Normalcy

Dear Abigail,

Slowly and surely, we are returning back to normal. Now, that doesn't mean we've slowed down any, just getting back to our normal busy weekly routines!

On Wednesday, the two of us met Aunt Steph and Ellie and Miss Leigh and Ryan at Mellow Mushroom, while the daddys had their fun else where. You may ask where Miss EP was, right? Well, we were all super excited she wasn't with us, or at least we thought. She was having contractions so she stayed home, timing them, getting ready, etc., etc. Unfortunately, baby Grant is still not here (i.e. false alarm)... Oh well, we're still patiently waiting. But we did have fun eating pizza. You became an absolute spazz for the pizza, eating your slice, then eating bites of mine, then just getting a whole other slice! Girlfriend, you L-O-V-E you some pizza! And you get that straight from your momma! On our way to pizza I told you we were going to see Ellie and you got super excited and kept saying Ellie coming, Ellie coming and then, without me saying anything you said "and Ronnie coming". "Ronnie" is what you call Ryan WHICH is so crazy (but actually, maybe not) because Mommy had a real good friend in high school named Ryan, who was friends with the entire family, too, and when Katie Ann, your 2nd cousin, was your age, she called that Ryan "Ronnie" and to this day, whenever I see him I tend to call him Ronnie!!! I don't think Miss Leigh wants us to continue calling her Ryan "Ronnie", but for now, it sure is cute!! Anyway - my point in all that was that you associate Ryan and Ellie together!! But why shouldn't you? We do everything as a group! You are so smart!!

On Friday, Auntie Amy and Caroline and Harrison came into town to go swimming with us. This was our first trip to the neighborhood pool, so I was a little anxious to see your reaction to all the kiddos jumping and splashing and having a good ole time. And you haven't seen your cousins lately, so I wasn't sure if you'd warm up to them as quickly as we would like. No worries! The pool was fairly tame, not that you would have cared, and you loved you some "CaROline". You are so sweet when you say her name, pronouncing every single syllable, maybe even adding a few. Once I got those swimmies on you, you wanted to be let go, didn't want anyone holding onto you. And you would kick your legs, just like Mimi taught you, BUT, you still drink the water, even though Mimi says "Don't drink the wa-wa"! Mommy loved the neighborhood pool and knows we'll be back very soon. They even have a baby pool that I can put you in without your swimmies. You sat in that pool forever! It was perfect, and you had such a good time playing with your cousins. Unfortunately, I did not get my camera out...

After a good lunch, the Ings headed back to Cookeville, and you went down for a nap. You needed your rest because instead of Mexican, we decided we'd all get together and eat pizza! YEAH for more pizza! We all went to Uncle Jay-bee's house and everyone got to play together, finally. It had been a long time since you've been able to run around with Ryan and Ellie, and boy did y'all run around!! We tried and tried to get a picture of all 3 of you and all I could come up with was this...

We tried. We'd get 2 of you in the picture and the other one would take off running the opposite way. I think the 3 of you were teasing with us! Of course, the first thing you did when we walked in the door was run and jump in the bouncy seat!

I guess you're sort of like Peter Pan, never wanting to grow up?!! Ellie had a new toy out to play with and you knew exactly what to do with it! Mimi just got this toy on your vacation with her and you loved it at Mimi's and you still love it. It's taking all I have not to go buy it for you - surely you can get enough use out of Ellie's and Mimi's, right??? :)

Here's you just being down right silly with a pillow on your head!

I didn't get a picture of it, but you and Ryan loved Ellie's dancing duck! The 2 of you danced over and over again to it. And Ryan and Ellie were having so much fun running and just falling to the ground, laughing so hard. During this little spell, you had discovered Ryan's new toy, Ernie, and insisted he was ready for bed. You even put covers over him. You're such a good little mommy. You had such a good time playing with everyone, and after the kiddos went to sleep, the mommies all had a good time picking out matching Christmas outfits!! We can't wait!!!!

On Saturday, you and Daddy decided to spend some quality time together. Daddy took you to the science museum while Mommy stayed home to unpack. Of course, no camera was taken, but Daddy did say that your 2 favorite things were the concession stand and any ball that you could get your hands on! We just knew you were going to love the 4 story playground, but nope, the concession stand (where Daddy gave you chips!!!) and balls. Lots of balls! Whatever makes you happy, Princess! Once you got home, you were exhausted and took a forever long nap, which we were all thankful for.

