This Weekend

our family on Sunday after church

We had a great weekend! We got together with friends from church for Supper Club on Friday night. Then, on Saturday, my friend, Andrea came up to visit us and we had lunch. Saturday night, Matt & I had a "date night" at a church function. There was a BBQ dinner at church and then Rick Burgess from the "Rick & Bubba Show" on the radio came and spoke We really enjoyed hearing Rick. He was a very motivational speaker who spoke about making your Christianity real. He lost his youngest of 5 children to a drowning accident this past January.

Hide and Seek

As of last week, Abbie is 8 months old and boy can she get into trouble (and get into lots of things). She does not like to be in the corral for long or be restricted from movement much in any way (i.e. bouncy seat, Exersaucer, etc). She doesn't mind the highchair too much as long as there is food coming quickly. The picture above is one of Abbie's new favorite spots that she found on her own (under our kitchen table). Luckily, she hasn't mastered the pincer grasp yet so if there's some small crumbs on the floor she can't pick them up and eat them yet (ha, ha-I'm sorry that's kind of gross). The funny thing is that Sophie likes to get down under the table with her at times and say, "come & find us, mama". Abbie has stood a couple of times independently so she may start walking a little early.

Down on the Farm

Sophie playing in the corn

Abbie "driving" a little tractor

On Saturday, the weather was perfect! It was a little cool in the morning and warm in the afternoon but not humid. It was cloudy for most of the day. Anyway, we decided to go and check out Walden Farm in Smryna and it was pretty fun. When we got there, Sophie didn't want to do ANYTHING which was challenging. They had corn mazes, a hayride, a maze made out of haybales, face painting, corn the kids could play in, different art projects they could do, and more. After a little bit, Sophie walked through the corn maze with us and she eventually warmed up to playing in the corn (I know I shouldn't have taken her to a farm in a dress but sometimes it feels like it takes an act of Congress to get all four of us moving in the same direction! ). Sophie enjoyed playing in the corn once she got in it, playing with some farm sets they had and driving a play truck but she did NOT want to get her face painted. Both of the girls were getting kind of tired so we walked around and saw the animals, checked out the farm, pumpkins, etc and decided we'd have to come back sometime and do the hayride.

Other Updates

Here's Abbie with her learning table. It's another new toy that we've just introduced to her and she is loving it! The first time she played with it, this table held her attention for several minutes. She loves all of the music! Abbie has her first tooth now-on the bottom- and she is working on another tooth. She is constantly pulling up and holding on to everything. Abbie is a joy to be around but she is very active so we have to keep a close watch on her these days. Sophie doesn't let her get by with much though. =)

As far as Sophie goes, she is really enjoying preschool. They are starting to learn their letter sounds. Tonight, I was flossing her teeth before bed and she said, "after you get done, I'll floss your teeth mommy." I just looked at her kind of funny and said, "uh, I don't think so." Then, we both just started cracking up.

New "Toys" for Abbie

Am I cute or what?! (Abbie's sitting in the middle of the tunnels.)

Swinging is so much fun!

Last time that I blogged, I mentioned that we had gotten the "tunnel system" back out for the girls to play with. Although Abbie was really hesitant about getting in the tunnels, now she will crawl all the way through without any encouragement. It is so much fun to play peek a boo with her when she is in the tunnels. She likes to press her face up to the play windows of the igloo tent and look out at me. =) Sophie & Abbie have had a blast so far in the tunnels together. We have really enjoyed the beautiful weather that we've had so far this week after the nasty storm blew through on Sunday. Yesterday, we were able to go to visit the playground behind the library and then go and check out some new library books. It was really fun for the girls to swing side by side at the playground. Abbie's a little smal for the swing still but she enjoyed it. Later in the afternoon, we were able to visit the zoo. It was a great day to go because it wasn't crowded and Matt was in town so he could go with us!

Monkeying Around

Sophie's been grocery shopping!

Sophie playing in the ball pit

Mary Frances & Abbie (look at how big Abbie looks, although she looks small next to Mary Frances)

Sophie's so excited that we got her tunnel system back out and she was entertaining Abbie.

On Friday, one of our friends from church, Allison and Mary Frances Musso, invited us to meet them at The Monkey's Treehouse, a fun indoor play place with lots of things for kiddos to do. We had never been before but I had heard about it. Well, despite all the rain, we made it there just fine and my friend, Allison, was kind enough to come out to our van and take one of the girls in with her so that I didn't have to juggle an umbrella and two girls. Sophie had a great time and Abbie was entertained by watching all of the kids play. I did let her down to play some but had to watch her closely because she puts everything in her mouth!! Sophie and Mary Frances kind of did their own thing but everyone had a nice time. Sophie really enjoyed the play grocery store, the sand box and the ball pit (until I remembered that the ball pit was among those things that was supposed to be for kids who were 2 and under). Mary Frances was funny because she hopped in the back of a little truck that a boy was driving so that she could have a ride =). Abbie missed her nap while we were there so she really conked out on the way home and took a nice nap.

This weekend, we got some of the tunnels back out for the girls to enjoy. We thought that Abbie might enjoy crawling through some of the tunnels now. Sophie really was excited that we got the tunnels back out and she saved a spot for Abbie so that she could sit in the middle with her.

Let's Party-Sophie's Back in School!

Abbie with her wild "do"

Here's a cute picture of Abbie taking a bath. I had fun with her hair that time. She has so much hair for a baby. =) Sophie started back to school officially on Tuesday for a half day and then, their first full day today. I got some pictures of Sophie at school but she wasn't too photogenic. I'll try to get some more pictures next week. Anyway, Sophie is in preschool this year and it is going well so far. She is in Miss Sandra's class and I've known her forever. She is a great teacher and she taught my sister when she was in preschool. =) Sophie should feel pretty comfortable in her class because three of the kids were in her class last year and she knew all but one of the other kids because they go to church with her Nana. Sophie came home today and wanted to play school. She wanted us all to sit down so that we could have a story. She learned how to spell "red" and I was so proud of her. =)

A couple of cute things that Sophie says: Did you know that a freckle is really called a "nickel"? Also, Sophie has told us that she will always live at home with us but that she will get married. Her husband will live in Memphis with his parents. Something like that. OK, well, that will be an interesting marriage. She said something about her husband flying in to see her or something. Maybe she gets some of this because Matt travels a lot.