The Letter of the Day

I have started to attempt to teach Abbey letters. Each day we "learn" a new letter: we write it out and then find that letter through out a magazine and cut it out to glue on a paper and we write out things that start with that letter. We have fun and it is making our house very colorful.

We Like Grass

I want a backyard. In my head I know that I have been blessed with a great house: it is a 10 min bike ride to work, a 10 min walk downtown, it has fun old character to it and best of all it is an amazing price for it's size. But I still dwell on all the things I want different and so I have been trying change my mindset to thankfulness instead and working with what we have. So a month ago after bringing home Abbey's new kiddie pool and putting it in the dirt square of a yard and having the pool turn into a mud pit I decided we have to plant grass. So my amazing husband and a good friend Matt worked all day to dig up the dirt and plant grass seed.

I wish I had a before picture but here is our little grass patch of a back yard. Abbey LOVES it. She dances on it and runs in circles on it and rolls in it. The other night we had a picnic dinner. So fun! It felt so much like summer eating outside.
Davey loves being outside
This picture is of Abbey and her mini camera that she likes to take "pictures" of Dave.
And Ducky needed a bath because he was dirty.
And even though our grass is patchy and small, I love it and Abbey loves it so I'm happy.

Sand, More Sand and a Little Sunburn

I don't know if I have said this before but I never was a beach person. I personally LOVE the mountains! But with kids they have so much fun at the beach and so I have become a fan of the beach. However I am still not a fan of the sand that gets in everything and you wouldn't catch me diving into the cold ocean.

This past weekend it worked out that a bunch of friends with kids could go to Avila beach. And we had a blast...

Abbey loves playing in the sand. She was by far the messiest kid, covered in sand from head to toe (literally).

Davey loved the sound of the waves, he fell asleep despite the fact that he had to use a pink flower blanket. Oh and you can see Abbey and Wyatt playing in the background.
Me and my friend Amy in front of our killer beach spot.
Staff friends: the Zellers and the Goodsons.
Such a cute picture of the first steps in the ocean: Wyatt, Amy, Abbey, Lauren, and Kevin
We ended the day with ice cream at Avila Barn and long naps.

I love flowers

I bought this cute flower container (the white one in the corner) were I had beautiful pansies in it. And of course I let them die because I am terrible at watering plants. Abbey would look at the dead pansies and say are sad flowers. So, two days ago a fire lite in me and I had to get new flowers. Well, when I got to the store there were too many beautiful flowers to choose from. So I bought lots and lots of flowers. Abbey and I had a blast planting while Davey sat back and watched.
The finished product...tada!! Funny thing is that I didn't put any flowers in the original white container. Well, I guess I get to go flower shopping some more!!!

A Visit to Chico

This is long over due but I had to post about our trip to Chico were we visited our friends the Payne's. We were on staff at Cal Poly our first year with the Payne's and we have remained friends and now we both have two kids that are the same age. Abbey and Tobin are both two and a half and now David and Leona . We had so much fun, got little sleep, ate great food, and played in tons of water (as you can tell from the millions of pictures).

We went to the fountains in downtown Chico where Tobin and Abbey played and cooled off for the heat.
We went to the pool every night and had a blast. Abbey loved being thrown up by her daddy. I however was not as excited.
Abbey LOVED the water slide: she would go again and again.
Adrienne taught Abbey some beginner swimming lesson things. Thanks Adrienne!!
I love seeing Abbey having fun with other kids. Tobin is one of those kids that Abbey gets along with really well. I love these pictures of them all bundled together warming up after the evening swim.
Ok maybe they are getting a little too cosy.
Adrienne and I hanging out with the babies in the shade.
Thanks Josh and Adrienne for all the fun in Chico. We love spending time with you!!

My little flower girl

Abbey made her debut as a flower girl last weekend. I was a little nervous because my little girl is a little bit of a bruiser but she was so excited to wear her white princess dress. And she did amazing. Kevin taught her to "walk and throw, walk and throw" and that is exactly what she did. This picture of her practicing. And this is Abbey with her Crusade staff friend Kate hanging out during the wedding.

See more Flower Girl Abbey Pictures CLICK HERE