Abby's First Hair Cut

I had high hopes of letting Abby's hair grow until she told me she was ready to have it cut.  Nope.  Her hair just wasn't growing well.  In fact, my brother called her the Crypt Keeper (Tales from the Crypt) because of her stringy hair!  It was time to get it shaped up!  I called my hair dresser and asked her to just make it look better.  Do what ever needed to be done to make my pretty girl look less like the Keeper!  ha!  Abby was the best at getting a hair cut!  She sat still and smiled and loved it!  

Doesn't it look so much better?!

Thanks Jolene!!

And one of Aubrey because she's so stinkin' adorable!

Ballet

Abby loves her ballet class.  I'm really glad we enrolled her in the class.  I was almost second guessing myself thinking we should have put her in gymnastics, but I'm really glad we did ballet.  We can do gymnastics later if she wants.

She had a little program today.  The teachers dressed the girls up and put cute ribbons in their hair so they would look like dolls.  Abby and Lillian looked adorable.

Here is a little video of her dancing.  She really knew what she was doing and had fun!  

Potty Training

Potty training Abby has been a disaster!  She started showing interest quite a while ago and we went with it.  However, once I had to go on bed rest, it just got really hard.  She would have really good days and then days where she wouldn't potty at all.  Of course, pooping was a nightmare.  When we went for her 3 year check up I told her doctor that she wasn't being as successful as I knew she could be and what else could I try.  Dr. Sood had a serious talk with her about being a big girl and how big girls wear panties and poop and pee pee on the potty.  Abby was really listening to her.  Then Dr. Sood said that if she would always go on the potty and not in her pants, she would give her a surprise.  Abby got really excited then.  Dr. Sood said it hasn't failed in 20 years when she's told patients that she would give them a surprise.  She was right!  Abby started going every time in the potty and even being dry at night!  whew!  It's been so nice!  So we went back to the doctor to report Abby's success.  She gave Abby some candy, a coloring book and crayons, and some stickers.  I also brought her a Barbie for a present.  We are so proud of Abby!

Abby's 3rd Birthday

Abby had quite a birthday celebration this year!  It seemed like we celebrated the whole month of November!  The first celebration we had was her friend party.  We had it at Tulsa World of Gymnastics.  Abby and her BFF Lillian are 3 days apart so Regan and I decided to have their party together.  It turned out really great!  The girls looked so cute in their outfits and they had so much fun with all of their friends.

Of course on her real birthday, we took her for fun donuts.  She picked an ice cream cone donut!

She got to go to school to celebrate with her friends.  She chose little cupcakes to share with her class.  Then after school Grammy took her to Build-a-Bear.  She picked out a cute pink princess bear and then chose Merida clothes from the movie Brave and rainbow sparkle shoes.  She named her bear Brave. 

That night she wanted to eat pizza in the living room and then we had one more cupcake with candles to cap off her birthday.  

We had one more birthday celebration for Abby with our families.  Everyone came over for lunch and I made her a butterfly cake. 

Finally, we tried to get a picture of all 6 great grand kids with Papa and Grandma.  

Twinkle Toes

Abby had her fall ballet program at dance today.  It was just adorable!  They danced to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  I was so proud of Abby!  I really think ballet has boosted her self confidence.  Just 5 months ago she was burying her head in her arm during her preschool program and now she dances like no one is watching!

Abby and her BFF Lillian!  

And just in case the pictures weren't enough, here is a sweet little video! 

Naps

Abby's naps have been pretty nonexistent this summer.  She will only actually fall asleep about 2 times a week.  She'll go in her room and stay in her bed, but she won't sleep.  She just stays in her bed and plays with her babies, blankets, and books.  I think she's too little to not take a nap, but if she won't sleep.....well, I can't make her.  I'm just happy that she's content to stay in her room and "rest" even if she doesn't sleep.

The other day she must have had a ton to drink before bed because she didn't have a dry diaper or bed when she got up in the morning.  I took her sheets off and washed and dried them, but then I left and Brad gave the kids lunch and put Abby down for a nap.  He didn't make her bed before nap time and made her a pallet on the floor with her pillows and blankets and she went right to sleep!  Now everyday for more than a week, as soon as lunch is over she says, "Nap time.  I no sleep in bed.  I sleep on floor."  Well, OK then!  So everyday at nap time we make her a little pallet on the floor and she sleeps!  Magic!  What ever works is my motto!  Doesn't she just look precious and beautiful!

Headbands and Bows

When Abby was little, I always tried to keep a headband or a bow on her so she would get used to having it on her head.  However, when she was about 9 months old, she started pulling them off her head.  She'd keep them on long enough for a picture, but then she was done.  Luckily, it didn't last more than a few months and she really likes wearing them.

