The Many Adventures of William and Abigail

Back to School!

2010-08-28T21:39:00.005-04:00

William started school this week and I thought I'd share the pictures from his big week back. He LOVES school and we are so thankful for that!

There are only 4 kids in his class so far, which is great for him and his teachers. (One kid from last year came back for only the first day and then a new girl came later in the week.) He has been a wonderful leader at school this year too. Everyday we got a glowing report in his planner and at pick-up, about how he's been such a good boy! We are so proud of him!

Thanks to Miss Debi & Diane for these pictures! :)

Abbey - our big 3 year-old!!

2010-07-19T17:10:00.012-04:00

Abbey turned 3 years old this past Saturday! It's pretty hard to believe that it's been that long since our "little" 9-pound baby came into our lives right in our own little apartment!

My parents were in town last Thursday and we met up with them for lunch and a treat at Dairy Queen before they headed home. Abbey thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate ice cream and William had fun with the camera, as you'll see....

(This is a self portrait)

Friday night we had cake and Abbey opened presents. She did better this year than last, although she still needed some help. She was ready to stop opening boxes after the first one! Thankfully, William was right there encouraging her to keep going! :)

Here's Abbey in her cute Holland shirt that Papa brought her from the Netherlands.

Happy Birthday, Abbey! We love you so much!!

Independent Cuties

2010-07-06T10:10:00.002-04:00

Happy Independence Day!!

2010-07-04T17:41:00.005-04:00

All ready for church!

It may look like we were going to a baseball game below, but Abbey was just excited about bringing her new pink baseball glove with her. You can see that William really likes it too! He looks pretty cute in his new shades too! :)

Tally Trip Pictures

2010-06-28T16:29:00.009-04:00

Swimming at the hotel, Friday afternoon. Here is the happy couple, at their rehearsal luau!

Jonathan took the kids exploring towards the lake (at the park where the dinner was) after they ate, which is where William somehow wandered into some kind of poison oak or ivy. Saturday his arm was red, itchy, and swollen, so we ended up with him in the ER later that night. He had also been stung by a wasp the night before, so we weren't sure what was going on with his arm when we arrived that night. Thankfully, after 3 days of meds, his arm was back to normal.

These pics are out of chronological order, but here he is with his bandage.

After the dinner, it was back to work on some special things for the reception...

Here are the helmets I painted...

And here's what the kids were doing while the women worked on the stuff for the wedding.

Here are the 3 musketeers waiting for the wedding to start. Abbey looks thrilled! They actually had fun I'm sure, since they went to play in the nursery with grandpa during the ceremony.

Here are the 'groom cakes' we made for the wedding. Jake is a Michigan fan and Heidi is a 'Buckeye.' My mom baked the cakes, Holley decorated them, and I painted the little helmets. They were DELICIOUS!!!

William and Joey kept pretty close to Grama during the reception, since she was in charge of the good cakes! :)

Swimming Videos

2010-06-21T12:00:00.001-04:00

Swimming Without Screaming

2010-06-21T00:01:00.000-04:00

Here's the deal...William has never been a huge fan of any body of water. However, it was made a lot worse last year, when his head went under at a friend's pool and he couldn't get it up fast enough. Since then, he's had a terrible fear of 'big pools' and wants NOTHING to do with them! If we take him to a 'big pool' he cries and screams something fierce! And unfortunately, his fear has been passed onto Abbey, although she's never had a traumatic experience with water. Which is completely frustrating when Jonathan and I love the water, and hello...we live in Florida and it's summer! It's HOT and the best way to cool off is in the water. And it's no sense in taking the kids to a pool to cool down, when they don't get in!

So anyway, while we were in Tally, we took the kids (with their cousins) to the hotel pool, where our extended family was staying. It was great, because it had 3 steps the entire side of the pool where the kids could sit and be mostly content. We let them get in on their own time and when they saw how all of their 'other cousins' were loving the water, they slowly ventured in. Abbey even let us put the floaties into her swim suit and wanted to get back in the water when it was time to go home.

So after that great experience we decided to take them down to our friends' pool last week. William recognized where we were going and wasn't very happy about it, but once we arrived and after he ran around and got hot enough, he eventually allowed us to take him off the top step of the pool. He let us take him around on the floaties for a bit and liked that he could reach the bottom on the shallow side. Even though he didn't need to, he could 'tip toe' around the shallow end and asked to do it a few times on his own. And Abbey, wow, she wanted to get into her little boat and was really having a blast zooming around in circles! Jonathan and I just watched in amazement and relief!!

It was lunch time by the time we arrived, since we had to wait for Jonathan to get home, so I think getting out of the water for our picnic lunch kinda slowed down our momentum that day. However, progress is progress and I'm thankful for every bit of it! It may not sound like a big deal to most people, but when you have a child, or in our case - 2 of them, who has such a fear of anything, I can't explain to you the sense of pride and accomplishment you feel when they take a step towards overcoming that fear! Especially, spectrum kids, who may never overcome certain issues! It's just wonderful! I know it will be slow going, as our visit yesterday showed us. However, I'm hopeful that this will be our summer to swim without screaming! :)

Friends!!

2010-06-20T15:00:00.002-04:00

We went to Tally 2 weeks ago, to take Abbey back to First Words, visit with some old friends, and go to a wedding. Like every trip, we hoped and planned to do more than we could, but we had fun nonetheless. I didn't get a lot of pictures from our visit with friends, but here are (some of) the kids at Chuck E Cheese where we met one afternoon.

30th Birthday

2010-06-20T14:38:00.007-04:00

Here are a few pictures from my birthday. We didn't do anything big, but I got a very delicious chocolate cake made just for me by my 2 special guys!

What's Happening!?

2010-06-20T14:10:00.004-04:00

Sorry it's been a while since I've put anything on here. Like everyone else I'm sure, May and so far, June have been pretty busy for us. A few 'big' things have happened recently -

I turned 30 the end of May. (Big for me, but not so much for everyone else)
Abbey had a 1-year/follow up autism evaluation done 2 weeks ago. We are still waiting for the official results, but (especially with the DSM-5 codes changing now) we still expect her to be on the spectrum
Both kids had an amazing couple of visits to the pool, which gives me hope that this could be a summer full of swimming - something we've never had!!
And we had a great visit with some friends in Tallahassee and got to spend time with family at an extended family member's wedding

I'll get some pictures up soon. I just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about the blog; I've just been busy lately and haven't had as much time on the computer. Having William home for the summer might have a big something to do with that now! :)

Anniversary

2010-06-01T21:03:00.006-04:00

June 1st will always be a special day for us. It was the day that 3 years ago, Jonathan had his first dialysis treatment. He was admitted to the hospital a day earlier with kidney failure. It has yet to be determined what caused his kidney failure, so we've just added it to the list of things that we don't understand, but have learned to accept.

It's also even more special because it was June 1st, 2 years ago, that Jonathan received his kidney(s) transplant. (He received 2 infant, cadaver kidneys, so it's kind of a special case.) We are very grateful that he (we) only had to endure a year of dialysis and even more so, thankful that his transplant was a success.

We give all the praise to the Lord for His goodness and faithfulness to us through these last 3 years!

If you're new to the blog, you can follow the kidney story back here...

William's Way

2010-05-30T22:00:00.003-04:00

If you know our William, then you probably know he has unique ways of doing things. Today he showed us that the slip & slide is no exception. I'm glad I had the camera out, because this cracked me up!

Computer Lab

2010-05-25T21:55:00.005-04:00

Well, we aren't homeschooling, but we do have our own little "computer lab!" William has long known the wonders of PBS kids and Playhouse Disney, but it's only been recently that I found Wubbzy and Dora games on Nick Jr. Because of this new discovery, and the fact that Abbey wants to play on the computer too, I saw that we were going to need a way for them to be able to play at the same time. So, I pulled out my old laptop and the occasionally used netbook, and set them up on their little table. I was a little concerned that the size of the computers would be an issue, but thankfully, that hasn't been a problem. As long as they each have a computer of their own, no matter the size, they are happy! They have such fun 'playing the puter' and I have so much fun watching what they can do! You should see Abbey put together the Handy Manny puzzles! She was doing the advanced ones the first day - it's incredible! And I honestly don't know how William can maneuver Wubbzy around with the arrow keys like he does! They're both a wonder!

I love watching my little computer geeks! (I can call them that, since it takes one to know one! :))

Afternoons at Our House

2010-05-12T13:58:00.004-04:00

After William gets home from school, everyone has a favorite spot to be. Here's William's spot...

He usually just plays wii, but lately he has gotten back into Tiger Woods '09 on x-box. So now, it's golf on x-box first, then golf, bowling, frisbee, and everything else he can fit into an hour or so on wii.Here's where Jonathan usually ends up after a long morning & afternoon at work. And here's our newest little tech junkie! Since William has moved onto bigger and better things, she's taken over the leap pad.
And while she's often found lounging on the bed, she can also be found like this...

And when it looks like this in their room, that's usually where I will be found too, (coordinating the clean up) although I wouldn't consider that my favorite place to be!

Bike Ride

2010-05-11T09:30:00.005-04:00

We took the kids out last night for their first ride on the road! Unfortunately, we don't have sidewalks around our neighborhood so the kids have to be on the road. But with both of us out there, we were able to pick a kid and stick closely with them. Although, I think I had a harder time keeping up with William since he's a lot faster on a big open straightaway, than he's ever been on the back porch! :)

We found out quickly that Abbey didn't need the push handle on her trike. However, it did come in handy on our way back, since she was sitting on daddy's shoulders and I was pushing her bike back to the house!

