Tu-tu Cute!

Oh. My. Goodness! Amanda and Grace, our neighbors, came over with tu-tu's today. We immediately got the girls dressed and ready for a photo shoot in the yard! hahaha! I believe they are some of the BEST pics I have ever seen. I am going to use some of them and make an awesome collage for Abby's new room!


"Friends don't shake hands, friends hug!'
Checking out Abby's toes! :-)
Admiring their beautiful tu-tu's!
Little ballerinas!
Truly, so sweet!
GORGEOUS! :-)

Me and my girl!

Thank you, Amanda! I know our families are going to LOVE these just as much as we do! :-)

I told Abby that I needed to post these for Nanny and Gi-gi real fast, and she said....'and Uncle Tim, too!' So, Aunt Marsha-Make sure Uncle Tim sees these! :-)

P.S. Today was a big day. We took the rails off Abby's crib and it's now a toddler/day bed. I have pics of that and other fun stuff, so check back soon for more pics and news!

Some Fun in the Sun!

It is officially summer in Southern IL! While temps. had been abnormally cool (and boy was my pregnant self happy about that, hahaha!) it is 90 today! We had plans to go to Toddler Time at a local pool, but our friends called, and it doesn't start until next week. :-( The pool in the next town over (which is the GREATEST pool for kids I have ever) doesn't open until tomorrow. :-( Not ones to be discouraged easily, Abby and I hopped in the car and went to Target to get a new pool. Abby wanted this one. It is a very cool pool, and it was on sale!:-) (oh, and I learned my lesson the hard way last year, and this year I bought an electric pump to blow it up, hahaha!)


Jumping into her new pool! (She was a trooper, it was freezing. I carried out a few pans full of hot water from the sink to help out a little)


Posing with her 'friend, the giraffe!' Everyone is now her friend or someone's friend. She always asks, 'when will my friend, Daddy, be home?' Or, 'Papaw's friend, Goggy, will be here this weekend!' It's so sweet!


She played for longer than I thought she would before the grub digging began. hahaha! She got out of the pool and said, 'turn it off, I'm done.....we can give it to another kid!' hahaha!

Wonderful Week!!

The weather has been PERFECT all week. Even fall like some mornings. Abby's newest favorite thing to do is dig for grub worms in our landscaping. (Sorry, Scott...you know we love you!:-) Scott taught Abby all about how the worms turn into beetle bugs, etc. so she is obsessed with finding them.


One of her many digging expeditions!
' Whatcha' got in there, Abby?'


Abby also discovered a long lost toy box this week. (so, it really wasn't long lost, it was just put away with all of her old 'baby' toys in it, hahaha!) But, it has brought hours of fun to her life. Here she is posing with some of the toys she found. Yes, that's an Elvis Elmo. hahaha! Thanks, Grandma Jewell. She has ALWAYS loved that thing.

When we put our house on the market we had to rid the house of MANY toys. Goggy and Gi-gi got stuck storing some of them, and others were stored in the garage. Now that we are moving and no more house showings (thank the Lord), we got out her grocery cart and big kitchen from the garage yesterday. She's taking her puppy, Alpine, to the grocery. (Don't you love her puppy's name, Aunt Shelle!?)

Cooking for me, Daddy and her toys!

And, can you believe there will be another little girl in this family in just 3 1/2 months? Here I am at 25 weeks. According to the scales at the Dr. office, this is only 9lbs. It might as well be 30lbs. because that's how I feel by the end of most days, hahaha!

The other day as I was running to the store, I asked Abby if she needed anything. She requested some 'pink finger paint polish!' (yes, I know we are in trouble...she is a mess, hahaha!) So, here we are with our matching toes after our pedicures. For those of you that know Abby, you know we almost always have matching toes. She has been obsessed with it since she was about a year old.

Name Game, Part 2!:-)

Thank you so much for all the name suggestions. I love talking baby names! :-) That is one of the most exciting parts of being pregnant or having a pregnant family member/friend! We 'think' we have a name, but Scott wants a week to think about it! (yes, I am rolling my eyes, hahaha!)

**I love Laney. I have always love that name. It just seems to be getting more and more popular. And, I can't fully convince Scott. It's still on the list. though, Mom! :-)

**I also love A names! :-) When we were pregnant with Abby, I was always suggesting Addalyn or Addison, because I love Addie. I also love Ava and Audrey! :-)

**Kate/Katie has always been a favorite of mine, too. Actually, Kate is still on the list, too. :-)

Hopefully, in a week or so, we will have a name for this baby girl! :-) Keep the suggestions coming, though.

Memorial Day Weekend!

We had another fun-filled, busy weekend. Our parents came in town, so Abby was on cloud nine with Nanny, Papaw, Gi-gi and Goggy! (talk about spoiled;-) We went shopping for the baby's bedding, had a yummy lunch, went to see the new house, played, played and played. We didn't let the bad weather rain on our fun.


'I am too sexy for this hat....what you think about that!?' hahaha! Crazy girl! Cutest little trucker I have ever seen! hahaha!
Watching Alvin with Gi-gi!
Abby baked cup cakes for everyone yesterday! She is quite the little chef!
Serving her cupcakes to everyone. :-)
A little finger paint never hurt anyone.