I've had stuff to make her storage for headbands and bows for about a year now.  Not really sure why I didn't do it before now.  Today I remembered that I had the supplies and while she was napping I made her a place to keep them.

The headband holder is just an oatmeal container covered in fabric with a ribbon added at the top and bottom.  The ribbon doesn't look like it's very flat, but that's OK!

The second thing I made her was a bow holder.  I just took an old wooden picture frame, spray painted it, hot glued and stapled ribbon to the back, and added the bows.  I actually think I need to make her another one because not every bow was able to fit and there are a few you can't see because they are so overlapped.  I think it makes a cute decoration for her wall, too!

End of School

I thought the school year went quickly when I was in the classroom.  Now having both kids in school, it flies by even faster.  Alex had a fantastic year in Pre-K and Abby learned and grew so much in her twice a week preschool class.

Alex really amazed me.  He was the student I would talk to parents about at parent teacher conferences.  I can remember telling several parents how well behaved, well mannered, kind, etc. their child was in school.  They would look at me like I was talking about a different child and then tell me that they were not like that at home.  I found it hard to believe the child could be so different at home and school!  Well, Alex is that child!  He had nothing but compliments all year from his teachers.  He was on "green" everyday.  (Each color in the class represented a behavior, green being the best.)  While I am so proud of him for using his best behavior and manners at school, I wish he would bring some of that  back home with him!  Some days I think he uses up all his good behavior and listening at school.  But then I think, I'd rather him be good when he's away from me.  It's not that he's bad at home, he's just challenging sometimes!

Here is a first day of school and a last day of school picture of Alex.  He didn't change too much.

Abby grew so much at her school this year, too.  The first couple of weeks were hard.  She would cry as I would leave.  It broke my heart.  I felt like I was making the wrong decision to have her in school.  After all, wasn't I home to take care of my kids and actually be home with them?  I had some pretty guilty feelings about it.  But in the long run, I'm so glad I didn't pull her out.  She really benefited so much from being in preschool.  Her vocabulary grew, she learned to be more social with children her age, she got to experience things that I couldn't give her, she had to listen to another adult and learn to do things differently than I do things.  She loved her teacher, Miss Mandi.  Miss Mandi really loved Abby, too.  I really do think that Abby was her favorite.  :)

Here is a first day of school and last day of school picture of Abby.  Look how much she changed!

We asked Alex if he'd like to go out to eat to celebrate his last day of school.  He chose Incredible Pizza.  The kids had a ball!  (I was ready to go!)

1/2 way to 3

Abby is 2 and a half now.  She is the funniest little thing!  I cannot believe the fun she and Alex have together.  She makes him laugh like I've never seen him laugh before.  It's awesome!  She knows all of her colors, can count to 11, sings the ABC song with help, recognizes about 6-8 letters and recognizes numbers 1-5.  Sometimes she can tell us what 8 is, too.  She is very verbal and is putting lots of words together.  Sometimes she'll say a 6 word sentence!  I'm so very proud of her!  She loves to work on puzzles and she's very good at pretend play.  Her tea sets and her baby dolls are her favorite right now. She is girly and loves to put on a tutu, high heels, and headbands.  What she isn't very good at is going potty!  She has no interest.  She'll go on the potty about once every 3 days.  Ho hum.  I guess she'll do it when she's ready.

She had her 2.5 year check up and measures 37 inches, which is in the 75% for girls her age, and weighs 27 pounds, which is in the 30% for girls her age.  The doctor said her weight curve has dropped the past two times, but is still within a normal range.  She looks good and has a cute pudgy tummy, so I'm not worried!

Since this is a new blog, here's some old news!  For her two year old party, she had a rainbow theme.  My friend Melina who owns The Crafty Squirrels, made her a cute rainbow shirt,  I found her bow at a craft show in Arkansas, and the cute legs are from BabyLegs.

I saw too many cute cakes on Pinterest and decided to try to make a rainbow cake for her party. It was surprisingly simple!  I just used a white cake mix, separated the batter into bowls, added coloring and then scooped the colors into the cake pans.  I didn't really do a specific order, as I wasn't concerned about it turning out perfect.  I just wanted a colorful cake!

Once it cooled, I cut the top layers off so they would stack, iced them, and decorated the top. You can see that once we cut it, it turned out very colorful and fun!  I'll probably do a camo one for Brad someday.

Decor was easy.  I made tissue paper pompoms, found a couple of cute hanging decorations at the store, found a rainbow striped table cloth, used colorful Joe's cups, and we had colorful food. Brad also grilled burgers and dogs.

My favorite food was the fruit tray.  It was easy, fun, and colorful.  The party favors were simple-just rainbow boxes, rainbow suckers, rainbow notepads and crayons.  And of course it isn't a Stanhope party without cake pops!  :)