Fun with the Cousins

2010-04-28T09:39:00.007-04:00

We spent last weekend down south with Dave's family. It was a lot of fun and so nice to have our whole family there, since Jonathan was able to get Saturday and Sunday off! Imagine that, having a 'normal' weekend! (In case you don't know, we don't get those with Jonathan working at a grocery store!) Anyhow, we didn't take a lot of pictures, but here are a few... We took the kids over to 'Auntie Deb's' (Joey's other grama) to go swimming. My kids much preferred the playground to the pool!

Everybody riding in Mommy's van, well except Saydie. She had to go to the doctor that morning. :(

Mmm, mmm, mmm! Uncle David made chocolate chip cookies!!!

Joey was being such a ham!

And Now For Something Completely Different!

2010-04-20T19:25:00.006-04:00

So the kids called us out to the back fence last week, saying they found a turtle. They were really excited about it and surprisingly, weren't afraid of it! It stuck around the yard for a few days, digging a spot under the porch. Each day it became less afraid and even came up onto the porch. It probably would have walked through the back door if we had left it open! We finally opened up the fence to let it out, because it was driving the poor dog crazy. I'm glad it stayed away from the road and funnily enough, made its new burrow in the front yard! :)

Thimerasol - a scary, succinct explanation

2010-04-19T09:01:00.015-04:00

I'm sure we've all heard of thimerasol, but I have to admit, other than knowing that it's a mercury-based preservative, I didn't know what it is. I saw this article on my news feed this morning and after reading it, I knew I had to share it. It's really eye-opening and quite frightening. You can find the article on "Age of Autism" here, but I thought I'd make it easy and just post it below too.

I'm really struggling with the vaccine issue right now for Abbey - she's had 3 shots so far, and 1 of those was only because she was at a greater risk for something while Jonathan was on dialysis. Now that he's a transplant recipient, it's not safe (for more than 1 reason) for her to get a live-virus vaccine. Not to mention that she's already been put on the spectrum and we don't know what could happen if she receives more vaccines.

I definitely want to protect my children from childhood diseases, which is why we had William fully vaccinated, but doesn't it negate the whole protection point, when you're willingly injecting them with a chemical that has been banned even as a fungicide? Why on earth would we put that into our kids (and pregnant women) in the first place, not even considering what terrible side effects it could have on them!? Many childhood diseases are unpleasant, but treatable!!! I will give you an example of what has happened to a perfectly 'normal' child after his MMR vaccine and this is NOT treatable. (Click here and just be warned, it's not pretty.)

I know that many people think anti-vaccine parents are nut-jobs. Well, why does even 1 child have to be harmed (or die) by a vaccine for people to wake up and see that we need a better way? And why does it have to be the parents of children who have had vaccine-related, life-altering injuries to raise a fuss about these chemcials going into our kids? I am all for vaccines, if they're SAFE! If you can't put a chemical on a plant, then I'm not sticking it into my kids, bottom line! I was just at a geneticist (a doctor who does genetic testing) last Thursday with William and let me tell you, THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT CAUSES AUTISM!!! They admit it! They're working on it, but so far, have no answers. I am not saying that any vaccine causes autism alone, but because we don't know what predisposes kids to being on the spectrum, why are we subjecting them to something so dangerous, that could be the catalyst which brings out autism in many kids???

I have to tell you, I really don't care anymore if someone thinks I'm crazy or some crunchy granola, tree hugger for talking about this. People just need to be informed about what's really in vaccines and can make decisions for themselves. I'll be happy to share information that I think is important and pertinent and everyone can go their own way from there. (I have bolded the parts of the article that are especially unbelievable. I guess the whole thing should really be bolded, but anyway...)

Mike Wagnitz (a name familiar to AoA readers) has written a post called, "Michael Wagnitz: Decision raises question: What exactly is thimerosal?" at the CapTimes site in Madison, Wisconsin.

Since the March 12 decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, which concluded that thimerosal in vaccines is not linked to autism or any other childhood neurological injury, I’ve been asked by many people: What exactly is thimerosal?

Thimerosal is a fungicide/bactericide used as a preservative in medical products. It is prepared by combining the fungicide ethylmercuric chloride with thiosalicylic acid. The reason for this is to increase the solubility of ethylmercuric chloride in water so it can be added at higher concentrations to products such as vaccines. Thimerosal is 10,000 times more soluble in water than ethylmercuric chloride.

Due to multiple accidental poisonings from ingestion of treated seed, ethylmercuric chloride was banned for use as a fungicide and all other purposes in the 1970s.

The symptoms of ethylmercuric chloride poisoning occurred months after the ingestion of treated seed. The first symptom noticed was paresthesia (nerve damage to fingers and toes) followed by ataxia (loss of coordination of the muscles), dysarthia (difficulty in articulating words) and loss of vision. While some functionality did return in some victims, the underlying damage was mostly irreversible. Tens of thousands of parents feel they saw the same symptoms in their children following vaccination with vaccines that contained thimerosal. Most of these children were eventually diagnosed as autistic.

Nobody knows what the safe amount of ethylmercuric chloride is for children. Thimerosal is added to multi-dose vaccine vials at a concentration of 50,000 micrograms per liter (mcg/l) mercury. In Wisconsin, any liquid waste solution which contains more than 200 mcg/l mercury is classified as hazardous waste.

There are four vaccines currently used in Wisconsin that contain this amount of mercury. They are vaccines administered from multi-dose flu, H1N1, meningococcal and tetanus/diphtheria booster vials. The flu and H1N1 vaccine are administered to pregnant women and children 6 months of age. The tetanus is approved for children 7 years and older. The meningococcal is approved for children 12 years and older. This year’s flu and H1N1 vaccines will expire soon and have to be treated as hazardous waste.

The next time your physician or nurse tells you that mercury is no longer used in vaccines (or that the quantity is small), feel free to share this information with them.

Michael Wagnitz of Madison is a chemist specializing in heavy metal poisoning.
Mike Wagnitz

And In Case You're Interested....

2010-04-17T19:04:00.004-04:00

This is the business website of the guy in the book I mentioned in my last post.

http://www.jonahswater.com/

There are so many young (and old) adults on the spectrum, who can't work at a "real" job, but still need something to occupy their time, as well as a way to make a little money. They often live in group homes and make jewelry or other hand-made items.

I don't know Jonah or his family at all, but their story really touched my heart. Jonah lives near the place where we grew up in Michigan and trust me, if we still lived there, I would buy bottled water, just so he could deliver it! Maybe if you or someone you know lives close by, you could have your water delivered by him? I know that you would be making a meaningful contribution in the life of a very special guy!

A Must Read (in my humble opinion)

2010-04-16T15:53:00.005-04:00

In light of this being Autism Awareness Month, I wanted to share an amazing story with you. This online book is written by a mom to a severely autistic son. Their story will touch your heart and probably bring tears to your eyes. It may also give you something to relate to, or it will open your eyes to the struggles of being a parent to a child with special needs.

The author's name is Annie Lubliner Lehman and her memoir is called

"The Accidental Teacher, Life Lessons from my Silent Son"

Her book is available for free this entire month and you can find it by clicking on the name of the book above. It will only take a few hours to read, and it is well worth it!

What they figured out...ALL on their own!

2010-04-12T13:25:00.006-04:00

The sprinkler!

The kids were playing outside last night when I noticed this huge spray of water outside my window. Caught them red-handed!!!

99 Things

2010-04-09T20:27:00.005-04:00

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought it would be fun to do. If you'd like to play along, just copy and paste these 99 things onto your blog and bold the things you HAVE done...

here are mine:

1. Started your own blog  

2. Slept under the stars  

3. Played in a band  

4. Visited Hawaii  

5. Watched a meteor shower  

6. Given more than you can afford to charity  

7. Been to DisneyWorld  

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis   

10. Sang a solo  

11. Bungee jumped (well, it was one of those bungee slingshot things!) 

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm  

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child  

16. Had food poisoning  

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables  

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France  

20. Slept on an overnight train  

21. Had a pillow fight  

22. Hitch hiked  

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping  

27. Run a Marathon  

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse  

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset  

31. Hit a home run 

32. Been on a cruise (does a dinner cruise count? :))

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person  

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community  

36. Taught yourself a new language  

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt  

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant  

44. Visited Africa  

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight  

46. Been transported in an ambulance  

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing  

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris  

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling  

52. Kissed in the rain  

53. Played in the mud 

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre  

55. Been in a movie  

56. Visited the Great Wall of China  

57. Started a business (my etsy shop)

58. Taken a martial arts class  

59. Visited Russia  

60. Served at a soup kitchen  

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies  

62. Gone whale watching 

63. Got flowers for no reason 

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 

65. Gone sky diving  

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp  

67. Bounced a check 

68. Flown in a helicopter  

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial  

71. Eaten caviar  

72. Pieced a quilt  

73. Stood in Times Square  

74. Toured the Everglades  

75. Been fired from a job  

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London  

77. Broken a bone  

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle  

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person  

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican 

82. Bought a brand new car  

83. Walked in Jerusalem  

84. Had your picture in the newspaper 

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve  

86. Visited the White House (the outside, not the inside)  

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating  

88. Had chickenpox  

89. Saved someone’s life  

90. Sat on a jury  

91. Met someone famous (met Hulk Hogan at the airport)  

92. Joined a book club  

93. Got a tattoo 

94. Had a baby - 2 of them  

95. Seen the Alamo in person  

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake  

97. Been involved in a law suit 

98. Owned a cell phone  

99. Been stung by a bee

How many have you done out of the 99? Care to play along? - be sure to let me know so I can check out your list.

