7 Quick Takes - Volume 13

--- 1 ---

Abby and I were at Yoke's (local grocery store) when we pulled up to the meat/seafood counter. I parked the cart and took a quick step over to one of the refrigeration tables to pick up some crab dip when Abby decided I'd taken too long in getting her her normal mini pepperoni stick snack. As I'm perusing the dip choices I hear Abby say "Excuse me. I have meat stick. Please." The lady at the counter (who knows us on sight) had a good laugh then told the teenage worker to "Get that girl her meat stick!". I burst out laughing myself. Can't fault the girl and she's got manners to boot!

--- 2 ---

Abby had her first full day in panties (besides nap-time/night-time diaper) and did FANTASTIC! No accidents!!!

--- 3 ---

The space bar on the keyboard on our laptop has been dying a slow death. It's so broken that we've had to just place the key over the area it belongs as the brackets to hold it in place have broken completely off. It'd been like that for a few months when we finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new keyboard. Wouldn't you know we were able to get a brand new one for $25.00. Had I known that we would have gotten a new one months ago!

--- 4 ---

Nate's been fighting a cold the past two days and has been going to bed early. So after I put Abby down for the night I've been getting a few hours of alone time. It's been weird but awesome. I've been catching up on my TV shows and not feeling a bit guilty for watching things that are completely uninteresting to my other half. :-)

--- 5 ---

Just got the heads up today that my parents are taking Abby for the night Saturday night (as well as my niece, Haylee). Nate and I did a gleeful high-five when we'd heard the news and are thinking of heading to a local restaurant in town (Bella Italia) which is known for great food but super slow service. With no need to come home for the babysitter who cares how late we stay out. Woo hoo!

--- 6 ---

Abby's been sick/growing/catching up on sleep this week and has been napping for roughly 3+ hours each day. It plays havoc with our night-time bedtime schedule, but it's been kind of awesome having so much time during the day to get stuff done. And by stuff I mean Facebook, BlogLovin, and Pinterest. :-) This week definitely makes up for last week's 45 minute naps.

--- 7 ---

I'm super excited that Abby is old enough to participate in Lent activities this year. I've gotten a few Oriental Trading Company like items in mind, as well as an Easter countdown, a few books, and some yummy treats. Hopefully she has just as much fun doing as I do planning!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Abby's Family Birthday Party

We ended this week of holiday festivities with a family birthday party for Abby's third birthday. I know that Abby had a blast but I had so much fun, too! All in all we had my parents, Nate's parents, Nate's Aunt and Uncle, Katie, Bo, and Haylee, Andrew, Jessica, and Alex, and my cousin Mary Patricia. Mary P was a very welcome surprise! She lives in the Portland, OR area but came up to the Tri-Cities to support her friends who were participating in a Strong Man competition this weekend. When she found out Abby was having a party she awesomely asked if she could join in and celebrate with us. It meant so much to me that she took time away from her friends to spend the evening with family. That girl has great priorities!

We started the birthday party day by opening up a present from Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Libby who were unable to make the trip up.

Similar to Abby's friend birthday party, we basically just hung around and chatted until it was time for dinner. We had a bit of excitement as Nate went to turn on the propane to cook the hamburgers and hot dogs and found the tank completely empty. Whoops! Guess we forgot to check that. :-) But a quick trip to the store and we were back in business.

The "Girls" and Alex, working his charm.

The "Boys" with Nate and Andrew outside and Uncle Paul just behind David. It just struck me as typically funny how men and women, without prompting, tend to segregate into their own respective areas.

I must say I love how relaxed and down-to-earth our families are. When food was cooking people snacked and chatted, as food was ready people ate, kids played and ate and ate and played. There was no need for ceremony or anxiety when things didn't go as planned. We just smoothly went from one activity to the next. It's so nice to just BE with people instead of orchestrating them. 

After dinner, and before cake and ice cream, the kids played with the balloons. I love how, even with the difference in ages (Haylee- 7, Abby - 3, Alex- not quite 2) they still had fun with each other.

