For the Wedding Slideshow...

Anytime we get funny pictures of Abby, Marcus and I always laugh that they will be perfect for her wedding slideshow. That slideshow will take hours at this rate! I hope her future husband's Momma is taking funny pictures at this stage, too!

Last night Abby tried on a bunch of Marcus' hats- these are silly hats he uses juggling with the kids at church or from Halloween's past. Abby thought it was so much fun- I have a feeling she will pull these out again!

Abby as Captain Jack Sparrow

Abby in her blond mullet- I swear Marcus has never worn this one!

Her clown wig that started this evening of fun

Abby the Viking- Marcus was a fan when Culpepper was the QB and I bought him this hat for Halloween that year.

Crabby Abby- I purchased this one in Boston visiting my friend Meg and it took on a whole new meaning with Michael Crabtree (Texas Tech football player)

Finally, playing peek-a-boo! We'll pull this one out again on St. Patrick's Day. Um, yea, I think I bought this one, too!

And our recent purchase and favorite- the DJ Lance Rock hat and glasses from Yo Gabba Gabba.

I love that God gave Abby a personality bigger than her body right now! She makes me excited to get her in the morning and with all that spunk and energy, excited to put her to bed!

President's Day Fun

Marcus and Abby both had the day off of work on Monday and spent the day doing fun stuff together. They had a late Starbucks, went to the gym to workout and play, and then came and picked me up for lunch! After a long nap, they met our friends Caroline and Madeline at the Big Bounce. It is an inflatable wonderland less than a mile from our house!

The girls had the place to themselves and minus a little drama from my child, ran around and had a great time.

Sweet Madeline is shy around new people and has warmed up to Marcus. It was so nice to see her let him hold her or for her to walk away from her Momma with him. She is the smartest child and to see that and her personality come out around us is just wonderful!

The girls on a little snack break from all the running and jumping and sliding fun!

They got down around 5:30 and I met them for dinner. Can you tell how much Abby wants to be like Madeline. In both these pictures she is watching her every move! Abby would not sit in a highchair since Madeline was in a big girl chair.

After dinner when saying goodbye the girls hugged and kissed like old friends.

Keeping It Real

I get these too.

Girls Night Out

Marcus had a work function on Friday night, so Abby and I made our own fun! I gave her the option of Chick-fil-a or Fuddrucker's for dinner. Those waffle fries will tell you what she picked! We had so much fun sitting at the table eating our dinner together. She ate chicken, fries, and the lettuce, cheese and croutons from my salad. She looked like such a big girl since I didn't have a diaper bag with me. She had no bib or sippy cup- so grown up!

After dinner we went to the pet store. I've wanted to take her in there for a long time- she loved seeing the mice, ferrets, fish, and birdies.

We then went next door to the Kid-to-Kid resale shop and I ended up buying her 2 headbands with bows. They help keep her hair out of her face and look so cute with her little bob haircut. I picked out pink for her and then asked her to pick orange or green. She was insistent on us buying baby blue. I am certain it is her favorite color.

We then ran to Barnes and Noble and let her read a few books and play with the trains. She loves getting on the story time stage and seeing everyone. We were home by 8 PM, just in time for Daddy to get home and put her to bed.

I am sad so much of the baby stages are behind us, but I love seeing her become more independent and thinking of the fun we can have!

Sesame Street Live

This afternoon Abby saw her 2nd live performance/concert and her first at the Frank Erwin Center.

We saw Sesame Street Live! This is one of those events I would hear about on the radio or see on a billboard and wish I had kids to take. It included new characters like Abby Cadabby and Zoe and oldies from when we watched the show like Oscar, Grover, Big Bird, etc. There was even Prairie Dawn from the 80's that I didn't remember!

Abby was great for the 1st hour and then the last 30 minutes were tough. She would point and call out their name, dance and clap along with the songs, and smiled the whole time. She got to try Kettle Korn for the first time and loved it.

The show ended about 6 PM and since we were in the UT area, we hoped over to Lamar to eat at Cafe Express. They are one of my Dallas-area favorites that came to Austin a few months ago. The Chicken Pesto Pasta Deli salad is wonderful!

Abby loved the free breadsticks (crunchy like a cracker) and her grilled cheese and fruit. I caught her starting to say, "cheese".

We had a fun-filled family day! I loved it!

Girls Day

My sister and I both drove to Fredericksburg to give our kids some time with Nana and to spend time without them. It was so nice to see, talk and shop with her without a little person around. We have to make it an annual tradition- everyone wins. Our husbands had alone time. Nana and the kids were happy to be together and we got to shop Main Street.

We both bought lots of fun things- shoes, belts, jewelry, home stuff, fabric, gifts for the kids, etc. I loved the fabric on embroidery hoops in this store. So cute and vintage. They had oil cloth galore including by the yard. My sister wanted to oil cloth the workout bench in their home gym. Lucky for her husband I convinced her not to.

Abby and Cohen had fun with Nana- playing, eating a yummy lunch (apparently my child likes black eyed peas!!!) and napping. We gave them giant marshmallows for being so good for Nana.

After an early dinner, Abby and I drove home to see Daddy! In total we spent 3.5 hours in the car today and this girl cracked me up. I don't want to forget how funny this age can be!

A few examples:

At one point in the car, Abby had been talking non-stop for a good 5 minutes and I looked back at her. She said, "I'm talking to myself."

We currently love to sing. While singing a sweet version of Jesus Loves Me, I was driving and thinking what a sweet good little girl I have. Then, the singing stopped for Abby to loudly proclaim, "Look Momma, I pick my nose."

