take Addie to, kick off was at 6 PM, the weather was forcasted to be great, and the best part was that the game wasn't supposed to be televised which meant that we wouldn't be there forever!!

We had 4 tickets to the game, so 2 of our friends from church, Brandon & Jennifer went with us! We got to the stadium super early to tail gate prior to the game starting. You could say that the first mistake of the day was that Addie didn't have a nap. The second mistake was that it was hot, she was sweating, and thought that tail gating was a completely boring experience. During tailgating, she refused to eat and only played with the ice in the cooler.

We entered the stadium 90 minutes prior to kick off (to see the players warm up), and Addie was actually starting to come around! She enjoyed seeing the players, had warmed up to Jennifer, and was amused at the balloons at the other end of the stadium.

Once it was time for kick off, it was a completely different story. Once the fans started screaming, and the tigers did their famous run down the hill, I saw a look of sheer terror on my daughter's face. All I could do was hold her, and she told me over and over "mama, want to go to house please". After a couple of minutes I tripped over half of the row U, and walked up to the concession stand/ bathroom area thinking that I could calm her down gently and hopefully we could enjoy the rest of the game. While up there we first played in some fans that blew mist out, then we went to the potty, bought a soda, and I even sprung for some plastic pom poms to match her adorable cheerleading uniform. The pom pom idea did not work...I tired to get her to cheer with them, but I guess all of the excitement from the game really threw her over the edge, because she was absolutely petrified of the pom poms.....I really think that I am the first person in history to return pom poms that I only owned for about 2 minutes. I can still see the confusion on the clerk's face as I asked for my money back.

I then found some bleachers near the exit of the stadium, so we sat down there and I rocked Addison to sleep after about 2 minutes. So I sat there for what seemed like 6 hours, but was probably only about an hour. After a few minutes of sitting there I realized that I didn't have my cell phone and only a few dollars in my pocket. Several mom's with screaming toddlers came over to the bleachers with what looked like their own scared 2 year olds. Older ladies came up to me and asked me if they could get me some water, or to say that my daughter was adorable.

Finally at the end of the second quarter of the game, my husband found us after several minutes of searching for us, to find Addie still asleep on my soaked with sweat lap. He convinced me that if he carried Addie down to our seats that I could still watch the game. After a few minutes of pondering this, I obliged. Only to find that once he started walking down the steps, Addie woke up screaming "No tiger game, no tiger game", this time Spunk went out with her, and I watched 2 football minutes of the game.

After half time, Addie and Spunky returned to our seats, but then the torrential rain started, so our friend Brandon (who drove) gave me his car keys. Addie and I first returned to our seats on the bleachers near the exit of the stadium, but when the fourth quarter began and the rain slacked off for a bit, we made a run for Brandon's blue SUV.

Addie is still terrified of football, on Friday we attempted to take her to a local high school football game, and she burst into tears excaliming "No tiger game, no tiger game". So, I shrugged my shoulders, sent Spunky on his way to the football game, and Addie and I stayed home for a night of girl fun!

We figure that she'll like football when she's old enough to go and wants to find a boyfriend.... Enjoy the football pics!!

PRAYER REQUEST!!

First of all our family would like to thank each one of you for keeping up with our blog & blessing us with your sweet comments & praying for us.

We have a huge announcement / prayer request!! It is offical that "Spunky" will be traveling to Brazil on a mission trip in April 2010 with a group from our church. Prior to his trip there are a lot of preperations that need to take place such as forms to be filled out, visa & passport to be obtained & many many shots & medications to be taken. Please be in prayer for us as he prepares for this huge adventure in his life!!

Ballet

Tonight was a new adventure in Addison's life. Tonight, was her VERY FIRST ballet lesson. Back in the summer I searched for that perfect ballet studio, one that wasn't based solely on competition, one that still had some competition, affordable & most importantly that they had evening classes available. I finally stumbled upon Triple Threat Performing Arts Academy in Sylva, and we enrolled Addison in Pre - Dance.

