Christmas Photos

Here are the first few Christmas photos. More to follow...

We are also very excited about the birth of Abby's two newest friends, Connor McDonald and Aashna Patel. Both born this week just in time to be tax babies :-)

Riding Horses

Abby got a riding pony for Christmas and she loves riding it!


Also... Abby has more pictures at her WalMart photo site. The password for first time users is "holiday". We put her new ones and all the old ones too, just in case there are some old photos that you wanted and we didn't give to you.

Abby's Secret Movie

We found this gem when we uploaded the videos - what cuties Jack and Abby are :-)

Abby Loves Jack

Abby always loves seeing her cousin Jack again. This time she even loved his pacifier, which is odd since she won't use her own.

Abby Opens Christmas Presents

Here is round one of this Christmas with Abby - opening presents at our home before we left for Hastings.

Making It Home

We made it home, and just in time based on the snow fall that started shortly after we arrived. All of Abby's new toys made it safely into the house and we have already put most of them away. We have lots of cool things to play with, and lots of great pictures from the last few days to share, but not right now. We have quite a few things to finish up before bed - like adding the new electric blanket (thanks Grandma Lorraine) to our bed :-)

Snowing, Going, But Hopefully No Blowing

We are getting ready to hit the road this afternoon, so we are hoping that there isn't any blowing snow. There is definitely going to be snow, so we are just hoping it stays in one place. Abby is all ready to leave for Hastings, but the rest of us aren't so ready.

I finished another baby afghan (that's 4 for this year) yesterday and have to take it to the post office and send it off to Baby Patel. We are all excited for her arrival and happy that Abby will have another dental school baby buddy. While finishing that afghan, Abby, Maize and I watch the pastor's daughters again yesterday. They are busy, busy little girls and we were all really tired last night. We did get some good laughs though, especially when the littler girl said to her big sister "let's pretend to be girls playing with dolls" while they were playing with Abby's baby dolls. It was too cute.

And now... back to packing. I need to find my Christmas Suit so Nate and I can look sharp for Christmas Eve. I haven't convinced Steve to participate in our tradition yet, but one of these days he'll do it, maybe.

Favorite Toy

Abby has a new favorite toy, and it didn't cost her dad and I a dime. Once upon a time, a long time ago, Abby's Grandma Mary bought me a Bitty Baby doll, since I had never had an American Girl doll before. So we put it away, and the other day we got it out for Abby to play with. She loves holding her baby and patting it on the head. The baby's eyes open and close when she moves. Abby even took her doll to church this morning, since it is one of her few non-noisy toys.

We are getting ready to come down state for Christmas. Abby's bags are packed, the gifts are all wrapped, and Maize says she is ready to go. Now all we need to do is pack a bag for Steve and I and make some yummy Christmas cookies to snack on. That and hope the snow doesn't strand us up here. We'll be keeping a close eye on the weather.

Army Crawl

From last Friday. This is Abby practicing her crawling. She is even better now!

Come On Ring Those Bells

Abby LOVES bells. Really loves them. She has a jingle bell and a traditional bell, so we get lots of "music". Enjoy!


We meant to put this up yesterday, but we had company and had a lot of cleaning and cooking going on. Abby hammed it up for our guests and was in general a crack up. She also had a little diaper disaster (aka blow out), so we decided she is going to have to start eating at least a little baby food, whether she likes it or not.

One Last Thing...

I forgot the funniest part about the shot experience. After we were all done and I was holding Abby so she'd stop whimpering, she looked right at the nurse and waved bye-bye to her. It was as if she was telling the lady to get away from her, please and thank you... What a joker :-)

One Last Shot

Abby got her last shot for a while today. We are all glad that she is done for a while and hope that the flu shot serves its purpose (or it will have a lot of torture for nothing). I guess the only way to know it works is for a flu free season, which means it may have worked or we may have just not been exposed. Poor kid... either way Steve and I both think it is better safe and sore than sorry when it comes to getting shots.

