Abbie turns 8

Abbie turned 8 in January.  She was baptized a few days later at the church building.

Garrett's parents came down for the baptism, and they stopped in SC on their way to drop off their dog with Garrett's sister and her husband.  Garrett's sister makes great cakes, so I asked her to make one for Abbie for her birthday.  She did such a great job - Abbie loved it:

After Abbie's baptism.  It was such a great day!

8 things we love about Abbie:

1. She is a great big sister.  Ellie and Olivia just adore her

2. She is responsible

3. She is funny

4. She is so, so sweet!

5. She loves to learn, and loves to go to school

6. She is a great friend.

7. She is a good helper.  She is always asking me if she can help set the table, make dinner, etc.

8. She is a great example to everyone around her

Last Disney days

Our Disney passes ran out in February (sniff sniff), so we took the kids out of school a couple times to do some last minute trips, one to each of the parks.  We had just done Animal Kingdom in December (after our girls' trip), so we hit up Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom on a random Tues and Weds in January:

Olivia was not thrilled to meet Pluto:

Waiting in line for the Toy Story ride:

Meeting a toy soldier in the "Pixar" area of the park:

I really didn't get many pics of Hollywood Studios, but we hit up all the favorites (Rock'n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, the Beauty and the Beast show, a stunt show, Star Tours, Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground, the Muppet Show (or, as Olivia calls it, the Muffin Show)).   We also stayed late and saw the "Fantasmic" light show, which was awesome.

We stayed in a hotel that night so that we could go to Magic Kingdom the next day,  During breakfast at the hotel, Olivia kept saying "This is so fancy!!"

Magic Kingdom was a DREAM the next day!  We usually plan our days at Disney around the crowd calendar, and this day it was a "2" out of "10".  Amazing.  We did EVERYTHING, some things twice.  My favorite kind of day at Disney.

The girls had the playground to themselves:

On the Winnie-the-Pooh ride:

Teacups:

Dumbo!

Meeting the Incredibles:

And Buzz:

Dinnertime:

All 5 of us on Dumbo!

The next Wednesday (a week later), we went back down for a day at Epcot.

I tried out a ride that I hadn't done before - "Mission: Space".  Basically, you side in these chairs in a big circle and you have your own individual screen in front of you (and 3D glasses? I can't remember), and it's like you are taking a trip to Mars.  However, the circle you are sitting in... it spins.  Really, really fast, so it feels like you are going into space.  It was awful, I hated it so much!  I guess I should have taken them more seriously in line when there were multiple signs that advised NOT to ride if you do not like lots of movement or if you are AT ALL prone to motion sickness (I'm usually not).  I also should have gotten a clue when there were barf bags next to each chair.  Ugh!  Abbie wanted to go on it again right away but I told her "never again - sorry!".

Epcot has a Coke tasting spot (similar to Coke World in Atlanta but on a much smaller scale).  The girls loved all the sweet sodas from South America.

However, Abbie was not a fan of the drink called "Beverly", which was from Italy.  I don't blame her... I tried that a few years ago at Coke World and it was traumatizing!  It tastes like ground-up aspirin in carbonated water.  So gross.

Ellie insisted that I take a picture of her in front of these flowers:

The girls in "Norway":

In front of a fun "little town" display.  It was full of cute little buildings with toy trains and trolleys running through it.  I think this was in Germany?

We had dinner in Mexico and headed home early-ish, since it was a school night.

I'm so grateful for all the wonderful memories we made this last year at Disney.  I wish so much that more family members and friends had been able to come down and go with us, but thankfully we had our girls' trip in December.  (Disney is SO expensive for non-Florida residents, so it's understandable.)  I will admit, I did entertain the idea of renewing our season passes so that we can continue to go until we move (it was $50 off each ticket to renew!), but we decided that there are enough other things in Florida that we want to do before we move, we should focus on those (and, let's be honest, Garrett never entertained that idea to renew, haha.  He loved Disney, but not on the same level as we did.).

Jan-Feb

January and February were stressful, but fun too.  We did a lot and made some big decisions.  We also had a lot of family time, which was great.

Garrett and I got to go to the Orlando temple one Saturday afternoon.  Some of our friends live just a few miles from the temple, so we dropped our kids off there and headed over for a session.  So easy!  I hope we can do that a few more times before we move. 

Ellie & Olivia doing some yard work.

And playing:

One afternoon, Olivia started heading down the sidewalk on her scooter.  I called for her to come back but she wouldn't.  I caught up with her and asked where she was going.  "I'm going to Wisconsin!" she said.  This girl is obsessed with Wisconsin.  Every day she asks when we are going, if we are going tomorrow, when will we leave.... She does know that we will be there for her birthday, and she tells everyone who will listen ("I'm going to Wisconsin for my birthday!")

"Look Mom!  I'm the sugar plump fairy!"  Haha.. yes you are.

Playing around:

Ellie had an ophthalmology appointment one afternoon after school.  Before we left, she insisted on eating carrots for her snack so that the doctor would tell her that her eyes had gotten better. (Unfortunately, it didn't work; in fact, she now has to wear an eye patch for 2 hours every day, to strengthen her left eye.)

The kids had a random Friday off from school (teacher workshop), so we headed down to Animal Kingdom for the day with a bunch of friends.  It was great!

We had an especially warm afternoon one Saturday in January.  Garrett was working (of course), but we headed down to our neighborhood playground with some friends.  The kids ended up in the baby pool to cool off, they were so hot.  The water was FREEZING.

Even though I have made dozens of quilts, I have never made any for my own kids!  My mom has made each of them two toddler-sized quilts, so we do have lots of quilts around.  However, I decided a while ago that I would make my kids a nice quilt when they turn 8. These are a couple of blocks from Abbie's quilt.  As of right now, the top is all done... I just need to pin it all together and quilt it!  Hopefully by the end of March? (only 2 months late!)

The girls get off the bus at 2:10 every day, but I usually don't leave my house until around 2:25 to go pick them up, because they like walking with their friends.  (We don't live in the neighborhood that it drops them at, so they can't walk home). I snapped this picture a few weeks ago:

I bought Olivia this coat a few weeks ago at an end-of-season sale at Gap.  Don't let her smile fool you... she hates it!  She'll be thanking me next year, though (I hope!).  Anyway, I tried to bribe her with a teddy graham to put the coat on so I could take this picture, but she wouldn't put it on until we were up to 5 teddy grahams and a tic tac.

We have a really nice "family" Book of Mormon with pictures and other things in it.  We have been reading every night since the end of December, and the girls are loving it.  Usually they follow along in their own scriptures (and take turns reading verses), but sometimes they just like to listen.

Abbie had a birthday in January, so I met her for lunch at school and brought her favorite - sushi!

Ellie making Valentines for her class at school:

Olivia hanging out in the tennis courts (right next to our neighborhood playground)

On Valentine's Day, we surprised Garrett by bringing him some treats and balloons at work.  We also made lots of hearts to stick onto his car in the parking lot (as a surprise).  The first thing Olivia said when we saw him in the hospital was, "Daddy!  We are going to decorate your car too!  It's a surprise!!"

Olivia, getting filthy at the park, per usual:

I went on a field trip with Abbie to the UF natural history museum.  It was a lot of fun!  We got to see a replica of Sue, the largest T-Rex who has ever been discovered to date (she was found in South Dakota).

The girls, "helping" Daddy wash the car before we sold it a few days ago:

Last weekend, we went to a UF gymnastics meet.  It was so much fun, it's great to live in a college town!