Big Girl Swing!!

When did she get old enough to ride a big girl swing?!?

Frying Pan Park

These two are just too cute together! They LOVE hanging out, which is great because Susan and I LOVE hanging out! We took them to Frying Pan Park. It was a gorgeous day. They enjoyed seeing all of the animals and playing on the playground. It's such a fun place to let your kids run around! Good times had by all:-)

Checking out the new ducklings with her "buddy Grant!" :-)

Happy Birthday, Nana!!

Yesterday, we took Nana out for lunch and ice cream celebrate her birthday! We love to celebrate Nana!!

Time to open presents!!

Abigail with Nana and G-dad!

So cute!!

 We love our fabulous Nana!! We are so lucky to have you in our lives! We hope you have a wonderful birthday!!! We love you!!!! Happy Birthday, Nana!!! 

Happy 2 1/2 Years, Baby Girl!!!

Abigail is 2 1/2!! As Abigail likes to say..."Can you believe it?!?" No!! No we can't!! Time continues to fly by! We just want to bottle up every memory. She is growing and changing so fast every day. We want to remember every second!

Perfect day for a spin in the convertible!! This picture really captures Abigail: so sweet, happy and full of life!!

This is such a fun age. It is just so incredible how differently you see the world when you have a child. Everything becomes so exciting again. Even small things. Holidays, taking your child to the park, going to the farm....it's all so new for them and it is so wonderful to see their perspective and watch their eyes light up with excitement and wonder. It is so true when people say how different your life is when you have a child. We just love it!

Abigail is such a joy to be around. Even during those "lovable" two year old moments:-) She is so interactive and expressive. It's hilarious to listen to some of the things that come out of her mouth. Just like a girl, Abigail talks nonstop!! Even if you are not talking to her, she will give you a play-by-play of what is going on. "Daddy is brushing his teeth. Daddy spit it out. Daddy is using mouthwash...." It is so funny when we go out somewhere and Abigail suddenly becomes shy....people will ask if she talks and/or comment on how quite she is. Ha!! If they only knew:-)

Abigail really understands SO much. And her memory...goodness...it is just crazy how much she remembers!! Anything from yesterday to over a year ago. It's nuts! We have no idea where she stores it all! Like people say, children really are sponges, ready to soak up everything that is going on. We've really noticed her observing other kids on the playground and then mimicking their behavior. For better or for worse!

It's hard to capture all of the funny or adorble things going on with our sweet, little 2 1/2 year old, but we'll try to bullet point the highlights.

•  We just had Abigail's 2 1/2 year check up yesterday. She did AWESOME! No tears and the doctor said she looks great!! Wahoo! Abigail weighs 28lbs (46th percentile) and is 2 ft 11.5 inches tall (60th percentile). Quite a change from the less than 1 percentile she was when she was born!!
• Abigail is potty trained (YAY!!) other than when she is sleeping. She still does not like to go on any potty other than her potty chair. Hoping that changes soon!! Would make life so much easier than trucking her potty chair around everywhere we go!!She did, however, go on the big girl potty at the pool last weekend. Yay!!
• Abigail loves to read. Her favorites right now are Curious George, Max and Maisy books. She can recite them from heart! Even the long Curious George books!
• Abigail is obsessed with her baby doll. She carries her everywhere and even tucks her in at night. Such a good mommy:-)
• Abigail is a snuggle bunny. She loves to cuddle/snuggle lots during the day, which we love!!
• Abigail loves music. She likes anything from classics like Wheels on the Bus to pop music. Her favorite singers/groups right now are One Direction (Night Changes), Taylor Swift (Shake It Off) and Katy Perry (Roar). Basically a teeny bop trapped in a two year old's body:-)
• Abigail loves a routine. We joke and say "See what you do is..." or "That's not what you do." She sometimes has a hard time with things that are new and different, but she seems to be adapting more.
• Abigail really enjoys being outside, whether we are playing in the backyard, going to the playground, watering the flowers/tending to the yard....you name it...she loves it!
• Abigail still plays with her toy eggs a lot. She likes to put little people, objects or balls in them. 
• Abigail still refers to herself in the third person. Kinda funny:-)
• We LOVE LOVE LOVE Abigail's voice! We just can't get enough of it (and thankfully we hear it almost the entire day!!) She has the most precious, little chipmunk voice! We know it will change eventually, but for now...we will cherish it:-) 
• Whenever we are in the car and we see a red light, we hold hands. She can see the stop light in her mirror so don't think you can get by without holding her hand! When she sees the green light, she'll say "Green means go!!" One of our favorites right now!!
• Every time we hear a siren (ambulance, fire truck, police officer) or see a helicopter, Abigail says "Hope everybody is ok." It comes from when she was in the hospital. Her room was right outside of the Medevac pad so we heard those sounds all of the time. It is so sweet and she truly means it. Abigail is very sensitive to others, which is such a great quality to have.
• Something that makes us laugh...if we or anyone else back the car into the driveway Abigail says that they "Parked the wrong way!" 
• We try and teach Abigail good manners. Now whenever she doesn't want something, she'll say "No thank you, love!" Awwww!!!