It is still bitterly cold in the U.P. and the snow keeps falling a little at a time. There was a good 3 inches on the car when I cleaned it off, so since Monday afternoon we've had at least that much snow. It's a good thing I enjoy it or it would be getting downright depressing.

Abby is making great strides on eating big girl food. We keep reducing the amount of mushy baby food she gets each day since it is a struggle to get her to eat it at all. She has an amazingly strong little jaw when she wants to keep mush out. I think the biggest problem with the baby food from her perspective is that she can't feed herself. She just wants to be miss independent already, so anything that she thinks she can do herself, she must do by herself. I will take all the blame for that... So anyhow, she tried real chicken for the first time last night and liked it. She takes her sweet time eating when it is real food, so we had to spend quite a bit of time at the table watching her mash up chicken. Eating real food also allows Abby the chance to be a chipmunk - her little cheeks get packed with stuff and she forgets to swallow it until her mouth is extra full. Luckily she has very developed control of her mouth and tongue, so we haven't had any problems with all this new big kid food. Now the problem is going to be getting Steve and I to eat better so that she isn't mad that she is eating vegetables and fruits while we are having bread and other calorie (and carbohydrate) rich foods. Bummer...

Photo Diary of Last Weekend

Here are a few more photos from in front of the Christmas tree this past weekend. On Sunday, since it was above freezing for the first time in a long while, Abby got to wear her fancy fur coat and hat to church. She was a real hit. She also tried out her "Kiss Me" shirt - although she wouldn't smile for any pictures when we had her in it. Oh well...

We had some of Abby's friends over today for the "Time Out For Moms" Christmas party. We had a nice time doing the reindeer paint project, playing, and watching a Christmas movie. Abby really loves playing with other kids, especially her friend A.J. We didn't have as many kids over as we expected, so there are a lot of extra cookies for Steve and I to eat :-)

Only 9 days until Christmas... Yipee!!!

Finger Paint Fun

Abby made some finger paint art today so we could remember how little her hands and feet were this Christmas. She was somewhat helpful, as you can tell by Rudolph's crooked antlers.

It was another super cold day in the U.P. It was so cold that our car locks and doors were frozen shut when we tried to run to the store. Luckily I was able to blow on the lock and get the doors open with a lot of tugging. Burr.

We are hosting a Christmas party tomorrow for the moms with preschool and young elementary children from our church. It should be a lot of fun and Abby always enjoys playing with other children. Her good friend A.J. should be there and we are praying for a snow day so that her other friend Maddie can come too. We hope you all enjoy yourselves tomorrow and hopefully you can have some yummy Christmas treats too!

So Much To Do, So Little Time

I think the above statement would accurately describe our weekend so far. We have been running, running, and running some more. First we were out late Friday night at bible study, and Steve was home late from Lansing. Then we had a cookie baking party Saturday afternoon, Steve went to the Lake Superior State U. hockey game Saturday night, and Abby and I spent the evening with a friend. We are all wiped out from that big day!

I don't know if any of you have the same problems at your Wal-Mart, so if this doesn't sound like your average trip be glad. We have an abundance of Canadians who cross the International Bridge to shop at our Wal-Mart (even though there is one on their side of the bridge as well) and so no matter the time or day, our Wal-Mart always seems to be unusually busy. Today was no exception. I think I waited in aisle gridlock for at least 5 minutes in the dairy/soup aisle. I cannot wait until the Super Wal-Mart opens - at least then there will be more space for all these people to fit into...

Abby is still working on perfecting her crawling skills. She was getting around the McDonald's house pretty well last night before she fell asleep. She still hasn't figured out how to get the knees and hands moving together so that she doesn't end up in a faceplant, but I bet it won't take her too long to figure that part out. She's already figured a lot of new things out in the last couple days. And she only has one scrape so far, so we should still be having a photogenic Christmas.

