My Little Barista

So I've mentioned on here before that Abby and Marcus have breakfast almost every morning at our local Starbucks before he takes her to school. It fit into our schedule and gave them some time together in the morning. Since she visits our local store so often, Abby has made friends with the staff and they all know her by name, know where she likes to sit, what Marcus drinks, etc. This morning, Abby and Marcus went to Starbucks with a gift for Mary. She is the main cashier- she talks to Abby each morning and lets her play with a stuffed puppy dog that sits on her register.

Little did we know that the staff had a gift for Abby- they made her an honorary barista with her own red Starbucks apron. I could have cried! It is such a thoughtful gift, but also reassures me she is a joyous part of their work day and not an unruly toddler in their store.

With her apron on, she was able to go behind the counter this morning! It was clearly a slow day ;) I sure hope they know she will try to go behind the counter every morning!

With her puppy and a fresh lid, she was ready to serve.

Taking a little break for pumpkin bread after a hard shift at work. ha!

I am so grateful to live in a smaller community, for Abby to make friends with people, and for them to share something so thoughtful with our family. I'm thinking we'll be a barista for Halloween next year, too!

School Christmas (and Goodbye) Party

Friday afternoon I left work early to attend Abby's Christmas party. It also happened to be her last day at her daycare, so I wanted to say goodbye to her friends and teachers. Like all school parties, she starts out thinking it is time to go and then warms up to me staying provided I stay near her.

Look at all the treats they had for snack- we brought leftover homemade marshmallows my friend Jenny made for us. Abby loves them!

With all this yummy food, she elected to eat the sugar cookie with RED frosting. She ignored pretty much everything else on her plate. The RED frosting was the most fun!

Seriously, it was RED frosting!

This one makes me laugh- she is cross eyed looking at her hand.

Abby had a great time sharing yummy treats with her friends. We said goodbye to her teachers, friends and parents with sadness and excitement. We are sad to leave the teachers Abby had loved and sad that she'll likely be very confused when we take her to a new school after the holidays. I know she'll miss many of her little friends that we talk about all the time! But, we are also excited about bigger classrooms, more toys, provided meals, no more sippy cups, and the growth opportunities her new school presents.

She spent the first part of this week with my Mom and then I am off starting today. She'll start the new school (with lots of first day of school pictures) on January 3rd.

Christmas Lights

Two nights this past week we have gone out to look at lights after dinner. It is cheap family fun! After dinner, bath and jammies, we get a Starbuck's coffee and drive around showing Abby the pretty lights. She likes to tell us the colors, what she sees (Santa, deer, etc.) and then will say more lights when she is ready to see the next house. Each night we were only out for less than 30 minutes, but it is a nice change of pace.

This is one of the homes in our neighborhood. This man has the most immaculate lawn, had these lights out before Thanksgiving, and has a spotless garage. I joke with Marcus that his home life must be really bad for him to spend so much time outside! His lights are some of my favorite!

Abby is really going to be sad when the lights are gone!

Friends

Abby and Ellie got to see each other during pick up at church on Sunday. We walked out to the cars together and tried to get a picture, but they were both unsure of themselves. Abby wanted to run toward moving cars and Ellie was having trouble standing. But, they were sweet and cute in their Christmas outfits none the less.

We also had our friends James and Ivan over for our Fantasy Football party. Abby loved having another little person eating at her table with her.

And finally, Friday was Abby's last day with Ms. Becky. We are enrolling her in a new daycare on January 3rd. It has bigger rooms, more toys, provides breakfast and lunch, and provides bus access to her elementary school. We are thinking ahead!

We will miss Ms. Becky. She does such a good job of making sure the kids do a creative project everyday. We always have something fun to see in her room. I know Abby will miss many of her friends- she names them when we pray or calls them on the phone by name regularly. New friends are just around the corner!

Abby is spending a few days with my Mom at her new places and then will be home with us until January 3rd when we go to the new school.

Goodness Abounds

Look at this cute little girl in her smocked Santa dress and lopsided pigtails! I've been holding this dress and was so excited to put her in it today. Smocked dresses can't be worn for much longer, but I just love them at this age. Fingers crossed it will fit again next year. Abby is loving pigtails right now and asks for them over a bow when asked. I sure don't mind.

