The Smith Kids

10 Years and 10 Months

2012-01-10T22:04:00.000-08:00

Jeremy and I celebrated 10 years of marriage last month. We had a quiet dinner with the kids that night. I am sporting the dress that Abigail picked out for me for Christmas. I guess she really wanted to get me a dress for Christmas and so Jeremy took her to Goodwill to pick something out. She was insistent that this minty prom dress was the ticket. Thought that counts! Caraline also turned 10 months January 1st. She is a sweetie and quite cute too!

Christmas

2012-01-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from Christmas. We had a great time, with the extra treat of having Ruth and Adam in town as well for the holidays. The girls had such fun with their aunts and uncles!

As usual, my kids are incapable of taking 'normal' photos with the Sidors. This is the best we got! They took the girls to see The Muppet movie, which was a hit. Olivia sat through the whole thing on Aunt Ruth's lap. Both clutched their tickets tightly during the show, well at least until Olivia ate hers. No joke. That next day all of us gathered at our place for hanging out and decorating Christmas cookies and Zacharys. Olivia is sporting her new Elmo pjs from the Wilsons below. We spent the next several days either in Novato or Concord and really had a blessed time together as a family celebrating Jesus' birth.

Abigail excited to see Christmas lights.

Quick Post

2012-01-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

Here's Caraline as we found her during dinner one night - she had the teething biscuit stuck to her head! The girls, of course, thought that was hilarious.

Abigail was Star of the Week before Christmas. It involves various duties, one of which is to pick a special guest to come into the classroom. It was so sweet that she picked Olivia, who is here proudly dressed up (she picked this out) and wearing her visitors badge. Both girls stood up in front of the 30 kids and Abigail gave a presentation on Olivia. Here's about how it went: Today I want to introduce you to my sister Olivia. She is two years old. She likes to wear bathing suits. Her favorite song is God Made Me. I like Olivia the most because she tickles me. Thank you for listening. Then, the whole class told Olivia hello and thanked her for coming in. The worst part was that Olivia thought she was staying the whole day and was a bit miffed at me to leave. She had sat down next to Abigail on her carpet square after the presentation! Even today at dinner she was asking when she could go to school - that girl is ready!

Abigail did a great job at her school performance. Olivia was pretty excited to attend as well.

Probably our best Christmas type photo of the girls. All looking at the camera and pretty much happy!

November and Some December

2011-12-06T20:26:00.000-08:00

So, my updating is getting worse these days. I will try and jam a month and a half into this short posting!

First up...Thanksgiving. We had a great time together. The day of we had a quiet day at home, with a yummy breakfast together and then opted for a pizza dinner. The next morning Jeremy was out at 5am for a black friday deal. It wasn't anything exciting, just an external harddrive. Anyways, a truck ran a red light, crashed into the passenger side and front of the Saturn, and the car was totaled. We are VERY thankful he's okay, though. As of today, we are the owners of a 1999 Mercedes Turbodiesel as the replacement car. We are hoping that it lives up to the long life reviews and it can be Abigail's to drive around someday. On that Friday, we still made it to Novato for two days with the grandparents and my mom (dad's overseas). The Wilsons also joined us on Saturday which was great. Caraline was fighting a fever and cold that day so that's why she looks a little dopey. Also had to include a photo of all of the girls fall crafts. Oh, and then while we were in Novato getting ready to sit down to the big dinner I was looking for Olivia. She was, no joke, in her undies running circles around the outside table. Don't know why that was her best use of her time but she was having fun.

We just celebrated Abigail's 6th birthday. It was a lot of fun. The day of we got ready by making the dessert. Abigail got to wear a crown at school. She was quite pleased. The next day we had a party in the park with a sort of rainbow theme. The weather was amazing and all of the kids had lots of fun.

Caraline also turned 9 months. She is quite the mover. She can pull herself up on all sorts of things and gets into lots of trouble. She is also getting her first two teeth.

Got a few shots before Sunday of the girls in some Christmas gear. They weren't smiling until I took a stuffed Santa Claus and bounced it in Jeremy s head. They thought it was hilarious.

Halloween and 8 Months

2011-11-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

So, Halloween is probably one of my least favorite holidays. Especially as the neighborhood has taken to decorating with life-sized replicas of Freddy Kruger (sp?) and gunshot victims. Yuck. Anyways, the girls liked it enough for the rest of us. We had Piglet, a ladybug, and fairy/butterfly this year. We started off at the Fall Fest at our church. I never thought we would get Olivia out of the bounce house! Abigail won another Nemo. I think she kind of believes its the same fish she won last year. Then, Jeremy went with the girls to do some treating in the neighborhood. They were only gone about 20 minutes and came back with their buckets full and an extra bucket too. The neighbors were very generous with the candy this year. Now I am off to hide most of it :)

Caralines fav part of the fall fest was this scarecrow. She thought he was hilarious. Jeremy and the girls in their glowing accessories.

Caraline is 8 months today so here are her photos. Still no teeth but she is officially mobile. She can scoot pretty much wherever she likes and is practicing on a more traditional crawl.

October

2011-10-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

The girls had a fabulous time at the Clayton Pumpkin Patch this past weekend. It was a balmy 80 degrees. They spent most of their time at the play area, where the three large pools full of fava beans was the main event. Abigail and Olivia pretended to swim and bury themselves. Olivia also did lots of full body jumping in them. Caraline also joined in the fun. She amazingly didn't eat them but really enjoyed playing there. Needless to say I found enough beans in the dryer to make a pot of soup after I did laundry today! We ended the night by eating out which is a treat for us. Abigail declared the grilled cheese dinner "the best ever".

All three girls.

This is what Olivia wore to drop Abigail off at kindergarten today. Don't even know how her face got so dirty...all she did was ride in the stroller! She has her babies stuffed in a bathing suit top.

Abigail lost her first tooth. Another is on its way out. She is very excited.

Caraline at 7 months. She is a pretty happy kiddo!

Olivia jumping into the beans. She did this for hours.

Six Months and Other Fun

2011-09-11T21:51:00.001-07:00

Caraline is 6 months old now! We have started her on rice cereal and tried a few days of peas. She is still a very happy baby and loves interacting with her sisters. She is sleeping great and we love her!

One of probably 10 outfits that Olivia went through one Saturday. Most of them involved some configuration of bathing suits, usually Abigails. At one point it was just a firefighters hat and panties. (yes she is pretty much potty trained - she decided about two weeks ago that she had enough of diapers and is doing great)

Olivia eating chocolate pudding in Novato.

One of the joys of home ownership is that our sewer backs up semi frequently due to the combo of old clay pipes and roots in our front yard. This particular night Jeremy was up until midnight fixing the problem. Well, the girls needed a bath before bed so I decided to fill their kiddie pool with bubble bath and they had a ball in the suds. A complete success. I threatened to wash dishes in the pool too but Jeremy made me wait until later.

1st Day of School

2011-09-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Oh my, we have a kindergartner on our hands. Abigail started school at the end of August. She goes to a public school in our neighborhood. So far she seems to like it pretty well. She can't seem to remember anyones name but kids are frequently saying hi to her when we walk her to school. She bravely walks up to her classroom door by herself at dropoff and we are quite proud of her!

Olivia does miss her sister during school, but I have really enjoyed having some time with her!

August

2011-09-11T21:26:00.003-07:00

Another great three weeks in Michigan and Indiana were had in August. We started the time with the Novotnys and their extended clan. The photo to the left are all of the kids lined up from oldest to youngest with three little ones sprinkled in there. My girls loved all of the cousins as we call them and had lots of fun. After the Novotnys left we had some time with just the Smiths. Some friends from Indiana also came and visited for a few days. As always, we had a lot of fun. Abigail did some more 'skiing' and even tried the saucer with daddy. She went horseback riding and caught a very tiny fish. Olivia spent most of vacation naked and loved every minute of it. We tried to get her up on the skiis too but she just drank a lot of lake water. I even tried wakeboarding for the first time but don't think I will make a career out of it. Jeremy was in ski heaven. The weather was great, the blueberries wonderful, and friends/family memories made were amazing as usual. Thank you God for lake houses! We ended our time with a few days in Ft Wayne and really enjoyed seeing the Smiths new house, which is beautiful.

July

2011-08-01T22:34:00.001-07:00

Here's the newest addition to our backyard. Jeremy has been working on this since Caraline was born and it looks terrific. Still a few more things to do. Our neighbor asked us if we were building a temple. It's just a shed to store all of our stuff in!

Caraline turned 5 months yesterday. She is such a happy baby. Her newest tricks include rolling over, grabbing toys, and she can move herself 360 on her back if she plays for a while on the floor. So she's ready for break dancing.

Yesterday we welcomed my mom home from a month in Bangladesh. She spent the day at Lafayette Reservoir. Gail and Ben brought their kayaks and the girls got to go for a ride. It was a lovely day. Abigail is sporting a wig that Nani brought from Aunt Linda to add to the dressup collection.

Aftermath of a sandy headstand.

Spent last Saturday at the beach, so Olivia had about 5 tons of sand in her body. At one point she was drinking sandy, ocean water from a puddle further up the beach. Lovely! This adds to her current collection of things she has injested from the ground, including cotton candy from her shoe, peanut shells at As stadium, water from the lily pad area at the zoo, etc. It nevers seems to bother her tummy.

We celebrated Daddys birthday last week. Abigail wanted to go to chuck e cheese, but we settle for burritos at home.

Jeremy watched the girls one Saturday morning while I was at a baby shower. They went to Lowes and built binoculars. Adorable photos!

Monthly Post

2011-07-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

So it seems that I don't get to updating this blog much more than once a month. There's a lot that has happened since the last time, so here are some photos and updates.

Olivia got to decorating her face the other day, with Abigail's help. Not to be outdone, Abigail wanted to get a picture of herself in daddy's clothes.

Shot of the girls with Gail at her graduation party. She had a busy June...graduated, married, bought a house, and got a new job.

The Jelly Belly Factory tour - always a hit. They are funny about making us all, Caraline included, wear the hats.

Our big event this month was Aunt Gails wedding. Overall, the kids did great and we had a blast. Olivia and Abigail shared a queen bed at the hotel and it was so exciting that they didn't get to sleep until after 10pm that first night. When we pulled up to the hotel (Holiday Inn Express) Abigail was very impressed with how fancy it was. If they weren't running between our and Nani/Papas hotel room next door, they were in the pool. Abigail told her cousin that her mom lets her swim at 10pm every night (not true). Olivia has no fear of water and loved jumping in with the big kids. Abigail has become quite the swimmer and got around just fine.

