Friday, May 22, 2009

New Blog

I've heard from many of my followers that they didn't know I moved, so I decided to post again this time making the 'link' a bit bigger for all to see. Just click on the words {life...loving to the fullest} below and it will automatically take you to the new site.

For all my regular followers, bookmark my new blog page in your favorites (wink, wink) for easy access next time.

Blessings

Life...LOVING to the fullest

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

To Blog...or not to Blog, PART II

So, I took all of your encouraging words to heart and made a decision!

I will continue to blog, however I am moving! Not physically (though at my age it might be a good idea :-)) but I am making a move in blog-land. I've spent a lot of time reading & re-reading, thinking and re-thinking about my "why" for blogging and ...

To find out the answer, you'll just have to follow me to Life...LOVING to the fullest to find out!

So, just hop on over, click bookmark this page and from here on out, follow along with us as we grow and live and LOVE!

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

To Blog...or not to Blog

...that is the question I seem to be asking myself most days.

Though I manage to check in on blogs here and there, I can't seem to find the time, nor the words to post.

So, I will 'entertain' you all with what you come here for in the first place ~ pictures of Abigail :-)


Sitting pretty on her ride-on lion

Look, I got grass on my hands


Help! I can't get it off


Hey big brother, whatcha doin down there?

Taking a breather with big brother


Lounging with big brother in the sun


Chillin' with a few of my friends


A pretty normal expression when she is in awe/or excited about something

Looking at something interesting


Loving a ride on the "Desert Rose" pink 'Huffy"


Fishing for fishy puzzle pieces


Almost had it...


"Cheese" says the mommy and Abigail


Giggling after some serious 'butterfly' kisses

We mustn't forget the Eskimo nose kisses too!


Stay tuned for the verdict on blogging!!!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Happy Easter


From all of us...A very Happy Easter!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Berry Sweet Abigail

Click to play this Smilebox photobook: Berry Sweet Abigail
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Monday, March 16, 2009

Hard to imagine???

September 16, 2008
(then)

March 16, 2009
(now)


Can you believe it?!? 6 months ago today, our baby girl was placed into our arms...forever ~


We love you Abigail!!!

Thursday, March 05, 2009

A Very Short Story

Once upon a time there lived Sweet Princess Abigail, whose whole lot in life was to bring joy and bliss to those around her. She didn't have to try hard as her darling little smile, whispy pony-tails and heavenly little voice were enough to enchant those around her.

Well, the rulers in the land tried very hard not to be allured by Sweet Princess Abigail's powers but found they were no match for her deep brown eyes, offering from time to time a window into her soul.

She loved all the attention that came with being a Sweet Princess! From the hugs & kisses, to the tickle monster to the piggy back rides. Each amount of contact offered her more and more confidence to become the beautiful Princess that she was born to be.

She would soon come to embrace her true royalty, with expressions that screamed "Yeah I know I'm cute," and "Look I can capture everyone's attention by just being silly."


She quickly learned that as a Princess one could get away with just about anything by just being cute (or so it seemed).

As she grew older (by minutes, hours & days, of course) she began to realize that her true purpose in life was to create beautiful music for others. So she decided to start a band and thought only fitting that it should be called, Princess Abigail and the 3 Toads. They spent many minutes practicing, perfecting their routine so they could take it on the road.


It didn't take long for her to realize her full potential as a tooth playing Princess guitarist (look out Jimmy H).

She loved the limelight and attention it brought her, after all she is a Princess you know.

Taking her talent very seriously, Princess Abigail has committed minute after minute practicing her guitar. Her future performance schedule, well that is still being determined.


But for now, she is embracing her true identity and living large as Princess Abigail!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Another Episode of unloading the camera

You can never have enough syrup with your [empty] plate of pancakes.

Gives "good to the last drop" a whole new meaning!


I came around the corner the other day to find this... don't you just love the "what me" look on her face?!?


So, I asked Abigail, "What are you doing? Blowing your nose? (duh right)" of which she placed the toilet paper to her nose and made a huge 'zirbert' sound.

I figured at this point it didn't do me any good to take it from her and clean up as there was only a little bit left on the roll.


She sure had fun with it though.



All dressed up in her Valentine's wear from Grammy P. (notice the hearts across the top of her blouse)

Playing Connect Four with her cousin. Grammy W brought cousins E & C over to celebrate Tanner's birthday a few weeks ago.

Notice the determined look on Abigail's face? I think she was trying to copy cousin E's smile.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Lovin' Life at 17 months

Though she's only been with our family now for 5 months & 8 days, she's Lovin' Life at 17 months old today!!!




Friday, February 20, 2009

Miracles DO Happen

Sadly they didn't happen for Dalton. There's always 2010!

