So now it's Abby's turn to be the news.....

People always tell you how different your second child will be from your first.  They are right.  Both of our girls are sweet and good, but Abby has a devlish streak in her.  Kaydee was always afraid to go very high in the swing (still doesn't like being REALLY high) but Abby LOVES it.  The higher the better.  We joke that she would go all the way around  if she could.  She's not afraid of anything  (which frightens me a little bit).

Also, she's found the joy of toilet paper un-doing.  That, along with drinking water from the dog's dish, and sifting through the trash are some of her favorite hobbies

She loves playing dress up.....with the clean clothes from the laundry basket...

And she's a climber---onto chairs, the couch, boxes, Mom.....she's even tried to climb over the arm of the big chair in our living room---luckily the ottoman was right below so she didn't fall far.....

And she's quite the fashionista---today she turned an empty sherbert container into a hat.  Quite creative, if you ask me.

But she's still very sweet---Kaydee has even taught her how to fold her hands for prayers.  Love you, Abs!!

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Her new phrases are "I'm SERIOUS."  and "I didn't realize....."

Yesterday Mollie caught a mouse while we were outside.  I was worried Kaydee might think it was Mickymouse (her imaginary mouse friend) but she said, "No, I'm pretty sure it's not Mickymouse."  I asked her how she knew, and she replied, "Mickymouse is PRETEND, Mommy."  Er...my bad.

Today Abby was jabbering at lunch.  Kaydee said, "Don't talk with your mouth open, Abby.  It's not very good manners."  (I think she meant "full" not "open" ;) )

Last week we were driving to a doctor appointment and Kaydee was properly preparing for the engagement by putting princess sticker earrings on her ears.  She asked me, "Are YOU wearing earrings, Mommy?"  I told her I was.  "Well....I bet you wish you would have picked THESE earrings instead--THEY don't put HOLES in your ears!!  Why would you want holes in your ears, Mommy?"

Kaydee is a HUGE Taylor Swift fan.  She loves all of her songs.  Everytime she releases a new single Kaydee hears it on the radio and asks, "Do we have this one on a CD?" and I end up downloading the song for her.  Kaydee heard "Love Story" today on the way to school and said, "MOMMY!! Is this on a CD or on the radio?!?!"  ("Radio")  Well, when you get home you need to download it and put it on a CD for me.  I LOVE this song!"

And here is a bit of recent artwork.  She told me it's Pap.....dressed up as a bumblebee....

PS: You have to login to see the artwork.

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We're home from a fun week at the beach in Hilton Head, SC.   We went with Meema, Pap, Chantele, Jeff & Addie. 

Kaydee lived in the water--she loved swimming in the pool in the back yard of the house we rented and in the ocean.  She even braved the waves with Abby and Mommy.  She also went biking with Daddy and Pap.  Her room had two twin beds.  She told us one was her "Day bed" for naps and the other was her "Night Bed" for nighttime.  And she slept in one at night and one during the day.  She got to go Putt Putt golfing (miniature golf) for the first time.   The guys had a "real" golf outting planned for the next day and she told me she was sad because they had told her that at "big" golf you had to bring your own clubs.  "I really wish I had brought my clubs Mommy.  Now I can't go golfing with them."  I assured her she would be bored and was much better off playing in the pool with the rest of us.  She says her favorite part was playing in the pool and jumping in the ocean.

Abby LOVED the ocean.  She ran right into it.  She also had a great time in the pool, going down the slide by herself for the first time, riding in the bike trailer,  walking to the beach, and playing with her cousin Addie.  She learned two new words while we were there--actually, one new word and one new phrase:  "Tickle"  and "Ready to GO!"   She was always "Ready to GO!" 

We all had a great time swimming, riding bikes, walking to the beach, seeing dolphins, pelicans, cranes, turtles, & love bugs (okay, the love bugs were REALLY annoying), watching the big ships in Savannah, jumping in the waves, golfing, doing puzzles, and just enjoying spending time together as a family.  THANK YOU, MEEMA AND PAP!!!!!

We took HUNDREDS of pictures, I posted several of them in our Hilton Head photo album....so when you have time check them out!

And we're already on day 5!  Wow.