Autism Awareness Day 2009

2010-04-02T09:46:00.001-04:00

My family participated in the First Annual Tallahassee Walk for Autism on Autism Awareness Day last year. It was super important to me that we be a part of that, since both kids had just been recently diagnosed. And if you're wondering why I didn't post about this a year ago, the reason is because we still hadn't told some of our family about the diagnoses and this wasn't the way we wanted to tell them. Anyhow, the whole thing was pretty exciting, since Dan Marino and the Lt. Gov were supposed to be walking with us, although Dan was held up by bad weather and didn't make it until the press conference. We didn't find out that he wasn't coming until just before we started for the capitol, but that couldn't dampen our spirits. We walked from the FSU College of Law building to the capitol, where Dan Marino and Gov. Crist were giving a press conference afterwards. It was rainy out, but we brought our umbrellas. There was a lot of press around too and my dad even ended up on TV! It was a special day and I am thankful that we were a part of it.

These pictures are in no particular order since they got out of order when I uploaded them and it's a pain to try to rearrange them all...just a little disclaimer there. :) The kids were so cute and got a lot of attention in their wagon with their balloons.

I was sitting right in front of Dan Marino (probably 30 feet back) at the press conference, which gave me a nice view. :) My pictures didn't turn out very well though because of the poor lighting and I guess my crummy flash. Anyhow, he looks even better in person!

Dan Marino has a 21-year old son with autism. You can find out about their story and his foundation here.

Off we go! It was a good turn out considering the crappy weather!

William took this picture of us. He actually took a lot of pictures that morning, since we waited over an hour for the conference to start. The kids were SO good all things considered. The TV cameramen (smack in front of us) asked if they could film the kids and of course, we said yes, but they didn't make the final edit on the news. :(

It was childrens' week at the capitol, so the foyer was covered in artwork by school kids.

Finally, nice and dry inside the capitol!

Technically, they took a 'ride' for autism! :)

Autism Awareness Month

2010-03-31T20:42:00.004-04:00

As you should hopefully know by now, April is Autism Awareness Month and in honor of that, tomorrow night, (April 1) prominent buildings across North America and the world including the Empire State Building and the CN Tower in Toronto will be lit up blue to raise awareness for autism and to commemorate World Autism Awareness Day on Friday, April 2.

I don't know of any buidings around here that are going to be lit up blue, but I know that myself and my kids will be wearing blue in honor of autism awareness on Friday.

The statistics of children with autism in the US has now risen to 1 in 91 and more importantly, 2 of them belong to me.

William's Version of Mommy's Van & Daddy's Car

2010-03-31T12:48:00.008-04:00

William brought these pictures home from school last week and he didn't explain them to me until this morning. His teacher had told me about these in particular - she was just amazed at his attention to detail! Oh, and I'll include this last one of a pot of gold and a rainbow, which is apparently a reproduction; his teacher kept the best one for herself. She said she wanted to keep it, so that when he becomes famous, she'll have an original! :)

So here's mommy's van - with daddy driving

And here's daddy's car - he's driving this one too

And last, but not least the rainbow

Our Singing Sweetheart

2010-03-14T07:00:00.003-04:00

Abbey loves to sing and you just can't help but smile when she does!

Movin' On Up!

2010-03-13T13:38:00.004-05:00

Abbey has progressed quickly from the little potty to the BIG potty! She's even telling me "potty, mommy" when she has to go! She can climb up there pretty much on her own, as long as she drags the step stool over - which works out nicely, since it's quite heavy and you can hear her moving it, if you're not right in there with her. Way to go, Abbey! We're so proud of you! Oh, and I think I've failed to mention that we haven't had to use incentives like M&M's or anything to get her to go either. Pretty amazing!

This is multi-tasking, 2 year-old style!

2010-03-07T15:04:00.001-05:00

This is Abbey last night before bed...

Success!!!

2010-03-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

This past Monday morning, I decided to just keep Abbey's diaper off after I changed her. We have been down the potty training road before with her, but it just didn't work - at all! We had a challenging weekend with her and I'm not sure why I decided to tackle this task, after a rough weekend and on a Monday morning no less, but I did! I just thought, well, I'll give it a whirl! I knew it was going to be different this time though, when she sat on the potty without screaming. When she actually went, it was amazing. She had a slip up during that first hour going commando, and she also had to realize that she can't stand up while she's still going, but after that, it just clicked!

So here it is, Friday afternoon and she's had a week without diapers! It's so exciting!! We still have to work with her to keep it up while she's got pants on (since she's just been going commando this week mostly), but we're over that first major hurdle! If she just has underwear on, she takes them off and goes, but for some reason it's different when she has underwear and pants on. However, we went out this afternoon for a couple of hours and her pull up was dry when we got home! I was so excited. Our little girl is doing so well! We are very proud of her!!

Oh, and do you like her new bangs? Jonathan tried to help and cut them while she was in the tub. He forgets that hair gets shorter when it dries! They're not straight and way too short, but somehow she keeps getting compliments on them. I'm just thankful that hair grows! :)

The Big V-Day Party

2010-02-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

I thought I'd share a few pictures of the kids at William's class Valentine's party. They invited Abbey to come and she had a BLAST with the class! They even had valentines for her and everything! She was the only girl there, so she got plenty of attention - especially from one little guy in particular. He was quite taken with her and wouldn't leave her alone! She was pretty good, considering she was in a whole new world FULL of toys, trucks, play clothes, potato heads, blocks, puzzles, books, crafts, crayons, markers, and well, just about anything else you can think of! They even had some special singers come in and sing for the kids, which was pretty cool. Of course, her favorite part of the day was when they got to eat cookies, chips, chocolate cupcakes, and drink capri suns! With a combo like that, how can you go wrong? :)

Oh, and lest I forget, here are the valentine gifts we made for William's teachers. I got a lot of compliments on them, so I think they were a hit!

Fun Times at the State Fair

2010-02-14T22:57:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, we spent the day at the Florida State Fair. Jonathan was off work and we had William skip school. That's one of the bonuses of having a kid in pre-k, absentees don't count! :) Anyway, we started out looking for the animals, but of course, we ended up going through the midway to find anything. Since we were surrounded, we broke down and paid $20 for a page of ride tickets. William wanted to ride the carousel, so that was our first stop.

Abbey was happy on her horse, until it started moving...

That's when she moved with daddy to the safer seats that don't do anything!

Next up was a stop to this little ducky thing. I thought there was more to it, but no, you just reached in and pulled out 3 ducks, then picked out a prize - wow. And all of this for only $5!!! Can you say rip off? Well, it was too late since the kids were already reaching into the pool, so we came away with a blow up nemo fish and some big plastic blow up bat. We ended up letting the air out, so we could keep them on the stroller. We have yet to blow them up again.

Anyway, the best part of the day came next as William and I hit the "big slide." He didn't hestitate a bit, walking up a ton of stairs and then climbing on the carpet, as he called it. A quick push and we were off...

And we went fast!!! We kind of flew off the track as we went over the hills too. It was SO much fun! It's so cool that I have a little partner for rides now! - Jonathan doesn't do rides! :(

We took a quick break for lunch and thankfully had just enough tickets for another ride, so we hit the slide one last time. Then it was time for the animals! We went through Cracker Country, but at this age, the kids could care less. Although, there was a huge train display that William liked. It was pretty hard to pull him away from that! It's pretty tough to keep tabs on 2 little ones amongst a ton of people and get good pictures, so you'll have to make do with what we got...

Abbey wasn't quite as excited about the animals that day as she has been in the past.

William was making a bunch of ladies laugh, so they offered to take our picture. In this one, he threw the feed straight up! They gave him a re-do. :)

This guy had some HUGE horns!

There was a sign near these cows that said they liked to be brushed, so William got right on it.

And we rounded out the day with a walk through a true log home!

Hello, goodbye!

2010-02-14T22:19:00.001-05:00

We are so thankful to have received a great tax refund this year, which allowed us to get a much-needed, new bed. When we got married, we slept on the double bed that had been Jonathan's. Shortly before Abbey was born though, we switched that with an old California King my parents had, which was wonderful, because we had SO much space!! And space comes in handy when you have a little one sharing your bed most nights! The thing about that bed though, is that it was probably as old as me, if not older! And I'll be 30 in 3 months, so it's old...well, at least for a bed!

Anyhow, we were so excited to get a new bed, but I have to say, it was a little sad to see this one go. I can't remember all of the times I slept in there when my parents had it. Many times my dad would be out of town and we would all climb in with mom. Of course, there were many times when dad was home and I never wanted to sleep in my own bed, so I crawled in there with them too!

But then, the biggest thing for this bed was that Abbey was born on it! If you were a blog reader almost 3 years ago, then you'll recall this picture - taken probably about an hour or so after Abbey arrived.

So, lots of good memories, but it's time to move on!

So, one last look and then out it goes! The kids had fun with it!

And here's our new bed set - from Ikea, of course! We love it!!

Where's Abbey???

2010-02-11T11:21:00.000-05:00

Oh, there she is!!!

Have I mentioned that she loves to be in my bed with my pajamas draped around her head? I'm pretty sure I have! What a goof! :)

My newest Etsy Addition

2010-02-11T10:53:00.002-05:00

Here's a little plug for my etsy shop.

I was kind of talked into designing a bigger coloring wallet for kids and this is what I've come up with. I call it 'The Big Doodle.' It holds a full 8.5 x 11" note pad and includes a paper pocket as well as 8 crayon pockets. The cool thing about this one though, is that it can hold colored pencils or thin markers instead of crayons. I'll be making more in different fabrics in the next few weeks or days...I'm not sure which yet, but hopefully sooner than later! :)

Abbey's Poor Head

2010-02-07T15:23:00.001-05:00

So yesterday, Abbey tripped on the rug and went flying into the corner of the bed. Doesn't sound so bad, except that it was the corner of the pull-out trundle bed, which is wooden, a little roughed up, and sharp. I was 3 feet away and could see she was heading that way, but couldn't do anything fast enough to stop her. I was thankful that she wasn't gushing blood, because if she had hit it at a different angle, it was looking like we were headed to the hospital! (And of course, it happened while Jonathan was at work...)

