Zany Zoo Animals

So, with summer winding down and the thought of going back to work looming on my mind, I woke up today and decided to take Abby to the zoo. I still have a few days of summer left and I want to make them count. I love spending my days with her and time is running out. She was SOOO excited when I told her and started jumping up and down.
We had a grand time! The weather was perfect, the zoo wasn't too busy and the animals were feisty. Yeah, sometimes you just have to let summer take hold of you. The flamingos were her favorite. I should have known that...they were pink!

There's a small waterfall that you can walk under and get sprayed (only a VERY little bit), but she was terrified. This pose is showing her feelings perfectly.

We bought a feed stick and went into the crazy cage full of birds so she could feed them. She stood so still, I've never seen her to still. The birds flocked to her and she loved it.

She has grown a lot this summer, but I guess she has quite a ways to go before she catches up with the grizzly bear. The bears were the scariest part of the zoo. She asked a least a half dozen times if I knew for sure that they would be in a cage. Even while tucking her in bed tonight she told me that the zoo was so fun, but that the bears were in a cage, right? I reassured her again that the bears were behind the ropes and would stay there. :)

I know this picture is funny, but we ate our lunch at the top pavilion by the monkeys. I couldn't get her to sit down and eat because the monkeys were too entertaining. She stood at the railing for 40 minutes. She thought they were so funny. We did manage to get half a sandwich down and of course the fruit snacks went down with no problem.

Here we are eating by the monkeys and laughing together. We tried to take our own picture. It didn't turn out great, but the smiles are genuine.

The pygmy goats were just her size.

Banging on the African drums was the biggest hit. Even after we had seen every part of the zoo we had to head back to the drums before we could leave.

The chimpanzees were the most frisky today. They were very playful and would run right into the glass wall. Abby loved standing on the railings. It's a good thing this one has a glass wall.

Right outside the zoo is a beautiful park and we headed over there before going to the car. I needed to sit down and she still had energy left. Here she is climbing the rock wall without ANY help! She'll tackle anything.

Playdates ROCK

Today we had our friend Ellie over for the afternoon. Abby's been asking for a playdate with Ellie for a long time and it was nice to finally have a day that worked. The girls had a blast. We spent most of the afternoon outside in the pool, playing with sidewalk chalk and riding bikes. I supervised by sitting in my recliner with my book. That is of course until my awesome neighbor Christina came outside to entertain me and to help "supervise". :)
Ellie's mom, Trisha, came back from her meeting in time for our all American dinner of chicken, watermelon, baked potatoes and corn on the cob during which we laughed and laughed and laughed. Christina, Trisha and I got a workout from all our laughter. Right "Super O"? We can't wait until Trisha and Ellie move closer and we can get together more often. What show offs in the pool! They splashed and splashed and I had to keep reminding them that the dog didn't want to get wet. They thought every person, animal and creature would want to get wet just like them.

The biggest hit of the afternoon was putting sidewalk chalk all over the body and then running into the pool to wash off. Don't you just love Abby's blue nose?

Backpacks and Dead Fish

Abby's always been in love with the idea of school. We play school constantly and she loves coming to school to help me. When she turned four I told her that four year olds go to school! Preschool! You can imagine her excitement. She asks at least once a day when it's time to go to school.
One of the things you need for school is a backpack. We've been looking and looking for one that would fit her and we haven't been successful. But, last night while compiling our grocery list for the week, I noticed that there was a good deal on backpacks so the hunt was on! We stood in the backpack aisle for a LOOONG time and tried on every single pink backpack. But this is the winner! Isn't it cute on her?
Oh, and when we came home from the store I noticed that one of her goldfish had died. Bit the dust. Gone. So I quickly scooped it up and flushed it. Abby asked me what I was doing so I told her, "the fish died so I'm flushing him." Surprisingly she was not upset but she was also not convinced that the fish was dead. She seemed totally convinced that it was just sleeping. I told her again that it was dead and she said, "Well, now she's with Jesus." End of discussion. That went well.

Here's the back of the new backpack. Doesn't it look huge on her?

Tonight after dinner we headed over to Captain Sundae for dessert. I had a leftover gift certificate and it was time to use it. Yumm!

Saturday Ramblings

I haven't updated in a few days so I thought I would just ramble a little about what we've been up to. It feels as though we've never been home this week. We had vacation Bible school each day and our church runs it at night from 6-8:30. I volunteered to work registration so of course I had to be there early. Abby loved it and came home excited each night. I, on the other hand, found that 8:30 is just too late for a little girl. It took FOREVER to get her to settle down and sleep. It was often 10 or 10:30 before sleep could be found. When the last night rolled around I was happy to be done. Abby's still singing the songs and playing with her crafts so I am glad that we went.
Another highlight of our week was the carnival. The condos where my grandparents live was going to have a carnival run by the residents for the grandchildren and great grandchildren. We had a blast!! There was cotton candy, ice cream, popcorn, hot dogs, balloon clowns, horse rides and of course the regular carnival games. It was so fun! The old people were having such a great time watching the young ones and of course the young ones were having fun winning all the prizes. It was a win-win for all!
In between the birthday, the carnival and vacation Bible school, there were also chiropractor visits. Last week I did something to my back and my sciatic nerve is acting up. I'm not in pain, but my butt, hips, right leg and the bottom of my right leg are all numb. It feels as though the bottom half of my body has fallen asleep. So needless to say I've been to the chiropractor three times this week and I've already scheduled more for next week. Most people I talk to mention that the sciatic nerve is usually attached to pregnancy. Do I need to remind everyone that I am pregnant?? Internationally pregnant!
Ok, onto better news. Last night I went out with some girl friends to see a movie. It was fun to be out with adults. We went to the movies and then out for dessert. It did feel a little weird not to have little hands handing mine or to have to run to the potty every few minutes. My awesome parents watched Abby for me so that I could go and play. It was great!

