Piggytails and Poodle Skirt

Abigail's hair is now long enough to put in pigtails, and I love it!! She gets to "brush her teeth" and play in the water while I fix her hair - hopefully she'll continue to enjoy that routine for a while. She's starting to look like a little girl, and not such a baby anymore, which makes me a little bit sad. But we're having a LOT of fun together - she's learning new words and new signs all the time, and figuring out things on her own...I'm enjoying watching her become more independent (most of the time).

Our church's Fall Festival, GSFest, was Friday night. I made a poodle skirt (well, really a "puppy" skirt, not a poodle) for Abigail - it was so easy, and it turned out cute! At first, she didn't seem crazy about leaving it on - as seen here, in our kitchen - but once she got used to it, she was o.k. We went out to eat with my mom & dad, and then on to GSFest, where we met up with Wendy & Ryan & kids. All the lights, music, and rides fascinated Abigail, and she randomly broke into delighted giggles.

Abigail adores animals, so when we saw the ponies, I knew we'd have to try letting her ride. For most of the ride, she was tickled to pieces...towards the end, she was ready to get back to mom!

Laughing with the "Chik-fil-A" cow

One of Abigail's new favorite activities, ever since that pony ride - riding on Mommy's back!

Hey MICKEY!

At the beginning of October, Casey had a work conference in Orlando. He has had to travel a lot lately, and we miss him terribly, so we decided to add a couple days onto this trip (at our expense, of course), and make it a family vacation. The conference was at the Ritz-Carlton, which was an amazing place to stay! Casey asked for the crib when we checked in, and by the time we got to the room it was there, along with a little gift bag. Inside the bag were outlet guards, a nightlight, travel baby items, a tub faucet guard, etc. - so cute! Casey had to make some calls, so he went out to the balcony (check out the great view), while Abigail explored the room. I don't know if we've ever stayed anywhere where we were taken better care of! The staff were very friendly, and sweet to Abigail - in fact, just about every time we had to wait in the lobby for something, someone would bring Abigail a little stuffed animal! We went home with several extra little toys!

Abigail is funny about hotel cribs - she thinks they're totally fun! In the mornings while we got ready, she stood in the crib and watched her Baby Einstein movies.

Friday night we ate dinner and hung out in Downtown Disney. It definitely got us in the Mickey Mouse mood!

Saturday morning, we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom! Being a weekend, it was a little crowded, but not terrible - we didn't wait longer than 20 minutes for anything (of course, we only did the kiddie stuff).

The very first thing we came across was the Celebration Parade - and look at this little face! Abigail's favorite characters in the parade were the chipmunks, Chip & Dale.

Just when we thought we might need to go back to the hotel to get a decent nap in, sleep overtook our little angel - but only AFTER we gave her the blankie! Yes, that's right, 95 degrees and she wants the fuzzy hot blanket - hopefully people didn't think we were abusive parents! While she slept, Casey got some great pics of the castle.

We rode "It's a Small World" a couple different times - one of my favorites when we were little. This is pretty much how her face looked the whole time...

Abigail loved riding the Cinderella Carousel with Daddy!

This is a good reason to leave the bow in the hair...currently it's in her mouth...

We went to dinner on Main Street - while we waited for a table, Abigail and Casey walked around together. I LOVE this picture! When she wasn't holding his hand walking, she wanted to push the stroller around.

Let me just take a minute to say how WONDERFUL Disney World is to people with food allergies! I've gotten so used to being a "hassle" to waiters when we go out to eat, but not at Disney! In fact, at this family-style restaurant the chef came out to ask us what Abigail's specific needs were and then brought out a plate just for her, free of anything that could cause her problems! Every single place we ate, from Downtown Disney, to the quick places in Magic Kingdom, to Epcot, EVERY place was so accommodating. At the ice cream place on Main Street, I even got Tofutti chocolate ice cream (really good, by the way)! What a blessing they are to parents of kids with allergies!!

The second nap came after dinner - once again, blankie a necessity...

That night we stayed for the parade (thank goodness for that second nap). All day long, Abigail had been going nuts with "OOOHHH"s every time she saw a balloon. So Casey bought her a Mickey Mouse balloon, and she was thrilled with it.

Abigail was fascinated by the SpectroMagic parade - she loved the lights! However, when one of the bears came over and reached out to touch her, I thought she was going to climb over my head! It was hilarious!

Sunday we went to Epcot for the first part of the day (Casey had to be back that afternoon to start the conference). We didn't take many pictures, but it was a fun - and hot - day. Abigail seemed to really enjoy the Nemo ride and the aquarium. We also happened to be there during the international food & wine festival, so there were many extra booths set up with all kinds of international foods to try. Of course, a highlight for Casey and me was the pastry shop in "France." Yummy! We also took turns riding "Soarin'", which was the only grown-up ride I went on this trip! (Casey rode "Test Track" while Abigail was sleeping - those were his only 2 grown-up rides since Space Mountain was closed this time).

On Monday, Casey had to work all day, so Abigail and I spent a lot of time at the pool - or should I say, pools - what a life! There were about 6 or 7 pools, all connected by a lazy river, with waterfalls and bridges along the way. I couldn't believe how long we spent in the water, but we were having such a good time together. It was one of those "cherish forever" mommy moments. We laughed and splashed, and found fun water spouts, and every time we went by the waterfalls Abigail would sign "water", which I hadn't been able to get her to do until that swim! I wish I could've taken more pictures, but it wasn't really possible to keep the camera dry, watch a one-year-old, and keep my sanity...

