Thanksgiving 2009

Dear Abigail,

Mommy has been very busy lately, so I kind of slacked a little on the blog. Good news is I have an excellent memory, or rather, I took lots of photos, so I can catch us up rather quickly. I shall begin with Thanksgiving...

This year, we went to Aunt Amy & Uncle Martin's for Thanksgiving, and what a feast it was, well, aside from the awful brussel sprouts. Yes, the crazy Clark side of your family eats those at Thanksgiving. Don't worry, Mommy made green beans for you (and me!) You, however, didn't need the green beans because you filled up on apples! Aunt Amy had these miniature apples, maybe they are called crab apples, but they weren't supposed to be for eating, as they were a part of her centerpiece. But, you saw one and asked what it was and immediately started saying "apple" - perfectly! So we of course gave you one. Then another, then another! I think we were so happy you could say apple so perfectly. You loved it, too, as it was the perfect size for your tiny hands!

Poor Aunt Amy had to do without crab apples for the centerpiece. It still looked lovely though, and she didn't seem to care. She just loved tickling you to death...

The turkey was done and it was time to eat! You thought it was mighty yummy, for sure!

We, of course, spent the night, and even tried to do our annual hike. Unfortunately, we picked a lake to hike around and it was SUPER freezing. And, unfortunately, your mommy and daddy were bits of a wimp and decided half way through to turn around - okay, it was more like 1/14 of the way through! It was super cold!!

All in all, another great thanksgiving! And this, my love, is where it got SUPER busy...

Halloween 2009

Dear Abigail,

Well, I told you it would be a busy weekend, and I didn't let you down! And even though a couple of my hopes/predictions did not come true, it will still go down as a Halloween favorite. The Halloween weekend really started with Thursday at Kindermusik, where everyone dressed up in their costumes. You were precious, as always, but there were definitely some other cutie pies in your class. Of course it was harder than ever to get a picture of you with your friends, but I tried my best. Here's one of Jacob (the bear) and Noah (the lion), and of course, the litlte lady of the bunch - or well, lady bug.

And here's a ladybug playing the drum! Who would have ever thought they'd see that...

And then a lady bug playing the metal something or the other - or well, not even that, a lady bug eating the noise maker stick!

Here's the lady bug dancing, with a monkey (Eli) and Titans cheerleader (Carolina) behind her...

And here is your teacher handing out the scarves - Mommy cannot remember her name for the life of me right now... Hopefully she doesn't read this blog.

Although you are a bit shy in Kindermusik, I think you have fun in it. You are starting to be really good about putting the toys back where they go when we're through playing with them. That makes Mommy proud. But you still have a tendency to sit right on top of me or make me hold you the whole time. That's okay - a lot of what we do is dance with each other, so that's fun. You really like it when I make you spin!

Thursday afternoon was spent planning for the big weekend that did not go exactly as planned - the story of our lives...

The unplanningness started off that Friday morning. The plan was for you to get up at your normal time (7ish), we eat breakfast, then I run my chili up to work. Well, you slept till 8! I ended up just throwing you in the car with your sippy cup and off we went! That wasn't too big a deal, except that it kind of messed up the nap that I needed you to get because you were getting a flu shot at 10:50. Instead of the hour, hour and 1/2 nap I wanted you to take, you didn't take a nap at all! I even had to take a shower while you were in your play room - that was a first and it was the quickest shower ever. I did try to put you in bed, but you just played, and then it was time to leave, so we just went straight to the doc to get that shot. And, well, you did cry with the shots - BUT, only for like 5 seconds. It happened super fast, and Mommy comforted you very quickly, so it actually wasn't too, too bad. So I decided I would run by work to hear them announce that my chili won. Well, again, things didn't go as planned. I got to work and let my department 'coo' over you, and then the announcement came - and everyone who put chili in had to go stand up in front of everyone, so that meant you too! I felt a little silly with you, but you were so adorable I don't think it really mattered. AND, I didn't win - BOO. I shouldn't say I didn't win - your daddy didn't win. He was a little hurt by it. Oh well... Soon after the announcement that I didn't win, we left. I knew you didn't want chili, and you needed that nap, but I needed you to eat a good meal, so off we went.