She found the nativity at church this morning and went right to it kissing each of the people including crouching down with Baby Jesus. I love to see her forming an early relationship with Jesus.

Since my Mom was with us this morning, we snapped a quick family picture. To bad someone was over having her picture taken!

After lunch, we ate at Rosa's Cafe. It just opened this weekend in the 1890 Ranch shopping center near our home. We ate Rosa's in college, but didn't have one near us until the weekend. Goodness Abounds!

I always eat the #40- Combination Nachos. Add a few homemade tortillas with butter- heavenly!

Abby left this afternoon with my Mom to spend a few days. We are excited to work on her new room, take naps, and enjoy dinner out with friends while she is away. We know she is going to have fun seeing family, playing with Nana at the park and library, crafting and cooking.

Birthdays and Baby Boys

This morning we went to Kiersten's 3rd birthday party. Kiersten's Mom and I went to school together, from 5th grade to sophomore year of college and are still great friends. Tabriah does a SUPER job with her girls parties - you always know she will carry out a theme perfectly, have awesome food, and great activities for the kids!

It was so nice having us all at the party! Last week, Marcus did some things around the house while Abby and I attended a party and I prefer the 2 adults to 1 child ratio so much better!

They had a large bounce house and a big slide in the backyard. Last time we tried a bouncey was this summer and Abby hated it. This time- she LOVED it! She got to practice her jump and falling down numerous times!

Once the bigger kids climbed the little ladder and Abby realized there was a slide- she wanted to go on it. Marcus did the first time with her and then she wanted to do it by herself.

She went down it at least 10 times. Marcus sat at the top to help her up and release her when she was ready and I was at the bottom to watch her glee and help her down. She had so much fun!

Next up, the sweet monkey pinata the kids had fun beating! They went youngest to oldest and it was broken by a strong 6 year old girl!

Abby took a couple of good swings at it. She would not let go of her candy bag while trying to hit the pinata. It hindered her ability just a little.

After Abby took a nap, we made dinner for our newest family member Read. He is just 16 days old and was so sweet. When we arrived he was quietly sleeping on a little blanket just under the Christmas tree. What a great gift his parents received this year!

He woke up before we left and my Mom held him. Marcus would prefer I not hold a newborn baby ;)

Read has 2 wonderful big sisters to love on him- Landry and Bella are truly two of the most well-behaved and kind little girls. We love seeing them.

After delivering chicken pot pie and cookies, we drove to eat BBQ for dinner and came home in time to put a very tired girl to bed!

Tomorrow, Abby will go home with my Mom until Wednesday. Mom is excited to have her and we are looking forward to football, long naps, dinner out with friends and converting part of Abby's nursery into her little girl room.

TAFP Christmas Party

We had my company Christmas party after work one day last week. We are a small office of 10 people, so we do a post-work catered dinner at our COO's house which is near the office.

Spouses and children come, which is always fun. Many times we don't see the kids in between the party, so it is always amazing to see how much they have grown. Here is Abby at the party last year. We have 6 kids under the age of 4 in our office- it was fun!

We have a fun day planned- a 3rd birthday party and meeting the newest member of our family, 2 weeks old Read. Can't wait to share pics with you of both!

Happy Birthday Ava

Saturday morning we celebrated Princess Ava's 3rd birthday. She was a little overwhelmed by all the people and kids in her house and wasn't too keen on a "stranger" taking her picture!

Abby had fun making a crown and eating pizza for the first time. She says "peetza" really cute and ate it from the side. Weirdo! She also learned how to blow the party favor after a few tries.

On the way home... can you tell she had a good time!

Let me brag here a minute.... I am so stinkin' proud of her. She had never met Ava or anyone at this party before. I used to work with Ava's Mom. She was only shy for a few seconds and then she colored with the other kids, she warmed up to my friend Patricia and gave her lots of love, she cleaned up her crayons and the tiara jewels without me asking her, and she went pee pee on the big potty during the party. When I asked her to "listen and obey" our key discipline word with her, she did it. She'll probably be a toot at the party next weekend, but for now, I want to remember what a good girl she can be.

Cake Balls

Have you heard of cake balls? They are yummy and Austin Cake Ball company has an amazing selection! One of my vendors brought me a holiday 6-pack of cake balls and we let Abby have a red velvet cake ball and a bite of the chocolate one after dinner.

