Weekend Fun

We had another wonderful weekend despite the hot and humid weather!  :)  Abby and I spent Friday night hanging out with Mandy.  :)  I captured a cute video of the two of them playing:
Abby and Auntie

On Saturday Abby and I braved the humidity and visited the Old North Bridge in Concord, MA.  This is the site where the minutemen from Concord, Acton, Bedford, and Lincoln stopped the British advance and turned it back toward Boston during the Revolutionary war.  I just love Concord- passing by the former houses of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Louisa May Alcott is always exciting to me and walking along the dirt paths that hold so much revolutionary history is such a treat.  Abby walked over the bridge by herself (well, with the help of my hand) and walked much of the hiking trail by herself as well, waving to others on the path.  I noticed that she was more likely to wave at the runners and bikers and shied away from the walkers who wanted to stop and talk to her.  :)  Abby and I walked up to the visitor's center and looked at mannequins dressed in Minuteman and Red coat attire.  She pointed to each man multiple times and asked me, "Who's that?"  I think she's going to be a revolutionary buff before we know it.  :)  We also stopped at the garden by the visitor's center and Abby smelled all of the blossoms in the flower beds.  Here are some pictures from our morning adventure:

 After our trip to the Old North Bridge, Abby and I returned home for some sensory play (my current obsession).  I had frozen blue sprinkles in to some ice cubes.  I filled some containers with luke warm water and plunked the ice cubes in to them.  We played with wooden and measuring spoons in the water and Abby really enjoyed playing with the ice cubes.

Video of sensory play with Abby

Leif and I then took Abby to my cousin Jen's house for her son's birthday party.  Abby was particularly impressed with the buffet of fruits and vegetables set down on her level (on a coffee table).  I have never seen her eat so much!  She helped herself to everything and almost single-handedly ate the tomatoes in the veggies platter.  ;)  Her favorite this time was the grapes though.  Unfortunately I don't have a single picture from the party.  It turns out that watching an active toddler in a party setting like this takes all of your time and energy.  ;)  It was really wonderful to see my Stander family though.  Abby really enjoyed her second cousin Paul too and Paul had cleaned off a lot of his toddler toys for Abby the day before to give her.  He had explained to his grandpa, my uncle Paul, that he wanted the toys to look as nice as they did when he had them as a toddler.  How sweet is that??  :)

On Sunday we had a clambake for Matt.  Happy 30th birthday, Matt!  The clambake was Curious George themed.  This theme was completely conjured up by Mandy and it was impressive!  We had balloons, grab bags, lots of decor, and of course wonderful company.  We had a wonderful food spread and were all stuffed by the end! :)  Abby wasn't a huge fan of lobster this time around but she really enjoyed the Spicy Ketchup potato chips.  I was impressed because the chips were quite spicy! :)  Here are a couple pics of the spread. :)

Leif and I are DYING to get through this week!!  We fly out for MN on Sunday and both could sorely use a vacation!!! :)

Sending love to all!!  xoxoxoxox

Curious George and Cooking :)

It has been a tough couple of weeks for Abby for teething.  Her molars are coming in and boy are they giving her trouble!  Though she's almost always ridiculously pleasant to be around, we've had some meltdowns, middle of the night snuggles (like last night, for hours...  this mama is exhausted today!) and a lot of gnawing on anything in sight.  :)  For the past two nights we've begun a bit of a ritual to put Abby at ease before going to bed and that ritual involves a lot of Curious George!  Abby was introduced to the PBS show through her PBS app on the iPad and it was love at first sight- literally.  I found a used copy of Curious George's program on amazon- this is a particularly wonderful collection because all of the episodes have to do with sleeping.  At night, we snuggle up under a blanket in the living room and watch an episode or two.  We're usually not in to bedtime tv for Abby but we decided that she needed an extra treat while suffering through the emergence of these darn molars. :)  To add to the ritual, I visited the Curious George shop in Harvard Square yesterday.  This store had been my favorite toy store but unfortunately went through financial hardships and had to close.  They recently reopened but with a very limited supply of merchandise- but it was perfect for Abby.  I found a cute little Curious George stuffed animal and gave it to Abby last night.  She hugged her monkey and watched the show all snuggled up with us and I couldn't help but snap a picture of the cute scene.

Abby was also kind enough to cook dinner for us last night.  ;)  Here are some pics of her new kitchen. We think she's a foodie-in-training.  ;)

We're looking forward to a fun weekend!  We have a birthday party for Abby's cousin Paul (technically her second cousin) tomorrow.  Abby has loved Paul each time they've met and we're all excited to see the Stander family- including my cousin Keli who is coming all the way down from Portland, ME!

On Sunday we're hosting a clambake for Matt's 30th birthday.  Last time we took Abby out for seafood, she gobbled it down, so it'll be fun to see her with lobsters and clams this time around.  ;)  There is also a very appropriate special theme to the birthday party that will be revealed through pictures after the weekend. :)

Summer is speeding by and we're really looking forward to starting vacation next week and visiting our wonderful family in Minnesota.

Sending love and hugs to all!! :) :)

Budding Artist

Abby has been VERY in to coloring lately.  She has a wonderful new easel, art table, and apron that her Grandma Carol got for her and I bought her some dry erase crayons to use on the easel and paper.  She has been coloring to her heart's delight (and at times on any surface around her- the floors, my clothing, her clothing, the baby gates, she even tried to color daddy's beard last night!)  :)  Luckily the crayons clean up really easily.  Here are a couple pics and a video of the budding artist.  :)

 Yep, she's wearing two hats here, folks.  She asked for both to be put on her head- makes the creative process more efficient!  ;)

This week she worked really hard on a get well card for her Great Grandpa Earl!  (and we're nearly finished with some cards for the MN family- should be in the mail any day now!)  :)

And here is the video of Abby that I took last night :)  Abby the Artist

Here are a couple more pictures to show you a bit more of a day in the life of Miss Abby:

 Our dear friend Amy (A-mom) gave us this awesome collapsible cloth storage bin that Abby fits perfectly in.  ;)  She had a great time sitting in it the other evening.

And lastly... this is the dinner-time scene in our house every night.  You'll notice that Orion is strategically hanging out under Abby's chair.  When Abby is through eating, she likes to throw her food on the floor.  Orion, of course, is happy to clean up her scraps.  ;)  Yesterday we did have some BBQ chicken painting on the wall...  and quickly moved her chair away from the wall... ;)

and......  a couple pictures of Orion (we fondly call him Fluff)

Life with a toddler is unbelievably exhausting as well as unbelievably fun.  We are sooooo enjoying this age and all of the surprises that comes with it. :)

xoxoxoxo!!!