Today started with an eye doctor appointment to make sure my contact lens prescription is still correct and to check on my retinas. I am in the severe risk area for retina tearing or stretching so it's just something to keep an eye on. It all looked normal so I was happy. Later in the afternoon we headed out to the beach to watch the boats, play in the sand, swing on the swingset and cheer on the surfers.

From 2 birthdays parties, vacation Bible school, numerous chiropractor appointments, eye doctor visits and a carnival, we've been busy!! But it's also been a great week. I hope you had a great week too! My mom, grandma and grandpa at the carnival. They all had a great time watching Abby play the games.

Abby was really good at the carnival games. There were many games that she got right on the first try!
This is one of my favorite pictures! Abby and her beloved Nana!

Ooooo! Cotton candy! And it's PINK!

Do you remember this game? You get to pick up the duck and look on the bottom for a number. That number lets you choose a prize from the bucket. This was her favorite game. It seemed so simple to me, but she loved it.

There was even face painting. When we walked up to this table I recognized the girl right away. I had had her in my class as a student! Too funny.

The miniature ponies were a huge hit. Abby rode once and my 92 year old grandpa even took a ride. If you click on the picture to enlarge it you'll see that the pony is actually wearing shoes. It was so cute!

Here's Abby showing off her new prizes. She got soooo many!

Abby got a few more presents from friends last night. She was excited to open them this morning.

Happy 4th Birthday Abby!!

Today we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday.

It started with candles in our doughnuts.

Then onto hot pancakes (and coffee for the adults).

Finally after MUCH nagging...it was onto the presents.

We had a great day together and I am so blessed to be Abby's mom.

I LOVE YOU ABBY!!

Butterfly Party

Tonight we celebrated Abby's 4th birthday with her cousin Leah who turned 8. Abby's birthday is actually on Wednesday and Leah's was last Friday so we decided to have the family party between the two dates. Abby couldn't wait for the party to start, she started asking for it when she woke up this morning. It was a fight to get her down for a nap, but I prevailed and she slept. My parents came over early to help put together the fruit kabobs and my dad hung some hooks by the front door for me. My brother and his family came later and we had dinner. The butterfly cake was a big hit and tasted great. After a few taco spills, red finger jello hands, and lemonade spills we had presents and headed outside to try out the new toys. After everyone went home Abby asked me if she really was 4 years old now. I tried to explain again that her birthday isn't until Wednesday, but it was just too confusing. So I finally just said, "Yes honey, you're four years old." What's the difference right? My mom helped put together the fruit kabobs. These are fun to have at parties and the kids really like them. Abby was in charge of handing over the purple and green grapes. Don't those kabobs just look great?
Finger jello is also a must when you have kids around. Micah kept asking for more jello and it wasn't until later in the meal that we realized he had red hands. Too funny! I just had to take a picture.

Here's Leah the birthday girl turning 8 and Abby the birthday girl turning 4. Seth is behind them.

Abby was ready to blow out the candles, but she had a little trouble. The first candle went out right away, but she had to take a few blows to get the others to go out. When she was done, we added four more candles and did the whole routine over again for Leah who also had trouble with the candles and I didn't even buy the tricky ones. Go figure!

Abby got new Barbie skates from Nana and Papa. She couldn't contain her excitement. She had asked for some skates last week so I knew she would love it. She immediately put them on and tried to go around the island in the kitchen. After dinner we went outside and she had them on again. There was really only one big fall, we'll see what happens tomorrow when we try again.

Here's the gang hanging outside after dinner.

Abby tried to do a one woman parade. She was practicing her Miss America wave while throwing pretend candy to her admirers. She's been to so many parades that she knows that candy is an important part. :)

My brother thought he would be funny and sit on top of me while my dad took my picture. You can tell from my huge smile that I was laughing quite hard. My brother cracks me up!

Pictures of my sweetie!

Yeah. There's no excuse. I have no idea why I haven't updated the blog. It's not like we've been busy or gone on vacation. Nope, we've been home and just playing around all week. We done the usual things: bike riding, grocery shopping, sidewalk chalk, laundry, book reading, and taking naps. So anyway here are some beautiful pictures of my baby girl and her adventures of the week. This week we bought her a Cinderella dress. It looks so cute on her and she loves to watch it twirl while she dances. She's had it on every single day since she got it. What a beautiful princess!

I worked on Abby's birthday cake this week and she loves to lick the beaters. When she was done with both beaters there was so much batter on her face. It was so fun!

Lately she's been into her Groovy Girls. Or rather I should say that she's been in changing clothes on all her dolls. She loves all the different outfits and doesn't leave it on more than two minutes. The problem is that she can't dress the dolls herself, she needs some help. So mommy to the rescue. I bet I've changed over 50 outfits this week. I'm getting really good at it. :)

Here's the finished butterfly cake for Abby's party. She wanted pink and purple frosting. She's such a girl! Her birthday is on Wednesday, but the family party will be tomorrow night. Her cousin Leah's birthday was last Friday so we're going to celebrate both birthdays tomorrow. We're having the family over for dinner and Abby's so excited. She hasn't quite gotten the idea that her birthday isn't tomorrow, just the party is tomorrow. Oh well, she'll enjoy it all over again on her actual day.

On an entirely separate note, this afternoon in our mail I received our amended I-171H form from US Citizenship and Immigration. Since the adoption is taking so long I had to get my fingerprints updated and we've started the paperwork all over again. I was surprised to get my I-171H so quickly and now my paperwork is good until January. Let's pray that I'll bring my daughter some before the end of the year.