Mischievous...

During quiet time a few weeks ago,  I heard a strange noise.  Abby Kate's bed is against a wall and she often kicks it as she lays in bed.  But this was a scratching.  Curious, I went in her room, finding this!  I almost freaked out but said sternly, "ABBY KATE!!! WE DO NOT COLOR ON WALLS!"  And to which she replied, "MOM!  Don't say no, say hooray!"  She was devestated when I had to clean the walls.  She sobbed saying, "My beautiful rainbow!  Oh Mom!  Not my beautiful drawing!"  So not to stifle our budding artist, I gently reminded her she has an easel in her playroom and that is where we color, not walls.  Ever again.  

Playing with Belle....

I cannot get over how long-suffering our dog is...see for yourself.

My Daughter, My Love...

I just wanted to share with you a few tidbits that have been consuming my mind lately.  That and record, while I have the time and the memory.  

For three years, I have had a sole focus, a very special little girl who has had my exclusive attention.  I have had nothing more important, nor wanted to do anything other than to study her, be with her.  I have learned so much.  I have loved most every second.  And to my utter delight, this child of ours has become one of the dearest people to me.  Not only because I am her mother, but simply because I like her.  It makes me so happy to be able to say that.  Even after long days with just the two of us.  Even after battle of the wills that wage almost daily.  Even after discipline.  She is my buddy, my sweet child whom I adore.  And here are a few reasons why...

*  She is quite simply the most observant person I have ever met.  It seems to me that even at the age of three, she has mastered the art of observation.  Even from birth, it seemed she took in every detail, smell, sound and taste.  I love this fact.  I pray God will continue to develop this trait in her.  Because to me, it takes a special person to observe.  These are the few people in this crazy world that keep their eyes off their self and onto others.  They are the ones who if submitted to the Lord, will develop the precious gift of discernment and will see when others are hurting or scared or sad or confused, even if they are trying to show the world otherwise.  And prayerfully, she will be able to minister to those.

*  She is an encourager.  This is linked to her observant heart.  She will notice the little details in another.  Eyeglasses; a necklace, ring or earrings; the way you have your hair; your clothes; the expression on your face...and then she always, and I mean always, tells you something sweet about these things.  Usually using the word beautiful in there somewhere.  Who doesn't love to be told they are beautiful?  She brightens my day so many times by speaking these precious words of life.

*  She loves babies and animals.  I mean loves them.  She usually talks to them in a higher pitched voice, talking about how cute or tiny they are.  She is gentle and patient.  She will sit with Belle, our ancient lab for hours just petting and loving on her.  

*  She has a great vocabulary.  This is just a minor one.  But I love hearing big words come out of her small mouth.  Words like: certainly, absolutely, most definitely, etc...(I just noticed all of these words are synonyms :), guess I better stop teaching her words of absolutes :)

*  She loves a thrill.  She is such a little lady in so many ways.  She loves clothes.  She loves jewelry.  She loves sparkle and crowns.  She loves shoes.  But she is also super tough.  She loves to be scared.  She can fall down and have blood pouring off of her and never even whimper.  She can be dramatic, but rarely about things that physically hurt her.  She loves being thrown in the air, pushed as high as a swing will go, going down huge hills in the car.  I love that she loves adventure.  This will be such a sweet ministry to her husband...as I know it is one of Bobby's biggest complaints about me.  I am VERY cautious to say the least.

*  She has a super vivid imagination.  This is actually one thing we have in common.  I love hearing the things that comes out of her mouth.  The ideas she dreams up.  It often is mimicking a show we watched, which makes us (or needs to make us) more hyper vigilant about what she watches.  The great thing is though, as much as she wants us to follow script, she often throws her own twist in there, which delights me to no end.  Like yesterday when she decided to make a "flower bed" (a towel, her pillow and bunny under the shade of 3 of my huge pots) and take a nap outside (I think this was primarily motivated by the fact that this shady area is Belle's favorite rest spot and AK wanted to rest beside her BFF).

*  And a spin off the last, she adores a good story.  My single favorite thing is curling up with her to read a good book.  I love that she notices every little thing on each page.  I love that she asks why one looks happy or sad.  I love that she remembers days, even weeks later, what the story entailed.  Even stories I make up.  I know this sounds silly, but being the bibliophile I am, I so desired for my children to love the written word.  AK not only loves it, but loves any good story, told visually, audibly or written.  

*  And finally, she is HER.  She has a ton of idiosyncrasies that I could share but are probably only entertaining to us.  She has a strong will but a tender heart.  She cannot stand to see or hear someone cry.  She is easily delighted.  She is opinionated (she comes by that honest), smart and sharp.  She laughs easily but takes important things seriously.  She tests every boundary laid out there but responds well when actually disciplined.  She is just a GREAT KID, a daughter to whom our hearts delight!  And we are so deeply thankful we have had solely her for the past 3.5 years.  We cannot wait to add Bo to our family.  Cannot wait to see Abby Kate become a big sister.  But I just wanted to take the time to celebrate our only child one last time.  Thank you Father, with all the we are, for entrusting her to us.  Thank you for giving us a front row seat to watch all you have planned for her life.  We cannot wait!

