Week #4

Week in review:

Abby brushes her teeth every morning at least two times (by her insistence)...once with Mommy and once with Daddy. She sits right up on the counter and keeps us company while we each get ready.


Abby and I spent lots of afternoons at the pool this week. The storms finally stayed away. We stayed in the water until our fingers were prune-y and then laid out on the chairs watching all the other little kids play. Abby has become a big fan of jumping off the edge into our arms and loves dipping her head back to get wet. It actually cracks her up!


At the beginning of the week, Abby got a package from her Grandma filled with all kinds of fun stickers and a little notebook to stick them in! Abby can peel, stick, repeel and restick for so long that I only give her one sheet at a time. Not only does she like to stick stickers in her book, but all over us too!

sticking stickers all over her face...

...and getting a kick out of it!

As always, Abby finds a way to help with the chores OR feel like a princess!

off to do the laundry

"Hey Mom, look at me!"

We just love our mornings and afternoons spent with good friends. We will definitely miss our daily play dates. Especially since we are all just a few doors down!

**Challenge: What is your best caption for the photo below? What do you think those girls are thinking/saying to each other? Let me know in the comment section!**

Emma, Abby, Katie and Grace (not pictured)

It wouldn't be a day in the temporary Cassel/Swanson home without Abby giving Emma as many hugs as she possibly can. She just can't get enough! I can't blame her. Who wouldn't want to wrap their arms around that sweet baby all day long? Abby must take after her momma. And though Emma loves Abby and likes to play with her, she makes it known that she is not the biggest fan of the headlock hug! Ohhh I can't wait to show this to them years from now.

Abby & Emma

Kids eat free at Beau Jo's on Thursday nights, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to go out with our friends and catch up over a yummy Colorado pizza dinner. Abby loves pizza and loved it even more sitting next to her buddy Grace. Not to mention, Super mom Susie brought play-doh for the kids to play with while we waited for our food (genius!). It was Abby's first time with play-doh and she was fascinated. I'm loving this new discovery! Then, the lady came around and made balloon animals for kiddos!

elephant for Josiah, penguin for Grace and...

...monkey for Abby!

Every morning we head out for our walks. Abby waves at everyone we pass and sadly every time we walk past Starbucks my daughter starts pointing and making it clear she would like to stop (though we only do so every now and then). Yikes! What have we started. You can tell how much she enjoys her surroundings: the cars, birds flying everywhere and any animals. Today she saw a squirrel scurrying through the grass and starting "Ooooo Ooooo Ahhh Ahhh Ah-ing". She thought the squirrel was a monkey! Hilarious. I never would have put the two together, but think about it. It totally makes sense. Monkeys don't look THAT different. It's amazing to see the ways the little wheels in her head process life.

Ready to go on our walk

Today, we were thankful for lots of quality time with Daddy. You can see Abby enjoying her time snuggled up with him reading books. Precious!

Then, Joe took his two girls out on a lunch date to our favorite Mongolian BBQ restaurant downtown. Yum! Abby told me everything she wanted put in her plate and we brought it to the grill to watch them cook it up. I couldn't get it to the table fast enough. She chowed down on a noodle and rice plate loaded with black beans, corn, peas and edamame (just to name a few)! She was such a big girl and ate so well. Abby also loves ice. When she is done eating in a restaurant, she picks all of the ice out of our water glasses and munches on each piece. At least it keeps her busy while we finish up our meals.

Of course, it wouldn't be a social outing without Abby trying to make friends with every table...including the cute little 4 year old boy a few tables down. I tried to catch it on video and got a little bit of it, but keep in mind she was doing it consistently for about five minutes before I even got the camera out. Our social butterfly and little joy!

lots of noodles and chocolate milk to wash it down