More Boyne Fun

Abby and Aunt Emily checking out the old sled in the lobby.



















When you fall asleep in the carrier, you may get a mark on your head.









Family photo in front of the bear (Nate and Courtnie already used the bear's backside for their photo).

















Wearing our Michigan shirts for the football game! Go Blue!



















Eating taco chips with Grandma Mary is fun :-)










Wearing a birthday princess crown for Emily's birthday. We didn't have enough for Aunt Hannah to wear one too.







Playing in the pool at Avalanche Bay! Lots of splashing going on.


















First trip down a water slide with mom. Dad took her on her second trip the next day.













Watching Michigan beat Wisconsin with Grandpa Scott.

Boyne Water Baby

We are back from Boyne and we had a great time! Abby had lots of fun with her Grandma and Grandpa and really liked playing with her Aunt Hannah and Aunt Emily. She also had fun with Uncle Nate and Aunt-to-be Courtnie. We all had lots of good times in the pool and in the hotel suite. Abby did lots and lots of splashing in the pool all three days and even played until she was asleep in my arms in the pool on Sunday. She was one tired girl last night.


Abby got to do lots of new things this weekend. We let her play in the fountains in the kids pool, ride down a waterslide, and cruise in the lazy river ride. She really had a great time in the water, especially in the kids pool. She is quite an inquisitive girl and was checking the whole place out. She did a lot of splashing too.


We also were able to ride to the top of the ski hills on the chair lift. We rode up Friday night to have dinner at the little restaurant on the top of the hill. It was a beautiful view. In a few weeks it is going to be even better with all the fall colors. We rode up again Saturday afternoon so we could hike around on top of the ski hills and check out some of the slopes. Abby was very good on the chair lift, which is good because being 20 something feet above the ground with only a small safety bar is a little nervewracking. It is a good thing we had the carrier to strap her in with.

We hope Emily had as much fun on her 13th birthday weekend as we did! And... Michigan even beat Wisconsin in football. We were really excited about that too. Go Blue!

Going to Boyne

Abby is super happy about going to Boyne. And we mean super happy. First we have to go get her passport application turned in at the post office and then drop Maize off at the dog kennel. After that we are on our way to find Grandma Mary in Gaylord while we wait for Grandpa Scott to get done at his conference. Then it is off for water parking, birthday partying, game playing fun!

Have a happy weekend, we'll be back late Sunday evening, probably with lots and lots of pictures!

Dog Party!

Another thing we love about fall is getting to wear cool hats. Yesterday Abby got to try out her basset hound hat. And since she was wearing a hound dog hat, she and Maize decided to have a hound dog party on the couch. It involved lots of petting, licking, and cuddling. We are lucky to have a dog who is very good with little people - even if she is not so good at other things like going to the bathroom outside.

Abby had a good time with her babysitter last night and was even asleep when we got home. It was amazing! She really likes Kitty, so it makes leaving her with a babysitter very low stress. And it always helps when you come home to a kid in clean diapers and sleeping. Even the dog was sleeping when we got back. We may have to take a date more often.

It is going to be chilly next week, so we will be having lots more hat parties. We still have quite a few cool hats to try out. Happy Thursday! Steve has tomorrow off so we can play until late tonight and Abby loves playing with her dad.

Unsupported Sitting

Last night we had another one of those fun baby milestones. Abby finally sat unsupported for more than 5 seconds. She even managed to lean down to grab a toy and sit back up. She is getting so big. So now Abby can sit up by herself, but we still make her use her boppy pillow for support most of the time.

We have been having fun lately playing with our new farm animal toys. Abby now has a POA pony, two hampshire pigs, and two boer goats. We have lots of fun playing farm and Abby has even more fun eating the farm animals. She is so funny when we play - either she is super happy or is totally serious. There is no in between with this girl. She is so much fun.

Tomorrow we are going to pack our bags to go to Boyne with Grandma Mary and Grandpa Scott. It is going to be super fun!

Testy Tuesday

Abby is in one of her special moods today. She doesn't want to take a nap - thanks mostly to Maize who woke her up right after I got her to sleep. I tried to get her to nap and even laid down with her, but it was mostly crying and playing with her feet interrupted with sort bursts of sleeping. Since she is in rare form and I have some remnants of food poisoning or some other illness we are quite a pair. Luckily she is enjoying her exersaucer on her own and is relatively happy for now. We will see how this works out tonight when Steve gets home and Abby's not had a good nap. I think she is getting very close to having teeth come in because she is getting much harder to get relaxed and sleeping.

