Big birthday bash
Last Saturday we went to Meredith and Sam's birthday party. They are 2 years and 2 days apart and most years have a big joint party. This year they are 10 (Meredith) and 8 (Sam) years old. This year's party had a rock climbing wall, live music, ladies who styled the girls' hair, good food, and good weather. We really had fun and were both pretty tired that night!



The birthday girl and some friends with their fancy party hair. Abby did not want to have her hair done but most of the other girls did.



Enjoying party food.



With the birthday girl.



Abby very patiently waiting her turn to climb the rock wall. Believe me, I drilled the rock wall guy before I let her do this but as you will see in the pictures below, Abby only climbed as high as the guy's shoulders. I was so proud of her (and yes, a little nervous, but mostly proud).



Climbing up...



And coming back down...



Abby pulling Owen in the wagon.



Party hair!!



Abby making sure she is close to the cake. :-)





Abby found a way to get every drop of ice cream.

Pink Shoes

A few weeks ago Abby got new pink hightops. She is quite the little definition of fashion!! In the pictures below, she was dancing. Have pink shoes. Will dance. :-)

Turban Girl



Every night when Abby is getting ready for bath, she likes to make her shirt into a hat. I think that fashionwise, she just might be on to something.

Summer Time!!
Before I post, I must write that I just created an entire post and when I went to publish it, blogger completely shut down. What you see below is actually a recreation as I had to re-do the whole thing. UGH!!! I realize blogger is free and all but having to re-do this does not exactly make me shout their praises. Actually, I had a few other choice words to say, but Abby may someday be reading this and I would prefer not to have to explain said words. Ok, mini rant done. Please proceed to actual post now.

Last week we got a new plastic swimming pool for the back yard. We had a whole week with temperatures over 90 degrees F (our normal temperature for this time of year is 83). It was the kind of hot where you just want to sit and do nothing. And there is no better way to sit and do nothing than in a pool in the back yard. Packing up and going to the neighborhood pool requires way too much energy. But a little plastic pool? Perfect for everyone. Mom is happy at only having to provide water and bathing suit for child. Child is happy because there is water. Dog is happy because everyone is staying at home.



Best $8 ever spent!





We called my mom while we were outside. Abby told her all about her new pool.



Already quite the little phone professional.



Lucy observing the new pool. I kept expecting her to get in but she was completely content to just take the occasional drink out of it instead.

So we actually got a swing set. And it turns out that assembling a swing set requires more knowledge and more tools than I possess. We are so fortunate to have wonderful friends who live in our neighborhood. They have a daughter Abby's age. We worked out a deal where I took Abby and Bay to the zoo (see post from a few weeks ago) and Jeremy, Bay's dad, put together the swing set. Yes, I do realize I got the better end of that deal. Though Jeremy swears he loves doing stuff like this. All I know is he has amazing patience as it took him pretty much all day to put the thing together. I also know Abby loves playing on it.

Abby taking a break from swimming to do a little swinging. The first week we had the swing set, Lucy kept walking right in front of the swing and/or slide when Abby was on one. It only took her one day to figure out she was better off keeping a little distance. Jeremy had to do some digging to level out the space where the swing set would go because our yard is on a bit of a hill. The grass is already growing back!

First trip to Chuck E. Cheese
On Memorial Day we went to Corre's 6th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Abby had never been to Chuck E. Cheese before and I had not been there is years and years. It has changed a lot since my last trip. They now stamp the hands of parents/kids on the way in and make sure you are leaving with the kid(s) you came in with. They have a section of mostly toddler games and rides and Abby really had fun going from one thing to the next. She was given a cup of tokens when we first arrived.



Riding on the Bob the Builder ride.



The birthday girl and her birthday cake. A friend of the family made the cake and it was very good. The funny thing was that the doll was inside the cake so when it was time to cut the cake, they pulled the doll out but she had no legs. Every kid's face just kind of froze for a minute until one kid broke the silence by saying "where did her legs go?". They quickly moved on once the cake was served. Since I do well to make plain cake or cupcakes, I was impressed with the time put in this cake!! I bought Abby's cake this year because she wanted a Dora the Explorer cake and I knew I was out of my league. :-)



Abby inspecting the present opening. Even when the other kids had moved on to other things, Abby was there to supervise.



Abby found it easiest to play this game by just getting up close and personal.