You did eat a good lunch and you did take a good nap, but Mommy didn't get to take one. Once you woke up, we headed to Daddy's work, where they were having trick or treat around all the offices. Oh boy, was that fun for you! You were so excited, and not the least bit shy. I thought you might be scared of all the people, but it was like you didn't even notice them! You went to Daddy's floor first and Miss Pam, who just adores you, was so excited to see you and thought you were the cutest lady bug ever. You met lots of Daddy's friends and even the CEO! I'm pretty sure he thought you were the cutest too! Then we went to this one floor that was decorated kind of scary, and it worked - you didn't really like that area. It was a long 2 hours of you running up and down the halls, running into people's offices, getting candy from the baskets and putting it back or giving it to someone else. You were super busy, but super good! Mommy was very proud of how well you acted. Here's a few pics:

You trick or treating...

You look so sweet here - you are patiently waiting for the candy...

Here's you playing with another girl your age, it's Daddy's friend's daughter, Hollis. She was a cutie too, a little piggy:

And here you are with Daddy in his office - we had so much fun...

So clearly the shots didn't affect you for the office party, but would you do okay that night... We were concerned, and except for a minor 10 minutes of me having to rock you in the middle of the night, you did fine! I'll take that over the last go round of shots when you decided to party till 2 a.m.! You even slept late too - YAY! But would you do okay the rest of the day...

YES! So, we left the house at 1 to meet up with the gang at Mr. Lee & Miss Leigh's house - and this is with no nap, btw. I decided there was nothing we could do about it, so we'd just go with the flow - and it worked!! Woo-woo! So, we went to the pumpkinfest in downtown Franklin - fun times BUT, you needed to be about 6 months, maybe a year older to truly have the fun. Daddy said we were teasing you because you kept seeing all this fun stuff, and wanting to go to it, but you were too small. You really wanted to bounce in the jump house, but there were other kids, and frankly Mommy didn't want you to get hurt. Then there were ponies to ride, but Daddy thought they looked to sad and didn't want to contribute to their depression (the ponies, that is - yes, he loves his animals). So we walked around a lot, and Mommy found several cute things to purchase for you!! We even took a picture of you with this humongous pumpkin!

After the pumpkinfest, we headed back to the Grugett's house for a little Halloween party and some trick or treating! We tried our darndest to get you kiddos to all look up at the same time, but it was just too, too hard. I did discover what you are getting for Christmas though. You absolutely loved Ryan's magnets - we could not pry you two away from that refrigerator!!

After a little bit of playing together, we all went trick or treating! You did a pretty good job, I have to say. You knew to go get the candy and then put it in your little bag! All you kiddos looked so adorable - I am falling in love with Halloween!!

After we got all the candy we could take (3 houses), we went back to get our grub on and then our sleep 0n - well, you did! Mommy and Daddy put you down, and then got to stay and play with the gang! It was a very fun and memorable Halloween little lady bug! You did fantastic, shots and no naps and all! I love you little bug - keep being as precious as you are!!!