We had a great Labor Day weekend--we went up to West Virginia and Ohio to visit MeeMa, Pap, Gammie, Babu, Lisa, Grandma Sara and even got to see Uncle Dave.  (Kaydee wants me to make sure I list Effie too...)  Abby did FANTASTIC in the car.  I was really worried since she screamed for most of the drive last time.  But thanks to Kaydee's great big-sister skills, we made the entire trip with little to no screaming/tears from Abby.  YAY!!

Kaydee is still loving school.  Her teacher, Miss Lisa, is really great.  And fall soccer has started--WOOHOO!  We're playing at the YMCA this fall and so far it's been a great experience.  Our coach from last year moved over there and we've got 4 players from our Rec team (Kaydee, Connor, Will & Rem).  Their first game was tonight---they did pretty good for only having 2 practices and having 4 new players.  Kaydee had her first dentis appointment on Wednesday and did great.  The dentist said she had "beautiful teeth."  I LOVE LOVE LOVE her dentist--Dr Kwon.  He has the coolest pediatric dental office in the world, and his staff is WONDERFUL.  I HIGHLY reccomend them!!!

Abby is....Abby.  Into everything, running around, climbing onto anything she can.  She has several words now: "Was-at?" (What's that) is her current favorite.  She's learning more every day--especially thanks to her big sister who is more than willing to teach and coach her.  She's even been practicing her super soccer kick!  After watching Kaydee kick balls around, Abby also thinks every ball should be kicked.

I had a great birthday....Kaydee and Mickymouse sang Happy Birthday to me before breakfast, after school Kaydee gave me a card then said, "You know what your PRESENT is?  ........Playing trainset with ME!"  What a great gift, Kaydee!  Shane got me all the books in the Twilight series---he hid them around the house for me to find.  I also got lots of cards, phone calls, and e-mails from my fantastic friends and family....I felt loved.  We all went to eat at the Olive Garden...it's not Shane's favorite so we don't eat there often, but it is MY favorite and being MY birthday I got to choose.

Shane is at a softball game....hopefull his team will win, or at least not lose by 17 points......

That's our update for now....we're getting ready to go to the beach next weekend--hurray!!  Check out all the new pics!

Just goes to show that God is listening....

As many of you know, I am currently the Primary President in our Ward.  I've been feeling overwhelmed lately...mostly due to things NOT related to Primary.  But I've been praying that I could feel better about my calling and everything I've been asked to do--inside and outside of Church. 

In June my sister Virginia gave me an Inside Out CD.   We listened to it once in the car, didn't really love it, and stuck it in the visor with the other 30 CDs we listen to frequently.....I forgot all about it.  Monday I wanted to listen to something other than the radio so I reached up and randomly selected a CD.  It was the Inside Out CD....I popped it in the CD player thinking at least it would be a change, and Kaydee loves their Peanut Butter and Jelly song.  So we skipped ahead to it.  And then a few songs later, Primary Jamboree came on.....and it gave me the attitude adjustment I needed.

I actually laughed out loud at the "back to back, belly to belly" because  that's a pretty good description of trying to get our large Primary into one room.   I listened to it several times on the way home and realized that Primary IS FUN.  I love the kids in our ward, I love the teachers, I love our chorister, and I especially love my counselors and secretary.   It is the best calling in the world to have the opportunity to teach these beautiful children of God about the Gospel.   It's even better that we get to do it through music and stories and games that bring the scriptures to life and make learning FUN.

"I'm so glad I came to Primary today....."

This summer has suddenly come to an end with the beginning of a new school year.  Typically  we ride the heat wave of August into September.  But this August is different.  the precious baby I once rocked to sleep every night, who I have spent almost every waking hour of the past 4 1/2 years with, went to preschool this morning.  I know, some of you may think I am silly getting emotional over preschool.    Afterall, it's not real school.  It's only four hours a day, four days a week.  But it involves letting my child go.  She is in the care of an adult other than myself.  After today I won't be the only one with all the answers.   Miss Lisa will be the new expert.

