Kid Stuff

10 months

Luke is now 10 months old. At 9 months and 30 days, he was still toothless. And then on the eve of his 10 month mark, I discovered a tooth had finally broken through. Though for all intents and purposes, he is still toothless, at least there's a glimmer of a tooth. And he is as cranky and feverish as an old coot, so I think that the other bottom tooth can't be far behind.




He's walking around the furniture and pulling up on anything he can find. He crawls on his hands and knees as well as army style. When he wants to go fast he drops to his tummy and slithers in super speed. He babbles alot , mostly saying dadadadada (you know Dan is thrilled about that!).

His appetite is insatiable and really just wants to eat big people food.

Black bean face

Ava can make him laugh like nobody else.

And sometimes when Ava is on the couch, Luke likes to crawl over and try to bite her toes. They both think this is absolutely hilarious.



And he LOVES the tub.




Ava, for the first time in about 4 days, is finally not as cranky as an old coot. Her sunburn is fading and the pain is gone.

This is how she looked when we got home. I knew she was burned, obviously.

But when she couldn't fall asleep, and kept crying in her bed (which is unlike her) and I went in twice, both times she requested a drink. And the third time I went in to tell her I wasn't coming back in anymore, etc. She finally began to sob and said, "Mommy my back hurts"

Dan had run to the store so we'd have aloe for her in the morning, but I went ahead and got her up as Dan was walking back in the door. We greased her up and here is what she looked like.

The part that broke my heart was when she gingerly poked at her eye and said, "My eye hurts. Maybe an ant got it, Mommy?" I had to explain it was a sunburn. We just felt terrible for her, and let me tell you she was miserable.

(And in our defense, I watched Dan liberally apply sunscreen all over her. Our guess is that she was too sandy and when the sand washed off in the ocean, so did the sunscreen.)

She still asks to go to the beach everyday. Some other things she's said this week that I want to remember:

In her nightly prayer, she said she was thankful for "swimmin nesson's and thankful for Mr. Rudy"

In the bathroom at the store she was doing her bidness, and as she usually asks me to read her a story while she goes #2, she looked up at me as she hovered like a little spider on that big potty and said, "Mommy, you got a book in your purse?"

I told her that I would be going to the temple with the Young Women and she said, "Oh, you gonna go get married?" Then she added, "To daddy?"


And this was about a month ago but Ava and Luke were in the family room playing with toys while I was in the kitchen (basically the same room but I think she felt like I wasn't listening to her) She started singing and dancing around. And I melted at the lyrics of her song. She was singing, "Oh, Baby Duke, I love you! Oh, Baby Duke, I so happy you my brudder. I'm so happy, I'm so happy! I love you!

That one just reminded me of her frequent requests for me to "take my brudder to my room, Mommy" I carry him into her room or closet (which has toys in it) and she kindly asks me to leave and tells me, "I come tell you if he cries" And they proceed to play together(usually involving Ava the Princess, Luke the King, and some sort of mean witch or monster.)

She doesn't say "Mama" for grandma anymore. That makes me sad. But she still says "boobie" for movie and that still makes me laugh!

The Beach Revisited

This post is gonna be FAT, let me just warn you now. I narrowed down the pictures alot, though you probably won't be able to tell.

Thursday night, my dear friend Tiffany came with her two boys Corbin and Carter to spend the night. In the morning, we went to Galveston.





Ava loves the beach, no if's, and's, or but's about it. Ava was excited!

This was Corbin and Carter's first trip to the ocean. Corbin was excited!

When we arrived, we set up camp, and the wind tried it's hardest to rip our umbrella out of the sand.





It was also lunchtime so we tried to get some food into hungry tummies, but we severely underestimated the manpower needed to corral two babies on the beach, plus handle the two toddlers.



Luke and Carter crawled around making a mess of themselves and dining on sand-dipped graham crackers. Yum!

Ava would stay at the beach all night if we let her. She is a true beach bum. It reminds me of her Grandma Leslie's love for the ocean.

She is just happy to splash in the waves, wade through the ripples, and play in the sand.

I couldn't even get her to eat because she was too busy.




Corbin, it turns out, decided the ocean was not all it was cracked up to be. He was terrified! Poor little guy! He'd scream bloody murber at the mention of going to the water.

He became our official seagull scarer-awayer. And he took his job very seriously.

Finally Tiffany got him to ride on her back when she went in the water and he thought that was pretty fun.


Luke was happy to be toted around though he was pretty sleepy.


He finally succumbed to slumber in the sling.



What do you think of those eyelashes? I know I'm jealous.

Meanwhile, Ava pretty much has the funnest dad on the planet. (At least I'm sure she thinks so!) I just love these pictures.




