Once upon a time . . .

Hello All!!! Remember us??? My apologies, we have been absent from the "blog-scene" for some time now!! Have you ever neglected to write in your journal for a long (long) time, and then when you sit down and open up your journal to "update" you find yourself completely overwhelmed because SOOO MUCH has happened and you don't know where to start . . . and you only have a few minutes to jot a few things down before the baby wakes up??? Well, that is me right now! So, I have decided that I will just begin with today and not worry about the last 2 month absence!

I would first like to introduce you to my very own fairy tale castle (complete with my very own Prince) . . .






Our HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it???? It went from a bunch of weeds to this!?!?!? Well, we are super excited about it! Our scheduled closing date is Feb 26th!! yippee!!!

Before I let you go . . . this most wonderful part of our life . . .






Our beautiful Abigail Lynn is 7 months old TODAY!!!!!! She is such a doll!! Abigail continues to be quite advanced in her verbal abilities!!!! She says "Dadada", "Mamama", "Nanana" and "dah-ee" ("doggy"--for Alabama)!!! She loves to play on her tummy or sitting up on the floor (especially with Ala), snuggle with Jake and I, jump in her jump-a-roo, read books, go visit Grammie, go on walks, BE OUTSIDE-- (even in the cold-- she loves it!!), and laugh!!!! Abigail is such a sweet little joy!!! With each stage she has had I've said, "This is the best stage" . . . but really... this is the best stage!!

We are loving life here in Washington!!! Love to you all!!

Dragons, Bumblebees, and Ladybugs . . .

What an exciting week we had!!!! We went over to my Mom's house and carved pumpkins--even Abigail helped!! Here are the fabulous pumpkins---can you tell which one is Jake's????

Yep, Jake and Abigail are the artists in the family!

Mine is on the right, my Mom's is on the left

Where is Abigail's, you ask???

Look closely and you will see Abigail's art work . . .

Can you say . . . prodigy?

On Halloween (during the day) we went to DISNEY ON ICE!!!! It was TOO MUCH FUN!!!! Abigail, Paige, and Donnie loved all the colors "floating" around the ice!

This is getting Abigail and Donnie ready for their first trip to Disneyland--we leave in just 7 DAYS!!! yahoo!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Abigail is the cutest ladybug in the world!!! Donnie is the cutest dragon... ever.

Captain Jake . . . I mean Jack Sparrow

Have you ever put three infants on a couch for a photo shoot??

Well . . . we have (Donnie the Dragon, Paige the BumbleBee, and Abigail the LadyBug) . . . the first 3.5 seconds were OK, and then they realized what was going on . . .

Donnie and Paige were busy poking each others eyes out and pushing each other over . . . while Abigail sat there saying "Mom . . . are you serious?? Did you really put me next to these two???"

Abigail loves to roll over on her changing table. I think that she does it just to hear me in my high pitched baby voice say, "What are you doing . . . you're not supposed to roll over... you are soo silly" It doesn't matter how many times I say it-- she starts cracking up!!!

Well all, I hope you are having fun eating all of your Halloween candy :)

Have a great week!!!

Long time no see . . .

Yep, it's definitely been a while!!!! HOLY COW-- over a month!

Well folks, having a baby = busy, busy, busy! :) Just to quickly catch you all up--Abigail is now 4 months old! She is growing like a weed (at her 4 month appointment she was 13 lbs. 10.5 oz. and 24 inches long-- just a little above the 50th percentile!), she is rolling over like crazy, she laughs ALL THE TIME, and MAN! she is quite vocal!!! We love it! She is always chatting away about an exciting story that we have yet to decipher. Jake and I are doing great! Loving our little munchkin and watching our home being built (rather, waiting for the builders to break ground!!) Here is a picture montage of the last month--

The Roll-Over Girl!!!!

Hangin' out with Daddy in her Bumbo. . .

.... 15 minutes later!

We love to cuddle!!

Nana and Papa Came to visit!!!! We had such a great time!!!!

Donnie's new hat!!

One last time looking at Abigail's tree at Grammie's! Now the tree is bare :(

Poor Abigail-- what is she going to stare at when we are in Grammie's backyard??

What a happy little girl!! It's starting to get cold outside-- we have to bundle her up!!

The fam at Cheese's wedding!

We love Saturdays with Daddy!!

We went rock climbing with Cami, Curtis, & Paige!!!

Jake wanted to take Abigail up . . .but IT WAS FREEZING!!!!!! The wind was ice cold and to say the least it was interesting seeing Abigail outside in the cold-- she is a summer baby through and through!!

Abigail loves the outdoors :) (so does Paige!! (lower left))

After our rock climbing adventure . . . with wind burned cheeks.

Jake thinks that she is going to become an excellent rock climber--some day!

Both Abigail and Ala love this fabulous play mat!

Abigail loves this super warm hat!

Aunt Kate made it for Abigail!! Thank you Auntie Kate!!

. . . just waking up :)

Abigail's 1st HOCKEY GAME!!!!!!!

We had such a great time!!

Grandpa Jim, Grammie, Faith, and Daddy (Mommie is taking the picture)

Grammie and Abigail cuddled pretty much the entire game!

#1 Hockey Fans!!

Her new sleeping position--- no matter how hard we try to keep her on her back-- she always ends up on her tummy-- Uncle Todd suggests that we use velcro to keep her on her back--- humm... I don't know???

.....candy....candy.....candy......candy.....

(I am picturing Garfield saying this . . . )

"Please Mom... just one piece . . . .plllleeease!!"

After 15 minutes of vigorous effort ...

success . . .

"I didn't take anything Mom---I promise!" HA!

(don't worry folks-- we are not feeding Abigail any candy)

Nightly tradition: "Super Abigail"!! When Jake comes home from work Abigail is 'Super Abigail' for at least 10 minutes!!! What a great Daddy!!

weeeeeee......

Abigail is a "New Yorker Baby"-- Thanks to Auntie Elisabeth and Uncle Ty :)

(I would have to say that she is the cutest New Yorker Baby... ever. What do you two think??)

. . . phew . . . now you are all caught up on our lives! Until next week--- :) Love to all!!

My Life, The Cooking Show

So, I have decided that my life has turned into a cooking show. Abigail loves to listen to my voice and "talk" with me. In fact, if I am not talking she can (and usually does) get a bit fussy. Just as a cooking show host, I narrate every move and thought that I make out loud. Thus, I find myself talking ALL DAY LONG--

"Lets go fold the clothes--you first fold in the arms..."

"I'm putting shampoo in my hair and scrub scrub scrub..."

"We are going on a walk-- let's get Ala's leash . . . we love walks..."

"first you moisturize, then put the foundation on..."

"I love Honey Bunches of Oats, one day you'll get to try some..."

"great, Daddy left the toilet paper roll empty..."

"gosh, it would be nice if you could take a nap right now..."

"blah . . .blah . . . blah..."

Even as I am sitting here I am telling Abigail exactly what I am typing. As a result of all this talking (rather, thinking out loud) I have become the crazy woman who talks to herself everywhere. Folks, I am the person in the market, at the mall, in Target who thinks OUT LOUD. The unfortunates who are shopping around me probably think I'm a nut case. Though that may hold some truth, I would like to clear one thing up. If you ever see me walking around talking to myself-- I am actually talking to Abigail and trying to be a good Mom. My life is truly my very own cooking show.

One of this weeks adventures was baking a cake. Sadly, I had yet to use my Kitchen Aide since Abigail was born, so this was her first time seeing the beautiful appliance at work. Good times!

The faster the speed, the bigger the eyes!