She did hit over top of a vein though and she had this massive lump, huge and blue with blood. I have to say I was pretty freaked out, but had to be calm for her sake. I was so thankful that the skin didn't break more than it had and that the lump wasn't getting any bigger after 10 minutes! I kept her upright and tried my best to console her. Eating a "Dora" yogurt helped! :) Of course, our tough nut wouldn't let me put any ice on it. So she toughed it out and this is how it looked last night. It's hard to get a scale of how big the bump is, but you can see the color.

(Sorry, on second thought I took these pictures out, because bath pictures [even just a head shot] on the blog probably aren't the best idea...)

The pictures below, I can't get them to turn around which is really aggrevating, but here you can also see where she took a spill 2 nights ago and scraped up her arm. She managed to get the back AND the front side of her right arm that night. Poor thing, it was so funny, she did it before dinner and kept her arm straight that whole night. It was funny to see her try to eat with only 1 good hand! Anyhow, if you look closely in the second picture you will see her scar from where William threw a block at her about a year ago - nearly in the same place!

It remains to be seen if she is just a bit of a klutz, if her shoes and an uneven walkway contributed to the fall the other night, or if she has some balance issues. Some days I'd like to put her in a bubble, but since we can't do that, I'm thankful that she's a tough little thing!

Back to the Lake

2010-01-26T20:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we've been saving our bread and were all set to feed the birds again. William had the day off of school yesterday and Jonathan was home from his early morning shift, so we could all go together. It was another SUPER windy day, so we brought the kite along too. I think that ended up being William's favorite part, since the birds were basically nowhere to be found!

Both of the kids wanted to wear their hats. Abbey's sporting the Tigger trucker hat.

William's representing D Town

I had to take this picture to show Aunt Holley Abbey's cute sandals! Plus, momma has matching ones! :)

Abbey says, "There it is!"

Hold on tight!

It's WAY high! Oh, and William loved the big steps in the grass. He hopped all over those things!

William's turn!

It's a Buzz Lightyear kite and William kept saying, "To infinity and beyond!!" It was really cute.

Looking for the birds...

Nope, no birds! :(

William, the 'Arteest'!

2010-01-25T17:31:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know that's not how you spell it, but that's how I wanted you to read it. :) William inherited some kind of recessive artistic gene (definitely didn't come from me or Jonathan) and it's really become apparent lately. He is drawing all the time and some of his pictures are so detailed and imaginative! I thought I'd share...

He calls these guys his friends!

This is William walking a dog.

This name one looks very "artsy" to me.

This was his very first "butterfly hands." He did it all himself, even tracing his own hands! (sorry for the shadow)

He drew these smiley face guys just after Christmas. Notice he included eyebrows!

This last one isn't a drawing, but it falls under the artistic category. When he's not drawing, he's building and is quite proud of his houses!

A Blustery Afternoon with the Birds

2010-01-16T14:35:00.002-05:00

Jonathan is working today, so the kids and I decided to get out of the house. Instead of heading to a park, we went to the lake to feed the birds. We had a fun picnic lunch first, but it was so windy that it was a very quick lunch! Anyhow, the kids had a blast and were totally bummed when we ran out of bread. I think we will be saving the ends and stale stuff for another trip very soon! I took a few pictures and a video and William took some good pictures too!

Of course, we couldn't get out of the complex without a stop by the playground. It was nice and empty today, but the place is kind of meant for bigger kids, so it was a quick stop too.

New Year - New Hair

2010-01-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

Here is Abbey sporting her new do.

William's Christmas Class Party

2009-12-18T10:03:00.006-05:00

William's class had their Christmas party yesterday. William was so excited about it and thankfully, Jonathan was off work, so he could stay home with Abbey while I went to the party. She was invited to come too, but things were chaotic enough without her there too! There were 8 adults and a baby there, so we didn't need any additional distractions! Party days are fun, but it's tough for our little guys to get out of their routines. So anyway, William was feeling a little puny yesterday and kept telling me he wanted to go home. He didn't even eat his cookie or cupcake, so you know he really wasn't feeling well! Anyway, he made it through the day, playing games and he received many presents, so I think he was happy he stuck it out.

My Christmas cutie!!

Posing with Miss Debi

And here with Miss Shadle

Here he is opening his present from his teachers! He loves his new tractor!

Diane and Debi were so sweet, they had a present for Abbey too. She opened hers later at home and here she is showing off her dress up shoes! The perfect gift for this little shoe lover!!!

Oh, and in case you were wondering what I did with Jacob (the little boy I watch) while I was at the party, well that's another story... Last Friday I was told that his dad lost his job, so they wouldn't need me anymore. If you think of it, please pray for their family right now. Thankfully, Jacob's mom has a good job, so that's a blessing, but it's always tough losing a job, especially right before Christmas.

And please pray for us, since this obviously has a big, negative impact on us too. Jonathan is still only working part time and without that extra income, (with the exception of our van) we are right back where we started last July when Jonathan lost his job! We are confident that the Lord has a plan for us through all of this; we just need a little extra patience right now as we continue to wait to see what the next step for us will be!

The Van

2009-12-18T09:28:00.000-05:00

Ok, so our moms told me that I should have included a picture of the van in the last post. Well, I thought about that, but since I worked on that post at night, it was already too dark to go out and get a picture of the van, so I figured I would just let that post be about Jonathan's trip. So this post can be all about the van and here she is!

The kids and I washed it up the other day - got it looking all spiffy, but of course, it was raining this morning, so it's all wet in this picture, but you get the idea!

Jonathan's Winter Wonderland Roadtrip

2009-12-16T19:33:00.011-05:00

Jonathan had a big trip last week, which started out basically as a means to get a vehicle from Michigan to Florida, but really, it turned out to be a lot more. Everyone was concerned about the weather, because of course, the biggest blizzard (so far) of the season was hitting all of the states he needed to go through. However, he was able to fly out of Tampa with no problems and arrived in a very cold, but sunny and pretty Minneapolis. Then after a slight delay with the plane, he took off for the hour-long flight to Hancock, Michigan; which is in the upper peninsula, so not the part that Michiganders can point to, when they show you their hand to show you where they're from...

So anyway, this was last Thursday and the plan was for him to get the van, which was being given to us by my sister and her husband and then get on the road first thing Friday morning. That didn't happen since the visibility was basically non-existent Friday, so he got to spend the day with our nieces and nephews and had a great day playing in the snow. He didn't have any boots or snow pants, so needless to say it was pretty chilly and wet, but I think he had a blast! In the least, it was a brand new experience that otherwise, he would never have had. This was his first time to experience snow, and being up there for it, it was like being thrown in a pool, when you've never even stuck your toe in the water! He told me all about snowmobiling and doing donuts in their front yard in Wayne's jimmy, but he didn't get pictures of that. He was full of stories about being cold, that brought back many memories from my childhood. The best part of all of his stories, was that he decided it would be so much fun to take the kids up there next year for Christmas! It's amazing how much more enthusiastic he is about snow (or really anything, for that matter), now that he's tried it for himself! Guess we better start saving now for our trip! :) So here are some of his pictures:

Everyone out sledding in the yard

Here is the view from Amy's back porch. Everything is so pretty with a fresh coating (or you know, 15") of snow!

And this is out their side yard

Their driveway

This next picture is to give you the scale of this tree, which is in the kids' school yard.

More sledding

He looks a little cold, don't you think!? :)

These were the welcome banners our nieces and nephews made for him.

I really don't know where he took these pictures and neither does he. He said he just stopped along the road.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Jonathan made it home safely Sunday night. The van is wonderful and we are SO, SO grateful to my sister and brother-in-law for everything they did for us! We love you guys so much!! Thank you!!!

Lights of Lakeland

2009-12-10T19:13:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday night, we took the kids to the Lights of Lakeland display at the Nazarene church down the road. We have been watching them put it together and I think it was 2 years ago, that Ed & Gail took the kids, but we had never been as a family. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the kids loved it.

Abbey liked the 3 singing wisemen.

William was really interested in the pretty waterfall.

This was too funny, the way Abbey crouched down too. Ladies behind Jonathan (taking our picture) were laughing at her.

Of course, Abbey's absolute favorite part of the night was seeing Dora!

They have a pretty authentic Bethlehem town, that you walk through at the end. Inside there, the kids got to pet baby sheep and saw real camels too!

Now, if you're paying attention, I said the Bethlehem was at the end of this thing, so to get the following pictures, we had to go through a second time! :)

William was amazed by the "snow" falling in parts of the display!

Jonathan was determined to get our pictures taken behind this thing, but as you can see, it didn't work out exactly as hoped!

William was very excited to see Diego back out there with Dora, but he did NOT want to go near him. He was crying on the way out though, about not giving him high five. Oh well, I think he enjoyed it, and really, in what part of Christmas does Diego belong? :)

Catching up

2009-12-10T09:23:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks, around the house and when we went to see my brother. This first picture William asked me to take. Lately, he will do something and then call me over and tell me to take a picture! The funniest part of this new thing of his, is that one day, he told me to take a pic, but I told him I didn't have a camera with me. Then he picked up my phone and said, "take picture!" Smart kid!

This is Abbey on Thanksgiving Day. She slipped into her room quietly and fell asleep on the chair covered up like this.

This is Abbey at Dave's house, wearing Joey's Mickey ears.

