Canada or BUST! :)

11 days until we leave for Quebec City.  I have been talking Abby's ear off about our vacation for months now, or at least since she accompanied me to the post office to apply for my passport.  At first she thought we were going to Canada any time we got in the car.  This resulted in a lot of tearful car rides for a week or so.  Then she understood that we ARE going to Canada, but not for a while.  Now when I talk about Canada, she explains to me, "We're going to Canada but not yet."  We are very to get away for a week and explore what Leif describes as the most European place to go without getting in a plane.  :)  We will be driving to Quebec- a 7 hour ride total.  Though that's certainly a long drive, it's much shorter than our trip to St Augustine FL or Virginia Beach- it'll feel like a walk in the park in comparison.  ;)

We have had a lovely winter.  We went away for Grandma Carol's birthday to Lake Winnipesaukee.  It was a lovely weekend where Grandma got to see Abby ski in person and daddy enjoyed taking Abby down her first bunny hill (Abby loved it too of course.)  We even saw fireworks and a chinese lantern released in to the air on the night of Grandma's birthday thanks to the ice fisherman right outside of our rooms.

The snow has finally died down but the cold has ramped up.  It's been freezing and we're ready for spring.  Ok, ok, I should be more honest here- I am ready for spring- Leif could live in the winter conditions year-round.  ;)

A couple weeks ago Abby and I were able to meet up with my friend Caressa and her daughter Izzy and son Gavin.  Caressa is part of my mommy group and her daughter Izzy is the same age as Abby.  We had a "baby board" for April babies when pregnant and a lot of us have remained close friends since then.  Caressa lives in VA but was in the Boston area for her husband's work.  We met at faneuil hall for dinner one night and Abby and Izzy really hit it off.  They danced and sang and raced and soaked each other up.  It was so magical for me to meet Caressa in person.  Our group has been through a lot together.  Here are a couple videos from our meeting.  :)

Abby and Izzy Dancing

Abby and Izzy

Preschool

Abby is in preschool.  WHAT?!?!?!  BUT SHE'S STILL A BABY!  I know, I know.  I said the same thing.  ;)  The truth is, our girl is growing up too quickly but she is growing in to the most wonderful girl ever.  Abby started in her her class full-time a couple weeks ago.  Her new best is Sarah, two cubbies down from her cubby, and about 2 weeks older than Abby.  Evidently from the back, the teachers can barely tell the two apart.  :)  Abby loves her new class though admittedly misses Miss Cheryl, her toddler II teacher, from time to time.  She tells me though, "It's ok.  I can still give Miss Cheryl big hugs."  If I haven't mentioned this before, I love our daycare center.  I mean, I really really love it.  :)

We enjoyed some lovely snow in our lovely yard in our lovely town recently and built a snow fort and HUGE snowman for Abby before the cold weather turned it all to ice.  We'll probably have both snow structures on our yard until March now thanks to this cold snap.  ;) :)

We are planning a trip to Quebec City in March!  Leif wants to share this special place with his girls.  We can't wait.  I think it'll be neat for Abby to be around a little French too since she owes the language her very existence...  ;)  And check this out, we're staying HERE:

We are anxiously anticipating our vacation- an entire week without the hustle and bustle that is our lives right now.  We love our house and our town so much and wouldn't change it for the world but our work schedules coupled with our long commutes leads to pretty frantic weeks.  Good thing we have the sweetest and most hilarious girl in the world to keep our heads above water.  ;)

Next weekend we're heading to Lanconia, NH, right on lake Winnipesaukee with Grandma for a ski weekend (and Grandma's birthday on Saturday!)  It'll be nice to get away, do some swimming, and watch Leif and Abby ski Gunstock Mountain.  :)

Sending lots of love!!!

Prayer Request for Alexa

I have been unbelievably blessed with some friends whom I've never met in person.  We were all part of a expectant mom website when pregnant with our April babies and we have become so tight since.  We talk daily and confide and support and love and I am so grateful for these mamas.  My dear friend Carla is a member of this group.  She is the mother of twins- Evan and Alexa.  Alexa was born with a heart defect and today went in for her third open heart surgery.  The surgery went well but now is the difficult part for Miss Alexa as she recovers.  Please please say a little prayer for this strong girl and her strong mama and family:  Carla, Carl, Evan & Alexa.

