I took Abby to get her first haircut yesterday. She did pretty well-not too much squirming, but any longer in the chair and it wouldn’t have ended so well. Along with bangs, they trimmed about an inch off, so that it would all be even. I’m so glad that the curls didn’t disappear. She’s looking more and more like a little girl and less and less like a baby-not sure how I feel about that. I have to gush just a bit though, because she is just about the cutest little thing ever with her new do! :)
We were lucky enough to have some really beautiful weather earlier this week. So nice, in fact, that I got the kiddie pool out for the kids. Can’t wait for summer!
Fun with turkey basters.
She’s getting to be such a big girl!
Abby loves to SPLASH!
Honk honk! 
What do you see, Abby? 
Bubbles are the best! 
Look at those cute legs!
Playing together
This year we attempted to color Easter eggs with Avery. It went really well-we did the easy simple one color variety. She had a lot of fun with daddy. Daddy mostly had fun except when he got nervous a few times with how not really at all carefully Avery was handling the eggs.
This is my favorite picture of all!!! 
We had a really nice visit from Poppy on Easter weekend. We went to a ginormous furniture store that had a petting zoo, pics with the Easter Bunny, and eggs hunts all indoors. The lines for the egg hunts and Easter Bunny were so long that we chose to do the egg hunt. Fun was had by all.
On Easter, Poppy, Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Megan all came to church with us and then back to our house for Easter lunch and our own egg hunt. (I have to give credit to my dad for all the remaining pics-there are a lot on here that I haven’t given him his dues for. Thanks Dad!)
We had a small (just family) party for Abby’s birthday yesterday. She ate some yummy cake, got some nice presents, and went for many a ride in her new car.
It seems impossible that just a year ago she was born into this world. All day yesterday I was thinking, “Let’s see, at this time last year I was…” She truly is a joy and a blessing. I can’t imagine what life would be like without her. We are so thankful that God answered what seemed to be an impossible prayer and allowed Abby to survive what we were told was a miscarriage. Abby, you are a miracle and a testament to God’s love, mercy, and power. We love you sweet girl!
Yay Abby! 
Cuddling with her glow worm from Auntie Megan.
Vroom vroom! Beep beep!
Abby thinks Grandpa’s funny.
Auntie Megan gives the best rides!
Abby’s cake and cupcakes before being demolished. I learned from my mistake with Avery. Abby didn’t get a mini cake, only a cupcake (a giant one though) in the hopes that she wouldn’t puke it back up like her big sister did on her 1st b-day.
I’m 1 today! A little snack before the main event. 
Here she goes!
It’s so good once it hits your lips!
Double fistin’ it!
Birthday balloons
I want that piece over there!
Can she get her whole fist in?
Or maybe just a flat handed smash 
Now she’s being dainty all of a sudden.
It’s the sugar coma look.
Scrapping it up by her fingernails 
Last delicious bite! Yum! And nothing in her hair! She stayed pretty clean I think.
I hadn’t realized it had been two months since my last post until my darling sister so lovingly pointed it out to me. I suggested she and I trade lives and she could take care of two busy little kiddos, a crazy dog, and keep a household going and see just how often she’d be able to post! LOVE YOU Megan!!!!
So I have to catch you up on the latest with us. Well, like everyone else in Western Washington, December was a crazy snowy month for us. We were so lucky to have my grandparents on my mom’s side come and stay with us for a few days. That was at the beginning of the snow and we weren’t able to go out and about, so we spent a lot of time just visiting at home. We had to reschedule our Christmas Eve celebration with Marshall’s dad until the day after Christmas. But I was determined that we would make the hour and 15 min. trip to my parents’ house on Christmas day. The trip took us about 2 hours in the snow and when we got to the top of my parents’ long, steep, windy drive, my dad directed us to park in a giant snow bank. We foolishly (love you Dad!) followed his directions and promptly got stuck. Thankfully we got unstuck and parked further back up the road. I pulled Avery and the presents in the sled, Marshall carried Abby, and my fam carried our overnight stuff we brought just in case, and we trooped through 21 inches of snow about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile to my parents’ house, stopping several times to dump out the snow that had fallen into the sled and stopping once more to get Avery out of the sled to carry her since she’d had enough of the snow piling in on her. We had a lovely Christmas day and then when it was time to go, we decided we didn’t feel like make the trip back to our car in the dark, so we spent the night. The next day, Dad redeemed himself by digging his car out of the snow and managing to drive us safely to our car. What an adventure!!! Too bad, neither of the kiddos are old enough to remember that crazy Christmas.
Me carrying Avery down my parents driveway.
My parents’ house in the snow.
A bird feeder at my parents’ with gobs of snow.
Auntie Megan and Abby after warming up from our trek in the snow.
