Abigail's Nanny: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

Easter Picture 2012

Almost a month ago, I got ready to take Easter pictures for Abby and Lilly. Of course, once I got the chicks, the weather turned cloudy and grey, and it was almost impossible to find a sunny day to shoot. I never was able to get Lilly :( but I did get a few minutes to do some quick takes with Abby.

To be honest, I thought they'd bombed, as I couldn't get her to smile for me, and she seemed a little afraid of the chickies, plus the sun was going in and out of the clouds, so imagine my absolute delight when I finally got them uploaded on my computer and they were gorgeous! :) (You can click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Friday, April 20, 2012

"And I Love You!"

For two (and almost a half) years, when I laid Abigail down for her nap, we read a book, cuddled a bit, and I have kissed her and said "Goodnight, I love you!"

When she started to talk, she'd grin and respond back, "I know!" which made my heart happy. :)

After we read "Guess How Much I Love You" our routine changed, with me saying, "Goodnight, I love you!" and Abigail stretching her little arms as wide as they would go and responding back "Thiiiiiiiiiis much!" Which also made my heart happy.

Last week my siblings showed Abigail the American Sign Language sign for "I love you," explaining what it meant, and tried to teach her how to do it. She coyly refused to cooperate, and they gave up.

This weekend Chris texted me saying that Abigail was saying she missed me. :( I missed her, too.

On Monday at naptime we read our book, cuddled a bit, and I kissed her and told her, "Goodnight, I love you!"

Abigail carefully moved her fingers into a perfect sign, flashed it shyly, and whispered, "And I love you!"

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Art Work

Abigail has gotten very skilled at coloring and crafting lately - she cuts, paints, colors, etc so nicely!

Recently she's been very enthusiastic about the crafts she does at school; it used to be that they'd send home coloring pages with a few halfhearted scribbles, or crafts that were slapped together or obviously greatly "assisted" by the teacher, and when I asked her about them I'd get a shrug or a one or two word reply.

Lately, though, she tells me enthusiastically about how she created the craft, or why she chose different colors for the drawing.

Today they made these adorable rainbow fish crafts - I hope they read the book - it's one of my favorites! :)

They must also be learning about turtles, because Abby has brought home at least three of these turtle coloring pages. :) She loves turtles! She's always careful to point out to me how nicely she stayed in the lines, and how many different colors she used. Today, she showed me the little orange spikey circle she'd added in the upper left hand corner and announced that the turtle needed a family, so she gave him a son. :)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Fun In The Sun

It's warm and sunny out! We hit up the playground after gymnastics for some fun with Grandma, Bean, and Lilly.

Abby loved going down the great biiiig slide with Grandma!

Lilly and Abby play on the bouncy see-saw while Grandma and Bean (and lil Caleb!) watch.

I'm so looking forward to a long summer filled with days like these! :)

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Best Friends!

We had another playdate with Lilly this week!

While I got to snuggle with this little guy...

(Isn't he just DARLING?) :)

The girls played (for the most part) nicely together. It was cool out last week, so since we couldn't go outside, Abby and I bought new coloring books at the spring sale at Michael's - a Hello Kitty one for Lilly, and an animal friends one for Abby. :)

Monday, April 9, 2012

Port Discovery

Last Wednesday, Abigail and I hitched a ride with Bean and Lilly and went up to Port Discovery, along with a handful of friends from school. It was a long day, but so much fun!

In the parking lot, getting ready to go in.

Our first stop - the Oasis, with their cool sandboxes. I think the girls might have been happy to hang here all day, lol.

Lilly

The sand was sooo white and sparkly... kind of entrancing lol.

We had arranged this trip on this particular day so we could see "the butterfly exhibit," which had been described to us as this amazing exhibit with butterflies that would thrill and astound our littles with its wonder.

It was slightly exaggerated.

As in, it was a craft table.

We did make pretty butterflies, though! In case anyone is interested, this is how you make butterflies: you take one coffee filter, color it like crazy with markers, then spritz it 2-3 times with a water bottle. The water makes the colors from the markers swirl and dissipate, then you pinch it with a clothespin to create the "body" and "wings", and wave it a few times to dry.

They had this neat giant conveyer-belt-game wherein you fit the shapes into the slots on top before they disappeared. Note: If anyone front Port Discovery is reading this, it needs step stools, people! :) Abby is two months away from being 4 and could barely reach on tippy-toes (that didn't really stop her, though, lol).

Next we wandered into the reading room where Abby discovered a lion.

Let me just say, she was convinced she wanted to spend the entire day right there, snuggled up to a giant stuffed lion. She was tickled. :)

We wandered upstairs to check out the nano exhibit.

And then - Waterworks!

Dear Port Discovery:
Thank you for the loaner slickers and crocs. It's a brilliant idea. Thank you.

Water band!

Science experiment: sink or float? Abby was really good at this.

The big bubble maker! Lol, we couldn't actually get it to work, despite Bean and mine's best tries, but it was fun to see.

Building waterways.

Clifford the Big Red Dog! Good timing, since we just "discovered" Clifford last week when Abby brought one the books home from school.

After a busy morning, Bean and I were ready for lunch (and I think the girls were ready for some peace and quiet, too - it was very noisy inside!).

We went across the street to Joe Squared.

It was lovely; we sat outdoors - I love this weather! - and the waitress was friendly and helpful. No kids menu, so I was trying to find something Abby would share with me. Since she's a huge rice fan, I thought maybe she'd share some risotto with me (and let's be honest, it also sounded amazing).

She was all for the idea until she saw Lilly's pizza, and then she wanted pizza. She's never eaten pizza with me before (she doesn't like the cheese), but Lilly graciously offered her a slice, and lo and behold, she ate it.

Back to the museum!

We wandered through the Egypt display...

Checked out the 50's Diner...

And then decided to let the kids run through at least part of the giant indoor climbing ground.

I am not afraid of heights - or at least, I've never been afraid of heights before - but for some reason this freaked me out once we were inside. I don't know if it was the netting or the squishyness of the floor (I kinda felt like my feet were gonna sink through the ground), but it threw me.

Abster and Lilly had no such qualms however. :)

At the end of our very long day, we packed the girls back into their carseats with beloved blankets and stuffed animals, snacks and juice boxes, made a Starbucks stop for the grown-ups, and headed home. :)