All About Abby - April

April was a busy month for Abby! She and I took a trip out to Utah, and it was probably her roughest trip so far. In the past she has been a wonderful little traveler, but now that she's older, she has probably come to be pretty reliant on her schedule, and on being familiar with her surroundings. This was probably her first trip where she really felt out of place and noticed all the strangers around her. Hopefully we'll be able to do enough traveling with her that it won't be a factor for too much longer. Time will tell... and very soon. In fact, when this posts, we'll be in Virginia for the weekend at a graduation. She hasn't had much time to recoup from the last trip, but I'm kind of glad. I want her to be a pretty resilient kid and be able to just go with the flow of what's going on in the family. I want her to be flexible in her schedule, and a little more flexible about her comfort zone (but not too flexible, obviously).

I can only think of one new "word" that Abby has learned this month: "Uh-oh". She says it when she falls, drops something, etc. I'm sure she learned it from Chris while we were in Utah.

Abby also RUNS now! She loves having Garrett or me chase her around the house. On Thursday we brought some cookies to Garrett, who was on campus studying, and when we got into the library and she caught sight of him, she immediately began to run towards him, screaming and laughing. It was so cute.

Every time I turn on an exercise video (which isn't as often as it used to be...), Abby comes and stands next to me and does a few little squats up and down. She also climbs all over me when I'm doing floor exercises as well, which makes it nearly impossible to do anything productive! Sometimes I can get her to sit on my hips or chest to act as a weight, but she's usually too wiggly for that.

Well, that was April. Abby is just over 15 months old, we are just loving this age. I am still waiting patiently for the day we can put her in a forward-facing car seat, though... she is still under 20 lbs so she technically isn't allowed to be in one yet. I am so tempted to get one for our drive to Virginia, because I think she'd enjoy the drive much more if she was able to see ahead, but that's ok. She'll be sitting next to Rylan (Garrett' little bro) in the car, and since he's in his booster seat they can face each other and play...(crossing my fingers).

The Birthday Plate

In my mom's cupboard, there is an old red and white, chipped, porcelain plate. It has a pretty pattern which has begun to chip off in some places. Also in red, around the rim, there is a message: "Today's Your Special Day!" Every birthday we could expect to come downstairs to breakfast and have The Plate waiting for us. And for dinner, we'd have our favorite meal (usually lobster for me), specially prepared by mom, and the birthday person would be served on that plate.


I love that plate. My sisters and I have jokingly fought over who would inherit it, but it doesn't really matter; what matters are the memories it brings to mind whenever I see it or remember it. I'm amazed that in all those years of using it and handwashing it (we never had a dishwasher), it has never been dropped or cracked (knock on wood...).

Happily, this year for my birthday, my mom gave me my own Birthday Plate. It's ceramic, which means I don't have to worry about it breaking too easily, and it's very cute. I am so excited to start a Birthday Plate tradition in my own family!



My new plate!

Flashback Friday - My First Car

My first car was a blue 1984 Volkswagon Quantum. It was a family heirloom, of sorts. My Grandpa Siebach bought it when it was brand new (in fact, he bought 3 of them, and then some of his kids got them from him, and subsequently a few of my cousins eventually inherited the other ones, too).

I loved my Quantum. I loved that it was from the year I was born, and I loved all the little quirks it had by the time I got it. The cloth on the ceiling of the inside was gone, and what was left was a mustard-yellow, spongy material that, if touched, would rain down in bits and pieces all over everyone. Sometimes, when I braked or turned on my turning signal, my horn would go off (and wouldn't stop until I took my foot off the brake, or turned off my signal). The radio would also turn on or off randomly, which was hard to fix because all the knobs were gone. Oh, it was fun to drive. And, in comparing my Quantum with that of my cousin's, it turned out that hers had exactly the same quirks as mine.

Here's an experience I remember well. It happened as I was driving home from Church one day, and I believe I had Molly, Emma, and my cousin Elza in the car:

(as we were driving across an intersection, we heard a suddenly loud noise)

Emma: What's that loud noise?

Molly: Is that the car?

Me: No, it's the all the construction going on down the road.

Emma: Oh, ok.

(about 10 seconds go by, and we are driving away from the constuction)

Molly: Umm... it's still really loud.

Elza: Maybe it is the car.

Me: It's my muffler!! My muffler fell out and it's dragging under the car!! Aaaaaa!!!

See, with a car like the Quantum, things like that just happen, and it's ok. My dad jimmy-rigged the muffler back up with a wire clothes hanger, and it was ok again. That's the beauty of having an old car. You just let things slide without really fixing it, and you drive it anyway. Crash into a snowbank? No big deal! Oh, the driver's side door won't open? Fine, just climb in through the passenger side! Only one speaker works? So what? The horn goes off the entire time you're sitting at a stoplight? How exciting! What chaacter!

But alas, all good things must come to an end. I drove the Quantum through one New Hampshire winter and it turned out to be horrible in the snow, and I did a 180 on the road a time or two (I was only going about 15 mph because it was snowing so hard, and thankfully no cars were coming the other way). My dad decided that we needed a newer car - preferably one that wasn't 16 or 17 years old. I think he sold it (or gave it?) to a coworker, who in turn gave it to his teenager. In fact, several months later, I saw my beloved Quantum in the parking lot at Hilltop Fun Center. I happened to have an old key on me, so I opened the door and looked inside. The new owner, whoever it was, was taking good care of it.

