Happy Birthday Brian

Brian's birthday was on June 29th and Sam invited us to Hooter's to help celebrate. It was a great choice because they have a playroom for the kids and we were actually able to chat (in between refereeing the kids). Sam brought a homemade cake for dessert, it was a fun night. Happy Birthday Brian!!

Here are the kids in the playroom that they totally destroyed. I think they pulled out EVERY SINGLE toy they had. Don't worry we helped clean up!!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Wes

We had the pleasure of celebrating baby Wes' 1st birthday last Saturday night. We were very fortunate that the Kendall's happened to be in town on this special day. We didn't do anything too elaborate, but the kiddos seemed to enjoy themselves and that is all that really matters. Wes was not very interested in opening his presents but Abby and Nolan willingly helped out in that department. The cake on the other hand was a big hit! Wes LOVED it and dug right in without any hesitation!

Happy Birthday baby Wes! You are such a sweet, easygoing, handsome little fella and you can light up the room with your smile! I hope the next year is just as sweet as your first!

June's Random Ramblings

I need a place to write down all the random funny stories and things Abby does and says so I have decided to try to make this a monthly post. This will be more for me than for the readers, although I am sure you will kick out of some of things Abby comes up with. I am just going to keep a running list through out the month and publish it at month's end. Hope you enjoy!!

• We were driving in the car the other day and Abby was inspecting her legs. All of a sudden she said, "Mommy, I have fur just like Daddy!"
• Abby has been very sweet to her little sister and will sometimes give my belly a kiss or sing the baby a song.
• Abby has been very into the whole princess thing lately and the other night at dinner she said to me, "I am all done with my dinner your highness". I could get used to that!!
• Abby and I were at open gym and she was playing with a little girl who was about a year older than her. She asked the little girl her name, and told her "my name is Abby". And then she pointed to me and said "this is my Cheyna and she is very friendly."
• We went to Orlando this month and stayed in a hotel. Every time we were out and I said it was time to go home, Abby would correct me and say "Mommy that is a hotel, it is NOT our home!"
• If I ask Abby what color hair she has she always replies, "golden". The other day I asked her what color Daddy's hair is and she looked at me like I had 4 heads and said, "He doesn't have any hair!"
• Abby has pretty much boycotted breakfast. She just doesn't want to eat in the morning and I am past forcing her to sit in her chair and listening to her cry and still not eating anything. I still ask her if she is hungry or wants to eat anything in the morning to which she replys, "No thank you, my tummy is not grumbling." I just can't argue with that logic!
  

Q: What is more fun than helping Mom or Dad?

A: Helping Mom or Dad and making a mess at the same time!!

Here is Abby helping Daddy paint his beer pong table.

Abby and I made chocolate peanut butter bars and Abby "helped me clean" the dishes. i.e. she licked them clean!

Quick trip to Orlando

Andrew had yet another TDY in Orlando and after him being gone TDY 3 weeks in a row, Abby and I decided to join him. We had a good time, we swam, went to Downtown Disney, the worlds largest McDonald's, the outlets, and to a few good restaurants. We didn't do any of the big theme parks. I would never attempt this without Andrew's help or in the dead of the summer with all the crowds and the unbelievable heat!! Here are some pictures from our little mini-vacation!

These were taken the first night we arrived at Cafe TuTu Tango. It is a really yummy tapas restaurant and the atmosphere was really cool too. They had live music, art all over the place, a psychic, sometimes they have belly dancers, and Abby's favorite...a balloon clown!

When Andrew and I first saw this guy we thought Abby would be afraid of him. But, he was really good with kids and Abby thought he was very funny. Plus, she liked the balloons he made.

Not only did he make balloon animals, he did magic tricks too!! Very entertaining!!

Abby enjoying some ice cream one night after dinner. We were going to go putt-putt but decided against it when we found out it was $10 per person and there was no price break for kids. We will go somewhere around our house instead sometime.

Mmm, Mommy likes ice cream too!

One of Abby's favorite things about our vacation was the huge bed she got to sleep in all by herself! She loved getting it out at night and thought she was a really big girl sleeping in such a big bed.

Outside the Bibbidi Bobbibi Boutique with Princess Aurora

Giving Cinderella a big hug

Checking out the Lego dragon outside the Lego store at downtown Disney.

Petting the Lego doggies

Playing with the legos

This is at the huge McDonald's, I just think the expression is funny!

Mommy and Abby at the big McDonald's

"Look at all the tickets I won!"

Here is the sleeping beauty dress Abby picked out at WalMart. We were going to get one at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique but they were $70. We found this one at Walmart for the bargain price of $19.99. Its great having a toddler that doesn't know or care about the difference and while the dresses weren't the same, the one from WalMart was just as cute!

Abby and Daddy splashing in the pool one evening after Andrew got down with work!

Abby's got on her party dress...

...and she was ready to dance at the reception. Here are a few more pictures, these were taken at the reception which was a lot of fun and very beautiful. Erik recited a beautiful speech to his new bride and I don't think there was a dry eye in the room. Abby did a wonderful job and was an angel all day long. She was finally ready to take off her dancing shoes and party dress and go to bed around 10 PM, which was fine by me as I was probably more worn out after the days activities than she was!!!

Playing the piano, the DJ just wasn't cutting it all by himself!!

Bustin' a move on the dance floor

I knew she had some ballet moves, but I didn't know she could break dance too!

The beautiful cake. The photographer caught Abby sticking her finger in the frosting before the cake was cut! Shhh, don't tell anyone!

Andrew was told the night before at the rehearsal dinner that part of his duties as best man would be to learn and LEAD a traditional Greek dance. It was very entertaining to watch Andrew try this after only about 20 minutes of practice. The dance is not nearly as easy as it may look on My Big Fat Greek Wedding!

And....she is spent. I tried to get one last picture of the flower girls and Abby was NOT having it. I was afraid it I waited any longer to take her to bed she her dress would turn to rags and her stroller into a pumpkin. We left shortly after this picture was taken, but we had a fantastic time!!

Erik and Danielle's Wedding

Here are some pictures from Erik and Danielle's wedding that we attended while we were in Wisconsin. Andrew was the best man and Abby was a flower girl. It was a traditional Greek wedding and even though I couldn't understand most of what was being said, it was a beautiful wedding. I have lots of pictures (mostly of Abby) so I am going to keep the words to a minimum. I will say that Abby did a fantastic job as flower girl. I was very worried that she wouldn't walk down the aisle in a room full of strangers. But, yet again, the girl proved me wrong!! I think it was all because of the dress she was wearing ;)

Getting ready to walk down the aisle

Walking down the aisle. A little birdie told me that Andrew got a bit choked up seeing his little girl walk down the aisle just with the anticipation of things to come. (I thought it was sweet) And no, I didn't cry...I was too busy making sure that she didn't turn back around or start screaming and crying and refuse to walk any further!

The beautiful bride and groom.

The back of the dress, it was absolutely beautiful

Doing some ballet moves

Andrew and his brother Josh

Family photo

I am about 19 weeks along in this picture.