Is that a Jeep? No, it's my Sports Utility Vehicle

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Papa I like your new sports utility vehicle. Actually this is one of our favorites from veggietales. Charlie even sings this one!

Looking back on 2007

Miss Abby has had such a busy year. A lot of firsts this year. At the very begining of Feb. she became a big sister and her mom became a stay at home mom. This was a muchharder for me to get adjusted than Abby. Being one who has always kept busy. Even as a kid playing sports and as a teenager I always worked. Papa helped with this transition with our Wednesday night dinners. This at least got me out of the house once a week, and became something we all look forward to.

Later in late spring Abby became a great helper as I started my daycare. She had the best of both worlds, playmates and Mom!

She "graduated" from Tiny Tots and started High Five. Abby was sad to leave all her new friends but hasn't had any difficult making new ones.

I am looking forward to the many firsts for 2008, and I am enjoying sharing all of them with you as they happen, :-)

Tata

Ps. Dad this is 7 for December we are tied!

Christmas Day

This photo is some what of a tradition in my family. If two people have a camera it is only nateral that you would take a picture of one another taking a picture. We are a special sort! Abby got her own digital camera for Christmas, Thanks Auntie Beth! It surprises and terrifies me how much little kids can do now with technology. I am mostly scared that Abby's knolege with surpass mine this year, when it comes to all of this. Which I suppose wouldn't be all bad because than she can help me update these posts and I can teach her another family tradition, friendly competition!

This photo is the best I have right now of Abby's sweet Christmas dress. I know better ones were taken, I am just wating to get my hands on them. She looked like like a snow princess!

Speaking of snow princesses.....:-P

Tata

Christmas Time

What a wonderful Christmas we had. We hope all of you a great one too. Christmas Eve we spent the evening with the immediate Miller family and with the Lamm's Christmas morning. We had Christmas Dinner with my Mom. Come Christmas night we were tired out.

Santa brought Abby "Butterscotch"

Butterscotch is ALL Abby wanted this year. She was beside her self when she saw the horse in our dining room. Butterscotch has been renamed Sunny and is remarkably like a real pony not that I would really know what a real pony was like. But it "eats" a carrot, is voice and motion censored and will move its head to follow you. It also moves its tail and nieghs. Abby loves riding it too as you can see in the photo.

I will have to admit I was a bit taken a back when Abby said she wanted a real horse for Christmas, and than she pointed Butterscotch out at Target and said see Mom a Real Horse.

tata for now, more christmas photos to come..... Have to catch up with the old man!

MMMM Chocolate covered pretzles

Today Abby and I prepared for her last day of school before Winter Break. We made chocolate covered pretzles for her bus drivers and for her teachers... YUM! We snuck a couple too! Earlier this week she painted wooden chipboard snowmen and we stuck magnets on the back, it turned out to be a pretty cute & fun craft.

Here is a cute one....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooc5eJc5SHA

Mankato and more xmas....

This past weekend we drove down to Mankato, Auntie Katie graduated! Abby was bored to tears! She did really well, we brought her leapster and took several trips to the bathroom to give her a break.

Abby loves her Aunties! She told me she didn't need Santa, since her aunties would buy her toys from all over the world, just not from china!

Today we found a pickle ornament. We have been trying to hunt one down with no luck until today. It's a tradition I thought might be fun for us to start. We will leave the pickle ornament out with the cookies for Santa. Santa will put the pickle ornament on the tree in a tricky spot. The first one to find the pickle gets a special gift. The idea is to get children to take a minute an enjoy the beuty of the christmas tree, instead of jumping right in to the presents on christmas morning. Charlie agreed that this would be a great little tradition to start, but he was loosing faith that we would find a pickle for an ornament.

Speaking of Christmas traditions in addition to the ones Charlie and I have continued from our childhood, we have started another this year. The Holday Train. Last Wednesday the Canadian pacific R.R. had their holiday train stop in NE Minneapolis. The train stops with in viewing distance from our house but we have never made it over to the train yard to actually enjoy the festivities. We happen to catch the news Tuesday and found out that it would be arriving, and when we found out it was a bennifit for the food shelf we were thrilled to add this to our Christmas traditions. Below is a link and a picture of the train!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FAueGtMd_4

This evening the plan is to enjoy making cookies and chocolate covered preztles as a family. Abby is so excited and enjoys partaking in every little Holiday activity.

Looking back at 2007......

Happy Birthday!!! Nov, 2007
Cold Rainy August Day at Grandmas!!!

Playing in the leaves on a walk with Nana & Papa

Abby's Big Haircut in January!
At the Minnesota Zoo in unseasonable April!
Playing Dress up in June.
At the falls in September.
Playing dress up in July.

I have been going through photos for a calendar and I came up with some favorites that I thought y'all might enjoy.