After dinner we had cake and ice cream and I was reminded once again that Pinterest ideas are fun to look at but impossible to replicate. :-) And I have to tell on myself with the cake. Things were at a crazy hectic point and I unthinkingly mixed the cake batter and put it in the oven to bake. I then went about frying bacon, turning on the dishwasher, having Abby help me stir the baked beans, fixed Abby's lunch, and had the television and radio blaring. When the cake beeped done I checked on it to find the outside a too-golden brown and the inside still raw. Hmm. Another five minutes and the outside was browner and the inside still raw...sigh. I KNOW not to bake cakes while it's loud. You'd think after all these years I'd remember that. :-) Thankfully, a quick trip to the store and a quiet, napping house fixed our cake dilemma.  

My Pinterest inspired cake!

As soon as we started singing "Happy Birthday" she got the sweetest smile on her face and put her head down in shyness.

She's currently going through a period where she's afraid to blow out candles by herself. Add in the hands over the ears to ward off loud sounds (we've had too many smoke detectors require new batteries lately and beeping loudly to let us know it) and you've got a funny picture.

So proud of herself now that the candle is out.

Next came time to open presents. Here's where I need to ask my fellow parents if it's pretty typical to have a child race through opening gift after gift and throwing a fit when you request that she say "thank you" to the person who gave the gift before rushing to the next present to open? On the one hand I keep telling myself that she's three and still learning manners, that she was overly tired and stimulated, and that my expectations were too high. On the other hand I tell myself that she's a big girl now and that manners are expected. What do you think? Normal or something we need to work on?

All three kids got in on the present action.

About this time the kids found the bubble wand and were happily making bubbles in the bathroom (one of the few non-adult rooms in the house) and us adults were happily chatting. Soon those happy giggles turned to squeals of delight and Jessica went to investigate when Alex came out of the bathroom with his pants soaking wet. Our silly kids had found that blowing all those bubbles had made the floors slick and had started throwing bubble solution directly on the floor to make for an indoor sliding rink.

Slipping and sliding around.

Unfortunately, not long after this picture was taken Abby took a big tumble and fell on something (Haylee wasn't sure what as there were a few things on the floor) and got a huge road rash and a nasty bruise. It's all fun and games until your kid gets hurt. So that ended the bathroom slip-n-slide.

That incident also ended the party. After kissing boo-boos and making Abby feel better we looked up and it was 8:30pm. Half an hour past the kid's bedtime. With hugs goodbye we soon had our guests gone and put our not-so-little-girl-anymore to bed. Girlfriend passed out! And with that...our girl had officially celebrated her third birthday. Happy birthday, Abby!

7 Quick Takes Friday - Volume 12 - Valentine's Day Edition

--- 1 ---

Abby had her preschool Valentine's Day party today which included exchanging Valentine's Day cards with her classmates. Is it really bad that my first thought upon looking at all her goodies was "Go me! I'm the only Mom who made a homemade treat to go along with the cards!"? I'm not always "on" so I'm taking this as one of my more awesome moments.

Her Valentine's Day cards included a Tinker Bell card with Tinker Bell tattoo and homemade frosted sugar cookie with sprinkles.

--- 2 ---

I decided to get Abby a little Valentine's Day gift and ended up with a cute cup and a new book. After spraying milk across my kitchen every time I put the lid (with straw) on I've decided to gift it to someone else at the Bible study give-away table next week. :-) We're keeping the book, though, so...win!

--- 3 ---

The book she received was called The Story of Valentine's Day and I love that it includes the story about Saint Valentine himself and not just a "let's love people' kind of theme. Not that love is wrong, but finding books that describe the real reason for the holiday for a child's point of view is a great find, in my opinion.

--- 4 ---

My kitchen was a floured disaster this morning. Between Abby's birthday party, Abby's Valentine's Day preschool party, and Nate taking cookies to work this morning I made three batches of cut-out cookies and a huge tub of icing. I keep thinking I'll mop but we still have one more party before the week settles down (Abby's family birthday party) so I'm going to hold off until Monday. Oh, the sorrow. :-)

--- 5 ---

Making these cookies always fills me with love and great memories for the woman I got the recipe from, Nancy Walker. She was the Mother of my very best friend and sadly passed away suddenly about eight years ago. Nancy was like a second Mom to me and there are times I really miss her. Every time I make these cookies I remember her and miss her and love her.