Busy, busy, busy

Dear Abigail,

This past week/weekend was super busy for us, but lots of fun. Last Sunday, me, you and Daddy went shopping together. This rarely happens with just me & Daddy, but to include you means even more! We didn't stay too long, but it was a fun time chasing you around the stores, through the racks of clothes, up the stairs, etc! That afternoon, Daddy came home at half time from watching the Titans game cause we were going to carve our pumpkins. Well... we went out to the front porch to get our 2 fantastically picked out pumpkins from an actual pumpkin patch - your first pumpkins to pick out - and low and behold, someone had stole them! Can you believe it?! Ah, the audacity. But, this is going to be a 'lesson' post. A long long time ago, when Mommy was little, like 16ish, she did something, well, not too nice. See, my best friend Lee came up with this idea to go put pumpkins in front of Erin's driveway, so she couldn't get out of her driveway. And yes, I'm talking about Miss Erin, Ellis' mom, who is the nicest, most forgiving person in the world. Anyway, in order to cover her humongous driveway, we needed lots of pumpkins - well, to get lots of pumpkins, we had to steal them from people's porches!! AHHHH, there's a phrase that goes "what goes around comes around" or maybe it's "what comes around goes around" - anyway, it's my fault your 1st pumpkins got stolen, and I'm so sorry. Never steal pumpkins - ever. You will regret it, even if it's 16 years later and you were forgiven!! PS - it was Miss Lee's idea - i'm not that clever :)

Anyway, so we didn't get to carve pumpkins, and had to rush out to the store to get more before all the good ones were gone. Monday through Friday flew by with constant things to do; Friday night was the usual Mexican, and this time we went to the restaurant. You did pretty good, and lasted longer than we thought - OH, and Miss Erin and Mr. Jay announced that they are going to have a baby!! We're so excited for them - all of us will have a baby now, and you all can be bestest friends ever, or at least play with each other while the adults eat mexican! Saturday started out super early. As soon as breakfast was over, we headed straight to Memphis. Mommy and Daddy had a wedding to go to that night, but we needed to get there early because Mimi wanted to take pictures of the entire family, or at least all her grandbabies! It was the first time i think she's got a picture with all of you!

There's a lot more I'll add when Mimi sends me the disc. You had fun with all your cousins, and even ended up putting on the same outfit as Clara Lee, of course! She's getting so big, you don't even know how to react to her! After your nap, you had your paci in your mouth and she crawled up, took it out of your mouth, and put it in hers! You just looked at Mimi like "make her stop"!! Mommy's so excited - the 2 of you are getting so close to playing good together! After a good lunch, including you eating BBQ, Mommy and Daddy skirted off to watch the UT football game, which I shall not discuss because we want no memory of that whatsoever. While Mommy and Daddy were at the wedding, you went with Mimi and Pic-pic to Mammaw's for a going away party for your Great-great Aunt Lois Ann and Uncle Jimmy - i think that's it... anyway, Lois Ann and Jimmy are moving to Florida with Kim! We will SO visit them! Mimi said you were a little scared of the bazillion folks down there, but you didn't have any problem scarfing down meatballs! Of course, you had matching outfits with Clara Lee (hurry up Mimi with the pictures!!)

Sunday was fun, too. We had planned on stopping by Papa Rob's house for a little lunch with him and Gramma, but the whole gang ended up over there, including Madison!!! She loves you, and gets so excited when baby Abigail comes and plays! She was great entertainment for you, and it was such a pretty day, we ended up eating lunch outside! Here's some great shots of us after lunch...

Here's you trying to pet the kitty. This cat actually lets you pet her, and doesn't run away from you. You, once again, didn't know how to react to that!!

I think Madison was showing you how to smell the flowers, or at least pick them!

And here she is showing you how to do a cart-wheel...

and then you tried...

Even Papa Rob and Daddy had fun in the sun!

It was a long weekend, but we made it! Get excited, we got an even busier weekend this go round. Here's my predictions on how I want the weekend to go - let's see if it happens...

Friday morning - Abby gets her second flu shot and doesn't cry at all.

Friday right after shots - Mommy and Abby go to Mommy's work for the chili cook-off and it's announced that Mommy wins first place for her chili, and Abby is on her best behavior.

Friday at 1, we both take naps.

Friday at 3 we go to Daddy's work in our costumes for trick or treating in the office. Abby's shots will have no effect on her and she's, once again, on her best behavior.

Friday night we have a great night's sleep, because..

