Easter and Update

It was a treat that Abigail had her Aunt Steph and
Uncle Jim visit for a large portion of the weekend.
They enjoyed reading "Never Smile at a Monkey,"
which is the most morbid children's book ever.

Some crazy Bunny apparently hid eggs all over the
yard for Abigail to find.  She made short work of
the job before it began to rain.

Abigail, her mouth full of chocolate I think,
with her Mama and Baba on Easter morning.

The egg loot.

Easter and Update

It was a treat that Abigail had her Aunt Steph and
Uncle Jim visit for a large portion of the weekend.
They enjoyed reading "Never Smile at a Monkey,"
which is the most morbid children's book ever.

Some crazy Bunny apparently hid eggs all over the
yard for Abigail to find.  She made short work of
the job before it began to rain.

Abigail, her mouth full of chocolate I think,
with her Mama and Baba on Easter morning.

The egg loot.

The Year of the Snake

I found directions to make a snake for Chinese New Year using old toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, and a ribbon for the tongue.  Abigail and I painted it with Tempra paint and she added some glitter glue where appropriate.  I think it looks awesome!

The Year of the Snake

I found directions to make a snake for Chinese New Year using old toilet paper tubes, pipe cleaners, and a ribbon for the tongue.  Abigail and I painted it with Tempra paint and she added some glitter glue where appropriate.  I think it looks awesome!

Sunday Snapshot: The Santa Train

Right after Thanksgiving, Larry read about the VRE's Santa Train:  12 commuter trains leaving different stations at different times to give kids a 1 hour ride on a train with Santa.  Last year, the tickets sold out in 12 minutes on-line.  This year, in a real "teacher of the year" moment, Larry stopped teaching his class on a Monday morning at 8:58 to be ready when the tickets went on sale.  He snagged 3 tickets to the 8:30 AM Santa Train before tickets sold out to the whole event at 9:04!!

It was hard to tell if Larry or Abigail was more excited, but it was a very fun event.  I hope we can do it next year.  (Also, if any kid tells my precious daughter that there is no Santa before she turns 6, I will find and neuter that kid.  Seriously.)

The many faces of Abigail as she sees Santa coming down the aisle of the Santa Train!

Sunday Snapshot: The Santa Train

Right after Thanksgiving, Larry read about the VRE's Santa Train:  12 commuter trains leaving different stations at different times to give kids a 1 hour ride on a train with Santa.  Last year, the tickets sold out in 12 minutes on-line.  This year, in a real "teacher of the year" moment, Larry stopped teaching his class on a Monday morning at 8:58 to be ready when the tickets went on sale.  He snagged 3 tickets to the 8:30 AM Santa Train before tickets sold out to the whole event at 9:04!!

It was hard to tell if Larry or Abigail was more excited, but it was a very fun event.  I hope we can do it next year.  (Also, if any kid tells my precious daughter that there is no Santa before she turns 6, I will find and neuter that kid.  Seriously.)

The many faces of Abigail as she sees Santa coming down the aisle of the Santa Train!

Sunday Snapshot: Is this a good tree?

Abigail was being silly.  She picked out this tree for us to cut down at the
Christmas Tree farm to take home for our tree this year.  She finds herself to
be hilarious.  Larry and I can't disagree.  She cracks us up!!

Sunday Snapshot: Is this a good tree?

Abigail was being silly.  She picked out this tree for us to cut down at the
Christmas Tree farm to take home for our tree this year.  She finds herself to
be hilarious.  Larry and I can't disagree.  She cracks us up!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Abigail is thankful for her Grandma Judy.  They have
a constant 24/7 love-fest whenever they are together.

Abigail is thankful for her Yinski, who loves
to play with her, take her outside, call her
"My Little Buddy" and she is thankful
that his "boo boo" is getting better.

Abigail is thankful for parades.

Abigail is thankful that her grandparents
allow her to eat ketchup sandwiches on
the floor while watching TV.

Abigail is thankful for being at the "farm"
and for sleeping with balloons after an
exciting Thanksgiving day!

