Abby and her Crazy Parents

Abby had a busy Saturday. It started with breakfast at Chompies with her Mama, Papa and DeeDee. We hit a few yard sales. Uncle Dan got a kitchen table. We went shopping at Macy's for Deedee to get some cast iron pots. And, then, Abby's favorite part: Toys R Us. Abby is so excited to go to the toy store (or toy star). This is her sitting in the back of Papa's truck. The smile is from her Mama telling her we are at the toy store (Toys R Us). Abby loved being at the toy store. Her head just went from side to side staring at everything. But, Deedee was on a mission. She wanted to get Abby a chalkboard easel. Well, she found one she liked. It is a Crayola easel. You can see it in the cart. It has a chalkboard on one side and a magnetic white board on the other side. The first thing Abby did after Papa put it together was to put all of her magnetic numbers on the white board. Then, Papa showed her how to use the chalkboard side. She kept calling the chalk, "crayon". Her...

A typicall day during summer: Mike wakes up at 4:30 and is out the door around 5:30am. He is working 4 10 hour days during summer. So, I usually sleep in until 7:30 or so depending on when Abby wakes up. On the days that she wakes me up, she chants Mama, Mama, Mama. I call her my alarm clock! ;D BUT -- today was different. My alarm is broken, she didnt' chant Mama. She yelled Daaaadddaaaa Dada Dada Daaaaaaadddddaaaaaa! Not a single Mama was thrown in. :( Today, she gets to spend the day with her Papa. I wonder what fun activities he has planned?? Love ya :D

This video clip is from last weekend, when Mike and I took Abby swimming over at Uncle Tim's house. Abby loves to swim. The first time we tried to put the arm floaties on her, she wanted NOTHING to do with them. On our second visit, she practically told us she wanted them on. She went and hunted down both down and handed them to me. Now, that is the first thing she does when she gets outside at Uncle Tim's house, she searches for both arm floaties. Her daddy tried to take her in the pool without them and she fussed until I reminded him want she wanted. It was cute. While I played cameraman, he never left her side. What a good dad! I have mixed feeling about the floaties. I love and hate the confidence it gives Abby. I'm glad she is happy to play and kick in the water with them on. But, my fear is what happens if she falls in without them on? She is going to think that all she has to do is kick and she'll be fine. WRONG! I'd like to say this will never happen. But, ...

As I've said before, Abby LOVES shoes. She takes after her Mommy with this one. This mornng she was playing with her Daddy's huge boots. It was, of course, adorable. She was able to get both feet in AND stand up with them on. When she tried to take a step, boom! she'd fall down. She did this about 3 or 4 times. She kept repeating boot, boot, boot. We asked Abby what sound a lion makes and said, "rrrrroooooaaaarrrr" in her little Abby voice. Tooooo cute! Then, we asked her what sound a cow makes and she said "rrrrroooooaaaarrrrr" and I said no and she smiles and says mmmmmm. And, I say a cow says Mmmmmmmoooooooooooo. And she joins in. We practice sounds for dog, kitty cat, duck, sheep, tiger, lion, bear, pig, elephant, and monkey. This is going to be fun stage. She is gettting so curious about the world around her.

Papa Ken and Mama took Abby to breakfast at Denny's. While we were waiting for her eggs to arrive, she was munching on some crackers. The way she says that is soo cute, kinda like ' ca ker' This was the 3rd or 4th one that she ate. Each time she made that sound, mmmmmm mmmmmm while she was chewing on them. She has always done that with food that she really likes: strawberries, Reddi-whip, ice cream, crackers, salsa, and sometimes cheerios. After breakfast, we took Abby to Toys R US for the first time. I was worried she'd throw a fit at not being alllowed to have everything she saw. I was wrong. Her head about fell off because it kept going side to side in awe of everything she saw. She did fuss one time. Papa went in after some roller skates for her, but she was not interested one bit. If she liked something that we handed her, she would turn around and throw it in the cart. But, if she didn't like it, she would throw it to the ground. It was funny to watch her. If ...

This weeks Blog Hop is 3 Things You Didn't Know about me. 1) I have a Master's in Educational Technology from NAU (Northern Arizona University). Working on my masters, was the first time that I stayed in a dorm during college. I had a room to myself during summer session. It was better than staying with my parents, but I got bored and lonely. I'm almost ready to either go get another master's degree or work toward a doctorate. But, that's a lot of money that I would rather spend on Abby right now. 2) It was love at first sight for Mike and I. Our first date was on 12.18.03. He proposed to me in Feb '04. We were married on 7.9.04! We just celebrated our 5th anniversary! Here is a picture of us at the Out of Africa Zoo before it moved up north. This was taken on New Year's Day 2004. 3) I would love to move! I'm tired of living in Arizona. The heat is really unbearable. I would miss my extended family terribly. I don't have any plans to move soon, but i...