--- 6 ---

I just remembered the fun Valentine's Day project that I was going to do with Abby is still sitting in the closet undone. Ugh. This is why I'm so proud of myself for item #1. Not feeling guilty for feeling awesome at all!

--- 7 ---

I haven't mentioned anything that Nate and I did today to celebrate the day because we purposefully avoided it. :-) We both agreed we'd rather go out on a date night next week and celebrate when there's no lines at the restaurants, chocolate is half-off, and flowers are in more colors than red, pink, and white. We're such rebels!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Abby's "Friend" Birthday Party

When Abby turned one we had a big blow-out party with friends and family and had a blast of a time. When Abby turned two we decided to only have a family gathering to celebrate. We didn't want another ginormous party as we wanted the party in our house and didn't have much room to accommodate a big group. This year, as Abby turned three I found myself really wanting her to have a friend birthday party as well as a family one. She's old enough that she understands going places and seeing her friends and I wanted her to experience her friends celebrating 'her' in their own special way. So I went about figuring out where to host a little person's party. Oh, my goodness. I had NO idea how expensive different places could be! I really had my heart set on having her part at Mid-Columbia Cheer Gym (basically an indoor activity center with a bounce house, trampoline, roller coaster rides, play houses, etc) but Nate quickly nixed the idea when he found our her party would start at $185 and that didn't include cake or beverages. After hemming hawing for a while I eventually decided to just invite everyone over to our house for a birthday playdate and pray that our small house could entertain everyone without incident.

God smiled down on me on the day of her party as our 20*F weather melted away and was replaced with 55*F and sunshine. Glorious sunshine!

The party itself was a huge hit (if I do say so myself). There were around 11 Moms and 18 kids and room for all once we opened up the backyard for some spring playtime. I opened up the sandbox for the first time since closing it last fall, brought out the bubbles and bikes, and made sure the slide was free of water. For the first hour kids went back and forth between playing outside or inside in the living room or Abby's room. Around 10am the snack munchies came on and kids feasted on goldfish crackers, raisins, cheese sticks, apple slices, and juice. Then they got their first sugar high by frosting and sprinkling sugar cookies. The cookies were such a hit that even the Moms were gobbling them down. :-)

Once that activity seemed to be running down I brought out the second sugar high for the kids. Cupcakes! I thought it'd be fun for everyone to have a chance to blow out candles so each cupcake had a small candle in it, while Abby's had her "3" candle. Everyone sang Happy Birthday and Abby had the sweetest smile on her face knowing that they were singing for her.

After the cupcakes were consumed the kids went back to playing and the Moms went back to chatting. I think I timed everything really well because about 20 minutes later the first kid started to melt down signalling lunch-time. I purposefully planned our playdate from 9-11am so that I would NOT have to supply lunch. :-) Feeding 30+ people in my home with food allergies, different levels of sitting abilities, and lack of table space just seemed like a frustration experience waiting to happen. Thankfully Abby's/my friends were very understanding of this!

Finally, at 11:45am (because you know we have to drag out our playdates just a bit due to great conversation!) the last partygoers left. While Abby ate lunch I picked up the house and less than an hour later we were back in clean business!

Thank you to everyone who made Abby's friend birthday party such a wonderful time for her. She's still talking about her friends coming over and eating lots of cookies and cupcakes. :-) We also opened her gifts and she was so excited with what she received (thank you notes coming shortly - but y'all seriously make this a fun endeavor of determining who gave what with very few "from" cards!:-)) and tried to play with multiple things at once.

Thank you so much for all the love you showed Abby today!

Moms helping with cookie decorating.

Sharing very nicely with the indoor toys.

A view of the snacks and super cute plates/napkins. I love the double-duty for Birthday and Valentine's Day.

Abby waiting to blow out her cupcake.

Abby's Turns 3 (and Stats)!