She loved the air hockey game in the toddler section. It was just her size.



She kept wanting to put the puck in the goal she was guarding. I love this age. The score means nothing.

It's Twenty O'Clock
For the last few weeks Abby has been waking at least once (and often two times) during each night. She just gets up and walks to my room. The first couple times she did it, there was a Gayla-shaped indention on my ceiling. She about scared me to death. I would wake up to a small face staring at me. Now I kind of hear her as she opens the door. Usually she is now waking up because she has to go to the bathroom. This is actually a very good thing! Waking up in the middle of the night from a very sound sleep has been a bit more difficult. For some reason it takes me awhile to get back to sleep. The first few times she tried some stalling tactics to avoid going back to sleep but I was too asleep to fall for any of those attempts and was able to stick to putting her back in bed. In less than a week the excuses to stay up stopped so at least now when I take her back to bed, she just goes right back to sleep.

Anytime Abby sees a clock or watch she will say "It's twenty o'clock, Mommy". I love that. One never need worry or wonder about the time. It is always twenty o'clock.

We had a very full weekend for the holiday. It was a lot of fun but we were both so tired this morning! It was hard to get up for work/school. Saturday after Cai's party, we wound up going to see Over the Hedge. We each gave it a thumbs up. I laughed out loud many times.

Sunday we had a playdate with Kris and Avery. We went to the park near their house and then walked to eat pizza afterwards. Abby was so excited that whole day. And apparently Avery was too. She called Abby on the phone just before we were leaving to go to their house. They actually had a conversation of sorts. Abby has been talking on the phone for over a year now but it has just been the last week or so that she has begun to talking on her own without me being the voice from Cyrano de Bergerac.

So finally, some pictures!





At Avery's house before heading out to the park.



Driving the firetruck.



Wheeeeee!!!!!



Avery loved this tire swing and especially loved standing up on it. Abby tried standing.



But she realized she preferred sitting to standing. :-)



Tired and full after eating dinner.

Birthdays Birthdays Everywhere

This time of year we have a lot of friends with birthdays. Last weekend Abby had a party on Saturday (her friend Kendall) and a party on Sunday (her friend Roman). This weekend she had a party yesterday (her friend Cai) and a party tomorrow (her friend Corre). Next Saturday we have a joint party for Meredith and Sam. I remember last year, every time we went to a party, Abby wanted to open the presents and blow out the candles. But this year she has the whole procedure down and gets very excited when we have a party to attend!



Blowing lots of bubbles at Kendall's party at the park.



Sliding with the birthday girl.



Playing ball with the boys.



Supervising Kendall opening her presents.



Sliding at the big jump place for Roman's party. I did not even know this place was here (it just opened a month ago). These places used to only be way out in the suburbs so it is great they have begun to open some close by! Parties at jump places guarantee great naps later because the kids get completely worn out.



Getting ready for more jumping!




Playing in the ball area at Cai's birthday party. Cai's party was also at a jump/bounce place though this one was a different one from Roman's party.



The kids loved playing in the ball area but we found out later that they were all too big to play in there. Oops. Funny thing is I can't imagine letting smaller kids in the balls because it was kind of deep and I think you would lose them!



Tired out but happy to eat pizza and ice cream! Abby fell asleep in the car about 5 minutes after we left the party and slept all the way home.

Abby loves to dress up. The other afternoon she was quietly playing in her playroom while I was folding clothes (something she normally likes to "help" me do). I went to check what she was up to as Quiet + Toddler can equal something one prefers not to deal with. But I found that she had gotten out her dress up drawer and was quite the little wizard/princess. :-) She stayed dressed like this for quite awhile. It made for some excellent twirling.

Friday night dinner
Last Friday we went to downtown Decatur http://www.decaturga.com/ to eat dinner. It was one of those nights weather forecasters dream about. Not a cloud in the sky, no humidity, and about 75 degrees. So, of course, Abby and I translate that to mean a walk to the ice cream place.



Checking out the statue.



New fake (though still quite cute) smile for the camera.



And the real smile!



Mmmmm ice cream!!!

On Mother's Day, we went to Fellini's for lunch after church. The temperature was a little cool but the sun was out so we sat outside by the fountain. Good food. The best possible lunch companion. Great Mother's Day. And it was topped off with Bob Marley playing on the loud speaker. It just doesn't get much better than that. :-)