Happy Birthday Kiersten

We celebrated our friend Kiersten's 4th birthday earlier this month. She is Rapunzel/Tangled crazy so it was the perfect theme for her party! She was in costume all day and most days will only answer to Rapunzel. Funny girl!

She had a great party with the best food (Round Rock doughnuts, Rudy's breakfast tacos, and Chick-fil-A nuggets) and lots of fun activities. Abby had fun and when we were leaving told my friend Tabriah (Kiersten's Mom), we'll come back another day. ha!

Date Night and New Boots

Friday night Marcus and I went to a Christmas party for some work friends of his. It was wonderful to get dressed up and meet new people. I even tried a yummy Chocolate Martini. It was like a milkshake in a fancy glass!I was also excited to go out because I finally own cute tall boots and got to wear them! I have searched for a long time for boots that look cute and fit over my legs comfortably. I don't have wide calves, but just below my calf is abnormally big. You can also see my new dark hair in these pictures! My hairdresser moved away and my roots were getting pretty bad, so I bought a box, said a little prayer and brushed it on. I think I like it- it is really close to my natural color so very low maintenance!

Marcus and I are off to Houston this weekend for a little shopping, lots of sleeping in, and to see the Houston Texans game!

Baby Face- Christmas Dance Recital

Abby Lu had her first dance recital this morning and this picture pretty much sums it up! I am so glad our studio does a small and informal recital before the big one that costs money. Needless to say, we will not be participating in the more formal recital in the Spring.

They do the dance twice- to warm the kids up and to give the parents plenty of opportunity for photos and video. The video of Abby during the first dance is uploaded here. She melts as the song goes on- from standing to frowning to sitting to laying on the ground. It was comical to all of us watching. At the end when everyone claps, she loudly proclaims, "but I didn't dance?" as if the clapping were for her and she didn't deserve them.

The second time around she went from frowning to looking around to actually dancing. I always give her a thumbs up from the watching area when she does well and today she gave her teacher a thumbs up once she began dancing.

It is perplexing as she loves to dance, sings the song and shows us the moves all week long and then freezes. I didn't expect her to dance- I just laughed it off this morning. I tried to set the expectations pretty low for my Mom and Marcus who were in the crowd!

Abby really loves Ms. Bree and Ms. Sarah her teachers. They are getting to know her and pushing her more each time. We did see the 2 year old class and it confirmed- Abby is too old for that class. They looked like babies in diapers!

Our friends Natalie and Michael were there to cheer Abby and our other friends on and we had a celebratory lunch afterward!

Parenting is humbling, an adventure, and definitely makes me laugh. Oh Abby Lu!

Rainbow Piggies

I painted Abby's toes this week and let her pick the colors. She is pretty obsessed with identifying colors with an object. So, she wanted her toes the colors of each of the Yo Gabba Gabba characters- we didn't have green for Brobee, so we subbed purple for backpack from Dora.

I found a new way to keep her still while her toes dry :)

I Love My New Board

Marcus and I built Abby a giant chalkboard and to say she loves it is an understatement. She spends at least an hour a day writing on it and will say the whole time, "I love my new board". Her favorite things to draw... the letter A, the number 11 (my favorite), and smiley faces in the colors of each of her Yo Gabba Gabba characters. She draws them all with both her left and right hand!

We plan to learn letters on this very board!

Tis The Season, Right?

I find it funny that Joy and Peace are words associated with Christmas. I know they should be, but my next 2 weeks are anything but peaceful. I am beginning to wonder how I would fit in a full time job. I am not complaining, but I am busy this month. Here is a look at my social calendar (see I can't complain, it is all fun stuff!).

Friday - Sunday I am in Lubbock doing contract work. I get to see an old friend, shop in a few of my favorite little stores, and work. Sunday I fly home at 11 AM. I have a party to attend at 4 PM that requires that I bring silent auction items. Of course, I want them to be homemade. So, I have a set of coasters drying and a growth chart in the staining process. Must finish tomorrow. I will leave that party and head to my Fantasy Football party with fresh cornbread and a pound cake. Must make those on Sunday when I get home and before the first party.

Monday morning I have a brunch meeting and am bringing Cinnamon French Toast bake and gifts for those there. Need to get those made tomorrow. Monday evening, dinner with friends from church. The hostess doesn't want me to bring anything, but I feel like I should. I may take her up on her offer!

I am spening all day Tuesday baking goodies for some of Marcus' clients. I volunteered and am thrilled to do it. But, it will take most of the day! I have the boxes, bags and tags all completed. Labels are designed, printed and attached!

Tuesday night I have a party from 5:30 to 7. Hooray for bringing nothing to it! Wednesday is Abby's dance recital (small and informal), but we are having a luncheon afterward. Must bake cookies. Luckily, the gifts for her friends and teachers are done already. Wednesday night, dinner with the other dance Moms. Nothing to bring- thank goodness.