Saturday we go to the Franklin Pumpkinfest and Abby is FANTASTIC and will last without her nap since we'll be going smack dab in the middle of it.

Saturday afternoon, we go trick or treating to a couple houses and Abby looks as cute as can be.

Saturday night, Abby goes down at the Grugett's like she's in her own bed and Mommy and Daddy have a fun night with the gang.

What do you think Abby - will any come true? Stay tuned for the next blog to see. PS - PLEASE make at least a couple of them be true, please!!!!

Love you anyway, even if none come true!!!!!

Another visit to the zoo, but still know giraffes

Dear Abigail,

It's been 2 weeks, I think, but I can still remember the zoo trip. Auntie Amy and the kiddos were on fall break, so I thought it would be fun to go to the zoo with everyone. And, it just so happen, that Aunt Steph was off work, too, so Ellie got to come!! And Ellie's grandma and Aunt Melanie (Aunt Steph's sister) joined in on the fun - a whole slew of people. We were all so excited, but then the day came, and boy was it a terrible day for the zoo. Aunt Steph and I were determined to go, Auntie Amy, not so much. She has much more experience in these things, you see, while Aunt Steph and I are still a little naive BUT, it all turned out just fine and dandy, no colds, no crying babies, nada. It did start to rain on us at the end though, and we ended up leaving Auntie Amy and the kiddos, without even saying good-bye! Who knows where they were! We had a good time, but we still didn't make it to the giraffes. You did get to see tigers walking around and the monkeys and once again, you loved the meerkats. Hopefully we'll get to go one more time before it gets too cold, but I don't know - you've been wearing a coat the last couple of days...

Here's a few pics from the zoo trip:

and our little helpers:

Not only did your Auntie Amy bring your crazy cousins, she brought along another 2 crazy kiddos! I can't remember the girl's name, but the little boy was Harris, and their mom's name is Nicole, so Caroline, Harrison and Spencer all call me MISS Nicole instead of Auntie Nicole - it makes mommy crazy!!!! silly rabbits!!

Another fun memory with the family!

Love you monkey!

Trash

Dear Abigail,
You have an obsession with garbage cans. Maybe all 13 and 1/2 month old princesses do, I don't know, but you do - and it's gross. And, while Mommy and Daddy are trying our hardest not to say "NO" but rather say "it's not for Abby", nothing is working, even when we lose our patients and scream "NO ABBY!!"
Your first obsession is to throw your diaper away. Which, to be honest, I like. I like that you like to help out and clean up. You know when your diaper comes off that soon enough the room will be refreshed with week old diapers as you open that fancy dirty diaper trash can. I'm hoping it's not the fragrance that captivates you, but rather the opening of the lid and dropping of the diaper into the dark, black (and smelly) hole. Problem here is, you like to stick your hand down in that dark, black (and smelly) hole. We keep 'hanitizer' right beside the diaper can to say the least.
So, you love that diaper can, right. Well, apparently you love it for more than just diapers. Sunday, Mommy was making you try on a new pair of shoes right before I was putting the actual shoes you were going to wear on. I knew I had sat the new shoes on the ground beside the chair, and off we went to run errands, etc. Later that afternoon, I went searching for those shoes. Counldn't find them anywhere - even called Daddy to see if he had done something with them or seen them. They were brand new, and I could not find them! It was driving me batty and I was running around the house, looking under beds and in the bathtub and laundry baskets. I even had convinced myself that maybe I put them in a shopping bag to take them back, even though I had no intentions of taking them back -that's how crazy I was getting. Well, about an hour after looking, I looked up to see you walking toward the infamous diaper can and then it clicked... I had to take the lid off and scrounge through 3-4 nasty diapers to find those shoes! Someone, and I'm not going to call you out for sure, but someone threw them away, and Daddy swears it wasn't him... Now I just wonder how many things actually got thrown away that I didn't catch...I will always assume anything missing is in the diaper can!
So, I thought that might be the end of our garbage can events for the day, but later Mommy was at the grocery store and I got a phone call from Daddy. He could not wait to tell me what you did. He knew you were playing in your playroom, and even heard you come into the kitchen, but when he looked up to see you, you darted off running back to your play room. Well, a few minutes later when he went in there, you were munching on a piece of pizza. A PIECE OF PIZZA WE HAD FOR LUNCH THAT WE HAD THROWN AWAY!! ahhhhhhhhhh!!! You had taken a piece of pizza from the garbage can and eaten it! G-R-O-S-S!!! I guess we need to look for a spot to hide our kitchen garbage now. Seriously, you have a whole play room full of wonderful toys, and you'd rather dig threw the garbage??!!! We thought you loved Elmo, but maybe it's Oscar the Grouch you love...I still love you though, dirty diapers, garbage pizza and all. You sure are sweet when we tell you "Not for Abby" - you look at us and say "No, no???" How can we get mad at that... Love you.