Let’s see, what else? Abby took her first step on December 15th and you would think that after 2 months she’d be walking everywhere. Nope, not our Abby! She’s a super speedy crawler, loves to cruise on furniture, and will take 2 or 3 steps at a time, but she’s very happy (well, happy for Abby) thank-you-very-much crawling most of the time. I swear she can say, “Mama,” “Dada,” “All done,” and “More,” but she WILL NOT say them if you ask and when she does say it, it’s only once and I’m not sure if I heard correctly or not. She can sign, “More,” and I don’t doubt that one, because she signs it all the time. She turns 1 on Sunday and I can’t believe it-how did a year go by so fast?! She was dedicated last Sunday (I’m almost embarrassed it took us a year to do it!) and my family was there to celebrate with us and afterwards we celebrated my dad’s birthday. (I won’t tell you how old he is, but we taught Avery how to say, “Happy Birthday Senior Citizen!”)
Right now the poor thing is suffering from a double ear infection and RSV-a virus that hits kids under 2 pretty hard. Thankfully, her fever of 104 is no longer and she doesn’t seem to have too bad of a case of RSV. She has discovered that she lives in a world where drawers abound and not only that, but there are all sorts of fun things in them, like bibs, diapers, sheets, and towels. She also discovered the stairs. Boy they are exciting!!! But will she climb them up to the top when we go upstairs, so I don’t have to carry her? I think you know the answer to that one. Books are a new favorite as well, especially the “Peek-a-baby” book Grandma got her for Christmas. All in all, Abby has become a much happier little girl in the last few months and we hope the trend continues.
Some pictures of Abby’s dedication. Our Pastor, Chris, and his wife, Lisa, whom we absolutely adore! 
And we couldn’t forget the latest with Avery. That girl has an incredible imagination, such a compassionate heart, and a memory that astounds me. She LOVES to dress up and play pretend. She’s very often a princess or going on an adventure with Dora. (Yes, Dora is her latest obsession.) She notices if someone is sad or upset and asks, “You ok Mommy?” Last week she asked me that and I said I had a cold, she said, “I pray for you mommy,” and her standard prayer, “Jesus, love you, amen.” My heart melted. And as for her memory-well sometimes it’s funny and sometimes it gets us in trouble. For instance, we were at the grocery store two weeks ago and she saw an orange cone in the middle of the aisle. She ran over to it, picked it up, and yelled, “Hello, hello,” into the cone. My dad is notorious for picking up cones and yelling, “Put down the cone!” Avery saw him do this in August and remembered. Definitely funny, but could come back to bite us in the long run.
We are in the process of serious potty training and let me tell you, we have some stories!!! WARNING: THESE ARE GROSS STORIES AND NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF THIS IS YOU. I’m trying to get her to be able to do the whole potty process herself, so while I was giving Abby a bottle, I told Avery to go potty. So off she went and I heard (isn’t it amazing how us mom’s know the sounds of everything?) all the appropriate sounds. Minutes later I heard a sound that wasn’t familiar and so I asked Avery to come here. She had her bathroom cup with her and was saying, “This water yummy, Mommy.” I asked her where (oh please no, since I hadn’t heard the toilette flush or the faucet run) she got that “water.” She said, “From the potty mommy.” “Did you go pee pee in the potty!? Did you flush the potty!?” I was asking these questions in vain, because I had heard all I needed to know. UGH!!! We had a discussion about what kind of “water” we do and don’t drink. Just last week she was going naked from the waist down (sometimes she does this if she’s having a hard time making it to the potty in time) and I took Abby upstairs for a nap while Avery stayed downstairs. I came back down and Avery said, “Mommy I went poo poo.” I asked her where she went poo poo, hoping she’d say the potty, but no, she pointed to the carpet and said, “Right there.” Funny thing was, there was no poop to be seen. I asked her where her poop was now and she said, “Gracie [our dog] ate my poop.” UGH UGH UGH!!! I cannot tell you how disgusted I was and still am with my dog. So, needless to say, I am extremely ready for potty training to be complete.
Right now, we are all sick and that is why I have time for such a LONG post. Other than feeling crummy, it’s been kind of nice to lounge in PJ’s watch cartoons, and have an excuse to be lazy. I hope this keeps you satisfied for a while, because I have no idea when I’ll be able to post again. Hopefully, I’ll get some pics of Abby’s b-day up not too long after her big day. Love to all!!!
Christmas with Poppy
Christmas Eve
Avery has learned to suction cups to her face-she thinks it’s hilarious
Sweet sweet Abby
Princess Avery with her royal subjects, Tigger and Tigger
Abby & Avery in Abby’s playpen
Abby LOVES paper-especially magazines, but this valentine will do. About 2 seconds after this pic, she shoved it into her mouth, because what else do you do with paper?
Just finished making our ginger bread train with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma.