Abigail is the sweetest, silliest, most loving little girl. We just love her to pieces. When she says "I love you, Daddy. I love you, Mommy" it melts our hearts!! She keeps us laughing and smiling every day. We couldn't be happier with our little family. We love you more than anything, Abigail!!! Happy 2 1/2 years, sweet baby girl!!!

Happy Memorial Day!!

This is the first year we have been here for Memorial Day. Normally we are at the lake, but Nana has a sinus infection. Boo!!! Feel better, Nana!! All of our neighbors kept telling us how fun it is here. We were excited to check out all of the festivities!

First a neighborhood parade. Kids (and adults) decorate their bikes and we all take a lap around the neighborhood and then finish at the pool for the grand opening. We were expecting a couple of people. Apparently the event is bigger than we thought!

We had police escorts and everything!!

My loves:-)

Neighbors sit outside and cheer everybody on!

Our favorite cheerleaders for the race. This is Peter and his wife, Mary. You know how some people come into your life for a reason?? That is how we feel about these two. They are such special people. They will be moving to an assisted care facility in one year:( We are so sad and will miss them dearly.

After the bike ride, a lot of people headed to the pool. We decided to hit the playground (right behind the pool) because it was still in the 60's. A little too chilly for this gal!! After some fun play playin, we headed to the pool deck for some barbeque our neighborhood has catered every year to kick off the season. It was so fun to sit and chat with our neighbors. We cannot say enough about how awesome our neighbors on. Everyone is so friendly and would do anything to help you out. We are so thankful to live in a neighborhood like this!!

The rest of the weekend went like this: playground, pool, lunch, nap, playground, dinner, popsicles on the front porch and more playing outside. It was glorious!! The weather could not have been more perfect. And an extra day with daddy home....love it!!!

Our water baby!! She loved it!!

Can't believe how much Abigail's hair has grown. Last year, barely any hair. This year...double french braids!

Thank you so much to everyone who serves and has served for our awesome country!! Happy Memorial Day!!

Abigail's Beauty Routine

One of the MANY MANY things I was excited about when we found out we were having a girl was playing dress up and doing her hair. Abigail knows how much we (ok...mostly I) adore her hair in pigtails. As soon as I finish, I ask her to look at me. Before she even looks at me she says "Awwww" because she knows that's what I am going to say! Love this little girl!!!

"Tada!!!!"

Happy Anniversary, Love!!

Almost 11 years ago I met the love of my life and eight years ago today, I married him. He makes me so incredibly happy. I truly am the luckiest girl in the entire world. I love him more and more every day. Happy Anniversary, my love!!! I can't wait to see what another 8 years plus brings us:-)

Bring On Summer!

We think we just skipped right over spring and went straight to summer! We're not complaining...we love the hot weather but we are totally unprepared. We have about 2 pairs of shorts/warm weather attire. Yikes! Time to go shopping!!

Sam and Avery

We went over to Jaime's for some girl time. Abigail loves playing with Sam and Avery. They are just adorable. They all play so well together! Fun time for all:-)

Friend sandwich:-)

Nap Time Snuggles

Before Abigail goes down for a nap, we like to read a story or two. We lay down on the couch while we snuggle and read. It is just the best! Love snuggling with this little girl!! Her current favorites are Max and Pout Pout Fish. Definitely one of our favorite times of the day!