The girls did great on the wedding day. I learned from last year, threw any biblicial parenting skills out the window and bribed the girls with jelly beans if they would smile for the camera. It worked quite well. Olivia fell asleep right before the ceremony started so we didn't wake her for it. Abigail did a terrific job on her own. Caraline had her cute matching dress on, but also some crazy orange pants because it was a bit chilly until the sun came out in the afternoon. It was a lovely day. Aunt Gail looked amazing and Abigail really enjoyed being part of the festivities. As usual, Olivia was a complete mess by the end of the day. She was really impressed with these banana slugs some little boys found (the wedding was in a park). She came up to me with her own stick and kept saying slug please. For the slugs sake, I didn't help her find one. Olivia walked around and begged food off whomever she saw and had a lot of fun. It was a really special day. Jeremy was an amazing help with the girls too!

Our lovely cousin Melissa played with my kiddos during the rehearsal dinner. It was at the Wilson complex in Santa Cruz, where Ben's folks and grandma live. It was a beautiful setting.

Here are some photos from the wedding.

I wish I could include all of the photos that Abigail snapped during the wedding. They were pretty priceless. Here are just two of them.

Olivia was a total mess, surprise, after the wedding. She helped herself to baskets of strawberries and ate enough sunflower seeds to fill a swimming pool.

Our attempt at getting a photo of the girls with the bride and groom. No such luck. Caraline didn't make many of the photos so we snapped one back at the hotel room of our cutie pie.

That next day we had a day at Natural Bridges State Park. Really nice beach and I loved showing Olivia crabs in the tide pools.

Caraline is four months old now. She weighs 12 pounds and is a typtical petite Smith kid. She is really happy most of the time and loves interacting with her big sisters.

This are their silly faces for the camera.

Caraline's 4th outfit, thanks to the Sidors!

Zoo and Party

2011-06-01T14:03:00.001-07:00

We had a lovely day at the Oakland Zoo last week. Sort of a makeup for what I was planning on doing the day of Olivia's birthday, when she ended up with a fever. We went by ourselves and took it easy, having lunch with the chimps and enjoying a nice ride on the carousel. Below is Olivia's I am so happy to be riding face. She doesn't do quite as well getting off but is learning.

We celebrated Olivia's 2nd birthday with 30+ friends at our place for a birthday breakfast. Had lots of yummy food. She was most happy when all of the kids were singing to her.

Elmo cupcakes and party dress compliments of the Sidors.

May Fun

2011-05-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo of Caraline on her 2 month birthday.

Fun with our friend Ashton and Olivia with a few extra stickers on her face compliments of Abigail.

It finally warmed up enough for the girls the swim. They had a blast.

Bangladesh jammies. Abigail pretended like she was doing karate in them, which she calls doing Pilates. Then a photo of us girls with our slings and babies about to go on a walk.

Walk for Life 2011. The girls all had a blast and Abigail walked the whole 2 miles on her own!

Olivia was quite pleased we gave her a burger and Sprite, which she clutched tightly to her body most of the afternoon.

Some pre-birthday celebrations with daddy. Can't believe that Olivia is 2! Then, pink doughnuts on the special day. We have the party next Saturday. I am hoping to be able to make Elmo cupcakes.

Some classic Olivia smiles and outfits.

April

2011-04-26T10:17:00.000-07:00

We had a fun time decorating Easter eggs with friends last week. Olivia decided that the green plastic sprinkles in that bowl were to eat and I caught her munching on them several times. Our friend Amelia took a fall last week, hence the nice purple eye there. The older girls really got into decorating all of the eggs, paining them and putting sequins and glitter all over them!

Cute matching outfits from Aunt Ruth/Uncle Adam. Caraline has starting smiling!

Jeremy fixed the swing a few weeks ago and Olivia loves it. The other photo is with our friends, the Lees. Baby Kelsey came 8 weeks early and is doing so well. My girls are looking typically disheveled.

Easter morning. The girls are wearing their flower girl dresses for Aunt Gails wedding.

Easter afternoon. Took a hike in the open space behind the g-parents house. Abigails "I'm not going to make it any farther pose". She was miraclously able to hike another 1/2 hour after this photo was taken. Note Nanis snack pack...looks kind of like a 6-pack holder to me :)

The Easter bunny and great-grandma or "grandma g" as Olivia is taken to calling her. Caraline is giving her a nice smile!

March Madness

2011-03-30T20:48:00.001-07:00

Wow, been a month already since I posted anything. Well, as you can tell from the photos we have had lots of visitors and help since Caraline's arrival. We have enjoyed lots of good times with family and friends. We were so thankful Jeremy's folks were able to make it out to visit and it was sad to see them go! After that time, we had a lovely visit from Uncle Adam and Aunt Ruth. Both girls were most taken with Uncle Adam. Abigail was impressed with this Super Mario playing skills and Olivia just liked to maul him. We wished we lived closer to them too! Here's some photos of the time together.

The girls wanted to be just like grandpa and read outside.

An Olivia outfit. Sporting her sling in the 2nd one.

Not Abigail's best shot, but all we had of the four of them together.

One month already!

Some random events....

Today we were walking back from the park and stopped to chat with an elderly man and pet his dog. When he saw Abigail riding up on her scooter he commented, oh it's one of our special friends! I can only assume the helmet threw him off...don't really know.

In other news, found a dead ant in Caraline's barf. We have noticed a few random ants in our house and one must have ended up in her mouth somehow. I am really grossed out by ants so this is particularly disturbing.

Abigail was eating a piece of dried spaghettit and announced that she was smoking. I asked her how she knew about smoking and she said well, lots of people smoke...just like uncle david. All we can figure is that she saw some cigars in the glove box of Uncle Davids dune-riding Jeep that were left over from a previous guys weekend. This would have been last summer and how she connected that all together is beyond me!

She's Here

2011-03-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Baby Caraline Ann Smith arrived on Tuesday, March 1st after four hours of labor! Good thing we went to the hospital when we did...apparently she wanted to come out quickly to meet the two other crazy Smith sisters pictured on the left here. Last weekend, Olivia was determined to wear this bathing suit all day, and she did!

It has been very fun to see them interact with and love on their little sister. Abigail didn't want to leave the hospital, because she said that it was 'too much fun' to hold the baby. Olivia did a great job holding her this afternoon but we don't trust her too much yet. She is very fascinated with baby's eyes. Caraline is a good eater, which is an answer to prayer and likes being held to sleep. We will cut her a little slack since she isn't even two days old yet!

Richard and Connie flew in the day she was born so we are also thanking God for that timing. They are terrific helps to us and the girls love having their grandparents around. Grandpa already took them to the 7-11 for doughnuts after breakfast! Here's some photos of the past two days.

Olivia is in a little disbelief that we actuallly allowed her to hold the baby.

A bed full of blessings (and another gloworm/seahorse).

February

2011-02-24T15:57:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through our photos and realized we didn't take one in January. We weren't that busy but I think in my late pregnant state I am hesitant to bust out the camera because then it reminds Jeremy that he wants to take pictures of my 'progress'. Let's just say that daily someone will comment on my girth, usually aghast when I tell them there's only one in there and its a girl (i carry low so most old ladies think its a boy). Someone told me two days ago that the baby was going to just fall right out. At this point I almost wish that would happen, but I am trying to wait patiently :)

Here's a photo of the girls before we took advantage of a free babysitting drop-off the high schoolers at church did over Valentines Day weekend. Both girls had a blast and stayed up way too late. Olivia thought it was particularly terrific to be able to run around the church courtyard at 9pm in her jammies, pink fake crocs, and princess backpack. Both were a little grumpy at church the next morning but it was nice to get out with Jeremy. We went to our favorite place for pizza, Zacharys and met some friends from Pleasanton we don't get to see very often. Note Olivias very ladylike pose with her hands in her pants. She is still obsessed with taking off her diaper at various times (luckily its only happened when she has been wet), putting on Abigails or my undies over her pants and talking about about going potty. She cries when we actually do, but we will be trying for sure this summer. We had fondue with the girls on Valentines night. Jeremy got each of the girls a balloon for the occasion, which was a HUGE hit. It really doesn't take much to make them happy.

We registered Abigail for kindergarten a few weeks ago and it seems so strange that my big helper won't be around in the mornings next fall. She is pumped to go and hopefully all goes well. Socially we think she will be fine but she doesn't seem that academically motivated so maybe a school setting will help. A few weeks ago Abigail got it in her head that we were going to bike to her school so I gamely set out and probably three miles later I realized it was a bit adventuresome for us all. But we made it.

In other news, we switched the girls into their bunkbeds with mixed success. The first night was a wash, with them giggling and singing Jingle Bells until 9pm at which point we moved Olivia to the crib and then she cried herself to sleep. The next night both girls managed to fall off the ladder at some point. Olivia is not allowed to go up to visit Abigail but we think the night light was giving off too much light and the temptation was too much. Olivia must not have made it very far because she didn't seem that hurt. Later on we heard a 2nd thud and found Abigail at the bottom. We are so thankful there were no serious injuries. Abigail got the wind knocked out of her but didn't hit her head on the way down and was able to recover after a bit. Had a few good nights and then Olivia had another rough start last night and we put her in the pack n play until she fell asleep and then transferred her, which seems to work well.

We are hoping that Caraline (still don't know her middle name) Smith comes by her due date (March 2nd) and really can't wait to meet her. Olivia and Abigail like talking/yelling at her through my tummy so who knows what she will think of her big sisters when she comes out!

Christmas

2011-01-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

We had a terrific Christmas season, enjoying lots of good family time together and celebrating Jesus' birth. I love being home and with the kiddos. Abigail was totally clued into all the festivities and we had some great talks about the reason we celebrate the season!

Some photos to share.....

The girls looking lovely in their Christmas outfits.

Abigail went ice skating for the first time thanks for Vincents birthday. It was raining, think of puddles in some parts of the rink, but Abigail was soaked and loving it. Olivia was most determined to get out there as well and I spent most of the time chasing her around.

On the right, Christmas Eve photo with some of the friends we had over. Clam chowder might be the new tradition!

Abigail, and her lip balm 'watch', flashing gang symbols. Bad photo, but this is what Olivia wore most of Christmas morning at Nani/Papas (her new outfit, then new pjs, then new boots and coat, complete with broom).

Santa even made an appearance. On the way home, Abigail asked how Papa put all of those cotton balls on his face. Olivia was a little unsure of the big guy but we always love a visit from him. He claims, yet again, this was his last appearance. The shower caps, along with water, airplane peanuts and other goodies, were courtesy of Santas recent flight to Dubai on the way here :)

An Elmo doll that doesn't talk. Thanks Aunt Gail! She sleeps with it every night.

The girls were most excited to open gifts. Below is the dollhouse from Grandpa/ma Smith that continues to be a hit. Both girls really like playing in it.

Five Years Old

2010-12-09T08:12:00.001-08:00

Abigail turned five last week. We celebrated on her birthday with a quick visit to Chuck E Cheese to use some tokens we had (daddy took the day off), then our birthday dinner of mac n cheese and applesauce, and santa claus cupcakes from safeway that she had picked out the day before. Lets just say that the neon green frosting was not digestible and came out the next day in the toilet/diaper. Lovely! She got a basketball hoop from the grandparents that she opened that night and loves to play on.

