Early Christmas

Abigail was very excited about the early Christmas present we got yesterday. We found out that she is going to have a baby BROTHER in May!! Yep, baby #2 is on the way!

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Sorry we're slackers and didn't get cards out ... maybe next year!

discoveries

Abigail has discovered lately how much she loves to empty things. She is VERY thorough!

static electricity

future hairstylist?

pretty dresses courtesy of Aunt Megan (one of my favorites!!)

pigtails

Isn't she looking so old??? I love my little girl in pigtails. She is definitely growing up too fast! She seems more and more like a little girl than a baby. We definitely love her big smile! (More on Abigail in the next couple of posts. I was ambitious today!)

big girl

Abigail has gotten very good at taking care of herself (other than changing her own diapers, and oh how I wish she could). She loves to brush her teeth, come her hair, and wash herself. Well, she loves to splash anyway!

 

the tongue

Abigail loves her tongue, and is always doing something with it. She can touch her nose with her tongue, flip it sideways, and many more other things. It's pretty funny to watch.

new hobbies

Abigail has picked up some new hobbies lately:

coloring/drawing: (in church she'll sit on Joe's lap and draw for a little while ... you just have to make sure she doesn't decide to draw on you!)

then she abandons drawing for her own, personal laptop! (my parents were going to send it to DI, and I thought ... why not?)

She LOVES keyboards. My parent's keyboards are low, and very within her reach. And she knows right where they are! She'll sit on my lap and press buttons and do commands that I didn't even know existed! She loves her own little computer, whether it is on or off. She gets a little frustrated when she closes it and can't get it open!

 

Thanksgiving

Why is it that I bring my camera down for family gatherings, but I never take any pictures?? Thank goodness for my mom!! Thanksgiving was fun this year - we had a catered meal (yum!!), had some great conversation with family, and played some Kinect. With my sister moving to California and taking her four kids, these two grand kids got all the attention!

Joe was a much better beach volleyball player than me. He also was the track and field champion!

Mom & Katie playing soccer. The greatest game of soccer ever played!!

fall family fun

This weekend we got to go down to Salt Lake and visit family! The weather was a little bit chilly on Friday but we got to spend some time outside. Before the snow on Saturday. I'm not ready for snow!!

Aren't these two kids the cutest??? Benson is such a happy little guy, and loves playing. He's very relaxed, while Abigail's a little ... uptight. She is very particular about who holds her (mostly me or Joe), and what she eats. Oh well. 

Abigail did NOT like being put down in the leaves. She didn't like being put down in the grass in general. Maybe it was a little too chilly! 

She did love the swing, though! We had our fun while everyone else raked leaves and picked up nuts. 

Then the older kids enjoyed jumping off the wall into the pile of leaves. 

 

It was snowing as we left my Grandparent's, so Joe bundled Abigail up. It is sometimes handy having extra room in your coat! 

A Tickle Monster

One of our favorite games to play is the Tickle Monster!  We'll chase after Abigail and she'll squeal and giggle as she tries to get away.  The other day she began to tickle back.  What have we created?

holiday spirit

My sister got this sweater for Abigail. Isn't it adorable?? It made me in the mood for the holidays ... so we listened to a little bit of Christmas music yesterday. Just a couple of songs, promise :)

sunglasses

My parents bought Abigail sunglasses quite a while ago, but she's only recently taken an interest in keeping them on. Now she brings them to us, sits still while we put them on, and then walks around the house giggling. It is quite entertaining.

all about the cousins

We were lucky enough to have a visit from Abigail's cousins and aunt. We LOVE having people come up to our neck of the woods, and get to do something fun. We went to the Heritage Center, and spent a few hours trick-or-treating, walking through the corn maze, launching gourds, going down a slide, etc..

Abigail sat next to Benson for a little while. Aren't they the cutest kids??

Abigail LOVES dancing with Joe. It always makes her giggle!

All the kids enjoyed going down the slide! Joe was a good sport and went down a few times, too.

Lizzy got to spend the weekend with us! It was the first time we'd had another kid stay over, and we had a blast!

Lizzy was very concentrated on carving her pumpkin. She'd have nothing to do with gutting it, but didn't want much help with the carving.

Joe and I enjoyed carving some more, and I think they turned out pretty well. Can you guess who did which one?