A Walk In The Woods

Thursday, we went to Memorial Lake Park to tromp through the woods. It was a sunshiney day and we didn't want to miss it.

Here are a few pictures of Abby.

Abby Has Discovered Scissors

This past week, Abby was inside a kitchen cabinet and found a box that had some school supplies in it. She picked up the scissors and wanted to try them out. After a few instructions from Mommy and Daddy, she was off and running.

Well, not running with the scissors.

We did teach her the right way to hold them while WALKING.

Anyway, she's loving the new found skill.

I think she's got the hang of it. What do you think?

Library Day

On the second and third Thursdays of the month, the Library hosts "Tiny Tots," a reading and craft time for little ones ages 1-3. Today was mine and Abby's second time to go.

Abby enjoys the story time and especially the craft time. She made a little finger spider and a pumpkin magnet. Today, they even had singing and dancing. Abby is all about dancing.

After story hour was done, I was looking for some books and videos to take home with us. Abby found Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and started playing with them. There was an empty bookshelf beside the VHS tapes and so she pretended that those were their beds. First she had to read them a story (Peter Rabbit) and then she had to sing them a song. It was so cute. She was sitting there on a library step stool rocking and singing to her babies. Loudly. I was wishing for my camera. She then put Ann on the top shelf, Andy on the second shelf, and she climbed into the bottom shelf. Good thing we were back in a corner and no one could see us. :)

While I was checking out our books, Abby found an Angelina Ballerina doll. "Mommy, can I take this home?" "No, Angelina has to stay here at the library." She was quite calm with my answer and went to put Angelina back. I was proud of her.

It was a fun morning at the library and I'm sad that it will be three weeks before we can do it again. But, her "Pip Squeaks" class at the Rec Center starts two weeks from tomorrow so we'll have that to look forward to.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Not to be confused with Lemony Snicket.

On Saturday, Daddy and Abby were jumping on the trampoline. She likes to go around in circles as seen in this video. She got going a little too fast and fell into the springs. Good thing Daddy was right there to pick her up.

They came into the house and Abby was wailing. At first we couldn't tell right away where the damage was done, but after a few minutes, it began to show up - perfect spring indentations on her cheek and forehead. Ouch!! Poor baby!

On Sunday, during worship practice and prayer, she was dancing at the front of the sanctuary with her streamer. The floor in the sanctuary is like a school cafeteria floor, hard and slick. Twice she slipped on her streamer, but each time would get up with no cries. Then she slipped again. This time, much crying ensued.

We went over to her and along with the crying sounds we heard a crunching sound. As we looked closer, we saw that her front two teeth had big chunks missing. And she was chewing on the chunks. POOR BABY!!!! And poor Mommy: I cried on that one!

We took her to the dentist on Monday morning, and he referred us to a Pediatric Dentist about an hour away. The earliest we could get an appointment with them is November 6. So we'll be waiting for 3 weeks to find out what can be done.

I hesitate to put this picture up, but just so you know I'm not making this up...


Good thing Christmas pictures won't be taken in the next couple of weeks!

Soccer in the Cold

On Thursday nights, Billy and I lead the Youth Group at our church. They are a great bunch of kids. Two of our girls play on the high school soccer team. This past Thursday was their last game of the season. The team was also honoring their senior players that night. We decided it would be fun to take the whole youth group out to cheer for the team.

It turned out to be a very chilly night!! It even snowed for a little while during the game. So we bundled up and headed out!



Despite the cold, we had a fun time cheering. The girls won! We left before the end of the game, cause Abby had had enough.

You can read about the details of the game here.

Concentration

"Wordless" Wednesday

This photo was taken October 2005.

Could it be the hat that she's displeased with? :)

For more Wordless Wednesdays go to 5 minutes for mom

My new best friend

I saw a video on a blog last night that prompted me to look for this video. The little girl I saw was a little older than 2 and she recited all the sounds that the letters make. It was amazing. And I thought, Abby could do that. And so I found a copy of the DVD on Amazon and purchased it today.