FIrst Haircut

Dear Abigail,

Today was a very special day, a day of many more just like it to come. Well, hopefully not just like it, but... Today you got your first haircut! Hooray!! Now your Uncle Jordan can quit making fun of your mullet and your Daddy can quit calling you Benjamin Franklin! Well, it wasn't JUST your Uncle Jordan, but he's the only one brave enough to do it on Facebook! Anyway, it's gone!! Hooray!! NOT that mullets are bad on everybody, just hooray YOU don't have one anymore!! HOORAY!!

After Kindermusik, we met Daddy for lunch, and then off we went to Miss Lori's. That's where Mommy gets her haircut, so I was confident she would do a good job on you. When we first got there, she was finishing up someone, so you just roamed around the salon, owning the place and captivating everyone's heart.

Here's a good before shot of the infamous mullet...

Oh how the fun came to a quick stop the second we sat in that chair. You knew something was going down and that it wasn't going to be fun. Miss Lori was being so sweet, talking to you about Kitty and saying how pretty your eyes were, but you weren't buying it. Mommy had to hold you in her lap. And then, when Miss Lori tried putting the cape thing on you (so you wouldn't get hair all over you), you lost it. When I say lost it, I mean it. It brought back memories of a month ago where I had to hold you down for shots. You ended up standing in my lap facing me, so I had to watch your big alligator tears and cries VERY close while Miss Lori chopped away. Now, it seemed like a lifetime, but in reality, this only took 2 minutes maybe! All she did was shorten the back, but boy does it make a difference!! I, of course, couldn't get any pictures while you were actually getting it cut, but here's an after shot...

Goodness you look precious!! After Miss Lori was done, you turned happy within seconds! So happy it was hard for Mommy to get a picture of you. You just were going going going... Once we got home, I tried again, but this is about all I could do...

Point is, you look fabulous Dah-ling!!! Let's just hope Daddy likes it when he gets home from work today...

Love you to pieces, mullets and all...

Play dates, Mexican, Birthday parties, friends over, Gentry's Farm and the park...

