First Snow of the Year - Blink and You'd Have Missed It!

We had our first snow-fall of the year and my goodness did it come in with a flurry and then leave all the same. While I was driving Abby to preschool the snow was just starting to fall and 15 minutes later we officially had snow on the ground. There was enough snow that, after dropping Abby off at preschool, I stopped at Ace Hardware to pick up a sled thinking we could have some fun playing in the snow after preschool and before lunch and naptime.

Abby showing off her super cute owl hat while enjoying walking in the snow.

Making a snow angel.

Riding in the sled up and down the street.

Helping Mom clear the sidewalk.

Building a snow fort.

Thank goodness we did get in the hour or so of snow play because when Abby woke up from her nap (about two hours after these pictures were taken - she was so excited for the snow that she got in a super short nap) almost all the snow was gone! Basically just little tiny patches randomly here and there were all that was left. Hopefully this won't be our only snowfall of the year!

Abby's Preschool Christmas Party

Abby's preschool had a Christmas party the last day of school before Christmas break and parents were invited. I was super excited to see what the class and teachers might have in store for us parents as well as excited to see Abby among all her school friends. Since I'd been hearing "Jingle Bells" over and over again in the week or so leading up to her party I had a sneaking suspicion that song might be on the menu, but was completely spoiler free as to what else I might get to see.  (Unfortunately Nate's work schedule didn't allow him to attend, but I was okay with this as the actual "performance" took about three minutes.)

When the door to the classroom opened I walked in to see nine little almost three year olds standing so sweetly against the wall. Of course that lasted about two seconds because as soon as everyone saw Mom or Dad they made a beeline for them and Abby was no exception. She saw me and came running over to give me a super big hug and kiss. I could tell she was so excited to show off for me! 

Abby in line with her classmates. 

Running over to give me a hug! She loves her mama.

Once the kids were back up against the wall their performance started and what a cute show it was! First up...singing Jingle Bells.

And the finale had them reciting their month's bible verse: Luke 2:11 "Today in the town of David, A Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord."

Afterward we dined on salami, cheese, bananas, and cupcakes and talked about all she'd been doing in school that day. Then it was time for Abby to give her teachers their Christmas presents (I found the cutest printable that said "Thanks a latte for all that you do" and added in a gift card for a local coffee shop. I was pretty proud of my DIY talents!) and then pick up her bag of Christmas goodies. There was actually more than I thought there'd be. Inside we found a treat from one of her classmates, a scarf from the school, a monkey from her teachers, and a gift for Nate and I which ended up being an Abby painted Christmas tree Christmas ornament. Our first official "Abby created" ornament. I love it!

Abby's first homemade ornament.

A Visit with Santa

This year I got a different sort of "sitting on Santa's lap" Christmas picture. I went into the photo op expecting a picture similar to what we've had previous years: mouth thrown open in a scream, tears streaming down the face, arms reaching for Mom who's standing just out of camera view. Instead, I got this:

Abby enjoying Santa!

Sitting peacefully in Santa's arms with a smile on her face! A smile with actual teeth showing! It's a Christmas miracle!!!

Abby's Rendition of "Jesus Loves Me"

Abby surprised the heck out of me one night when, as I was singing Jesus Loves Me to her as part of our bedtime routine, she started singing along. Of course, I had to capture it on camera so we sang the song a few times that night so I could record her beautiful sweet voice.

Thanksgiving with the Carstens Family

Our Thanksgiving with the Carstens family started out on the rockier side. We left the Tri-Cities around 8pm with the intention to head down to Portland, but after driving in thick fog for 45 minutes we decided to turn around and head home and try again the following morning. Our goal was to make it to Portland in time to drop Abby and I and our stuff off so that Nate could then drive to the airport to pick up the Gassends who were coming in to town for the holiday. (Nate roomed with Blaise and Valerie at MIT and have continued to keep in touch!). Unfortunately, the fog was pretty much just as thick in the morning as the previous night so the going was still slow. It was easier driving with the daylight (which is why we didn't turn around again) but it took us a little longer than normal so we ended up having to tell Blaise and Valerie to grab a cab to the house. We all arrived at Nate's parents at about the same time and began saying hi, unpacking, introducing the kids, and just generally enjoying each others company after a year of only Skype and email.