Did you know that Chuck E Cheese has a line dance that he does when he comes out during his 'live performance'? Yes, and since my kids were the only white ones there they just stared at all of the happily dancing kiddos and mouse. It was quite hilarious.

We had about 12 kids over on Friday night for her pizza and movie party. We did a make your own pizza night, complete with games and a Dora pinata, and then watched a short movie. It was our first attempt at a drop-off party and actually went quite well, with the help of Aunt Gail, Ben, Nani and Daddy. All of the kids had a fun time and they really got into the pinata activity. There was also much running around the backyard in the pitch black screaming and general mayhem in our living room.

Abigail used an entire container of sprinkles on the cupcakes! Dora the pinata, or a Dora look alike. Can't beat $5 at FoodMaxx. Her leg fell off first and the kids thought that was pretty hilarious.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-09T08:01:00.001-08:00

The girls listening to some tunes before our trip to Novato.

We spent the day in Novato with the gparents, my mom (dad was still overseas), Aunt Gail, and Uncle Ben. We watched football and the parade, played outside in the great weather, and enjoyed a yummy meal. Abigail wanted to make decorations for the table and so we traced out leaves and colored them. She then made everyone name tags with masking tape, like they do at our nursery at church, and we all had to wear them. That's what the tape on Jeremy and Abigail is for. She was a real ham at the dinner table, cracking us all up with the games she invented. We played a funny version of Simon Says, which Grandad won, and then we had to guess what she was thinking (no clues or hints...it was 'cow jumped over the moon'). Aunt Gail won that one after some help from Abigail. Olivia slept through the meal, which was actually nice since it allowed me to eat :) Just before we left, Olivia did manage to eat a couple handfuls of caffeinated coffee grounds from the trash can. They actually slept in the next day, so maybe she can have that every night!

Gilroy Gardens

2010-12-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

We spent a Saturday in November at Gilroy Gardens and the girls had a blast. Both girls loved riding all of the rides with our friends the Burtchs and the day was warm and beautiful. With the exception of the Icee crisis, upon which Olivia threw herself onto the ground for a serious fit after not being granted the ability to drink from the cup, the girls held it together during the busy day. And no we did NOT buy Abigail that hat!

Halloween

2010-11-03T20:12:00.000-07:00

The girls had a blast this Halloween. Abigail really got into all of the festivities, and Olivia was quite pleased with the amount of junk she was allowed to eat. We went to our church fall festival for a few hours and then I did some trick or treating with Abigail after dark while Jeremy cheered on the Giants at home and we put to bed our very cranky chicken.

The hit of the night was that Abigail won a fish! Abigal was determined to win one and waited in a long line three times because the the teenager running that game wasn't giving her any help. It was one of those throw a ping pong into a bowl games and she finally had luck on her last try. The fishs' full name is Nemo Pumpkin and he is alive to date. I am skeptical about his life expectancy. He eats the food but doesn't really like to swim around. What fish doesn't swim around? Jeremy says it's because our 'tank' is so lame (basically a plastic container) but I am not spending any real $ on the thing until it lives a few months. Anyways, Abigail doesn't have high hopes for him either. She really likes him, but she has mentioned to several friends/family that he will probably die soon. I think daddy might have clued her into that. She wanted to take a picture of Nemo to send to her friend Vincent so that he could see Nemo before he died, and when Aunt Ruth said that maybe she would see the pet when she came next Abigail calmly replied that she wouldn't since he would be dead by then. A little morbid, but maybe it will prepare her for when it happens. She was also excited to report to Aunt Gail that she now has two pets, since Cupcake the spider has again taken up residence in our kitchen. He seems to be inviting some of his friends too so that might have to end soon.

Zoo Fun and Barney Takes on McDonalds

2010-10-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

Watched our friend Kyrie today and took all three girls to the zoo for some Halloween fun. We got quite a few looks as we trotted around with three girls and one pregnant lady. Despite some drizzles, they all had a blast.

Kyrie and Olivia's 'serious' face as she was watching the music performance.

Olivia's 1st ride on the train - a big hit - and Abigail feeding Kyrie later that afternoon. She was such a big help.

This is the outfit Abigail chose for her date night with Jeremy last week. They went to McDonalds and then the Dollar Store for some shopping.

In other news, Abigail is currently praying for all of the lost dogs in our neighborhood. When out driving she notices the signs posted on telephone poles and we pray for each one. It is very cute. She also is currently lobbying for a dog but having no success with her parentals.

More Catching Up

2010-10-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

So I find myself behind again in posting, so here's another catchup round.

We went to the Clayton Pumpkin Patch with friends from church at the beginning of October. It was about 100 degrees and we had a lot of fun. Olivia particularly liked the big pool full of lima beans. She also liked running through the hay maze with the big kids. She wasn't scared a bit.

Olivia was quite pleased with her new Kicks cereal container, the humidifier.

The first ride in our fancy 'new' car, a 2005 Honda Odyssey. Abigail was MOST excited that her window rolls down. That's really the only feature that she cared about. I am getting used to driving a bigger vehicle. Parking is not quite my speciality yet.

We visited Palm Desert with our friends down the street the Coffeys. They graciously invited us to stay at their lovely condo for a few days. Olivia stayed with Nani and Papa so we had some alone time with Abigail. She LOVED the pool, the waterslide, and got really comfortable in the water. She did the best swimming she has yet and we could hardly get her out of the water. It was a wonderful, relaxing time together.

On the way to the desert, we visited the Stockwells and the beach. Had a great time, even got to see an iridium flare from a satellite. Abigail told us last night as we were driving home in the dark that she saw another one, so we may have a budding astronomer.

Swimming with Aunt Ruth and Gail at Ms. Dean's pool.

Gail and Ben are engaged! We had a lovely party for them at the park. Well, actually the Wilsons provided the party and we just showed up. It was a bit chilly, so Abigail decided to hang out with the grandparents under the covers. It ended up a good choice since Papa got those three all hot chocolates from Starbucks. Jeremy asked Abigail for a sip and her response was well, you should have asked papa earlier for one.

Olivia in her rare forms. Insisted on wearing two pairs of Abigail's panties over her diaper, and making herself a complete mess at the park.

Olivia enjoying her donut, and the whole gang. We had a great weekend with the extended Schroeder family. Also really enjoyed meeting the Wilson clan.

Catching Up

2010-09-20T10:46:00.000-07:00

We haven't posted in a while and so have some catching up to do. Thought I would just include some photos of what's been going on in our household.

Abigail and Zoe in their matching dresses and silly faces.

The Jelly Belly Factory tour was a big hit. Abigail (and Olivia too) was most impressed with the free jelly beans at the end, along with the special hats.

This is a fairly normal picture of what our mornings look like. Olivia loves chewing on her toothbrush and both girls are obsessed with pulling out every pair of my shoes and wearing them around the house. They are both actually pretty good at wearing heels. Yes, they can walk around in these already!

We had a really fun Saturday at Marine World with Nani, Papa, and Aunt Gail. I don't have that great pictures from the day, but both girls really liked the rides and the shows. There were plenty of rides they could go on, Abigail got to pet an elephant, and Jeremy/Gail/Nani were the wild roller coaster riders. Olivia spent a long time at one of the water features and got soaking wet. She also showed no fear on any of the rides and laughed louder the more she was spinning around. She's going to be quite adventuresome.

Soy Sauce

2010-08-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Abigail, after studying the soy sauce bottle, asked if it was made from ants. I chuckled, said no, and asked why she thought that. To her, the Asian character at the top looked like an ant and soy sauce is black, so why not. I thought that was humorous.

Contra Loma Reservoir

2010-08-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at Contra Loma Reservoir, which has an awesome swimming area. It's a pool with sand and the shallow wading area is perfect for one years olds, and four year olds as well. Abigail and Olivia had a blast until it was time to go (when the eldest had a complete meltdown). What a fun day!

Camping

2010-08-13T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Smiths braved their first family of four camping trip a few weeks ago at Samuel P. Taylor State Park. It's a beautiful place...think camping at the feet of a redwood grove, next to a stream. We camped with folks from our sunday school class, so there were plenty of kids to keep the girls busy. Abigail and Olivia were obsessed with keeping themselves in the dirt, and both had a ball. The adults even had fun too, except for about two hours one night when Olivia decided it was play time and not sleeping time. We spent Saturday at Drakes Bay. It was a non-typical northern CA beach day with the sun out for much of the time. The big kids had a blast finding sand crabs and strange looking worms, then flying kites and playing in the waves. Jeremy even brought his wet suit and braved the waves for a little while. What a special time together as a family!

Beads and Birthdays

2010-08-13T08:43:00.000-07:00

A photo of Olivia, in the dress she wore to Aunt Ruth's wedding, all decked out in Abigail's beads. It reminded me of this photo of Abigail in Indian garb. She was a little over two years old at the time.

Also, celebrated Jeremy and my mom's birthday (which is on the same day) in Novato last month. It's been great to have the folks home, and we even get them for a whole year!

Olivia Likes the Beach

2010-08-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Well, actually she loves the beach and has little regard for how cold it might be. She justs heads straight into the waves and starts eating sand. We took this picture the end of July at Stinson Beach. A typical northern CA beach day...the adults are all in coats and the kids are the only ones brave enough to get into the water.

Videos

2010-07-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a video of Abigail skiing....

Abigail is also obsessed with watching Aunt Ruth's wedding video highlight. Here's a link - it's pretty fun. Click on Ruth and Adams highlight.

http://intvid.com/examples.html

Michigan

2010-07-20T20:12:00.001-07:00

We had a great Smith family vacation in Michigan this year. After the first few days, when the temps reached the mid-40s in the AM and Jeremy was still skiing, the weather there was wonderful and, as always, we had too much fun. Abigail had several firsts, including her first real horseback riding experience on a trail and skiing behind the boat on some trainer skis. Olivia also had her first tubing experience, which she liked, and riding in Uncle David's sand dune ready Jeep, which she really loved.

Abigail had so much fun with her cousins.

This is the owl to scare away seagulls from the boat dock that the girls turned into their baby for the day. He got a bath and was tucked in for nap time, in addition to being kissed and carted around the house.

If you feed Olivia ice cream (with chocolate!) she will be your best friend.

Olivia liked the jeep ride.

Swimming in Lake Michigan.

Abigail loves horses, and baby cats too!

The steak n shake twins on the way home.