E-pets

Abby was given an E-pet, I have barely had use of our computer since! She can go online feed it, play games with it, ect. She is reminding me of some adults I know when it comes to Sims. She has named her cute little puppy Molly. Molly goes everywhere with us, sleeps with her, watches her take a bath and so on. I think wiener dog may be getting jealous. I guess i don't mind beacause I would much rather her call for this new Molly than Wiener Dog. I think i blogged about this in September. Wiener Dog has been the sourse of many a giggle. I am curious if this whole e-pet thing is going to open her up to other breeds of dogs, the last past year it has been all about wiener dogs. I really can't believe how popular they have gotten, despite my childs enfatuation.



Well this is all for now! Tata

Molly The E- Pet

Jorge From Clifford

Thinking about Kindergarten....

Well Monday, Abby came home with two stamps on her hand from school.... not 3 like she usually does. I didn't really have to say anything, she was so disappointed and miserable. Other than this one occurrence she has been doing very well in school. At student teacher conferences her teacher said that she was the leader of the "girls." Abby and I were so excited about her birthday party, we invited 5 kids from her school, and only 2 came. Those were also the only 2 friends of hers we saw at Turkey Bingo (a fun event the school had a couple weeks ago.) Neither of these friends will be returning to Elizabeth Hall for Kindergarten. Charlie and I have not decided which school is the best fit for her and our family but we are agreed that we would like to find a k-8 that welcomes parent involvement. This weekend is the NE schools information day! I am hoping that I find something, we are not limiting ourselves to the public schools. I am looking into a few of the local "private" schools. I am also looking into some charter schools as well, but I am less familiar with them. Anyone heard anything good or bad about schools in NE Mpls????

The begining to a Holiday season....

Abby is enjoying the beginning of the Holiday season. She loves to sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman." We were singing in the car yesterday when Abby told me, "Mom, we don't have to worry about Santa, because Auntie Katie and Auntie Beth will get me presents from all over the world, but not from China."
Abby is very concerned about 2 things; first that she is going to be good enough that Santa will bring her toys (see last post), and secondly toys from China (after throwing out several Polly pocket toys and some "cool toys" she has been very nervous about where her toys come from.)

"He knows if you've been bad or good."

Today while cleaning up before lunch I noticed that someone had gotten a hold of a permanent marker and wrote Abby on one of my dining room chairs! Abby was out with Charlie running errands and when they returned I showed both of them. I simply asked if either of them new who had written on the chair. Abby said it wasn't her. So I asked her if she knew if anyone else knew how to write her name. She said that I did. I looked at her, she must have seen it in my face, because I honestly did not know what to say next. She broke down, "I did it!" While eating lunch I asked "Abby, when did you write on the chair." "The day we saw Santa, and he didn't know." While Jack may need tag team parenting, Abby requires a complete game plan. Often we have to take a "time out" and create a game plan. That is what I did. Charlie and I decided that we would have to tell Santa about the chair, I text-ed him (I bet you didn't know Santa texts.) But you know what Santa already knew, and he also wanted me to remind Abby to make better choices.

Little Miss 5 year old.....

Well since my last blog entry a lot has happened. Sorry about taking so long for the update! I have been told that I am getting as bad as my dad at up dating these things, and that just isn't acceptable!!!

My little girl turned 5, Nov 8th!! She got a pink pen from her Teacher, Miss Hanson, and that has got to be her most prized possession (it's not even a gel pen.) We had the whole princess themed party. Three friends came to celebrate with us, along with Nana. Papa. the Aunties and Silly Matt! Abby had a special gift from Papa, a trip to the Park at Moa (aka Camp Snoopy- I still call Macy's downtown, Dayton's.) Abby got to choose one friend to come along. She chose to bring Ella, my best friends' little girl. Ella and Abby had so much fun taking full advantage of their unlimited ride wrist bands until the "ghost ride." Abby and Ella wanted to go on this particular ride because they got to shoot ghosts. Charlie fully explained to them that it was a scary ride, but the girls were determined and brave. The ride takes you inside what seems to be a faux haunted house. "ghosts" appear and you have the option of shooting them and than they go away. Somewhere along the way it got a little too scary and we could hear the girls above the noise of the park from with in the ride. When the ride was over I grabbed the girls and calmed them. Charlie comes over to me and tells me Abby had 90 ghost hits! All and All I would say it was an excellent 5th Birthday.

This Weekend we took the kids to see Santa at MOA. He is the greatest and "the real Santa!" He really takes his time with all the kids and really does what he can to make sure that the they are comfortable, he really gets kiddos and understands how intimidating his appearance might be to the little ones. In past years he would just sneak up behind Abby, I would get my photo and she didn't even know that it had even happened. Now that Abby is 5 she had a big discussion with Santa. He made sure that she picks up her toys, sleeps in her own bed, and brushes her teeth and Abby made sure he knew what she wanted! I really recommend this Santa- he is really worth the little extra wait!!!

Here are some good ones:

A dimond is a rhombus....

