Wow! That was a big splash!

Wow! That was a big splash!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Abigail still loves throwing rocks in the creek. The thing is that she's getting really good at it and will make a big splash almost every time. Here she is quite pleased with herself, funny face!

Shhh!!!

Shhh!!!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

The other day when Abigail and I were headed to check out the bamboo, we spotted a squirrel. I stopped and told her to be very quiet and pointed it out, she watched in amazment and he scampered by. Later on, she came back down the path shhhing me, as you can see. What is funny is that her shhhing could have awakened a deaf man a hundred miles away. But she got her point across to me anyway.

European Playground?

100_5832
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

I have meant to blog this picture for a while now. It is a picture of Abigail and her grandma Bonky (her nick name for my (John's) mom) at the park. This little car was a big attraction for Abigail. It bounced on springs. She really wanted grandma to drive while she made it bounce.

The thing I just noticed is that the sterring wheel is on the English side of things. What is with that? And where did my mom learn to drive a spring loaded English car anyway? Is there something I don't know?

Regardless of your driving orientation...you have to admit that a bouncy spring car is fun.

I Love Bamboo!

I Love Bamboo!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

I'm not sure how many of you that see this have ever seen bamboo grow. But it is truly one of the most amazing things that i've ever seen. It pops out of the ground sort of conical shaped and proceeds to grow about 5 inches a day, some more some less. This one that Abigail is so lovingly hugging was only a couple of inches tall less than a week ago.

Funny thing about this picture is that she bent down and hugged the bamboo and looked at me and said, "Cheese!" She really wanted her photo with the bamboo. It's been fun for us to go down there each day and check out the progress. It'll be full grown and loose its husk and look like the big ones around it in a month or so. Amazing!

Checking it out

Checking it out
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is Abigail checking out one of the smaller bamboo shoots, I think its only a few days old.

Swingin at home

Swingin at home
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

We FINALLY put up Abigail's swing at home. We bought it for her for her birthday, but couldn't think of a good place to put it, but here she is happy to have it and completely oblivious to the fact that her parents are slackers.

A first glimpse

A first glimpse
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is an ultrasound picture of our son. Yup, you read right, we just couldn't wait to find out this time around and are so excited to share that we are having a little boy! Of course the picture isn't very clear, but you can make out his head from the profile, with his little nose. Everything looked great and he's very healthy, it's so amazing all the things you can see on the ultrasound. From the chambers of his heart, to his palet to make sure it wasn't cleft, to his tiny little kidneys. Amazing! We didn't get very good take home shots though, but oh well, i'll be able to hold him in my arms in just a few months. Maybe he'll look like me, since his sister looks just like her daddy, but i'm not counting on it.

Popple

Popple
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

I just can't help sharing this with you.

Abigail has been quite interested in the potty (or the popple as she calls it) since her Daddy gave her the potty seat for Christmas. But I really didn't want to deal with the layers of winter clothes coming on and off, especially if there was an accident. But for the last 3 weeks or so, pretty much on her own she has trained herself to go poopy in the potty. Yeah to no more poopy diapers, at least for a few more months.

But what I really wanted to share was that this Tuesday, now that the weather is warm, I decided to start training her to pee in the potty, so I've been letting her run around in just underwear and a T-shirt. I wasn't even messing around with pull-ups. But of course when she's asleep she still has a diaper. She loves this, especially since she has underwear like mommy now. And she's not afraid to check to see what color mine are, so she can compare hers. Anyway, the first day went ok, but we had a few accidents, but then yesterday she didn't go in her pants at all, even when we were outside she told me she needed to go. And today she's been really on it, I haven't even had to ask her if she had to go, she'd just say "Popple" and go into the bathroom. I'm so stinkin proud of her!

WEEEEE!!!!

WEEEEE!!!!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Just a really good closeup of Abigail enjoying the slide last weekend. We eventually let her go on one of the big ones that is enclosed and she just thought that was the best thing ever. Maybe we'll get a pic of that sometime, cause her hair due to the static was hilarious.

Do I really want to go in there?

100_5850
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is another good picture of Abigail at the park. She is totally sweaty from running everywhere, and doing the slide about a hundred times. She is now ascending the stairs for another try.

By the way, Abigail helped me choose to blog this one today. Isn't she great?!

Beautiful Ladies

100_5769
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is a picture of my beautiful ladies. Ususally when we ask Abigail to smile she squishes up her eyes and nose and makes a face nothing close to a smile. This time we got lucky.

We were heading out to a friend's wedding this day. And one of the things that Abigail loves to do is to make sure that people are cared for when they sneeze. They sneeze and she yells, "BLESS". During the wedding (perhaps the quietest moment) a woman in front of us sneezed quietly and sure enough....BLESS!

Tunneling fun

100_5880
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Abgail got a tunnel that attaches to a tent on both ends from her Grandma and Pappy for Easter, and boy does she love it. Once we got it all set up she must have run around crawling through it all for an hour. Her favorite thing is to just sit and play in the tent, hopefully we can get some good pics of that for later.

Big Rocks

100_5860
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

This past weekend my (John) mom and stepdad came to visit. On Saturday we went to Chimney Rock here in NC. It is a gorgeous place and Abigail loved it.

In this picture she wanted to climb on the rocks a bit. She loved the way they felt, cool to the touch on a hot day. We had a great time.

Snuggles with Pappy

100_5865
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

While waiting for Grandma and Daddy on a path at Chimney Rock, Abigail gets in a good snuggle with her Pappy. She sure did love having him here.

First time!!!

First time!!!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Abigail on her very first time down the slide at the park, EVER! She had so much fun, she get to the bottom and just say, "Again, Again!" It was a fun time for sure.

Queen of the slide

Queen of the slide
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

After an attempt or two, Abigail feels like shw owns the slide. Though I have to add that she was very sharing when it came to giving other kids their turns.

What's down there?

What's down there?
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is Abigail peeping out of a hole in a tunnel that connects two of the slides. She always has loved to peek out of stuff, but it was extra fun that it was up so high.

I Love COOKIE!!!!

I Love COOKIE!!!!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is Abigail with her new Cookie that Grandma Bonky sent her. She really loves it a whole lot, Thanks so much! Cookie is by far her favorite Seasame Street character and she was so excited to get it. We even have a fun video of her dancing with it for you to see.

First Boo boo of the season

First Boo boo of the season
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

Here is the first of what i'm sure will be many scraped knees this summer. Abigail was running on the sidewalk at full speed, of course, and fell and got the bright red boo boo you see here. Oh the fun to come!

All Better!

All Better!
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

What Mommy, some antibacterial wash, and the promise of an Elmo Band-Aid can't fix.

Elephant

Elephant
Originally uploaded by abigail0723.

I found this picture online the other day. It is a picture of Allison and I when we first started dating. It was on her old webpage from Marshall U. It is hard not to notice that there is a huge elephant behind us. That is a long story, but there are not many photo opportunities of elephants in West Virginia so we jumped at the chance.