Abby's New Ride

I'd like to freeze time for a few months and keep Abby right at this age. She's so sweet and happy and playful.

But that wasn't really the point of this post. The point is, she got her big girl car seat. And look how happy she is about it!


Major enthusiasm here.




By by, y'all.

Surprise!

Jared LOVES school, but he does not love discussing the every day happenings of classroom life. I only get small bits of info here and there.

So I was totally surprised when he jumped in the car with a blue backpack full of this.


This is Brown Bear. She goes home with a student every weekend in a backpack full of clothes, a bear story, a book put together by all the students, and a notebook to record your weekend at home with Brown Bear.

I asked him why he's never mentioned Brown Bear before.

He said he wanted it to be a surprise.

I told him if he never tells me about anything at school, it's not a surprise, it's just a mystery.

He's ok with mysteries.





But at least I got to meet Brown Bear.

Fun Dip

Fun to eat.

Fun to spread across the table.

Fun to draw pictures and designs in.

Fun to lick off the table.







Also, super uber fun to smush into the cracks of the table with a rolling pin.

Meltdown

So I guess sometime in the past, before I knew him, when he was a kid, or a teenager, Nathan knew of someone making or made himself, a hot air balloon out of a garbage bag, or maybe a plastic shopping bag, candles and straws.

You clear on that?

He saw that plastic bag that protects the Sunday paper from the rain and was inspired.





But as it turns out, those plastic paper covering bags are very narrow, and very thin, and melt into nothingness when they are within five feet of flame.

But still lots of fun for the kids...


...and Nathan too.

Movie Time

Time for a movie with some friends.

It's a Sign

This is Abby eating her goldfish. The cracker that is.


This is Abby asking for "more". It's baby sign. And it's so darn cute!




And this is Abby wondering why mom is taking pictures when she's already asked nicely for more food.


Fine then, Mom, whatever...

Not really. Can you imagine a one year old with that kind of attitude. Imagine the terrible twos!

If mom won't put down that silly camera and feed me, I'll just drink my milk.

The Bribe

This year I actually planned ahead and took some Valentine's Day/Abby's first birthday pictures. And I didn't take a few...







Madie wasn't into the rocking chairs, so just my oldest and youngest...


Outtake...


I found these heart shaped lollipops in the dollar bin at Target. They were my bribe to get the kids to pose for me.








And the craziest thing of all...

...I did this ALL BY MYSELF!

No help from any other grown up and I managed to get all three of my kids to sit still long enough to snap a few.

Yay me!

One!

My baby turned one! I can't believe it. This was one of those super fast years, and I'm almost sad she's getting big already.

She was the sweetest baby ever!

Happy
Content
Snugly
Sweet
Happy
Curious
Happy
Calm
Happy

Did I mention happy? She's almost always happy. People I see regularly, like friends and the other parents dropping their kids off at Kindergarten always comment on how they've never seen her cry. That's because she doesn't unless she has a very good reason, like her sister just kicked her in the face...again.

Happy


And she has way more hair than my other two did at her age, so that's fun too.

She LOVED all her first birthday presents. We got her this cash register, my parents got her this awesome dog you can gook up to the computer and program to say her name and favorite things, and Nathan's parents gave her a camera that plays music and lights up. All three were a huge hit!



Happy First Birthday Baby Girl!

Ignore the Paint

So you have to imagine this against a background of fresh, clean and crisp paint, perhaps grayish in color, but not a dark cave-like gray, a light and airy gray, a gray that I hope to have on my wall this time next year so the full cuteness of my banner shows through.

I bought a gallon of a brownish-tan paint, but I think I've changed my mind.

It's a girls prerogative.

I heard that on t.v. when I was little and it's always stuck in my head.

And the "this" I was talking about...

Abby's birthday banner. She turned one, you know.

It's super cute if you ignore all the awful paint samples slathered on my wall, and the other paint that is actually suppose to be there but was a dirty looking off white to begin with that then became dirty in real life and poked through by many, many nails and screws that nobody bothered to patch when they pulled out. Poor wall...I'll take care of you...when I can actually decide on a paint color.

The white back circle is made of coffee filters.

The pink paper is, well, pink paper, cut in a circle and lined with a sparkly glitter.

The letters are brown paper cut with a Cricut, Fancy Pants font, then painted with glue that I then dumped loads of Martha Stewart glitter on. I LOVE Martha Stewart glitter. It's the best glitter in the universe!



Now I just need to make a banner that says Madie, and I can reuse the Happy Birthday for her birthday.

Jared, on the other hand, might get mad at me if I pull it out for his birthday and try and call it a "bubble gum" birthday or a "cotton candy" birthday. No, I should be brainstorming something in blue or green, or maybe camo...

You've got to have the right tools.

Jared got a kids tool set for Christmas and Madie has taken a liking to this...