Finally, Abby has picked up my habit of saying "how about" in a drawn out manner. When I am giving her options, I often ask how about blank or blank. So, she was talking to herself and would ask:

How About Twinkle Twinkle Little star?

Alright.

Alright.

... and then begin singing.

Hilarious!

Grateful

Look at these two happy little girls who share a unique journey and I know will live extraordinary lives.

We had dinner with Ellie and her parents on Wednesday night and had so much fun seeing the girls play together. We've done many dinners together with Mo and Jess and this had to be the happiest one yet! He really does answer prayers.

GIANT Marshmallow

Abby favorite treat is marshmallows. She will do most anything- eat her veggies, go to bed without crying, use the big girl potty for marshmallows.

Can you imagine her excitement when we bought her these HUGE marshmallows?

No telling what I will be able to get her to do for these!

Our First Snow Cone

Saturday after story time, Nana and I met Abby and Marcus at Moonie's for burgers. Abby's kids meal came with a snow cone and we let her enjoy her first one.

I picked banana since it was the lightest color. She did great- since she wanted it so badly she really focused her spoon to not lose any of her snow cone.

I ate so many snow cones while pregnant with her. It was my biggest craving. We drove around town to find snow cone stands open in the dead of winter. We had them daily while in Hawaii. Marcus even brought them to me at work many afternoons.

There was really no doubt she would like them.

Wordless Wednesday- Fashion Faux Pas

What is Red and Pink all Over?

Abby crafts, clothes and her left eye! She doesn't seem to notice she has pink eye until we have to put drops in it! Luckily, we are back at school today.

Tonight, Abby got to open a big bag of love!

And, she loved what was inside!

She got a cat piano that plays all kinds of tunes, records her music, and has a booming microphone. It is perfect for our little performer!

Marcus also found her a Toodee Valentine book from Yo Gabba Gabba. She loved it, too! Notice her 5 YGG finger puppets are on her right hand and carefully placed so as not to fall off. We carry them around a lot!

A big thanks and kisses to our friends and family that sent Valentine's for Abby as well. She loves getting mail!

We've had a lot of fun preparing for Valentine's Day. On Saturday, she went to the local library for story time and they had some extra special things for the kids including this hat project. Marcus and Abby go there every Saturday and I love hearing how she does. More times than not, she is up front dancing and singing.

On Sunday, we had fun at church giving out Valentines to our favorite greeters. She is doing so much better at both school and church drop off. She even saw me at church recently and didn't throw a fit to leave childcare. My heart stopped when she saw me, but she did great!

On Friday, she had a Valentine party at school with special breakfast amongst her pals.

I remember reading a few years back on a blog about someone having Valentine's dinner at home with her husband and child and thinking how unspecial that sounded. I wasn't a Mom. I didn't get it. I couldn't have understood. My Valentine is so much sweeter with this little one in it!

I am so grateful for my family. I love you Marcus and Abby Lu!

Valentine Celebrations Times Three!

My Mom spent most of the past week and weekend with us, so we celebrated Valentine's ahead of time over the past few nights. On Friday night Marcus met me at work and we delivered dinner to our friends Daniel and Brandi and their new baby and then had dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Ms. Ruth is in the background :)

When he met me at my office, he had roses. So thoughtful! I left them in my cold car while we went downtown and my car smells like a florist. Love it!

Saturday night, we had dinner at home with Mom and Abby and then afterward while she went to bed, we went out for ice cream at Maggie Moo's. I was daring, tried something new, and fell in love with a seasonal (read not here for long!) ice cream. This is the Hottie Fresh Escape- so embarrassing to order. It was red hot cinnamon ice cream with hot tamales, marshmallows and marshmallow cream. It was so hot- I loved it!

Tonight, we had a wonderful dinner at home with Abby. We cooked pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon, yummy corn and garlic bread. And, we had chocolate dipper strawberries for dessert.

We also opened presents- I got two wonderfully fun necklaces from one of my favorite stores, Anthropologie. I bought Marcus a new Polo sweater in a daring color. I think I convinced him to keep it ;)

My sweet Momma also bought me a Valentine's gift- my own guacamole bowl. I have wanted one of these for years and I love that it is a fun color and not the standard black and white speckled.

Don't worry- Abby had a fun Valentine celebration, too! I'll share more about her presents, fun and fashion tomorrow.

My Heart

Oh sweet girl, you warm MY heart!

We had lots of fun delivering and mailing out our Valentine's this year. Along with mailing these to friends and family, Abby delivered Valentine's to her school mates, teachers, her favorite childcare worker at the gym, the two greeters at church and her favorite ladies at Starbucks. We've loved spreading the love!

Cousins

I aged this picture because it looks just timeless to me. This picture could easily represent my cousins and I on the couch 30 years ago. I love our kids playing together on a Friday night just like we did and I hope our grandkids do.

I Like Big....

bows and I can not lie.

I heard that song recently and died laughing. Why did I love it so much in junior high? It is silly.

I dug around on Etsy for an over the top Valentine's bow for Abby's pictures and found a real winner. Unfortunately the snow delayed my shipment until after her pictures, but these bows will be cute in future pictures.

You realize how big they are on my child's head. She was walking around all weird to make sure her bow didn't fall. Made me laugh! I think it is a little heavy for the side part look, but will be super cute when her hair is pulled back and centered on top her head.

Here is a detailed view- the ribbons are glued on top each other to create all the fun layers. There is a big bow on bottom, then the spiky layers and 2 more bows on top. Amazing!

Visit her boutique here.

The New Glasses

Here he is- my handsome husband the trendy business man. Excuse the smirk on his face. He really should know that this is blogworthy and that means his picture will be taken.

Tonight we are celebrating Valentine's Day at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I am excited to have adult conversation, cloth napkins, and dessert!