Super Halloween 2013

My people love super heroes so it was only natural when Abby decided to be Wonder Woman that Marcus and I raid his t-shirt stash for our "costumes"!

Abby talked about being Wonder Woman for months. She talked like her, acted like her, and even practiced her poses for weeks. She was serious about being a super hero!

I had forgotten she was Wonder Woman as a baby in daycare. We didn't want her to ruin her costume at school, so she wore a WW onesie we had bought at Fiesta Texas.

As always our neighborhood was decked out for Halloween, so we invited friends to join us. 

 

We gave the girls some vampire teeth to play with. They were funny with them trying to be scary.

 We visited about 15 homes for candy and ended with our favorite scary house. It has never scared Abby, but it frightened Addison to no end. She hated even walking past it on the other side of the street to get home. 

Abby likes to pretend she is scared! :)

I was feeling nostalgic.... here is our little girl and her first four Halloweens. 

And this year.... since she was so into her costume, we decided to have pictures made at Picture People. It was hard to get her to smile. She "ran" the whole photo session telling us exactly how she should stand and what she was doing.

I think she is pretty WONDERful!

The Silly Side

We had family photos done at Picture People tonight. I had to buy the CD because there were so many cute photos that I loved, but didn't really want to frame on the mantel. Marcus and Abby drank silly juice before our session and it shows in our pictures!

This one belongs on a book cover about parenting... or honor thy father :)

We had to take this one before this big girl and "old" man couldn't do it anymore! Marcus calls this the broom and he does it with Abby often.

She wanted to be Superman!

Sprinklers!

It is just part of summer in Texas to run through the sprinklers! Last night, Abby did just that! She has never worn a bikini and didn't like it much, so the fun didn't last long! Marcus is anti-bikinis and I agree. She wears these bottoms with a rashguard I bought on sale elsewhere. Since it was after 7 PM, I just put the top on her. You'll likely not see that white belly again for many years :)

She was much happier just a swingin'

Marcus pushes her on the swing so often, he has a little set-up with a chair in the perfect place to occasionally give her a push while playing a little video game.

I sure do love this little girl and her teeny bikini! 

VBS 2013

We have had a busy week- it is VBS week! I volunteered and Abby and Kyleigh attended VBS this week at our old church. We have so many friends there and it fit our summer schedule better than the new church, so we decided to do it! Kleigh got to do something for the bigger kids called FLYTE and she declared it better than VBS. I love that because it is hard to be appealing to tweens. They scare me!

We were at church at 8:30 every morning this week. How in the world did I do that daily? Wow- I am tired and really miss the hour long snuggles with breakfast and shows in bed. 

I was in the grade school crafts room. The kids most loved these snow cones and honestly, they are so cute but were such a pain to manage with 30 kids. But, they loved them, so we made it happen! We had about 200 1st-4th graders in crafts each day. Kids are exhausting. God love teachers!

The theme this year was Colossal Coaster World and it was amazing what the people at Great Hills did to make it come alive. The white blob in the middle is a spinning wheel with lights. 

The roller coaster behind the screens is a good 20' tall. It is made from PVC pipe, pool noodles and lights. Ah-mazing!

Abby learned about Jeezy as she likes to call him now (funny girl!) and was super excited to see Michael each day. He spent Tuesday after VBS swimming with us. These two are so sweet together- I love him!

I loved the week with old friends, sweet kids, and Jesus and am also happy to return to play dates and sleeping in next week!

Week in Reverse

Abby and I had something fun every day this week and we loved it! She this was our only full week together until August so I packed it with summer fun! She has gymnastics camp, VBS, 4th of July, 3 weeks of gymnastics camp and then I am out of town and it is August!

Friday afternoon Granpa and Jacque came over to celebrate Father's Day. We went swimming in our neighborhood pool and played in Abby's room.

She was excited to show him the roly poly we had found in the flower bed. Abby loves roly polys and after keeping one in her room in a bowl with leaves and grass, we set him free on a leaf for a bed. Such a tender heart on this girl!