Today Abby asked, "Mommy, did you know that a dimond is a rhombus?" Luckily I did. One piece of geometry that actually stuck with me. However how impressive for such a little girl. Apparently she has learned this in school, and like her father her brain is a sponge.

Abby is very excited, her 5th Birthday is Thursday and the Party is this weekend. We have been putting x's over the days on the calendar.


Sorry still no photos yet....
Tata for now.

little Mermaid Obsession

So my little princess is almost 5, and is all about Disney Princesses. Ariel definately takes the cake and is by far her favorite. Infact she is going to be the little Mermaid for Halloween. Anyone have any advice how to make a little mermaid costume "Minnesota Warm" and still have it look like a little mermaid costume.

We are also having lots of fun planning her 5th Birthday party. The theme is Little Mermaid, of course. Abby is so excited. I just want to know where the time went, how can it be possible that she is already turning 5?

This weekend should be very fun for Abby. Abby is going to have "The Best Sleepover Ever" at Nana and Papa's. Abby loves sleeping there because they set up a tent in the house for her. Thanks to Nana Abby's idea of camping is either sleeping in a tent in the house or staying at a hotel. We also plan to take the kids to "Zoo Boo." This is a super fun fundraising event at Como Zoo. We went last year and had a blast!

Well I think this is it for now.... i will post some halloween photos as soon as I get the chance!

Monkey in a tree

This was taken at the falls last weekend. Abby loves walking down there with Nana and Papa. We do that quite often. Papa and Abby have their routine, i am sure this tree will now be part of that.

A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

Not diamonds, Skippy, our Golden Retriever- German Shepard mix. Abby has always loved animals, we even had a cat follow us trick or treating and eventually home. I thought for this installment it might be fun to post a few pictures of the 2 playing with one another.

Big Sister

(Doesn't Jack look Just like his Papa?)

Abby and Jack are the best of pals. This weekend and most weekends the two spent their time playing and laughing with each other. In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined that their bond would have been so automatic, natural, and beautiful. It amazes me how caring, loving, and patient Abby is and how much her little brother adores her.

My favorite photo of the two

It was a piece of cake!

We had a pretty good weekend. Yesterday we all went to the mall with Papa and Nana than went to Auntie Beth's work (Bridgeman's) for dinner. Abby especially likes having "green" ice cream after dinner!Today Abby and I enjoyed our Sunday afternoon grocery shopping trip. Today was family day at cub, kiddos could decorate there own cake. How cool is that? Abby's mom really wanted to make one too.

What a riot, Abby chose yellow frosting with purple icing, she made hearts and polka (bots) dots. Than came the sprinkles and the plastic decorations (picks and rings.)

Readers,
Please leave comments.... I would love to know who all is visiting this thing. Thanks, Abby's Mom.

Respect

The word of the week is "respect." Abby tells me she is going to be learning a song about respect. I can't wait. Today the boy who never gets any stamps got all 3 today, but Abby didn't seem pleased about it. When I questioned her she told me that he hit her today and ate his bugars. Abby says and thats not respect.

Abby's grandma sent this picture to her via my email, Abby loves wiener dogs. Her most cherished belonging is her stuffed wiener dog. "Wiener Dog" has been through a lot, two eye surgeries, a tail mishap, and was even left at Target once. I know once Abby is grown, one of my fondest memories of her childhood will be when she realised Wiener Dog was missing, she had a melt down right there in the store, she cried, "I want my Wiener" over and over again.

Abby's new friend

Today was the first day Abby rode the bus home. This morning when we discussed it she shrugged me off, she is an old pro now. So she was scheduled to be home at 10:55, but when I looked out the window a bus was parked at the corner at 10:40, so I ran out to greet her and she hopped off all smiles wearing a "hat" with the name Andre written on it. When I asked her who Andre was, she told me "hers my friend." turns out Andre is a girl , she is Abby's best friend, except the kicker is Abby doesn't remember her name, and when I told her it was Andre she said no, I don't know any kid with that name. Well apparently Papa has Carl and Abby has Andre.

3rd Day of School

Abby now is getting on the school bus and going to her class by herself. She informed us after only one day, that she didn't need us to help her. Charlie still has been picking her up because the 1/2 day buses weren't set up in time for the HI 5 kids. Wednesday she will be taking the school bus home too. Abby can not wait. When she wakes up she asks me how many more school bus day before the weekend. Now she isn't just excited about the bus, Miss Hanson is pretty cool to. She sings the "days of the week" song to the tune of the Adams Family theme (not that Abby knows who the Adam's Family is.) Also every day the kids in her class receive stamps on their hands based on their behavior that day. 3 is a great day, 2 is OK, 1 is not so great, and no stamp is a really bad day. So far Abby has come home with 3 stamps but she sure cant wait to tell me all about the kids who went home with no stamps. She says she has lots of friends in her class but she only remembers the names of the kids who go home with 1 or no stamps. She sure is doing well, and i am enjoying this love for learning!