Here are Abby's 3 year stats:

                 Height          Weight               Head CM
Birth           19.5 in.         7 lbs. 0 oz.
1 Week       19.0 in.         6 lbs. 9 oz.          33 cm
2 Months     22.0 in.        11 lbs. 6 oz.         38 cm
4 Months     24.75 in.      15 lbs. 6 oz.         39.5 cm
6 Months     26.75 in.      18 lbs. 6 oz.         41.5 cm
9 Months     28.25 in.      21 lbs. 3 oz.         44 cm
12 Months   30.0 in.        23 lbs. 0 oz.         46.7 cm
15 Months   31.20 in.      26 lbs. 1 oz.          47.5 cm
18 Months   32.80 in.      28 lbs. 14 oz.        48 cm
2 Years       34.50 in.      31 lbs. 2 oz.         49.3 cm
2.5 Years    37.60 in.      31 lbs. 14 oz.        50.0 cm
3 Years       38.90 in.      35 lbs. 14 oz.        --

My Abby is three today! 87th percentile for height and 85th percentile for weight. Still growing like a wonderful weed. :-)

My gosh, I can't believe you're three years old today. I mean, I can because.....

• Your language has exploded to the point that I can tell what you want 90% of the time (sometimes those funny pronunciations still confuse me)
• You've developed an "I do it" personality which is super cute to watch, except when we're running late and I just want to shove your shoes on and pick you up to run out the door, but don't because the screaming. Oh the screaming.
• You're outgrowing your 4T clothes. I know you didn't pick your birth date, but having you grow sizes right BEFORE the weather changes means wearing high-water pants and 3/4 length sleeves for a good while before you get the next size up in shorts and t-shirts. Sorry, child, but Mommy and Daddy are mean. :-)
• You're making your own friends! I love seeing you grab Kylie's hand and run around together while playing balls at the gym after swim lessons. Or seeing you play house with Eleanor or Brooklyn at Bible study. Oh, and the way you run into your preschool room like you can't wait to catch up with your friends is too precious!
• You started school! Your first year of preschool had me so worried. Were we putting you in too soon, would being an only child make you a bully or socially awkward, would you miss me? From the moment that door opened you let me know that you were so ready for all the fun and learning that preschool brought, that you'd be friendly, and that you wouldn't miss me for a minute. :-) These were all good things! (Okay, you could have at least turned around for a second good-bye wave or hug on that first day, but I can't fault you as I know you were having a great time.)
• You're pretending and playing make-believe and showing me a world that I forget exists when "life" bogs me down. It's my greatest joy watching you play puppy or kitty or dressing up in your pretty dress-up clothes. Even when you are half-naked and make your father and I (jokingly) worry about your future profession choices, we LOVE your imagination.
• You are sweet and loving and get worried when one of your friends (or even a random baby nearby) are crying. You come over and give them a pat on the head and say "okay?". 
• You shriek. At the top of your lungs. Especially when you're super happy. No amount of "that hurts Mommy's ears" makes you stop. You stop screeching when you're darn well ready to.
• You're working so hard on being potty-trained.
• But mostly we know you're three years old today because you keep holding up three sweet fingers and saying "Mommy, I'm free!"

I'm so excited for what this new year will bring for you. I'm also so excited to watch you experience all the new things you'll experience this year. I love you so much honey bunny and feel so blessed EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. that God gave you to me. You make my heart smile so much it bursts with joy whenever I look at you. I love you so much.

Here are some of my favorite pictures that happened this year:

Last time in your crib.

Falling asleep in your Toddler Bed and needing Mom's hand for comfort. How I miss this as you refuse to fall asleep now if we're in the room.

Those first few weeks of Toddler Bed freedom meant we found you on the floor asleep a lot.

I'm such a mean Mom, but these pictures of you are just too adorable.

Shoving macaroni and cheese into your face. 

One of the first "oh my goodness you look like a toddler" pictures.

How you now watch scary parts of a movie. 

You're finally able to go down the big kid slide at the splash park!

Feeling like such a big girl while we make cut-out cookies.

You love doing your hair and make-up now.

Your beautiful smile right before your first haircut.

Your first haircut!

I turned my back for two seconds while cleaning and found you in the sink. You were having so much fun I left you there for a long time.

You are so eager to help me around the house!

Your first swim lesson! I didn't make sure that you sat on the steps when it wasn't your turn so the teacher had to quickly come and rescue you. You still have trouble sitting on the steps, but now you can bob and dog paddle for a bit.

While at your Preschool's Open House you clung tightly to me. I worried so much about how you'd do the following week.

Your first school photo!

You looked so tiny walking in to school. I shouldn't have worried, though. You ran right in to the room without a single worry.

You loved carving the pumpkin but thought that touching the pumpkin innards was "yucky".