And now for the weather update... it is the first day in about 3 weeks above freezing, but we are getting a snow/sleet/freezing rain mix, so I think I'd rather have the fridgid temperatures and snow that that yucky stuff. There was at least 2 inches of slush in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We've got about a foot of snow in most of the yard (more where it has been shoveled and piled). So if you are dreaming of a white Christmas, I know where you can find one. I'll gladly trade if you can guarantee me 75 degrees and sunny...

Dear Miss Manners...

Abby has been working hard on her table manners. Sometimes they work and sometimes an entire animal cracker gets jammed into her mouth (and then hangs out of her mouth while she gums it). She is, unfortunately for Maize, getting much better about not sharing her food with her dog. That is a very big step!

We are still home alone until 10 or 11 tonight, so Abby and I are headed off to bible study by ourselves. We also have to remember to bring the bacon and sausage for our weekly potluck dinner, which is breakfast foods tonight. And the birthday present for Abby's friend Madison who turned 1 year old today! Wow... I am going to be making several trips to the car. And we are going to start that car early - it is less than 10 degrees outside today. Brr....

Home (Almost) Alone

Abby and I are hanging by ourselves tonight while Steve is down in Lansing for a dental conference. But do not fear, we have an extra guard dog tonight to help keep us safe. Actually... we are dog sitting for a friend, so Maize and Jessie are having a dog slumber party and Abby and I are chaperoning them. And since Abby enjoys dogs it works out well for everyone, except maybe me who has extra dogs to watch and no one to help entertain Abby so I can wash dishes and such tonight... That must mean we need to go out for dinner and Abby would especially enjoy watching kids at the McDonald's play land.

Anyway, Abby has one Christmas outfit that is not a beautiful dress, so she wore that the other day and we took some Christmas tree pictures. She is mostly trying to figure out how to get the candy canes off the Christmas tree and then how to get the candy cane taste into her mouth. Luckily for us she can't get the wrappers off, yet. Today Abby was working really hard on crawling on her hands and knees and I was working really hard on taping her, but she is a ham and quit trying as soon as I turned the camera on. She also pulled herself into a standing position all by herself, but then she let go and took a nose dive right into the side of the couch. Ouch... I guess it's a good thing that we have hard skulls - Abby's seems to get a lot of use lately.

Hopefully by tomorrow we have some great crawling footage. If not you can just imagine this... Abby on her hands and knees, followed by Abby extending her legs straight up (think triangle, since that is what she looked like), followed by a second attempt to get on her hands and knees, then bouncing up and down on her hands and knees, but all with no forward or backward movement...

Breakthrough

We have had the first definite use of a word in reference to something! Lucky for Steve it was him. Today when he came home from lunch and looked around the corner into the living room he got a shout of "dada" and some excited arm waving. It was really, really cute. Too bad I wasn't taping it... Abby is going to be a daddy's girl for sure.

We also had a first yesterday - Abby's first freak out moment over something she saw on t.v. We were watching Pinky Dinky Doo (if you haven't seen it, avoid it), which is one of the few shows Abby will concentrate on, when a dinosaur came on the screen. Now you would think a girl who loves to roar and growl would appreciate a dinosaur, but not this girl. She went into hysterics and we had to shut the t.v. off, even though the dinosaur wasn't on anymore. Poor kid... I guess we won't be watching Jurassic Park with Abby anytime soon.

Our high was supposed to be 10 degrees farenheight today, so you downstate friends and family "suffering" with 20+ degree weather can just remember that you are at least 2 times warmer than we are here...

Jen's 10 Reasons Why Living In the Soo is Just Like Camping

1. It's an old house - I am washing dishes by hand, just like when we camp.

2. Again, old house, cold - sleeping in our bedroom is about as warm as a tent in the fall.

3. Bathing - shower no bigger than a camp shower or an old iron tub, just about the same as camping only with a little more consistent (sometimes) hot water.

