Date with Daddy

Recently, Abby has become fascinated with muffins. I'm not sure that she had ever had one, but a book that she's been reading has pages full of muffins, so her interest was peaked. The whole day she walked around saying "muppin, muppin". So, Daddy took Abby (and stuffed Greeley) on a date to get a special muffin. What a treat!

Abby got to pick any muffin she wanted.

There were so many options! So, she put Greeley down for a rest while she chose.

Blueberry muffin and milk in a Starbucks cup. What a big girl!

Yum!

Of course, she couldn't leave Greeley out, so she fed him some too!

"Mom and Dad, I think you've been holding out on me! YUM! MUFFINS!"

Next up: baking muffins with Mommy!

Moving Day

We've been in our new home for a whole two weeks! All boxes are unpacked (yay!), so now we get to focus on hanging all the things that make home even homier. It feels really wonderful to be settling in. We love it here.

We wouldn't have been able to do any of it without all the love and help of our friends and family. God pleasantly overwhelmed (and humbled) us with an outpouring of support from so many people. The Lord sent people to help care for every need. He is so good! From moving to meals to painting to installations to watching Abby...we're so blessed by all of you. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all!

I might not have gotten it done without my cutest little helper:

Grammy came for a few days before the big day to help us finish packing and preparing the house. She helped with some of the toughest cleaning and took care of Abby on moving day. It was so great to have her here that we weren't ready for her to leave.

snuggling with Grammy

moving in.

Abby loved the excitement of the day. She got to spend time with Grammy, eat pizza, run around her new house and play with lots of friends who stopped by. Maddie hung out while her super strong mom helped us move all day. (Thanks Nichole!) Maddie and Abby even shared ice cream sandwiches in the cooler!

Hurricane Irene welcomed us into our new home on our first night/day. Before we lost electricity for a few hours, Abby did what everyone longs to do on a rainy day:

good movie + comfy couch + rain = leg up loungey bliss.

Ashley came to visit and to help us paint! She's our semi-professional painter friend who we love to have visit. Not only does she paint our trim with such care and enjoyment (total PERK!), but she's pretty much an adopted family member! Thank you Zsa-zsa. We miss you. Your soda is in the car waiting for you! Bring a straw!


Our friends, the Ritters, helped us a ton with moving in and they also passed on a sweet little housewarming gift to Abby. Abby and Baby love to play outside in it.

after I asked Abby and her Baby to say CHEESE

learning to save her pennies

One of the perks of Abby's new room is the special little reading corner I made in her closet. There's a little rug, lots of comfy pillows and stuffed animals. Abby takes her books in and sits reading one after the other. A little girl after my own heart! She also loves to invite people into her secret space. Every time someone comes to visit she leads them right into her closet. Something so simple can be so special!



Abby has been quite the helper when it comes to unpacking. She also knows how to stop the whole process when she feels like we need a break...

"time to rest, Mommy!"

And just a little more cuteness to complete this post:

I love you.

As we've been transitioning into our new home, I haven't been good at recording all of the sweet Abby stories that fill our days.

I have to stop for a moment and get this one down so I NEVER forget it EVER! Abby and I spent the morning playing with friends. When we got home, we got ready for lunch. Abby's baby had to eat too. So, Abby put her in the high chair with her and started feeding Baby everything I gave her to eat. Today, Abby decided all she wanted was cheese! She's becoming more and more opinionated and determined by the day. When we were done, Abby asked for a napkin to wipe her baby's face and then showed me that she wanted Baby to take a nap in the crib with her. Adorable. But, the best part of my whole entire day (and this might win out as sweetest moment of the week) was when I laid Abby down, covered her with the blanket and was leaving the room. She called out, "I love you!". I say it to her every time she goes to bed, but this was the first time she said it to me first and not in response. Ohhh baby girl, I love you so much. So much that I had to restrain myself from running back to the crib, picking you up and smooching you all over!

Weekend in NJ

With all the preparations for the house keeping us very busy, we welcomed some special events that got us in the car together as a family for a weekend trip to New Jersey. It was a much needed break from painting and packing and some much needed quality time in the midst of this big transition.

Daddy is so tired!

On Saturday, our friends Zakiya and Matt got married. It was lots of fun to celebrate with them. AND the night got even better because we got to spend the evening with Mom and Dad Cassel. You should have seen them on the dance floor! We had fun!

beautiful bride.

sweet date night

While we were at the wedding, Abby spent the evening with her new favorite babysitter, Alex. In the morning, Alex was one of the first people Abby went looking for to play dolls with. We are definitely looking forward to Uncle Bradley and Alex's visit this fall.


The next day, we drove to spend the day at Cory's race. It was Abby's first time at the track. Loud engines and lots of dirt to play in....my girl loved it all. I thought for sure she would be afraid of her Uncle Cory when she first saw him in all his gear. I mean my brother was afraid of Santa Claus' gloves when he was little. But, the minute she saw him, she wanted to stay with him as close to the line up as she could go.
We went to sit in the stands and the whole time Abby yelled for her "RA-RA" (Uncle Cory).

It's pretty amazing to watch my brother ride (even though my heart is in my throat the whole time). Hello adrenaline!

G-diddy came to the race too, so Abby got to hang out with both of her grandpas and eat hotdogs. What a treat!


Cory's going to buy Abby her first power wheels quad someday soon! It's how he got his start at the age of two and he's convinced Abby will be a rider too. We'll see!!

stud.

help me up Papa. Let's do this!

#87

Looking forward to next season RA-RA!

Packing it all up

Our last days in our apartment (and Abby's first home) looked like this:




When we weren't packing up our life, we were over at our new house getting it ready for move-in day! Grammy and G-Diddy came up to help us with some projects. (Thank you guys!) Abby kept herself busy following G-diddy around and getting into his tools:


But, her favorite part of the day just might have been chasing Greeley around enjoying all of his kisses!

Where's your Grammy? There she is!

family photo in front of our new house

Then, out to dinner after a day of hard work.

G-diddy teaching Abby about finance

watching her Daddy cut the grass