time out

It has been interesting to listen to Addelyn's conversational skills these days as she seems to be able to put more of her thoughts into words. It has also caused for some interesting moments at our house as she shows her strong will! Many of the moments the sweetest things will come out of her mouth but then at times....

Dinner tonight: (dinner has been a HUGE battle lately....getting her to sit, stay sitting, and eat.) She fought everything.
Here we go:

"I don't want to have that plate tonight. I want the other one. I don't like that plate."
"I don't like mashed potatoes."
As Mark puts ketchup on her plate for her roast (which she usually LOVES), "I don't want ketchup, I want ranch!"

Addelyn didn't eat anything except a bit of cottage cheese. I got a little harder on her and sat her down at the table and told her that she couldn't get up til she had at least tried her food.
"I don't like you," she said.
She learned that she wasn't going to get anything else to eat later except this plate of food and still decided she was done. While we cleaned up dinner, she ended up getting a timeout after not listening over and over to directions from Mark and I.

As Addelyn sat on her stool for her timeout, I thought about how much easier it would be sometimes to just let her do her thing. Not to make her sit, to give her only cottage cheese for dinner, to let her run around, and then to completely ignore her when she does things that are wrong. Then, I remembered hearing a number of times that how we react to and discipline our two year olds and three year olds will affect who they are and how they respond when they are teenagers and even bigger than that, the adults they will someday be. I know that right now I have to pick my battles, but at the same time, when I do pick a battle- I need to follow through on my words. Addelyn needs that stability and assurance that Mark and I mean what we say!

So after time out, I sat and looked Addelyn in the eyes and asked her why she was in time out tonight. She said it was because she wasn't a good listener. We talked about why it was important to listen and I told her how much we love her.
Without prodding, she walked over to Mark at the sink, hugged his leg and said, "Daddy, I'm sorry for not listening."
Then she turned to me, hugged me tightly and said, "I'm sorry, Mommy."
What a wonderful, sweet little moment. Then she let go of me, looked at my stomach, and said, "Wow you have a big tummy, Mommy!"
Ahh the honesty. Gotta love it.
Hopefully tomorrow will be an "I like" day. I promise we do have those days!

2011 here we come

I used to have high hopes for New Year's evenings. I always hoped for a fun time, exciting plans, something unique and interesting to do with my time and with the people I love. Back in college I especially remember this hope. And then always the letdown when things never turned out as planned and my New Year's celebration didn't have the zing I would hope for.

This year, our New Year's Eve day and night was perfect. Mark got home early from work. We relaxed, we organized our house - we are still trying to get moved and settled (yes, this equals exciting for me to get a few things done), we played in Addelyn's room with her for a few hours, sang and danced to songs, and told stories. We had tacos for dinner, spread out the blankets and pillows on the living room floor, and settled in for a movie night. We laughed and ate popcorn and M&Ms in our pjs. After Addelyn went to bed, Mark and I settled in for our own movie and found ourselves in bed before the New Year even arrived.

Guess what? That was the best way I could imagine bringing in the new year of 2011. It was a perfect night for this time of life with my family. I'm excited for this year. Making our new house a home, welcoming a new little baby, watching Addelyn grow and learn as a three year old, adjusting to the changes in my job & hopefully seeing God work in new ways. I'm pretty much against New Year's Resolutions but I always like loosely set goals. I've also realized it is good to tell people my goals- I seem to follow through a little more this way. So I'm hoping to continue to work out during this pregnancy, spend more time reading the great books I have floating around my house (meaning less time on internet or TV), spend quality time with Addelyn before baby #2 comes along, open that Bible of mine more and dig in, and love my hubby a little (or LOT) better. So if you know me well and can expect an honest answer, you can always ask how my "loosely set goals" are going!
Happy New Year to you and your family!!!!!!!

party time

Crazy to think my little girl turned three a few weeks ago. Where does the time go? It honestly doesn't seem like three years ago that I held her for the first time in that hospital room and listened to her intense cries, experiencing one of the most incredible moments of my life.

This year we knew Addelyn's birthday weekend was going to be crazy (with moving and other events falling on the same weekend) so we planned a fun little mid-week party with friends. We go to church and eat dinner every Wednesday night so we invited some of Addelyn's little buddies to come and decorate and eat cupcakes with us after dinner at the church. The Terrific Twos room worked out perfectly for this event with the little tables and chairs and toys to play with. We had all sorts of yummy toppings for the cupcakes and the kiddos surrounded the tables to decorate.