He phoned me this morning from the tournament and told me that my prayers for a miracle do work, but for the wrong reasons. I was puzzled to say the least as I couldn't possible figure out what that meant. He went on to explain the #1 place guy from another Region missed weight this morning, which means the #1 guy is out and their alternate guy gets to participate in the tournament in his place.

I asked Dalton what that would be like to be the #1 guy, work incredible hard to make it this far and miss it all because you ate one too many crispy nuggets the night before (okay not literally). Well, all I can say is that would be absolutely awful in all areas!

Nonetheless, Dalton is having an amazing time and the experience alone will stay with him for a long time to come.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

To My Son

Dear Dalton,

There is so much I want to say to you, but first I want to say how much I love you ~ more than the number of stars in the sky, more than grains of sand on the beach!

I am so incredibly proud of you and the young man you are growing and becoming more and more each day.

What great joy it is for me to join with you in supporting all your hard work out on the mat. The time, dedication, energy you have put into becoming a great wrestler truly has and will continue to pay off. (BTW, thanks for the ulcer too, having to watch such nail biting 6 minute matches in a row).

Even though this morning dawns with disappointment and even a bit of sadness, you still deserve to be congratulated on taking 5th place in your Regional tournament. I know you had such a big dream and that your prayer was that you would make it to State!? Well honey you are doing it. I realize it's not as an active wrestler but it is as an alternate! Try not to focus much on what you consider 'losses' but rather on what you have accomplished this year! Taking 1st place at Districts will forever be a high-light in your life. Looking at all the wrestlers you are competing with at this level and knowing they have wrestled since they were in diapers and you only started 4+ years ago - now that is something to be proud of.

My prayer for you now is that you will take the experience/wisdom/knowledge you have received from this weekend and all that you will glean from this next one and use it for good, as God intended for you to! I KNOW next year will blow your (and my) socks off.

You're forever in my heart,
Mom

Thursday, February 12, 2009

A Week in Review

So much has gone on this past week and I haven't had the time to blog about it, so I thought I would just do a week in review.

  • Tanner turned 15 - Yahoo!
  • Dalton won 1st place in our district wrestling tournament
  • We 'officially' finished all of our legal paperwork for Abigail (I did post about this one)
  • Ripped up carpet and replaced with wood floor in T & A's room (long story but humidifier leaked and flooded carpet, pad & subfloor)
  • Found a few more grey hairs - ugh!
  • Took Abigail in for her 1st US series of shots & full blood draw for work-up (she screamed, though I believe from being held down more than from the pain of it all. The lab technicians were REALLY good).
  • Usual 'Mom' stuff - laundry, cleaning, cooking, shopping
  • Abigail and Mommy did a little 'toddler' baking time together (she pretends to make soup with my pots and pans)
  • Did I mention a few more grey hairs!?!
Saturday I am off again to yet another wrestling tournament. This time for Regionals (several counties competing with one another). A finish in the top 3 will mean an opportunity to wrestle in the Washington State Finals Wrestling tournament (a really big deal).

So, for all you 'cheerers' out there, come Saturday we could use - a hip, hip hooray for Dalton to finish well for his chance to fulfill a high school dream of his!!!

Friday, February 06, 2009

It's Official

As if it wasn't already official enough - today we had our court appointment to officially finalize our adoption of Abigail (in WA you have to go through the process of what they call re-adopt in order to get a US birth certificate, SS card, passport, etc.).

Now, talk about being a total 'dork', guess who forgot the camera?? So, I have no photo proof of our event - ugh! Nonetheless, it was a great day. When the commissioner asked me if I understood that requesting to have Abigail as my daughter was a lifelong journey, meaning it didn't stop at age 18, and did I fully understand this ~ I began to chuckle. I don't think she read our paperwork very closely as she had the impression this was our first. I politely told her that, "Yes, I did understand it was a life long process as we too have 3 teen-age boys at home as well." She smiled, chuckled along with us and replied, "then I guess you do understand."

So, I guess we get to say good-bye to paperwork...for now!

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Feeling better already!

As you can see from the photos below, Abigail is feeling so much better. The rest of us are well on our well too, just a lingering cough or two between a few of us still. Our weekend was pretty uneventful, a nice relaxing one. The temps have warmed up (47 degrees) quite a bit from a week or so ago (21 degrees), which is so nice. I actually think that there is hope for spring yet!


Big brother is trying to get Abigail to smile and as you can tell, she's being really "tight" lipped about it, though I found it quite funny.

FINALLY!!!

I LOVE this picture. I took this picture while holding Abigail on my lap. She was playing 'snuggle' with me and when she laid her head down I held the camera out (mind you I couldn't see what I was taking) and snapped whatever was in view.

This one just says "Guilty" all over it! I just love her expression though.

This is what the "Mommies on the bus say, Sshhh, sshhh, sshhh!" One of her favorite songs!