Happy Thanksgiving from Williamsburg

Thankfulness and Alathea's Tree

This year has been a wonderful time to begin little traditions with our girls. There are many that Joe & I enjoy together, but now we've been trying to incorporate a 2 year old into them. This past month Alathea & I started her "Thankfulness Tree". She loved doing it and I was surprised how well she "got it". I think I tend to underestimate how much she can comprehend at such a young age! Every day I'd have her tell me something she was thankful for and I'd write it down, have her color it, and then let her add it to the tree. I purposefully did not prompt her in anything- I really wanted to see how her little mind thought. It was hard to keep quiet when after a week I hadn't made it on the tree yet!!! The sweetest thing was when she was adding the leaf that said "God" on the tree she insisted it go on the biggest branch because, "God is soooo big!" she said! And then she put Daddy on the tree, and he got the next biggest branch, as she said, "Daddy's big too. But God is sooooo big" (she apparently doesn't know how to say bigger or biggest :). I love little windows into her mind like this! She is such a blessing to me! I am so grateful I get to be her mamma. (or "Mom-Mom" as she's been calling me lately).

Happy Thanksgiving!!! Enjoy your many blessings!

Thankfulness and my baby Girl

As we are approaching Thanksgiving Joe & I have been talking a lot about what we are thankful for. I love the effect that a gratefulness has on the heart! It certainly keeps my eyes on the Lord and the undeserved blessings He has given us. It struck me as I was reflecting on this past year that Abigail was not with us one year ago! Even though she is is only 9 months old, it now seems that she's been with us forever. She is certainly something I am grateful for every single day! We love our precious Abi-girl!!

Just Like My Dad

The other day Alathea decided she was going to pretend to be Daddy. 

Alathea has always had an enormous emiganation, but its always as a little mommy who takes care of babies or cooks or cleans. But this day she was very excited to be Daddy.

She started out making a play-dough lunch, complete with little baggies and ending up in a paper lunch bag. This is exactly what she & I do for Joe's lunch every morning (minus the play dough). She then proceeded to do everything exactly as Joe does in the morning. I couldn't believe every little thing she picked up on. She put the lunch and a book by Daddy's shoes by the door. And then (just like Joe does every morning) asked, "Wheres my hat?" It took me a moment to realize she was looking for her panthers hat!

She asked me if she could drive Honey around in circles in my car (Joe lets Alathea sit on his lap every morning and drives around our cul-de-sac). When I said no, she just hopped on her bike and off she went around the cul-de-sac in circles. Then she waved good bye and said "see ya later" and rode her bike to our next door neighbors house. She said this was her work.

I was really enjoying watching her bursting creativity all morning! It was really cute. Until I was laying Abigail down for a nap and heard the loudest crash & scream I have ever heard! Then I walked out to this:

Well, this is after I picked up the plant and fish flopping around on the carpet.

Alathea says she was trying to clean the fish bowls.

Just one more thing her Daddy does every week.

We tried to encourage her to be Mommy the next day :)

9 Months

It is sooooo hard for me to believe that my Abber's has been with us now longer out of the womb than in! Nine months old!! Wow! While it's always a challenge for me to say good-bye to the snuggly, little baby stage, I think God's gift to me is that older babyhood is so much fun! Abigail's personality has been growing as much as she has. She's full of smiles and laughter and clapping and "dancing" (bouncing, really) to music. And greeting her after a nights sleep or a nap is the sweetest thing in the world. She has the hugest smile and is so excited to see me! In addition to all the Abigail sweetness, she's also been displaying quite a little temper at times. I think we're so used to little angelic Abigail that we catch ourselves laughing at her "angry face" (although we are also very aware we've got some serious work cut out for us in training her). Her face gets all red, her hands are up in the air and her mouth open as she lets out this "angry noise" for lack of a better description. Its usually when she wants some food that we're not giving her :). 

Abigail is quite the explorer. She gets into closets and toy boxes in a way that Alathea never did. Its fun to see her own individual personality that is different than Alathea's start to blossom. She also gets stuck everywhere! Its so funny! She's been stuck under Alathea's bed, under the couch, under our chairs, the kitchen table...its quite the site to see. She just loves crawling over and under and in anything that getting stuck now happens all the time. Being the mean Mamma that I am, I immediately start to laugh and run for my camera any time she gets stuck. I think her little trick on me is to find a way out as soon as I grab my camera! 

Abigail is still the sweetest, most snuggly 9 month old I know. I still love any and every snuggle she'll give me. And I know I am incredibly blessed by her sweet, happy disposition. She loves her big sister and I absolutely love hearing the girls "talk" to each other in their own little language. Its a heart squeezer like no other. Alathea's latest thing has been "dancing" with Abi. Which means Alathea picks her up and sways back and forth and in circles while holding Abigail (its quite the site to see- especially since they are almost the same size :).

My favorite new development is her "mama, dada and yay-yay". While I'm not completely convinced she knows what she is saying, it sure seems that she does! And she is turning into a complete Daddy's Girl. It's so sweet and I can tell Joe loves having yet another adorable little princess adoring him. Abigail races to be the first to greet Joe when he gets home. She'll turbo-crawls to the glass door before Joe can even open it. He then spends the next 15 minutes with two little girlies sitting on his lap. They love their Daddy.

Happy 9 Month Birthday, my sweet little Abigail!  We are blessed beyond belief to have you in our lives.

Autumn around here

I must admit that fall has been growing on me. One of my favorite things this fall is all the time our family has spent outside. Monday (Joe's day off) we spent the day in Davidson. I love Davidson, especially this time of year. We ate outside at the Soda Shop and the whole time there Alathea danced to the music and put on quite the show for everyone. I love when she is her incredibly joyfilled self! (its there about 80% of the time :) We also enjoyed walking around the gorgeous campus. Alathea particularly liked walking around the track because she found the number 2- her favorite number. She even had to have her picture taken by it (see  above). 

During the day with the girls we've been enjoying the great outdoors too! I love living in the south. Its been 75 degrees all week! We've gone on lots of walks on the path behind our house and collected tons of leaves. Alathea loves collecting leaves in her bucket and Abigail loves to eat them. Seriously, Abigail will eat anything. I have to keep my eye on her! 

After looking at the last post I realize I must like those sweaters. I promise they don't wear them every day :)

The Zoo

Alathea's favorite part of the trip- Daddy.

Showing Avery how to stand on one leg.(Avery's not looking too impressed).

Little Seth just looked to cute not to post :)

A little over a week ago we had the joy of taking the girls to the Columbia Zoo! It was an incredibly fun day...especially for Alathea. She kept saying all day, "No go bye-bye, Yay-yay stay at zoo!" I think she would have been fine if we left her there :). We went with a bunch of our friends to celebrate two of Alathea's best buddies birthdays. The Columbia Zoo was so kid friendly. The animals seemed so close. The gorilla's were my favorite- they put on a show for us. The would literally stampede down the hill strait towards the glass right at us- they certainly looked big enough to bust through! Alathea's favorite was the flamingos. She loves them because they are pink and stand on one leg. She loves to stand on one leg just like them :) Joe's favorite was the birds. He must of had 7 of them on him at one time. The best part of the trip was when Alathea actually held one of them herself! It was brief but pretty cool!

By the end of the day everyone was pretty tired- parents and kids. But it was a fun adventure together! I hope we can go back soon!