Happy New Year!

Happy new year!! :)  We had a wonderful holiday season and hope everyone else did as well!

I just wanted to share a couple pics of Abby during our break.  I will write more and upload some videos once work has calmed down a bit.  :)

Sending lots of love!!!

 Auntie and Abby making snow angels!

 some super fun glasses Abby got at her friend George's 1st birthday party!

 Shopping with her new shopping cart

snow angel in full action :)

The Holidays

We survived hosting our first Thanksgiving!  Poor Miss Abby came down with a nasty cold though and of course I came down with it right before the start of the workweek.  ;)  We ordered a turkey from the John Crowe Farm one town over and it was neat to see the difference between a commercial turkey and a farm-raised turkey.  This was our first holiday without Nanie and that was difficult but it was wonderful to have crystal from Leif and my family's to keep our lost loved ones near and dear.  :)  Here is a pic of the turkey, the Thanksgiving table, and our pilgrim Abby (she made the hat herself!)

As we move on to Christmas, we've been asking Abby what she wants to ask Santa for this year.  Each time she has responded with the same answer- three goats (sometimes they're stinky goats, and sometimes they're just goats).  :)  Abby LOVES watching Frosty the Snowman and Charlie Brown Christmas right now and has a wide repertoire of Christmas songs that she belts out in the car.  :)

Sending love and good holiday tidings to all! :)

xoxoxoxo

Abby's Literary Taste

We're recovering from a bug that has kept Abby out of daycare all week.  We're not ready for cold and flu season.  ;)  Just wanted to take a quick second to mention the book that Abby has been reading lately-

A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Eighth Edition: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers.

Yup, that's the book she's been toting everywhere- she even needs it in her crib at night now to fall asleep.

I had purchased the book when I had lofty goals of taking a graduate course this semester at Harvard.  I couldn't swing it between working and my long commute but luckily the book did not go to waste.  I'll try to snap a pic of her reading it- she's wicked smaht.  ;)  Speaking of wicked smaht, we've been watching a lot of baseball lately with the Sox battling the Tigers in the ALCS.  The other day while I was driving to the store with Abby, she randomly shouted, "Go Red Sox!" from the backseat.  We are very proud.  ;)

Sending lots of love!!!!

Legos and naps don't mix ;)

Yesterday Leif and I put Abby "down" for a nap.  She had been snoozing in the car right before we got home so we knew she was ready.  The tricky little girl got her fingers on the container of legos in her room, however, by carefully working the lid off of the box and then sneaking legos through the rungs of her crib.  For the next hour, she played with legos in her crib, as happy as can be.  We kept expecting her to fall asleep but legos are way too stimulating, evidently.  :)  After an hour, I decided that the legos would probably need to be removed from the crib before Miss Abby would take a nap.  When I went in to remove them, she explained that she was playing baseball with the legos.  I couldn't figure out the logistics of her baseball game but was pleased with her imaginative world as the Red Sox are about to start their post-season journey this Friday.  Oh, and while I'm at it- Leif and I are going to the first game of the play-offs.  We have never been to a postseason baseball game and feel like Christmas has come very early this year.  Ok, back to the cute story.  ;)  I explained to Abby that she needed a nap in order to rest up to play with her auntie who was visiting for the day.  Abby explained that she needed her auntie, and then helped me put the legos away so she could take a nap.  She then sang for the next 30 minutes until finally falling in to a slumber.  She is unbelievably cute- like you-just-want-to-squeeze-her-cheeks-all-of-the-time cute.  ;)  I just wanted to write down this quick story before I forget.  The image of her playing legos in her crib kept me warm and fuzzy during the entire morning commute.  :)

Here are a couple recent pics of Miss Abby too :)

 Abby making sandcastles at the lake for my birthday :)

 Abby and her sidewalk chalk art in our front yard

 Abby's giraffe costume- we think it might be a bit too small for Halloween but we have another giraffe costume arriving shortly for trick-or-treating next month :)

Abby hanging out with Spiderman at the lake for my birthday :)