Kansas City

2010-07-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Our first stop on vacation was Kansas City to celebrate the wedding of Ruth and Adam. Overall, it was a very fun trip. My folks flew out with me on Saturday which made that leg of plane travel so easy. Abigail was happy to sit with Nani, order Sprite, and decide when the window shade could be opened or closed. We were picked up in the 15-passenger white party van, complete with 'almost' just married stickers. We all stayed at Ruth's house (and she had graciously supplied the upstairs with plenty of kids toys and videos), enjoyed a water park on Fathers Day, lots of yummy KC BBQ, visited with family, an afternoon at the lake, and also melted in the humidity. Ruth treated me to a massage and pedicure (Abigail also came to the latter), we had a really fun bridal shower on Thursday night, a wonderful rehearsal dinner in downtown KC, and a beautiful wedding day. Well, Abigail did happen to have a complete meltdown during the pre-wedding photos and Olivia wouldn't take one without me so there are very few official documents of the occasion, but as soon as the babysitter took the girls after the ceremony Jeremy and I could relax and enjoy the evening. We even did a little dancing. Ruth was a beautiful bride and it was a great day. I don't have all that many photos of the day since I was busy being in it but maybe I can post more when Ruth gets her pictures back from the photographer.

Abigail dressed up Ruth as a bridesmaid. Olivia got some new pj's from Adam's folks.

Ice cream!

The water park, complete with country music blasting in the background.

Her 1st pedi. She picked pink with extra sparkles.

At the church after rehearsal.

Okay, so kind of a funny Adam face - think he was eating but it's the best I have right now.

Dancing...Gail caught the bouquet!

The post-it note getaway car.

Antioch Water Park

2010-07-18T15:26:00.000-07:00

Before we left for vacation, the Smith girls and Aunt Gail headed out to Antioch Water Park for some fun. Olivia and Abigail thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Olivia thinks she can swim, and Abigail was big enough to ride some of the bigger slides this year.

Before we left for the water park Abigail and Aunt Gail had some fun with pop beads.

Haircuts

2010-06-09T20:28:00.001-07:00

Before and After

Abigail and I chopped our long hair yesterday. It was a fun night out together at the salon. She didn't want to smile in the before pictures. I think she looks years older with her new haircut and she loves getting all of the attention of friends as they notice.

Random Happenings

2010-06-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Aunt Gail came to visit over Olivias birthday and we all had a lot of fun. Here's a cute photo of the two of them. Also, Abigail started swim lessons this week. The photo isn't the greatest but she really enjoys the time there and starts every morning asking when can we go to the pool. So far, no real swimming but she doesn't mind getting her head under the water which is a good sign.

Memorial Day we had a breakfast with 50 folks from church at our place. Jeremy made massive amounts of bacon and pancakes and the kids ran around like crazies in the yard. A few of the families stayed until lunchtime and we had a great time visiting together. Abigail decided to put on every piece of her dressup outfits on and parade around. Her friends Lauren and Bobby are in the background. Olivia liked eating with her buddy Nate (only two weeks difference in age). We are so blessed with good friends!

Speaking of friends, one couple graciously took both Olivia and Abigail for one night last weekend. The girls did great and Jeremy and I enjoyed a movie, dinner at Zacharys, and even dessert afterwards. It was so fun to get out again. It was interesting because I found myself cranky after we picked up the kids on Saturday as I got adjusted again to mommy mode. God uses my girls daily to remind me that it's not about me, which is so good.

Jeremy and Olivia were kind of co-ordinating last Sunday and so I had to take a photo.

Olivia Turns One!

2010-05-22T20:11:00.000-07:00

Our littlest peanut turned one on Friday. We celebrated with some strawberry cupcakes (way too much work Martha Stewart but they were pretty) and a BBQ night with friends on Thursday. Friday morning we had a big breakfast with Daddy and then Daddy headed off to men's retreat and Aunt Gail came for some more partying. It is so hard to believe she is already one! Here are some photos.

We currently have a strawberry deluge. I made three big batches of jam yesterday, and have used them on cupcakes, in freezer pops, in salads, and on anything else I can thing of.

She's wondering what we are all singing about, but really enjoyed the treat.

The 'big' present - a girlie shopping cart. Abigail also enjoys pushing this around. Her and Olivia do laps around the kitchen/living room, Olivia with her walker and Abigail with the cart. It's pretty adorable.

Abigail really enjoyed opening all of Olivia's presents (but is still learning how to enjoy sharing them with her). She got some presents from the neighbor - a cool pair of sunglasses.

Olivia Walks & Abigail Rides

2010-05-22T08:32:00.000-07:00

2010-05-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

One might ask what in the world is Jeremy doing. Well, it should be fairly obvious....the red bouncy ball that I found by the side of the road for free and adopted as a backyard toy is also used by Jeremy as a method of toddler amazement as he throws it up in the air as high as it can go and then they all watch it fall. Unfortunately, this time it was thrown a little too high and ended up in the top of our tall pine tree. Jeremy was using the hose to try and blast it down, rather unsuccessfully. However, it continued to provide toddler amusement as the kids thought this was the greatest water adventure since the kiddie pool was invented. They quickly discarded clothes and were screaming around the yard like natives. Who even knows what the neighbors thought, but the mommies were entertained by this spectacle as well.

Abigail is into her Megablocks and this was a recent creation. There was a fort, playground, climbing wall, and swimming pool that My Little Ponies, Dora and Diego were enjoying.

Abigail also has claimed that Olivia said 'taco' the other night. She definitely says 'uh oh' but that's about it - don't know about taco. Olivia is also fairly obsessed with strawberries and watermelon and if they happen to be out and she sees them she starts pointing and making distressed grunting noises until she gets some. I think she ate three pieces of watermelon the other night at dinner.

Today Abigail was guessing where Daddy was at the moment, she guessed that he was out dancing. Well, I doubt that but he was helping some friends move. We are having a typical Saturday here, with a move for Jeremy to help with and a baby shower for me to attend. That's what you get for loving a church that has a sunday school of 30+ couples all having kids at the same time. Actually I love baby showers as they are a chance to celebrate the miracle of new life, spend some time in prayer with other ladies and catch up on life while eating really good food.

Olivia with her walker. She insists this is the best way to carry her baby around as well - looks a little unsafe.

The Heart

2010-05-07T07:38:00.001-07:00

Abigail gets most distressed when we leave things out where 'someone might take them'. This includes being very upset when I forget to lock the car doors (which is most of the time) and displayed last week when I left four tomato plants out front to soak up the rain. We had just bought them and were going to plant them later in the week. Anyways she was standing at the front window looking at them and worrying that someone might take them and I was trying to reassure her that no one would and even if they did they probably needed them more than we did when she noticed the mothers day card that I had taped to the front window. She had drawn me a lovely card. It had a small heart on it and so she deduced that when the 'people' came to take the tomato plants they would see the card, look at the heart, and remember to be kind and would leave them alone. Don't know what they would have done from the rest of the card, which included a road (brown dots on the right), snail (blue spiral on the top), and pig (green/purple/brown picture on the bottom left). Did you see how good she is getting at writing her name! She has really progressed in the last few weeks. The letter "g" is tough to get.

We also have a new pet. It's name is Cupcake and it's a spider (or multiple spiders) that live in our living and dining rooms. Abigail named it the other week and gets most excited whenever she sees him/them. He's a pretty cheap pet so far.

Walk for Life

2010-05-05T15:29:00.001-07:00

We had a great time at the Walk for Life last Saturday. It was a beautiful day and lots of Abigail's buddies were there to help spur her along. Actually it was more like commiserate together on the length of the walk (but she did make it the whole two miles). Miraculously when we got back to church for lunch and games all of the kids had plenty of energy to enjoy the bounce house. Olivia fell asleep in the carrier for much of the time but did manage a few smiles beforehand (see below). Thanks to all of the family who supported us through the event!

We were one of the last ones to cross the 'finish line' but at least we made it!

Crafts and Water

2010-05-05T15:18:00.001-07:00

Abigail has been working on this 3-D craft creation over the past few weeks. Every couple of days she would add more items to the paper, such as feathers, five pounds of foam numbers, a rather large Styrofoam ball, etc. She started out by saying that this was Olivia's birthday card but then decided that it wasn't for this year, but for when Olivia turned 85. I was trying to decide what I was going to do with it until a neighbor down the road needed some cheering up and Abigail, thankfully, was willing to part with the card for a good purpose. I guess Olivia can read this blog posting when she's 85 and reminisce about what her card could have looked like.

One photo of my youngest, who had been happily playing in a puddle of water in our backyard, when she realized just how muddy and wet (and tired)she really was. This was taken at our last Thursday BBQ night. I was putting away food and didn't realize that she had found the puddle until it was too late. I guess this is what happens when you are the 2nd child!

The other photo is how happy we usually see our girl.

Walk for Life

2010-04-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Abigail (and the rest of her family) are participating in a Walk for Life next Saturday, May1st to raise money for Options for Women, our local crisis pregnancy center (http://www.friends-ofw.com/). We are taking donations for the two mile walk, so please email or contact us if you want to help out. Thanks!

Chuck Chuck

2010-04-23T19:58:00.001-07:00

Our big event for the week was a Chuck E. Cheese celebration of Abigail completing two weeks without sucking her fingers at night (without the band aids and hot pepper finger nail polish that we have been doing for months now). She was able to pick out any place to eat beforehand and chose Digger's Diner, where we have been twice before. It's a biker frequented diner that's also pretty much family friendly, with the exception of some of the artwork (a huge mural of cars, a graveyard, and rather busty waitress - not sure how it all goes together). Then, we headed off to to Chuck Chuck as Abigail has been calling it and played lots of games. It was funny to watch her with the sensory overload. She almost couldn't finish a game because she wanted to go to the next thing so quickly (Jeremy likened it to a drug addict). She did like some of the driving games and Olivia was able to enjoy some of the fun too. We had a lot of fun and hopefully it means we are done with thumbs! It did make some impression because this was her prayer the next morning at breakfast: God thank you for daddy being able to work so that we can have money to go to chuck e cheese. I know that Bangladesh girls don’t have chuck e cheese or starbucks. And thank you for my food. Amen.

Olivia's hair was thoroughly greased up from an avocado and french fries.

Abigail having fun on some of the rides.

Olivia enjoying another ride (talking and driving with her play cell phone). Abigail was fairly zeroed in on this driving game.

Towards the end it was getting past Olivia's bedtime and she was falling asleep in the carrier. This was after we had let her crawl around Chuck E Cheese (yikes what were we thinking) but she was obsessed with getting down and since she's the second child we let her. I am really ready for her to start walking so that she gets off the ground! Park days have become much harder (meaning I actually have to watch a kid now) because she loves to eat rocks and old food/bark/anything she finds off the ground now.

Here are some videos of the funness:

Here's one of Abigail's latest drawings. The top box is a TV and the bottom boxes are pillows and the green background is grass. Our sweet neighbors Mary and Jack were the recipients. As Abigail usually gets candy when she goes over there, I think that's at least a partial motivator for the frequent visits. That and the fact that they proudly display her artwork in their front window so that we see it everyday when we go by.

This is the new use for our ball popper. We now have two since I had called Hasboro because I wanted to know if ours was broken since the motor had stopped blowing balls. We had already exchanged one because of that problem. Anyways they just sent me a new one and I didn't have to send them the old one back or show my receipt which was great! This one works a lot better and the girls love it.