The rest of Friday was spent just hanging around the house. We kept thinking that we'd head out and "do something" but the kids were having so much fun playing together, and we adults were having so much fun talking together, that we eventually realized that leaving wasn't going to happen and just enjoyed the down time together.

Sophie, Abby, and Jonathan trying to out swing each other on the swing set.

The Gassends brought Abby a building set that entertained the kids (and us adults!) for hours. It was cute watching the kids try to build something and then realize the piece they needed was taken by one of the adults building with them. :-)

These two girls were peas in a pod the entire weekend! Here they're showing off their different "tattoos". 

Then they moved on to showing their "ouchies". Yes, that's my Abs with her foot on the table. She's got please and thank you down so I guess we'll work on no feet on the table next!

That evening Abby squished besides Sophie to get read a night-time story, too. 

And then convinced Sophie to join her in Grandma's wheelchair for a ride around the house from Grandpa.

But the biggest surprise of the evening was after Blaise brushed and flossed Sophie's teeth. Abby was very attentive during the process and as soon as Sophie got up from the floor Abby said, "My turn!" and promptly laid down. She remained there without moving a muscle while Blaise went and got another toothpick and then continued to be still while her teeth were flossed. Our dentist has said that he doesn't need to see her until she's at least 3 (which is coming up) or if there's an issue so we never worried about flossing. Blaise's dentist has been seeing the kids since they were six months old as that's when they got their first teeth. Funny how different doctors have different requirements.

The next morning we decided to go to visit OMSI to get the kids out of the house and to allow for the Thanksgiving feast to be prepped and cooked without too much kid "help". I've heard that OMSI was geared for the 5+ range but figured Nate and I could find something to entertain Abby. I did discover that getting three kids out of the house, while everyone is on vacation, is a difficult thing to do. :-) We agreed on the OMSI idea around 10am and actually left the house at noon. There was always 'just one more thing' that the kids or adults wanted to do that kept stalling us. But eventually everyone was dressed and fed and we were off! Now, I had no idea what to expect as I'd never been before. Nate vaguely remembered having a good time and Blaise recalled visiting the submarine. So our expectations were pretty vague. Thankfully the lady who helped us at the ticket counter recommended that we visit the kid's play area as that would be right up their alley. Thank goodness we did!!! It was such a cool place that I wished I could have kicked off my shoes and joined in on the fun!

The kids getting the morning paper during breakfast time. Dave is a great Grandpa! I think he wore a few miles in the floor with as often as he took the kids for a wheelchair ride. 

I finally captured Abby singing her ABCs!

 Just a funny we noticed while waiting to head out to OMSI.

Upon entering the OMSI play area Abby took off her shoes and then beelined for the water play. I got her into a water bib but totally forgot about removing her socks so those did get promptly wet. She literally ran from one water station to the next trying to see everything all at once. Here she's dropping balls into the whirlpool and watching them spin around until they get spit out on the bottom.

From the water table she decided to go check out the forest area and get in on the rock viewing action. 

I think we need a little lesson on using the magnifying glass. :-)

Then she discovered the huge sandpit area! She helped the little girl pour sand through funnels until...

she realized their was a big tub full of sand that she could play in. I was somewhat surprised that she enjoyed this station so much since we have a pretty big sandbox at home, but perhaps because it's been too cold to play in lately she missed it.

In the "Workshop" area they were using Styrofoam blocks and tools to 'build' stuff as well as having a flubber station. Abby is definitely like me at times as, as soon as she touched the flubber, she made an icky face and then tried to wipe the flubber off her finger. :-) She did play with it but made sure to use tools instead of touching it herself.

Here's Nate. Poor Nate. Silly Nate. Nate caught some 24 hour bug which kept him up the previous night. He'd slept in late to try to sleep the sickness off but refused to stay home from our OMSI adventure. So pretty much the entire time that he was here he sat in a folding chair and watched the kids play. About an hour and a half of play later he came to me and said that "We should probably head home so that Abby can get in a nap." Uh huh. Sure. Abby needs a nap. :-) But go home we did and both of my loves passed out for a good afternoon nap.

Our last station to play with was this pulley system. I don't exaggerate when I say that Abby was here for 15 minutes just pulling up one bucket, moving to the other side of the wooden pole, and then pulling up the other bucket. 