Joey!

I can't tell you how excited William was to go to his house. He talked about "Joey's house" the whole way there!

Me and Saydie, outside the restaurant. It was raining and we were standing under an overhang, hence the big wet splotch on my shirt.

And these pictures are just of Saydie being cute.

"Santa's" Little Helpers

2009-12-01T13:34:00.001-05:00

We had 2 extra sets of hands to help us decorate the tree this year. William is at the age now, where he actually is a help. Abbey wants to help, but really, she usually makes more work! However, I only added the pictures that look like she's doing something constructive! ;-) So we had a really BIG tree to put up this year, since we are sharing Ed & Gail's 8-foot tree. That's 4 more feet than last year!! There were a lot of branches to cover, but I think it turned out really pretty! The star wasn't in the same boxes as the rest of the stuff, so when I took the picture below, it's not on there. But never fear - we have one now! William made extra sure of it! Or in other words, he drove Ed crazy talking about it for 2 days, that he got right into the attic and got that star down before William could say another word about it!

Etsy Sale

2009-11-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

Just a little plug here for my etsy shop. I've put all of my items on sale tonight. I've come up with my own new color wallet design and I need to clear out my inventory before I start making new ones. If you have a minute, head on over here and check it out! Thanks! :)

Thanksgiving

2009-11-28T17:37:00.001-05:00

This year we were going to spend Thanksgiving at home by ourselves, but we got a nice visit from my parents instead! We were planning on meeting them in Gainesville on Friday to hang out for a while, but mom surprised us by texting me early Thursday morning, saying they were on their way to our house! Hooray! They were only here for a few hours, but it was great being together. Here are pictures from our after dinner walk and bike ride. (Don't mind the bandage on my dad's head...he's ok. He had a cancer spot removed last week and it's still healing.)

William's 4th Birthday

2009-11-10T10:44:00.039-05:00

William turned 4 years old on Saturday, the 7th. Here are pictures of how we celebrated.

Birthday donuts for William's class

Showing off his birthday loot from school. That bag is full of candy!

He's very proud of his birthday crown, can you tell?

He's been dying to play 'golf" so we finally took him. Since it was the night before his b-day, and he was still technically 3, he got in for free! :)

He loved his Monsters Inc, "Mike" cake!

Blowin' out the candle.

Abbey was quite pleased with William's presents too!

Trick or Trunk

2009-11-03T20:57:00.000-05:00

The kids had their first Halloween experience this weekend. The church was having a "trick or trunk" event and it was perfect for the kids - we knew most of the people there, it was just up the road, and it offered a few other things besides candy - for free!

The kids hadn't really dressed up before and they're usually not big on wearing something that mommy thinks is really cute, so I wasn't sure how this would all go. I let them play in their outfits before the big night and surprisingly, they were both very cool with it! However, William was not interested in wearing his little knight's crown, and he kept talking about being a "captain" so we grabbed the pirate hat my sister made for him and he loved it. He wouldn't take the hat off all night! He called himself a "pirate captain!" He got some people asking what he was supposed to be and I said a knight/pirate. I really didn't care what he was; just happy that he was happy about being something different!

Abbey looked super cute in her little princess/fairy dress I found at Beall's Outlet. I had the cutest little crown headband for her, but she confiscated William's crown, so that worked. She looked adorable either way!

When we got there, William was most interested in the inflatable slides and Abbey just wanted to run around. I was able to take them down the trunk aisle to get some candy, but they weren't too interested. Abbey kept handing her candy to William! We found the calf and both kids liked that. We checked out the motorcycles and even took a hayride. We ended up back at the slides though and thankfully I had Gail there to help with Abbey while I kept an eye on William. Jonathan had to work, but he got off and arrived just as I was ready to head out. It must have been the hottest Halloween...ever! It was hot and tiresome running after both kids, but they had a great time and I was so proud of them! We definitely had a fun evening!

No Explanation Needed (hopefully!)

2009-10-31T13:28:00.000-04:00

I got this picture from a friend and it was so funny that I had to share! It's for real too - it's in Ohio, outside of Sandusky.

William's Fall Fest

2009-10-31T08:57:00.005-04:00

William's class had a little "non-party" yesterday at school. You can't call it a party, because they're only allowed 2 parties a year! At least, that's what his teacher said! So, anyway, I was able to be there for some of it and we had such a great time. He has a great class of kids and it was nice to meet some of the moms too! As soon as I arrived, I was asked to read a story to the kids. About 5 books later, we moved on to play some games!

They started out with "musical pumpkin",

then a ring toss, which ended up being more of a "ring drop,"

and then they learned how to say "trick or treat" and I played the lady at the door. They came to my door over and over until everyone got a chance to knock and say the magic words.

After "tape the nose on the pumpkin", the kids sang and danced for us! It was so cute! I got some video of it, which I'll have to edit and upload later. Anyway, then they had a special lunch and lots of yummy treats. We had to get going, so we took a treat to go.

This is William and Miss Debi, his para. She's so fun!

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Festival

2009-10-25T17:49:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, Jonathan's sister, Katie, and her family came for a visit. It was great to spend time with them -we hadn't seen them since February! Anyhow, on Saturday, we loaded everyone (well, almost - Jonathan had to work) up and headed to Bradenton to visit the Hunsader Farms Pumpkin Festival. We met up with our friends from church and all drove down together. However, it was a little bit tricky trying to stick together once we got there. This was quite the festival - it was HUGE, with lots to see and do. We didn't get to see everything, but we did have a good time. I was so busy with the kids that my camera stayed in its case until we were leaving, so I'm sharing Ed's pictures for this post.

Feeding the Goats! Abbey's face cracks me up in the picture!

Playground! This place was certainly a hit!

William went for a ride in the "train"

Mackenzie got a hold of William's hat!

She found a pumpkin!

The kids, holding their little treasures!

They love their pumpkins!

This is Abbey that night, sleeping with her little pumpkin! So cute!!

Is There Something On My Face?

2009-10-25T16:19:00.003-04:00

Maybe I've used this title before, but it just fit, yet again! :)

Our New Buddy

2009-10-21T16:31:00.013-04:00

A few weeks ago, I started watching a sweet little boy during the week. He is the son of my friend, Annie. He is just a few months older than Abbey and his older brother is just a few months older than William, so when the 4 of them get together, they have a ton of fun! Everyday, I hear from William, "I wanna go to Jake's house!" And when we are there and have to go home, I hear, "I wanna stay at Jake's house!" It's such a blessing for William and Abbey to have sweet little friends. Plus, it's nice for me to be able to see a friend of mine everyday. We really thank the Lord for good friends! Here are some pictures of the kids and a few of our 'adventures' together.

Feeding the ducks and swans at Lake Morton

Playing inside...

outside...
and in Hershey's crate!
Abbey loves the piano at Jacob's house!
William's home - time for a snack

What a Week!

2009-10-09T18:48:00.007-04:00

In addition to the many toy soldiers, cars, sunglasses, and candy bars William brought home this week, he also got a special "award" for his potty efforts. So of course, I had to take a picture and share it on here! We're so proud of you William!! Oh, and his teacher said that he was the easiest kid she's ever potty trained, and she's had a lot of little kiddos to work with! (Guess she's not counting the nearly 2 years of prep work we did! :))
Sorry, I don't know why but this picture keeps loading sideways. Just turn your head! :)

William's BIG News

2009-10-07T16:33:00.005-04:00

This is a face full of pride and rightfully so! William's had a breakthrough with 2 full days of peeing and pooping in the potty! He's gone at school, at home, all on his own, and even made it in from playing outside, to get on there in time! It's not being prompted or timed every hour or whatever; he just started saying, "I have to go potty" and then he does! This is such a BIG thing for him (and us) and we are so proud of our big boy!!

Yes, he's sitting on a pink potty...we got another one (in Abbey colors) when we took his other one to school.

Just a Little October Goodness

2009-10-03T21:13:00.007-04:00

Last night Jonathan and I were outside working on the car, while Ed was working on his motorcycle. And of course, the kids were outside playing when Abbey decided she wanted to help Papa. He gave her some tools and she got right to it! Her little fingers were black and she was a mess, but she was proud of herself! It was too cute! She did a good job too - no scratches! William got in on the "helping" action with his wrench too! I know we were probably getting in the way more than we were doing Ed any good, so we appreciate his patience with us! :)

Now these pictures just crack me up! William kept wanting to go outside with Ed this afternoon, and when I last checked on him, he was walking out to the shop, gameboy in hand. Well, this is how he ended up a few minutes later...

At least he knows enough to sit down and find the shade! :) Smart kid!

Flower Girl

2009-09-30T12:42:00.002-04:00

Abbey just cracks us up with the way her little head works some days. She loves her flower headband, and has come up with a very unique way of wearing it!

Papa & Gaga weekend

2009-09-20T12:50:00.010-04:00

This weekend my parents, aka Papa & Gaga (that's what William decided to call her, all on his own) came down for a visit. It was nice for us, since we haven't seen them since we moved. It was nice for them too, because it gave them a little break from the stresses of the school year. We shopped, ate out, took the kids to some parks and just had one of those fun weekends!

The kids love the fountains at Barnett Park! It took them a little while to get involved, but once they did, they were all over it!

Mom and I came back to the house after Barnett Park so the kids could get a nap and we could work on some computer stuff. This is how William finally conked out! We went back to their hotel yesterday, to enjoy some free breakfast and then took the kids out to Lake Bonny Park. They had such a great time - Abbey would swing all day long, if you'd let her!

Papa got on the bouncy thing and really got it moving! The kids just laughed and laughed!

Abbey wouldn't participate in a group shot, little stinker!

Abbey was trying to walk just like Papa, it was so cute.