Later that night when Casey was done we went to eat at a Latin restaurant, and Abigail finally got to eat one of her favorite things - black beans! After that, back at the hotel, we took a stroll around the pools and spent a little time wading in the baby pool with the alligator Abigail liked.

Well, we couldn't stand it - we had access to discounted afternoon-0nly tickets when Casey was done with the conference, and he decided we should go back to the Magic Kingdom one more time! YAY!

I think her favorite ride was the Dumbo ride - this was one of the rides we didn't get to take her on the first day, so we were really glad we went back!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Girl!

Abigail turned ONE on August 21! Wow, this past year has gone quickly! We are incredibly thankful for this precious little girl God has entrusted to us - her little personality is blossoming, and it's adorable! We had her party on the 22nd - and thank goodness for a beautiful day, because we couldn't have fit everyone inside the house. Her party was ocean-themed - the little ones enjoyed the pool and baby water toys, and the big kids played in the sprinkler and on the slip-n-slide. All her cousins, aunts and uncles were here, and even some great-aunts and uncles. And, of course, some of her sweet friends from church. These pictures were all taken by Kari & Caleb - my lifesavers for the day!! They helped get a lot of things ready too!

The cakes turned out so well, I was totally proud! I started working on the sea creatures for the big cake almost a week ahead of time. They were all made out of Starburst and Laffy Taffy! It was really fun working on those. But stacking it was an adventure....Casey and I had quite a time getting that all figured out! Lots of laughs!! For Abigail's smash cake I had to be creative on the icing because of her allergies - but it worked out too! I colored it with beet juice - just a little bit - it didn't even change the flavor (actually, though, maybe she would've liked it better if it HAD tasted like beets!). I couldn't believe the beautiful color I ended up with! Yay!!

"A hat? Umm, no thanks."

Abigail liked looking at her cake, but once she got it on her fingers she wasn't so sure...and she definitely didn't want it in her mouth! (She doesn't like pancakes either - a texture thing??)

She had a blast in the water...we were so thankful the Lord gave us beautiful weather!

Tyler and Thomas were helping Abigail open her presents...

...while another cousin quietly worked on finishing the cake!

Michael and Abigail were both excited about the new wagon!

A couple "man pictures"

Updates

Our little girl is growing so quickly! I realized that she is doing many new things since the last time I posted about her activities. Right now Abigail is cutting 3 more bottom teeth - including one molar! Yikes! She is not walking without assistance yet, but she certainly can scoot around the living room with her walking toy. She can also reach a lot more surfaces - especially up on those cute tippy toes! She does a few animal sounds - she'll tell you what the lion says, what the fish does (adorable!), and Casey's teaching her what the snake says (can you believe that? Of all things, the one he's most terrified of!) Every day is full - full of joy, full of surprises and new accomplishments, full of cleaning...ha, ha! We're having a blast!

Well, she has officially decided, NO more pureed baby food! Abigail wants finger foods only, thank you very much! She is getting to be such a big girl - this makes dinner time easier in some ways, as we are able to eat at the same time; but harder in others, as the clean-up time has greatly increased. (Here she is eating rice noodles with butternut squash - yum!)

Last week Casey had some dirt work done in the front yard. They started on Friday and didn't finish, so the bulldozer stayed at our place over the weekend. Abigail wanted to look out the window several times a day to watch the dozer (I think in this picture they were working), and when we went outside, that was the first thing she wanted to go see.

One of Abigail's new favorite toys is this whistle. I think Mimi showed her how to blow it, and now she'll just stick it in her mouth and crawl around while she whistles - she's pretty proud of it! We have a great time just watching her explore everything...and picking up the "path of destruction" she leaves behind!

Casey is constantly making up new nicknames for those he loves - especially the little ones! He likes to change the first part of Abigail's name to fit whatever she is doing at the time. Some of my favorite examples: "Sleep-igail," "Destruct-igail," "Explor-igail," - you get the idea! It's so funny, and always perfectly descriptive of her in that moment. She gets a huge smile on her face when her daddy gets home, and now she can simply hear the garage door open and she starts to get excited!

SO Jealous!

Last week Abigail and I missed Casey terribly when he had to travel to Alaska for work - no, really, he DID work hard - but on his last day there, he was able to take a train tour. Here are a few of his pics. He saw mountains, glaciers, wildlife, waterfalls - I think he's decided that we, at some point, have to make Alaska a family vacation! I won't argue with that!

Believe it or not, there are people in this picture - They comprise a tiny dot, too small to see, in the lower right corner. That gives a little better idea of how HUGE these glaciers are!

Albuquerque

Earlier this month we took Abigail on her first plane trip. We traveled to Albuquerque to see my grandparents on my dad's side. They had not met Abigail yet, and it's important to Casey and me that she knows all her great-grandparents. She did wonderfully on the plane (HUGE answer to prayer) and we had a sweet time with Poppy and Nanny!

Here we are, on the airplane and ready for a ride! (Abigail is hugging her baby doll - isn't that cute??)

Looking at the planes during our layover

Spending time with Nanny and Poppy

Daddy's Day!!

What a joy it was to celebrate Casey's first Father's Day. I am incredibly blessed to have him as my husband and Abigail's daddy. Casey always puts the Lord Jesus first, and we're very next on his priority list. I'm thankful that Abigail will grow up knowing that her daddy loves us that much! Through Casey's generosity, integrity, and consideration for others, he is already setting examples for her of what it means to live a life directed by the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, as well as Father's Day, was also Abigail's 10-month "birthday" (that's what Casey called it). We are just amazed that we're only 2 months from having a one-year-old!

Saturday we went to the lake. Abigail is not crazy about her life jacket, but she loves the water enough to put up with it for a while.