Fun in the 60 Degree Sun!

What a sweet blessing after weeks of dreariness and ice, we have a few sweet days of sunshine!  Just days before Christmas no less!  Of course, we have spent some fun time today in the sun.  We went to a brunch with my Bible Study friends today and all of their kids and Abby Kate had a ball.  She played in the sand box almost the whole time.  Then we came home and she heard Daddy coming up the street and ran to meet him.  She ran along the sidewalk as he drove down the street yelling "STOP DADA, STOP!" until he pulled into the driveway.  She adores him.  Anyway, just thought we would share our sunny day with you!

Big Girl Pig Tails!

So, the phrase "big girl" is making waves in our house.  Last week, her "abby" (aka pacifier) was banished to the crib for naps and night night only.  She has super surprised me at the ease of the transition.  Though she still asks for it occasionally, I say, "no, abbys are for babies, you are Momma's big big girl!  You don't need an abby." And she repeats the phrase "big big girl" smiling!  So, I decide she needs a "big girl" hair do and up her hair goes into piggie tails!"  She loved them.  She kept giggling at herself in the mirror!  Doesn't she truly look like a big, big girl?  Breaks my heart...

The Wonderful World of 2!

I know you have already seen this picture on the slide show but it was my favorite taken on her birthday.  I meant to post on her actual birthday but, well you know, the happenings of life invaded.  We just got our electricity back on after a few days without.  Boy, makes you thankful for the conveniences of our world.  And for heat.  Anyway, the update.

FUN!  That is the best word I can use to sum up  life right now.  I so wish I could go back and talk to myself during her newborn stage.  I would whisper, "just wait.  She is SO fun...she will be a great sleeper...a talker....just be patient.  It will be so worth the wait."  Though we have certain moments of two-ness, she has mellowed into a tenderhearted, passionate/dramatic, vocal, playful, adventurous little girl.  Though there a still details that creep in that remind me of her babyhood, such as loving to be rocked and her addiction to her "abby" (pacifier), as well as a strong love of her crib...not much else remains.  She is a full toddler.  She loves to dance, jump and run.  She LOVES being chased, singing loudly, her books, her bunny (which is now a nubby brown bunny that was originally beautifully soft and white).  As I mentioned before, this is as much for our records as for friend's and family's reading so I am not trying to scream the accomplishments of my child but I want to remember what each child was doing at what age.  She is counting to twenty, partially saying her ABCs (skips several letters and saying L, M, N, O, P all rumpled together), saying sentences, and has great fine motor skills (loves picking her tiny rubber bands out of her bath water).  She makes funny faces, has a great imagination (like picking grapes off the page of her Elmo ABC book and pretending to eat them....as well as pretending to throw food at you screaming "catch it Momma!" and then wanting you both to devour it, ending with "MMMMMM....YUMMY!"). 

She is also all girl!  She loves taking care of her animals and babies, putting them in her toy high chair and feeding them and sharing EVERYTHING she gets with her bunny.  She HATES having anything on her hands and will cry until you wipe it off.  She loves to dance as I mentioned.  She stood in the entrance of Abercrombie for 30 minutes the other day dancing her heart out to their loudly playing music.  Never mind those frantic Christmas shoppers trying to get around her...and never mind my headache from the music and the cologne that seems to be drenching every particle of air.  She loves pretty things.  She loves calling things "cute."  She loves ALL things soft.  She loves picking any stuffed animal or baby off the shelf at any store we enter (I learned early after buying a $35 sock pig that she loses interest quickly so the impulse buying stopped FAST!).  

She is an ultra picky eater.  She is her Momma's girl to the core with her foods.  She loves bread, rice, pasta, yogurt, apples, cottage cheese, turkey, chicken, sweet potatoes, roast, "tot tots" (tater tots from Sonic), Buggies (graham crackers in shape of bugs) so essentially, carbs.  One unusual food she loves is pesto on her pasta.  So do I.  B hates it but Oh So Yummy!

 She loves other children.  She adores her family.  Her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousin Kourtney (who she seriously talks about non-stop and thinks all kids are her).  She is much loved and SO blessed.

Sweet girl, you have been the light of so many lives for 2 years already.  We cannot wait to see all God is going to do in and through your life!  His light is already shining through you!  We pray for so much for you.  For safety and health, for joy and hope, for innocence and trust, for precious friends and a Godly, loving husband.  We pray that God will show Himself strong through your life.  That you will be trustworthy, pure, noble, wise, insightful, playful, well spoken, sensitive, compassionate, loving and comfortable in your own skin.  That you will know God made you full well...that He delights in you.  We adore you sweet girl.  Praying for many more....

Happy Birthday Sweet One!