Could you BE any cuter? You were so excited to dress up as a cowgirl for Halloween.

You absolutely adore your cousin, Haylee.

You were so tired you fell asleep in the noisiest of rooms. You even stayed asleep when we transferred you from Mommy to Daddy as Daddy demanded to hold you saying he never got to hold you while you were sleeping anymore.

It's a Christmas miracle! You smiled for Santa instead of screaming your head off. 

You and your preschool classmates during your Christmas presentation.

Oh, how I find you so adorable in your owl hat.

My beautiful daughter in her beautiful Christmas dress in front of the manger after Mass.

You were so proud of yourself for sticking pretzels up your nose. Thank goodness you didn't eat them!

We have no idea why you enjoy sitting in your baby's crib, but you do. 

Happy birthday, my angel. This has been a most wonderful year!

Seahawks Win!

I will be the first to admit that I am totally a fair weather Seahawks fan. Eh, that's probably not right. I'm pretty much a "we don't have cable television and rarely watch football other than my WSU Cougars (Go Cougs!) but in any match up we root for the Seahawks against whomever they play" kind of fan. So when we saw snippets of the NFC championship game while shopping at Costco and realized they might be going to the Super Bowl game I decided that, if they did, I'd throw a Super Bowl party. Granted it was a small Super Bowl party, but a party it was. Andrew, Jessica, and Alex Knigge along with my parents (Katie, Bo, and Haylee decided to head to a friend's house in Walla Walla and David was up at school) were our entire crew of partiers, but we still had a loud cheering section, a crazy garage of fun for the kids, lots and lots of food, and the television blaring. (Seriously. I think my dead is partly deaf. I didn't know our TV volume could go that high!)

One of the best parts of the evening came right in the beginning. We'd just scored on a Safety and were yelling and cheering when Abby looks right over at me and says "Be quiet guys, you hurt my ears." Oh, if she only knew of the screaming that would commence shortly.

So much food. And this wasn't even all of it. At half-time we heated up Asiago and Pepperoni Pizza Rolls and Nachos. We made a decent attempt at eating all the munchies but there's still a LOT that's going to be taken to people's workplaces tomorrow.

Here's Abby after telling people to be quiet because we were hurting her ears. Grandma helped her muffle the sound a bit.

Alex and Abby did a great job eating actual food and not just Apple Butter Snickerdoodle Cookies and Magic Cookie Bars (both of which were super yummy if I do say so myself). Between the fruit and veggie trays and the meatballs they had a pretty decent dinner. 

And I believe this is where Seattle returned a kick for a touchdown. Yeah, that had a lot of yelling and screaming as well.

Nate was awesome keeping the two munchkins entertained in the garage when things got too loud for them in the house. Abby absolutely loves our garage swing (Nate put it together one night when we were looking for ways to burn off some energy but it was too cold to go outside. Since this it's been a staple most nights.) Alex's face lit up when he saw the buggie!

Here I was trying to get a group picture but my Dad was all "Quit taking my picture I'm into this game moment.".

Two seconds later the 'moment' was over and he mimicked an Abby grin. :-) My Dad is a total ham.

There was a period where they played musical bikes. One would get off their bike and race to the other bike and then the other would jump off and race to the now available bike. They must have done this for 10 minutes without stopping.

Towards the end of the night you could tell Abby was getting tired. She'd been skating in her roller skates and fell down pretty hard on her bottom. Hard enough that after a few seconds of crying and saying "Mom, no touch me." (her usual "I'm embarrassed by what just happened" response) she turned to me and started to cry the "I'm really hurt, Mom" cry and allowed me to pick her up. After a few minutes of being comforted she decided that we weren't close enough and ended up crawling up my shirt and out the neck-hole. Thankfully this shirt is super stretchy and we both fit with extra room. Oh, how I love these snuggles. Especially since I know I won't get them all the time in years to come.

And the game officially ends with the Seahawks winning the Superbowl 43-8.

  

Hawks win!

After everyone had left Nate and I turned to each other and agreed that, while it was a bit of work between the cleaning, cooking, and pick-up, we had so much fun that we're looking forward to doing it again. I'm thinking Mardi Gras! Or at least a "kid-friendly ending by 8pm due to bedtime" Mardi Gras party. :-)