Splash Park Fun!

So this has been our new favorite summer activity!  Bobby's company has a beautiful new development and this splash park is one of the perks of living there.  It is wonderful right now because no one lives there yet so we have had the fun privilege of playing and cooling off in 100 degree heat in this amazing park!  Daddy has loved it as much as Abby Kate!

The Geese

We had a great fun night last night.  AK slept until almost 7 pm during naptime so, inevitably, she got to stay up later.  We went to the splash park (next post) and she and Daddy got to check out the geese.  She LOVED them and said they were her friends and were "precious."  We then went for snow cones.  She insists on a white snow cone so we are exploring all the white flavors.  Last night, we shared pina colada but we got wedding cake last time and she loved it.  Before long, we are going to have to spring for one of her own.  She did NOT want to share.  Though, truthfully, neither did I....

A day in the sprinkler....

Kitty

One night out of the blue, Abby Kate asked for milk in a bowl.  I figured she wanted cereal and started to fix it for her.  She was devestated...she only wanted the milk.  I had NO IDEA what she wanted with it until I handed her the bowl, and she promtly placed it on the floor and did this...

A Fun Family Week!

Bendaroo glasses...yes, people actually BUY these!  AK LOVES them!

A beautiful sunset, even more beautiful niece...

AK put her bandaid on Neannie's back to help it "feel better"  



We had a blast this past week with Neannie, Audreia and Kourtney (who got to stay a whole 7 days!!!).  Seriously, it was such a fun, relaxing time.  The girls just played and played and Abby Kate has basically been depressed since dropping her off today.  Kourtney really is a dream maker for Abby Kate.  I just was so impressed watching both of their incredible imaginations play out and all the fun things they came up with to do.  We also got to go to the pool several times, bowling, to the Aquarium and to the movies.  So we had a fun-filled week!  Here are some pics to share!

Arg Matey!

I am not sure how my little girl became so obsessed with pirates.  Bobby joked yesterday, she loves all things pirate and princess.  Funny enough, he is so right!  She got to pick out a surprise due to some spending money from Neannie and Pop and she picked this pirate hat right away.  She spent all day yesterday saying things like "Arrrr...matey!  Time for ye to walk the plank!"  and "Shiver me timbers!"  It really was super funny.  She wanted me to fall into the sea over and over after she had me walk the plank and it was all I could do with my 7 month pregnant body to fall onto the couch.  She is a hoot!

Early Summer Fun....

One of her favorite pastimes is picking flowers, which I try hard to keep her from my pots.  I also steer her toward the dandelions.   But here she had beautified Poppy!

Racing with Daddy in the rain!


I know I have been terrible updating.  So here are some pics from the start of summer!  My baby still LOVES being outside.  It has been our constant entertainment since the great flood of '09 passed.  We really have had such a ball.  Bobby installed a new ceiling fan on our porch after a wasp colony built a nest in our old one last summer.  My sweet parent's replaced our glass tabletop that was shattered last summer as well.  I have so loved being out there.  We have a great, comfy porch swing which is my favorite resting spot but I have pretty much taken up residence behind the swing set as my child wants to be pushed and swings endlessly.   We did get her a little pool which she has spent hours in as well.  Our favorite treat is getting Popsicles (or icelollies as AK often calls them...which she heard on Charlie and Lola) and sitting on the swing as we eat them.  AGH!  The joys of summer!

Worst Mom Award...

Due to the nature of my intentions on this blog, I am recording this more for memory than to air my faults on the internet.  I seriously cannot believe I did this.  Seriously.  Hopefully never to be done again, thus my recording it to memory.

I put Abby Kate down at 7pm last night, her standard bedtime on a day where she does not take a nap.  She conked right out and was still asleep at 9:40 this morning!  I went to check on her several times, though I was not worried due to her sleeping so much later now that she is not taking a nap.  Finally, when I went in at 9:45 she was awake.  It smelled strongly like urine and as I snuggled up next to her as per our morning routine, I was soaked too.  I pulled back her covers to realize that her bed, blanket, quilt, from side to side were soaked.  Her jammies were ring-able.  I gasped.  She is a huge wetter at night.  I have not even attempted to start potty training at night, though by day it is mastered, due to how wet she wakes up every morning.  She wears a diaper and plastic pants over that and I STILL change sheets most mornings.  But this was different.  She said, "Momma, I am really cold."  I asked her to stand up and let me get her out of her clothes and into some warm clean ones and then I realized my error to my horror.

I had not put on a diaper.  Not to mention the plastic pants.  Hmmmm....I asked her forgiveness and actually laughed a little and she got giggly and just sweetly said, "I forgive you.  And Mom?  Can I get my warm jammies on now?"  Sure baby.  I am an idiot.

