Life in the Fast Lane: One and half! What????

I can NOT believe she's 18 months! I love this age (most days, haha!) because I am learning more about who she is....and I love who she is becoming! She's talking more and more and is able to better verbalize what she wants. She is stringing together words. She still loves her books. Now, she says "Hand", grabs your hand, and drags you to what she wants to do. This is usually to the book basket. She then commands you to sit, chooses a book, and plops down in your lap. Another cute thing she does it she'll hide something (in an extremely obvious place) and hold her hands out as if she's asking a question and says, "Where is it??". The way she holds her hands out is awkward and adorable...her elbows are practically touching. She's into EVERYTHING!! You can't turn your eyes for a second! We are really working on cleaning up after making messes. I'm already ready for summer and it's not even officially winter yet. She loved playing outside and we are running out of things to do inside. Hopefully, Santa will bring her some indoor activities. :) Seth and I will put in a request. She certainly would have none of that! We took her to see Santa at the outlet mall a few weeks ago. I had a feeling she was going to cry, and she did (see pictures below). When we left, she was blowing him kisses and saying "Bye, bye!". She saw him again at a family reunion and wouldn't go near him.

Seth and I went on a once in a lifetime trip! It wasn't really planned, but we had to jump on this opportunity. Every year, BMW selects the top 25 drivers in the WORLD and invites them to an awards ceremony. At their headquarters. In Munich, Germany. Seth and his teammate were selected! This is a dream come true for Seth and I am SO proud of him! His dad, Seth, and I went December 1-8. We spent half of the time in Munich and the other half in Salzburg, Austria. I was not ready to leave Adelyn for a week, but she had a great time staying with Seth's mom and my parents. It was uber (like my German?) cold, but we bundled up and explored! The ceremony was really nice and I am thrilled that I got to see him accept his award!

I hope everyone is enjoying the start of Christmas! I am excited to see Adelyn's reaction this year since she was just 7 months old last year.

Below are a ton of pictures!

Adelyn feeding a pony at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve

Adelyn and her little friend, Amelie had to hold hands while walking through the zoo

What we really came to see: the Zedonks

Adelyn "blowing" a dandelion (she blew her nose on it)

Thanksgiving trip home (in Hickory, visiting my grandmother). My grandmother said Adelyn was "a mess". :)

Nana and Adelyn on Thanksgiving morning in their semi-matching shirts

Grandmommie with the great grandkids

Visiting Santa

Not so excited about sitting in his lap. I thought MAYBE giving her some goldfish would calm her down, but that did not work.

All smiles in mommy's lap

One more try....this child is not a fan of Santa this year. We'll try again next year!

Our first night in Munich enjoying authentic German food- yum!

I had pork medallions in mushroom sauce with spaetzle

Glockenspiel at Marienplatz

We toured Dachau (concentration camp outside of Munich)

Christmas Market

Bill and Seth enjoying a brat (which Germans eat all day long...even for breakfast!)

Seth and I shopping in the cold

BMW Headquarters and Museum- we got a really cool tour of the museum

Seth and I at the Awards Banquet

Seth and Bill accepting their awards- they were 22 and 23!

The presentation was really cool. The screen was set up like an advent calendar. All 25 drivers were standing on a staircase off to the side (and had no clue where they were in the ranking). They would reveal the drivers behind each "door".

Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman accepting their awards. They won the GrandAm GS and were either 9 and 10 or 10 and 11 (I can't remember). It was great to see a few familiar faces!