Thursday is Abby's Christmas program at school and party afterward. Bringing food (I will sign up for plates and napkins if I can!) and her friends gifts and teacher gifts are done. My 12 days of Christmas blog series going on right now made me do everything early!

Friday I have lunch with friends and we are doing an ornament exchange. I really need to find some ornaments- maybe this weekend while in Lubbock? Finally, on Saturday, Marcus and I leave for Houston for 2 days to attend a Houston Texans game and spend the weekend together. I'll have to remind him what I look like!

It is all fun stuff, right? It is just a lot of stuff! To help make things better, my Mom is coming in on Tuesday and staying until next week. She is here for Abby's recital and program and to save my sanity. Thank goodness!

Tell me, are your pre-holidays this bad, too?

Big Girl Bed

We are officially a big girl in our very own twin sized bed!

I'll post more room pictures on the Birdie blog soon.

She is sleeping okay in her new bed. Naptime is tough- we've used videos on the iPhone to help her stay calm and fall asleep. Nighttime has been fine- she is tired at the end of the day and falls asleep. Her bed looks a little lumpy- we have foam wedges on each side that help to keep her in the bed in case she tries to sleep wonky. They were in her toddler bed as well.

Yo Gabba Gabba 2011

Yo Gabba Gabba came back to town this past weekend and we really debated not going, but when the tickets came up on a group coupon site, we bought them! This time only Marcus and Abby went and of course, they had a great time!

We recapped the show in detail last year and this year it was very similar. Abby wanted to wear her DJ Lance hat and glasses and drew a lot of attention!

I love that my sweet girl knows the power of a good accessory!

Breakfast with Santa

Abby and I had breakfast with Santa at the local YMCA Saturday morning. It was a great deal- no more mall pictures for me! Abby was not thrilled to see Santa or have her picture taken. She did manage to tell him she wanted "presents" for Christmas. I love the innocence of that!

She liked Mrs. Claus much better! She was in the breakfast room taking pictures with everyone as well.

For "breakfast", we had gingerbread cookies and warm chocolate milk. The room was decorated so cute with snowflakes, balloons, and festive paper goods.

Along with caroling, we had a craft- foam Santa ornaments. Our Santa has earrings :)

As we left, we received a 5x7 color photo of our picture with Santa. The official one is just as pitiful as the one I captured. Classic!

Me and My Daddy

My Daddy and I had a special date night this week. Mommy had a meeting, so we went to our favorite Starbucks for a party and then we played at chip-a-lay (Chick-fil-A). It was noisy and there were lots of boys on the playground, so I just sat and watched with my Daddy! I can do the big slide now, but I don't like to if there are other kids around.

My Daddy is also teaching my tae-kwon-do. I love the Yo Gabba Gabba episode where the girl shows her talent of breaking a board so I asked Daddy to show me how to hi-ya and kick.

We keep practicing. I am good at hitting my hand down on the other hand and kicking my leg.

I am one lucky girl with a really cool Daddy.

Tonight a Baby, Tomorrow a Big Girl

This is Abby's last night in her crib/toddler bed. Tomorrow, she will sleep in a twin bed like a real big girl. I have been prepping her for a solid week- she freaks out when I take her sheets off her bed so I am a little concerned. She has also told me every time I've told her she is getting a new bed that she already has a bed.

I am hoping the excitement of her new bedding (which I bought a year ago!) and her new rug, nightstand, and room arrangement will excite her and make her forget about her crib.

I also think having more room should excite her. She sleeps with three animals and three extra blankets. I think she would sleep with 10 if I let her.

Pictures of her new room coming soon!

Holiday Treat

My favorite Christmas time food is the Christmas tree cakes from Little Debbie. They are so good and only out for a month or so each year.

Abby had her first Christmas tree cake this year and can you tell what she thought of it? Yummy!

Gruene Family Photos

If you've never been to Gruene, it is beautiful! It is picturesque, rustic, filled with greenery and almost always filled with people. Going there on Thanksgiving day was the best. We saw 2 other couples walking around with their dogs. I think we got so many great pictures because we had the place to ourself to take our time and the kids could run around easily!

I had fun trying out the white balance and ISO with my camera. Then, I spent lots of time in the post edits making them bright, subtle, cropped, etc. Kyleigh wants to be a model and had fun posing for us. She is honestly very natural. She would tilt her head and crack a small smile and it looked perfect!

Marcus forgot he had on sunglasses in this one!

This is Gruene Hall, the oldest dance hall in Texas. It gave us a great backdrop!

These are the super cool and old doors of Gristmill Restaurant. They are always open when the restaurant is open, so you'd never know what a great backdrop they make!

