Ode to Abigail

This post will require some participation from you. Okay, pretend with me that it is not August, and that it is still July, and I am still within the month of Abigail's birthday.

Alright, now that we are all in denial I would like to wish Abigail a happy 6th birthday!!

I can't believe it has been six years since I became a mother! Abigail really is a joy to have around. I may be slightly biased....but she is smart (just today she told me that too much salt is bad for your heart), funny (this afternoon she was walking around the driveway lifting my weights--not to try and be funny, but it was funny to me...wait, maybe she is just health conscious), considerate (tonight before bed she asked what job she could do first thing tomorrow to help me), obedient (most of the time she will say, "Yes, Mom!" when I ask her to do something), and many other things that you hope your children will be. I feel lucky to have her in my life and hope that the next year will be just as great as the last. We love you, Abigail!

These are her cute Fancy Nancy glasses and purse our regular babysitter gave her.

Alec's mom took her to Build-a-Bear for her birthday. She was thrilled, and picked out this bunny that she loves. The best part is, that before she went, she got on the Build-a-Bear website to do some pre-browsing. She had loaded up her cart with all the cute outfits she wanted. Then Grammy kindly explained that she could probably only pick one outfit and that she had a budget of $40. So Abigail busted out the calculator (which I didn't know she knew how to use), found outfits on sale, and maximized her spending power enabling her to get two outfits and some underpants for her bunny.

We had a "luncheon" on her birthday. I had to call it this and not a party, because I didn't want to do the whole party thing. But she was just as happy, and never would have known the difference. She got to pick two of her friends to invite over for lunch and to play. Beforehand we went to the dollar store and I let her pick out whatever plates and napkins, etc. she liked. I didn't care if they matched or not. It was so nice not to have the pressure of it being a party, that I think she and I both had more fun. We made English muffin pizzas for lunch and decorated cupcakes. Then I painted all their nails. Such cuties!

Later in the month we had the monthly birthday party at my Dad's house, celebrating all the July birthdays: Uncle Peter, and cousins Spencer and Lauren.

And finally, to round out her birthday month, she lost her first tooth!

Swim lessons

The excitement of the week is that the kids have been doing swimming lessons this week that will continue next week as well. We did a 2 week session earlier in the summer, and they both loved it so much that we had to sign up for another session. Both Abigail and Owen have shown improvements even just from earlier in the summer. Abigail is quite the little fish and Owen is quite the little guppy. They can't wait to spend everyday in the pool in about a week, when we go with Alec's family to Newport Beach, California. Yeah!

Look what Abigail can do!

One of my goals for the summer was to teach Abigail how to ride her bike without training wheels. Well, I haven't gotten around to it yet. But no worries, her sweet friend Kate (who has been riding without training wheels since we met her two years ago when she was 4) took care of it yesterday. Abigail is quite thrilled about her new found skill. By 7:30 this morning she was dressed, had her bed made, and her cereal ready so that she could get outside and practice.

Where do I begin?

Where did June and part of July go? I am going to attempt to catch up. So here goes...

Okay, so this first picture is actually from April when my siblings, sister-in-laws, and a brother-in-law participated in the Salt Lake City 5K. We did it in honor of my Mom, and raised the money for The Huntsman Cancer Institute (Which was such a wonderful place during such difficult times--they were very attentive and took such great care to make you feel like you weren't really in a hospital.) My younger brother, Adam, set the whole thing up and even made t-shirts for the whole gang of 35 of us. I've never participated in a race before, and I have to admit that it was quite thrilling to be there at the starting line with all of those people. And because I was slow enough, I even had a good size cheering section to greet me at the finish line! But for sure the best part of the day was just being able to be together with my family and remember Mom. She would have loved that we had that experience together. It was really a fun experience, and one that I hope to repeat next year. Maybe by then I can even run it! (:

Okay, so on to June. Here are some of the highlights.

We've had fun times with cousins...

A dance recital (Abigail was so cute in her American-themed tap routine)...


Father's Day (these are the photos we gave Alec for his desk)...

Marketstar Lagoon Day...


A trip to the Dinosaur Park with our friend and her granddaughter (unfortunately, none of the pictures with them in it turned out.)

Alec had surgery to fix a large hiatal hernia.
And the 4th of July--with swimming at Grandpa's, pizza and sparklers at the Stones (my sister's family), and back to Grandpa's to watch fireworks from the balcony. Please notice Alec's blue Powerade tongue, since that's all he could have for a couple of weeks. He still doesn't eat much of anything. Consequently, he has lost some weight, and I have started to feel like a pig....

(Owen got his hand stuck in his mug. We just thought it was funny.)

Phew! I feel much better now that I've somewhat caught myself up. I did skip Abigail's birthday which happened a couple of weeks ago, but we'll just have to do that in a separate, less sporadic post.

Kindergarten Then and Now

Then (first day of kindergarten)...and now (last day of kindergarten)....

School is out for the summer, and we have successfully made it through an entire year of kindergarten. I can hardly believe it, it is kind of surreal that next year I will have a first-grader who will be gone all day. Yikes! But it has been pretty amazing to watch Abigail learn so much in a year. She is already reading quite a bit (it's actually a little shocking sometimes what she can read), made some great little friends, and she seems to really love learning. I hope it's a life-long love. We are one week into summer break, and Abigail and Owen have played "school" everyday, so hopefully she can last a whole summer without it.

Here are some pictures of the little kindergarten program they did towards the end of the year. Based on Abigail's preschool performances, I was expecting to be slightly embarrassed by her lack of participation. But boy did she get into it! It was great to see her enjoy herself so much.Abigail is on the left in the back row.

All that Walker Christmas Eve practicing of the chimes really paid off.

The boys enjoying the show.



Me at the piano. Another mom and I switched off every week playing the piano for singing time. Sometimes the boys came with me, and I'm pretty sure Owen could have sung every song right along with the kindergarten class.

Well, I hate to end on such an awesome picture of myself, but (or should I say butt)....

Then and Now

Then...

And now...
So, it's been a few days since our Nathan John turned one. And it's not that we don't love him or that he's the third child or anything, it's just that I can't believe an entire year has passed by! We celebrated with strawberry shortcake and the opening of presents--which of course when you're 1, means a little bit of gift wrap snacking while your older siblings pretty much unwrap everything for you.

This pic is after we took the cake away to cut it. Seriously, once this kid even catches sight of food, it is like a scream fest--or rather a shriek fest--until he is given something to eat. I'm starting to get a complex that I might be starving him.

It's amazing how much little babies change in a year. A year ago Nate wanted nothing more than to be held and cuddled, now he wants nothing more than to not be held and cuddled. He is on the go--doing a traditional crawl (not the commando crawl anymore), cruising around furniture and climbing up stairs.

He claps his hands, waves, signs "more," shakes his head yes and no, says "hello" when he talks on the phone (which he holds up to the top of his head), makes car sounds when he plays with cars, pats your back and says "ahh" when you get a chance for a quick snuggle, and makes shy faces for strangers. He weighs 19 lb. 6 oz. (4th percentile--reinforcing my aforementioned complex about malnourishment), and is 31.7 inches long (91st percentile).

clapping hands

feeling shy

sweet suspenders Grammy sent, to assist in keeping our little skin and bones dressed (see Slim)

making car noises

saying "hello", which really sounds more just like "lo"

Happy Birthday, Nate! We love you!!