R Christmas

These are some fun pics from Christmas with my side of the family. Uncle Hal and Aunt Ashley got Abby Kate this neat princess tent that she LOVED and wanted everyone to get in and play with her (she also got a neat tent from Neannie and Pop that she got to play in at their house!). She even coerced Dacey, Hal and Ashley's huge, shy black lab to get in with her. My Dad even took Mom, Bobby and I to Las Vegas after Christmas. We had SUCH a great time! The last picture is Reindeer made of pecans at the Bellagio! Amazing!

F Christmas

This is the first family picture we have taken with Abby Kate. It is my Mom's side of the family. As those who know me well know, I adore my extended family. We played so much growing up, you would have thought we all lived in the same town! My Nannie and Grumpies are so special to me! We had such a great time getting to see everyone. It is rare when you can get that many people in one place. Especially when everyone is scattered. Family is such a blessing!
*As a side note, I adore my Dad's side of the family too. This is the first time since my first married Christmas that I got to spend Christmas Eve with them. However, Hal and I were the only cousins present so we did not take a pic!

Q Christmas!

Here are some fun pictures from the Q side of the family! We had such a fun time. Abby Kate fell in love with Neannie's snow globe with Mickey inside. She pretty much played with it every few minutes (now how I missed a picture of it is a bit unclear to me). She also got a Chicken Dance Elmo and it cracked her up. She would try to flap her wings like him but would get tickled.
B got what even he said was the best present ever. His parents deeded him land in his hometown that has been in his family for generations. Heritage is a huge deal to him and this is such a neat part of his heritage. As they say, land is the one thing that we cannot reproduce. So we started dreaming on our way home of some day building a cabin (it is in the mountains) so our family can go a rest, ride 4-wheelers, etc....
We also loved getting to see Grandad or "dad-dad" as Abby Kate calls him. He was in the hospital a few weeks ago and we were sick we could not get down to see him so it was such a blessing to be with him whole and well this Christmas. We also got to watch a play at Neannie and Pop's church that Neannie WROTE. Kourtney and Krista had lead roles and Kourtney even sang a beautiful solo. It was so fun. Neannie plays the piano and leads worship and after every song, Abby Kate would yell "YEA!!!!" She already has the "PRAISE THE LORD!" blood in her! We truly had a ball. We are so blessed with such precious family!

The ultimate gift

Before you think we shamelessly spoil our child, this was her HUGE gift from both grandparents.  We were all going to go in and get her an outdoor playhouse but we saw this and knew instantly it would be a hit.  It is hard to pry her off of it.  We set it up upstairs seeing as it is the largest room in our house and so every morning, after naps, etc. she is asking to go upstairs.  It beauty of this gift is in the summer, it has a hose that hooks on and sprays water, turning the slide into a water slide.  It is a Leaps and Bounds product and I cannot recommend it highly enough.  It combines most toddlers favorites (slides, stairs and balls) in one safe gift!  FUN FUN!

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!