Fun Evening with Friends and a Surprise!

Steve has been super busy at work and that is a good thing, but it has left the kids and I with some free evenings and tonight we thought what better way to spend our evening without Daddy, then at the mall with friends! We met Mrs. Yvonne, Mary and AJ at the mall for some McDonald's and then some playtime at the playcenter in the mall and had such a fun time! The kids were so excited to see each other again and always play so well together. They are all old enough (minus Hayden) now to remember each other and look forward to spending time together, they are friends! Yvonne and I got to enjoy a relatively low-key dinner, where we were able to chat, while the kids had their own conversations. Then we ventured over to the play area and let the kids burn off some energy. It was a great time!

Now for the surprise! To my total shock, Abigail got her ears pierced!! Again, Abigail does not handle pain well. I have been asking her to get her ears pierced for over a year now and everytime she would respond with "No way, I am not going to put holes in my ears!" So, I had pretty much accepted the fact that I was most likely going to miss out on this experience and she would do it when she was 16 and out with friends, and that made me sad! While we were leaving the play area, we walked by Claire's and I half-jokingly asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced and she responded with a very enthusiastic "Yes!" I thought she must not have heard me correctly, so I asked her again and the response was the same. Yvonne and I looked at each other with wide eyes and very hurriedly made our way to Claire's before she could change her mind! I made sure they had two piercers available, filled out the paperwork, and got Abigail all set. She picked out a pair of purple studs and although she looked nervous, she did not waver in her decision. Mary held one of her hands and I held the other and Mitchell stood in front of her telling her what a big kid she was now. It was all very sweet and special and I know I will never forget it!

Getting ready to pull the trigger!

Pretty girl with pretty earrings!

So, our night of fun with friends, also turned in to a monumental day in Abigail's life (or at least in her short almost 6 years) and definitely was a moment that I will always remember!

First Tooth Fairy Visit

After many weeks, if not a couple of months, Abigail finally lost her first tooth! She was so anxious to get the very loose, wiggly tooth out and to our surprise, she even asked if we would pull it! Now, if you know Abigail, you know that she is a little timid and does not handle pain very well, much like her mother, so we were so shocked when we practically begged us to pull her tooth! We tried for two nights and neither of us could get a good hold on the teeny, tiny little tooth and Abigail was frustrated. She wanted her visit from the Tooth Fairy and she wanted her name on the "First Tooth Lost" chart at school, very important things to a five year old!
Finally, this afternoon, after Nana tried a few times to pull it out, I was able to get hold of the tooth with a napkin and gave it two good pulls. On the second pull, it popped out! At first Abigail was a little startled and started to cry, but as quickly as she started she stopped and then ran to look at her new smile. She was so impressed with the gaping whole that now was part of her smile and we were teary-eyed at just how big our little girl is getting!

The joy of reading!

I love to read! Anyone that knows me, knows that I almost always have a book somewhere on me, whether it be a borrowed book from the library or on my new Kindle (thanks to my mom for a great birthday present last year!) I am usually reading multiple books at a time and it is truly one of my favorite past times. So, you can only guess my delight, when from an early age, my daughter seemed to develop my same love of reading. I can remember her being less than a year old, holding a book and "reading" to herself or anyone that would listen. Abigail has continued this over the years and has been so excited as she learned her letters, their sounds and what they looked like. And now that she is in kindergarten, she has really taken off and is learning the phonics and sight words, that she has only looked at for years. She has been making such progress since school started in August.

Abigail & Mitchell both reading when she was about 3

This afternoon, I was fixing Abigail's hair before we went out and she grabbed up one of her books to "read" while I finished the very familiar task of making braids. She had a page opened and was just making up her words and I noticed that some of the words were her sight words that she has been learning. I pointed this out to her and she read a few, then she started at the beginning of the sentence and started sounding out the words that she did not know. Before we knew it, she had read the 5 words sentence all by herself! She was so proud of herself, as was I. So, she quickly and eagerly flipped the page and read another 5 or 6 word sentence on her own. Abigail was so thrilled that she was finally reading, something she has longed to do since she was a chubby toddler!

Abigail cheesing with some new books for Christmas

I cannot begin to describe the amount of pride that welled up inside of me, as I watched my firstborn take just another step toward growing up. She will read many words in her life, but none will sound as sweet to my ears as those first, sounded out ever so technically, words. I know what an amazing world opened up to me in the pages of books and I am so excited that she will share this same love and passion for reading as I do. Our night time routines will start to change over the next few months, as Abigail continues to grow in her new-found reading skills and she will start reading to us instead of the other way around! I know watching our kids grow up can be difficult at times, but it is also an amazing journey that I am so privileged to travel along with them!

My Girl in Curls

I am so blessed with my three kiddos and I love getting to experience having both a girl and boys. I get all the rough and tough aspects of having boys, with their constant need for dump trucks and getting dirty, but then I get to experience the life of having a little girl and oh do I have a girly girl!! My mom wasn't so lucky with her girl, I was a tomboy to the core. I did not want to wear dresses or have my hair done or help her cook in the kitchen, I was more into sports and wearing basketball shorts and having my hair in a ponytail. So, this life I find myself in now, with such a girly girl as a daughter, is very new territory for me! But I am learning to embrace it.

Last night, was one of the times that I embraced all things feminine and spent some time with my beautiful daughter, who is growing up so quickly, right before my eyes. Abigail has long, thick gorgeous hair that is straight as a stick, just like her Momma's. So, to get any curl in it and for it to stay, we have to use sponge rollers. We had small sponge rollers from when she was younger and when we tried to use them several months ago, they made the curls much too tight and it resulted in a tangled mess of hair. However, Abigail has been begging me for months to please put the curlers back in her hair and I explained to her that we had to get some bigger rollers to make the curls the right size and avoid the disaster and tears that followed the tight curls. Finally, we were at Target last week and I remembered to get the new rollers and she was ecstatic and squealed with little girl delight. The next night was shower night and she was the first to jump in the shower, just so she could have her hair put in rollers!

