Our Life and Travels

Last Friday was a big day for Abby–or better said a big day for me.  During the afternoon we had her kindergarten orientation.  She has gone back and forth on being excited and not wanting to go to kindergarten…mostly stemming from the idea of missing her preschool.  The principal of her new school called all the soon to be kindergarteners to come up front and introduce themselves.  She did not like that idea.  She wouldn’t go up there herself and then refused to say her name.  After that, they took all the kids to the kindergarten rooms for activities while the parents sat through the boring formalities of it all.  Afterwards, we were able to go pick up our kids.  By the time I got to Abby, she did not want to leave.  She loved it and told me it was the best day ever.  Thank goodness she had a good experience because I don’t want to fight her everyday about going to kindergarten.  Now she is super excited to go…even though she still says she will miss Miss Denise and Miss Laurie.

That evening it was Abigail’s preschool graduation.  The theme this year was “when I grow up”.  Her teachers decorated with a side by side baby and current picture of each student.  Seeing Abby’s was enough to choke me up.  Andy and my dad were laughing at me because I told them I was about to cry.  My dad told Andy to get used to it, it’s a mom thing.  I couldn’t help it, I love Abby so much and it was just another thing to show me how much she really has grown since she was first put in my arms.

She did great during the program and didn’t even shy away when it was her turn to speak,  ”Hi, my name is Abigail and when I grow up I want to be a horse rider.  I will feed it hay and wear cowgirl boots.  Or maybe I will be a vet and take care of bunnies and guinea pigs.”  She came up with this all on her own and it describes her perfectly!

Abby with her preschool teachers, Miss Denise and Miss Laurie respectively.

 Abby and grandpa

Abby as butterfly girl.  It was part of her present from her preschool teachers.  She loved it so much she wanted to sleep in it.

Who needs to walk when you have wheels right?  At least that’s what the attitude has been around here lately.  A few weeks ago, Andy took the training wheels off of Abigail’s bike and worked with her riding a bike without them.  It took her a day or two to gain the confidence and she hasn’t looked back since!  Now she loves riding her bike even more.  We need to get her a new one though because she has pretty much outgrown hers.  Andy and I laugh all the time watching her, saying that she looks like a clown on a bike because she seems so much bigger than her bike.  She is growing so fast, before we know it we will be buying her a road bike.  I love the concentration on her face in some of these photos…and the tongue!  Like mother, like daughter, we both tend to stick out our tongue a little when we are intently focusing on something!

Grace will not be left behind anytime, but especially when it comes to biking.  She constantly asks to ride her bike.  She has really picked up some speed on her Skuut, even some of the neighbors have commented on it.  She loves to race down the hill and then lift up her feet and coast for a while.  She’s had a couple of good crashes that actually required bandaids to stop the bleeding.  She is the only child I know that doesn’t like having a bandaid put on.  We have bribed her with a bike with wheels if she will just go back to going potty on the potty!  Apparently, she likes her Skuut too much because even that doesn’t make her pause to consider the offer!

It didn’t take much, but I talked Andy into buying road bikes for us.  There are some great trails and canyons around here and I have to admit I have looked at people out riding while I was driving and was a little envious.  I think those that can ride up the canyon roads are rock stars and I want to be a rock star!  We ordered our bikes, Andy put them together, and we have been riding ever since.  I also have to say I am a little jealous of Andy because it was my idea to get the bikes, yet he is the one that has been able to ride more.  He rides most days at work during his lunch.  One day (hopefully sooner rather than later) there will be a mom and her girls driving up the canyon and they will look out the window at me and say what a rock star!

For easter we did the annual neighborhood easter egg hunt Saturday morning.  I like the neighborhood one because they separate the younger kids from the older kids, giving every child a chance to get some.  The girls loved it, especially since the eggs were the candy filled kind!  Later that night we decorated our own eggs and they couldn’t wait to find them the next morning.

We ended up having a very low key easter.  Unfortunately, Grace had a fever so any plans we might have had were squashed.  Hopefully, she doesn’t make a habit of this; she has been sick 2 of her 3 easters now and one of them included a hospital stay.

Even though we enjoy all the candy and fun that comes with easter, we are truly thankful for the life, atonement, and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We are humbled by his love and sacrifice for us and grateful for all of the blessings that it encompasses.

I can’t believe my little girl is already five!  She has been talking about turning five for months.  I caved in a let her have a birthday party.  She kept changing her mind on what she wanted and since we went overboard last year, I decided to go simple this time.  Lately, she says cheese pizza is her favorite so we went with that and had a pizza party.  Our house turned into Abby’s Pizza Parlor and each friend took home treats in their own pizza box.  We told her she could have whatever cake she wanted and she decided on chocolate because she wanted her daddy to have some.  She didn’t even ask for a shape or anything; she just wanted sprinkles on it.  She even went simple with the ice cream and picked out creamies instead.  We kept asking her what she wanted for her birthday and all she would say were things we already picked out: balloons, the panda piñata, and a horse book.  The one thing she said that we didn’t already have was socks.  Not really sure where that one came from, but thank you for the simplicity and low demand!