April 2010

2010-04-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a rare family photograph taken this past Easter. Guess we all kind of dressed alike, but it wasn't planned. We had a great day together, celebrating Christ's resurrection with about 20 of our friends at our house. We got in a quick egg hunt and lunch before the rains came and sent everyone running for cover. Everyone except Abigail that it, who thought this was the perfect opportunity to play outside in her swimsuit (see below). That Thursday before Easter Abigail had a buddy over to dye eggs. They each decided they loved eating them too and polished off 5-6 between the two of them that day.

These past few Saturdays we have been birthday partying it up. Abigail loved putting on the hats from one of the parties on her sister. The second picture is Olivia showing off the beautiful jacket a friend's mom knitted for her. She was mostly obsessed with trying to eat the button.

Abigail spent the night at Zoe's house last week and they had a fancy breakfast which I attempted to recreate last Saturday morning. All I heard from Abigail was that this didn't taste like Miss Jen's "sugar pan pakes" (that's how she says pancakes).

Abigail went on a date to the Spaghetti Factory with her daddy. She got all dressed up in this outfit (which is a few sizes too large, but she was determined to wear it) and they had a nice time together. It was pretty adorable to see the two of them together.

First Popsicle

2010-03-30T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here's Olivia eating her first popsicle. Pretty funny!

Then she wouldn't eat it....

Outside

2010-03-20T14:35:00.000-07:00

The weather is finally great and the girls are enjoying playing outside. Abigail can keep herself occupied for hours and Olivia really enjoys watching all of the action. Olivia actually likes crawling around in the grass and try to sneak bites of various plant life. She also likes the swing, especially when Abigail is out on hers. We haven't tried her in the sandbox but have a feeling she would be eating that too. We will probably save that for next summer :)

The girls new trick - both on the same bike. I don't let Abigail actually ride with Olivia like that, it was only for the photo. The 2nd is of the strawberry patch, which has taken over the entire garden. There are lots of blossoms on the bushes, so we are hopeful this year will be a good crop. Being as big as a house prevented me from keeping up with them last year and we didn't have much of a crop. Below is a video of Olivia crawling and Abigail's typical antics.

The Girls

2010-03-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

These girls are definitely related. They both like making crazy (and maybe Abigail's is a little scary) faces for the camera.

And another Smith kid rite of passage....the bang trim that makes you look like a boy. Jeremy called Olivia 'sir' for most of the day yesterday. Ha ha. At least I haven't cut one of their ears yet, which is what another mom was telling me happened to her when she first tried to trim her kids bangs. I almost poked Abigail in the eye, but I digress.

We were supposed to be in Tahoe this weekend but the combination of a winter storm warning on Friday, the potential 6 hour drive with two kiddos, a 13 year old Saturn without 4-wheel drive, and remembering that we would all be sleeping in one room for maybe a few hours of sledding, we decided to stay put. We had a great weekend together - Friday we went to the Burtchs and let Abigail watch two movies so that we could play some games. Saturday morning we went to Digger's Diner (a family-friendly biker hangout nearby our place) for breakfast for an amazing caramel pecan waffle and a cinnamon roll that not only had frosting on top but also a huge glop of butter. Awesome! Since it was only 8:30am by that point we headed out to the Lafayette Reservoir. It was a beautiful day and Abigail loved playing at the playground at the end. Jeremy was so kind to let me run around it once too. His only complaint was that we were paying money to walk (which he said that we could have done at home - but not in the beautiful hills and on a paved trail with much of Walnut Creek's upper crust and their dogs). We even saw one dog being pushed around in it's own stroller. Yikes! That night we had some friends over for tri tip and the kids played outside for several hours.

One fun memory...Jeremy was asking Abigail what she wanted to do on Saturday and she said to have some family time together. There will come a time when I know this won't be her desire but it was fun to hear that now. We also learned Abigail's interpretation of what Passover was, which was fairly accurate. She said that the Israelites 'died' a lamb and had to put the blood (ie red sparkle glitter glue on her picture) over the door of their house so that that angel wouldn't get them. We are praying that one day she will come to know in a personal way the fullfillment of that picture, Jesus Christ!

Playing Pretend

2010-03-01T14:15:00.000-08:00

Meet Bella. I played with her this afternoon in the backyard. I was Zokeen, Olivia was Pullup and Coupon (make believe Zoe) also made an appearance. These are by far the most original names Abigail has come up with and so I wanted to document the occasion. Zokeen and Pullup were horses in a parade which involved much running around the yard and being bossed around by our owner Bella. Bella had spent much of the morning making jewelry, which included the humongous button necklace that she is proudly wearing in the photo. Every button in the package was utilized on one necklace!

Other conversations that we had today included Abigail pleading with me to let her iron some clothes to which I responded that she could when she was older to which she said I probably won't want to then and I agreed that was probably true; saying that I was the nicest mom because I was going to let her help me with the laundry (she really likes to help); asking who was going to pick us up from the airport when we went on the airplane for Kansas City (she was hoping Ruth or Adam); asking if we could buy Lucky Charms for the airplane ride to Kansas City; being very dramatic when I told her it was about 120 days until Aunt Ruth's wedding and we should probably stop talking about that; and that's all the ones I can remember. Needless to say you always have to be on your toes when talking with Abigail these days - the topics of conversation vary widely!

Jeremy's friend Gerald came for the annual guys ski weekend. Aunt Gail and Ben also come that Sunday night for Zachary's pizza and much Olympic fun.

Look how happy my family is to be celebrating Valentine's Day together! Ha Ha. Abigail decorated the somewhat heart-shaped cake and the table (ie small red streamers). Somehow I forgot that the fondue you buy from the store has brandy as the second ingredient, so she didn't much care for that but filled up on Martinellis and cake instead.

Scenes from our very short but Abigail-friendly hike around Little Mountain near my grandparents. Olivia was enjoying herself as well.

We went to the zoo that weekend that Jeremy was away with a crew of other daddy-less moms. Vincent came along and I spent much of the afternoon pushing them both in our little Graco stroller. Olivia was fast asleep in the Ergo (my new favorite but really expensive baby carrier) and they had gotten tired of walking around.

Crazy Abigail

2010-02-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

I love my four year old daughter - she comes up with some of the craziest ideas. Here are a few of the most recent.

We were enjoying a beautiful day outside and Abigail announced out of nowhere that we were going to do some 'hard work'. This consisted of filling my red mop bucket with grass she hand plucked from along the back fence line. She wanted to help daddy out so that he didn't have to mow as much and she probably did this for an hour. Then we moved onto cleaning out her sandbox for a bit and that occupied her for another 1/2 hour or so. She can be the happiest, hardest worker when she gets into a groove. I love seeing that character trait in her and can't wait to see how that manifests itself later in life.

She has decided that she doesn't like the 'long' story time in her bible study class and petitioned to be moved down to the 2's because they don't have a story time. I have helped out in her class and I think the story time is like 5-10 minutes at best. She is going through a phase when she wants to be like baby. My go to illustration of how much better being a big kid is that baby can't play the games at Chuckie Cheese but she gets too and baby can't eat pizza which she also gets to. So far they haven't made a lasting impression on her and I am sure I will be hearing about this a lot still.

Our friends the Rollins are having their third child and that means that their eldest two Kate and Amelia will likely be bunking up. Abigail is OBSESSED with bunkbeds and another daily conversation is first asking why God let the Rollins have a baby, why we don't have another baby, and how she is going to sleep on the top of the bunkbed and Olivia will be sleeping on the bottom when we do have a baby. She has also already indicated that when we have another baby she is going to Vincent's house again - I think she had declared that a few days after we came home from the hospital with Olivia. I keep trying to tell Abigail we don't even know if we can have more kids and we certainly don't know when that would be, but she is undaunted.

Today we had several conversations about the nails in Jesus' hands. She was asking lots of questions about what happened when he died and we had some good conversations today about that. We pray daily that she will come to know the Lord and hope that seeds continue to be planted towards that direction.

When I was in New Orleans one night after dinner Jeremy told Abigail that he had to do dishes after they ate. Her response was "do you even know how to do dishes?" Ha Ha! Also, when Abigail and Jeremy went to the Cal basketball game while I was gone they gave out free navy blue stocking caps with the Cal Bears logo on them. Abigail was wearing it on our walk yesterday and was concerned that someone would think she played for the Bears since she was wearing the hat. Nevermind that at that time she was pushing Jeremy's measuring wheel around the block. Yes, we got several comments from the neighbors. They think we are crazy (and especially since we were doing this again today).

She Crawls (sort of)

2010-02-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

A quick look into her new skill! It doesn't look as impressive on video, but she can really get around.

* Some folks are having trouble loading this one. I have reloaded it once, but still getting an error message. So sorry if it doesn't work!

Indiana Visit

2010-02-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

We had the pleasure of a visit from Jeremy's parents this past week and thoroughly enjoyed our time. Well, almost all of us did. I don't have any photos of Richard because he caught a nasty flu bug and spent much of the time in bed. Hopefully his next visit will go a little better!

One night, they watched the kids and Jeremy surprised me by taking me to see Wicked after dinner at Zachary's. It was SO fun! It was also the first time I had left Olivia to be put down without nursing and she went down fine but was up much of the wee hours of the morning (I think due to getting a cold). It was worth it - what a fun surprise from my thoughtful hubby!

We got to watch the Superbowl with Jeremy's folks which was a treat. We went to Gail and Mike James house (Amanda Burtch's folks) who are also fellow Colts fans and cheered away. We even broke open the Colts pinata that my Aunt Diane had got us a long time ago during halftime. Both girls wore their Colts gear to church that day. Ashton Coffey and Olivia hung out for much of the game. It was a lot of fun, but a disappointing loss for Jeremy!

The girls hanging out - Olivia has mastered the army crawl and parades around the house eating things off the floor, much to my dismay.

Made an outing to Little Farm in Berkeley, which has great views along the way. You get to feed goats and cows, which Connie (a real farmers daughter) enjoyed. Abigail took the second photo of us pretending to have a wild time at the park (except for Daddy).

Also went to a wildlife museum.

This was probably Abigail's highlight. One morning when grandpa felt okay he treated her to a doughnut from the 7-11 down the street. What a treat!

Once they left, all I heard from Abigail the next day was who am I going to play with, what are we doing etc - Grandma does a great job of being Abigail's playmate while she is here. She gets up with her at 6pm to color, lets Abigail boss her around, and even pretends like she is the baby and Abigail is her somewhat deliquent mommy (she wouldn't feed the baby but kept telling her to cry). I am so blessed by wonderful in-laws and I never want to see them go (they are way too helpful)! Thanks for the visit Smiths!!

