Chug-a-Lug

This child can put away the OJ like nobodys business. It is crazy! I will give her the sippy and she will have it drank before I can even get her breakfast on the tray.  

Peek-A-Boo!

I really think we are getting so close to walking. She is cruising furniture like a champ and can stand unassisted for about a minute. I am just waiting for her to realize she can take a step! 

Chasing Callie

Now that Belle is confined to bed to heal, AK only has Callie to torture. She LOVES her paws and tries to put them in her mouth (gross) but also loves to just "pet" her.  

GO Daddy!

We are SO proud of Daddy! He just finished his first parade house and it is INCREDIBLE (just look behind us)! It truly is one of my dream houses. He has been working so hard beside everyone else in his company and we are SO proud of him! (*One of the neatest features if you look behind us is a river that runs under the sidewalk. It starts at the top of the hill and falls down to the driveway....great sound!) 

THE PUMPKIN PATCH

We visited the pumpkin patch today. It was a perfect day here in Tulsa. 70 degrees and sunny. There were tons of families out enjoying fall break. Each child was dressed in her best fall attire and parents were clicking away. Stay tuned for pictures of the Halloween costume. It is a hoot! To see the rest of the pictures from today, you can go to share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8KZtWzhy3YTc

More pumpkin patch

 

The Pumpkin Patch continued...

 

Look what else I am into....

 

Disobeying

Well, around this age, the boundaries for a child are basically focused on safety. We have 3 big ones. No climbing on the gate to the stairs, no touching the oven, and no climbing on the fireplace. And lo and behold, EVERY day, Miss Abby Kate must test the boundaries to see if they still stand. I firmly say 'No Ma'am' and she just grins as big as it gets. Hmmmm.... 

Our first Baby...

This is Belle. Many of you have met her. She is our beloved yellow lab mix that we adopted the first Valentines Day we were married. She has been through it ALL with us. I truly would not have made it through our first job in the wilderness if not for this constant friend. Eariler this week, we noticed that she and our other lab Callie had been eating the hose in our backyard. We threw the hose away and thought that was that. They normally do not chew but I had been gone for the day and they were punishing me. The next morning, there was throw up ALL over my house....(they are inside half the time). Now those of you that know me, I am a neat freak and LOVE my house to be clean...I try very hard to keep my house that no one knows dogs live inside. I vaccum almost daily (and have been known to do it twice a day...there is this weird complusion my family has of loving freshly vaccumed carpet (right Hal?), I sometimes even get mad at Bobby for walking on it...how stupid is that? Anway, I digress...) all that to say, I was mortified that my carpet was dirty. I instantly went into offensive mode, demanding they become outside dogs (this is not my usual self I promise) but was torn at being a good steward of our largest investment (our home) and also taking care of the precious animals that have been so loyal to us.
I woke up the next morning to Belle throwing up blood. I was petrified. I threw Abby Kate in the car and rushed her to the vet, only to be told she would need surgery and it would cost a bundle (after some costly x-rays!). Now with one income, a bundle we do not have....so I cried and told the vet we could not afford the surgery and asked if she would die if we left it and he simply replied yes. So in an answer to prayer, he shared he had a student with him that could do it and would be good practice for her and we could work out payments with her. She was in surgery for 5 hours and they removed 8 inches!!!! (holy moly I know....) of reinforced hose from her stomach, intestines and colon. We picked her up today. She is not out of the woods yet so we ask you to please pray for her. I know many would say it was sacreligious, a waste of God's time, ect...praying for a dog but I believe God cares about what we care about. And this precious dog is something our family deeply cares about... 

Eating Big Girl Food!

Well, the first birthday is looming and I am attempting to introduce table foods. She proves she is REALLY my child through her obsession with bread. She begs whenever I am eating anything with bread and can literally eat a whole biscuit or roll if I let her (I am serious!). We are limiting her intake to wheat toast at the moment. No need to introduce vices THIS young no? She also had yummy steamed carrots too! She basically was fascinated by their squashing between her fingers. 

Catching her unaware...10 month update

I know, I know...I haven't posted many new pictures lately. The problem being my 10 month old busy-body cannot stand to sit still while I aim a shiny, metal object at her and talk in a high pitch tone trying to coax a smile. We have 3 new teeth as of this week. She will not let me near close enough to get a good peek but I know there are at least 3. The bottom 2 beside the 2 middle and one of her middle upper teeth. She really has been a trouper.
In terms of an update, we met with our parents as teacher's consultant again this month, only to conclude what I had already begun to suspect ...my child really ISN'T strong-willed! YEAH! She is assertive, aggressive (do those words mean the same thing?) and attention-seeking but she stops and listens when told the word NO! She 9 times out of 10 stops the offensive action and comes right to me. My sweet Nannie after reading the post regarding the strong willed label reminded me not to label her....only affirming what was in my heart. As her Momma, I am desperate to understand her. I so want to not only be a Godly, authentic example but want to affirm and nuture who SHE is....I am learning that who she is really is a fun mixture of both her Daddy's adventurous, risk-taking, sit back and soak it all in nature and my "Hey look at me!", sensitive, people pleasing, observer topped off with those things that are exclusively and beautifully Abby Kate.
I have been really meditating on Proverbs 31 this week. The verse that calls to me each day is "Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also praises her...." Oh may it me so. I also would love for those of you who check this regularly to join me in praying for baby Eliot. I sent many of you his blog site through email but wanted to post it in case some of you did not receive it. He is the child of the most amazing parents (we worked with them through K-Life). Talk about the life of a child blessing your socks off. Thanks! www.mattandginny.blogspot.com 

Praise Jesus!

You can see this at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjoxx48DHrU. I am still getting messages that you can't see this so you can sign up as me...username snqualls and password his.

Abby Kate and Joce

This was at the picnic as well! We love our Aunt Joce! 

My 10 year Reunion

This is just a picture from my reunion picnic. It really was SUCH a fun weekend. Still surreal it has been that long.  

Tea Anyone?

As you can see, the lamb is waiting patiently for her tea and scones. Aunt Beth and Uncle Tony, Lauren and Haylee bought Abby Kate this tea set when she was born. It is now her favorite thing to play with. Where is this beautiful tea set you ask? See picture below. 

Here I am!

That is because I LOVE to pull every single piece of my tea set into the floor with me and clink every piece together (thanks Aunt Beth for reminding me this is to USE!) However, Momma often adds an English accent when we are taking our tea, just to class it up a bit. She is not going to let me grow up to be a complete Hooligan.

Chefs Abby Kate and Isabella

Isabella just turned 4 and got a chef's set for her birthday and let Abby Kate play with her.  

Chasing the Light

We were in the office the other day just playing (I am finding a simple room change will often do the trick and hedge her boredom) and she was mesmerized by the light coming in through the window. She played with it for about 20 minutes....oh how I pray she stays fascinated with the light. One of my all time favorite verses...."Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven..." 

Buddies!

Just wanted to share these pics of Abby Kate and her buddy Adi. We have had SO much fun playing with her! They are peas in a pod! Just like her Mommy and I were (my sweet childhood friend Rachel). We were cracking up b/c Abby Kate climbed on the back of the walker and was basically riding it, as Rachel said, like a sleigh. So funny! Thanks to Adi's Dad Rob for the smiles (his vocal stylings got these girls to smiling).