Back to Life...

Dear Abigail,

One day I will blog about our house. One day. But for now, I'm going to continue on with our daily life, just to be able to keep up with us! We're moved in, life is good, we FINALLY did Mexican on Friday night, and you had a birthday party to attend! This past weekend, we went to Jacob's birthday party at a gymnastics place and man alive did you have fun! It wasn't your gymnastics place, but you had NO problem adjusting to a new place! You did rolls and jumped on the trampoline and ran around and around and around in circles, or at least that's what it felt like to Mommy! At one point you were standing on top of this, thing - that thing boys run and jump over all while doing a flip, or several if they are real good! - anyway, your standing on that and said "Hey Mom, tell her to take my picture." You were referring to Miss Kristin who was walking around taking pictures. I said "YOU can go tell her, but I'm not" and, so, you did. Multiple times. She was happy enough to take your picture, too.

Oh and we had so much fun with the parachute. You ran under it and out and we made a tent with it. All kinds of fun. After a good hour of burning the energy, we FINALLY got to go eat the cake and ice cream you'd been talking about since the mention of the party. Well, that and if Monkey Joe was going to be there. Jacob had a Curious George themed party, so you were concerned when you saw a monkey on the invitation that a monkey was going to be at the party. There was no monkey. Unless you count all the crazy kiddos swinging from one thing to the other!

You thoroughly enjoyed the cake...

Which I have to say, were VERY delicious. Home made by Miss Kristin. Maybe Mommy will try them one day. Or just have Miss Kristin invite us over for a play date :) Also, you were VERY proud of your pink sparkly shoes and insisted on showing several people. You let them know you got them for Christmas and that Mimi got them for you. After you helped Jacob open his present, we had to say our goodbye, but not before getting a balloon string stuck on your hand - child, it's always something! A fun, fun birthday party!

Saturday afternoon, the gang HAD to get together to make up for all that lost time, so we hung out at Aunt Steph's. We had some excellent soup, which you accidentally spilled EVERYWHERE. I have no clue how it got in as many places that it did. Daddy and I both were on our hands and knees cleaning it up and still were shocked at where it all went. You kiddos played and played and finally it was bed time but for the first time ever (okay, maybe not ever, but I swear I can't remember when) you did NOT want to go to sleep at Ellie's house. You just kept saying over and over again, I want to go home, I want to go home. You couldn't tell me why, but watching a little Mickey Mouse on Daddy's 'puter' seemed to calm you down enough. It was odd and pretty much right after you fell asleep, we headed home! Oh well, one night out of 2,000 isn't too bad!

Sunday you and Daddy and Kate had a big day together. Mommy was determined to get the rest of the boxes unpacked so the 3 of y'all hung out for most of the day. Daddy took you to his work (and he wanted to take you in your pajamas but Mommy put her foot down!) and you somehow found chocolate there! And then the 2 of your rode your bike up the street and met a few neighbors. Later that afternoon, the 2 of you watched tangled in the theatre room and by that afternoon, I think Daddy was ready for a break!!! But, good news was I finished most of the unpacking. At least the main things! Hooray, life is getting back to normal day by day!

A great weekend to jump start the normalcy sweet girl! Now, if we can get you to sleep in your bed... Yeah, not working out for us at the new house. More on that later. Still love you to the moon! And back!!!!

On the 12th Day of Christmas...

The gang FINALLY got together!!!

Dear Abigail,

Yes Christmas day came and went, and you may have noticed that nothing was in there in regards to the gang. Well, a LONG time ago, we decided we'd do our Christmas on New Year's Eve AND in our brand spankin' new house! More on the house later BUT we finally moved on Thursday, Mommy had to leave town on Friday and on Saturday we threw a New Year's Eve party for the whole gang!!! We are indeed straight up crazy. No doubt. But that's just how we roll.

So the gang all came over around 6 where we had dinner ready for you kiddos AND you were all in your matching pajamas! Instead of matching Christmas outfits, this year we decided to do Christmas pajamas, which, if I do say so myself, was a fantastic idea! You guys ate and then played, or maybe vice versa, or really not much eating, just lots of playing. You guys hadn't seen each other in a VERY long time!

That poor playroom was already a mess with boxes everywhere, so after 4 toddlers ripped into it, well, let's just say it took awhile to organize. But look how much fun y'all are having! And how darn cute you kiddos look! Which brings us to the next event...

Pictures of all of you! We went with the big kids first, which turned out so cute...

And then we brought in the babies! Remember, we've got 3 babies, 6 months and younger, one only 2 weeks old!

