Cookie Making

Abby and I are going to have a cookie making extravaganza tonight so that she can share valentine's cookies with her dad's office mates and her favorite babysitter and family. We picked up some heart shaped cookie cutters, so all we need to do is bake and decorate!

Tomorrow Abby is going to be breaking in a 2nd new babysitter for the week. This time Susie, Kitty's sister, is going to be babysitting Abby while Steve and I spend the afternoon in board meetings (again... it must be the week for being bored... or board). Luckily for Susie, tomorrow morning is swimming class, which Steve can take Abby to before his meeting. So, by the time Susie comes, Abby should either be napping or ready to.

We did another night with the c.d. player - I wish I would have discovered this months ago. I put on the Veggie Tales c.d. (it sings to Abby with her name in the songs), sat with her for the first couple songs (since one is "If You're Happy and You Know It" and she just has to get up and stomp her feet) and then left. She fell asleep, the c.d. ended, and it was blissfully quiet by 9:30 in our house last night. It was close to a world record for getting Abby to bed early. And she still slept until after 8 a.m. this morning, so I'd call that a good night all around. Except for maybe the fact that Baby Sister was using me for a punching bag.

Cookie Exchange

Today Abby and I hosted what we hope was the first annual Christmas cookie exchange at our house. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Yesterday Steve, Abby, and I made about 16 dozen cookies (we also had some help from our friends Trevor, Tara, & Maddie Dodge). So for the exchange we provided butter cookies, peanut butter cookies with reese's cups inside, and 2 varieties of sugar cookies (one roll out and one drop style). I think we are all cookied out for a while.

Abby enjoyed her weekend with Daddy. We did lots of playing and watching Veggie Tales together. We are going to have a girls only night tonight while Steve goes with friends to see the Manly Man Movie of the month (Avatar). I think Abby and I will finish up a few Christmas shopping type things and probably enjoy another Veggie Tales movie. Then we may very well be having our family Christmas tomorrow night, just in case we need to leave Wednesday to avoid any snowy weather. So far it seems that we will be clear until Christmas Day, but you just never know with the lake effect snow bands we have to drive through (mostly from St. Ignace to Grayling). And we need to do Christmas before we ride down because Steve and I want some new Veggie Tales to listen to while we drive.

Party Weekend

It is snowing again. And of course, we have a silly winter weather advisory (news flash... it is winter in the UP, it snows, a lot). So... apparently I should be out shoveling some of it before it gets too deep (2 to 5 inches says the national weather service), but instead I'm thinking about all the fun we had with Abby this weekend.Friday night we had friends over so Abby had lots of little playmates. She is just starting to get to the point where she wants to play with other kids, not just next to them. They had lots of fun playing with the toy kitchen things. On Saturday we went to Maddie's birthday party (one of Abby's two best friends). All her friends were there again, so we got to watch the girls have another great playtime. And, Abby ate all of her ice cream, all of my ice cream, and none of her cake. So I got double cake and she got double ice cream. Not a terrible trade-off.

Yesterday Abby really went to work and made dozens and dozens of cookies at the Drockton's house. She had lots of fun visiting "Doctor Dave", Jackie, and the girls. We did have some minor moments of confusion when Abby couldn't tell which big girl was Kitty, but we got over it pretty quickly. Abby enjoyed playing with all the doll house pieces and parts that the Drockton's had. She was in little girl heaven. And we brought home a lot of delicious cookies, candies, and fudge. It's a good thing there is snow to shovel or my waistline would be expanding faster than allowable.

Here's some funny stuff Abby's come up with lately. She now asks for a "family hug" - aka mom and dad hugging her at the same time. She also continues to tell her dad to kiss her mom (I still think some money is secretly changing hands). And apparently Abby isn't really a big fan of Christmas cookies - she loves oreos, but she won't even try most of the cookies we made yesterday.

Fake Food

Abby's been playing with her fake food a lot today. She's especially enjoyed eating her fake pizza. That and learning how to use her little squirters in the pool.

We finally cooled off today and we really enjoyed the weather. So much that we baked and cleaned out the office. We are now done with boxes of stuff laying around :-)

Other than that, not much to update. We've just been playing and laughing. Abby says "hi" to all of you!

Cookie Making

Dear Uncle Dan,

Thanks for the cookies!

Love,
Abby