Thanksgiving

Stephen is Dan's youngest brother, and this is his wife, Robyn. They are expecting a little one in June, and we are all excited about the new cousin!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with Dan's side of the family at this parents' house. This is Dan and his brother, Bruce, both shoveling in the delicious dinner. We love being near his family, a rarity when you are a military family, but missed getting to see my side of the family. Dan is the oldest of three, Bruce and Stephen are his younger brothers. Jessica, Bruce's wife, wasn't able to join us, but their adorable daughter, Isabella, was there - she is a fearless, caring, and beautiful child.

Remembering Wyoming

After talking to Katie last night (in the picture below in blue), I realized I omitted a large part of our time in Wyoming from the initial post. We belonged to a great church there and helped out with the youth group for three years. Katie was in my small group for all three years, and is now graduated from high school. We really enjoyed our time there... God blessed us in so many ways.

Ah... nap time

Somehow the angelic face of a sleeping Abby erases all the midnight wakings, screaming in my ear, and lack of sleep. I have had some trouble adjusting her to her new room. She slept through the night when she was in our room, but has only done it once since moving into her own room.... hopefully this will work itself out, but I never realized how nice it was to sleep all night long! When they say, "Sleep while you can" when you are pregnant, you never really get it until after she's here. One look at this face, though, and I fall blindly in love again!

Precious Moments

They come so quickly, and so closely together they seem to step on one another... the moments that envelop you, that consume you, are gone so fast that they hardly have time to find a permanent home in your memory, but are replaced just as quickly by another. The slowness and quickness of time is a puzzle to me since Abby came into my life. It seems like forever ago and yesterday that we were waiting for her to come. I try to hold onto all the moments that I know I'll search for later in my memory, but I soon surrender to time, and just enjoy.

Well, that is enough cheesy mommy talk for one post..... we are here with Abby while getting dinner ready, she likes to watch me cook and talk with Daddy when he gets home. She had her "tickle box turned over", as my mom would say, at some noise I was making, and we had to try to get that priceless, toothless smile on film.

Rubber Duckie!

Here is Abby in her "duckie" costume.... she wore it to a halloween party at our neighbors' house and trick-or-treating with cousin Bella. She had a doctor's appointment that day (shots and all!) and she is in the 95th percentile for her weight! We call her a little Buddha baby because she's got a little belly and no hair!

She just moved into her own room upstairs from mom and dad... the first night was rough..... mostly on mom, but she is sleeping so well up there now. I'm getting lots of extra exercise, too, because, of course, I have to check on her every 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Carving

Abby and Daddy after we carved pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch in Clanton, AL with Poppy, Maw Maw, and Bella... we got to take a hayride and pick out a pumpkin.

This is Abby just before our trip to the pumpkin patch.