Thanks Papa and Grama for such a fun visit! We love you!

Labor Day, Polk County Style!

2009-09-08T21:07:00.005-04:00

Jonathan was working on Labor Day, so I took the kids outside early that morning for a wagon ride. We saw the neighbors' horses and some cows. After that, it was back to the house to run around and play in the yard. I had filled up the pool for the kids and once again, Abbey decided to get in before I anticipated, so off came the clothes! I let the kids run around in their swim diapers and they loved it! This picture is pretty special since it was the first time that Abbey "cheesed" for the camera! I love it!! :)

Like Abbey, like Panda Bear

2009-09-06T20:53:00.002-04:00

So this is Abbey this morning...

And this is the bear later this morning...

Well, it kinda looks like a potty!?

2009-09-02T08:56:00.006-04:00

So this is how we found Abbey yesterday - sitting on the dog's water bowl! Some of you may be thinking that we leave her alone for long periods of time or something to get into all of this stuff, but that's honestly not the case! She's a little super stealth and Jonathan was in the same room when this happened!

What a Girl!

2009-09-01T13:21:00.006-04:00

We caught Abbey climbing into the pool Sunday afternoon with all her clothes on! I guess we can be thankful that at least, she took her shoes off?! She and William had been running around the yard, playing ball, and swinging and I guess she was ready to cool off - QUICKLY! :)

One Week Later

2009-08-26T21:41:00.004-04:00

Well, it was about this time one week ago that we arrived in town. We've come a long way these past 7 days. By last Friday, we had our rooms set up and the storage unit loaded. Sunday was a great day at our old church and we had lunch with a friend who has had 2 liver transplants. He has been a great encouragement and help to Jonathan through his whole kidney ordeal. Today, we got word on what school William will attend, and Jonathan got his first unemployment check. Jonathan will be starting back with Publix next week, which is a great blessing. It will only be part time, but it's a start and a way to work his way back up in the company.

The kids are loving their "new house." They have adjusted well so far and we're thankful for that. I was able to visit my friends at LCS yesterday and that was a great encouragement to me. There are so many good people here that care about us and it reaffirms that we are where we need to be, even under difficult circumstances. Our 'challenge' remaining for the week is to find enough Cellcept for Jonathan to last until the end of the month. Our insurance ran out last Friday and he only has enough medicine to last until this Friday - as in 2 days from now! So, it's a little scary, because his body will start to reject his kidneys without this drug, but we are trusting the Lord to provide exactly what we need. Even if it comes at the last minute, the Lord has proven Himself so faithful that we are not worrying, just trusting!

So thank you everyone for your continued prayers, offers of help, and well wishes. We are so grateful to all of you and especially to our amazing God, who never lets us down!

Moving

2009-08-14T13:31:00.004-04:00

Well, it was a little over 3 years ago that I started blogging and we were in the midst of moving out of Lakeland. It's pretty ironic that now I am sitting here blogging, in the midst of moving back to Lakeland! Yup, that's our plan for now. It's exciting and sad and still a little unbelievable all at once! It has been exactly 3 weeks and 2 days since Jonathan was laid off and so this is moving fast, really FAST! Jonathan has some better prospects down south, like getting back with Publix, so that's why we're heading out of Tally. We're moving ahead of our initial schedule, since he needs to be back there for an interview next week. We're thankful for all of God's blessings - big and small - through these past few weeks. He's shown us that He answers our prayers, He provides for all of our needs (no matter how impossible they seem to us), and He always gives us the strength and courage to get through whatever we are facing. Even the really tough stuff - that even to think about, makes you want to puke! So we still have many unanswered questions and really don't know how everything will work out just yet, but we are so thankful for the direction God has given us so far. And especially for the possibility of work for Jonathan, even if it is only part time to start. And of course, we're always thankful for our friends and families' love, prayers, and support!

So, here are just a few pictures of life the past few days...
William's really getting good on the tricycle! He's finally caught on to pedaling! Abbey likes to catch a ride too, although he can't pedal and pull her on the carpet!
Our girl loves to dress up and pull my clean clothes out and drape them over her shoulders! We've given her scarves for this sort of thing, but she prefers things that come out of hampers or dresser drawers! :)
I found her asleep like this yesterday - just thought it was cute.
Jonathan gave her bangs a trim last night in the bath. He forgot that hair gets even shorter after it dries! Oh well, it will grow! And here is what the house looks like with 5 days to go. Basically the only things not in a box, are the things we can't go 5 days without!

New pictures and a new job (whether we like it or not)

2009-08-05T20:15:00.012-04:00

If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, then you have probably already seen these... If not, here are the newest family pictures we had taken.

We've been going through some tough times lately - like we haven't had enough of them already! Once again, our lives have been turned upside down by circumstances completely out of our control. 2 weeks ago today, Jonathan lost his job, and not just his job, but also his work car (our 2nd car) and even his cell phone. It's a really terrible feeling and unless you've been through it yourself, it's so hard to grasp the concern (worry) and desperation that can take over...especially when you have such huge medical issues like we do. However, we are trusting in the Lord to give us a new direction and provide for our family through this really difficult time.

Not much to say, so here are some recent pictures

2009-06-15T20:36:00.007-04:00

The kids love to ride around the house on Daddy's back.

When we're not at appointments and therapies, this is where you'll find us!

Notice Abbey is wearing her headband - that was all her!

My sister and I found some awesome deals at Lands End while I was up there and here a few of them - Abbey's new swimsuit. She was mad here, because I made her stop for a picture before she could go outside.

And here's William's new backpack, which he's very proud of, because it has his name on it. Abbey got a really cute one too, but I didn't get a picture of it. Hers is blue with butterflies and her name on it. You might notice William's face. 2 weeks in a row, he took a faceplant in the nursery. He had a fat lap, a bloody nose and scabs on his face for over 2 weeks. He looked awful and we know it hurt him. He would tell us "no touch" if we came anywhere near his face. Thankfully, he's all healed now and I have removed the infamous 'blue car' from the nursery!

And here's our little multi-tasker. This guy will play golf while doing anything he can - eating (if we let him), sitting on the potty, talking on the phone to his grandparents...which he was doing here. Maybe we should get him a bluetooth!? ;-)

One Year Ago Today

2009-06-01T14:32:00.008-04:00

This is where we were one year ago...

That's Jonathan's room at Shands Hospital in Gainesville, before (& after) his transplant surgery. It was around 9:30 PM on May 31, 2008 that we got the call that there was a kidney for him! (He had mysteriously gone into kidney failure in May of 2007 and had lived on dialysis for exactly one year.) It was a completely unexpected call since Jonathan had been on the transplant list for less than 6 months! Plus, amazingly, we already had a live donor lined up! Anyhow, we packed up and high-tailed it to Gainesville later that evening. At 1:00 the following day, Jonathan was going back to receive not 1, but 2 kidneys! Two of them, since they came from an infant cadaver. Just a few hours later, he was out and those little babies were already working! It was literally a miracle - how well he came through everything that day!

(If you're new to this story, you can catch up with it here)

So, a year later...hard to believe! While the events of the past 2 years weren't exactly in our plans, they were in His, and we just have to make mention of how grateful we are for the Lord's providence, grace, goodness, protection, and love in our lives!

Home again, catching up and all of that

2009-05-29T14:54:00.006-04:00

It's been nearly a week since I've gotten back and it's taken me almost just as long to get settled back in. I had such a great time with my sister's family, even though we were sick the whole week. Despite the yuckiness, we made so many wonderful memories, saw some really beautiful things and just had a special time being together. My sister is my best friend and we only get to see each other about twice a year, (if we're lucky) so we both treasure every minute together. I got some really good pictures, but have too many to put on here, so if you're interested enough, you're welcome to see them here.

I was very happy to get home to my family though and Daddy and the kids had a little surprise waiting for me. It was very sweet!

Anyhow, summer has started and we have a lot happening. Abbey is starting speech therapy on a weekly basis, so that's just one more thing to go in our already busy calendar. Thankfully, her speech is a lot better than William's at her age, and they've ordered it for just 6 months to start. She will be using the same SLP that William did, so that's good. She's a real sweet lady.

I also just started in the position of nursery director at our church too. It's a great opportunity for our whole family and we are so thankful for the extra income this position will provide.

William has finished up his first year of preschool and we are so proud of him and all of the progress that he's made. It was so hard for us to put him in there last year, but we're so thankful that we did. We did get the sad news though, that Mrs. Hatchett won't be his teacher next year. She will still be at the school, but teaching in a different capacity. This is a bummer for us, but we are praying that the Lord will put a teacher in her place that will be a perfect fit...who knows, we may even like her better? It's hard to imagine, but it could happen!

So, I guess that's it for now. Oh, I celebrated my 29th birthday this past week too. I'm getting old! It's sad, because I'm not the only one growing up! Abbey will be 2 next month! I haven't given much thought to how we're going to celebrate, but I guess I better get on it. July 17 will be here before we know it! I can't believe my MI trip is already over too. Time just goes by too fast!

A Few Parting Pictures and Stuff

2009-05-19T13:05:00.004-04:00

I'm leaving early tomorrow morning to spend some time with my sister in Michigan. Since I will be away from the blog for a while, I thought I'd post a few odds and ends that have been sitting in my camera. This first picture was taken 2 nights ago when Abbey wouldn't stay in her bed and fell asleep in the hallway. I took a picture of her on my phone too and sent it to my family, who I know would appreciate it the most. See, when I was younger, I never wanted to sleep in my own bed...ever. I didn't mean to be such a twerp about it, but I know I was. Back when I was - well, I won't share how old I was - but older than Abbey...and I got out of bed one night, only to come down the hall and find that mom & dad's bedroom door was closed. So, instead of going back to my own room - which I shared with my sister - I had my pillow and blankie and laid right there in front of their door. I don't remember sleeping there all night, but I do remember dad coming out in the morning and saying how badly he felt for me! So, although there are many "Laura not sleeping in her own bed" stories, that's by far, the most memorable, which is why I had to capture this memory too! And I did move her just as soon as the picture taking was!