Over the weekend we got to take Abby into the pool at Weber's Inn where we were staying. She hated the pool at Grandma & Grandpa Hodges house, but it was probably the temperature and not the water. She loved swimming at the hotel. Of course it was typical Abby - straight faced and not looking to excited - but the splashing and 45 minutes in the pool without a whine were a good sign for her trip to Boyne this weekend to waterpark with Grandma Mary, Grandpa Scott, and Aunties Hannah, Emily and almost Aunt Courtnie and Uncle Nate. If we could have only had Uncle Dan, Aunt Mel, Uncle Glenn and Jack along too it would have been a perfect family retreat. We'll have fun just the same but we miss those guys!

Tomorrow night Abby is going to have her babysitter Kitty come over and spend the evening with her so Steve and I can go on a real date and to a meeting at church so that we can become official members of the church we have been attending. Considering Abby's recent seperation anxiety I am keeping my fingers crossed that Kitty won't be pulling out her hair by the time we get home.

We're Back - For Now

We made it back from Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Harley's house and our visit to Ann Arbor. We had a great time catching up with all our family and friends. We also got to do some shopping, which is Abigail's favorite activity. She really enjoys looking at all the lights, racks, and other fancy, shiny, new things. And since we had shopping on our agenda, Abby got to pick out some new things for this winter and for next summer. We got everything that was on our list, so it was mission accomplished all around.

Abby really had a good time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We got to play with Grandma and Grandpa and also Grandpa Scott. Grandma Lorraine taught Abby how to roll from her back to her stomach, so now Abby can roll each way. It was a great time.

We also got to see all our old Ann Arbor friends and meet 4 new friends. Abby got to hang out with baby Paige at the pool (and her big sister Ava and also Lachan and Jade). She also met Sarah, Luke, and Tatum. It was really nice to get to see so many new babies! Now Abby and I are getting things back in order since we brought lots and lots of bags in that hadn't been here before. Have a happy Monday!

Outfits that Grandma Mary Should Not Buy

Because we already bought these cute little duds for this winter and next summer :-)

Ready to Rumble

Abby's bags are all packed (except the one for her food) and she is ready to ride off into the sunset when her dad gets home from work. She is so ready she's been practicing riding on Little Brown, her pony.

Now we just have to drop Maize off at the hound dog Hilton (aka the borders). I'm sure Maize will be the only family member who does not enjoy this little vacation. Back on Sunday - catch you all up then :-)

It's Good to be Queen

Abby finished up her 5th month birthday by visiting her favorite Sault Ste. Marie restaurant ~ the Burger King two blocks from our house. It's her favorite place to go for dinner because there are lots of windows and two t.v.'s on her 3rd favorite channel (the Fox News Network).

And, Abby's head is finally big enough for her to wear the Burger King crown, so in honor of her 5th month party Abby got to be queen for the night.

Today Abby and I have to head down to the library to return some books, check out some new ones and renew the Lord of the Rings since we are not quite done learning about hobbits. We also have to pack our bags since we did all the laundry yesterday. I think we will have enough to keep us busy!

We did quite a bit of cleaning last night so that we didn't feel quite so cluttered. Abby can now play all over the floor again and was back to practicing her crawling after dinner. She can still only get one end up into the air at a time.

Five Months Old Today!

Abby is celebrating her 5th month in style today. And of course she is doing most of her celebrating with her best friend Maize. First they both slept in extra long today in Mom and Dad's big bed under the warm blankets. But then Maize licked Abby on the foot and everyone woke up.

Abby and Maize also did some lounging and playing on the new futon cover that we put on the futon this morning. We also moved it into the living room for extra seating and so Abby could relax on it and watch her favorite t.v. shows. She also did lots of playing in the exersaucer.

This afternoon Abby is going to accompany me on her first trip to the oil change place so our car is ready to drive to Great Grandma Lorraine's house. We are really excited to visit Grandma and Grandpa and also a lot of our Toledo and Ann Arbor friends!

Another Sweater and Abby's Second

Abby took Steve and I to our local Book World to pick out her very first children's Bible, which is her second Bible. She received a lovely Bible earlier this summer with illustrations by Great Grandma Jennie's neighbor, Nancy Munger Anderson. The first Bible even used Abby's Great Great Grandpa Ira as a model for some of the artwork, so it is a very special gift. But, the first Bible is an NIV and a little too advanced for such a young reader, so Abby requested a Children's Bible so she can have a daily Bible story time. We picked out the DK Children's Illustrated Bible because it had great pictures and lots of extra information along with a good retelling of the Bible stories.



















Abby also got her first homemade sweater - and this one actually fits her (for now). It is a very lovely blue with a yellow ribbon pulled through a line of sticthes to make a belt so she can tie her sweater on. We are looking forward to its debut tomorrow at church. I have some white yarn to make another sweater, but it may be a while before we start making that one. We have some baby afghans to get to work on.

