A Tween

Happy 10th birthday to my beautiful niece Abbey!

I consider her an official tween now....and she certainly has the attitude to go along with it!

We love her so much and are just so blessed to have her in our lives. 

 

 

 

 



The Best 9 Yr Old

Happy Birthday to my niece Abbey!

She holds a special place in our hearts because she was our first 'baby'. She filled a void in our lives as we waited for Matthew to join our family.  We consider her a BIG part of our family.  Matthew loves her just as much.  He gets very excited when Abbey comes over.

I remember when she was just this little! 

(April 2004 - 8 months)

We are very blessed to have Abbey in our lives.  I love the bond that we share.

We love 'our' Abbey!

Sunday Drive

After our Sunday nap, we went to cousin's Abbey house. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon!

Abbey took her Barbie jeep out for a spin around the neighborhood.

Matthew LOVED it! He was all smiles (although you can't tell from the picture).

Cousin Ling Ling is always SO happy to see Matthew.

We can't wait to move closer to them (hopefully).

(yes, I know Abbey's a little too big for the jeep, but the two little one's were too small for it, so Abbey had to be their chauffeur). 

Looking forward to enjoying this Spring weather all week!

Lake Fun!

We went to Lake Gaston, NC a few weeks ago (Aug. 13 - 17) and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.  

It was our fist time at this Lake.  We rented a house right on the Lake (thanks to a friend of mine who's plans fell through so she rented it out to us for half price!). 

View of the house from the dock.

View of the dock from the house.

We went with my brother and sister and their families.

The cousins all had fun playing together.

We went paddle boating and even rented a Pontoon boat.

On the day we rented the Pontoon boat, we went to Goat's Island (it really had goats there roaming around) and the kids played in the water.  It was Matthew's first time in the water.  I decided to join in on the fun and got in the water with Matthew.  As I was holding him, I lost my balance and we both went under! 

I dropped my baby in the water!!  I quickly swooped him up and the poor little guy was coughing and crying.  I felt SO bad!  He quickly recovered though and enjoyed the rest of water time with daddy. (I think I lost my 'mommy of the year' award!)

We had fun spending time together, but at times it was challeging trying to keep the kids entertained. There wasn't much to do in the area. Thank goodness they had Wii to keep them entertained. And Uncle Steve to help make smores!

This was our first time renting a lake house and while it's fun (especially if you actually own your own boat), we concluded that we are beach people versus lake people. There's SO much more to do at the beach than the lake. But we are grateful for the experience and the family time together!
Cherished memories.

Happy Birthday Abbey!

(Cake by my SIL)

 

2 Birthday parties (one in the morning and one in the afternoon).

16 Screaming kids.

5 hours of sleep (which is the norm lately).

Lots of candy, cupcakes and sprinkles.

No AC (again)!

(It was SO hot with that many people in the house!)

One EXHAUSTED aunt and uncle.

One HAPPY 8 year old niece!

ALL WORTH IT.

The big 8 Photo Shoot

Busy weekend getting ready for my niece Abbey's birthday party tomorrow.

I took these pictures a few weeks ago and enlarged a few to display at her party.

My Abbey is growing up.  She will be 8 tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!!!

Cheesecake Day

We took Abbey to the Cheesecake factory for her early birthday dinner on Saturday.

It was National Cheesecake Day. We had to partake.

It was so yummy.  Abbey and I love the coconut cream cheesecake.

It is a slice of heaven.  Really, it is!

Early Birthday Surprise for Abbey

Abbey loves to watch iCarly on Nickelodeon.  And I have to admit, we enjoy watching it with her too!  So when I heard that iCarly (aka Miranda Cosgrove) was coming to town, I wanted to surprise Abbey for her birthday (early birthday present). 

My friend and her daughter was in on the surprise too.  We went to dinner at Red Robbin before the show and up until this point, Abbey had no idea.  She was just happy that her friend Josie was joining us for dinner!

I had Josie tell Abbey what her surprise was.

Abbey's face says it all.  She was very surprised!

  

It was a hot summer day and we sat in the pavilion versus the lawn.  Abbey is like her aunt Hannah, we don't do hot very well.  She was a little grouchy until the sun went down.   

Her first concert was a success (minus the heat).

Abbey had a GREAT time!

Afterwards we went and got mango smoothies from McDonald's.  So yummy!

A sweet ending to a fun night.

(We are busy cleaning the house and getting things ready for her birthday party this weekend.  Love my niece!)

Abbey

My (niece) Abbey is such a joy to have around. 

We still have her on the weekends (every other weekend). She is getting bigger.

Sassy as ever.

Abbey loves coming over to our house and spending time with us. 

She loves Matthew and gives him lots of kisses. 

She makes us laugh with some of the things she says.

Abbey is 7 yrs old (going on 16).

We are helping her with the attitude (problem).

Sometimes I don't know what to do with her (attitude).

We are trying to teach her to be grateful for what she has.

It's hard to make children understand the simple things in life. 

But we keep trying.

At the end of the day, we love her to pieces.  She is a big part of our family. 

I want her to know that she is loved.

But most important, that she is a child of God.

That her Heavenly Father loves her (attitude and all)!

Happy Fall Ya'll

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

Just sharing some Fall pictures that I took of Abbey!

(Dress, headband & tights are from Gym.boree.  Boots are from Target. And I am not getting paid for this endorsement!)

The fall foliage is really starting to peak around here!  Can't wait to capture it all.