After a few fun hours we packed it up to head home. Ava was still happy and once in the car remembered that she was hungry!




And a few minutes later, Ava succumbed to slumber as well,


Luke kept sleeping, shirtless, most of the way home.



Thanks for the fun day, Tiffany! And for being such a good sport!



And perhaps tomorrow after I upload some more pictures, you will see the misery of a child who plays on the beach when not adequately sunscreened. Maybe I will call it "Little Tomato" and I won't be talking about the garden.

30 Days and Stuff

In exactly 30 days we embark on our cruise! This is exciting but it means I have really procrastinated the day of my repentance. You see, a while back, I fell off the wagon. And I fell hard. And once I was down, I really began to enjoy myself. And I kept telling myself, "Oh, I'll get my act together soon enough. Maybe Monday. It's always good to start fresh on a Monday!"

But the Mondays kept coming and I was still wallowing in sin. Or cookies. Or cake. Or Girl's Weekend fare. It is on this 23rd day of April I am rolling out my new plan: Operation Swim Suit.

I have to be in a bathing suit in 30 days. And I want to take pictures of our cruise! And I really don't want to feel like I have to hide from the camera. I am hoping that posting this on a public venue will give me some kind of accountability. It's on like Donkey Kong!

So, back I go, to my 8:30pm dates with the dreadmill. Oh my, I really didn't mean to type that. It must be my subconscious.

Among some other things, I just finished a bag for Ava's "Swimin Nessons". She loves to carry her grocery sack with her unmentionables and towel into the Swim Club each Tuesday and Thursday. It was convenient, being that the bags were free and they are great for a wet swimming suit after the lesson. I didn't really want to buy a bag just for her swimming stuff and I wanted a bag that could withstand a little water.




So on a recent trip to Walmart, I found this vinyl table cloth on clearance. I hoped my machine would handle the fabric and it didn't let me down.


On another creative front, Ava asked me to make her a magic wand. In my mind I could see the package of small dowels I've had floating around forever, that with some paint and glitter and ribbons would make a perfect wand!

Ava followed behind me as I fruitlessly looked all over the house. She kept explaining what it needed to look like. "Like a stick with a circle at a top! And I be a pincess!" She was excited!

After searching everywhere to no avail, I racked my brain for what else could work. I settled on a plastic spoon. I hoped she wouldn't be too disappointed.


And again I was reminded how easy it is to please a little child.

Sunday Sermon

I haven't written one of these for a while but I had a tingly moment during Sacrament Meeting today.

First of all we arrived at church during the opening hymn which is a miracle in and of itself. Usually we run in and catch the sacrament in the foyer. Today was better.

The speakers today were comprised of some of the graduating seniors, including a girl who I sat by a few weeks ago at a dinner before the General Young Women's Broadcast. The mothers were invited to come with their daughters. I went by myself since I obviously don't have a daughter that age.

I got there a bit early and found a seat by the only people I recognized. We got our food and people settled into conversations around me. I have a terrible habit of feeling sorry for myself. And of being surrounded by lots of people but feeling alone. I try hard to stop my negative thinking and focus on others but it doesn't always work. I don't generally enjoy small talk and don't feel confident starting conversations with people I don't know well.

That night though, I pondered on what I could talk about with this girl because I would genuinely like to get to know her and all the girls better. I realized that she was a senior and I wondered what her plans were for next year. So maybe I could ask her? That's not so hard. But still it took some courage for me. Once I did though, the conversation flowed easily. She told me her plans to attend a community college by A&M. Being somewhat familiar with that area and the wonderful institute there, I excitedly told her what I knew. But through our talking I realized that being new to the area, she had signed up to attend a satellite campus in a small town about 45 minutes from the institute and main campus in Bryan. I told her she should consider switching to the campus in Bryan where she could be more in the action of things and the great institute and singles ward. She got really excited and seemed glad for the information. We went on to enjoy a great broadcast and that was that.

Today at the end of this young woman's talk she mentioned how a few weeks ago she had a ho-hum attitude about attending the YW Broadcast. But figuring it was her last one and she could go with her mom, she went. And at the time her plans included going to school in Brenham. She then related how at the dinner one of her YW leaders (me) started talking to her about school and mentioned the Bryan campus. She said that as she heard the word "Bryan" she just felt a strong impression that was where she should be. She changed her plans to follow that inspiration.

Now I hope you don't think I'm patting my own back. Because I'm not. I sat there and got the tingles as she related this story because it was once again evidenced for me that God knows us. And He sees everything. He has plans for us. He cares about each decision, large and small. And He will do what He needs to do to give us the information we need, to do what we need to do. I am happy that I could serve Him and this young woman in this way. I am happy that for once I got over myself and opened my mouth. I truly want to be of service to Heavenly Father.