Empathic Abby Kate

I don't have any recent pictures. I am sorry. Abby Kate has been sick the past week and there just haven't been many shoot-able moments. I was inspired though by a seminar taught by a girl at our church about photography to quit trying to capture the "CHEESE!" moments and to snap the fun little day to day things. I am really going to work on that. I just wish so badly that I could capture who she is in pictures and put them on here so you all could know her. She really is a neat kid.
I really am so proud of who she is. She has recently changed saying "tank you, _____ (fill in the blank with name)" but now says, "tank you, ______, SOOOOOO MUCH!" I love that she already is saying please and thank you without being promted. We so want her to have a thankful spirit. But today, she blew me out of the water. We were at Little Gym, and there is a little girl in her class who is, well, just hard. She is aggressive and possessive and her Mom is, well, laid-back. Abby Kate has never been the center of this little girl's wrath (much to my moving her far from her) but today, she came at her and yanked her balloon away. Abby Kate just shrugged and picked up another. Then, during bubbles, the little girl pushed Abby Kate with ALL HER MIGHT, and Abby Kate spun around and caught herself before falling. She looked at the girl funny but never cried or pushed back. Then, the little girl got in a screaming match a few seconds later with another little boy and her Mom stepped in, took her away from the group and the little girl started sobbing, throwing herself on the mat. Abby Kate just watched and started walking slowly away from the bubbles and started talking really soft. She walked over to the little girl now being held by her Mom and started gently patting her back. She kept leaning in and talking to her softly. OH SWEET GOODNESS, I teared up so fast. Empathy is such a sweet emotion. I could not believe I was seeing my BABY feeling it in front of my eyes. For a bully no less. Praise God for child eyes. For the purest of hearts.....I was never prouder of her.

Squeaky Shoes

Sweetie got Abby Kate 2 pairs of these shoes that have a squeaker in the heel. Abby Kate is still walking on her tiptoes all the time. She can stand flat footed, which is great considering some children are born with a tight Achilles heel and cannot stand flat footed. She is simply practicing for her role as a prima ballerina I guess. But these shoes have been fantastic. She LOVES them and wants to hear them squeak thus walking normally. GREAT invention...but annoying.

The Birthday Tree

Laura gave me a great idea to do a birthday tree for Abby Kate considering her birthday is in December. Max's is one day after AK's so they share the December birthday struggle. This is our birthday tree this year. I really think we will start celebrating half birthdays soon. Abby Kate LOVES the lights and beads....she wakes up every morning and says "THERE IT IS! My birphday tree!"

Milking the Dogs....

I bet that post title got your attention! Here is AK "sharing" her milk with the dogs. EVERYONE smelled terrible that night.

Hanging out with Sus...

Sutton has become such a fun part of our 3 day a week routine. They really are sweet friends! They are both sweet kids and when a "stealing" of a toy comes up, the other usually hands in back the minute tears begin....Abby Kate will always immediately quit crying and say, "shanks you Sus (thank you Sutton)." And just a side note, Laura does not dress her boys in little girl t-shirts that say "Cutie", I promise. He had taken a little "swim" in the dog bowl and so his shirt was in the dryer. I am a good babysitter I promise!

A walk in Momma's shoes

Abby Kate's new favorite thing is finding our shoes and walking around in them (except for Daddy's boots and then she loves to hide her stuffed animals in them). This was her first walk in heels...wedges to be exact! She was a natural!

Ahhh Fall.....

We went to Sweetie and Po(a)ppy's (Abby Kate actually adapted his name from Poppy to Pappy and so it shall be)this past weekend and had a ball playing in the leaves. It was my favorite thing as a kid too! She kept wanting us to cover her up after each time she jumped in a pile, she wanted us to re-rake the leaves into another pile. FUN FUN!

Blowing Her Nose

Most of you know Abby Kate has been pretty sick and has had a whirlwind few days. Her little nose has been dripping and driving her crazy (she has her Daddy's OCD tendencies and hates anything to be unclean on her...except dirt unfortunately). So yesterday, she went in her bathroom and promptly did this....

Giddy Up Horsy!

Oh this child! She cracks us up! Love this one....

Happy Night from the Bumblebee!

Trampoline Fun!

Playing at the park....

Here are a few more pictures of our time this past weekend. The weather was perfect and we had SUCH fun!

Pumpkin Patch with Neannie, Kourtney and Krista

Millions of New Pics....

I have TONS of new pictures and videos to post so stay tuned this week for lots of new ones. I may even do a slideshow or two to get them all in!

Channing Birthday!

We got to go to Channing's birthday on Sunday and got to eat tons of tons of pink M&Ms. Gosh she loves those things!

