A Wintery Day Project...

So I am sitting here listening to the sleet ping on the windows, as it has been doing for days now, feeling so deeply thankful for electricity and warmth.  I am about to start a big pot of chicken and dumplings and still have on my warm flannel jammies and am as happy as a clam.  This project has been waiting on us since Christmas.  All items were received as Christmas gifts.  This has been a dream of mine since I found out I was having a little girl.  I have always wanted her to have a reading corner, a place she could escape to and imagine the day away.  I cannot wait until this spot begins being used to spend time with her Lord and Savior.  I still have a few large pillows to add but it is just as I imagined it.  She is calling it her princess corner.  I love it.  

Finally, the Little Mermaid...

So after Christmas, Miss Abby Kate became obsessed with the Little Mermaid.  And actually, I am not sure how it happened.  The obsession began before we even watched the movie.  She just DESPERATELY wanted the costume.  So one day, I talked to her about spending some of her Christmas money on it.  We then looked on ebay and found this gem for $10.  So we ordered it and she has asked EVERY DAY if it had came in the mail.  Finally, today it arrived.  She has spent the entire day "swimming" on her stomach and pulling herself around by her arms.  She has taken to calling me "Flounder" and insists on being called Ariel.  She even used her slide and slid down it on her stomach telling me she was "diving into the ocean.  That is the ocean, okay Momma (pointing to the carpet)?  

On another note, we took away the paci yesterday.  I dreaded this day more than I could possibly tell you.  But I had great advice and tried not to let her see me stressed.  The Abby (paci) Fairy came and took the pacis we had left for her on the porch and left a cake in its place, which THRILLED her to no end.  She did not do well without it during her nap yesterday but did famously last night, never crying and sleeping for 12.5 hours.  PRAISE GOD!  So thanks for all of you that were praying for us.  They were felt!  

*Oh and just an FYI, the little scab you see on her chin is from her very first bike wreak.  She had gotten pretty confident in her skills and bit it last night.  She has a skinned knee and chin and is now insisting we help her again, but still wanted to ride today (after an obsession with band-aids last night and this morning).

Trampoline Fun....

Just a few fun pics from jumping on the trampoline a few nights ago!

Ducky and a Bath...

This has been one of Abby Kate's favorite activities!  She LOVES filling the sink with water and bubbles and playing with her bath toys.  She also loves getting her tea pot and pouring "tea" into her cups over and over.  It has been a FUN distraction to keep us indoors on coldy days

Fun weekend...

Neannie, Pop and Kourtney got to come up and play last weekend and we had a blast, as always!  The girls literally would disappear for hours.  I, as always, am so thankful that Abby Kate has such a precious, fun, patient big cousin!  AK has even had quite the imagination since she left.  Kourtney can play by herself for hours, and has been able to since she was little.  I so hope she passes on her fun imagination to AK!  And Neannie and Pop were super fun too!  

Snow...

Though you cannot see it, it was snowing super hard and Abby Kate was fascinated!  

Abby Kate-isms

So many funny things came out of her mouth today!  I had to record them to remember...

As she was laying down, supposed to be napping today, I heard these things through the monitor...

1.  "I'm so happy, I'm so happy, I'm so happy!" sang to a nondescript tune

2.  SUPER ABBY KATE!

3.  Mom!  Mom!  I lost my golden abby (paci), I lost my golden abby! (NO clue where she got golden, and yes, the paci is going this next week.  I need accountability.)

4.  Singing "Disturbia" that she heard on a Kid Bop commercial over and over

Then later,

5.  Helping me cook and saying in one sentence, "OH THE SUPER YUMMY GREAT DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE!  Daddy is going to be SOOO excited!"  She is a girl after my own heart.  Loving adjectives...

The Mega Disney World Post....

If you have made it to the words through all these pictures, you must be one of my best friends.  Or family of course.  I could not begin to sum up this trip in words so I had to include the millions of pictures just to show you!  We truly had a ball.  Everything was so magical.  To see my child's face light up when she saw characters made it the best vacation ever.  Her excitement was contagious and I found myself wanting to run to the next thing!  

So here is an overview...

Got there late Saturday, I headed to the wedding and Sweecie and Poppy went swimming with Abby Kate and had a picnic of pizza by the pool.  AK was already in heaven.  Swimming and pizza are two of her favorite things!  We had a ball at the wedding.  It was a beautiful outdoor reception on a lake with high 60 degree weather.  Perfect.

Sunday we rested and got to spend time with one of Bobby's best friends who lives far away.  Super fun.

Monday we went to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and AK had a ball in the Dr. Suess section of the park.  We rode the carosel over and over. 

Tuesday we went to MGM.  It was so fun.  The highlight for AK was seeing Playhouse Disney live on stage and we loved the Toy Story section of the park.  We got to see our first parade and the unexpected joy of the day was popping in a character buffet that was not busy and AK getting to meet the Little Einsteins and JoJo and Golieth (all playhouse Disney shows).  She absolutely fell in love with June, the ballerina from Little Einsteins, and talked about her the rest of the trip.  She constantly asked, "Where did my friend June go?"  She also got to meet Minnie for the first time.  She was in awe.

Wednesday we rested.  I had a little accident at lunch.  We had rented a mini-van and I was sitting behind my Dad who was driving.  We were getting out to eat and I guess I extended my foot and Dad shut his door like a normal person and my foot got smashed.  What moron puts her foot in the door?  So of course, it swelled up and bruised awfully but I got to ride in style on Thursday at Magic Kingdom in a wheelchair (it was really embarrassing).  We also got to eat on Wednesday night at one of my favorite restaurants, Buca di Beppo.  YUM!

Thursday was the pinnacle.  We started at the Bipiddy Boppidy Boutique where AK amazed us all (except her Daddy who had said all along she would do wonderfully) by sitting super still and letting them make her over.  She choose the rock star look as you will see in pictures that had people stopping and oohing and aaahing over her all day...which she loved.  She actually STILL has glitter in her hair.  Her favorite ride was the race cars, which she got to drive 4 times.  B rode with her and said she giggled the whole time!  SO wish I had been able to ride with her once!  But they are pretty serious about labeling the rides expectant mothers cannot ride.  I think I got to ride 3 rides in 7 days.  Bummer.

Anyway, it was such a special day.  The fireworks and parade were beautiful.   We left very content and happy!

Thank you Sweecie and Poppy for helping us make this trip possible.  It was so special!