Your knew favorite activity is to write. You love, love, love to write anywhere, on anything, with anything. Well, Mimi introduced you to crayons for the bathtub, which Mommy actually thought was pretty neat. THOUGHT being the key word. You are obsessed with these crayons and even if you are not taking a bath, you still get in the tub and write. Everywhere. Including the carpet, which Mommy still isn't sure how to get that up. Mimi's coming up next weekend, so I'm thinking I'll make her clean it up, since these crayons were her brilliant idea...

This is you imitating Mommy...

After 2 quiet times, and one "OH MY GOSH" from Mommy, we put the crayons up, at least for the time being...Thankfully the rest of the afternoon/evening was occupied with more friends! Mr. Tig and Miss Jessica brought Cater Ann over to play! We were so excited about their visit because we hadn't seen Cater Ann since she was 6 weeks old! And what a cutie pie she is. Of course, they couldn't get over how much you had grown in that year either. Miss Jessica kept saying "well she's just a little girl now!" You were sweet enough to show Cater your play room, but the sweetness pretty much stopped there. It's not too often that you have to share your toys, so we struggled a bit with that. Thankfully, Cater is super laid back, and loved Kitty, so she occupied herself elsewhere when you would decide to take her toy away. We clearly are going to need to work on that... Once it cooled off a bit, we took you girls outside to play on the playground and I think Cater had a ball! I know you did!! One of the funniest times was when all the adults but Mr. Tig went inside, so he was watching both of you. When I came back out, he asked me if I had given you a piece of bread because you were eating some. Of course, I had not, but then Mr. Tig said "Don't worry - I tasted it and it seemed to taste fine so I let her keep eating it!!" It was your sandwich from a couple days ago!!!! Mr. Tig was such a good little watcher, making sure you didn't eat anything that would be bad for you! Here's a few shots of you girls....

Here's Cater climbing up the slide - she did it all by herself!!

Both of you conked out after supper and that gave us adults a chance to catch up! What a fun visit.

Sunday, today, is Father's Day. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you are one lucky girl to have a Daddy as awesome as yours! You and Daddy have so much fun playing, whether it's building tents and hiding from Mommy or tickling you or going "Hmmmmm.... AHHHHHH" - which is some random game you made up, but love! Anyway, daddy's are special in general, but your's is just off the charts cool!

SO... with that said, we had to celebrate Father's Day! The whole crew (Papa, Uncle Jordan, Aunt Carly, Auntie Amy and Uncle Martin and the kiddos, Aunt Steph, Uncle Jaybee and Ellie, and us) all went to lunch! Shhhooo what a crew, but I tell you what, I think we may have figured out a kid friendly, still good food, okay to draw on the tables, place - Macaroni grill! It was perfect - they stuck all 200 of us in the back corner, and you were so excited because you got to write on the table!! And, for the 2 hours we were there, you did pretty dern good, if I may say so myself! A lot of that had to do with CaROline and Harrison, who played and played with you, and a lot of it had to do with the pizza CaROline and Harrison ordered for lunch - I ain't kiddin' when I say you love some pizza! You ate more of their pizza than they did! I was a little bit in a rush this morning and totally forgot my camera, so I am hoping your dear Aunties will be kind enough and send me a couple, since I did grab Auntie Amy's camera and take control of it!! Hopefully I'll get some pictures to post soon. Over all, a fantastic lunch experience - and you even smiled for the family group shot!

Once we got home, you and Daddy took a nap (this was part of Daddy's father's day present) and Mommy ran several errands. After a quick run to the grocery store - which by the way, you have discovered the car cart at the grocery store and heart it and refuse to go in anything else, so thankfully I haven't become annoyed with it like every other mom in America, YET... Anyway, quick trip to store, good wholesome nonpizza dinner, and off to bed.

Shhoooo, Mommy is wore out. We've all got to get our energy back this week because next weekend is BIG! Your great-grandmother turns 90 AND Clara Lee is coming!!!!!! YAY!!!!!

Until then - XXXXOOOOOOXXXXX