Words, words, words

I cannot believe how fast Abby is picking up new words.  And how well she is saying them; she almost over enunciates which I think is awesome!  Today she's already said four new words: "ready" as she and Ryan were racing school buses, "buckle" as I set her in the carseat, "strawberry" as I pulled them out of the grocery bag [all by herself, not parroting], and "table."  We've started a list that we add to every time she says a new word and it's getting quite long!  And I'm only counting the words that she says correctly and in context all by herself.  She will mimic almost anything we say, but I'm not considering it a new word until I hear her say it later on her own.  So here's what the list consists of so far [and I've tried to keep it somewhat in chronological order]:

uh-oh, no, ball, Mommy, Daddy, block, monkey, book, cup, bad guy, Nana, dog, moo, Abby, cup, bye-bye, hi, nose, baby, go, hug, belly, milk, cheese, bless you, Nellie, walk, rock, cat, Pop-Pop, out, cow, chip, truck, fork, night-night, car, Riley, bike, buckle, hat, ready, strawberry, table, love you

I've probably missed or forgotten a few words, but these are the biggies!

a few notes:
-"bad guy" is what Ryan's super man action figure says [let's round up some bad guys] so now when she sees Spiderman she says "bad guy." 
-Yes, she has said "bless you" several times now in response to our sneezes! 
-"Rock" can mean a literal rock [she was going crazy over them on the trail to Sawnee Mountain last week] or when she rocks her booster seat at the dinner table [although Mommy bungee cord-ed it a couple of days ago, take that!]. 
-And yes, as we were all saying our final good-nights the other day, she hollered out "love you" as we left Ryan's room, awesome!

UPDATE:  Can't believe I forget "UP!"  She says that one a lot!  Also forgot "boat" and "duck" for her bathtub toys.

Sawnee Mountain

     

In honor of election day [no preschool], I told Ryan I would think up something fun to do.  And until I was ready to tell Ryan what we were doing, I simply told him we were going on a surprise.  He was so cute asking if we were going outside, was it far away, have we been there before.  So yesterday at breakfast I told him we were going to a moutain for a hike, playground, etc.  He was very excited! 

As we got closer, we could see the mountain [hill really] from a distance and I told Ryan we were climbing that mountain.  And as we were driving towards the parking lot, we went through some beautiful fall trees.  Ryan loved the mountain and then the forest.  As we parked, Ryan exclaimed: "You picked the goodest surprise Mommy!"  What a wonderful feeling!

We began by hiking to the top of the mountain and yes, we made it all the way!  Ryan said later something along the lines of: "we tripped a couple of times, but we still had fun."  Ryan did great walking and Abby spent most of the hike on my shoulders or hip.  When I'd let her down she had no interest in walking; she loved looking at the rocks and leaves on the trail.  At one point I realized she was very intently watching an ant!  love it!  We enjoyed exploring the Indian Seats [huge rocks] at the top, even though the place was swarming with elementary schoolers on a field trip.  So much for a peaceful walk in nature :)  

When we made it back down, we ate a picnic lunch [Ryan ate every bite of food I gave him; hiking makes him hungry apparently!] and then played on the playground.  We enjoyed a short game of hide-and-seek, even though Ryan's hiding spots weren't always so hidden and Abby kept peaking [I was too, but c'mon I'm not really going to close my eyes while my kids run around a public park!].  We also checked out the visitor's center, which wasn't all that exciting, although it was totally worth it to get the picture of Ryan with the antlers!  The only two fun things were a touch table with the antlers, bones, turtle shells, teeth, birdnests, etc and then a bee hive inside a glass viewing thingy. 

It was such a wonderful day and I had a really great time!  I'm so blessed to have the two best, most amazing kids ever :)  I loved watching Ryan and Abby take everything in and enjoy the beautiful day!

Help!!

At the ripe ole' age of 18months, Abby thinks she's too big for naps!!  Her first missed nap was Halloween; I laid her down just like every other day, only unlike every other day she never went to sleep.  The next day she napped again and I thought it was just some weird fluke.  Unfortunately that nap [Tuesday after Halloween] was the last nap she's had in a week.  Not even on Friday after Catch Air, Pizza Hut, and a half hour car ride.  Yesterday she finally slept again, hallelujah!  So far no luck today, although I haven't heard her since I started typing this so maybe she gave in ....  Hopefully it was just a week-long strike and we're over it!

PS: Yes, she's asleep!!!  Woo-hoo!

the weekend in review

humm, it's already Wednesday morning, I seem to be getting behind this week :)  We enjoyed a great weekend, especially now that everyone appears to be healthy! 