I purchased her adorable leotard with a tutu attached from Target, and I will soon purchase her ballet shoes from her dance studio.

At first, she wasn't very interested in going to ballet, but once she arrived she saw her friend Lydia from church and became very excited! She grabbed Lydia's hand and walked off to her studio with barely a "bye mama". Fortunately, I was able to watch her entire class on a t.v. in the waiting room and I was really impressed with her dancing abilities. During her first class she learned several stretches, first position, and some different kicks.

She has her recital in May, and we are very excited to see where this takes her in life!

Acceptance!

On Tuesday we got a letter in the mail that we have been waiting for, for about 3 - 4 months now. It was from Fruitland Bible College, and they have accepted my husband into seminary. He will start classes on October 6 (they go by a quarter system) and he will go twice a week from 6 - 10 on Tuesdays & Thursdays. We appreciate your prayers as we start this new adventure in our lives!

Road Trip!

A couple of weeks ago I had a couple extra days off of work, so Addie and I decided to take our very first road trip. Mom & Dad met me in Asheville on a Thursday afternoon and Addie and I went to visit my sister, brother in law & adorable nephew! We ended up staying with them for two nights and we had a blast!

One of the highlights of the weekend was when my awesome brother in law gave my sister and I a break from our little ones so that we could go to the movies! We enjoyed a bucket of popcorn & The Time Travelers Wife ( if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it).

Enjoy the pictures that I captured from our little girls trip!



Addie is having a blast at the Childrens Museum!

Addie & Cooper enjoying a poolside picnic,

don't these two look like brother & sister?

Snack Time!

Spish Splash! Daddy's Birthday Weekend!

Whew! We have been so so busy for the past couple of weeks, it did not even hit me until the other night that I haven't even posted in the past couple of weeks...

On July 31- August 2 our family took a little trip to Pigeon Forge, TN to celebrate Spunky's 32nd birthday! While in Pigeon Forge we indulged in a little shopping, and a lot of swimming. One thing you have to remember when taking a 2 year old on vacation is that you MUST have a pool, a nice clean pool at that. Well, our nice hotel had 2 pools and a mushroom thing that sprouted water over the top. Our little girl just had to be in the water the entire time...it seemed that each night after dinner or whatever we were doing we landed back in the pool until um....I'm embarassed to say but she stayed in the pool until like 11:00 each night (hey, it's vacation people). But after that she slept soundly alll night.

We also went to Dollywood's Splash Country while in Pigeon Forge, forgive me but I didn't get many pictures during our trip to Splash Country in fear of getting our camera wet. Addie had a wonderful time there! She actually went down a couple of slides by herself (while wearing a life vest). They have a lot of kiddie slides there that Addison could enjoy! Several times Spunky would walk Addie up to the slide, place her on it and I would wait at the bottom of the slide and catch her. Every time that she came down a slide she had the biggest smile on her face!! After our trip to Splash Country Addie and Spunky had the most beautiful golden brown tans, while I came home with a nice lobster like glow, complete with peeling!

On Spunky's birthday on Tuesday, Aug 4 we celebrated with a bbq dinner from Butt's On The Creek. All in all I think that he had a great birthday! Enjoy the few pictures that I did capture!

Let's move in the luggage!

Addison enjoys a piggy back ride from Dad while at Splash Country!

After an entire day of swimming we were conked out!

VBS and all that jazz...

Wow...what a busy week we had. Luckily, Addison's babysitter was on vacation this week and since I had some vacation time left over I was off work on Wed, Thurs & Friday! That made me verrryyy happy to have the opportunity to spend time with my little girl! Also this week was Vacation Bible School at our church and I was blessed when our VBS director asked me to teach Addison's class. Enjoy the pictures from our busy week.

When I am working I usually try to eat at Lenny's Sub Shop at least once a week. If you have never ate there you have to try it, but I will warn you that if you do eat there you will never want to eat at Subway again. Anyway, I have always wante to take Addie to eat there, so when our friend Amy gave birth to her new baby we went to eat there before going to meet the new addition to the Lynn family at Mission Hospital. Lenny's Sub shop is about one block down from Mission Hospital on Biltmore Ave. I highly recommened the Kid's meal, with that you get a 3-4 in sub, chips, drink, and one of Lenny's famous cookies for $5.28!