After returning from OMSI we were all hungry and ready for the feasting! This time we ended up having a little fewer people than originally planned at Nate's grandparents, Aunt and Uncle, and Cousin and Husband along with newborn baby decided not to show in case Nate's illness was catching. Fortunately it wasn't so they did miss out on a good time, but we totally understood them not wanting to expose themselves to potentially nasty germs. We did still have Nate's cousin Kila, and our friend's Scott and Stephanie join us that evening, though.

On a sad and shameful note, Nate and I discovered that it's been a year (a year!) since we'd last seen Scott and Stephanie. Conflicts in schedules (and I'll be pretty honest and say it was all Nate's fault. :-)) meant that one get-together after another had been cancelled and we just didn't get to see each other. However, we all agreed that this long time between visits couldn't happen again. So Nate and I have made a promise to each other that every 3-4 visits to Nate's parents is going to be a Scott and Stephanie visit. Even if we only get to see them four times in a year it's loads better than just once.

Sadly, I, the scrapbooker did not get a single picture of our Thanksgiving feast. I didn't even think of it until I was looking through the pictures and realizing that I didn't get a one of our dinner. Hmpf. Bad, Teresa. Will have to do better next year! Dinner was super yummy with most of the traditional Thanksgiving foods (we missed the green bean casserole this year as I was at OMSI instead of in the kitchen!) but there was so much food already that they weren't missed (or at least not much).

We ended the evening with a birthday celebration for Nate, Kila, Blaise, and Valerie as they all have birthdays within a week of each other all right around Thanksgiving. As German Chocolate Cake was one of the four cake options (the others being ice cream, lemon, and a fourth one which I can't remember) I was happy to miss out on pumpkin pie.

Abby helping Nate blow out his birthday candles.

The next day was a bit of a rough start for me as I was up until after midnight chatting and then up again with Abby from 3:00 until 6am due to...who knows why...and Nate not being able to take her because of still being sick (albeit less so) with that bug. So by the time I got up for the day around 9am I was a bleary-eyed, grumpy mess. After stumbling around desperately trying to get in caffeine I decided that it would be better for all if I took a little break by myself and went to Advent Mass to get in the right frame of mind both mentally and spiritually. Due to the time of when I got ready I ended up going to a different church than what I normally do while in Portland and got to visit a lovely new place. The church was definitely built in the 1970s with all the wood paneling but the homily was just fantastic. I actually found myself tearing up as the Priest seemed to be speaking directly to a situation that I am currently facing. 

Heading home I found myself in a much happier frame of mind (having an hour to myself after five days of constant people interaction) and was ready to jump back into the crazy gang at home. Since Blaise, Valerie and the kids weren't leaving until around 5pm to catch their flight we tried again to get out of the house to see something fun but we were all moving even slower than yesterday. :-) So another day of playing around the house, talking, and watching the kids enjoy each other. All too soon they were packed up and we were saying our good-byes. It's our turn to visit them now so I'm definitely looking forward to some sunny California weather during one of our long, grey winters!

After Nate got home from dropping them off at the airport it was our turn to leave. And this time we didn't have any fog. Yeah! But...we did have rain. A lot of rain. Enough rain that there were times when we were driving home, especially after passing trucks, that we literally couldn't see the road in front of us. I was so grateful that Nate was driving as my night vision isn't the best since having Lasik surgery and my nerves were completely shot. The door handle probably still has dents in it from my gripping so tightly! But safely home we made it. A quick bite to eat before bed and we officially closed our Thanksgiving celebrations. Hopefully our next trip down the Gorge won't be as exciting!

Thanksgiving with the Akers Family

Goodness if I don't hurry up and post about our Thanksgiving it might be after Christmas before I get to it. :-) This year Thanksgiving day was celebrated with the Akers family (we celebrated with the Carstens after Thanksgiving - future blog post!) and what started out as a small family affair with just the parents, siblings, significant others, and kids turned into almost the entire extended family as well. We ended up having 17 people in the house which turned our semi-formal event into a totally informal gathering of football watching, appetizer snacking, playing cards, dinner on paper plates sitting on the couch kind of party. It was great!!!