At preschool she even got her own day to celebrate.  Her teachers go all out and make each child feel so special on their birthdays.  Grace and I were able to join in the party portion of preschool that day.  It was fun to see her at preschool and Grace was in heaven!

On her actual birthday, we started the morning by opening presents and having breakfast.  After preschool, we went to the Tracy Aviary.  She loved it and was so excited to see the toucan, owls, and bald eagle.  For dinner we told her she could have anything she wanted.  She choose what she calls her “favorite pasta”.  It’s a chicken and broccoli alfredo that I make.  Much to Andy’s dismay, she picked that instead of going out!  We ended the night with cupcakes and ice cream.

  A little excited maybe!

Happy birthday, Abby!  You are such a sweet, vibrant girl and we love you to the moon and back!

PS- Your stats at your 5 year well check were: height 45 inches (90%) and weight 42 lbs (70%)

You’ve all seen pictures of people and their pets that look alike.  Well (I didn’t plan this and we don’t have a peacock) I couldn’t help but laugh when I noticed the similarities…especially, since Grace just took out her braids and was sporting a wild and free hairstyle!

It was Abby’s preschool field trip to Jungle Jim’s this week.  She has looked forward to it all month.  Thankfully, younger siblings were invited so Grace was able to join in all the fun too.  Some rides were enjoyed more than others…and some were remembered from last year and were refused to go on!  Yep, I’m going to say this means Disneyland is going to have to wait.

Andy had to get some work done from home one Saturday morning so I thought I would get the girls out of the house so he could work in the quiet of an empty house.  We decided to visit Barnes and Noble which happened to be having a reading of some Olivia books with a special appearance of Olivia herself.  The girls loved it!  Abby, again gave the art project involved to the special guest.  Grace, not to be outdone, gave her picture to a complete stranger who did not go to the bookstore for the whole Olivia experience.  What considerate girls!

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss or Dr Susie as my youngest daughter calls you!  I took my two girls to your birthday party at the children’s museum today.  They love your books and they loved your birthday party…especially meeting the cat in the hat.  Thank you for writing such great childrens books and thank you for the party favors.  They loved making truffula trees; Abby even gave hers to the cat in the hat.  Grace loved wearing her own hat just like the cat in the hat.  They are both excited to read the books they received, so again thank you for fostering the love of reading in children and happy birthday!

You might wonder what happens in our home the day after I have worked all night.  Well, a little glimpse into our world looks a little something like this:

So the next time you are looking to get your hair done for that important event, just book your appointment at Salon Abigail.  Abby and her exuberant assistant, Grace, are sure to glam you up and promise you won’t leave without a plethora of hair accessories!

My mom flew with me and the girls to Arizona to visit my sister and so I would have another adult while we drove our new car home.  We were all excited to go and my sister was probably even more excited to have us visit for a few days.  Sad to say and not by choice, the excitement ends there.  I worked Tuesday night and in the middle of my shift I went downhill fast.  My throat and ears were killing me.  There never is a good time for moms to be sick and for the most part moms just keep plugging away with their daily responsibilities when they do get sick.  I came home Wednesday morning, packed us up and headed to the airport.  Thankfully, everyone else was fine…or so I thought!  We made it all the way past security, which is no easy task with small children, and headed to our gate.  Grace started acting really tired and I thought it was just because it was her nap time.  While we were waiting for our plane she kept getting warmer and warmer.  There was no turning back at that point, we boarded and were doing ok.  At T minus 5 minutes before landing, Grace let loose.  I caught half of it in the barf bag and the other half was all over her blanket and me.  Now that was a lot of fun!  Pretty much Grace and I were sick the whole trip and felt like this…

 …all I can say is thank goodness my mom was with us!

Marie has a really cute house and we wished we weren’t sick the whole time.  We still made the most of it though.  Even though, I wouldn’t let the girls go swimming in her pool they loved going swimming in her tub!

We didn’t get to go out and have fun, but we did stay in and had a girl’s party with games, gourmet pizza, and yummy treats!

By the end of the trip Grace was feeling better and was able to enjoy the springlike weather in the back yard with Abby.  They loved playing with Marie’s dogs.  I think one of Marie’s dog even met her match with Abby.

By the time we left, Grace was better and both girls were excited to drive home with their new travel buddies.  They were also excited to get home and see daddy.  They loved making him videos and sending them to him.