Back in September (exactly one month post surgery) Steven traveled to Telford, England to compete in the TAGB World Championships. He competed with people from 26 different countries and was one of two competitors from the U.S.! He had 130 people in his forms division and he got the silver medal by one tenth of a point and he won the gold medal in his sparring division! He had an amazing trip and Addie and I can't wait to go back with him one day.
In October, we went to the pumpkin patch and had a great time picking out our "ponkings". Addie was so proud of hers she didn't want to put it down (as you can see in the picture below). She dressed up as a butterfly for Halloween and went Trick-or-treating with her friends Owen, Noah and Ava. I think she enjoyed watching all of the people in our neighborhood more than anything else.
November was a wonderful but busy month in the Miller household. At the beginning of the month, I won National Champion after competing for it throughout the year. Steven tested for and received his 6th degree black belt. He has been working really hard and waiting for five years for this testing. This is an amazing accomplishment and we are so proud of him! The weekend before Thanksgiving we took a group of kids to our Taekwondo Fall Retreat. We had a great time and Addie loved spending the weekend with all of the big kids.
For Thanksgiving this year we all went to Nana and Poppy's house in Nashville. It was a great time with our family. Addie had so much fun and loved all of the attention. She is getting so big and thinks she is all grown up. The picture below is of her helping all of the grown-ups finish the crossword puzzle one morning.
December has been extremely exciting! Addie was super excited about Santa coming to visit this year. She decided she wanted to ask him for a little baby and a car. Every time she saw him on t.v. or in a book she recognized him and started talking about him coming soon. We talked about going to visit Santa and she was looking forward to it. For three days we talked about sitting on his lap and practiced what we were going to tell him we wanted. When we finally got to go see him, we walked up to the line and he waved at her and she took one look at him and said "Mommy, I don't want to". We tried anyway and needless to say, our picture will be very funny when we pull it out for years to come. Maybe next year she won't be as scared!
Addie did not let her visit to Santa alter her excitement about him bringing presents to her house. She would tell anyone who asked that he was going to come down her "chimmey" and bring her a little baby and a red car. Thankfully, Santa was listening and Addie was more than happy when she woke up Christmas morning!