Dear Abigail, Yes ma'am you had a fun-filled weekend. The title says it all, but I'll expand a little more, cause that's what Mommy does best (tell stories, long stories, that is). It all began on Friday when you had a play date with Jacob. Miss Kristin invited us over for lunch and to play together. After a great morning nap, we were on our way. You loved the play date, although the two of you didn't really play together. We decided you both needed a couple more months to really grasp the whole 'play date' concept, but nonetheless, Mommy and Miss Kristin had fun 'playing.' We did a lot of talking about babies, and particularly how to discipline babies at your age. A good reason for this discussion was because you kept going to her stairs even after Mommy told you no 245 times! Miss Kristin even told you, but you just look at us and say "No-no" and smile. Hmmmm...do you know what you are doing? That is the million dollar question this week. I'll let you know if we figure something out. In the meantime, continue to be cute because that seems to make it easier for Mommy.
After our play date (and of course I didn't get any pictures), we quickly got home for a short nap just in time for Aunt Amy and the gang to pop in to say hello. They were headed out of town, but stopped by to wind us all up!! There is always excitement with that family! Before they could get out the door, our gang was over to eat Mexican. I didn't let you play very long with Ryan and Ellie because you were super worn out from those cousins of yours, and it was your bedtime, not to mention you had a busy busy Saturday.
On Saturday, we went to Cole's 1st birthday party. Daddy especially liked this birthday party because it was designed around the UT football game! Cole has some really cool parents, huh. You had so much fun playing on their play set and just watching the other kiddo's running around, AND, we discovered you like sausage. Daddy thinks we have to get the Green Egg now because that's the only way you will take the sausage - Mommy thinks he's just as crazy as he's always been. Mr. Matt (that's Cole's daddy) did such a good job of impressing us, that I may be convinced to get the egg now! Unfortunately, Mommy forgot your paci, and then it was naptime... Miss Auburn tried offering one of her babies paci's but you put it in your mouth and then took it out and threw it in the grass. I couldn't help but laugh - you are so smart, we can't get anything past you. So Daddy and I had to wrap things up (and thankfully the Vols were rockin' it out) and we came home. BUT, things happen for a reason, and we got you home without falling asleep in the car and then all three of us took a nap!!!! It was a Saturday that will go down in history, love.
That evening Mr. Kevin and Miss Margaret Anne came over and brought pizza. They hadn't seen you since you were sleeping in the cradle (like FOREVER ago!), and they couldn't believe how big you had gotten, much less how stinkin' cute you were! You warmed right up to Miss Margaret Anne, and I"m sure it didn't help that she had a present that you just loved. It was the cutest piggy bank that you learned very quickly how to put money in! We were all impressed. After playing for a little bit, you said your good nights and went to bed like the good girl you are. You were so good, they invited us to their house, and insisted we bring you!!
Of course, no pictures... (sorry, i get too carried away with playing with you).
Sunday was yet another busy day. First off, let me just say, I have a new favorite time. We don't do this all time, mainly on weekends, but this morning (Sunday morning), you woke up at 6:30. Well, Mommy and Daddy both wanted a few more minutes to sleep so I got you out of your bed and immediately put you in ours. Of course you are not going back to sleep - once you are up, you are up - but, I did turn Sesame Street on and you were so sweet. You just laid in between Daddy and me and we snugged with you like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (meaning Daddy and me were the bread - does that make sense???). Anyway, i loved it. And even though I didn't go back to sleep, it was my favorite morning in a long time.
Once we finally got out of bed, we started getting ready for a big day. We were heading to pick out pumpkins with the gang at Gentry's Farm. You played with the goats (or well, just talked to them)...



And you and Ellie and Ryan watched the ducks and turkey...



You talked to the chickens, and then you found a slide. Now let me just say, this was no ordinary playground slide. Once I got you up there, I could not get you down other than going down the slide - so your Daddy and I tried forever to get you to come down the slide but you were having so much fun just hanging at the top of the slide! You did finally go down, but it wasn't pretty... thankfully only Miss Erin saw it as the rest of the gang had given up on watching you and moved on!! We decided to go through the corn maze, and apparently that was exactly what you wanted because you quickly fell asleep. Unfortunately, because you fell asleep, you didn't get to pick out a pumpkin with us, but we picked one out for you! You were so sweet though, sleeping and pumpkin and all...



We didn't get the family picture in front of the cute fall truck, but at least we finally got a family picture!

What a pleasant day....

After we got back from the pumpkin hunt, we just couldn't stay inside because the weather was just too nice, so we walked over to the park where you got to go up your slide, again and again and again. It was a fun, fun, fun weekend, and you are pleasantly sleeping right now - and Mommy is not too far behind!! Love ya baby girl!