New Orleans Trip

2010-01-31T15:32:00.000-08:00

My 92 year old Maw Maw (grandma) passed away last week (photo at left from last summer when we last saw her). Jeremy was gracious enough to let me go and it was a wonderful trip. The funeral was a celebration of a woman faithful to God, her family, and her neighbors. Lots of funny stories were shared and ways that we saw God work in so many of the lives that she had touched over the years (for example: my cousin Melissa now wants to be a nurse and was strengthened in her faith from spending some extended time with her). She was a gracious, hospitable, and wonderful person! After the funeral we all gravitated to her old house, which was badly damaged in Katrina and semi-recently purchased by another couple. They are in the final stages of renovating the place (you can hardly recognize it) and were so gracious to let us take a tour when 20+ of us showed up in their backyard (we didn't realize they had started living there yet). It was neat to see the place that I have to many childhood memories of continue to be used in a way that would make Maw Maw and Pa Pa smile.

I was just thinking of all of the ways God was gracious to our family on this trip. Here are some of them: allowing my mom to fly in from Bangladesh in time to see my Maw Maw before she was unable to talk and being with her when she passed, giving me a husband that let me go for five days and being wise enough to keep Abigail with him, providing last minute plane tickets for only $271, providing a wonderful church family so that it only took a few hours to find three different families for Abigail to spend some time with while Jeremy was at work, being able to spend five days with my mom, and making Olivia ridiculously happy the entire trip (wonderful on the plane, napping in the Ergo at the funeral and French Quarter and where ever we dragged her in New Orleans, charming all of the older folks and family at the funeral, sleeping through the night in a pack n play (she was having trouble with that prior), providing joy to Aunt Myrtle during an afternoon visit, charming all of the BART riders on the way home when it was 1am New Orleans time, and eating lots of meals happily from her carseat).

We had a delicious dinner at Aunt Myrtles after the funeral. Under the watchful eye of my Uncle I came back to Olivia in a pile of wipes (and eating them too). We all had a good laugh.

Mom and Olivia; Mom with her siblings - it was so fun to see them all together and sharing moments of their childhoods.

What FUN we had cheering on the Colts and Saints that Sunday afternoon/evening. I became well acquainted with all of the Saints cheer songs and the drama of the game, while Olivia slept obliviously to the screaming, fireworks and cousins jumping into the pool.

My mom got to spend some great time with her grand-daughter, who loved her. The second photo was from our day in the French Quarter. We had such a nice time eating beignets/cafe au lait, walking around the quarter and along the river front, and driving the scenic route along St. Charles. I joked that our husbands would have hated our afternoon, which consisted of aimless walking and looking at the pretty houses with no hope of sustenance at the end :) We did have a wonderful lunch at the Seafood Pot before we left - can't beat seafood gumbo (even if the butter on the bread we couldn't tell whether it was butter or cheese it was on so thick).

Go Colts

2010-01-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

We all cheered the Colts to victory last weekend and are looking forward to doing the same this weekend! Olivia wore a cheerleaders outfit we got as a gift for Abigail and our eldest squeezed into a 18-month onesie somehow since she had to have on Colts gear too (it's covered up by the sweatshirt in the photo). I think that Jeremy has declared Olivia is wearing this outfit to the nursery this Sunday. Abigail wore it when the Colts won the Superbowl, so he might think it's a good luck charm :)

Skiing at Tahoe

2010-01-04T09:46:00.001-08:00

Last Saturday, Jeremy and Abigail went to Tahoe with two other daddies and their kids (one of them being her really good buddy Vincent) to Diamond Peak to try their hand at skiing. We spent much of Friday afternoon 'practicing' in our living room after we rented skis from Any Mountain. She liked falling and doing jumps (Jeremy picking her up in the air).

Jeremy said Abigail overall had a good time (Olivia and I stayed at home). They stayed on the bunny hill the whole day which had a small chair lift. When she got going too fast, Abigail would just fall down, which her and Vincent thought was hilarious. Hot chocolate was a big treat at the end of the day but they only took one break for lunch and were otherwise on the mountain the whole day. Sounds like a great first trip to get exposure to the wonderful world of skiing. We are planning another trip up in March.

They left our house at 5:45am and didn't get home until 9pm. Abigail didn't take a nap the whole time, since the car they traveled in had a DVD player. She watched hours of movies, but it kept her happy on the long trip.

Here's some videos of the day. Jeremy says that they make Abigail look much more impressive than reality. Regardless, we were proud of her!

Polka Dotted Kids

2010-01-04T09:34:00.001-08:00

For Christmas, I got the girls matching dresses at Old Navy.

On the left, another photograph of Olivia looking slightly petrified in her sisters arms. She looks a bit more relaxed in the other picture.

Last Sunday, since there was only one service, we went to Sweet Tomatoes (one of those all you can eat salad bars Jeremy detests) because they have a breakfast brunch on Sunday mornings that is over by the time two services at church gets out. It was okay, but Abigail was most excited by the fact that the ice cream machine they have for lunch/dinner was working at 10am and her parents let her have some chocolate ice cream after breakfast.

The girls are starting to take baths together. They both think it's hilarious.

Christmas

2009-12-27T21:29:00.001-08:00

Christmas Eve we went to the service at church, which was great. Then, we let Abigail open the matching pj's from Aunt Ruth and took a few photos of the cuties. The girls actually slept in that next morning so we didn't roll out of bed until 7:30am or so. We had cinnamon rolls, turkey sausage, eggs, and grapefruit for breakfast and opened our gifts after reading the Christmas story. Abigail was VERY excited and we did have to take one break for Christmas discipline. Olivia took a nap and tried to chew on all of the wrapping paper. We got Abigail a play cash register and cupcakes since playing grocery store and putting on birthday parties is something that we do on a daily basis. Abigail has some fixation with the number 89 so whenever it's some one's birthday they are always turning 89. She also got a fun Bugsby reading system from her grandparents which she has really enjoyed doing.

Then, we cleaned up and got ready for our guests coming at 2pm (17 people in all plus two in utero). We had four other families over from church who don't have relatives nearby. It was a really fun day fellowshipping with other believers. The weather was nice and so the kids (10 in all) were able to play outside.

The adult table and the kid table - Jude was fixated with eating candy from the gingerbread house, which I bought last year on clearance. Yuck! Another fun character trait about Abigail is that she really enjoys playing host to her friends. She was very into decorating the kid table and making sure everything was all set for them.

Sarah holding Jude and Olivia.

The girls dressed up like angels, or princesses. Abigail's halo had some serious issues later on and looked more like a unicorn's horn but she played happily all day in it.

Olivia with a rice cereal induced hair-do. The guys playing Settlers of Cattan.

The big kid table. Some of the angels. One of the ladies brought over a box of dress up clothes that had nativity-themed outfits and a manger with baby Jesus. The kids all really enjoyed dressing up like various characters.

We are very thankful for good friends to celebrate this special day with!

Christmas Diamonds

2009-12-27T20:32:00.000-08:00

Before my sisters left for Bangladesh and Kettle Falls, WA we opened some presents and ate the traditional sausage bread together. Abigail really enjoyed her sock puppets and book. Olivia looked very cute in her warm, fuzzy outfit. We also lit the advent wreath, which has been a special time together for our family. Abigail says prophesy in a really funny way but I was so impressed she could name all of the candles. She is really excited about celebrating Jesus' birthday.

The next day Mr. Adam surprised Ruth with coming in a little early for their big trip to Bangladesh. He really surprised her by proposing to her at Point Reyes. We are very excited for them!

The Zoo

2009-12-27T20:21:00.000-08:00

My sisters came in for a few days before Christmas, which was a big treat because we hadn't seen Aunt Ruthie since June! Abigail immediately latched onto Ruth and copied anything she did. For example, she hates mustard. But, Aunt Ruth loves mustard and so after I made her sandwich without mustard she asked me to make it was a ton of mustard the next time I made one. I did and she was so happy afterwards.

One of our outings was to the Oakland Zoo. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking around the zoo (but not so much Sparkles and Bubbles, the actual name of the supposed kid-friendly music group that was performing in the amphitheater. Sparkles outfit of choice was a Santa-themed mini-skirt with red sparkle platform shoes. It was very, very strange).

Here are a few photos.

Gail and Jeremy forgot to bring a frisbee - good thing they had an orange peel, which provided a good 20 minutes of fun for the two!

Pa Pa and Christmas Outfits

2009-12-23T14:06:00.001-08:00

We had a surprise visit from Pa Pa the first couple weeks of December. He came to help move his folks up to Washington. The will be living there for the next few months with my Aunt. The first time Olivia saw my dad she burst into tears, which was pretty funny considering she's the happiest baby ever. She warmed right up to him after a bit. Abigail loved seeing her Pa Pa and here's a cute picture of the girls and him.

Here's a few photos of the girls in their cute Christmas outfits.

Birthdays

2009-12-05T21:15:00.000-08:00

Abigail turned four this week. Yikes - where does the time go! We had a nice week long celebration of the event. Aunt Gail came Sunday bearing gifts, we celebrated the actual day with cinnamon rolls and homemade mac-n-cheese and applesauce (her requested meal), and then had her party on Thursday complete with bouncy houses (borrowed from our garage saleing friends the Philips) and crafts. She even got a Cinderella Barbie, which has accompanied us on many outings since then. Guess that's what I get for borrowing the princess bouncy house for her party!

It was funny to listen to her talking to our friends and family on Tuesday. Her conversation with Cousin Mae started with asking me if Mae could come for a sleep over. I said that if she flies out here (they are in Indiana) then I would love to have her over. The rest of the conversation was them figuring out what they should bring for the sleepover and Abigail repeatedly saying the she has lots of videos so Mae didn't have to bring any. Her conversation with her friend Vincent was a lot of silliness and unintelligible words repeated over and over and them laughing hilariously. God graciously kept Abigail well for her party and allowed enough of her friends to make it a fun time, although we missed a few.

Abigail loved getting $ from her Indiana Aunts! She wants to go to McDonald's to buy a Happy Meal. She's also sporting the rain gear from Nani/Pa Pa.

All was going well this week, until I got a hold of scissors and tried to trim Abigail's bangs quickly. I think I might pretend like she did the haircut herself. Just kidding. Like Jeremy says it will grow out.

We are currently battling sickness in the house - Olivia is fairly miserable with a cough/cold and Jeremy has the same - although his method of medicine is gambling in Reno :)

Also, Olivia apparently likes getting screamed at (and I love the way Abigail's ability to obey the first time is displayed here too). Olivia honestly thinks everything that Abigail does is hilarious.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T08:49:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving at an awesome place in South Lake Tahoe with two other families from our church. Altogether, there were seven kids and six adults. We had a great time together, and the kids got along surprisingly well. We ate lots of food on Thursday, took a trip up to Emerald Bay on Friday (we forgot Abigail's coat and it was a windy, maybe 40 degrees so we didn't last long), and got some snow on Friday night and Saturday. The kids favorite activity was to walk down to the lake (two blocks away) and sled down a small hill. We didn't have any sleds so a cafeteria tray from the cabin sufficed. I can't believe five kids (Olivia and Johnny the one year old didn't do any sledding) were happy with that, but they gladly took turns. They also liked playing on the snowy playground.