*Friday we met Alicia and her kids for a Catch Air playdate and of course the Pizza Hut buffet.  Love that place, they are so nice to us which amazes me since all the kids eat free; I guarantee they lose money on us :) 

*Ryan and Abby spent Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We enjoyed a nice date night: Mexican food and then shopping.  We got an amazing deal on new lamps for our nightstands.  That's right, we're exciting people. 

*Eleven hours of sleep Friday night.  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for having the kids over! 

*Cooking out Saturday night with our new small group.  It was lots of fun hanging out in a purely social setting and it was the first time all the kids have been together too.  We are excited to get to know such a great group of people and we look forward to new friendships!

*Abby had a makeup music class Sunday and the guys went to a playground.

*Happy Birthday Asher!  We celebrated with one of Ryan's bestest buddies at Catch Air Monday evening.

Fall always seems to be full of lots of fun and exciting things to do!  While I feel like we haven't had a down day in months, I do love it and wouldn't trade it.  Well, maybe I'd trade all the sicknesses we seem to get!  Poor Abby has had periorbital cellulitis [an eye infection from the scratches she got on her forehead riding a tricycle into the wooden fence], croup, an ear infection, and hand foot & mouth.  All within five weeks.  But she's such a tough cookie, none of it has really fazed her.  The doctor was amazed she got over the periorbital cellulitis so fast; she said if she hadn't seen her on the first day, she wouldn't have believed it.  And when we were diagnosed with hand foot & mouth, I was warned to expect fevers and Abby to quit eating.  None of that happened.  She just doesn't slow down, doesn't miss a beat!  While she seems to catch everything, she has this amazing tolerance to get over it super quick and to not get the worse symptoms.

for Great-Aunt Barb, Grandpa, & Uncle Brian

Halloween!

  

Happy Halloween!

The kids and I enjoyed a fun-filled Halloween evening yesterday; unfortunately Coleson was sick as a dog and home in bed :( 

We had wanted to go this festival we've gone to in the past, but I decided that would take too much time and get stressful.  So we went to the trick or treating festival at Publix instead and had a really good time.  I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there.  We started at Publix and wandered the store playing five or six bean bag toss type games and collecting candy and cookies.  Then all stores in the strip mall were also giving out candy.  And the best part ... the firemen were there too, perfect for our little fireman and his dalmatian firedog!  We love seeing the firetrucks around town and they are always so nice, letting us look at the trucks, giving out hats, and yesterday we even posed with them for a picture!

Grandma met up with us for trick or treating through the strip mall and then we went to her neighborhood to see Grandpa and trick or treat to a couple of her neighbors' houses.  And a quick stop by our friend Jake's house to say hi too.

We then returned home to trick or treat our neighborhood with Nana.  The kids did great with the trick or treating!  Ryan had done well last year, so he was a seasoned pro.  And Abby really got into it too.  She walked right up to a couple of Grandma's neighbors' house, although when we got home I kept her in the wagon.  But if there was someone on a driveway she'd reach out to them.  And at one house with a really long driveway, Ryan got all the way up there and I heard him asking if he could have a piece of candy for Abby too, what an awesome big brother!! 

Abby loved the lollipops.  She'd never had one before yesterday and then she had three!  She got the first one trick or treating at Publix.  A nice store owner handed it to her and silly me thought, this will entertain her for a minute while she crinkles the wrapper.  Nope, about ten seconds later she was handing me the wrapper and putting the lollipop in her mouth. 

After we came home from trick or treating, we turned on the porch light and took our turn handing out candy.  Ryan enjoyed this just as much as collecting the candy.  He sat in the front playroom, err I mean dining room, watching for trick or treaters and then getting his candy ready to hand them as they rang the doorbell.  Such a great helper!

It was a little rough managing all the fun without Daddy [including a really late dinner and baths to remove facepaint and clean sticky hands & mouths], but we did it.  We really missed having him around to experience all the fun and excitement though!  It wasn't quite the same without him!  

growing dinosaurs

I'm not sure where they originally came from, but we found some dinosaurs in Ryan's drawer a couple of weeks ago and decided it was time to grow them and see what would happen.  They started fairly tiny and we waited patiently, checking them often, for three days to see what would happen.  They got huge!  Ryan loved peeking in to see if they were bigger and was so excited when the time came to take them out of the water.  He even named them Dino and Deno [is that spelled right?].  However, after a day or two of being out of the water, they dried up and shrank back down.  Fortunately Ryan's attention span is not that long, so it was okay :)   