4. Smells - did we mention that we've had skunk spray twice behind our house in the middle of town?

5. Shopping - when Wal-Mart, K-Mart and JC Penney are the high end shopping in town (and the best for about 200 miles), you are basically "roughing it"

6. Security - old house, unsquare doors... probably can't withstand repeated kicks. Hardly better than our tent.

7. Food - when the only option for reliable sit down service (that isn't a bar or stuffed to the rafters with roadkill) is Applebee's, you mightas well eat at home. And with the improved camping stoves, my at home cooking is basically the same as my camping menu.

8. Dirt - We have a yard, we have a dog. Our floors are probably cleaner in the tent camping than in here...

9. Noise - Old house, paper thin walls and windows, we can hear it all and some of it is not good.

10. All of the places we wanted to visit on our family camping trips are now a stone's throw away. Mackinac Island - just about an hour, Tahquamenon Falls - a hour and a half, Lake Superior - 20 minutes...

Here Are the Christmas Cards!!!

We have sent out the first set of Christmas cards, so one of these four fine photos should be making it's way into your mailbox really soon. And if it doesn't, that means we didn't have your address! If you do want to print yourself some extras all the photos are at http://photos.walmart.com/groups/abbyschristmasalbum, all you need to do is enter the code "holiday" and you can print photos of Abby to your hearts content. If this works well we may put other pictures of Abby up to share. So while you are waiting to see which of the four fabulous photos is in your card, try to take some time to relax and enjoy a wonderful time of the year!

Clean Teeth, Tired Mommy, and Jumping Beans

Abby had to brush her teeth after all the candy canes she tasted. Good thing she likes to brush her two little teeth. She even got to use a Crest SpinBrush to get them super clean. We had to document the teeth cleaning since we documented the candy eating. That way no one gets the wrong idea about what the dentist around here does to ensure Abby's teeth stay beautiful!

Abby is wired today for some reason - she has had no candy, no sugar, and only the normal baby food (plus she tried baby food chicken). Her poor jumper is going to be worn out by the time she is done with it. And the unfortunate thing is that I would really like her to have a nice nap this afternoon instead, since she woke me up at 4:30 this morning. Maybe all this playing will make her sleep really well tonight! On top of the lack of sleep, my coffee maker has decided to be worthless and somehow, no matter how careful I am, half the coffee grounds end up in the pot. There is nothing worse than crunchy coffee. That may be on my Christmas list, or maybe I will just give up drinking coffee all together. After all, I did make it 2 whole years before having a cup a few weeks ago. But a hot drink on a cold day is a good thing... what a dilemma!

That being said, I think my jumper is almost jumped out, so it is probably back to changing diapers for me. Have a wonderful Monday - we are going to enjoy watching the snow fall (again) tonight.

More Birthday Fun

Here are a few more pictures of Abby and her Daddy having a great time on his birthday! And we now have a beautiful, soft Douglas Fir Christmas Tree in our dining room. Abby really loves checking out the ornaments that we put on the lower branches. We made sure they were all Abby safe since they have already been chewed, grabbed, and thrown.

Abby also got her first lick of candy cane, but her dad quickly told her she couldn't have any more. She liked what she tasted though and tried to steal mine later on. Apparently starburst strawberry candy canes are on Abby's wishlist for Christmas :-)

Happy Birthday Mohawks

Abby tried to talk her dad into getting a birthday mohawk when he went to get his haircut, but he went for the traditional style instead. That didn't stop Abby from sporting her own mohawk. We tried to get the picture, but her hair is a little too fine for it to capture well on the camera.

Here's another picture that didn't make the Christmas card cut. We are still waiting on the ones that made the cut to come back from being printed, so we aren't going to get the Christmas cards out for at least a few days. By tomorrow I'm sure we will have a few lovely photos by the Christmas tree, which Steve is picking out while I type.

And speaking of Steve, he loved the birthday presents Abby and I picked out for him. He's got two great warm sets of pajamas, a new sweater, and a new video game. Plus there is college football and he didn't have to work. I think that adds up to a great birthday in his book!