We are very thankful for the means to be able to do something like this and good, believing friends to celebrate a special holiday with together! At Thanksgiving we all went around and said what we were thankful for, Jeremy said he's thankful he knows where God wants him for now (seeing how we own a house in a market that's tanked), I said the girls (and specifically the long awaited Olivia) and Abigail said 'nothing'. Great! She eventually said Olivia but just goes to show you never know what is going to come out of their mouths.

November Update

2009-11-29T15:16:00.000-08:00

I am realizing that it's almost December and I haven't written much this month so I will try and fill you in on some happenings.

Visited Novato a few times this month. Here's a few photos of one of the trips. Abigail loved playing with her Aunts and Great Grandma, especially teaching them all Princess Uno. Olivia loved all of the extra attention too. The pirate hat was what Aunt Diane wore on Halloween.

Took this cute photo of the girls before my run the other day. It was in the morning and quite chilly by California standards.

Abigail and Bobby (who is a boy). She really wanted them to dress up in her pink jammies and he agreed!

We had Olivia dedicated at church on the 8th. Aunt Linda and Grandma were able to attend along with Aunt Gail and it was a very special time. Abigail got to stand up in the front with us and from what our friends told us, looked fairly petrified most of the time (but at least she was quiet).

Halloween

2009-11-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

We had a fun and busy Halloween beginning with a morning/afternoon at the Oakland zoo. Abigail loved the free rides and goodie bags and even got to touch a boa constrictor. She also informed us that the train was boring and wanted to ride the orange tiger roller coaster instead. She's quite the dare devil. In the evening we visited some houses and then ended up at our church's night out, which was really fun. Abigail was more interested in the bouncy house than the candy and Olivia slept through the entire event.

Gail's 21st

2009-11-01T20:47:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun celebrating Gail's 21st birthday a few days late with her. We had a delish lunch at a burger place, Gail enjoyed all of her snow sports themed gifts, and Abigail loved playing on the playground afterwards. We can't believe our little Gailie Goo is all grown up!

Lingo and Prayers

2009-10-26T22:39:00.001-07:00

Here are some Abigail sayings that sometimes require translation and/or are pretty cute -

Ravamoli = ravioli
Guacamole = avocado (which she doesn't like surprisingly)
Mushrooms = shrimp
Ban Bans = band aids
Bee-tow = Burrito
Pack Pack = backpack
Olivia Dude = Abigail's current favorite name for her sister

The other night were were talking about ways God has provided for us and I mentioned that I was thankful for our home. Abigail subsequently prayed that the homeless people of the world would be able to buy/get umbrellas. She was also very concerned that there were kids in the world who don't have toys and was very happy to get them some at the store today - preschool games on sale at Toy R Us (like Candyland) were $2 with the rebate!

Sisters

2009-10-26T14:26:00.000-07:00

People are always asking me if Olivia looks like Abigail so I thought I would post some pictures to compare. Did you guess (the eye color gives it away) that on the left is Olivia and the right is Abigail? These were taken when both were right at five months old. There definitely are similarities.

Abigail and Olivia attended Kate's Fancy Nancy party last week. (Fancy Nancy is a book series where the main character, Nancy, loves dressing up fancy, using big vocab words, and learning manners and other things). The girls were supposed to dress up and here's Abigail in her finest. She was most pumped to wear a gold cross necklace that I had when I was younger. I think that my folks gave it to me. Olivia had to join in the fun too and sported some sunglasses.

Some cute sister shots!

Nothing cuter than

little baby 'crocs'!

Aunt Diane, Pumpkins, and Blue Ink

2009-10-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Aunt Diane came to visit last Friday and it was a huge hit with Abigail. They came bearing gifts and she loved the play saw (which talks) and tape measure. She immediately roped Aunt Diane into playing work with her (that's what she called it) and they had to wear their work gloves too (one racket ball cover and a gardening glove). They spent much of the afternoon over towards the neighbors house where Jeremy and Al are putting up part of the fence. She was so proud to be helping her daddy out!

On Saturday we headed out to the Clayton Pumpkin Patch and the big hit was a swimming pool full of lima beans that the kids played in. There were five families from church that met out there. Not all of the kids are here in the picture and the ones that are aren't really looking at the camera but I thought it was cute. Abigail had to bring the play tape measure to this activity as well so that she could measure the pumpkins. Olivia enjoyed her time in the stroller sporting her pumpkin bib and looking cute. It was high 80s outside and we were all sweating to death. So much for Fall weather in California.

Abigail making a funny face and

wearing my shirt and shoes.

This morning I looked down and Abigail was cracking up that she had put mickey mouse ears on Olivia. It's hard to see but her two little teeth, yes teeth are down there on the bottom as well. We didn't even know she was teething until last week when I felt something sharp in her mouth and found out it was teeth!

Olivia being the second child, I just got around to making her hand/footprints for the baby book. It was supposed to be washable, kid-friendly ink but it really took some scrubbing to get out. Meanwhile, Abigail happily took some photos of the event (she snapped these both) and I got blue ink all over the place.

Random Postings

2009-10-14T20:17:00.000-07:00

Awesome shirt from Aunt Ruthie!

Abigail after she helped me with (and of course ate a whole bunch of) chocolate strawberries. Needless to say, she liked them.

Abigail and her buddies eating cupcakes. We were celebrating some of the mommies birthdays.

Olivia

2009-10-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is her new trick - looks so grownup!

Gilroy Gardens Videos

2009-10-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some videos of the day - see posting below for details...

Sort of boring video, but her smile at the end is priceless.

Gilroy Gardens

2009-10-07T22:18:00.001-07:00

While Olivia and I were busy spending all of my birthday money at JC Penny, Jeremy and Abigail headed down to Gilroy Gardens last weekend. They went with Brooks and Bobby, whose mommy also has a little one at home. Jeremy was joking that you know you have adjusted to kids when just having the 'baby' seems like a vacation for the mommies. When we just had Abigail I would have wanted him home all Saturday to help out. Now, I take Olivia shopping and bask in the quiet day that I had :) Life sure changes quickly! So anyways, here are a few photos from the day. Abigail talks non-stop about the gardens, which is like an amusement park for the under five crowd. It was a special $10 admission day and you get to ride as many rides as you wnat. It was a huge hit and I am so thankful for a husband that's willing to do this! Abigail very thankful too and told her daddy that numerous times.

Happy Abigail faces!!!

The Bag Lady

2009-10-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

Abigail is the bag lady. Much of her imaginative play involves bagging up various, or all, portions of her toys. Usually we are having a birthday party for someone in the family and the bags are the presents. The other day she bagged up all, and I mean all, of her toys from her toy chest and we had to open them and sing happy birthday to everyone in the family. I was happy because it kept her busy for much of the morning. Another day she had made up about 10 favor bags (brown lunch bags) that were filled with her toys and these were for the guests coming to another party. I think she likes birthdays!

Here's also a cute photo of Olivia with her daddy and one with Abigail and Olivia from the other week. Abigail took the first picture and her finger was over the flash, which explains the shading.

Sunday School

2009-09-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today Abigail proudly informed us that they had goldfish crackers and grass for snack time in her sunday school class. She indicated that they shouldn't eat rocks, but the grass was really yummy. There was no convincing her that the grass was actually coconut on top of some yogurt, which we are pretty sure it was. I don't think snack time is usually this gourmet, but it made an impression on Abigail.

On another note, Jeremy took me to Opera at the Ballpark last night at the Giants stadium. They simulcasted Il Travatore from the war memorial building downtown on the jumbo screen. It was really fun and also free! A great way to experience the opera...garlic fries and culture!

Sisters Laughing

2009-09-19T15:58:00.000-07:00

Olivia loves looking at Abigail's antics, despite the fact that she gets abused by those some antics at times. Last week she bit her leg! I am thankful that Olivia is gracious enough to forgive her older sisters actions, or at least doesn't seem to remember them. If Olivia keeps growing at this rate, she'll be able to defend herself here shortly.

Your First Priority

2009-09-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

An interesting moment that happened while at the lake house....grandpa had promised Abigail that he would fix the big wheel seat, which was scooted up too far. Later that day Abigail asked grandpa what he was doing. He replied fixing the lawn mower, upon which Abigail responded with saying that he needed to fix her big wheel as it was his first priority. First priority?! Yikes, she's getting sassy!

Michigan/Indiana

2009-09-15T14:29:00.001-07:00

We just got back from ten days in Michigan and Indiana. It was a fun trip, and I survived two plane rides with the girls and no Jeremy! The highlight of the trip was being part of Aunt Vanessa's wedding on Labor Day (beach wedding in Grand Haven, MI on Lake Michigan) and Abigail even got to be a flower girl with her other cousins. It was a beautiful day and it was a good thing to be there with family to celebrate the day.

We also got in a trip to the Ft Wayne zoo, which was really fun.

Another highlight was catching mole crickets with Grandma's neighbor Decklan. Abigail was very excited to have someone so close to play with and spent most of her waking moments in Ft Wayne with him, if she wasn't playing with cousins.

saturday morning

2009-08-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

this is what you get when you let your 3-year old watch curious george unattended while you are trying to "sleep in" on a saturday morning. rice krispie explosion!

thank you nani, pa pa and aunt gail for the presents! below is one of abigail with her crazy face!

Cows on Vacation

2009-08-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

On our way to church this morning Abigail asked me where the cows were that we normally see in the open space we go through and I jokingly said that they were on vacation. She told me that cows can't go on vacation because cows eat grass and there is only people food on the airplanes. So true, so true :)

Also, just wanted to report that Olivia has officially rolled over on her own from her back to her tummy!

2009-08-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day last Saturday at Stinson Beach. As you can tell, the pink coat made another appearance but this one was actually warranted. We didn't see the sun the whole time we were there, but Abigail had a blast anyways. Those without wetsuits didn't make it all of the way in the water, but had a fun time splashing in the waves. A few weeks ago this same beach was closed due to great white sightings so we were happy to see some seals playing in the waves along with us.

After the beach, we headed to Novato to visit the great grandparents and we got a nice photo of great grandma and Olivia together. And then there's another photo of Olivia just for fun. Thanks for the cute outfit Aunt Pam!

Redwood City

2009-08-19T20:20:00.001-07:00

We spent the day visiting with family in Redwood City. Abigail loved seeing her Ma Ma and it was fun to show Olivia off. You might notice that Abigail got a new bike (thanks garage sale Philips) that we had to bring. She has ridden into hedges and has some scraped knees (and this is with training wheels) but seems to enjoy the freedom.

New Coat

2009-08-19T20:14:00.001-07:00

This fluffy pink coat came in a bag of hand me downs from our clothing benefactor Lindsey/Lauren (sisters that Abigail pronounces as one word). It has been a staple of our wardrobe for the past two days, despite the fact that it's 90 degrees outside!