Funny how something new like tamales, guacamole, green beans, fish sticks (I could go on forever) and she won't even consider it, but something new like a cake ball and it is in her mouth before I can get my camera!

She ate the red velvet quick and asked for more, but when we gave her a bite of chocolate, she spit it out. Hmmm, my child! I'm not a big rich chocolate fan. If it has mint or peanut butter, I like it much better.

We took a bath after cake balls and made sure we brushed our teeth extra good! Abby thinks this is the funniest joke... every single morning and night! That is her hairbrush ;) She'll do it, tell me "not right" and then brush her hair with it.

Much better Abby!

Thank goodness we like brushing our teeth. No battles here- we just let her sit on the counter, pick her toothbrush (green or purple) and she does a great job!

Wordless Wednesday: Time Out

Cedar Park Tree

Last week when I was in Lubbock, Marcus, my Mom and Abby tried to see the lighting of the Cedar Park tree. Bad timing, horrible parking and a late night led them home quickly. So, we went this weekend to see it without the crowds.

Not the typical Christmas tree, but still just beautiful!

Abby loves lights! She liked running around under the tree, until a teenager stepped out and collided with Abby. He felt awful and she was all dramatic.

We couldn't get her to recover, so we drove around a few nearby neighborhoods and looked at lights. It is really a treat seeing Christmas through a child's eyes. Between taking baby Jesus all over the house, learning Ho Ho Ho and placing Santa in the right spot on our calendar each morning, we are having a blast!

We are planning Christmas with our families on the 25th and 28th and Abby's first Christmas Eve service this year with our Moms. I'm also excited to have a Happy Birthday Jesus cake on Christmas Day. Coming right before her birthday, I'm hoping it'll really make an impact and we'll be able to teach her more about Jesus' birth this year.

Yo Gabba Gabba Live

The day finally arrived... the day we had been waiting for since buying tickets 6 months ago... there was a party in our city finally today!

Yo Gabba Gabba is a kids show on Nick Jr with a cult like following. Adults love the celebrities that visit the show, the indie rock bands that play along, and the cool DJ Lance Rock. Kids love the characters- each seems relatable in some way and everyone has a favorite!

Abby's fav is Foofa, the pink super girly character. She carries her stuffed Foofa most everywhere and sleeps with her always. We were Foofa for Halloween and just recently outgrew a Foofa onesie. So, we ordered her a Plex shirt for this event. He is the friendly responsible robot on the show.

We arrived and Muno (from the Kia Superbowl commercials and YGG) was in the parking lot. I think Abby's first thought when she saw him was "Muno! Hmm, why is Muno here and not on my TV?" She was happy, but perplexed.

We went inside and bought a small stuffed Muno souvenir and found our seats. Just a few rows up from the floor on the side- it was perfect since there was only 1 other family in our row of 20 seats and less than 10 families in our section. We had plenty of room to stretch out.

YGG Live was like the TV show, but longer. It lasted about an hour and a half and featured the segments that appear on all shows and some favorites songs and parts from certain episodes. When they all came out like the show was starting Abby was mesmerized. She didn't smile, wouldn't talk to us, didn't even blink!

In every episode, there is a Super Music Friends show. This part features a band singing a song for kids. At YGG Live, it featured an African drum core. Abby knows a good beat and loved listening to the drums. No gifts please :)

Can you see her arms all excited! They were flailing about as she danced and pretended to be playing the drums.

We also had a balloon segment where the gang all danced with balloons. They wanted to share their balloons with the audience...

So, thousands of balloons dropped on the audience!

Marcus retrieved an orange one for Abby. She loves having a "babboon".

During the piece on loving your friends with hugs, Abby kept hugging herself!

By far, my favorite part of the whole show was Biz Markie! Do you remember him- famous rapper and beat boxer from the 80s? He does "Biz's Beat of the Day" on the show and he was in Austin! We all love him- he has taught Abby how to rap! He put on a great show. He even sat on stage and kids came up, said their name, and repeated sounds after him. He was amazing!

YGG teaches lots of social lessons to kids- germs, brushing teeth, sharing, being nice to others who are different, having manners, eating healthy, etc. There is an episode with a party in Brobee (green characters) tummy. They acted that part out with chicken, cheese, juice, carrots and green beans coming to the party. It was a fun addition!

We had an awesome time!