Small Group "Nun"sense

We are very blessed to be part of a Small Church Group through our church. There are four couples all with kids around the same age. We get together every week or two for bible study and of course, food. This Saturday our group did a community service project at Regina Retreat; the property owned by Our Lady of Grace Monastary where Adam's aunt is a nun. We spent the day raking a gazillion leaves, cutting wood and doing some other general cleaning. The moms also took turns staying inside with whichever kids weren't outside helping. And by helping I mean wildly swinging rakes and running through leaves that had already been piled up. The weather was actually great, a little chilly but sunny. I felt a little guilty because I'm not sure you're supposed to have that much fun when your doing community service. The Sisters are always so sweet and were so glad we were there. And what I always preached to my students is actually true - it does feel great to give back and help others. It was awesome to let Christ work through us and to start forming a family mindset of service to others.


many hands make light work, say the Amish :)

 

It was only a matter of time before a leaf fight broke out!



stinkers



love this group of great friends!!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up

Fall Break in Pictures

Adam's Fall Break was two weeks this year. Which is awesome. Before hand, I thought it seemed like a long time. But it flew by! He was actually pretty busy, but we loved the extra time he was able to home. Before the break, I made a "Fall Break Bucket List." We did pretty good. There were only a couple things we didn't get to do and that's just because the weather didn't cooperate. We did some fun planned activities and also a lot of hanging out at home.

Abi loves "reading" to Madi. It is so precious how Madi just smiles at her the whole time.



happy girl!



sleepy girl! ha!

One day over break we carved our pumpkins. It was Abi's first time and she thought it was great. It took a lot of coaxing to get her to scoop out the pumpkin guts though. She did it a few times, but wasn't a huge fan. But she loves going out and lighting the candles after dark.


Helping Daddy cut the top



scooping out the insides!



ta-da!

On Thursday of break, our favorite little stinker Eli came down for a sleepover! We had plans to go to Zoo Boo on Friday but it was really cold and rainy. Everyone was bummed! But those two can have fun no matter what their doing.

playing outside



cartoons before bed

 A little Halloween artwork. I love that Abi's old enough to like this kind of thing now.
(And nooo, I did not get this idea off Pinterest. I used to do it when I taught Kindergarten)

Abi is such a bookworm! Pretty much everyday she sits in her reading chair,
and reads every single book in the basket. It drives me crazy that there are constntly
book all over the floor. But it is a teacher's dream come true to raise a kid who loves reading!



A walk down to the park in our neighborhood.



Madelyn has got a serious case of the pudgies.
Someday she will probably hate me for this picture. But I absolutely
laugh out loud each time I see it! At 2 months old, she's wearing 6 month
sleepers and I can barely snap her 3 month onesies! We also had to move
her up to size 2 diapers.



I cannot get enough of this happy and easy-going baby!
She is always quick to smile and pretty content as long as her belly is full and her diaper is clean.

  





Apple Works!

Yesterday we visited The Apple Works for some classic Fall fun. It was cloudy and we even dodged the occassional sprinkle. But that didn't seem to bother the crowds. That place was a zoo! Fall is by far my favorite season. Beautiful leaves, cool weather, bonfires, pumpkin bread, trick-or-treating...what's not to love?? My scrooge of a husband on the other hand, has declared he doesn't like Fall. I'm not sure how he's kept this from me for 8 years. But I have made it my personal mission to convince him otherwise. Yesterday's trip was an excellent start!

We started out in the pumpkin patch with intentions to get a pumpkin for each of us. But when we saw there were about 75 people in line, most of which had crying kids, we decided to just visit and get some pumpkins from Whipkers later in the week. Another reason I love 2 year-olds, they don't know the difference! Abi had sooo much fun running around and looking at all the different kinds of pumpkins. She wanted to sit on all of them.

 

one of my favorite pictures of Abi ever

After the pumpkin patch we rode the wagon back to the front to visit the animals. Then Abi got some icecream and Adam and I shared an apple dumpling. Yum! 

feeding the pony

Even though we didn't manage to get any pumpkins, we did get some Jonathan and Honeycrisp apples. After we got home Abi helped me make an apple crisp. The perfect end to a great Fall day (ahem, Adam!).

extreme cheese pose. geez!

Artistic Abi

I wouldn't say I consider myself artistic. Crafty, probably. As a kid, I loved drawing, coloring, painting, anything artistic. Adam was really into drawing as a kid too. I've actually seen some his childhood drawings, they're pretty good....for mutant bugs, dinosaurs and muscle cars. Such a boy. Thinking about my own family, my mom is really creative. But she somehow always roped me into doing all her "projects." My dad can build beautiful houses, even furniture. He made the baby cradle that I slept in and now both of the girls. My sister Kyleigh has won Grand Champion for her fine arts 4-H projects more than once. My Grandpa Harry can make amazing things out of wood, with only one good hand. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that lately Abi is obsessed with all things "artsy." She is constantly asking, "I want draw, Mommy," "I want do stamps, Mommy," "I want do paint, Mommy," "I want do stickers, Mommy."

for the record, Adam did her name

Today she was drawing and said, "Look Mommy, I draw a ghost!" And it actually looked sort of like a ghost. Thinking it was probably a coincidence, I asked her to draw me something else. And this is what she did:

She even narrated as she was drawing, "I draw Eli!" "I draw Little Eli!" Maybe this was just a fluke, but I find it shockingly impressive for someone who just turned 2! Ok, enough bragging about my kid. I'm sure you're rolling your eyes by now.

Flower Girl & Birthday Boys

On Saturday Abigail made her flower girl debut! I must say, I was unnecessarily stressed about the whole thing. I was terrified she was going to humiliate us by knocking over something or throwing a screaming fit halfway down the aisle. You never know with Abi. But she looked freakin adorable and did a great job!

cutest flower girl ever??