I have to say the cupcake decorating went suprisingly better than expected. Only one cupcake had a whole sprinkle container dumped on it!

Addelyn worked hard on her decorations, only to run away to play when she was done and not even eat a bite of her cupcake. Too bad at 8:30 that night, she remembered that cupcake that had gone uneaten, which made for a bit of an unhappy camper.

Harrison LOVED his cupcake!

Quinnlyn and Addelyn hid in the tent for awhile and played. (Notice Jaxon getting their attention on the side!)

The end of the party....holding her favorite new stickers from Boaz. Tired out from all of the fun and attention! What a fun little birthday party. I think Addelyn loved it. We are thankful for the wonderful friends we have!

We give thanks, a little late

I have gotten a little behind on my blogging these days when it comes to this blog being my scrapbook! So here goes my attempt to catch up a bit on the lives of the Hoskinson fam.

This year for Thanksgiving we spent some time in Steamboat Rock and in Perry. While in Perry, we went to a winter parade at night. Kinda fun but COLD!

Thankfully Kathy has the "in" and we got to watch most of the parade from the bank window! Right front and center. We did go outside for candy canes though. Funny to see them throw candy to kids in the dark.

Kramer Thanksgiving= lots of fun, lots of food. Addelyn got to play with her cousins Autumn and Aiden and she LOVED it. Autumn and Addelyn played upstairs and pretended they were babies. It was funny looking in on them, seeing them playing together. It made me realize how OLD Addelyn is getting. These pictures are of them going down the stairs on their buns- they would go up and down, up and down! So much entertainment with just a flight of stairs. I remember playing on these same stairs with my cousins Eric and Jen (Autumn's mom) and my sister. We would sit on a sleeping bag, put all of our stuffed animals on too, and ride down the stairs for hours of fun! Gotta love creativity. The best thing about growing up on the farm is that we didn't have cable TV or tons of kids around to entertain us. We MADE our entertainment!

Tired from all of the playing and eating!

I never get a picture of these two without my dad giving us a goofy grin. I was excited to have a good pic of the two of them!

The pilgrim Addelyn made at Ilene's this year. I chased her down to take this picture, only to end up holding it to the back of her head! She is anti pics these days.

6 week house guests

When Randy and Marla said we could stay with them while in-between houses, they probably didn't know what they were getting themselves into! We ended up living in their basement for six weeks. I can honestly say it was a really fun six weeks (at least for us!) They were amazing and truly opened up their home to us. Addelyn had a blast at their house. Marla and Randy are both great with kids and so Addelyn spent LOTS of time harassing the two of them. Oh and while I talk about harassment, I can't leave out Ringo. Addelyn LOVES this dog. Ringo is one of the nicest dogs ever- he took so much abuse from Addelyn. One day I even saw Addelyn leading Ringo around by his ears, as if they were a leash. Mark spent a lot of time sitting in their hot tub, I spent a lot of time sleeping on their couch (hey, come on- first trimester!), and we spent a lot of time chatting and enjoying the company of the Randy and Marla. Thanks to two wonderful people for hosting us!!!

Addelyn and her "best buddy Ringo" (as she told me one day, with her arm around Ringo)

Trying on one of Marla's bathing suits, this one was pretty sweet let me tell ya!

Addelyn helped Randy rake. Can't you tell how hard she is working?!

Just a usual day, it began at 7 a.m. Chasing Ringo, rolling around on Ringo, loving on Ringo, petting Ringo, more chasing Ringo!

Oh and how could I forget breakfast!? Most days Randy would get up and ask Addelyn what she wanted for breakfast. And then he would make an amazing, yummy breakfast for Addelyn (and Mommy!) Randy can come cook breakfast for us anytime!

things being said these days......

Just a few quotes from the past few days!

Prayer before bed last night....
"Dear God,
Thanks for Jess's house. Thanks for Ilene's house. Thanks for popcorn. Thanks for breakfast. Thanks for my toes.
Amen."

"Mom, I forgot to tell you I have a toad."
(she says this five times, I cannot understand her....FINALLY i realize, she is talking about her COLD. A very stuffed nose!)

Addelyn is a little bargainer. She will say things like, "If I eat three more bites, I get to have dessert." Or "If I take a good nap, I get to watch a movie tonight, right?"

More about our three year old, the big move, and much else to come!

Bring it on Winter!

Okay, not really. We have too much going on this weekend for a winter storm to bother us! Moving into our new house, family coming from out of town, Addelyn's birthday, and Christmas Store/Craft Fair. So we're hoping this winter storm will pass us over!