A Couple of Funnies...

Just a few funny things Abby Kate said over the past 24 hours....I didn't want to forget.

*Last night, Bobby was having "Daddy time" with her as they do every night.  Her new favorite thing is to ask, "what's your name?"  She literally asks it ALL THE TIME.  Bobby answered her and asked, "what's your name?"  And she pulled out her sunglasses, put them on, and said, "Um...I think it might be Jim."

* Then he got up to leave her for the night and she cried a little and said, "Could you spare me a little time?"

Rainy Days won't get us down!

Sorry I have become so lax in updating this blog!  Abby Kate has pretty much wanted to spend every waking minute outside since the weather has finally started leaning toward summer.  I can only imagine how my summer is going to look for my very pregnant self!  HOT!  We spend 98% of our time swinging.  I am desperately trying to teach her how to pump and swing herself.  Is 3 too young to expect this? :)

So after a crazy storm came through yesterday, AK had diligently watched for the rain to stop and the second it did, she was ready to go swing.  Now typically, she hates to get wet.  If she even spills a little bit of her drink on her, you would think it was acid by the way she gets out of the offending garment.  But yesterday, she just took one look at our water-logged backyard and ran full speed and jumped in the closest puddle.  She even managed to run around and jump in the puddles for 15 minutes before stripping to her underwear.  And it was a fight for another 30 minutes to keep those on her!  

She has been really funny yesterday in how much she has loved playing with Belle and Callie, our dogs.  She will literally play with Callie, our younger dog, chasing her (or being chased) forever.  Callie loved her playing in the water yesterday.  AK would just splash her and laugh so hard!  Callie loved it!  Belle, our 9+ year old dog just sagely watched.  It was fun to watch her with them.  She told me yesterday Belle and Callie were her best friends :)

Well, just wanted to share our rainy day fun with you.  She has a seriously runny nose today.  Do you think it could have something to do with letting her run around wet in her underwear in 60 degree weather?  So worth it...

Ready-ing for Summer!

I cannot keep this girl out of her bathing suits.  If it is above 65, she wants to be in one.  So here is a preview of her new mermaid towel (which she says is frustrating...I think because it is so long) and her precious ballerina swim suit!  

Our Bat...

I know, I know, I am a neglecter.  I have found it much easier to sit down and jot down my thoughts on my own blog rather than waiting for the 872 pictures to download from my camera card.  So I am sorry.  I still love my girl, as I tell her every day, she is my favorite girl in all the world.  So I am going to try to make up for my negligence.

Oh how she delights our hearts!  I cannot tell you how fun she is...how big her imagination is, how dear her vocabulary comes forth, how much she loves her life.  

Take these pictures for example, I was using trash bags to bag up some old bedding for Goodwill and she asked me to be a bat.   I had no clue what she was talking about so she made a head hole and spent 2 hours pretending to be a bat while I was the princess in my castle.  Most the time, she was a "good bat" who had come to the castle for tea.  But others, she was a "mean bat" to while she giggled hard as I said, "Shooo!  Shooo!  Yucky Bat!  Back to your cave you go!"

And here are just a few examples from today...

Just a little background, our 6 year old fridge went out Sunday.  We paid $77 to have a man drive out, spend 3 minutes inspecting and consequently telling us we needed to "start shopping for a new unit."  Um, huh?  Needless to say we were sick about it.  However our sweet Lord provided our state tax return in the same day we had to purchase a new one, more than covering it.  We had not earmarked it for a new fridge (it felt like paying for a speeding ticket) but nevertheless, we had money to pay for it.

So it was delivered this morning and B and I spend time emptying the ice chests and placing all the food back in the fridge and freezer.  And my goodness, our girl got antsy.  She so wanted to be outside playing....she asked to ride her bike, for us to push her on the swings, etc...only for us to push her off trying to finish our task.  She finally forlornly headed to our backyard and I heard her sweet voice say to our dogs, "Hi Belle and Callie, you will play with me..."  Break my heart!

So after lunch I told her she could choose, bike or swing and she choose to swing.  Now she can swing for hours....I am so not exaggerating.  So here are a few things she said while happily swinging as my arm fell off from pushing her...

*Oh what a lovely day!  It is so warm.  Not cold.  I don't like the cold.  But I love the warm.  Oh how lovely!  (amen sister)

*There is Belle and Callie.  They are my doogs (said in a british accent)...oh yes, that is their names, Belle and Callie.  Oh, they are so sweet (said in british accent again).

*Oh Belle and Callie, they are my friends...and Mr Bill and Caylor and Colton all from church ilovechurch and wehideeastereggs andoh,watchnemo!  (like my run-ons? Just copying her enthusiasm)

*Hold me Momma!  Oh Mom, you hold me so good! (this said as I carried her through our soggy yard to the trampoline)

*Oh Mom, you are the best Mom!  I love you so much.  (Sigh)