Kaydee was so excited to start school today---she set out her new green dress and got her backpack ("packback" as she tends to call it) ready.  I sent her to bed lastnight telling her that she needed to go to sleep so we could get up early for school.  She woke up at 5:30am too excited to sleep ("It's early Mommy---is it time to get up and ready for school?")

I had a doctor appointment this morning so Shane got to take her to school on her first day.  At pick up this afternoon the first words out of her mouth were, "I am so tired, Mommy!  I shouldn't have gotten up so early this morning!"  And she's sound asleep in her bed as I type---she barely made it through lunch and didn't even argue when I said she needed a nap. (Now if I can just get ABBY to go to sleep....)

[img:20080818095032156 width:0 height:0 align:auto link:1 alt:0]  For all the pictures of Kaydee's first day of school click here

Hurray!!  One of my children resembles MY side of the family!  Kaydee is Shane's Mini-Me...she looks JUST like him---her pictures have even fooled Shane's parents before!  But I've always said Abby looks just like my Grandpa Bagley when she smiles....especially if she's being mischievious.  I finally got a picture of her today that captures a little bit of ME!

Take a look: (click to enlarge)

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  <-----PUSH PLAY

Happy birthday, sweet Abby-girl!!  I can't believe you're a whole year old already.  Where did the time go?  It seems like I was just bringing you home from the hospital....and now I'm chasing you all over the place. 

We had a fun (busy) day.  Abby had her 12 month well visit first thing this morning---she is 28 3/4" tall (25%), 21 lb 8 oz (55%), and her head measured 17 5/8" (44%).  She started crying the minute the doctor came in the room...and of course it just went down hill from there....I knew if she was fighting the stethoscope she'd really enjoy those shots.  But the tears had dried by the time we left the exam room, so I guess it couldn't have been too bad.

Then we went to the Mall of GA and did a little shopping.  She especially enjoyed the Disney Store and playing in StrideRite.  Then it was off to Party City for some birthday balloons and then we ate lunch at Arby's.  She ate her first Kid's Meal---a turkey sandwich and grapes.  She actually only ate 1/4 of the sandwich, all of the grapes and then polished off a Stage 3 jar of Gerber Spaghetti---for some reason this is her all time favorite food.  She was VERY excited about the toy. ;)

Then it was home for a much needed nap--she actually fell asleep in the car.  Kaydee helped her open her gifts and they both played with the new toys. 

Kaydee decided Abby "deserved" pizza for dinner, then we sang Happy Birthday and ate cake....I forgot the ice cream.  It's in the freezer---I just forgot to get it out.    When I told KD we forgot to have ice cream she said, "That's okay, we'll just have it tomorrow."  Good plan, Kaydee.

After a bath to scrub the cake from her face/hands/hair, Abby was ready for bed......Goodnight, sweetie! Hope you had a great day.  LOVE YOU!!!!

Here are some pics--to see all of them see Abby's Birthday Album.

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Anyone who knows Kaydee knows that she can be hilarious.  Here are a few recent Kaydee-isms:

(Note: Kaydee's best friend is imaginary.  She's a mouse named Mickymouse--not to be confused with Disney's Mickey Mouse)

About Mickymouse:  Kaydee told me that Mickymouse just built a new house...above our fireplace.  She told me "She dug and dug and made a round hole in the wall behind that picture.  She's moving her furniture in later today."

Kaydee came downstairs wearing a dress, heels, necklace and carrying her purse and said, "I have to go to the church---Mickymouse and I have a 9 minute meeting."

It seems that Mickymouse or her dad have similar lives to ours.  After my root canal, Kaydee told me, "Yeah....Mickymouse's Dad had to have that done.  He said it made his mouth hurt real bad."  When Shane travels for work, Mickymouse's dad travels too.  Once Kaydee told me that she and Mickymouse had a job in Florida. :)

Today we read "Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr Seuss.  The last line is "So....Be on your way!"  Kaydee turned to me and said, "But I'm not allowed to go out of the house by myself."

Kaydee got a new dress yesterday for the first day of school.  It's green and she loves it.  She wanted to wear it today but I told her it was not a play dress, it was for church or school.  Later she was supposed to be cleaning up the play room, but when I walked in she was just staring off in space.  I asked her what she was doing and she replied, "Oh, I'm just dreaming of that green dress."