Abbie is Walking!

Here it is! Video of Abbie walking! She's been taking steps every now and then buy actually walking places more so now. She still crawls most times, as it is faster. 

We tried to get a good video but this was the best one.  I'll try to get another one when she's got more oomph in her. :-)

Sweet Abbie...now if she'd only get some teeth, haha!

Another Way to Follow

So for those of you that have several blogs you follow, or you haven't been receiving blog updates from this one....  you should follow via BlogLovin.   When you sign up for a free account, you tell it that you want email updates from this blog (and any other blogs you follow) and they'll send you a daily email whenever there's a new post.

Anyways, I've got my blog hooked up with Bloglovin so go sign up and stay up to date with the blog.  *If you currently use Google Reader, it will be "closing down" this weekend so in case you didn't know, you'll need to move over to a different subscription site anyways*  Highly recommend bloglovin!

Five for Friday

AToday is Friday so that means its time for Five for Friday!!  In the blog world its a time to post five pics from the past week to highlight on the blog.  I haven't done one on this blog yet but figured it might be time!

1. 

My HooBear:  We have been tryin as much as possible to get some Hayden and Mommy time, although it is hard to come by some days.  She loves to play outside, always in a swimming suit or a dress (not surprised, are you?)

2.

Check out our garden this year.   3 tomato plants on the patio. We also have a squash and zucchini in the little garden.   Notice the size difference in the plants? The one on the right is almost 2 foot taller than the others and is super thick!  Last year Ethan made a complicated compost mix for our raised garden bed that is apparently amazing.  The plant on the right is full of the compost where the other two are with MiracleGrow. 

3. 

And Abbie loves toilet paper.  We used it for stacking blocks but then I looked away, for just 5 seconds.  Making memories...playing with toilet paper...making messes. 

4. 

This is how we watch fireworks, apparently.  Hay is still scared of them but says she wants to watch them. So she and I sat in the back of my car, doors shut so we could still watch the fireworks but "be safe" and not  let the fireworks get us. 

5. 

Hayden and her dolls.  Some things never change. 

Happy Friday...the last Friday in June! 

Belly Laughs

Abbie's got the giggles....
 

and yes...when she falls off the couch she was fine :)

Looking Back

Was looking through my youtube posts and saw this one...from a year ago yesterday.




And this is a baby Hayden...I THINK at almost one year:

Cantrells in Cozumel

Ethan and I just returned from 6 days in Cozumel...ahhhh.  It was beautiful.  We celebrated our 10 year anniversary as well as my Masters graduation

We had been to a resort in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico last year with Heather and Chad and so our expectations were for it to be similar.   Although this time we were there almost twice as long, by ourselves, and I wasn't pregnant.

We had a forever delay on top of an already long layover from Kansas City to Dallas but finally got into Cozumel late afternoon on Saturday.   The resort was beautiful - Park Royal Cozumel.  It sat right along the ocean front, near a pier so we were able to see the cruise ships sail in and dock all day.  The staff was wonderful and pretty accommodating. The food on the resort was "okay", we found ourselves wanting something simply amazing that you would want to go back for more but it wasn't very flavorful either and not much variety.  But, we managed to be stuffed every time we left the restaurant.

Our First day...pre-burn...standing on the balcony

The Resort's Beach

The first full day we spent it mostly in the pools. There were 2 infinity pools and a beach but we didn't really get into the ocean water but once. We did snorkel for a bit there at the beach but apparently we were there at the wrong time and didn't see much.  We also forgot to put on sunscreen, and reapply frequently....which meant major sunburn.  

One evening we went out on the Jean Lafitte Pirate Dinner Cruise.  It was a lot of fun - not what we expected, probably better though. We would definitely do it again sometime.

Prates aboard the ship

The crew we ate dinner with on the pirate ship (Lobster & Steak for E, Chicken & Steak for me)

Another day we rented a Jeep to tour the whole island. This, too, was a great way to spend time in Cozumel.   The island itself is only 33 miles around and if you drove straight around it would take about an hour.  We left around noon and got back by dinner,  stopping frequently and checking out side spots.
    

At the far southern tip of the island is an ecological park which is protected so sea turtles can nest at night. We drove the Jeep back in the there and saw a crocodile and got to climb an up into an old lighthouse (150+ steep steps up, ugh).   Beautiful sight to see.

Standing alongside the ocean, near the lighthouse.

view from atop the lighthouse
150+ steep stairs high

Ethan with the "Last Mayan"
at a Mayan sacrifice ruin

Then we found a beach side restaurant and had guacamole and beef nachos (YUM).

The rest of the stay was definitely full of just relaxing. I managed to read TWO books (not sure when i last finished a one book, let alone two!) and get a good tan.  It was a great time to spend with Ethan and have a little getaway.

This was our last day, as we were leaving the resort. 

The girls on the other hand, spent the week at our house with Grandma Diddle.  According to Hayden they were silly a LOT (no surprises there). Sounds like it rained for most of the time we were gone but they still had fun.  I'm sure mom was exhausted, I know the girls were.

Hay was super excited to see us back and chatted non stop, also not getting very far away from me.  Abbie on the other hand...when she first saw us the next morning it took her a good 20 minutes to realize who I was (awe) and to come to me.  She remembered Ethan right away though! Once she got used to me again, it was like nothing had changed and she was content to check in and run off as usual.

Great trip...glad to be back.  Until next time, here's a few more random pics.

