A Day In The Life Of Our Birthday Girl

Waking up is hard to do. Except when Strawberry Banana Smoothies are on the menu for breakfast!
Yummy! My FAVORITE breakfast food.
Catching an old Doris Day flick ("By The Light Of The Silvery Moon") while my Mommy is taking a shower.
All dressed up and ready to go.
Reading books at the Library.
Mmmmmm! Sheri's Coffee House! Whipped Cream with Sprinkles.

After lunch and my nap, I watched a "Belle" movie we got from the library. Hey, it's my birthday, I can watch two movies if I want. :)

Daddy's Home!
Time for Rainbows! I love Gramma Sue and all my cousins.

Bath Time and my snuggly purple towel.

Story time and then night-time prayers with Mommy and Daddy.

What a fun day! When will I be 5?

Happy Birthday To My Baby

Today is Abby's birthday!

I can't believe she's FOUR! Where has the time gone? She is getting so big. I love that she is getting more independant and can do "favors" for Mommy and help me out around the house. This past year has really been a growing year for her. She finally hit 30 pounds. We saw the end of diapers and the beginning of Pre-School. She's getting pretty good at dressing herself, but she hasn't quite conquered the shirt, yet. Her vocabulary is amazing - she's always asking, "what means ----" when I use a word she doesn't know.

I thank God for the amazing gift He gave us in Abby. She is truly "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." I know He orchestrated our lives to intersect at the right moment. He is a God of redemption. He has restored our dreams and hopes for the future.

My thoughts today are not only on the treasure that is Abby. I don't have the thoughts that most mothers have on their child's birthday: thoughts of pregnancy and labor and those first few moments of new life. But I have thoughts of what it might have been like for Abby's birth mother. Was she excited or scared? Did she feel pressured or helpless or confident in her decision? I know she loved her baby and wanted the best for her. I pray that she feels some comfort today and that somehow she knows that Abby is well loved and is happy.

Happy Birthday, Abby! We love you!

Thanksgiving Prep

The ShaggaBear household is getting ready for Thanksgiving. I may even get out my Thanksgiving decorations - all two of them - and set them out for the big day.

Abby came home from school yesterday wearing this:

sorry about the quality of this one... it was taken on my phone

How cute is that?? The boys had on black paper hats with the buckle in front. And they were singing (to the tune of "Frere Jacques"):

I am thankful
I am thankful
Yes I am
Yes I am
Thank you for my Mommy
Thank you for my Daddy
And my food
And my food

It's good to know their priorities are right! Food was mentioned twice!

Speaking of food, as most of you know, we have a large extended family (two sisters with lots of children and my parents) living within walking distance. Most holidays are spent at one of our four houses with people spilling out all over the place.

This year, my two sisters decided to go visit families in another state. So it's just us and my parents for Thanksgiving. And I decided I would give my mom a break and do all the cooking myself. Well, maybe I'll talk her into doing the gravy because I am terrible at making gravy.

I've been married almost 13 years, and I think this is the first time I'll be making a turkey by myself. Amazing!

I'm excited to try out some new recipes. I found most of them in a Good Housekeeping magazine I picked up on our trip out west. They sound pretty easy... we'll see how that goes. And, of course, I've been reading the Pioneer Woman and found some recipes on her cooking site.

So far, I've got my turkey brining in the frig. And the cranberry and apple sauce is done and also chilling in the frig. Later this afternoon, Abby and I will be donning our aprons and baking up some pies. Yummy!

Hopefully we won't run out of room in our frig. Guess we could just use the one down the street that won't be seeing any activity for the next four days. Hmmmm.

Jump!

The last couple of years, I've taken several pictures and a video of Abby on the trampoline in October. This year, I finally got around to it... last week. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

For more WW fun, go to 5 minutes for Mom.

Cute Jumper

As you all know well by now, Abby loves to dress up. On Sundays, she likes to wear her fanciest dresses. And usually, that does not include the cute jumpers. So yesterday, I put this on her, cause it's cute, and she needs to get some wear out of it and it's not happening on Sundays!

V-Cation Wrap-Up

Abby had so much fun visiting with Grandma and Grandpa. She spent hours playing with Grandma and telling her stories. I wish we lived closer so Abby would be able to spend more time with them.

This swing was at a park about a mile from their house. It was awesome. Both Billy and I could fit in it (not at the same time) and it was so comfortable. The rest of the park was pretty cool, too.

It was a nice "veecation"... getting away and having time with family is always good. One bonus was the layover in Houston. We were only in Texas for an hour or so, but we managed to score Pappasito's Mexican Cantina tacos and Blue Bell (the best ice cream in the country) Tin Roof Sundae. Awesome!! But then, I almost lost both those when we were coming in for a landing in Cleveland. But we won't talk about that!

Children's Museum

Abby really enjoyed her time at the Children's Museum. Here are some more pictures and a litle video.

The water exhibit was one of her favorites if we're judging on how much time she spent there. We literally had to beg her to try some of the other things.

And her dad was concerned that her clothes were getting so wet, even with the apron.

This was a chair that you sit on and use the ropes to pull yourself up. Too fun!

With the concentration level shown on this activity, I think we'll have some fun on our hands as she gets older.

"How do I look?"

She wanted to "paint" her nails.

The finished look. I personally love the red eyebrows.

They also had a gluing station. Buckets of glue and lots of stuff to put in it. What could be more fun?

This is a little video of her playing with the pin board (I think that's what it's called). I love her little giggles.

The pouding you hear in the background was a leather craft demonstration.

A Preview

I'm sitting in a little coffee shop near Billy's parents house so I can check my blogs. Google Reader said I had 89 posts to read. A little bit more than the time I have while Abby's taking a nap at the house. Plus, Billy's wanting to check his emails. So this will be short.

We're having a good time here in New Mexico. Land of eternal sunshine! I need sunglasses for my sunglasses.

We visited the Santa Fe Children's Musem yesterday. It has so much stuff for kids to do. And it's not even that big. Abby played with the water exhibit first, and we had to pull her away to try the other things. She loved ALL of it.

Here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until we get home.

These made huge bubbles. Way cool!

Here she is playing in the water. They had rubberized aprons for the kids, but she still got soaked!

A preview of the face painting station. She LOVED this part! I'll post the "finished product" later on.

See you soon.