These windows along the side of Gristmill are awesome. I'd love them in a bathroom :)

We thought about going down these stairs on the riverside of the Gristmill, but decided we had plenty of great options without stairs!

The seated waiting area at Gristmill has big potted plants throughout.

The sun shining on this wall and the kids straight face makes this picture look 100 years old to me.

Our last stop was a rusty side of a shed across from Gristmill. I love the orange colors of the rush with the blue in Abby's hat. Kyleigh outgrew the hat just recently and gave it to Abby as we were leaving. It fit, she loved it and I love turquoise so it worked!

Everyone was tired at this point, so we were letting them have fun! Mad faces are easy to make during nap time- ha!

Abby will likely never have a sister, so I love seeing Kyleigh take care of her and Abby looking up to Kyleigh. It is important to me that Abby have someone like Kyleigh to love her, listen to her and support her as she grows up.

Our happy family!

I'm so glad my sister recommended we take pictures on Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We have had a wonderful 4 day weekend! It included food, family, a date night, and lots of cleaning and organizing. I love weekends like this!

We drove to New Braunfels on Thursday for lunch at my sister's house with her family and my Mom. Since we were all together, we decided to use my Nikon D3100 camera and take some family photos. I spent Wednesday night reading up and trying to learn my camera. I've had it a year and hadn't done more than auto mode. It was fun to play photographer!

We took our pictures in the small town of Gruene. I'll share more of them soon- we got so many good ones! Since we were going to see my sister on Saturday again, we left Abby with her and my Mom and came back home solo! It allowed us to decorate for Christmas on Friday. I was up before 7 AM and got to work! Marcus had pulled all the tubs for me on Thursday night. Along with decorating, we did a little rearranging and posted a few things on Craigslist which sold on Sunday. I also spent every few hours prepping Abby's new bed- sanding, rust primer, pink paint, aging, glitter. Lots of fun stuff!

We finally showered on Friday at 4 PM to have a date night! After a little trip to Lowe's to research an upcoming project, we drove to Georgetown for dinner at Tony & Luigi's, an Italian place a friend had recommended. It was wonderful and they had a Frank Sinatra singer! The bruschetta was the best I've ever had. We shared it, along with lasagna and chocolate lava cake. Delish!

Saturday, we met back up with everyone at my Dad and Jacque's house for Thanksgiving, round 2. We taught Cohen how to play Skipbo and I beat the kids at Sorry. They were mad at each other for trading places and bumping back to start that they forgot about me :)

We worked on our silly faces for the camera! Oh the joys of kids!

We came home Saturday night with a very tired and stopped up little girl After 11 hours of sleep, she is doing better. Marcus went to church this morning and Abby and I stayed home to snuggle, watch Dora, and help her rest. We are hoping she is her spunky self again by Monday morning!

Classic Family Photo

We took photos this weekend- my family, my sister's family and my Mom. We were all together for Thanksgiving and it seemed like a good time. The positive is that my sister lives near the pictureesque town of Gruene which was all ours on Thanksgiving afternoon.

The cons- we took them during nap time, with 3 kids jacked up on Thanksgiving desserts and hyper to see each other! We did get some fabulous pictures and I'll share them soon; however, this one really captures our afternoon. ha!

We left Abby Lu with my Mom and sister and will have her back tomorrow when we do Thanksgiving with my Dad and stepmom. Today, Marcus and I are finishing Abby's new big girl bed (sanding, painting, etc.), decorating for Christmas, and having a date night! Oh, and a little Black Friday shopping as Marcus waited in line at 4 AM to get us a new flat screen for our bedroom. Hooray!

Everyone is Thankful for Me

Happy Thanksgiving blogging friends! Abby wasn't so sure about having her picture taken- a true little turkey on this festive day!

We are really casual at Thanksgiving our family of three has a nice lunch with just my Mom. It is so easy, we even buy sliced turkey from the local BBQ place the day before. No fuss- we stay in our jammies, watch TV, play games and plan our Christmas shopping.

We'll celebrate with my Dad, stepmom and sister and family with a potluck on Saturday. Sometimes a small or spread out family is nice!

Slow Week

Abby doesn't have school or dance this week so it is a slow week at our house. We have made trips to Hobby Lobby, HEB and Lowe's. We have done fun crafts and cleaned out her room in preparation for the big girl bed coming soon. And, today, we went to Happy Feet Two.

We were supposed to meet our friend Michael, but he got sick. It is probably for the best because the loudness of the movie scared Abby and we ended up leaving after about an hour. It is a cute fun musical movie, but there is also some darker parts with abandonment, injury, and death.

Abby did really well staying seated- I brought her booster from home and it really helped!

Tomorrow, we are cooking and chilling at home all day!