Balcony view of the ocean - 5 floors up

Happy Birthday Abbie!!

It was a beautiful day to have Abbie's birthday party. The weather was just perfect. And we are all very thankful for those that came to celebrate our little Abbie's first birthday.  We had friends and family from Kansas City (Aunt Cheri, Aunt Di, Gabriel and Ryan & Alisha Naylor), family from Joplin (Aunt Heather and Talyn), Grandmas and Grandpas (Grandma Diddle & Papa Tractor and Grandma Rhonda & Papa Ronnie) as well as our local friends (Matt, Heather & Benny and Josh & Andrea).

We had a watermelon themed birthday party with pink and green and black. Abbie's smash cake was a really cute watermelon cake that my friend had made.  We also had cupcakes and cookies and watermelon.

Abbie got a lot of fun gifts, that fit her personality perfectly. She got several toys where you can put objects into them, a few dolls, some little people, I talking puppy dog and a little art set. The big present this year was a water table, which all the kids loved.

Abbie wasn't too crazy about her smash cake. She stuck in one finger and them looked disgusted. We tried our best to help her smash it or to try it and realize how yummy it was, but it didn't work. We ended up giving her a watermelon cookie what she thought was the best.

After we did cake and cookies we all went outside to play. The weather was perfect.  The kids (big and small) were able to get out in the backyard and play with the trampoline, sprinklers and the water table.

It was really a great birthday and a wonderful way to celebrate Abbie. I still can't believe she is one!!

Thank you so much to those that were able to come!  

Sorry the pics are in a random order...its hard to manipulate and move them on the Tablet.  When we get back from Cozumel Ill try to remember to hop on here and fix it. :)

A Little Landscaping

Just some pics from the latest work that's been done on the house.  Ethan chose the week before Abbie's birthday party as the week to make our front yard a mess, in order to build the front retaining wall. 

As usual it was a perfect job for his "eye for precision" as the hardest part was getting it all level. Those first few days were interesting while we both were figuring out how to make the awkward slope of the house cooperate with our plans. 

This One is Dedicated to Abbie Reece

 Today is our little girl's last day being a "0"... her last night before she turns 1....I can't believe that a whole year has gone already.  Wow.

*Bear with me on this one...I'm not writing for an audience, just writing as I think.  It could get sappy*

So much has changed this past year. Abbie is a beautiful compliment to our little family and definitely brings some punch to the calmness we once had. She has already grown into such a little person, fully of feisty personality, and a very curious mind.  It's hard to believe that at this time just last year, we were a little family of 3, unsure what Miss Abbie would have in store for us.  I've been thinking back to June 8, 2012 all day...the events leading up to her delivery, those few hours afterwards, the 2 nights in the hospital - just me and her, and then our coming home.  Wow. It's already been a year. 

I honestly thought she wasn't a pretty newborn, and it's true. She was a wrinkly, bald baby...and I thought she looked like an old man. Funny though, others thought she looked like Grandpa John, haha.  She took all morning on the 8th to get here but when she was ready to meet us, she didn't waste any time at all.  I still remember calling Grandma Rhonda to come watch Hayden at 3AM, walking around the hospital for TWO hours, being dismissed, crying in the car not knowing what to do, Ethan grabbing breakfast but the thought of eating made me nauseous, getting out to walk at the park and knowing it was a bad idea, returning to the hospital - barely able to make it to the check-in office, then it's a blur but there was Abbie....  She was different from Hayden already, so different.  

Since then, she has definitely made herself a part of our family.  I can't imagine our family without her.  She is, for the most part, easy going and very content as long as she can see what everyone is doing and you give her what she wants.  :)   She really is stubborn and "strong willed" (to say the least) and has learned to throw her own little pity party recently .  

Here she is at one year: 

• weighs rougly 20#
• seems to be right-handed
• still no teeth (no shock there)
• sooo close to walking; seems to think she has to hold onto your fingers in order to walk
• LOVES Hayden and wants to be wherever Hay is and play with whatever she's holding
• she loves music
• too stinking smart: knows how to turn on/off her cd player, brush hair, tries to put on necklaces, can work the fridge ABC magnets, 
• can say momma, dada, go, bye-bye, almost says up
• signs bye-bye, all done, almost has "more"
• loves to be outside and especially loves the slide right now. 
• not a big thrill seeker as in heights...doesn't like to be up high without support yet
• however, really good at climbing...both up and down safely.
• nicknames: Abbie-gator, Abbie-cakes, Abner, HooDabs, PooDabs, DabDabs, Slabbie (grrr, Ethan...and Slabner...more grr), 

Hayden loves Abbie (thankfully). Although she's getting to the stage where she realizes that Abbie wants her stuff at inconvenient times so there is a lot of "teaching" happening in the house.  Hay loves to go into Abb's room and see her after she wakes up, singing silly songs.  She will entertain Abbie or distract her when we need a good distraction. Hayden wants Abbie to be big enough to play with her and it can't happen soon enough.  She wants to help Abbie walk - loves to sit across from me and get her to walk back and forth.  Hay is fairly gentle with her -- it's adorable hearing her talk or sing or read to Abbie when no one is listening.  

 

Tomorrow we're having her birthday party here at the house.  It's a watermelon theme and should be pretty cute. Definitely stay tuned for pictures from the party --- but it might be late Sunday night before I get a post up.  

Until then, here are some of our favorite Abbie pics taken June 3,2013. 

Happy Birthday to our sweet Abbie Reece!