Easter Egg Fun

We have been having fun celebrating Easter. I bought a bunch of Easter eggs a couple weeks ago and they have been the toy of choice everyday. They are a 101 ways to play with Easter eggs. Here are a couple we have discovered.
1. At first we put them in a big box and the kids pretended they were taking a bath in them. They would "wash" each other in eggs, so cute. And Davey was o cute, he would splash in them like it was water.
2. Then there was always the dumping them out of the box and throwing them all over the house fun. I think I picked up those eggs a thousand times. ahem
3. We had a contest of who could launch the egg the farthest with their mouth. Mama had the clear advantage on that game. But they didn't care, it was always an up roar of laughter as soon as the egg flew from my mouth.
4. We hung the eggs on the bush in our front yard. I think Abbey felt like she was decorating a Christmas tree all over again. But the Easter egg bush has been a hit. I have seen several people walking by take pictures of it.
5. And then there was the o so creative swimming pool idea. Abbey's imagination is in high gear lately so when we picked up some swim goggles at the store from the summer she came up with this idea one rainy morning.
I am sure the kids will continue to find new ways to play to with the eggs this week. But if you have any more ideas leave a comment.

Parents Weekend

Here are a few wonderful moments when my parents visited for Abbey's birthday.

I heard it has been the hardest winter in a 100 years on the East coast this year so of course we spent some time soaking but the sun at the beach.
The pool was too cold at the hotel but Abbey loved the Jacuzzi.
My mom came to the rescue to help finish all the kids crowns for the birthday party. Couldn't have done it without you mom. If you look closely you can see Davey's little hand holding onto my mom. So cute!
Abbey and my dad having a tea party. What a sweet moment. By the way Abbey is trying to figure out which is her pinky finger so she can properly drink tea.
It was a great time together eating good food, going to the running warehouse many times, stopping by the swap meet and just enjoying being together. Thanks for coming all the way out here. We love you!!

Birthday Video

Kevin made this video of Abbey's birthday party. Didn't he do a great job!!

To my beautiful little girl:
Abigail you are an amazing kid. You have accomplished some major milestones this past year. You are completely potty trained, you sleep in a big girl bed, you can count to 20 (pretty much) in English and to 10 in Spanish, you can say your ABC's, you transitioned from being an only child to being a big sister, you are starting to dress yourself, you saw your first movie at the drive in (Tangled) and you are learning to ride a bike.
You love being in the water; pool, shower, bath it doesn't matter. Your favorite TV shows are Seaseme Street, Dora the Explorer and any thing Princess. Your favorite foods are mac and cheese, raisins, pancakes, apples, red peppers, and anything chocolate. You make friends very easily where ever we go, especially if they are girls. And in the past few months you have been captivated by princesses., you wear your princess daily almost daily. You don't like wearing things on your head, you aren't very interested in coloring, and you won't eat mashed potatoes.
You are still an energetic fun loving kid but you are starting to be a little shy. You have a tender compassionate heart and you are an affectionate little girl who loves to give kisses and hugs freely. You hate to see others sad or hurting, you sing to Davey whenever he cries. I just love your beautiful personality. I love having flash light dance parties in the dark with you. I love seeing you hug your brother. I love snuggling with you under a blanket to read books. I love that you reach for my hand to cross the street. And I love when I say the final goodnight you respond with " I love you Mommy". I absolutely love you Abigail. Happy Birthday!!

She's 3 Years Old!!

My little girl turned 3 on January 21st. We started the day with pink chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Then we had a Dora Princess party at the beautiful Islay park to celebrate. It was an amazing day: there were lots of kids, good friends and my parents were there all the way from NY! It was so sweet having them there. They bought Abbey princess dress as seen above which was perfect for the party.

We celebrated with pink and orange Dora cupcakes. Abbey helped with putting all the candles in cupcakes, maybe she thought she was older then three?
The kids played pin the tail on Swiper the Fox.
Little Freddo was the tough guy.
Martha Stewart helped with some decorating ideas. Don't you just love these.
Stewart took a swing with Dora
Davey was entertained by the grandparents the whole party. Looks like he had a good time!
And Wyatt had a blast running around with the balloons.
And here's our attempt to get a group kid pic with their crowns. I used Soule Mama's pattern for the crowns. I love how Abbey is attached to her best friend Emma and don't you just love Fred's expression.
Abbey had a blast and so did we. Happy Birthday Abigail!!

Pacifiers for Trains

In the last month we have broken Abbey of two habits that we weren't fans of. The first was this need to wear a band aid on her finger for naps and to bed at night. That is two band aids a day people! It all started about a year ago when she burned her thumb on my hair straightener. I bought some colorful fun Sesame street and Dora band aid which apparently are crack for toddlers. Abbey had to wear one to bed otherwise she would throw a fit. I know I know! I was weak and gave in because she is a good sleeper and I didn't want to give that up and I didn't want to fight the battle. So a year later, (sigh) she was still wearing band aids and they where a regular purchase when we went to the store. Honestly, two bandaids a day for a year...that's like 650 bandaids!! Finally about a month ago before NY I thought enough is enough. I started telling her at every nap and every night that when the band aids ran out of the box there would no more band aids. (Repetition is key with Abbey) The day came where the box was empty and I was nervous but she did great. There was a little sadness and she did ask for a band aid for a couple weeks but now we are a band aid free. It feels good!!

Now for habit #2: After David was born we tried to get him to take a pacifier but ended up with Abbey addicted to them. She wants everything that is David's. Sigh again. And in the last month she has been taking the paci everywhere and throwing fits about it and we just couldn't take it anymore. So for a couple days I told her she could buy anything toy she wanted at the toy store but she would have to use the pacifiers to pay for it. Yesterday morning Abbey and I had a mother/daughter date. We went to boo boo's then got some chocolate milk and headed to the toy store. The toy store guy over head me explain the game plan to Abbey once more and he said "O yes! The good old pacifier / toy exchange". Abbey picked out a Thomas the train that lights up and makes noise. She tried to negotiate to keep her pink pacifier but the toy guy played along nicely and said "the train will cost all the pacifiers". We are now a pacifier free home.

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

Big Girl Bed

Usually kids start climbing out of their cribs but not Abbey. Last week we found her climbing into her crib so we thought it was time to pull the trigger on a toddler bed. Found this bed on craigs list and bought it that day. That night she insisted on sleeping in her big girl bed. She loves it and she especially loves jumping on it!