Happy Thanksgiving

Abigail is thankful for her Grandma Judy.  They have
a constant 24/7 love-fest whenever they are together.

Abigail is thankful for her Yinski, who loves
to play with her, take her outside, call her
"My Little Buddy" and she is thankful
that his "boo boo" is getting better.

Abigail is thankful for parades.

Abigail is thankful that her grandparents
allow her to eat ketchup sandwiches on
the floor while watching TV.

Abigail is thankful for being at the "farm"
and for sleeping with balloons after an
exciting Thanksgiving day!

Wordless Wednesday: Trick or Treat!

No, not "wordless" Wednesday.  I can't do it.  I just have to say that Abigail went trick-or-treating with 2.5 year old P.  At every door, the 4 parents prompted the kids "What do you say?" to try to get either Abigail or P to say "Trick or Treat."  But 364 days per year, that four-word prompt has trained our kiddos to reply "Thank you!"  Love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Trick or Treat!

No, not "wordless" Wednesday.  I can't do it.  I just have to say that Abigail went trick-or-treating with 2.5 year old P.  At every door, the 4 parents prompted the kids "What do you say?" to try to get either Abigail or P to say "Trick or Treat."  But 364 days per year, that four-word prompt has trained our kiddos to reply "Thank you!"  Love it!

Pumpkin Patch and Animal Farm- Sunday Snapshots

Abigail was far more excited about petting and feeding the animals than she was about the pumpkins, but she did enjoy picking out a small one to take home.  

Her favorite part of the day, she said, was seeing Spiderman.  (On the "haunted" hayride, there were large displays of various monsters as well as super heros and comic book characters.  Spidey happened to be one of the last displays hanging from a tree.)

She also got a pony ride, if you can call it that, because it was only ONE time around a tiny circle and took about 40 seconds (for $3.50- meaning that horse could be making $315/hour!).  

This donkey was not actually eating her hand.

Pumpkin Patch and Animal Farm- Sunday Snapshots

Abigail was far more excited about petting and feeding the animals than she was about the pumpkins, but she did enjoy picking out a small one to take home.  

Her favorite part of the day, she said, was seeing Spiderman.  (On the "haunted" hayride, there were large displays of various monsters as well as super heros and comic book characters.  Spidey happened to be one of the last displays hanging from a tree.)

She also got a pony ride, if you can call it that, because it was only ONE time around a tiny circle and took about 40 seconds (for $3.50- meaning that horse could be making $315/hour!).  

This donkey was not actually eating her hand.

Wordless Wednesday: 4th of July Bike Parade

Wordless Wednesday: 4th of July Bike Parade

Sunday Snapshot- Dying Easter Eggs

We didn't dye eggs with Abigail last year.  But now she is almost 2 and a half so she got to dye her first eggs.  She dyed 3 eggs.  She picked the colors blue, pink and yellow.  She put the dye tablets in the water, stirred, added the eggs, and colored the Paas color sheet with colored pencils while she waited.  Periodically, she checked her eggs, would say she wanted them "darker", put them back in and returned to her coloring.

Sunday Snapshot- Dying Easter Eggs

We didn't dye eggs with Abigail last year.  But now she is almost 2 and a half so she got to dye her first eggs.  She dyed 3 eggs.  She picked the colors blue, pink and yellow.  She put the dye tablets in the water, stirred, added the eggs, and colored the Paas color sheet with colored pencils while she waited.  Periodically, she checked her eggs, would say she wanted them "darker", put them back in and returned to her coloring.

