Chicago- Day 2

After Abby woke up from her marathon of sleep we went down to Michigan Avenue to eat breakfast. It took us forever to get Abby out the door. Here she is sassing her Mom and Dad and refusing to wear pants and a diaper.

We found a small little cafe and she chowed down on a blueberry muffin and a red pepper quiche- quite the combo. She was in the best mood, and entertained the other people eating by walking up to their table and yelling, "hi," followed with a,"bye." She thought she was something else!

Pucker up, Abby.

After breakfast we found a park with a swing set and let Abby play. She loved it!

Abby and her Daddy

Getting so big

After the playground we went to the American Girl Doll and let Abby pick out a Bitty Baby. I wanted to wait and get her a big American Girl Doll when she is old enough to pick out the one she wants, and is old enough to understand what the doll is all about. When we handed her the Bitty Baby she started to clap, squeal, and put the doll in her mouth to give her a "kiss." It was adorable. I hate that we did not get the initial reaction on video or in a picture because it was priceless. Once the novelty wore off, she tossed the new doll on the floor, ran over to the racks of American Girl Doll t-shirts and started to play with the hangers.

Leaving her baby on the floor-

Mommy and Abby with her new Bitty Baby

From here we went back to the hotel so that Abby could take a nap. When she woke up we headed to the Children's Museum and the Navy Pier. We never made it to the museum because Abby was distracted by the fountain! The fountain was so cool and squirted water probably 10 feet into the air. We were not prepared for her to get soaking wet, but if you could have seen how much fun she was having it was impossible to take her away from the water.

"Hold this Daddy. I need to go play."

Getting closer and closer to the water.

There she goes...

Soaking wet, but loving every minute! My favorite picture of them all. She had so much fun!

In her diaper playing with all the big kids! They would laugh about the baby in the diaper!

Eating a hot dog wearing a onesie we bought from one of the stores.

Back at the hotel playing with her Bitty Baby.

Time to go to bed!

Day 3 to come later...

Chicago- Day 1

Our journey to Chicago started at 5:45 in the morning. We left this past week and were eagerly anticipating our trip; apps were downloaded, movies were ready, cooler was packed, and snacks were at an arms reach. We woke Abby up at 5:30, changed her diaper, and put her in the car. We thought it would be fun to take a picture every hour of our trip.

Ready to go!
5:45

Getting sleepy!
6:45

Taking a nap.
7:45

Unwrapping a happy from Grandmommy.
8:45

Making a gas stop and drinking some juice
9:45

Stopping for lunch at Cracker Barrell
10:45-11:45

Well, the intentions were there, but after this last picture, things took a turn for the worse.

For the last 3 hours of our trip Abby cried the entire time, refused to nap, and hated reading her books. We got a break for a few minutes when I gave Abby a book of stickers. She would peal them off, stick them on her leg, and then point for more. Once we hit Chicago the traffic was awful. So bad that I actually got our of the car and carried Abby to the hotel- anything to get her to stop crying. By the time we got some dinner, and gave Abby a bath we were all asleep by 8:30. We were exhausted!

After bathing beauty finished her performance in the bathtub we put her to bed where she slept for about 13 hours!

More post to come...

First day of PDO

Today was Abby's first day at PDO at Second Pres. She was so excited and so was Mommy!

Here she is ready to go!

On the way home totally worn out.

When I picked her up her teachers said, "She is the sweetest girl in the world." It was music to my ears!

Black beans

Warning- this post is GROSS! Abby LOVES black beans. We are thrilled that she will eat these by the spoon full, however we are not too thrilled that she also loves to smear them all over her face in the process. Here she is in all her black bean loving glory!

Around the house

Abby and I are usually always on the go, so sometimes it is just nice to sit and hang out around the house. Here are some pictures of Abby enjoying a lazy summer!

I found her in the laundry room one morning. She was wearing her swim hat, and a medal she got when she "graduated" from the Little Gym. Somehow she managed to crawl into the laundry basket where she stayed for quite a while, content to just sit and wait on the towels to come out of the dryer.

Tough life!

Stuffing her face with Goldfish

Playing outside with the hose. She is wearing one of my dresses from when I was a little girl. It wasn't until I snapped a few pictures that I realized Abby had taken her diaper off. I found it later on the kitchen floor!

Hanging out in our bed

Coloring at the table

Reading in her chair

Learning to drink from a hose

We LOVE summer!!

Jerry's Snow Cones

My family has been going to Jerry's Snow Cones since we were little kids. My Grandparent's lived a block away and we would walk there with our Grandpa, Bud, walking stick in hand. There are more flavors than you can imagine and it was always so hard to choose. Rainbow was always a favorite, but now I love wedding cake. I turned Brandon on to Jerry's back when were dating, and I think he could eat one everyday. There is something about a sticky snow cone that brings back a lot of family memories. I can't believe that after all these years it is still there, and instead of walking there with my Grandparent's, I am taking my daughter there to eat the same treat!

Enjoying her first snow cone.

YUM!!

Children's Museum

Abby loves the Children's Museum. Since the weather has been so hot
(reaching about 100) we have been inside during the afternoons. A few months ago Abby's favorite part was the toddler area, but now that she is such a "big girl", she likes to go in the big kid areas.

Breaking it down to Michael Jackson in the disco room~

Playing in the castle~

Playing with the fish~

Shopping in the grocery store. Abby picked out at least 5 boxes of cereal, 5 containers of laundry detergent and some peas.

Abby is one determined little girl. She did this all by herself. It was hysterical to watch her work so hard to fill up the cart- moving from shelf to shelf and then to the basket. She was definitely proud of herself by the end of the day!