Talking with Abby

What is your favourite colour? pink

What is your favourite animal? penguins and giraffes

What is your favourite food? oatmeal, peppers & hummus, quesadillas, spaghetti & meatballs, fruit, pizza, ice cream, lollipops, 

What do you want to be when you grow up? a mommy

What is your favourite book? Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies

What is your favourite song? I Love to See the Temple

What is your favourite TV show? Madeline  


Favorite thing to wear:  Skirts and leggings

What is your favourite thing to do? playing with my dolls


What is your favorite thing to do with Ellie? coloring, playing "Custard and Cupcake" (it's from Strawberry Shortcake.  Ellie pretends she is a kitty named Custard.  Cupcake is the dog.  Sometimes Ellie goes for an entire day being "Custard")

Who are your favorite friends? Ellie, Ella, Isabella, Josh, Abigail, Ben, Sam, Lilly

 And here are some iphone pictures from Abby's birthday:

Going for a run (Ellie can wear that tutu/dress for days...)

Cool new sunglasses and her birthday shirt

Playing with a new toy that Garrett's mom sent

Friends at her "birthday party".  I let her go a bit crazy with invites since we were just going to the park and having cupcakes.

These are the faces Ellie made when I told her to smile.... !!

The kids' pizza

I still can't believe she's five..... Kindergarten in 7 months.  Here's to a fun year!!!

Life

Life has been great lately.  Have I mentioned recently how much I'm loving this weather?  I do love it.

So what have we been doing?

Raking leaves... it's Fall here.

Playing with fireworks... this is from New Year's Eve.  Ellie was so funny... she just stood far away plugging her ears because she really didn't like all the noise.  Then, after they were done, she'd run to me or Garrett and try to talk to us, and we would talk back to her but she refused to take her fingers out of her ears.  So she just kept saying, "Parn Mom?  Mom, parn?" (parn = pardon).  She couldn't figure out why she couldn't hear us!

Kids eating fondue later that night.

At our favorite park, the "Spin Park".  This round thing spins around and the girls love riding it.

Rob & Haley stopped by for about an hour a few Sundays ago.  They just happened to be driving across the panhandle and came an hour out of their way to drop in... it was SO FUN and we're so glad they came. Clearly, the girls were happy too.

Garrett and a bunch of friends playing volleyball on MLK day (he had the day off).  Ellie playing with cookies.

Playing outside.

Abby loves taking pictures of her dolls.  This is a little Alice in Wonderland doll that Garrett's grandma gave to her for Christmas this year.  It's so cute - it's all cloth, and she came with three different costumes: the Alice in Wonderland outfit, the Queen of Hearts costume (with tights and a black wig, not shown), and a full-on rabbit costume, complete with bunny ears and everything.  Lots of fun.

The park with friends.

I can't believe I have a kid old enough to do tricks that give me heart attacks.  I used to go crazy on these bars (spinning around over and over and over again).  Now all I can think of is her falling and breaking her neck!  Stresses me out. :)

We play a few games of Candy Land every night after dinner.  Some of us are working on becoming better losers..... this picture was taken a few weeks ago.  She's gotten a lot better since then, thankfully.

Ready for Church.... I made them lose the hats though, much to their dismay.

Shopping.

More Candy Land... this time we roped our friends into playing with us.

Sam's Club... man, I hate those carts!  But they keep the kids happy, so what can you do.

81 degrees!

Riding in the car.. that's her doll, "Lilly"

Going.... going........ gone.

We were so busy this past week, I had to run a lot of errands in the afternoon so Ellie missed out on some naps.  She tried to make up for it, though.

I'll post more pictures of Abby's birthday soon.  Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!!

Happy Birthday, Abby!

It's almost midnight and it's been one of the busiest days I've had in ages.  But I couldn't go to bed without taking a moment to blog about a very special girl!  Our little Abby turned 5 today!  I have more pictures from the day to share, but for now I'll just show the ones from this evening.

I just loved watching her face when everyone sang "Happy Birthday".  She really loved the limelight but seemed a little shy about it, too.  So cute.

Abby has been looking forward to turning 5 for a long time now.  The thing she is most excited about is starting school!  Today she asked me if she would be starting tomorrow, since I told her she wouldn't be going to school until she was 5.  Poor thing wasn't too happy when I told her that she still had to wait at least "180 more nights".