We took Abby for another little walk down to the Soo Locks and around downtown this morning, but there weren't going to be any big boats and we couldn't find anything in the stores we couldn't live without. Now Abby is learning more about football - mostly how not to play it - by watching Michigan play Notre Dame. Abby is getting good at football.

Swinging Good Time

Here's the little swinger in her newly fixed swing. She hardly fits into it anymore. Abby screamed herself to sleep last night, but she's happy this morning so all is good.

We have some cooking to do tonight so we can go to our small group bible study armed with yummy desert for the potluck. We are thinking about chocolate cake.

We have to do a lot of laundry today - it has been over a week since the last giant laundry day. We have lots of folding and sorting and putting away. Lots to do. I better get to it!

A Much Needed Nap

I finally got Abby down for her first nap of the day about 2:30. She had been awake since 8:30 this morning. It was not a good start to our day. I hope she sleeps another couple hours so we don't have crab for dinner. I am planning on steak, but no one in this family enjoys a surf and turf dinner.

As a reward for getting her to sleep I got to finally start the dishes and the laundry that I had planned to do this morning. Ugh. I hate housework. I don't get paid enough to do all this. Tonight we are going to try to seal more windows - we have 3 of the 17 downstairs windows sealed and we still have 10 windows upstairs after that. That's a lot of windows seeping cold air into this old and relatively uninsulated home. Brr...

There are cute pictures of Abby in her baby swing, which we just got fixed after a wire falling loose in the move (3 months ago). The pictures are still on my camera, so I'll have to post them later tonight or tomorrow. You can just imagine loads of Abigail cuteness in a swing with a big smile and a warm sweater.

Taking After Uncle Nate and Uncle Dan

The Heater is ON

Boy was it cold this morning when we got up. Really cold. We would think 65 was great if it was outside and sunny, but it didn't feel so great when you are jumping out of a lukewarm shower. So I turned on the heater, but I set it to 66 for now, so I doubt it will get much warmer. I hope the sun comes out today and warms us up. We are going to have to seal the windows and doors for sure.

Unfortunately, yesterday's Daddy/Daughter evening did not go well. Abby's big day resulted in a very, very, very crabby evening. Poor Steve. He said it finally required a ride all around town to get Abby to stop the screaming. Not just crying - actual red in the face, hyperventilating style screaming. But, she woke up in a good mood today, so hopefully we can maintain the better attitude by staying around here and playing with Abby's best friend Maize.

We moved Abby's booster seat to the table so she could join us at meal time. It really improves the quality of time we get to spend at dinner, since she can play with things (including place mats) and see both Steve and I. We really enjoy our family dinners together.

New Tricks

Here's a great new skill Abby can add to her ever growing resume - the ability to make tooting noises with her mouth. That and soak through about 8 bibs a day doing it. She had a little tooting concert on our whole car ride this afternoon. I was laughing so hard I thought I may need to pull the car over and get a little more composed before I kept going. She is such a character.

We went to the mom's group from our church today - it was a lunch playdate at McDonald's playland. Abby isn't quite big enough for the playland, obviously, but she had a good time watching all the kids running around and enjoyed a bottle while we were there. She is so alert and attentive. Tonight is going to be an Abby and Daddy night while I go to the church building committee meeting (I somehow got volunteered to be on the committee and figured it was a good way to use my legal talents for the benefit of our church). Abby is in a good mood today, so Steve should be all set.

Tomorrow Abby and I are going to try and wash all the windows before we seal them up for the winter. No one wants to spend all winter looking through dirty windows.

Practicing For The Price Is Right

Spin it girl :-)
Thanks to whoever got this good toy (I think it was Aunt Ruth, Sarah, & Debbie). Abby sure loved it when we got it out for the first time yesterday.

Fruit, Fall, and Football

Our fall leaves are starting to appear - I am not sure if I am excited about this or not. I'm sure Abby won't care and Steve is inside all day at work, so it doesn't bother him either. It seems way to early to me for the leaves to be changing - especially since my Asiatic Lilies just started blooming.
Abby tried out bananas for the first time today and decided that she liked them quite a bit. She really gobbled them right down. It is the first fruit we have found that she likes to eat. Hopefully she will learn to like the other fruits too, but for now we are just glad she is a good veggie eater. Abby's been learning a lot about football in the last two days. First she got to watch lots of college football, including Michigan's win. Grandpa Harley even was here to teach her about football, but she mostly spent time warming back up to Grandma Lorraine. Today Abby's dad tried to get her to watch the Detroit Lions, but she decided to take a nap with her mom instead. It was much more exciting.

Tonight this little squirt is going to have her bi-weekly bath. I'm sure that will be a fun treat for her. She was great in church again and has had a fun afternoon, so we should be able to have a nice bath too. Hopefully she won't have a big splash party like last time!