Here is Addison working on her Australian musical instrument called a didgeridoo sp?

Addie & Lane painting in VBS

(no, I couldn't figure out how to rotate

it)

On Thursday Aunt Christal & Cooper came into town for a visit. This picture was taken on Friday when they came over to play on the swing set.

Me, Daddy and The 5 K

Hello, Addison Kate Goodman here! I am going to be helping mommy with this post!

Today was very exciting! First of all, Daddy and I have been running together all summer...well Daddy does the running while I eat my snack in my stroller and cheer him along! So, earlier this week we found out that there was a race in our town! It was called the Folkmoot 5K, Daddy has wanted to run a race for a very long time and this one would be a good one to start with!

You see, when Daddy was a bit younger and had a lot more hair he ran races all of the time, he was on his high school's cross country team! His senior year of high school he finished 4th in the State of Georgia! He also ran a lot more races...even carrying the torch for the 1996 Olympics!

So, it's been a while since Daddy has ran an actual race! When he found out about the race he asked me to stroll along with him. Being the good girl that I am, I agreed!

Unfortunately, this whole thing started wwwaaayyy too early on a Saturday morning. Daddy came and woke me up at 6:15 am, that's even before Pooh comes on! So, I sat in the recliner and stared at my breakfast while I woke up. Then I remembered that today was RACE DAY! So, I got very excited and a little inpatient when Mommy couldn't get her hair dried fast enough.

When we got to the Folkmoot Center in downtown Waynesville there were athletic people everywhere...I got a little freaked out, but I was still ready to cheer Daddy along in the stroller. But then, my very best friend came.....NANA! I barely had time to give Nana a hug and a kiss before Daddy had put me back into my stupid stroller and was making me find our place in the line up. I then decided that I did not want to run this race! Yes, I was really excited before Nana showed up, but now she was here and all I wanted were some Nana snuggles.

Nana waved goodbye to me, but I was determined that I was not going to run this race. I stood up in my stroller and cried at the top of my lungs and all I saw was Nana and Mama to walk away thinking that I would settle down after the race got started. Daddy rocked me back and forth, telling me that he needed me to run with him. I did not care if Daddy needed me at this point, but I needed my Nana...I didn't get to see her on Friday and I needed to see her today. I cried and cried while Nana looked at me from across the street. Finally Mommy came squeezing through the crowd. She grabbed the stroller away from Daddy as he just shrug his shoulders. Mommy then squeezed us back through the crowd telling people that I had decided to drop out of the race, but I didn't care...I just had to find my Nana.

Finally, I reached Nana and I watched all of the runners (Daddy included) take off really really fast. I watched the entire race from the comfort and safety of Nana's arms.

About 15 minutes after the runners took off, some of them started trickling back in. We waited for Daddy, but suddenly he came running in finishing the race in 24 minutes, 40 seconds. We were all so proud of Daddy, and Daddy said that he enjoyed it, but he missed me! Look for Daddy to run more races, maybe I'll join him one day!

Getting my snack ready for the race!

Coaching Daddy on his stretching

exercises!

Daddy finishes the race in 24 min. 40 sec.

Lane turns 3!!

Today Addison's (and my) cousin Lane celebrated his third birthday! We were so excited to attend the BIG EVENT! Enjoy the pictures that I captured from the party!

My cousin Kim (Lane's mom) made his birthday cake!

Addie & Lane enjoying their happy meal's.

Present time! Lane, Allie & Addie help Lane open all of his gifts!

Happy 4th of July!

This year we celebrated our independence day with a mixture of tradition, family, friends and fireworks!

We woke early and ventured to downtown Waynesville for the Stars & Stripes Celebration. We do this every year and we enjoy visiting the shops and ending the day with that perfect Whitman's cupcake!

Addie & her cupcake

We also learned that our little princess does not like icing... just like her Daddy! She tore the upper portion of her cupcake off and only ate the cake portion.