And on a more irreverent note, today as we took the Sacrament, Dan leaned down to Ava and whispered, "Remember to think about Jesus. Jesus is our brother." And with anger, though not breaking a whisper, Ava hissed back, "Jesus is not my brother! Baby Luke is my brother!"

What Not To Do

So I have readily admitted that as a gardener, I don't know what I'm doing.

My last update showed vibrant, green, flourishing plants.

Many of them are still vibrant, green, and flourishing.



Remember this beautiful picture of the cilantro and basil that made my mouth water?




It looked perfect. At the time of the photo, I remember thinking to myself, "I should probably pick those. They would be excellent contributors to a dinner. Hmmm....do you just rip off little pieces? How much is too much? Is there a method? I'll have to google it."

And then I went on my way, prepared for Girl's Weekend, left instructions for Dan to "Don't forget to water the garden!" (which he did), and promptly forgot about them.

I returned home to find them like this,


What?! After a little research, I think that when I bolted to Dallas, my herbs did a little "bolting" of their own. These just don't look as appealing as they did, and apparently won't taste that way either.

Oh lessons learned, I guess! Now I just need to figure out if I have to start all over or if trimming them way down will help. Anyone out there know? Please fill me in.

The other guys are doing pretty good. My mom so kindly bought me this handy nozzle for the hose, that makes spraying the garden so easy.





The peas (those mystery plants are peas!) are doing great. In fact they're about to outgrow their stakes.




The strawberries are very happy looking too. I hope they don't outgrow their container.




And guess what?! I've got 2 little tomatoes!!



I bent down to take a close up of these little guys'. And in a bottom-soaking moment of shock and surprise, I apparently snapped this photo and quickly learned one more lesson.



Don't let your almost 3 year old, hold the hose.

Record Breaking Weekend

Christina, Chandra, Mom, Me, Leah

I must say that our weekend was a success! Many, many thanks to the dads that really made this possible, and to Mom for being the hostess, and to the girls who left their families on short notice to humor me and spend time together! Hopefully next year, we'll all be there!

Me and Leah

I had an itinerary and mint on everyone's pillow the first night. We roughly followed the outlined schedule. Had I known it would be necessary to set aside time for "talking" I surely would have added it in, as that is pretty much what we did the whole weekend. Talk, talk, talk!

Mom, Christina, Chandra

In the invitations I had specified that each person be prepared to share their "favorite thing". (yes, I stole it from Oprah.) So we enjoyed some great food and ice cream, nail polish, "treasure" beads, and "hugs".

Poppies

We went to the Dallas Arboretum, which is one of my favorite places of all time. We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the perfect weather. We tried to capture some pictures of ourselves that would be husband's-desk worthy. I think we were mostly successful, depending on who you ask.

We went out to breakfast, did some shopping, went to a cooking "demonstration", made and ate goodies, and talked, talked, talked.

Christina's sugar cookies (check out the recipe blog for the know-how, coming soon!)

I envisioned more movie watching and game playing, but seriously, once we got sat down at the kitchen table, our mouths didn't stop moving long enough to pick a game and I doubt we would have heard a word of a movie.

To you this may look like poo poo,



but to an Abbott, this is a Magee's Cake. As one of her "favorite things", Mom had these mailed from Magee's Bakery in Kentucky. They are a little piece of heaven on earth.

I also got everyone set up with a blog. Go me! I am so excited because these are girls that mean so much to me and there is something about reading someone's blog that makes you feel like you talked with them. I always wish I could talk to them more. So I hope to be seeing some posts soon! Hint, hint! Perhaps, Girl's Weekend would make a good 1st post.

On Monday morning, we were able to have a watercolor class together (Christina, I really wish you could have been there. I think you would have done great!) It was super fun, and we all left with a beautiful little plumeria painting. It really inspired me to try some more on my own.






I arrived home last night to a bouquet of flowers and a thank you note from my little family. When I was planning to come home and heap my gratefulness onto them, they beat me to it and really made me feel good. My babies are still cute and my husband is still sweet.

So, you may be wondering what record was broken this past weekend. Well, I had very good intentions of prepping some meal options for the dinners I would be gone for. Unfortunately I ran out of time. I did have time to run to the store and fill our fridge, freezer, and pantry with all the essentials and some "extras". In a phone call right before I started out for home, I asked what they had eaten while I was gone. Dan assured me that the kids had been fed each day and that he made a lot of macaroni and ramen noodles for Ava, and Luke had eaten his baby food, meat, and cheese. Then he told me that they also ate 40 tortillas.