Mother's Day Weekend

This was one of my favorite weekends ever. Just one of those weekends you didn't want it to end. The entire weekend, I was reminded of how incredibly lucky I am to be this little girl's mom and this wonderful guy's wife. I love nothing more than to be at home with my two loves. They made me feel so special on Mother's Day, just like they do every single day.

We spent most of the weekend at home, other than meeting some friends for brunch on Saturday. On Sunday, Colin made his famous chocolate chip pancakes. My favorite!! This time, he made them from scratch. Oh my goodness...sooo delicious!!! Definitely the best pancakes I have ever eaten!!

 The weather was beautiful so we spent most of our time outdoors. Abigail mainly wanted to play outside in our backyard rather than go to the playground (she has stranger danger...again!!!) which is fine with us. We just enjoy being together at home.

Colin took the day off on Monday (my favorite Mother's Day present!) and the 3 of us went to our favorite sushi restaurant. Sooo yummy!!

Aunt Courtney gave Abigail this adorable dress. She calls it her "wedding dress!!" Adorable!!!

So silly!!

My loves:-)

Once Monday afternoon rolled around, Colin and I started to get so sad:( It was the best weekend and we hated for it to be over. Abigail must have said "No work. Stay home." to Colin about 50 times today:( We love and miss you so so much, Daddy!!! We can't wait until you come home!!! Thank you so so much for such a wonderful weekend!!! xoxo

Happy Mother's Day!!

Colin and I have the BEST mothers!! They are so loving and caring. They would do ANYTHING for their family. They are the best examples of the type of mother I want to be to Abigail. Not only are they fabulous mothers, they are incredible grandmothers as well. Abigail just adores them! We cannot thank them enough for all they do for us! We love you SO SO much, Nana and Meme!!

I am truly blessed that this sweet girl calls me mommy! She is the most precious, little girl ever! I cherish each and every day I get to spend with her! Happy Mother's Day!!!

Miss You, Mia!!

It's been a year since our beloved Mia was laid to rest. Even a year later, we still can't believe she's gone. We miss her so very much. We love, sweet kitty, and think about you every day!! xoxo

Dinner Guests

We had an impromptu dinner with Nana and G-dad the other night. Their plans got canceled last minute so they ended up coming over to our house for pizza. It was so much fun! So happy they had a change of plans!! Loved spending the evening with them!

Burke Lake and Birthday Dinner

We spent most of our weekend at Burke Lake. It was gorgeous outside!! Burke Lake is one of our favorite places to go and, lucky us, it's right in our backyard!! We went to the playground there a couple of times and we also went down by the water to feed the geese. It was so nice to be outside basically from the time we got up until we went to bed!

Her chariot on Sunday! We took her bike on Saturday and she pretty much picked up her legs and relaxed them on the wheel cover the entire time because she said she did not feel like pedaling! Ahhh such is the life as a toddler!

Feeding the geese:-)

We went down this slide OVER and OVER again!! Abigail preferred to slide with either Daddy or I. Not such a big deal when you are 2, but for Colin and I...nauseous!! Blah!! We felt as if we just went on a crazy roller coaster! Not sure how we are going to handle the amusement parks when she gets older!

Our little monkey!

Love my baby!!

This is how she liked to slide down with Daddy!! I'm telling you...she is a wild child!! The more twisty, flippy...you name it....the more she likes it!!

We capped off the weekend with a yummy dinner with family to celebrate Pat and Courtney's birthdays. So fun!! 

Birthday girl and boy!

Nana and all 7 grandkids!

Fun With My College Girlies

We went over to Jilly's house the other night to hang out with the girls (Jillian and Heather) and sweet William! It was SO fun!! When I told Abigail we were going over there, that is all she could talk about! She was especially excited to eat cheese balls:-) I told Jillian she said that so, of course Jillian (being the best hostess that she is!!) went out and bought those along with the rest of Target's grocery section, while making sure to include all of Abigail's favorites!! We ate and laughed for hours. Just like college!! It was the best!! Nothing like hanging out with your girls:-) Can't wait to do it again!!

They are so cute together!!