January Random Ramblings

• When Abby wants to color, paint, glue, or cut she tells us she wants to get crafty.
• Abby and I were writing thank you notes for our Christmas presents and when I told her we were all done, she reminded me we needed to write Santa a thank you note for the doll house he gave her....once again I stand corrected!
• My friend Staci offered to have Abby over one afternoon after I had a bad morning with the girls (my fault, not theirs). Abby was very excited to go play with her boys, but as I was getting her shoes and jacket on she looked me right in the eyes and said "Mommy I still love you even when I am not here." She knows right when I need to hear something like that, she is such a sweet girl!!
• We were talking about God and Heaven on our way to church. Abby was asking some pretty tough questions and Andrew and I were doing our best to give her age appropriate answers. After a few minutes of going back and forth she finally asked, "When I go to Heaven, can I wear lipstick so Jesus will think I am pretty?"
• As we were driving in the car one day Olivia was crying (not unusual for her) and Abby asked me when I thought she was going to run out of crying power!
• A few days after we got our van (which I LOVE) I told Abby to get in the car and she turned and looked at me like I had 4 heads and said "We don't have a car Mommy, we have a van."
  

Ice Skating

On Sunday after church, we went down to Sandestin to take Abigail ice skating. Every winter at Baytowne Wharf they set up an ice skating rink, we missed out last year and I was determined to go this year. Well, with the craziness that goes along with the holidays we never made it down that way and I thought for sure we missed out again. We lucked out though because we called on Sunday and they were going to be open for one more week!

When we got there the rink was empty, not another soul around. Abby was very excited to get going and couldn't barely contain her excitement. She LOVED skating (with Andrew's help of course). Andrew would try to take a break to stretch out his back (it was sore from bending over to hold onto Abby) and Abby would keep telling Andrew she wanted to skate more. They were out on the ice for over an hour and not once did Abby complain or cry, even when she fell! We had to bribe her with hot chocolate to get her to leave. Abby comes from a long line of skaters. Her Dad and Uncle Josh both played hockey and her Uncle Duke and Uncle Mikey are both obsessed with the sport and are very good hockey players! Maybe someday she will play too, if not, I think skating will become a favorite past time of hers!

***I took a lot of pictures, sorry!!***

This is the rink. Nothing to those we see in Colorado or Wisconsin, but not too shabby for Florida! Mind you, it was about 6o degrees outside that day!

Abby's little skate, isn't it cute?!?

Getting all laced up

Taking her first step on the ice

Daddy and Abby

Taking a break (for about 5 seconds)

Mommy and Olivia watching the skaters

Mmmm, nothing like hot chocolate after a day of ice skating

Daddy and Olivia at Starbucks after skating

Andrew and his girls

Me and my girls (Olivia was ready for a nap!)

My little skating queen!

My Birthday

Well, as Sam so nicely pointed out, last week I celebrated my last birthday in my 20's. We spent the day in Pensacola looking for a van....yes, this was my idea and it was how I wanted to spend my day! When we got home we went out to dinner at the Wild Olive here in town. Its a yummy Italian restaurant and the girls were very well behaved, but we didn't want to push our luck (we were there for over 2 hours) and brought our dessert home! It was a wonderful day spent with my lovely family :)

We didn't take many pictures but Andrew snapped a few of me and Abby before we went to dinner.

...and here is Abby enjoying some chocolate birthday cake. Good thing we opted to bring dessert home with us!

Hibachi

A couple of weekends ago we went out to have Hibachi with Sam, Brian, Nolan, Tim and Becky. (Tim works with Andrew). It was a lot of fun and the kids thought it was really cool. I think they were a bit apprehensive at first but then they got really into it. Abby talks about the "funny chef" every time we drive by the restaurant.

The kiddos watching the show

Abby eating with her "chompsticks". Me in the background doing what I do best.....breastfeeding Olivia.

Pajama Day

Abby had pajama day at school last week and it was a big hit. Abby thought it was really cool to spend all day in her jammies and she has already started to plan which jammies she will wear next time its pajama day at school. All the kiddos looked so cute in their pjs and the teachers even got into the spirit!

I took this when I picked Abby up. She is not in a class of all boys but all the other girls had already been picked up for the day. Back row: Abby, Miss Marlo, Conner Front row: in matching pjs Nolan and Randy

Miss Marlo and her star pupils (at least in my mind) Abby and Nolan!

New Years Eve

We had a pretty low key New Year's Eve. We didn't dress up, we didn't go out on the town, we didn't wake up feeling horrible the next day. We had a few friends over, had some food, some drinks, shot off fireworks, played guitar hero and beer pong (I didn't play beer pong but others partook in the festivities). It was a good time. I was able to stay awake till midnight and watched the anti climatic ball drop in Mobile. We were watching the New York city festivities and then the TV cut out to Mobile at the last minute, it was quite a joke. Overall, it was a great way to start a new year. 2008 was a good year for us, Andrew traveled a lot, we spent time with good friends, Abby turned 3 and became a big sister! Olivia's arrival was by far the best part of the year. We are so thankful for our little family and that we are all healthy and happy! We are looking forward to a wonderful 2009 full of many adventures, including a move in the late summer. I will keep you all up to date on whats happening via the blog. Many blessing to everyone in 2009!!

I was not good with the camera and only got a few pictures. Here is Abby with a face full of yogurt. The kids had a lot of fun running around, playing, and watching the fireworks. They didn't quite make it till midnight though they came close, going to bed about 10:30 PM

Brian and Ryan all decked out to play guitar hero

I don't have any words for this....

Or this!

Again, I am speechless!

Wisconsin Bowl Game

While the girls went to Sea World, Andrew and his Dad went to the Wisconsin bowl game. Even though the Badgers lost, Andrew and Peter had a wonderful time!

The girls even got caught up in cheering for the Badgers!

Peter, Barry Alvarez (the former head coach), and Andrew

Peter, Bucky, and Andrew

Sea World

The day after Christmas we headed down to Orlando for the weekend. It was kind of a last minute trip, but we had a lot of fun and I am glad we went. On Saturday Andrew and his Dad went to the Wisconsin bowl game while Susan and I braved the crowds at Sea World with the girls. The guys had a great time at the game (I will post some pictures of that later) and we had a fantastic time at Sea World. Last time we went to Sea World we didn't see any shows and this time we saw 3! Abby LOVED them and I was very impressed with what they had to offer, she is still talking about Shamu and the pirate show we saw. It was a great little impromptu trip, so great in fact, it has prompted us to plan a trip back to Orlando to go to Disney in March....can't wait!!!

Myself, Susan, Abby and Olivia in front of the Budweiser horses.

Me and Abby checking out the seals and sea lions.

Abby and I in front of the Christmas tree

Abby saying goodbye to the Shamu statue as we were leaving.

Christmas card rejects and honorable mentions

Here are a few shots that didn't make the Christmas card this year:

My girls were not happy here!

So sweet!!!