Birthday Girl!

This afternoon was Abby's 5th Birthday Party.

Last month, Abby saw another party where all the girls dressed like princesses and so she wanted to do the same for her birthday. I bought her a "Birthday Girl" tiara and had my friend Tina give her an Up-Do.

Tina even sprayed her hair with glitter. Abby looked so glamorous!

Here is Abby with her Doll cake that Grandmother made. (The story of how it got here is a post for another day!)

Abby's friends from school and play-group.

Abby shares her Birthday-day with her Uncle Rob. So, for now, they also share their Birthday Parties. Here's Abby handing Rob one of his presents.

The king and princess presiding over their party.

Last year, when Abby said she wanted one of her Grandmother's doll cakes for her birthday, Rob decided, if she was going to have Barbie, he wanted to have Ken. They look so cute together.

The princess showing off her etiquette: How to lick ice cream off your spoon (or is it the table?).

More etiquette: finger licking good.

Princess L, Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White

Not happy about taking her hair down. She never said one "ouch" while Tina was doing her hair. She had quite a lot to say when I was pulling out the bobby pins!
I can't believe my baby is FIVE YEARS OLD!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For your viewing pleasure this holiday.

Fourteen Years Ago Today...

I said, "I do" to my best friend.

And I still do, every day!

Love you, honey!

Apparently, I spoke too soon

When I wrote that last post, the snowflakes had been flurry-ing around for a few days with no accumulation. I was ok with that.

But no sooner than I clicked "publish," my sister said, "Have you looked outside?" And accumulation had begun! We got a few inches that night.

When I woke Abby up the next morning, she looked outside and said, "Winter is here! Can I go out and play?" So, after breakfast, I bundled her up and sent her outside. (Yes, I said "sent" because I don't like to be that cold!)

Here she is after tasting the snow off the fence.
See, even the trees weren't really ready for the snow. The leaves are still GREEN and hanging on!

Poor, cold little leaf. Brrrrrrr!


We finally bought a heavy duty snow shovel on Sunday, because the ones we had last year were worn out. We also bought Abby some new snow bibs. She had finally grown out of the 18 month size she had worn for a couple of years. We're ready for the snow now.

Snowflakes are Flying...

But I am NOT ready for this!!!
This was taken March 2008.

Picture Post

Laura Olsen of In His Grace Photography took these photos of Abby at Sam and Renee's wedding last March. She is an amazing photographer; more like a photo journalist.
These first few were taken at the Ruffled Duck Inn, where the bride and her maids were getting ready. Abby was taking it all in.





These were taken at a nearby park. It was windy and cold!


During the wedding: Abby looking up at Renee, making sure she got it right. :)

After the wedding, more pictures. Abby had had enough of posed pictures at this point.

I LOVE this shot. You can just hear the breath coming out.

Being introduced at the reception is serious business.

This one is obviously not of Abby, but so cool!

Kentucky Trip

Sometime in September, my Aunt Kathy sent me a brochure about a race in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Western Kentucky University (where I went for one semester in 1988) hosts an annual 5k and 10k. She enticed me with a free place to stay and a pasta dinner the night before. I decided to go as it would give me a chance to visit with family and friends in the area that I haven't seen in a while. Billy couldn't take the time off work, so it was just me and Abby. I asked my sister if she would let me take her son, Thaddeus with us. (It's nice to have someone extra in the car to help out with the little one. Plus, he's a lot of fun to have around.)

My cousin, Kacy, works for the Louisville Zoo. She gives tours to important people who give lots of money. We got to be the important people (without the money) when we visited the zoo on our way to BG. She scheduled us to see the baby elephant, Scotty and his mama. We got to get up close and personal. It was cool to pet him but a little stinky.

Here he is taking a walk with his trainer.

Here we are with Scotty's mama. She is so big. She was kinda making me nervous being that close.

Here is Abby and Thaddeus with Scotty. His size is a little more manageable.

Thank you, Kacy, for taking time out of your day to show us around.

On Friday, we got to have lunch with my dear friend, Sandy. She took us to a Mexican restaurant in Bowling Green. Yummy! Our visit was a little too short, as she had to rush off to see Bill Clinton. Her son is somewhat of a politics buff and was super excited to be pulled out of school for the special event.

We also visited my Aunt's work and drove around the course that we would be running the next day. Then we went to pick up our t-shirt, race number, and electronic timing chip. This is the first time I've ever run in such a big race requiring a timing chip.

Here we are at the starting line.

See that pink arrow? That's my elbow after I crossed the finish line. Some guy got in the way of the camera. Oops.

Here we are after we both finished.

My Aunt and Uncle and Granny came out to cheer us on.

Abby loves the snack time at the end.

So here are the results: My time was 29:46, my personal best!! Overall, I was 191 out of 873 participants. I came in 19th out of 131 in my division (30-39 year-old females). I was super pumped!

On Sunday, we headed home. Thank you, Uncle Chris, Aunt Kathy and Granny for such a fun weekend! You guys are the best!