Considering it was 7 kiddos, 3 and under, I think we got a pretty good shot! Or maybe the mommies have just lowered our expectations of pictures of all the kids!! Whatever the reason, you guys sure are cutie pies and love love love your little sister/brother.

After pictures, you and Ellie headed to your next 'party'! Mimi came and got you and Ellie and Kate and took you to our rental house for one last night stay, while the adults brought in the New Year adult style! You were very excited about your 'party at Mimi's' and very concerned that Ryan wasn't going with you! He was going to his K-k's with Jake and Grant was picked up by his Mimi. So Mimi got you all loaded in the car and headed to our house, but unfortunately you and Ellie both thought you were going to Mimi's house, so you were a little disappointed when you got to the rental place!! It's okay though because you weren't awake very long. You two shared an apple while Mimi fed Kate and then immediately went to bed, apparently with Mimi!!! What a great way to wrap up our holiday season and bring in the new year - with our bestests of friends!!

The next morning Mimi brought you guys over early enough for breakfast and everyone left after their bellies were full. We stayed in our jammies all day, trying to recover from staying up late and trying to unpack the million of boxes. Some of us were a little more worn out than others...

Yep, you fell asleep as you were playing your LeapPad! I'm pretty sure if I sat down I would have done the same thing!!

Merry Merry Merry Christmas and Happy Happy Happy New Year!!!! I love you so much and cannot wait to see what 2012 brings us!!! Love you!!!

On the 11th Day of Christmas...

You got a bike!!!

Dear Abigail,

I know, I know, it's not another day, but we had 2 big events on Christmas day, so I thought I'd separate them out. After we left Mammaws, you and Daddy took a much needed nap while Mommy and Mimi got food ready for that afternoon/evening at Mimi's house. Soon enough you were awake and the food was smellin' good! Although, I will add that Mimi's oven went out when we had a couple more things to cook. Sausage balls should not have taken 1 1/2 to cook! Not surprising at all, we had plenty of food even with the oven breaking!

We did things a little different this year, since everyone had a little different schedule. We decided to do all appetizers and everyone could eat at their own will rather making everyone eat at 5:30 even if you just ate at 1! It worked out perfectly, other than we ate and ate and ate all night long! And you missy, you kept grabbing the "CHOC-O-LATE!" that Chris' girlfriend made and brought! I had to yell at you on Christmas, so please forgive me :)

First things first when everyone arrived - take pictures!

Mimi and Pic-pic and ALL the grandkids!

And you always trying to pet your baby sister!
Here's our family of four - just perfect, huh!
And Mammaw and Pawpaw and the GREAT grandkids!

Soon enough we passed out the monsoon amount of presents to everyone and while we TRIED to get you kiddos to open one at a time (so we could see what you got, take pictures, etc.) there was no chance of that actually happening! You tore into your presents and got all kinds of things including stuff to do Mommy's hair, rain boots and a rain jacket, sparkly pink Toms (all the girls got them and Mommy so bad wanted a picture of all your feet in them, but who was I foolin - there were presents to open!).

So lots and lots of presents, but then, to top it off, drum roll please....

A new bike!!!!!! And it was a pinkalicious bike!!! even with a spot for your baby to ride! You loved it and immediately insisted on riding it, regardless that it was dark AND cold!

And Clara Lee got one too!!! Like I said, you HAD to ride it outside, so since "It's Christmas Niki" we let you!

Balloons and all. You cried when we had to go in but we promised you could ride it the next morning. And you did. And want to ride it all the time but it's been really cold and even rainy a lot. But the day is coming (and PS Mommy got a bike, too, so we can ride together!!!).

Kateland got an XBox kinects thingy so we set it up and every one did a little dancing. You girls were awesome, and hilarious, and had a ball dancing with Emily. Your BFF stopped by for a little bit and soon enough it was time to go to bed. Mimi did not have a problem putting you to bed because she was right behind you!! It was a very fun and exciting Christmas Day. You are truly blessed to have such a great family (especially cousins!) who loves to get together and play, play, play (and eat a little, too!!!).

Merry Christmas baby girl! One more day and we wrap up our 12 days of Christmas!

On the 10th Day of Christmas...

YOU GOT CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!

Dear Abigail,

OH MY GOODNESS. Apparently Santa forgave you for writing all over the couch because man alive did you rack up! And look at your sister's pile. She's only been here 3 months and was still able to get in good with Santa...

Mommy and Daddy had a little something, too, but nothing like you two...