Also, a few days ago Abigail proudly announced to me while I was wiping her that she made her #2 (which she just flushed down the toilet) into the letter A. The child is brilliant!

Oakland Zoo

2009-08-16T17:45:00.001-07:00

This past Saturday was member's night at the zoo and it's always a fun night. Abigail was most impressed with being able to touch a tenric and even got up the nerve to ride the roller coaster with Daddy. She has been talking about this for months but always decides not to at the last minute. This time we kind of made her go and she was nervous while waiting in line, but loved it after she was done. The look on her face, see photo below, was priceless. I should note that Jeremy doesn't normally look this crazy!

Olivia Laughing

2009-08-16T17:32:00.000-07:00

Took this one while at the zoo. The screaming in the background is of the roller coaster, which Abigail rode! I will post pictures later.

Funny Sayings and the Water Park

2009-08-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

We went to the Antioch Water Park last week. Abigail had a blast, Olivia was an angel and spent most of the day sleeping, and the fudge bar at the end of the day was a huge hit (and mess). It was Sports Day there and the website said that if you wore a team jersey that you could get $2 off admission. I am always a sucker for a deal, but didn't have any jerseys. So, Abigail and I sported a Bangladesh cricket shirt and Route 66/Winston shirt that Aunt Gail got us from overseas. We got our discount! It was a beautiful day to be at the pool. I had some other friends there that helped watch Abigail while I fed Olivia, which was a huge help. We were in the car about two minutes heading home when Abigail asked to go back to the water park the next day. I included a video of her going down one of the slides at the end of this posting.

Last Thursday evening I had dinner with some of the ladies from our church. Everyone brought a dish and it was so delicious. I left Olivia with Jeremy since it was only going to be a few hours and it was such a quiet, peaceful meal. Jeremy had graciously invited many of the daddies and their kids over to our house to grill out, so when I came home the house looked like an explosion had gone off and there were kids running everywhere screaming. It was a stark contrast to the relaxed mommies that I had just left :) Needless to say, I am very thankful for a husband that lets me get out once in a while!

The next morning Abigail was telling me about some of the kids who were throwing rocks the evening before, and I quote, "Zoe, Preston, and Bobby were having troubles, but I was really great, I didn't do anything bad". Really great...now I doubt that but it was really funny the way she phrased her view of the events.

We have good friends from church that live 10 houses down from us. Last night they invited us over to watch a movie outside on their homemade big screen. We decided to try it with both kids. Olivia slept the whole time on my chest. Mike had set up a tent in the backyard and the idea was that Vincent and Abigail could play in there while we watched the movie 17 Again. Abigail ended up watching more of the movie than I would have thought, so I don't know that we are going to be doing that again. However, she was most impressed with the evening and announced, after reminding me that Daddy got her popcorn three times!, that she liked camping. Well I don't know if it was camping but they did have fun giggling in the tent together.

Last Wednesday I watched Vincent and Abigail for a little bit while his mom had a doctor's appointment. It was warm so I let the kids play in the sprinkler for an hour or so. Vincent has decided he prefers Speedos and had on the smallest Spiderman Speedo that I have ever seen. It was adorable and hilarious. At one point I went in to check on Olivia and came back out to Abigail laughing loudly at a totally naked Vincent throwing his tiny Speedo around the yard. What must our neighbors think! It only came back on after I threatened that he would have to come inside.

August

2009-08-10T16:57:00.001-07:00

Here are some photos from the beginning of this month. The below is of Olivia in her cute dress that I made. I was inspired by this website. http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-itty-bitty-baby-dress-pattern.html The dress is actually fairly easy to make and makes a great gift.

This past Thursday was Olivia's first outing to the zoo. She did great, as usual, and Abigail and her buddies had a blast. The last time I was there I was eight months pregnant, so it felt good to walk around without feeling winded all of the time. We all ended up on the train at the end, another first for Olivia.

The girls were so tired from the zoo that they both feel asleep in the stroller during our run that evening.

Here's a great shot of Olivia's double chin!

More Happenings

2009-07-31T14:55:00.001-07:00

Jeremy had a birthday last Monday and we celebrated with dinner at home and ice cream pie, which was inspired by the amazing occurrence of peanut butter oreos (a most yummy invention). Abigail and I bought him some new shirts and it was a nice evening at home.

This is a funny photo of the girls. Abigail often asks to hold baby without my assistance and I prop them up in the corner of the couch and stay very close by. Abigail is sporting pj's from Aunt Ruth. She sent us a huge box of clothes from Carters and they are all adorable. Olivia will be well decked out this fall and next summer, and Abigail is so excited about wearing her new jeans and pj's.

This week was the first time that I got both girls in my double jogging stroller. The thing is huge and takes up most of the sidewalk and it's a workout just pushing it to the corner but I did manage to slowly get through about two miles, which felt great.

Vacation

2009-07-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a lovely two weeks at Jeremy's folks lake house on Bass Lake in Michigan. There was lots of tubing, skiing, kayaking, cornholing (a lawn game involving throwing bean bags at a target), and family fellowship action and it was a blast. Here are some photos from the trip.

Lake Michigan

Flower Girl Dress for Vanessa's Wedding

Doctor's Visit

2009-07-06T13:33:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to give the grandmas an update about the visit.....Today, Olivia weighed in at 11 pounds 8 ounces and in the 96% percentile for height. She is actually considered a little underweight given her height, but the doctor says it's fine. She got three shots and another oral vaccine. The doctor says she has blocked tear ducts and one of her eyes is quite goopy, but otherwise was given a clean bill of health. Abigail did great at the appointment and was most impressed with the toddler sized potty (we had to go twice since it was so cool).

July 4th

2009-07-05T13:38:00.000-07:00

We had a very festive weekend, starting with having some couples over to our house on Thursday night for some of the Singing Flag fireworks (they start early). Friday we spent the day in Novato with family and then Saturday morning we headed over to the city of Clayton parade. Abigail and her buddies got to 'march' in the parade and it was a big success. Later that day we went to the program they put on for the Singing Flag and watched more fireworks. Needless to say, our three-year old was a mess this morning from too many late nights. Hopefully we will all nap well this afternoon.

Vincent was even at the parade!

She Smiles

2009-07-03T21:06:00.000-07:00

Olivia has started smiling and we love it. Here's some recent photos of her cuteness.

The Princess and the Peanut

2009-06-18T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo from last weekend - as you can clearly see I have lost the Princess battle. We got all of these items as favors at a friend's third birthday party. The only good thing is that they were all from the $1 bin at Target and don't seem to have a long life expectancy.

Here's another photo of our little peanut. Actually she's not that little..at two weeks she weighed five ounces less than Abigail at two months. Auntie Ruth and Mr. Adam gave her the cutie pie outfit. She's sleeping in 4-5 hour stretches at night, which is great, although she likes to be up for two hours at a time before she will get back to sleep. I won't complain though because she is a very good baby.

Two Weeks

2009-06-08T15:00:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Olivia had her two week checkup and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. After Abigail, who was always in the 5%, it is sort of strange to have one that is in the 80% for weight and 97% for height. I am hoping that she continues to gain weight well over the next few months so that we can skip all of the drama that we went through with Abigail at three months!

I have been so thankful for help over these past few weeks. We had a week of meals from our Sunday School class, Jeremy's mom came for a week, and now my mom is here for a month. My sisters also visited this weekend with their boyfriends and we have had lots of great family times together. I am feeling pretty good and getting naps most days, which has been a blessing, and Olivia is doing 4-5 hour stretches at night. Abigail is doing okay in her new role. I do have to watch out for her because she will be really gentle and sweet to the baby, but then all of a sudden gets too rough. This morning we had to do some discussion on why it wasn't a good choice to bite the baby's leg. It wasn't a hard bite, I think she was just testing boundaries, but a little scary nonetheless.

Sisters

2009-05-26T21:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a few more photos we took today with Abigail and Olivia in their matching outfits. Again, this is something I probably would have scoffed at prior to having two adorable girls and they won't always be matching, but I couldn't resist. Well, baby is crying and so these post might get shorter, but I thought I would at least upload these photos. Happy Tuesday!

Olivia Lee Smith is Here!

2009-05-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

After a quick seven hours of labor, Olivia arrived on the 21st at 9am. She weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces, 20.5 inches, and Abigail loves her. We came home today and are adjusting to life with two. We are excited that grandmas are coming soon and will keep the pictures coming!

Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:01:00.001-07:00

I had a great Mother's Day weekend. Yesterday Jeremy watched Abigail so that I could attend a women's conference at church. The day was relaxing and special, especially the nearly hour long reflection time they had built in so that the mommies could actually pray and read the word for some time without interruption. I was challenged by what the speakers shared and was very grateful for a husband who was willing to watch the kiddo all day. She was very excited because Daddy took her to get doughnuts in the morning and then they went to the zoo with some other wife-less daddies and got to ride the train - a big hit. Today I was craving In n Out and celebrated being a nearly mother of two (just two weeks to go) with a double cheeseburger. Yes, you read that right...and I enjoyed it. Jeremy had a softball game tonight and then we fellowshiped at another one of the couples houses afterwards. There were lots of kids running around and more hamburgers. This time I just stuck with the fruit salad since I had enough red meat for the day. Here's a photo we took this morning - Abigail also made me some very cute cards and pictures for Mother's Day that she gave to me this morning.

A Bike

2009-04-30T09:02:00.001-07:00

The neighbor boy gave Abigail his old bike and so now she has a real 'big kid' bike. Jeremy put some training wheels on it last weekend and she loved riding around the back yard. We might try and find some pink streamers to make it a little more girly but since I won't buy Barbie ones we might be out of luck.

Easter Weekend

2009-04-14T22:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend remembering Christ's death and resurrection with friends and family. On Friday, we had some of Abigail's buddies over for decorating Easter eggs, Aunt Gail and a crew of Davis friends came for breakfast on Saturday (the photo below is one of her friends, Kiki, who Abigail had a blast playing with), Gail and her friend Sarah stayed through Sunday, and we had a lovely Easter service and then two couples over for Easter lunch. I attempted my second ham and we had a great time of fellowship together.

We took Abigail to the Good Friday service and she was quiet through most of it and was only a little frustrated that she couldn't have the snack too (communion). We had a little chat about that but I am not sure how much of it she really understood. Gail and Sarah watched Abigail on Saturday night so that Jeremy and I could go to the Olive Garden and then Lowe's (this is what old, married couples do!). It was really nice to get away for a quiet dinner where we could actually talk! Gail and Sarah did a great job of playing with Abigail all weekend and spoiling her with all sorts of attention. Gail even gave her and Bobby rides around the yard (see below) on Sunday. What a blessing to have energetic college kids around! I was telling Abigail that mommy wasn't up to running all around the yard with her because baby makes me tired and she promptly responded with the observation that Gail didn't have a baby in her tummy so she could do it. So true!