I want to cherish these moments with her because I know they are fleeting. Abigail was so happy to sit at my feet while I rolled each section of hair and made sure it was just right. She opened each clip and would hand me the pretty, pink roller at just the right time and we chatted during our hair session. We talked and talked, not about anything in particular, but just chatted in a way that I hope we always will. After we had all 21 rollers strategically placed on her little head, she popped up, gave me a kiss and then ran into the bathroom to check out her head full of rollers. She was so proud and was even okay with sleeping in them all night, no complaints at all!

Rollers are all in!

This morning when she woke up, she was eager to see the results and we removed each roller ever so carefully and there were all her curls. She loved the way they bounced and swayed and when she looked in the mirror she said she looked and felt like a princess and was pretty. Something so simple and small and it was such a wonderful experience with my daughter, something that just the two of us shared. I love her so much and I love that she is so girly, even though it is something I am unfamiliar with. I can learn to be a mom of a princess and even a cheerleader, if she so chooses. I just love being her mom and all that it entails. She brings me happiness and joy and I look forward to all the other girly fun we will get to have together!

And the beautiful results and my always beautiful
little girl!

Disney on Ice!

Today Steve & I took Abigail to see Disney on Ice: Worlds of Fantasy at US Bank Arena, it was a wonderful date with our daughter! We all had so much fun together and the show was awesome! Abigail was so excited to see some princesses and Tinker Bell! This was really the first big outing we have gone on with just Abigail and she was beyond thrilled to have Mommy & Daddy all to herself and get to watch Disney too! We decided Mitchell was a little too young to attend this year, so he got to spend a fun-filled day with his Nana & Poppa (he had much more fun, he got to ride a tractor, made his day!)

We got a big tub of popcorn & some drinks and found our seats. Abigail, being as impatient as her mother, could barely stand waiting for the show to begin. As soon as the lights went down, Mickey & Minnie came out and the look on her face was priceless! She didn't know what to think or do! She started waving and saying hi to them, even though we were up quite a ways. She watched the entire show so intently and was just mesmerized with the action on the ice. She knew a bunch of the songs and sang along and even danced. She stayed glued to Daddy's lap, which Steve was most happy with! He got to get lots of good hugs and kisses throughout the show!

I sat there and watched her reactions more than I watched the show. I was just so overwhelmed with love and admiration for this little girl that captured my heart over 3 1/2 yrs ago! To see the pure astonishment on her face was enough for me! She has just gotten to be so big over the last year, definitely not a baby anymore. It even made me cry as I watched her because she is growing up so fast and I want to cherish every moment that we have with her because they are already counting down. But no matter how big she gets, she will always be our little girl!

Abigail's 1st Day of Pre-School!

It's true! Our little girl is growing up! Abigail attended her 1st day of preschool today. She will be going Tues & Thurs from 9-11:30am. Normally, I will just drop her off since her school offers a drop off/pick up service, but today Steve & I took her in, thinking that she may be a little nervous, but we were wrong! She walked right in like she owned the place! She was so excited she could hardly stand it!

We had already been to the school a few weeks ago for orientation and found out that Abigail's teacher is actually one of our neighbors, which was so nice! So, Abigail was already familiar with her teacher and her classroom. This past weekend we decorated her preschool bag with iron-ons & jewels (or as Abigail calls them "diamonds") that she had picked out. All weekend she kept asking when was it time to go to her school!

She had so much fun at her first day. She was so excited to show us all the cool things that she had made, including learning how to write an upper & lower case "A" and making an apple tree that said "God made the apple tree". She was very enthused about tearing up the paper to make the leaves for the apple tree & then getting to glue them on. She also used ink on her fingers to make the apples, she was so impressed!

We are so happy that Abigail is enjoying her school and her time that is just her own. While Abigail is in school, Mitchell & Mommy also get to enjoy their own special time, which is so great! Mitchell was sad today when she left and kept looking at her carseat in the van and saying "Ga-Ga seat, Ga-Ga cool". But he adjusted and enjoying spending some time alone with Mommy.

It is so hard to believe that our baby girl is growing up so fast and becoming such a little lady! We are so proud of her & look forward to the rest of her yr of preschool!

Some Abigail funnies!

I could really write a daily record entitled "Abigail Funnies" because our daughter is a drama queen and says some pretty funny things, and she is only 3!! So, I thought I would share some recent funnies that happened yesterday in our house!

Unfortunately, the funny things that came about yesterday were during a temper tantrum that Abigail was throwing over not wanting to eat dinner or the dinner that I had fixed. Here is the conversation that took place between Abigail & I at the dinner table:

Abigail (crying & sobbing): I don't want to eat my sandwich!
Mommy: You have to at least try it, you can't just eat your veggies.
Abigail: But I will just eat the bread, okay?
Mommy: No mam, you have to try the whole sandwich, then if you don't like it you can just eat the bread.
Abigail: No mam, I will just eat my carrots!

At this point, Steve & I are busting out laughing, even though we try not to do that when we are being stern or disciplining either of them. But this was too funny not too, she was so upset and being so serious all at the same time!

The next funny came after she had calmed down from the dinner fiasco. She was upstairs putting on her princess outfit; tiara, high heels and all! I was up there and asked her if she was coming back downstairs to play with Daddy & Mitchell. She said "No, Mommy I am going to be a princess in my room for a while, I need some time to myself!" Wow! What do I say to that! I think she is definitely 3 going on 15 and we are in trouble down the road!!