In no particular order

I love summertime.
I love my family.
I love chocolate chip cookies.
I love being barefoot.
I love being a mommy.
I love crazy toenail colors with glitter.
I love scrapbooking.
I love being on the water.
I love my husband.
I love sleeping.
I love pizza.
I love cuddling with Abby while she drinks her morning milk.
I love pumpkin patches and hayrides.
I love laying out in the sun.
I love a good book.
I love traveling.
I love nighttime prayers with Ryan.
I love the fourth of July.
I love datenights with the love of my life.
I love college football.
I love fresh cut grass.
I love country music.
I love playdates.
I love Mexican food.
I love hoodies.
I love my friends.
I love watching my children play together.
I love adventures and making memories.

Abby's words

Abby is becoming quite vocal these days!  All of a sudden she's talking a lot more and copying our words.  She's been saying the basics for awhile:  Mommy, Daddy, uh-oh, no, nose, bye-bye, ball.  But she's been holding out on us!  New words the last week or two include: Abby!, block, mon-key, go.  And she uses go in context which really impresses me.  The first time I heard her say it, she pushed a car along the floor and said "go!"  Then yesterday she was at the top of the playset slide and as she slid down she yelled "go!"  She has a stuffed monkey in her bed that she's becoming pretty attached to: "Mon-Key"  It's so sweet!  With block and monkey in particular, she says both syllables very clearly, almost like two words.  She's got the K sound down and I'm excited she's not dropping that last syllable.  But I am still her favorite word; she'll walk around babbling mommy, mommy, mommy.  And this morning when Ryan walked in her room she shouted "hi!"

She also knows lots of body parts.  She'll point to her nose, ears, mouth, feet, belly; wiggle her hands; stick out her tongue. 

She loves her stuffed animals and dolls, but she also loves lots of Ryan's toys.  She carries around his cars and trains.  And her current favorite is the tool set, esp the screwdriver.  I have seen her several times sitting down, more focused and intent then she ever gets, screwing the screwdriver into holes on the bottom of the big trucks.

crazy spontaneous fun!

What a crazy, busy, fun, spontaneous weekend we just had!  By Sunday night, we were worn out, but it was a good tired! 

Friday the kids and I went to Catch Air for the first time in several months [it's just hard to want to play inside when we had such a beautiful and warm summer].  We had a blast!  We met Christa and her kids and then ran into another friend from our old small group.  Catch Air has made some changes and added new stuff and it was awesome.  I was grateful to have Abby with me as an excuse to try out the cool new village area for myself :)  Afterwards Christa and I went to Pizza Hut where Alicia joined us and we STUFFED ourselves on the buffet, yumm!!  And I have to say, Pizza Hut was the nicest and friendliest they've ever been, especially considering we had three moms and seven kids [and kids eat free].  They treated us so well, even bringing special orders of breadsticks and pizza straight to our table without our asking. 

Saturday morning we drove up to Dawson county to check out the leaves and walk my favorite old trail by the river.  It has a boardwalk which is perfect for the kids.  It was beautiful!  We then celebrated at Madeleine's fourth birthday party [Ryan picked her out a necklace to go with her presents all by himself, so sweet].  And about 1:00 [as we're about to walk out the door for Madeleine's party], Coleson decides we need to figure out a way to go to South Carolina for the night!  I'm glad we went, just wish we had had a little more time to plan :)  [un-committing to serve at church Sunday morning, changing tennis start times, etc].  So we threw together a few things for the night, forgetting only diapers which fortunately you can buy at the store!  So after Madeleine's party, we took in the marching band show and then drove to South Carolina.  Grandddaddy and Jo-Ann met us at Sarah's house that night [we were too late for dinner], and the kids had a wonderful time playing.  They sure love their granddaddy! 

Sunday morning we woke up and joined everyone for breakfast at IHOP.  There were 15 of us there!  Both of Jo-Ann's kids and their families were there, as well as us and Sarah's family.  What an adventure.  It was great to see everyone, just wish it wasn't quite as rushed!  We had to eat and run to get back to my tennis [last match of the season though and I'm taking off next year!].  But we're looking forward to seeing Granddaddy and Jo-Ann and her family again at Thanksgiving when we go on our crazy roadtrip, so we'll be able to visit better then.  My Sunday afternoon tennis, despite the loss, was a great match.  The opponents were super nice and we were competitive.  The weather was perfect and I felt good [and of course I have a great partner :)].

Anyways, like I said, wild and crazy, but lots of fun!