And Rock Band has made a come back in our house. I appreciated the quiet while everyone lost interest for a while, but it's nice that William is interested in playing another part besides the drums this time. Here he is singing the Who...very well I might add!

And here's our baby girl playing "tar!"

We're making progress!

2009-05-15T15:48:00.004-04:00

Abbey has been climbing EVERYWHERE lately, so she's been able to reach things that are on top of her dresser - which is like 4 1/2 feet tall. Anyway, she got her hair stuff down yesterday and was trying to wear her yellow headband. She wore it most of the morning, which I was very thankful for. It's not exactly right, but it's sure cute! :)

Mothers Day came early

2009-05-09T07:54:00.008-04:00

William came home from school yesterday with something in his hands, which he brought right to me. I didn't open it right away, but then my curiosity got the best of me. I figured it was going to be one of 2 things and I was right!

For whatever reason, these pics are sideways. Sorry, I can't get them to turn around.

He was especially proud of this card.

William took this picture!

William wrapped himself back up!
Thank you William, and Mrs. Hatchett! I love my apron!

Day at the Zoo

2009-05-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, we went south to visit with Jonathan's parents. We had planned to go to the zoo the last time we were there, but it didn't work out, so we made sure it happened this trip. Saturday morning, we got an early start and had a nice breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We ordered the kids pancakes, but they came with apples and whip cream all over them. Abbey ate the apples, and William ended up eating all of Gail's plain pancakes! I will be sure to order differently the next time! So anyway, the Lowry Park Zoo is rated the #1 zoo for kids, and we were eager to see how the kids would like it, even though we know they're still a bit young to understand everything. They did enjoy some animals and there were a lot of them to see, but by far, their favorite part was the fountains. You can tell by the pictures, where we spent the majority of our time!

We made a stop at the carousel and the kids loved that. William rode on a "horse" as he calls zebras and Abbey rode on a manatee. She was doing great sitting up and being excited until the thing started moving. Then she threw one arm around me, hunkered down and held on with a death grip! Her face was tight and filled with terror at first, but then when she decided she liked it, she let out a scream (literally) of relief and delight. She did like it, but she made sure to keep a real tight grip on me. And of course, she cried when we had to get off.

So after that it was off to the kids' area and the fountains!! I had packed the kids' swimsuits and all that, since I knew we'd probably be there a while. However, I was met with some resistance, from all sides, when I tried to change them before they got their clothes soaking wet. So, we let them get totally drenched and then when it was time to leave, we put them into their swimsuits, because those were the only dry clothes they had! Yes, it's backwards, I know, but some days that's how things go!

So then before lunch, since it was right beside the fountains, we took them through the petting zoo. I don't think they were too interested in it, probably because they were getting hungry and tired. There were these funny goats though, that had a little walkway up to a roof where they could be fed. William noticed them right away and wanted to make the cups go up.

After that, we headed to a nice, cool eating area and had a good lunch. I think we were all about ready to go by then, but Jonathan wanted to take the kids through the Africa area, where they would see the zebras, giraffes, and other animals from the movie, Madagascar. It was a good ways from where we were at the time, even though it ended up being right behind where we ate. Since we had sunblock issues earlier in the day (I won't even talk about that!) and Abbey didn't have many clothes on, I wanted to find a little t-shirt for her. So, we got a shirt, we made it to "Africa," but by this time we're carrying both kids (I've got William) and we were SO HOT and wanting some ice cream or at least something to drink! Ed and Gail stayed back with the stroller, so I didn't have my camera, which was a bummer, because we went up to the place where you could feed the giraffes. We didn't have our money with us either, so we couldn't buy a giraffe cracker (for 2 bucks - ripoff!!), but William didn't care about having food for the giraffes. We were really close to them, but he made his way right up to them and petted one on the face! We were amazed! I wished I had my camera for that! Oh well, we know it happened! So, it took us a while to find Ed & Gail after that and by this time Abbey was asleep on Jonathan and I had twisted my ankle - twice. And that's my 'good' ankle too! We were all very ready to go, even though we still hadn't seen everything. We had a good time and I think we got our $20 ticket's worth. Next time we're in Lakeland though, I think we'll just take the kids to Barnett Park and let them run around in the fountains for free!! :)

My funny guy

2009-05-07T11:07:00.003-04:00

This is where I found William the other night - supposedly lying down, watching a show before bed. He was quite proud of himself up there, can you tell? :)

A Wonderful Encouragement for moms

2009-04-29T18:49:00.008-04:00

I saw this video today and it really touched me. I thought by sharing it here, it could also be an encouragement to someone else. As a mom, our first and most important ministry is to our children. I want to share every moment with my kids, teaching them, encouraging them, loving them and showing them that even as much as I love them, the Lord loves them even more! I know sometimes (especially the stay-at-home) moms don't always feel so appreciated and this is a nice little reminder that we are! :)

(If you already have this CD, then you've obviously heard this song, but it's new to me and maybe to some of you. I'm thinking this CD would be a good mother's day present! :))

Here are the rest of the beautiful lyrics...

You’re up all night with a screaming baby
You run all day at the speed of life
And every day you feel a little bit less
like the beautiful woman you are

So you fall into bed when you run out of hours
and you wonder if anything worth doing got done
Well maybe you just don’t know
or maybe you’ve forgotten

That you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
but I believe that time will tell
how you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time

With every, “I know you can do it”
and every tear that you kiss away
So many little things that seem to go unnoticed
they’re just like the drops of rain
over time, they become a river

And you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
but I believe that time will tell
how you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time

You’re beautiful, so beautiful
how you’re changing the world, yeah you’re changing the world

You, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time
Making history with every touch and every smile
Oh you, you may not see it now
but I believe that time will tell
how you, you are changing the world
I believe that you, you are changing the world
one little heartbeat at a time

Field Trip! Back to the Museum

2009-04-24T21:48:00.005-04:00

William's class took a short trip back to the Tallahassee Museum yesterday. Their 5th grade reading buddies were going to the Mag Lab and since the museum is just down the road, his class shared the bus and got a chance to get out of the classroom for a bit. I had an early morning with Abbey already planned, but I was able to finish that just in time to get to the school before his class was about to load up. It was so fun riding on the bus with the little guys. This bus had seat belts, which I had never seen in a bus before, and every little guy had to be strapped in. This bus also had air conditioning, which was wonderful, especially while we were waiting for the big kids at the lab, since they weren't exactly ready to leave when we arrived. Man, buses have come a long ways since I used to ride in them at school! :) Anyhow, I didn't get a lot of pictures since I had a lot of keeping up to do! Keeping tabs on 11 special needs kiddos in an uncontrolled environment is a lot of work! We had 6 parents though and a helper, so that was great and I know his teacher was appreciative that we all could be there. So here is a little self portrait we took in the bus right before take off. William's class had been playing outside when I arrived, so he was all sweaty and hot, but so excited to go on the bus!

We stayed on the animal side of the place, since it was farm day and there were lots of classes in other areas of the museum. I was a little hesitant to be back in the animal place, since we had the incident with the bobcats the last time we were there, but thankfully I didn't even see them this time! Most of the big cats were asleep!

Here are William and his friend Ryker, trying to be bats! Ryker said 'take my picture', but he didn't get his face in place at the same time as William! He's such a nice, cute kid. I know William will miss him next year, since he's moving up to kindergarten. :(

So we saw the animals, had a nice lunch outside, and then got to spend some time at the train before the bus arrived. The kids LOVE the train! The little guys were inside, knocking on the windows, saying "Hi William's mom!" It was so cute! William got himself up onto the high seats in the caboose and found me outside. I just didn't the camera to work when he was waving. Oh well, we had a fun day!

This is what you call cheap entertainment! :)

2009-04-19T18:36:00.005-04:00

Jonathan took this video specifically to put on the blog, so here you go!

Easter pics on parade

2009-04-14T11:36:00.005-04:00

Here are some of the pictures we took on Easter Sunday.

We got one picture of Abbey with a bow in her hair, but as you can see, she wasn't happy about it. It lasted maybe 7 seconds and then it was out.

Me and the kids...Take 1

Take 2...after I told William he could play golf if he said "cheese"

Then Jonathan handed William the camera and told him to take our picture.
Take 1...

Take 2 - pretty good huh!?

2 cheeseballs and my binky girl

I followed them around the room until they stopped moving, trying to get a full shot of both of them. This is pretty good, even though they aren't looking at me. But what did I expect, Thomas was on TV!

Here's my cutie at church

And here's Abbey's class starting their Easter egg hunt.
My friend, Claramae and I hid all the eggs in the rooms the night before, after the Passion Play.

Little Rose, she's such a sweet girl!

Abbey didn't pay much attention to the eggs, but she did enjoy the toys in the baby nursery!

William and his friend, Stryder in their little suits! So cute!!

Pensacola weekend pictures

2009-04-08T14:57:00.008-04:00

Like I mentioned, we were in Pensacola over the weekend. We went there to see Celtic Woman in concert, for our anniversary and just to get out of town for a bit. Mom and Dad came over with us to watch the kids while we were at the show. We had such a nice time. It rained everyday last week, which was William's spring break, so we were so happy to see some sun and let the kids have a chance to run around and see some new things.
We took the kids to Pensacola Beach in the afternoon. William's not real big on the water and it wasn't super hot, so we didn't have to worry about bringing swimsuits and all that. We did make a Wal-mart run though, to get some sand toys.