 Checking out her fun new presents.  She was definitely spoiled this year!!   Good thing a little spoiling never hurt anyone.

Abby had a little "party" at the park this afternoon, and then this evening we invited two families over for homemade pizza.  Anthony & Kristi brought Ellie a present too, and she was so excited.  As soon as I told her that she had a present to open, she nudged Abby off the chair and climbed up and sat down, ready to be the center of attention just like Abby had been.

Five years old!!

We love you, Abby!

The whole family-

Sisters.

Five things we love about Abby:

1.  She is very caring and loving towards Ellie.  The other day, Ellie started bleeding on her arm.  Abby immediately went to her side, cuddling her and consoling her (Ellie wasn't crying, she just seemed kind of scared and panicky).  Abby kept saying, "It's okay, honey, you're okay" in a high-pitched, sing-song voice to calm her down.  She never left her side until the band aid was on and Ellie was feeling better.  It was so cute - Abby seemed like a little nurse.

2. She is smart.  Abby is starting to read words here and there, and she loves to write cards to people.  She can even sound out how to spell many words on her own.

3. She is helpful!  Abby is constantly helping me with Ellie.  She helps her get dressed in the morning, helps Ellie get her shoes on, and is always running and getting things for me.

4.  She rarely complains about anything.  She has a happy disposition and is very cheerful all around.

5. She is funny.  She likes to make silly faces and say funny things.  She loves to make people laugh.

I am so thankful that Abby is in our little family.  She is such a little ray of sunshine and we just love her to pieces.  Happy Birthday, Abby!!  We love you!

101 Update

I'm still working on my 101 in 1001..... here's the latest:

37. Make oversized envelopes like this and write love notes to my kids every day for a whole month.
I'm planning on doing this throughout February!  Besides "love notes", I'm also making a bunch of little gifts to give them each day.  I' m really excited about this and will blog about it soon.  Until then, it's in "red" (in progress).


19. Have a fondue night 
We did this with some good friends on New Years Eve.  We did cheese and chocolate fondue.  It was great!

47. Get a new phone (I've been due for an upgrade for over a year now)
I got an iPhone 4s about a month ago.  Love it!

68. Have a nice bed (new throw pillows, new duvet cover)
I love seeing a beautiful bed and I've always wanted one.  You know, the kind that you want to snuggle up in as soon as you see it.  But, I struggled with knowing what my tastes were and what would be "lasting" for me.  My tastes change pretty regularly, so I knew I needed something classic because I can't just go changing the bedding when I get tired of something.  So, after being married 7.5 years, I finally have a bed that I love to see when I walk into the room.  I'll keep it in "red" though, until I share some pictures.  Soon.

83. Do Jillian Michaels's Thirty Day Shred all the way through
I am six days in!  Besides that, I am running/walking 2-3 miles most days with my friend.  Running in January.....in Florida.... in low-70s weather.  Gorgeous.

Abby's birthday is this week so I'll do a post on that soon.... here's to a great week!!!

Instagram Update

A picture a day.....  have I mentioned lately how much I'm loving this project?  I mean, how cool would it be if my own mom had had the ability to take a snapshot a day when I was growing up?  That would be priceless!

 Playing with friends - At a baby shower

 Seeing Christmas lights - Reindeer faces we mailed to grandparents/great grandparents

 (Abby's foot, Ellie's hand)

 Christmas hats - Picking up a play set in Tampa (for the in-laws)

 Baby Lilly's blessing day (friend's baby) - Woodbury Christmas tree

 Ice skating - Midnight Super Smash Brothers

 Girls' shopping trip in Savannah - Kids' tree

 Christmas jammies - Christmas morning

 Hair cut - Bike ride with friends

 Bought a share of organic fruits & veggies - Puzzle

 Yard work - Fondue night!!

 Kids - watching a bowl game with friends

 Pretzel chicken, roasted purple potatoes & quash, bread, rainbow chard - Playing Candy Land

 Painting pottery - Swinging

 Bike ride - Unexpected visitors!!!

Bubbles

2012 has been good to us so far.  We've been keeping very busy with trips to the park, grocery shopping, some projects, taking care of the yard, and taking lots of walks in this gorgeous weather.  We did have to turn on our heat for 2 days during a cold snap, though (and no I'm not just being sensitive... it got down to the 20s at night!).

Looking forward to 2012!