Thursday we had pizza poolside and swam with our friends Abbie and Lila. These girls make me laugh! Abbie is just like Abby- playing orderly games with set homemade rules. Meanwhile, Lilah was flipping into the pool, swimming until she couldn't stand and yelling, "Help I am drowning" repeatedly! On the other side of the pool, my cautious child has on a life vest, intertube and kick board. I eventually made Abby give up her life vest for her "drowning" friend!

We swam at Andrea's inlaws neighborhood pool. Gorgeous! 

On Wednesday, we took a tour of a local bakery (Blue Baker) and the kids learned about baking bread and made their own challah rolls. Abby was joined by her friends Megan and Addison. 

Funny story, the kids got to put their hands in flour and feel how soft it is. Abby then proceeded to put a handful of flour IN HER MOUTH before any of us could stop her. She freaked out and kept trying to talk, but only flour dust would come out. The sweet tour guide got Abby a glass of water and commented that was a first! I grabbed a paper towel so Abby could spit it out- it has made a paste when mixed with her saliva. She will never try flour again- I am certain!

Sweet girls sampling the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, raisins and craisins for their challah rolls.

Abby put a little of each in her roll and then we made it into a heart shape.

Afterward, Carrie and Addison stayed for lunch. The girls were given warm chocolate chip cookies as part of the tour. It was such a fun morning and totally free! I highly recommend calling and scheduling a tour.

We ran by Old Navy before coming home. If this girl spots a hat, she wants to try it on. It makes me laugh- she does look great in hats!

On his way home from work, Marcus picked up Abby's bread creation. It was yummy!

On Tuesday, we saw Epic with Kiersten and Kaylinn. It was a cute movie of good vs. bad in the forest. The animation was impressive and I loved the slugs. They made the movie!

Total summer week!

Career Day

Abby's school did a little career day poster and they shared the picture with us on the last day.... Abby, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Funny Faces

Abby and I found something fun to do while waiting for gymnastics to start this morning....

And a funny story from this funny faced girl.... I saw Abby bow her head and start crying in gymnastics. I can see through the glass, but not hear her. She went and talked to her teacher who hugged her and then I read her lips that maybe a hug from Mom would make it better.

So, Abby comes to the door and I greet her tear filled face with a hug and ask her what happened. No joke she told me, " I was clapping for myself and clapped so hard that I hurt my hands". I kept a straight face along with the other Moms until she calmed down and went back into the room and then we laughed!

I See A Ghost!

Do you see a ghost?

I have had two photography classes so far and am having fun with my homework! This week we are studying time and movement in photos. I had the shutter open for 8 seconds and Abby stood in it for only 5 which created a ghost of herself. Pretty cool!

Repair, Declare, Same Thing

I will watch this video all day long and laugh!

Listen to how she "declares" a thumb war and watch her tongue move in sync with her thumb! 

Hilarious!

Happy Birthday PBS!

 Our local PBS station celebrated a big birthday this weekend with a big party downtown! It was fun, but exhausting and really crowded. I think they had a bigger turnout that expected!

We changed clothes in the parking lot after church, ate lunch on the way, and got there just in time to see Super Why reading a story on stage. Abby had a great view from Daddy's shoulders. Funny story... Marcus ran a 5K before church downtown and had just run on the streets 6 hours earlier!

This is Super Why, the namesake of the PBD show that we think had taught Abby all of her letters. It is all about letters, numbers, reading fairy tales, etc. Really cool show!

Clifford was also there. We don't watch him, but Abby knows him from story time on Saturday morning at our local library. She calls him the big red dog.

We were not scared of anyone, but Maya and Miguel. We have seen a few minutes of that show (if the DVR Runs long) and Abby says they are mean. She was scared to take her picture with them, but did do a high five at the end.

I used my iphone and these pictures are blurry- ugh! I think I over compressed them in email- sorry about that! Here is Princess Presto, also from Super Why. Abby most wanted to see her, so we hung around until she had a scheduled walk around at 2:30. Two minutes before she came out, Abby had to potty. Good timing kiddo!

But, we stalked her and finally found her. Abby was pretty excited!

I'm so glad we found out they were in town! It was fun to be downtown with Abby and do something in the community.