A future in hairstyling?
One of Abby's current favorite pastimes is brushing and combing hair. While she prefers to do mine, she will also happily style the hair of her dolls and has even tried to make our dog Lucy one of her models.

The other night we had a little hair style party. Abby wanted all of the clips and rubberbands she had in her carrying bag in her hair at one time. So, with a little background music of Billy Idol, below is what we came up with. :-)

Good-bye Frasier
We found out Monday that my mom's dog Frasier died. :-( Frasier was one of the sweetest dogs I ever met. He was one of those perfect companion dogs who just liked to be with his people. He was also quite fond of boiled eggs, protecting the world from squirrels, and sleeping in a lap.

This was Abby's first experience with death. It's a hard concept for anyone but I really wondered how much she would understand. I was truly amazed at how much she seemed to grasp. We talked about it that evening and she has brought it up a few times since.



This is one of my favorite Abby/Frasier pictures. Abby was 18 months old at the time and so very fascinated with Frasier. He seemed to actually dig her admiration. Or maybe he just tolerated it.

We'll sure miss the little guy.

June 18, 2006
Abby and I went to see the movie Cars. I thought it was a cute movie and Abby loved it!!! In fact, so much so that she did not want to even leave the theatre after the movie was over. :-) We have been talking about Cars all week since. I didn't take any pictures of Abby at the movie but for today's Abby, she is demonstrating her most excellent twirling capabilities.

A day in Rome
Last Saturday we drove to Rome to spend the day with my mom, grandmother, and Bryan. Abby definitely gets to be the center of attention for the day when we are in Rome.



Happy to see Gigi and Papa Bryan. He is wearing the visor Abby made for him at school for Father's Day.



With Gigi and Great-grandma Margaret.



We all love my mom's dog Frasier. Frasier was the first dog Abby ever met.



Papa Bryan is a huge Tennessee fan!



We had been there 5 minutes before Abby was asking if she could help water the flowers.



Watering with Gigi is fun!!



Papa Bryan has blueberries ready to pick in his backyard! They were so good too. Abby got to test out her farming skills.



How about this one?

Decatur Beach Party
Every year, they block off the streets in downtown Decatur and bring in about 60 tons of sand. The streets are completely covered with sand. They also bring in food tents (in addition to the great restaurants already there) and a stage with bands. We went with Isabelle and her parents and Roman and his dad. All three kids were incredibly excited and had the best time!!



Roman, Isabelle, and Abby walking to the sand.



Three buddies just having fun being together.



Sand and kids everywhere!



Abby and Roman



After the sand we somehow managed to get a table and ate a light dinner. When they finished eating, the kids starting dancing by the table and were just hugging each other and laughing. This shot was not planned at all. They were having the best time.



They were still dancing and hugging each other here so it is a little blurry action shot but sums up how much fun they had. I don't know about Isabelle and Roman, but Abby was completely exhausted that night!



Three adorable friends.

Hair cut!
Abby has had more hair cuts than I can even remember. Her hair grows very fast. For the last 9 months or so, we have gone to a great kids' place in downtown Decatur. The seats are cars and they show videos while the kids get their hair cut. Miss Lisa cut Abby's hair and though it is shorter than I really wanted, it is very cute. Plus, it will definitely grow out.



I had been letting Abby's hair grow longer so we could do the ponytail thing again but Abby seems to really prefer shorter hair and had begun to ask with great regularity when could she get a hair cut. I think she looks adorable with short or long hair.

Hide and Seek

Yes, we still love hide and seek. And yes, Abby still gives away where she is hiding. :-) Below she is popping out from under the table before I could even say "ready or not". You can see the paint on her shirt left from a school art project. Thank goodness for OxyClean.

Swimming at the big pool
Last Sunday afternoon we went to our neighborhood pool. It was the first official swim of the summer. This year I got Abby a swim vest. The first 20 minutes in the pool she mostly held on to me but then she just "got it"! And then she was all over that pool. Those little legs were kicking everywhere. The way this swim vest works, she has to actually kick to stay afloat. Boy when she got it, she really got it. We both got a great work out. Unfortunately, since it was just the two of us, I didn't get any pictures of her in the pool but below are the before and after shots.



Ready to try out the swim vest!



A little post-swimming snack. Water and goldfish. Doesn't get much better than that.