I think that mom should start getting kick-backs for her advertising.

While on Amazon, I looked for Angelina Ballerina products. Abby's current passion is dressing like Angelina Ballerina. (She never says just "Angelina." It's always "Angelina Ballerina.") She has been wearing a slip over her clothes that looks like a tutu and a pair of ballet slippers that my mom picked up at a garage sale this past summer. THANK YOU, MOM!!! She loves to point her toes and try to stand on one toe. She will also twirl around waving her arms like a ballerina. So cute!


So I ended up getting a DVD and a book of Angelina, too. I'm planning on saving those for her birthday. Shhh. Don't tell her. I need to make sure she doesn't read this post after learning how to read with the Letter Factory DVD. :)

I was rather pleased with my purchases. And it's even more satisfying cause I didn't have to pay for shipping. Gotta love that.

Then tonight, I looked on Ebay. There were over 600 items for Angelina - books, videos, dolls, clothes... EVERYTHING!! Why didn't I think of looking there before? I've known about Ebay for a while. Billy has purchased many an item off that site - even his car!! But now, I've found something that I'm interested in. That makes all the difference, my friend.

I didn't even bother looking at the Letter Factory stuff cause I'm sure I would have found it cheaper. Too late now.

I think Ebay will be my new best friend when it comes to shopping for birthdays and Christmas. So all the cousins birthdays that are coming up... let me know now what you're into and I'm sure I'll find something spectacular (but super cheap) on Ebay.

By the light of the Silvery Moon

I am enamored with the moon. I love to go outside and gaze, especially when it is full. As it was last Saturday night. And the harvest moon is the brightest of all.


My camera is an inexpensive digital and doesn't do it justice, but here is a picture I took of the Harvest Moon on Saturday night.

Abby loves to gaze at the night sky as well. She has several night-time books that talk about the moon. She likes to look for the "big bowl of milk."

The Chinese have a yearly Moon Festival around this time of year. They have a big party, make Moon Cakes, and tell many legends and folk tales about the moon. This festival is almost as significant as their Chinese New Year celebration.

I hope to teach Abby some of her culture and traditions in the coming years, but more importantly teach her about the God who made the moon and who made her.

My day today

It was a beautiful October day today! Sun shining. Cool breeze. Lovely!

Got up when the "alarm" (read Abby) woke me up around 8am. Billy made breakfast while I got ready for the day. Then I figured out where Fostoria, Ohio is and drove there to meet my niece Belle who was running in a Cross Country race. I didn't get to see her run but she took me around the course and we cheered for her brother "JR" who was running with his team.

We drove back to our town so she could hurry and get ready to play soccer. It was good to get to visit with her. She is really growing into a godly young lady.

Abby got to spend some time with Daddy today while I was driving around the Ohio countryside. She loves her Daddy! He was putting up some drywall in our stairwell - the neverendingprojectinourhouse. I'm sure she helped out a lot!

We were able to get lots done today. I love days like that. I like to get stuff crossed off my list! Like:
1. clean the kitchen
2. vacuum the living room and clean up Abby's toys
3. give both dogs a bath

After dinner, we took a walk as a whole family (dogs included) to a park down the street. I love to hear Abby laughing on the swing. It was a perfect ending to the day.

Maybe we should have named her "Angelina"

Our little Ballerina. Now we just have to wait until she gets a little older so we can enroll her in the actual ballet class.

Cheese and Pickles

We're playing around with YouTube. Hope it works.

This is a video of Abby from last year around this time. She looks so small to me. At that time, whenever you pointed a camera at her, she wanted to look immediately at the picture. Made it a little hard to do a video of her.

The noise in the background is our dogs wrestling and growling at each other. Nice, huh?

Enjoy.



This next video I took today. She's grown so much!

Yes, that IS a tutu over her pink camo sweatpants. She's ready for Project Runway!

And this time, no growling dogs in the background. :)