Mom's 8-place setting dining table ended up being so covered by appetizers that we had to use the island and kitchen counters for the 'real' Thanksgiving food. Here everyone is relaxing, talking, and watching football.

 

Dad carving up the turkey while we anxiously await the start of the feast.

Grandma and I playing cribbage. Grandma's a little miffed at me because I made her smile through three pictures before I called my Dad off just to make sure I got a good one of us. :-)

Let the feast begin! Uncle Bobby is teasing Grandma about the three (three!) green beans she had on her plate. She ended up telling us that she doesn't even really like green beans! She just took them to be polite.

Abby wanted nothing to do with the turkey until Nate offered her the ginormous drumstick. (I think it's the drumstick...maybe a leg...or are they the same?) Girl chowed down!

After eating the girls decided to go outside the the FREEZING temperatures and play around for a bit. They were out there for a good half hour before Abby started climbing down the hill (my parent's house sits on the edge of a steep incline) and I called them both back inside. 

Once back inside it was gingerbread house decorating time. Abby actually did much better than I thought she would! I put icing on the house and she happily stuck candies into the icing (making sure to pop one into her mouth on occasion as well). 

Uncle David also helped to entertain the girls by giving them "swings". He grabbed Abby and swung her through his legs...

then into the air before...

  

swinging her back down and through his legs again. Abby was giggling so hard she was practically snorting!

Our family picture. Abby's starting to be ready for naptime so she's unwilling to smile for the camera but I think it's a nice one of the three of us together since we so rarely get a picture like this. Mom makes sure to get pictures of all the family groupings at the holidays to add to her picture ornament tree. It's the one guaranteed family picture we get each year. :-)

Our last planned activity for the girls was decorating cakes for Nate's birthday (which was on November 25th). So far we've had them decorate the same cake and cupcakes but I thought their own cakes would be easier this time around. Bigger than the cupcakes (which were pretty hard for Abby to do without also decorating the table and floor) but also not having to share the same cake where someone smaller keeps trying to decorate on someone bigger's side. :-)

Haylee smiling shyly for the camera while Abby decides that icing isn't just for the cake.

 

Icing is for mainlining, too!

We ended the night singing Happy Birthday to Nate...

and having the girls (with some help from Nate) blow out his candles. 

We ended the evening with my family a little earlier than desired as we needed to drive down to Portland that evening. Nate's friends from California were joining the Carstens family for Thanksgiving by flying in on Friday morning and we wanted to be there to pick them up. Unfortunately heavy fog for the first 45 minutes of our 3.5 hour drive had us turning around and heading back home. So our night actually ended with Jack-in-the-Box at 10pm around the kitchen table. But we successfully made it down to Portland the following day (albeit with driving through more fog slowing our process down enough that we still didn't make it in time to pick up the Gassends from the airport). Happy Thanksgiving Part 1!

A Diaperless Outing

Today, for the first day since her birth, Abby went on an outing without a diaper. :-)

Sucking on her potty prize for successfully going pee in the potty before we head out to run errands in panties. No diaper!

We successfully ran two errands without an accident. There was a quick run back into the store for what turned out to be a false alarm, but we arrived back at home with a dry bottom so we're calling this a successful first outing. Here's to many more successes!

A Family Adventure at the Bowling Alley

After returning from a a business trip to Washington, DC Nate decided that we needed to do an extra special family activity tonight. Bowling! Abby's never been and it's been at least three or so years since Nate and I have gone so we figured we were all about the same skill level. :-) After getting our shoes, a special light-weight ball for Abby (which they apparently keep safe behind the counter), and an newfangled dragon ramp to help Abby bowl we were off to start our adventure.

The lane next to us had a local high school's bowling team practicing so I was a little concerned about keeping Abby to our area and not having her interfere with their concentration but I needn't have worried about that. They were professionals and never blinked an eye at Abby's antics. Instead I should have worried about the intense sprinting, stopping and spinning off in a new direction, and desire to run amok that Abby apparently had an interest in. Don't get me wrong she behaved herself very, very well. She just did it at full speed in all directions. She'd come back to us when we called and skipped right up to the ball return when it was her turn to bowl, but otherwise it was up and down and back and forth and Nate and I worked up a sweat at a bowling alley of all places trying to keep up with her! Abby was super cute in that she either wanted the dragon ramp for help or no dragon ramp at all and heaven help you if you got confused as to her desires. :-)

Her first at bowl (is it at bowl like you're at bat or something else?) you could see that she wasn't quite sure what was going on but was willing to give what Dad was telling her a try. Then she saw the pins fall down and she was hooked. We could have easily just had Abby bowl by herself and she would have happily done just that for an hour straight. Waiting for Mommy and Daddy to take their turns was all the patience she had before requiring it to be her turn again.