You woke up a little earlier than usual, but not too bad - around 6:30 I think. You came down the stairs and came running into our room saying "Someone's been here!! Someone's been here!!" so naturally I jumped out of bed ready to defend. Not really, I had a good feeling I knew who had been here. Santa rocked it out. He brought you your own 'puter' just like Daddy's Ipad and your own soccer ball. That Santa's so smart - he totally knew you were starting soccer this spring!

And oh my goodness, you got a Woody AND a Buzz costume, both of which were worn while looking through other presents...

You got a really cool bean bag, too, pink, of course...

And some cool new sippy cups in your stocking...

You got several new books, including a couple Pinkalicious ones!

Oh, and I'm pretty sure out of all the things you got, you were most excited about the gummy worms in your stocking. (side note - when you finally went back to school and Miss Jamie Jo asked you what you got for Christmas, you told her gummy worms! I had to let her know there was more than that, but you LOVE you some gummy worms. Daddy, too.)

You helped Kate see what she got from Santa and she, too, got her own puter! Now everyone can play on their own computer - hooray!!!

And you helped with her stocking, too...

And even helped Mommy with hers! All dressed as either Buzz or Woody, of course...

Pic-pic got in on the action of all your fun toys, too...

After playing for a bit, reading a letter from Santa, and getting our teeth brushed, we headed down to Mammaws for the annual Christmas breakfast. Again, EVERYONE was down there, and super excited. The kiddos were all in their jammies (as usual) and were ready to open presents the second we walked in (as usual). Everyone talked about what they got from Santa and we ate a yummy yummy breakfast...

And then FINALLY it was time to hand out the presents. You, again, made out pretty darn good with a new wagon, and enough room for your sister, too - or 2 cousins :)

The big kids got scooters for Christmas so while they were out scooting around on them, I dragged you and your little cousins around in the wagon. It was actually a beautiful day weather wise so it was nice to be outside. Everyone played and played and played with their toys, some played with Skipper...

And some played with their new 'puters!!!

We all had so much fun playing, and laughing and talking and goofing off, all on Christmas morning! What a great way to start off Christmas Day!

Love you!!! Much more to come on Christmas Day!!

On the 9th Day of Christmas...

You got a microwave!!!! Oh, and Lion King!

Dear Abigail,
On Saturday, Christmas Eve, that is, we headed down to Mammaws for a Christmas dinner, except it was on Christmas Eve, and was lunch, but whatever. The whole fam was down there (minus Clara Lee and her fam - they had to go to Uncle Jay's family Christmas) and we ate lots and lots and lots of yummy food. You kiddos played, as usual, and you wondered outside a couple times, as usual. After a yummy meal, the adults played a round of trivial pursuit and had a little help from the kiddos. You liked to roll the dice, and by roll the dice I mean step on the board, knock all the pieces off and roll the dice all at the same time. What did we expect though, it was 14 adults and 7 kiddos in Mammaws living room. Oh, and Jake the dog too! Which you just can't get enough of now! After the game, most of the crew headed to church or to another Christmas get together and that was our cue to head out, too! We had to attend our other family Christmas, the McCormick family Christmas!!! It was getting late and Mommy was insisting we all go to bed early tonight (Santa was coming after all!) but we had to drop by and see everyone! Bebe was pretty excited to see you, and while Robert Hale will never admit it, I'm sure he was, too. He didn't have a problem playing hide and seek with you! We came in and everyone was super excited to see you, including your BFF. Bebe was super eager to give you your present from her and Sarah, as usual, had an awesome present to give you, too. I was kind of happy about it because you kept asking all day long why we weren't opening presents (we open presents at Mammaws on Christmas day). So, of course we opened them and low and behold, it was a microwave for your kitchen! It's perfect, too because it's pink :) You needed a microwave, too. We didn't have a way warm up our pretend leftovers. And then to top it off, you got the Lion King movie to go along with Simba! Hooray!!! Mommy and your BFF used to watch that movie over and over and over again, at least 2 million times. So it's only appropriate that she give it to you. So far we've watched it twice, but we've been super busy. We'll be close to your BFF's record soon enough. After presents (and after the rest of the McCormick clan got there) we got a little to eat and you, Bebe, and Robert Hale played hide and seek over and over again. It was always so hard to find you, too. Not too long after, we headed to Mimi's house to get ready for O St. Nick himself!! After getting our Christmas jammies on, we put out some cookies and milk for Santa...

Does it look like one cookie is missing on the right side of the plate??? That's because you took one and crammed it in your mouth!!! After brushing our teeth and getting rid of all that chocolate, we went to bed dreaming of sugar plums and reindeer on the roof...

PS - Yes, the only picture I got today was of the cookies :)