An Update

Last week was Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon.  Abigail fell in love with dragons.  She was far more excited about the Dragon than the Chinese New Year festival we took her to or the Chinese food (dumplings!) Larry made for dinner.  (At the festival, she did love the dragon, but ate Tic Tacs instead of the catered Chinese food and instead of dumplings, she ate the olives off of my salad.)  Traditionally children are given a red envelope or red packet containing something lucky such as money of a lucky denomination, or chocolate coins.  Deciding Abigail was too young for this (though Larry did argue that she sure knows what money is!), she received a rubber/plastic dragon toy wrapped in red paper.  For days she took it with her everywhere,  including to bed (where I worried about a sleeping Abigail impaling herself on the tail) and to daycare (where toys from home aren't allowed, but no one could pry it from her fingers).  A week later, she is still bursting out with "Happy New Year, Dragon!!!" and squealing.  She now also knows she was born in the year of the Ox and will be happy to tell you that if you ask.  Another aspect Abigail enjoyed of the Chinese New Year things we did with her were different craft projects like making a lantern and a paper dragon (that is decorated with lots of red glitter-glue and shedding glitter all over the house, much to Larry's dismay).


Developmentally, Abigail is impressing us with 5-6 word sentences and we are having real conversations with her about what she is doing or thinking or wanting.  I would guess that about 90% of her sentences start with the words "I want", but usually also end with "please" and we have trouble denying her requests since they are usually "I want to go outside and swing please" or "I want a group hug Mama and Baba please" or "I want a shower.  I am stinky.  Pleeeeeeease."


We love the little person sharing our house and lives with us.


Unfortunately, she is less entertained now by being in her jogging stroller.  Larry and I were hoping that her love of "going running" with us would last a lot longer.  With winter weather and hours of daylight, finding time for us to take individual runs in the evening is almost impossible.  We are going to need to find a better long-term solution or a cheap baby sitter or something so we can go for runs again as the spring and summer approach. 


I know that is a lot of writing and I won't kid myself; all you really want is pictures!

Abigail's favorite game while hiking through the local park:
Uh Oh!  Duck Your Head!

Abigail felt that she path needed to be
swept.  There was too much nature on it.

Abigail and her buddy giving a performance
after dinner Friday night.

There is nothing like a basket full of
warm laundry and baskets.

An Update

Last week was Chinese New Year, the year of the Dragon.  Abigail fell in love with dragons.  She was far more excited about the Dragon than the Chinese New Year festival we took her to or the Chinese food (dumplings!) Larry made for dinner.  (At the festival, she did love the dragon, but ate Tic Tacs instead of the catered Chinese food and instead of dumplings, she ate the olives off of my salad.)  Traditionally children are given a red envelope or red packet containing something lucky such as money of a lucky denomination, or chocolate coins.  Deciding Abigail was too young for this (though Larry did argue that she sure knows what money is!), she received a rubber/plastic dragon toy wrapped in red paper.  For days she took it with her everywhere,  including to bed (where I worried about a sleeping Abigail impaling herself on the tail) and to daycare (where toys from home aren't allowed, but no one could pry it from her fingers).  A week later, she is still bursting out with "Happy New Year, Dragon!!!" and squealing.  She now also knows she was born in the year of the Ox and will be happy to tell you that if you ask.  Another aspect Abigail enjoyed of the Chinese New Year things we did with her were different craft projects like making a lantern and a paper dragon (that is decorated with lots of red glitter-glue and shedding glitter all over the house, much to Larry's dismay).


Developmentally, Abigail is impressing us with 5-6 word sentences and we are having real conversations with her about what she is doing or thinking or wanting.  I would guess that about 90% of her sentences start with the words "I want", but usually also end with "please" and we have trouble denying her requests since they are usually "I want to go outside and swing please" or "I want a group hug Mama and Baba please" or "I want a shower.  I am stinky.  Pleeeeeeease."


We love the little person sharing our house and lives with us.


Unfortunately, she is less entertained now by being in her jogging stroller.  Larry and I were hoping that her love of "going running" with us would last a lot longer.  With winter weather and hours of daylight, finding time for us to take individual runs in the evening is almost impossible.  We are going to need to find a better long-term solution or a cheap baby sitter or something so we can go for runs again as the spring and summer approach. 


I know that is a lot of writing and I won't kid myself; all you really want is pictures!

Abigail's favorite game while hiking through the local park:
Uh Oh!  Duck Your Head!

Abigail felt that she path needed to be
swept.  There was too much nature on it.

Abigail and her buddy giving a performance
after dinner Friday night.

There is nothing like a basket full of
warm laundry and baskets.