More letters

Today we worked on the letters M, N, O, and P! So we decided to try to write Nanny & Papa, since she has already worked on A and Y before:


'N's are tough!

Here is Abigail today, smiling after we finished practicing letters.

Telling stories

Abigail comes up with some really interesting stories. Here is one from this morning.

Abby saw a bird outside the window while she was eating breakfast.

She said, "That's my bird."

I said, "Oh, it is?"

"Yes, but I left it outside until I'm big enough to hold it on my finger." She held her finger out to demonstrate. "I used to hold it on my finger when I was in your tummy. Then I said 'Mommy, can I get out of your tummy for a minute?' So then I got out of your tummy and got a bird to hold on my finger again. Then I got on the floor, and then I grew & grew & grew....and now I can't fit in your tummy anymore!"

I love her stories, and I think I will try to write them down more often. :)

Working on letters

Abby LOVES to do activity books together. We work on numbers, letters, shapes, colors, etc...
Today we were working on letters, specifically the big letter D. She already knows how to write a big A for Abby, so once she started making big D she could write DAD. I told her how to spell it, and she was very excited to write DAD! So of course I took a picture-
Then we worked on adding another D and a Y. She is still getting the hang of Y.
In other news, she has been diaper free for a while now, even at night. I still put a pull up on her when we go out in public, because she is sometimes too scared to use big public restrooms. But she has stayed clean & dry for a while now, hooray!

I'm Mr. Who-Whooo!

Today Abigail found a blue thread, put it on like a moustache, and came in the room, speaking in a low voice "Helloooo, I'm Mr. Who-Whoooo!" LOL! Then it fell off of her face and she said "hehee it's just me mommy". Oh man was I ever laughing. I got her to put it back on so I could take a picture: Here are a few more from yesterday:

^Drawing a picture for Nanny
^Trying to poke the camera
^Brushing her long locks
^Getting ready to run "SUPER fast!"

Just some fun photos

Here are a few photos taken over the last 2 months:

Fun outside! The weather was so nice we wore sandals:



Playing dress up with hats and scarves:
Another day outside, playing t-ball:



Handy Abby:


On Valentine's Day I like to say we had a romantic dinner for....3?! Hehe, Jeff, Abby and I had a fun day... for dinner we had filet mignon, shrimp & scallops, asparagus, caesar salad, bread, and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Here is Abby enjoying a chocolate dipped strawberry:
Valentine's Day party at Towanda Library story hour:

Hanging around outside, wearing her nifty new straw hat:

From January, playing with her new guitar toy:

Abigail is 3!

Abigail turned 3 this month on the 16th! We had a few family members over for dinner on her birthday, and then the Saturday after we had a bigger party. Here are some photos!

2/16-

Opening presents, with help from Gavin:
Hanging out with Papa:
Watching Peter Pan with Gavin (this is right before they got in a fight and someone got pushed off the couch, lol):
2/21-
Melissa holding Vicky's baby Nathan:
Tiffany, Ethan, Abby, and Papa:
Abby, Hope, Rebekah, and Sarah:
Elijah and Abby looking at the cakes:

Opening a cute sundress from the Kelly family:
A book from Nanny & Papa:
Decorations:

My first digital scrapbooking layout

So I recently decided to take up digital scrapbooking. I like to scrapbook but I don't like the mess, and we don't have a lot of space to lay out all the papers and such. I did some reading on digital scrapbooking and it seems like a great solution. We purchased Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, I downloaded some digital papers and embellishments and this is what I came up with:
I downloaded the papers and embellishments from http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com, most of it was designed by Samara Gugler. I think the buttons are from another source, but I can't remember where.

I used the cookie cutter feature to shape the purple paper and added the text. I used the eyedropper feature to take the color from the waistband on Abby's shirt to use for the text. The photos are from last year...some of my favorites of Abigail. I was excited at how the first attempt turned out so I wanted to share. :) You can click on the photo to see it in more detail.

Christmas pictures that didn't make the cut

We had professional photos done this year for Christmas. Abby was sick that day, and Gavin had just got up from a nap. The first few photos were hilarious...especially in person. The lady they had helping with the photos had the most shockingly high voice I have ever heard. The kids at first just had this horrified look on their faces.

Here is one example-I was laughing so hard I had tears rolling down my cheeks.

-Melissa

Christmas photos

We opened presents at our house the morning of Christmas eve. (Above & below)

Above- opening her stocking on Christmas day at Nanny & Papa's house

Above- the kids trying out their play guitars
Below- Uncle Ryan had some fun with the guitars too! He is wearing some cool napkin ring ear adornments.

Day after Christmas we all spent the evening at Nanny Papa's house again, and had dinner with Tiffany & Andy and their boys.

Above- a cute one of Gavin

Above & below- Abby jumping over Aunt Katie & playing with her


Below- Playing with Will & NannyThen on the 27th we went to Topeka for Christmas with my side of the family.
Below- Abigail with Valerie's girls

Below- everyone hanging out downstairs at the get together. It was a bittersweet day, everyone sure missed dad...or Grandpa Jerry as his grandkids called him.

Below- One of Abigail back at home, playing with the tool bench she got from Nanny & Papa

-Melissa