The little ring bearer went first and he pretty much sprinted down the aisle to his mom. ha! Then Adam gave Abi a push gentle nudge to start her out. She took about two steps, dropped her first handful of petals and announced to the entire church, "I drop my petals!" in a voice of triumph. It took her another five minutes to get down the aisle because she kept stopping to pose and say "cheese" for every person with a camera along the way. Apparently she thought she was supposed to empty her entire basket because about 5ft from the end she stopped to drop the rest of her petals one-by-one. After what seemed like an eternity of the entire bridal party and myself whispering, "Abi, come here!" I finally jumped out and grabbed her. She did exactly what a flower girl is supposed to do - look cute and entertain the crowd.

Attending a wedding with a 2 year old and a 6 week is a lot of work. Adam and I were both exhausted! But it was so great to celebrate with Kathryn and Liam and family. I am super proud to say that not only were all four of us dressed and looking spiffy, but we were on time! For both the rehearsal and the wedding. I consider this a great accomplishment. The wedding was beautiful and so was the bride. Here are some pics of the festivities:

practicing at the rehearsal

Kat and Liam got Abi a Build-a-Bear Bride for her flower girl gift. Too cute!

all dressed up for her first wedding

Abi & Mamaw

Grandpa sneaking Abi candy

the fam

bridal party

so cute!

gettin her groove on

Aaron & Sarah were nice enough to let us invade their house all weekend. Which means we got to spend lots of time with my favorite little boy. Eli is absolutely hilarious and I love watching him and Abi play. Sunday was Eli's bday party and Adam's 29th birthday. He's already a little grumpy about turning 30 next year and didn't want to do anything to celebrate. But we celebrate birthdays in this family so I'm making you a cake and you're going to smile and enjoy your day! Whether you like it or not. His favorite present? The Colts gave him a win on his birthday. The day was all about Eli, and I know he wouldn't have had it any other way. But we do have a date night planned for later in the week as a belated celebration.

per Adam's request: a birthday fruit pizza



notice the awesome dinosaur cake Aaron made for Eli. Abi thought it was an alligator though. ha!



New fishing pole from the most awesome aunt and uncle ever (us!)

It was a busy and completely exhausting weekend! But we made so many great memories. I'm always glad I stop to take pictures because looking back at them reminds me that the memories and good times are worth all the planning, prep and work it takes to make them!

My Little Weeds

The girls had their 2 year and 1 month well-checks last week and they are growing like weeds!! Little (*cough*) Madelyn weighed 11 lbs 11.5oz and was 23.4 in long. Which puts her her in the 92nd percentile for weight and the 94th percentile for length! That means she's gained over 2.5 lbs and grown almost 2 in since birth. I looked in Abi's baby book when we got home and at 1 month she weighed 9 lbs 15 oz and was in the 36th percentile. The doctor said Madelyn was doing great and was nice and healthy. And also the size of a 3 month old. Besides eating (which she obviously does a lot) she started smiling last week. Which is sooo adorable. Madi is generally a really happy baby and it's pretty easy to get her to smile. She tries to hold her head up now and is getting pretty good at it. And the most exciting news to report, she has consistently slept between 6 and 8 hours every night for the past week! And that's how you become the favorite Madelyn, good work. Kidding, of course.

Can you stand the cuteness!?



hanging out under the playgym

 Skinny Minnie, you may know her as Abi, weighed 25 lbs and was 2 ft 9 in tall. She was the 38th percentile for weight and 42nd for height. At this rate, Madelyn is going to weigh more than Abi! I swear we feed her. At most meals its more like force feeding. Abi's statistics may not be as impressive as her sister's, but she is definitely acting a lot older. When exactly did she get so big!? The biggest and most cartwheel-worthy sign? Abigail Grace has been paci-free for over a week now!! I had sort of resigned myself to the fact that she might be taking it with her to Kindergarten. She was super attached. But Adam and I had been saying for months, "once she turns 2, that's it." Well, unfortunately she turned 2. Then Madelyn started sleeping through the night and I wasn't so exhausted. And then, well, we ran out of excuses. I braced myself for a week of screaming and crying at naptime and bedtime. Last Saturday we went to a wedding and Abi fell asleep in the car without her paci on the way home. So when Adam put her in her bed he didn't give it to her and she slept without it. So Sunday night when he put her to bed he told her we didn't have her paci because we left it in Mimi's car. We had rode with her to a baby shower that day. She said ok, rolled over, and went to sleep with no tears!!!! In the words of Clark Griswold, I wouldn't have been more surprised if I had woke up with my head sewn to the carpet! She still asks for it when we lay her down, but paci has perpetually been in Mimi's car. She seems ok with it as long as she has her blanket. I'm not sure what good deed I did that God rewarded me with this unbelievably easy transition. I'm thrilled we got rid of the paci without a lot of drama, but it does make me a little sad. It's just another sign she's not a baby anymore.



I love that Pooh Bear made it in the picture.
He is Abi's favorite toy and goes with us almsot everywhere.
Although he does have to stay in the car.

Abi talks non-stop these days and her imagination runs wild. I love it. Right now she is really into reading books, coloring and playing mommy to all her babies and stuffed animals. She even lifts up her shirt to "feed" her babies. Although somewhere along the way she got confused because they always drink milk out of her belly button! ha!

reading books with daddy

She got a late birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson - a tricycle! She was so excited but her legs are about an inch too short to do it on her own. Seeing her on that tricycle makes her look like such a big girl.

hilarious

Abi's favorite "job" - feeding Jack