On Friday, Grandma DeeDee and Abby make cookies. Abby loved trying to scoop out the dough. Of course, her Mama showed her how much fun it is to eat the dough. As you can see, she thoroughly enjoyed licking the spoon on the way to the cookie sheet. You can hear her actually mmmmmming as she eats the chocolate chip cookie dough. You'll never guess what Abby wanted to use to help make cookies. We made sure that she was the one that got that cookie! After eating the dough, she wasn't too interesting in eating the finished cookie. We gave her one, but when I turned around it was no longer in her hand. Gus or Shaylie gobbled it up quickly. There was no evidence, but both dogs looked guilty.

Abby's favorite thing to do the past couple of days is to tiptoe. She will go grab a toy and tiptoe back over to the couch. She was at her Papa's house playing with her play food and kept tiptoeing back and forth between her mini picnic table and the basket with the food. Her favorite was the ketchup and mustard. It was too cute. We went to the US Egg Company for breakfast today and Abby was getting impatient. She started to scream. So, I told her to shush. She has done this before. It is too funny. She thinks you have to put your finger on your nose, not over your lips to say Shhhhh. Then, I tell her to whisper. And she'll say, sha sha, which means whisper. And, she will for about 10 seconds.

Abby's daddy taught her something new! How to eat whipped cream from the canister. She loves it. Now, whenever the fridge opens she reaches for the Ready Whip. This morning I told her to take it to her Daddy, and she did! We are off to take Abby to her Nana & Tata's house for her 1st sleepover at their house. Mike and I are going to enjoy or 5th anniversary childless! Yay us! Enjoy! Amanda

Hi and welcome! It was difficult to choose just one picture, but this one is my favorite. This is my daughter at one month old. Her daddy was holding before he had to leave for work and they both fell asleep. It was too precious.

My little princess is 20 months old today. I can not believe that she will be 2 years old in only 4 months. Boy, time flies when you are having fun! Everybody was right ~ they grow up so fast! Today she wanted to wear her tutu. The way she says that is so cute. So, I put it on over the dress she had on. She proceeded to try to take off her dress by pulling at the collar. So, I took her dress off. She had fun dancing and her new skill 'tiptoeing' around in her tutu. Abby also has a favorite blanky. Somebody from Mike's office made it for her, but he doesn't know who. Men! If you are the one that made it, please let me know! She loves it! She loves clothes. She has to have them on the hanger, if it falls off she will come to me and say, "out" which means, "help me". She will spin around in circles trying to lay the clothes on the floor perfectly flat. If they aren't perfect, she'll do it again and again until they are. It is too funny to watch ...

Abby loves to 'caga' aka color! She will walk up to my desk say caga and reach for her crayons. I will grab them and tell her to go get her color book. And, she does! Then, I hand her the crayons and she sits and scribbles on every page. She likes to scribble and turn the page and scribble and turn the next page. Too cute! But, everyday she is growing up so much. This morning was differnt. She walked up to my desk, reached and said, 'crayon'...ahhhh. She got it right! love ya! Amanda :D

Mama actually remembered to snap photos during Abby's 2nd American holiday (actually about 110 photos!). She is still getting over her cold, so we stayed home and DeeDee and Papa came over for dinner and fireworks. Her adorable little dress is courtesy of her Nana. It says, "Miss Independent". So very true of our Princess Abigail! Here are a few of the highlights of her day. Her day started by sneaking Mama's diet coke. She was so cute. She pulled out the straw. Took the lid off with her teeth. Put the straw back in and sat there under my desk looking so innocent sucking throught that straw. Next, we playing with bubbles. She says, 'bubbles' very clearly. This is her trying to blow the bubbles. It was a challenge for her not to eat the bubbles. She had fun trying to pop the bubbles, but she would much rather try to blow them herself. After her 3 1/2 hour nap: This is Abby enjoying her first Rice Krispie treat. These are her daddy's favorite! She liked th...

Abby loves her pacifier. She would suck it all day long if I would let her. Right now, she only gets it when she goes down for a nap or at bed time. The other day, it fell out of her crib and she started saying fie- ee , kinda like firey without the r. It took me a while to figure out what she wanted. She started saying it louder and louder and then she grabbed my hand and pointed another one we had on her dresser. What finally got me was when she said fie- ee pweeeze . She has also started asking for help, but it sounds more like 'out' when she says it. She wanted her blanky spread out on the floor. She handed it to me and said 'out'. I spread it out on the floor and one corner wasn't laying flat, so she grabbed the blanky and handed it to me to do again. She is going to be a little perfectionist . Help me now!! :D I would have to say that " chooes " (shoes) is her favorite word, though. She will take her shoes off if she even sees shoes in the store....