June 10, 2006
Abby and I went to see Mickey Mouse Magic Show at the Fox Theatre http://www.foxtheatre.org/ with Kris and Avery. The show was probably my favorite of all the shows we have been to. It was definitely a huge hit with Abby and Avery. Abby watched every second of the show and didn't get restless or bored even once.



In our front yard ready to go to the show!





Checking out the Mickey sign at the theatre. The Fox Theatre is simply beautiful. It was built in the 1920s (http://www.foxtheatre.org/history.htm) and is my favorite place to see a show.



YAY Mickey!!



After the show we walked to Mary Mac's Tearoom http://www.marymacs.com/ to eat lunch. Mary Mac's is another Atlanta landmark and their vegetable plate is pure heaven! Mary Mac's has been in business since 1945 so they truly know how to cook authentic southern food!



Digging Mary Mac's!



Two little ladies enjoying lunch.



At Mary Mac's, you write down what you want to eat and then the waitress/waiter will collect the papers. They supply pencils on each table. Abby and Avery really wanted to write with those pencils. Wisely, Mary Mac's also provides crayons for the little patrons. Abby has eaten at Mary Mac's many times and now gets very excited when we talk about going. Yes, she has good taste. :-)

Normally Abby prefers to sleep in pajamas but just recently she has begun to occasionally request a gown. I think she realized it has far better twirling capabilities.



And it is far better for dancing.

This gown is a very special one. My friend, Monica, gave it to Meredith when she was about Abby's age. Melanie passed it on to Abby. Monica is Italian but she attended LaGrange College for a year. We all became good friends and have been ever since even though she is back in Italy.

Dinner at Mama Fu's
I have mentioned here before how much Abby loves to eat at Mama Fu's. Fortunately, I love it as well, since it is often Abby's first choice for dinner out. Friday night was Mama Fu's night. Abby decided to try out the chopsticks. She did really well and got a lot of her noodles in her mouth!











One of Abby's teachers has started a new business and her first venture is selling children's t-shirts. At school this day, she coordinated a fashion show with all the kids. The big kids helped the little kids and walked them out when it was their turn. The teacher had each child wear a t-shirt she made which summed up his or her personality. Abby's shirt said Ssssssuper Sssssilly and you can see most of it in this picture. The funny part was that they forgot to tell the parents to go in the main door so many went straight to the classroom. Yes, I confess I did this too. It was hilarious because the kids were ALL crying because they saw their parents and then the parents left. Somehow they got the whole thing together though and it was a very cute fashion show. And I did purchase a new t-shirt for Abby.

Tuesday on the way home from school, Abby fell asleep in the car. She has not done this in a very long time. The ride home from school is only about 15 minutes. And even if she does fall asleep in the car on the weekend, she normally wakes up when I get her out of her car seat. But Tuesday she was wiped out. This phasing out of the nap she has been doing finally caught up with her. When I got her out of the car seat, she barely moved. Inside, I put her on the couch and she was so asleep she was even snoring. I let her sleep for about 30 minutes, woke her up for dinner and an early bath and then she was in bed asleep by 7:00.

We had a play date last Monday after school with Abby's friend Alyssa. The girls have very similar personalities and play so well together. They are so cute to watch! We went to the Little Jumping Bean so the kids could run and bounce. Alyssa's little brother Jack also went with us. Jack just turned 1 and did his best to keep up with the girls.



We found this little bench with 3 seats and amazingly enough, all 3 kids were even smiling and looking at the camera. That NEVER happens. :-)



And yet I got lucky as they did it long enough for 2 pictures.



She loves the slide.



Both girls had very busy and full weekends and were a little more tired than usual. They went to the parents' area and got magazines all on their own. Oh three year olds!

First Braves Game
Abby has been excited for weeks about going to her first Braves game. She has been practicing the tomahawk chop and had her outfit all picked out. She also kept asking me if I would be cheering for her. Yes, she thought she would actually be playing. She is quite the little fan (even this year when there has not been a ton to cheer about). We met Alec and Dawn, and Avery and Kris at the game. We could not have asked for better weather and our seats were great too. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.



All ready to go!!



World's cutest Braves fan.



Checking out the Hank Aaron statue outside the stadium.



Dancing to the drummers in the plaza area.



Let the food fest begin. Abby loved the popcorn.



View from our seats before the game started.



Checking out the view before the game.



A first baseball game just wouldn't be complete without a big foam finger. Abby has been playing with this all week too.



Alec and the foam finger.



Avery



I love the Braves!!



Can we come back tomorrow?



Completely worn out!