Abby takes her finger painting VERY seriously. Apparently, Nanny does too! hahaha! Good job, Mom and Abby! :-)

We went to the new house to show our parents, measure for the fence/patio/windows/etc. I forgot to change lenses, so I didn't get any good pics. I had the super power lens on, and unless you want to see close ups of door frames and light fixtures, this was the best I could get. hahaha!

We are so ready to get moved. We have over an acre of land, much more room, no work to do on the inside (other than what we want to the girls' rooms), it's all brand spanking new! YAY! We do have some work ahead of us, concerning getting the fence build, patio laid, landscaping, etc. but that's okay...we had to do all of that at this house, too, so we are pros in that area, hahaha! We love the town, school system, it's close to where I will deliver that baby, it's further away from St. Louis and all that it brings, THANK GOODNESS. Scott will have a longer commute to work, but that's okay. If that's the price we have to pay to have our kids to grow up in a rural community and a good school system, then that is just fine with us. :-)

So, here are 3 not so good pics of our new house. I will get some good pics when we get in and get everything done! YAY!

Goodbye, Lebanon Elementary...

Thursday was Abby's last day at the Lebanon Parents as Teachers program. It's a great little program that most counties in the state of IL do at the elementary schools. The kids meet twice a week, accompanied by their parents. They do crafts, play, read stories, sing/dance (Abby's favorite part), have snacks, take field trips, etc. We have had a lot of fun with our PAT group. Abby loves her teacher, Miss Polly. Thankfully, we have lots of ties to Miss Polly, so we will still be seeing her.:-)

(We won't be back to this program, because our new house is in another school district!)



Sitting outside the school in Oct. 2007! :-)
Her classroom in the background.
With her teacher Miss Polly. (This was our first field trip. We went apple picking at Eckert's)
I think Abby might be a teacher when she grows up. (We have always laughed at this pic, it looks like she is teaching the class. This was shortly after we joined the program)
Abby's first day of school!
My big girl on her last day of school this semester!

This baby needs a name....

Well, our child remains nameless. It is really starting to drive me crazy. hahaha! We have resorted to calling her Tami most of the time, just to be ridiculous (long story), and now Abby is starting to call her that, too. IT MUST STOP! hahaha! It is so hard to chose a name for a child. What a huge responsibility. This is something they will have FOREVER, unless they are named Destiney Hope and change their name to Miley Ray Cyrus (GREAT move, BTW, on her part....I would be changing my name, too)...no offense to anyone named Destiney Hope that might be reading this blog!

Anyways, we can not decide on a name. It's not that we even disagree, we can't come up with anything. There are a few names we like, but we just aren't 100% sure. It took a while to come up with Abigail, but as soon as it was suggested, that was it....we KNEW she was Abigail.

So, we are taking suggestions! This might be why we are having such a hard time, but here is the criteria for our name:

**It has to be something that is cute and adorable for a baby/toddler.
**It has to be solid/nomal/popular enough to help her survive the teenage years. hahaha!
**It has to be edgy enough to get her through college, yet classy/dignified enough to put on any resume'/diploma/certificate of achievement.
**It has to be glamorous and graceful to accompany her through adulthood.
**And, you have to be able to imagine her having this name if she were President of the USA, CEO of a large company, or just one heck of a super PTA president!:-)

That's all we want from a name, that isn't too much to ask, is it!? ;-) hahaha! See, now even you all of you are having a hard time.

We have a small list already, but we would LOVE any suggestions that you have. We like old/southern names. If the name can have a nickname, the nickname has to meet all above requirements, also! hahaha!

HELP US! :-)

SHOW DAY!!

Today was Show Day at Little Gym. It's the end of the semester production where family can come to watch, they get their medals, etc. (saddest part about living by no family....no one to attend things like this. But, that's okay because everyone got to see her a few weeks ago, so that was our Show Day:-) It was so cute, and Abby did GREAT. I am so proud of her. She is such a good girl. She listens to her coach like a big girl and does everything they ask of her. She really seems to love things like this, so I am hoping to start her in dance and tumbling classes in the fall.



Always so happy to be at gym class!:-)
Tumble Track, one of her favorites.
And, this had me rolling. This was her SOLO attempt at a back-flip down the wedge. You can not tell this girl she can't do something. She will try anything, and wants to do it on her OWN!
No harm done, though. She was up on the balance beam flipping, one min. later. (at least she accepted some help on this one!)

She looks so darn cute up there!

Getting her medal! Awwww....
Abby and Maya discussing their medals. Maya is a bit younger than Abby. She will be 2 in June/July. She LOVES Abby. She follows her everywhere and her mom says she talks about Abby non-stop. It is so adorable.:-)
My big girl with her medal and stamps!

And, because she is just so gorgeous! :-)

After class, I told her we could go to lunch anywhere she wanted. We could have a picnic, go eat somewhere where we could sit outside, etc. She wanted to go eat at this Subway that she loves, that is inside a MotoMart. hahaha! So, that is where we went. Everyone loved her medal, and she proudly showed them all. I think it is so cute that anytime she gets to pick where to eat, she wants Subway or Target. hahaha!