First Big Girl Haircut

When Joe and I took Abby for her very first haircut, we tried a specialty kids hair salon with lots of fun perks. Abby loved having her haircut, but we were pretty sure it wasn't because they put in a dvd of dancing scissors and gave her a little sticker at the end. I think she just liked the experience of going to get her hair done.

This time around we went for the real deal. Last week, I decided her wild hair was in need of a trim, so I made an appointment with my hairdresser. Abby couldn't stop talking about going to Mommy's hairdresser and having Miss Jackie cut her hair. We had an appointment close to dinnertime, so we made a family night out of it and went out for pizza afterward.

before

When Jackie was ready, she came over and asked Abby if she was ready to have her haircut. With no hesitation, Abby responded, "PLEEEASSSE"!

getting ready

after. 

It's hard to see in her "after" shot, but Jackie evened out her hair making it a sweet little bob with bangs!

the latest

A few recent favorites:

• Every chance she gets, Abby sneaks up behind me while I'm looking in the fridge and climbs right in saying, "Bye bye Mommy! I'll miss you." Then, she time travels to another location. Clearly, there is no more obvious use for the fridge that a traveling machine. :) I love her imagination. 

• Abby is very excited to meet her baby sister. I couldn't keep her away from the room when her Daddy was painting, so for the very last wall she sat and kept him company. Now, every time she goes in there, she touches the walls and says, "So nice! Baby Sister's room is so nice!" She will have lots of fun helping me put the finishing touches in there over the next couple of months.

• Running is not just one of Joe's hobbies, but Abby's too. She sees her Daddy go for runs, so when Joe comes home from work, Abby often asks him if they can go running together. They walk down to the end of the driveway holding hands, get set and "GO!" jogging to the stop sign and back.

• After hearing my stomach growl loudly before lunch...
  Abby: Mommy! I hear my baby sister. She's ready to come out!
   
• Abby and I were laying together in bed one morning when she jumped up and yelled, "Mommy, my baby sister is pushing me!"       

Easter 2012

The day before Easter, Abby dyed her very first batch of eggs. She was amazed each time she put an egg in the cup and it came out another color. Magical. :)

Abby lost interest after about eight eggs and left Joe and I to finish up while she went to her room to play.

A few minutes later, we heard excited squealing and little feet running back down the hallway. Abby ran into the kitchen holding her Easter basket saying, "Mommy, I love this!".  Turns out I forgot to close the door and she decided to sneak into her sister's closet when no one was watching. Jackpot!! The look of pure joy and excitement on her face was better than any gift giving I could have orchestrated the next morning.

It was a special Easter Sunday! We spent the morning at church worshiping our risen Savior. What a beautiful celebration of the hope and new life we have in Jesus. He is risen, indeed!

Afterward, we had a laid back afternoon with family enjoying a delicious lunch and an egg hunt outside. 

all dressed up and hanging out with Ashley before church

While I was getting ready for church, I realized Abby was being really quiet and I had that sneaking mommy suspicion that she might be up to something. Sure enough, when I went into the living room Abby was digging into her colored chapsticks and rubbing the colors across her face. When I asked her what she was doing, she confidently responded, "Do pretty makeup like Mommy". What could I say? I melted and then quickly  swept her off to the bathroom to wash off  rub in her pretty makeup before it got all over her white sweater.

So proud of her beautiful makeup. precious.

Here's the bunny butt cake that everyone thought was a pig! All I know is it was cute (definately looked like a bunny) and tasted good. A big hit with our pink loving little girl.

loving her little sister

opening her new bubble machine from Papa

our Easter table. I love spring colors.

"The bubbles are shooting into my eyes. I need my glasses!"

my family. <3

with Ashley!

Papa and Nina

posing for Grandma

after waiting patiently to open her Easter goody bag...

my little love.

Watching Abby run through the yard and collect 30 eggs was so much fun. Since I knew Abby would be eating so many sweets all weekend anyway, I filled her eggs with different letters of the alphabet. She loved opening each egg and identifying each letter. It was quite the treasure hunt for her. Of course, in true grandparent fashion, Papa brought a handful of big eggs filled with chocolate to add to the mix. When she found her first egg filled with chocolate, it changed the game a bit. Abby would find a letter and then stuff another piece of chocolate into her mouth! Hello afternoon sugar rush. We had lots of fun!

"look look, more egg"

Singing to Jesus

One of the most beautiful sounds in the whole world is hearing our little girl sing to Jesus. I made sure she didn't see us capturing the video because when she sings along to her worship CD it's so genuine and I don't ever want her to feel like it's a performance.

When we are in the car, she tells me to stop talking or to turn up the music because it's "too hard to hear Jesus". When we are at the end of our car rides, she asks us not to go home yet because she wants to sing more Jesus songs.

So we hid the camera and took a video to put on the blog because this is our family scrapbook and I never want to forget the sweetness of these moments.

26 weeks

26 weeks!

Delicious

Abby's new favorite exclamation is every kitchen loving mommy's dream. After everything she eats (and enjoys), she dramatically says, "Mmmmmmmmm! It's Deeessicioussss!" It never gets old and makes us smile each time. Especially since she says it like she means it every chance she gets.

This could be one of the reasons Abby's new favorite book is Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann.

We borrowed it from the library last Tuesday and by Wednesday morning, we had already read it six times and baked a batch of cupcakes.

Now, we are less than one week in and Abby has almost the whole book memorized. It's really a cute story. I'm not going to lie, Abby and I are smitten with all the pink covering each page. I can tell by the look on Abby's face that "Pinkalicious" is a really fun word to say. Almost as fun as "Deeeessiciousss".

I knew that this was a popular kid's book, but I didn't realize just how popular until I typed Pinkalicious into Google. There are lots of books, board games, video games, stickers,  party favors and a children's recliner. The phenomenon even has it's own website: http://thinkpinkalicious.com/kids AND....wait for it....there is a Pinkalicious musical. Wow!

Looks like this one is going on the need to own list. At this rate, she's not going to let me return it to the library!

Warning!

I overheard Abby and Joe in the kitchen tonight while they were making dinner together.

Joe: Abby do not touch the waffle iron. It's hot. It will hurt you. If you do, we will have to go to the hospital.

Abby (contemplating): Will I get to see my baby sister?  

love. love. love.

 Here's a picture from Abby and Joe's little impromptu date to Dunkin Donuts yesterday afternoon.  I sent them to the store to pick up a jalapeno for dinner and wondered why it was taking them longer than usual. When they got home, Abby walked in, sunglasses on, and told me all about her "daddy date", green donut and "Dunkin milk" (which I later learned is what Abby named chocolate milk). The smile (and sugar high) stayed with her all the way to bedtime! She has such a great Daddy!