Abby's first bowl using the dragon ramp. She made the littlest push to get the ball rolling but when she saw the pins fall down her eyes lit up in excitement. She was hooked!

Other times she wanted to bowl like Mommy and Daddy and had a hard time understanding why she couldn't just chuck the ball to the ground ten feet from the lane. After the third ball drop I was worried someone would come over to talk to us about not damaging the floors, but Nate quickly figured out that if we walked the ball to the lane for her and then showed her where to put the ball on the floor and have her push it she was okay with that and didn't try to throw a tantrum.

An accurate portrait of her running fast as lightning in our area. 

Nate's idea of a little chocolate milk did get her to sit still for the few seconds she sipped at it.

After a few bowls we decided to try and have Abby carry her ball to the ramp and she did beautifully. No thrown balls at all! She'd put the ball on the ramp and give it her biggest push. Much better than the tiny pushes without the ramp where I'd hope and pray that the ball made it all the way down to the other end.

As we left the building, us adults sweating profusely from all the Abby chasing, we agreed that this was a super fun night of familiness. While both Nate and I felt that our non-bowling time was spent keeping after Abby, we recognized that she had a blast, we had fun doing something together instead of sitting in front of the TV, and that this family time should happen more frequently. We're now trying to figure out how to do something like this every week since Abby seems to now be old enough to actually do 'stuff' that's available to us in the community. Bring on the fun family times!

Our final scores. I bowled an 89, Abby a 72, and Nate had a 128. I was a little worried for a while that Abby with her ramp would surpass my score but a few spares brought me into second place, thankfully. :-)

Cowboy/Cowgirl Campout Days 2013

Abby's preschool doesn't celebrate Halloween (as the church that they are affiliated with doesn't) so instead they have a Cowboy/Cowgirl Campout Days week where the kids come dressed up as cowboys and cowgirls and do cowboy themed activities. Abby was really excited when I told her that she got to wear her cowgirl outfit to school that day and was very mindful in telling me (in a loud voice over and over again) to not forget her hat. :-) When we got to the school there was a saddle all set up to take pictures with. Abby scrambled right up and said "take picture"!

All dressed up for a fun day at school.

After dropping her off in her classroom I began the mad dash of errands. Kind of funny story in that I must have told myself ten times to not forget to bring a pumpkin that day so Abby could participate in the pumpkin exchange but what did I forget at home? Yep, the pumpkin. Since I wanted her to be able to participate but didn't know if any extra pumpkins had been put out I headed out to the grocery store to pick up the cheapest, yet cutest, pumpkin I could find. I then drove back to the school and chucked it over the fence. :-) Okay, I didn't actually hurl it over with great force but I did pull up along side the area where the pumpkins were being exchanged and gently tossed it over the fence instead of walking all. the. way. around to the other side where the gate was as I was too short to reach over the fence.

When I picked Abby up a bit later we were walking towards the pumpkin patch when the second funny happened that day. We walked through the gate and Abby pointed at a scarecrow and asked "what's this?" which is her new favorite phrase. I replied "that's a scarecrow. Farmers put them in their fields to...scare....crows." (And then I thought to myself "Huh. I never thought that that's how scarecrows got their name. They scare crows. Duh." I'm telling you Mommy brain is a scary, scary thing.)

As soon as Abby saw the old fashioned tractor she raced right for it to give it a try. After turning the wheel and bouncing up and down a few times we got off and picked out a pumpkin to take home. (I made sure to not get the pumpkin that we brought because I figured I'd gone through some effort to do the exchange so an exchange was definitely going to happen.) I commend her teachers and the school for a great idea and a great day. Abby had a lot of fun and was even a bit disappointed the next week when she raced inside the school to find out that she couldn't take her picture next to the saddle.

Trying out an old fashioned tractor.