Big Helpers

Abby and her friend A.J. were big helpers today while she accompanied me and some other ladies from our small group to Christian Freedom International's store to help make some holiday gift baskets with items from around the world. They had so much cool stuff - we probably came home with more of it than we needed. We especially loved the handmade baby sling, which was apparently really comfortable since Abby fell asleep in it while I was making bows and wrapping filled gift baskets. We both had a lot of fun.

And now for the planning of Steve's birthday festivities. Since he had to get up at 5:30 this morning to shovel our driveway and scrape off both cars, I'm sure part of his big birthday plans includes sleeping in as late as possible. I'm sure Abby and I will be happy to oblige him and probably make him some breakfast in bed :-)

Happy Weekends!!!

Side Note...

We are glad that Abby loves her new straw sippy cup, but it has had an unanticipated effect on our daily routine. More liquid intake equals more output... I'm sure you know what I mean.

Twinkle Toes

Here is a small corner of Abby's final version of the Christmas picture. Now, just to avoid confusion, there will be 4 separate versions of the Christmas picture that are going to be mailed out (so that each afghan maker has a special photo with their afghan in it). That being said, I will make sure that you all get to see each of the final 4 and we will even make the album we uploaded available on walmart.com for others to order from. But not just yet... you'll have to wait until after we send out the cards.

Tonight I have a baby shower to go to, so it will be the 2nd attempt at Daddy/Daughter night. We are keeping our fingers crossed that today's attempt goes better than last time, which was a sob fest followed by a car ride. Abby has a bath on the agenda so that should help. Plus at lunch time Abby didn't want her daddy to hand her to me (she actually did the whole stick tight trick). Steve said it was the best birthday present ever. I think I'd agree... maybe I'll take back the rest of his gifts. Just kidding, maybe...

I Want Candy!

Abby has discovered candy canes and would really like to figure out how to get the wrapper off them. Today we babysat Bailey and Katelyn again and Abby was really enthralled with them. She loves watching bigger kids.

We decided to wait until Saturday to go and get a tree the old fashioned way - cutting it down at the tree farm. Now we just have to hope that the 12 to 24 inches of snow that are forecasted for tonight and tomorrow doesn't bury all the trees!

Some That Didn't Make The Cut

We are taking multiple versions of Abby's first Christmas picture so that each of her handmade afghans appears in a picture. Here are a few of the different versions that weren't quite adorable enough to beat the finalists (which will not be revealed until you open your Christmas card). Thanks to Great Grandma Jennie for the white afghan (in the first two shots), to Sharon VanKoevering for the perfectly pink afghan (in the second two shots), and Arlene Shock for the pink and white afghan (in the last shot)!

Tonight we are planning to put up our Christmas tree and take a family photo to finish our Christmas cards. We just have to keep our fingers crossed that the snow will not get to heavy after Steve gets out of work. We love snow, but we really want our Christmas tree!

The Thanksgiving Rundown

Okay, so here's the rundown of our Thanksgiving in Hastings. Abby had lots of fun and learned how to do new things and tried new foods too. She had a little taste of pumpkin pie, apple pie, cheesecake, squash, real sweet potatoes, stuffing, cookies, Krispie Kreme doughnut, and tortilla chips. And best of all she learned to use a straw and loves it. She is so into straws that we bought her a sippy cup with a straw and she drained the water lickety split. She sure loves doing big girl things.

Abby also had lots of fun visiting her family and meeting some new family members. She isn't as friendly as we'd like, but she's not a total hermit either, so I guess we can't complain. She is very good at making eyes and smiling at people as long as Steve or I (mostly me) are holding her. And there were sure a lot of people to meet and meet again. She was a really good little girl all things considered.

But one thing she loved most for sure was getting home. She was the happiest, smiliest girl when she saw all her toys and her new room. It was really funny to watch her get so excited. Now the countdown is on until our trip down for Christmas. Just a little Christmas shopping to do and we will be all set.