Here are the kids all ready to get out of those seats!

The famous Pensacola Beach Water tower, or as William called it, "the ball up high"

We strolled out onto the pier, which is really long compared to St. Pete and Clearwater! William liked to stop and look at the water underneath us. He had to get face to the ground to see it too! It was super windy out, but so nice! On our way back to the beach, one of the fisherman we saw had caught a small shark. One lady was calling it a "hammerhead", but Jonathan informed me that it was a "shovelhead", after we had walked past them. That's a Florida native for you! :)

So here we are ready for the concert. It was so nice! We've loved seeing them on tv and it was so cool seeing them in person! We had great seats too!

The next day we went to the Naval Air Station to visit the National Museum of Naval Aviation, one of Dad's favorite places. Although he's been many times, and I went to college in Pensacola, I don't remember ever going there. If I did, it was a LONG time ago! It was fun to bring the kids and see them react to all of the planes and helicopters. With dad there, it's like having your own personal tour guide! We spent the morning there and then before leaving the base, we went to see the Pensacola lighthouse. It's really pretty and right on the beach. I tell you, the navy people stationed there have it pretty nice! The Fort Barrancas is there on base too, which looks really cool, but we needed lunch and the kids needed a nap, so we'll have to do that on our next trip. We drove by my old school a few times, but we didn't go on campus. I didn't pack a skirt with me, so I wouldn't have felt comfortable walking around campus in pants - that's how it is there. So all in all, a great weekend, even with the kids getting sick. It was worth it!

Recent Stuff

2009-04-06T15:43:00.006-04:00

Here are a few pictures of what's happened around the house lately.
William helped me make chocolate chip cookies. It's a new recipe and they turned out really well. I think the kids both agree they're keepers too! :)

And here are the kids in their cute aprons Aunt Pam made them. They love to play "cooking" all the time! William now puts his on any time he gets into the play food! He tells us "I cook!"

A few weeks ago, I made those coloring wallets for the kids. Well, William was using his at lunch, after church, and a friend, who we were eating with, started looking it over. She then asked if I could make one for her. It was funny because first she asked for one, then it ended up being 5 - one for each of her grand kids! I've got a lot of leftover fabric and stuff, so I'm going to make them up and sell them on etsy and anywhere else I can, for that matter! :)

So Abbey's been doing really well sleeping in her bed, once she falls asleep. Up until that magic minute is another story. This is how I found the kids the other night after I had said good night. Our little monkey had made her way up onto William's bed and pulled out the hats! I grabbed the camera and took some pictures quickly, then reprimanded her for climbing up there in the first place! (Jonathan was out of town this night.) 5 minutes later, she got back up there and put a hat on William even though he was asleep - it was so funny! After that time, I moved the hats and hopefully the temptation to climb up there! She's such a little stinker!

And this is how I found her after she had taken a crayon to her room! She looked like a clown with huge purple lips! She was pretty upset when I took her crayon away - hence the tears in the last picture!

Well, that catches everyone up a little bit. I'll have some more adventures to post here soon. We just returned last night from a weekend in Pensacola, which was great!! We had a nice time relaxing and enjoying the sun, which wasn't here in town at all last week! I don't know if we caught a bug while we were there though or what the cause is, but the kids both came home sick. I spent a good majority of last night and today doing clean up/stain removal and laundry while minding both kids since William was home from school today. Abbey's fever is down today, but she just still looks peaked. And thankfully, William has stopped throwing up, so that's a blessing. If we can just get everything from coming out his other end, then he could go back to school! I guess we'll see how the night goes.

Fun Times with Cousins!

2009-03-31T15:31:00.006-04:00

So Dave's family came up for a visit this past weekend and we had a lot of fun hanging out with them. The kids got to meet Saydie and play with Joey. William was pretty interested in Saydie and even said her name, but it came out "Saybee." It was so cute though! He especially liked playing with Joey. Everyday we heard, "Go Papa's house - see Joey." Mostly they were great friends, although there were some moments of frustration where Joey would knock over Wiliam's tower or take his crayons. We heard lots of "go away" during those moments! :) And trust me, it wasn't all Joey either, he just can't vocalize like William can!

We got the kids all dressed up to take a picture together, but it turned out just about how I expected - not very well. At least William and Abbey weren't the only ones crying! :)

Grama had hard boiled some eggs for the kids to color. Joey was very good with his little wire holder, dipping the eggs in each color carefully. Abbey, on the other hand, held tightly onto me, while she dunked eggs with her other hand! Her little hands ended up totally colored as well as her feet, after she knocked over the blue dye! She was a mess, but had a blast!

The kids love Grama's Michigan mobile!

They also have their own little set up to watch their movies at Grama's house too. Of course, they didn't stay like this for long. Each one kept moving their chair up closer to the TV!

William wanted to play ring around the rosy with me and Joey, but Joey's version isn't like ours...he just falls down as soon as you start the music!

And here are just some other cute pictures of the kids. Saydie is just the sweetest little baby! We are all so in love with that little one! We're so thankful they all came up and that we could spend some time together!

Thank you...

2009-03-24T15:25:00.004-04:00

...Nana and papa for our Easter presents! We found some fun books and dvds that were on a great sale, so we were able to get a lot of things with your gift certificate! Everything came in the mail today and we're very excited about them! :)

Success!

2009-03-24T10:55:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update - Abbey slept all through the night in her big bed! She got up twice after we had said good night, but once she fell asleep, she was out and stayed there all night until I came in to say good morning! Hooray!!

A Bit of New Stuff

2009-03-23T17:29:00.013-04:00

It's been a busy and bummer week. I've been sick all week and even though I've felt terrible, there's still been a lot to do and get through. I wish I could say that I'm feeling great and the sickness is behind me, but that's just not the case. I'm hoping to get enough rest over the next few days though, so that I can enjoy the time with my brother's family when they come up at the end of the week. Plus, William's spring break is next week and we have some big things planned for that time, so this flu has got to go and soon! Abbey's doing better though, so we're thankful for that!

Well, I thought I'd try to catch up on a few things. Our days have recently become very full with lots of "goings on" and I wish I could share what it's all about, but since I can't, you'll have to settle for the leftovers. :)

In potty training news, William has been using the little potty on a regular basis and even tells us that he "wants potty!" He will sit on the big one, even at church, but he has yet to do anything while he's there. And he doesn't always go when he tells us he wants to go, and sometimes he's already gone, but we're making progress!

And thanks to our tax return, we were able to get the kids a bed set that would accommodate both of them and our small space. We got the bed frame 2 weeks ago, but Abbey couldn't use it until the bed rails came today. We got it all set up this afternoon and so far, she likes it! We are happy for her to be sleeping on a real mattress again, rather than just the hard pack n' play board, but we'll see how she does all through the night. I expect she'll be up & out of bed, a few times over the next few nights, but I'm hopeful she'll catch on quickly. She's a lounger, like her dad, so that will hopefully work to our advantage! :) It's time for her to be in a big bed anyways, since she has now started climbing out of the pack n' play altogether.

And I had to include these pics, because they were just too funny. Abbey loves to drape anything around her neck - you've seen it - towels, dirty clothes, anything she can get her hands on. Well, today she found something new! Jonathan thinks she was trying to be like Wall-E! :)

Oh and I had to share that I won a prize from the St. Patrick's day blogging carnival I took part in! It was really exciting to hear that I had won, because I usually have the worst luck. When I receive my gift, I'll be sure to share it on here! I'm really looking forward to it! :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day...or as close as we're gonna get!

2009-03-17T12:31:00.007-04:00

It's been one of those days people... It's probably a good thing that I've been trying to be "festive" over the past few days, because no one's feeling it today. The kids were both wearing green this morning, so I took their picture, but you can see they weren't enjoying our impromptu photo session!

William got to school, Jonathan got off to work, and hopefully their days are going well, but can't say the same for Abbey and myself. I've finally come down with "the crud" that everyone has had and despite, loading up on a few different drugs, I can't get my head to stop throbbing. I could feel this coming on last night. :( And poor Abbey was in a right state this morning. She's never been so upset before and I could tell she was in pain. She's had some tummy trouble recently and we've tried a few less invasive methods of making her feel better, but this morning, I had to pull out the big guns. So as you can imagine, she had her first experience with a product that starts with an "s" and ends with "ory." (Sorry, a word like that just doesn't belong in any post!) So, we managed to make it through that without too much trauma, and thankfully, my poor baby finally fell asleep. She has been down for about an hour & 1/2, so we'll see how she's feeling when she awakes.

So we may have some green milk and mashed potatoes with our ham tonight, but that is probably going to be the extent of our St. Patrick's Day festivities. Hope you are having a more festive, enjoyable day! :)

Trying out the new playground

2009-03-16T08:39:00.007-04:00

My parents live out in the country and just down the road is an old school, which has been turned into a community center. Well, at this place, they just recently put up a new playground that we wanted to try out. It was supposed to rain all day, but since there wasn't a drop in the sky, we took the kids over there after lunch. This is Abbey in the car - she had to take her favorite bear with her!

The only downside to this little park is that there are no baby swings. Abbey ended up swinging on our lap, which was a bit awkward, especially since she wanted to lie down and swing! She was very comfy though and could have stayed that way all day!

William came over and wanted to help push us. He wasn't much of a help, since he kept pushing at the wrong time. It was pretty funny and he thought he was hilarious getting bopped from behind!

Here we are trying to get a picture of both kids together. They were cooperating pretty well, except that William wanted to wave right in front of his face! Silly guy! Oh and Abbey is wearing Jonathan's hat...