I will always miss my Quantum. What fun times we had! I think it's good for teenagers to have old cars, if they have a car at all. Hopefully someday I can give Abby a car from 2007. I can hear the complaining now: Mooom, the GPS is sooo outdated! And what are these metal key things? WHAT?!? IT RUNS ON GAS ONLY?? It's not a hybrid?? It doesn't fly??

Groceries! (part 2)

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to find a good deal, especially on groceries. Sometimes I have great luck with coupons, but since I don't get the Sunday paper, that doesn't happen very often. Today, however, I got really lucky.

I was shopping at Food Lion (usually I go to Kroger, but FL had Garrett's favorite hot dogs for BOGO, so I went there instead) and some employees were taking a bunch of pasta off the shelf and putting it in a cart to haul away. I asked what they were doing with it all, and they said that some of it was expired, and then some of it was going to be "reduced for a quick sale". I asked if I could get any of the expired stuff (I know, I'm shameless), but they said no, they didn't want to be sued. Understandable, I guess. So, I asked when the other stuff would be reduced, and they said to come back later in the afternoon.

So, I went back to FL around 3, but the reduced pasta wasn't anywhere to be found. Now, usually I would just figure it had already been sold out and I would go home, but today I was really in a bargaining mood, so I asked an employee, Judy, where the pasta was. As it happened, Judy is the one in charge of marking down products, and she told me that she hadn't gotten to it yet. But, she led me to the back room and told me to pick out what I wanted, set it aside, and she would save it for me for tomorrow, which is when it would all be ready. Like a kid in a candy shop, I grabbed everything I wanted. I love pasta SO MUCH, plus the expiration date wasn't until 8/2010, so it would last forever! Even the whole wheat pasta was going to be reduced.

About 10 minutes later I walked back out into the main store area, and passed by Judy to thank her. Then she said, "Well, I'll just go back there now and reduce it for you so you don't have to come back tomorrow." Yay!!

I love a good chance to stockpile my food storage. Lately, I have been having a really hard time finding good deals on pasta (didn't it used to be a little less than $1 per pound? Now it's more like $1.30!). So anyway, I got all this pasta shown below, and I'm contemplating going back in the morning for a bit more (hey, it's good for 2.5 more years!!).

Grand total: $8 (they were about 35 cents each)

PS - Aren't those flowers pretty? Garrett gave them to me at the airport when he picked me up on Tuesday night. Isn't he sweet?

Westward!

Abby and I went to Utah for 9 days for my brother Mike's graduation from BYU. It was a lot of fun! We were very busy, but we had a good time. Here is our trip in pictures!

The kids before Church

Some of the girls

We got to meet up with Garrett's grandparents at Ikea!

I LOVE this Ikea kitchen!

Looking cute

Carter, watching his Dad (Mike) graduate!
Chris helped load the moving truck!

The graduates
Me with Mike

Emma and Carter

The three cousins!
I hadn't seen Ben since before his mission! Ladies, he's single!
Chris with his favorite Aunt B
Just a few of the original Somersworth gang... we were all in YM/YW together.

Bath time!

The kids with grandpa

Loading the truck! Mike, Shauna, and Carter moved to NH.

Cleaning out Mike's car for him.

It snowed while Dad was mowing!

The kids with Grandma!

The original six!

We had a great time seeing friends and family out in Utah. Thanks, Emma, for letting us stay at your house. I can't wait to see everyone again! And sorry to anyone who tried to call me while I was there... my phone didn't work most of the time. Thankfully Emma put Garrett in her "Fave 5" so that I could talk to him! Thanks, Emma!

Pictures

Here are some pictures from the Perfect Day!

Perfect Day

Last Saturday was a perfect day! I have pictures, but they are on my computer at home (I'm in UT), and I don't want to wait that long... so I'll post the pics when I get home in a week.

Anyway, last Saturday Abby slept in until around 8:45, so we got to sleep in a little until she woke up (I mean... we were up at 7 a.m. doing chores, mom and dad!). Then, Garrett made me breakfast! Egg and bacon mcmuffins - yum!

Then, we hung around the house for a bit in the morning, playing with Abby and doing a little cleaning and packing. When Abby woke up from her morning nap we took her to a friend's house, and then Garrett and I went strawberry picking at a berry farm! The weather was just perfect - it was in the high 60s and overcast, which was just great. The berries were huge and delicious (they were all-you-can-eat, too!). We brought home 3 gallons, but probably ate half a gallon just while we were in the field! I definitely want to go back again for more. We froze most of them because Garrett won't be able to eat them all himself!

Later that night, went downtown to a minor league baseball game! It was student appreciation night for the medical students, so for $10 per family, we got a buffet dinner, baseball hats with the team logo, and tickets to see the game! It was SO much fun. I love the atmosphere of baseball games, and the weather was still perfect. The game was exciting, too, although I'm not sure who won because we left a little early - it was getting late!

When we got home, we put Abby to bed and had some strawberry shortcake, using some of our fresh strawberries. It was delicious!

It was a perfect birthday! Thanks, Garrett!