still winter

In case anyone was wondering, spring is not here yet. We are hunkered down in the midst of the big blizzard which has been quite dramatic! Here's Abigail practicing singing "Happy Birthday to Grandad" before we Skyped with them earlier today! Hope you have a great rest of the day Grandad!!

Just peeking, and reading.

Snow drifts through the porch window.

Patio furniture and A's little backyard house, snowed in.

Abby goes outside with Papa to shovel / eat snow.

taking care of the trees

Snow, snow, snow! It would seem we've got over 2 feet of it so far.... After hearing stories of other trees falling over under the weight of the snow, Jamie decided that we should do something about it....like shake the snow off the branches. Here the trees are "before shaking":

And "during shaking" - the big one on the left still needs attention. There's papa heading that way.

Let's zoom in and take a closer look at the tree shaker.

All done!

Abby enjoyed watching this project from the cozy comfort of the porch with mommy.

"I'm going to touch the camera now..."

"Oh! You're taking my picture! I should smile and say cheeeeeeze!"

peeking

One of Abigail's favorite things to do these days is peek. Or as she would say, "Abby's peekin!"

Where's Abby??

There she is!

home sick

Double ear infection and conjunctivits are keeping Miz A at home these days.... Between illness and another massive snowstorm approaching (12-20 inches?!) we are getting creative with our indoor activities... like tugging on stuffed monkey's tail. Very fun. Short but sweet video clip since we ran out of camera memory mid-tug.

friends, mail, snow

We've enjoyed seeing lots of friends recently...though not many pictures were snapped. We are also excited about the arrival of two new January babies! Linnea Grace made her appearance last weekend. And Luca Lee arrived on Thursday. Can't wait to meet both of these little cuties!

Here's a quick pic of Abigail and Georgia playing after a pizza dinner:

Abigail got a package in the mail from Grandma! This was very exciting.

And yesterday it snowed a beautiful 6 inches. We went out for a walk this morning in the park.

Abigail was so cozy in Ergo that she fell right asleep.

Awake again, Papa tells Abby about all of the things that we saw while she was snoozing.

call dee dee pop pop

Abigail's mama has been meaning to call Dee Dee and Pop Pop (her grandparents, A's great grandparents), and thinking about that reminded her of Abigail's phone "conversation" with Dee Dee and Pop Pop back in November.

Now we just need to call them for real!

stripey hi

Having a mellow weekend here . . . hoping for a little springy weather to make an appearance sometime soon. Until then, play doh is quite entertaining!

Abby is getting to be a big girl, keeping herself amused for longer stretches of time (when in the right mood...), we think we've sighted the first tip of her 2 year molars poking through her gums, and her appetite is huge lately - a typical breakfast is 2 waffles and a yogurt cup with lots of frozen blueberries. She's getting more adventurous in the food department, though milk remains her first true love.

It was fun to "meet" wee Walter over skype - we can't wait to see him in person in March in Arizona!

new cousin

We are so excited to welcome little Walter Griffin to the world! A new cousin for Abigail! When mommy was talking to new-papa-Dan on the phone this evening Abigail was playing and (as usual) offering commentary on everything that was going on and one of the items was "Mommy talking to baby Walter on phone."

Here's A earlier this weekend putting her hat on by herself (backwards, but hey!)

All the way on.

And time to come off.

Hat off. Now let's put it on again.

here and there

We've been here and there and everywhere lately. We all survived A's first bout with a stomach bug.....hoping that it will be a looooong time before we have to deal with that again. After laying low for a while we re-emerged with a case of cabin fever and ventured out into the chilly winter air for a much anticipated trip to the playground.

Surveying the playground . . . A has it all to herself for once.

"Hey! It's so cold outside that even I, Abby, am wearing mittens!!"

Satisfied slider.

With the cold weather outside, we are lucky to have lots of new toys to play with inside. We took the Christmas tree down and in its place a toy kitchen magically (after many hours of assembly by Papa, or Papuuu as Abby calls him these days) appeared! Although we don't have photos to prove it (yet) Abigail has spent many an hour baking cookies and other treats in her kitchen.

toddler brunch

We had a fun brunch with friends today . . . Georgia and Lily and their parents came over. It's hard to believe that it wasn't that long ago that these same girls were all over for another brunch, back in the just learning to sit up days....! For a few minutes today all three girls were in one place at one time. Kitchen stool + playdoh = good times. Only one of them would look at the camera at one time though...they were busy.

Hi Georgia

Hi Lily

Hi Abigail

happy new year (from abby)

Abigail pauses, mid-grilled-cheese, to wish everyone a happy new year.

welcome 2010

Happy New Year everyone! Abigail checks out 2010 from an upside-down perspective, a favorite pose lately.

2010, off to a great start so far...

christmas, condensed

We had a great time in Minnesota for Christmas! We must have hid the camera from ourselves or something because we really didn't take many pics during the visit....though A's grandparents will hopefully pass some good ones along that we can post.

Christmas morning, Abigail checks out the tree and all of the presents!

Later on in the day, Abby tries out the truck that Uncle Dan and Aunt Anna gave her - a big hit. We can't wait to meet A's new little cousin, due to make an appearance sometime soon!

Abigail and Papa give Pooh Bear a thorough exam during his visit to the doctor, thanks to A's new doctor's kit from Grandma and Grandad!

Oh, and it snowed 10 inches while we were in Minnesota. It's as if the snow is following us....stay tuned.

the blizz

It snowed a lot! Let's have that be our excuse for lazy blog posting lately.....

Mid-blizzard backyard scene. Total accumulation: over 20 inches!

Not eating on the patio tonight....

Hibernating inside for several days we found many ways to amuse ourselves, like using the potty (successfully!) several times.

We finally broke out of the house, but Abigail's boot and mitten strike made our outdoor excursions short (and tear-filled if we forced the boots/mittens routine). Papa did the heavy lifting with shoveling, but A did lend a hand.

Happy as a clam, boot-less and mitten-free.

"Delicious. I think I'll have more."

Strolling up the street.

It took a couple of days for things to get back to normal . . . streets were sloppy, work closed, but finally the mailman came back. Hooray!

Snowy message in our yard from some friendly neighbors.