After our trip downtown & a nice nap we were ready for our cookout that we hosted at our house. We had several guests including our friends Aaron & Rachel; and Bruce, Amy and Summer. Addison and Summer had a blast on the new swing set and my hubby did a fantastic job on our steaks!

After dinner we went to watch the fireworks at Lake Junaluska. It was a beautiful display & Addie did great until the end!

Addie & Summer waiting for fireworks!

All in all we enjoyed our independence day with a lot of fun and the fellowship of family & friends!

Bribery

I'm pretty sure that if you look up "bribery" in the dictionary my picture will be right beside it...

You see, for months and months now we have been trying to take Addison's ci-ci (her pacifier) away from her. We tried everything.... cutting it, hiding it, you name it we did it!

We knew that we were going to purchase a swing set for Addison. We have been looking allll summer, but we finally put our noggins together and created a plan!

We told Addie a couple of weeks ago that she would be recieving a nice new swing set as soon as she trashed her ci-ci. The first time I told her this, she got all excited about the swing, but not so much about throwing her wonderful ci-ci into the trash.

She then tried to fool us by sucking on her ci-ci only when we weren't looking, but as soon as we saw her she would exclaim "this is baby's ci-ci"....ha ha nice try Addie!

Last Thursday she was visiting her Nana and during their visit they took a walk to Nana's creek to throw rocks, leaves, grass anything that wasn't harmful into the creek. Nana began explaining to Addie that she could come over at any time and throw her ci-ci into the creek, and then she would be able to get that shiny new swing set! When we arrived home she marched straight into her room, grabbed her ci-ci and said "throw into creek". We waited and waited for Dad to come home, and as soon as he did we drove over to Nana's ci-ci in hand. She grabbed Nana by the hand, marched straight to the creek and threw it in!

A trip to Wal - Mart was then in order, Nana & Papaw said that they wanted to contribute to the swing set for Addie's birthday & she thanked them for it! She was so excited when she saw the set being packed away in Papaw's truck.

The assembly of the new swingset began around 9:15 that evening, Dad was determined to have at least the slide assembled by the time Addison woke the next morning. He sat on the porch and worked and worked until around 11 that night.

About 10 that night Addie began to wonder where here ci-ci had gone....we reminded her several times that she threw her ci-ci in the creek. After crying for about an hour she finally exhausted herself to sleep, only to wake up 2 more times by 7 that morning. Unfortunately, I had to work that Friday, so I was sleepy sleepy for the entire day.

When I arrived home i was shocked to find a large metal frame assembled on the set, turns out that Spunky is the greatest Dad! He and Addie got up early and worked on the set before he went to work at 11am.

The entire swing set was completly assembled by noon on Saturday, thanks to Nana, Papaw and Dad. Turns out the directions weren't all that great, but the screws were neatly organized in a large plastic box. So, all in all it took the Goodman family about 8 hours to assemble a swing set and to make their litle girl happy as a lark!

She sometimes still wonders where her little ci - ci went, but that is getting better with each day. Sunday was the first day that she didn't ask for it, and she's done well each night since. Turns out our little girl is no longer a baby....

So Much McFun!

I am blessed to have a job that allows me to work 4 days a week, most of the time I am off on Fridays, but this week my day off was switched to Wednesday. My good friend, Beth is also off on Wednesdays. We have been attempting to get our kiddos together for some play time for a loooonnnggg time, and being off today gave us the perfect opportunity to do that.

We met at McDonalds (or Donalds according to Addie) for a gourmet lunch of chicken nuggets, sprite (only when we go out to eat), and french fries. It was hard for Addie to concentrate on eating with that gigantic playplace staring at her, but all in all she ate 6 (yes 6) chicken mcnuggets (she has NEVER ate that much...EVER!)!

The best part of the day was when Lawson got scared to come down the slide, and my friend Beth had to crawl up to get him out! Unfortunately, I thought that she would choke me if I captured this moment on camera, but I did get some other adorable shots!