The Chatter

Here is a little glimpse of our little Chatter. She ADORES the dogs and talks to them constantly. Bless their hearts. They are so patient!

Another cute OSU Pic....

We also taught Abby Kate to say "GO POKES!" which was cute and fun to watch her say. This horse is an OSU rocking horse that Nannie and Grumpies had when I was little. It was fun to watch her play on it.
She already misses Nannie and Dumpies so much. She talks about them all the time and yesterday saw a lady with white hair and leaned over to touch her hair and say "NANNIE!" Of course, she was embarrassed when she turned around but I think mostly disappointed :) Isn't family the best?

Bath Time!

We still love bath time here...we now call it swimming. You can see the video of her "swimming" in the above post!

Pop and "Dad Dad"

We also got to spend time with Pop and "Dad Dad." They came up for the Gun Show and had a ball. It was the first time Grandad had got to come visit so we had a WONDERFUL time and I cannot begin to tell you how fun it was to watch this men fuss over Abby Kate. Saturday morning they were all three in her room when she woke up and just giving her all the attention in the world as she performed. What a fun thing for a little girl! Undivided attention from the men in her life. Ahhhhh....she is surely blessed!

Go Pokes!

We had such a wonderful time in Stillwater this weekend for OSU Homecoming! We got to see our entire family which is always such a treat and spend time with Nannie and "Dumpies." We laughed a lot and just loved being together. I could not get the pic of AK and I to rotate so sorry about that! Hehe!

One More...

I couldn't get this one to post last night but I love it. They were just chatting away. LOVE IT!

The Pumpkin Patch with Channing

We are trying to soak up the minutes with Channing and Lacie before they move next week. Her birthday is this Saturday and her party is Sunday which may be the last time we get together. As you can see, they have a BALL together. We grabbed lunch after this chilling day outside at McAlisters and ate yummy soup in a bread bowl and the girls laughed hard at each other the whole time. Lacie and I just chatted and I realized how precious it is of our Lord to give us friends to walk beside. I am already praying that Abby Kate will have friends that encourage her and inspire her and point her to the Lord. Though Channing may be miles away soon, we will still pray for her and know God will do big things in her life. It is just FUN to watch your children make friends. And to love them. And to squeal their name when they see them. Channing kept saying "ABS! ABS! Come here!" today and we just laughed and laughed. Fun two year old friends. They can teach us a lesson or two in how to enjoy each other....

Her Father's Joy....

Did you all know the name Abigail means "her father's joy?" This is such a sweet picture of the joy her father brings to her life!

Dancing Queens

Please do not listen to my dorky voice on this....I think it is so funny or I wouldn't be posting it. I HATE hearing my voice on camera. I feel like a moron. Anyway...enjoy!

Abby Kate and Channing

This is Abby Kate and her sweet friend Channing. They have SO much fun together. They are 2 months apart and are little peas in a pod! We just found out last week they are moving and we have been SO sad! I love their little pink cheeks in this second picture. They played SO hard outside. Lacie and I were afraid they were going to stroke out before we got some water in them.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...

Here is the video I promised. I SO think it is the best. She is just chatting away to herself. Hehe!

Fun Pictures

These are just some of the pictures Celia took. Aren't they ADORABLE? hehe! I love the second one. Doesn't it look like she is just praising our Jesus?

Oh Sweet Goodness I Figured It Out!

So I finally became determined to figure out how to do this....I knew it could be done, I just was unsure how. Then I realized it was easy enough that I just download a new browser. YEAH! Thanks for bearing with me. I have another great video I will post tomorrow that had me in stitches. I also have some incredible pictures that our precious family friend, Celia, took of Abby Kate when Mom and Dad had her during B's surgery (for those of you that don't know, he had his tonsils taken out, a deviated septum corrected and his soft palate burned and is doing GREAT now by the way). They are incredible but I cannot get them to load. I will try again tomorrow!

Sliding

I cannot begin to tell you how much this child loves to slide. She is so fearless. I finally decided to catch this on video to remind me what she was doing at this age and to remind her of the adventures she was unafraid to take....I pray her life will always be that way.
*This may take a little while to load depending on the speed of your internet!

The Last Days of Summer...

We have been playing, literally, HOURS outside. We spent from 2:30 yesterday until 5 just playing in the backyard. We are soaking up the last few warm days...though I am looking so forward to the crisp cool fall! YEAH!

Off to "School"

Abby Kate found this backpack the other day in the garage....something I had forgotten after cleaning out my car one day. She LOVES it and did not want to take it off. She was browsing my magazines and my heart constricted at the sight I know I will be seeing all too soon. (Minus the diaper and plus a few years of course...)