Lovin' the weather!

Medal Day at the Sports Factory!

Friday was medal day at MVP Sports Factory, so I decided to watch both classes and take my camera. I usually stay home with Abbi during their classes with Daddy because it is Abbi's naptime, so I really had fun watching and seeing how much fun the girls have and how much they have learned since the last time I was there! I apologize that most of the pictures are fuzzy and the videos are shaky. My camera battery was dying so it did not take as good quality pictures and I was trying to hold the camera steady, zoomed in, with Abbi strapped to the front of me, grabbing at the camera :) It was quite an exhausting morning!

Karis during warm-ups with her class: She loves Coach Brooks!

A closer look so that you can see that smile on her face. She grins like this pretty much the entire class!

Karlie sitting beside her Daddy during warm-ups:

Practicing trapping the ball and switching feet:

Pretty serious as she pretends to be a penguin and tries to get her "egg" to safety!
Karlie is meticulously slow with this drill and Mark says that she is always the last one down the field and the class always has a lot of fun cheering her on as she finishes and Karlie loves the attention :)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Karis is practicing kicking backwards with her class:

And now kicking forward:

Karis is such a happy player -- she skips down the field most of the time!

Stopping the ball:
One of the girls broght a "pretty" ball and Karis just had to play with it :)

And Karlie found the only pink squishy ball on her field and didn't want to let it go!

But Daddy can tickle it away from her!
A happy little soccer player!

Karis having fun with her soccer friend, Lauren, while waiting for her turn to scrimmage:

Cone towers with Daddy can get a little silly :)
Unfortunately, after this picture, my camera died completely so I missed taking a picture of the girls with their classes and medals :( I ran to Mark's office to let the battery recharge so it would be ready for basketball class!

I finally let Abbi down to play in between classes. She immediately found the medals in Daddy's office and ran away with them!

Running is so much fun when Daddy is chasing during warm-ups!

I gave Abbi some squishy balls to entertain her during basketball class. She was quite possessive over them!

Covering Coach Brooks with the basketballs:

They finished the class playing with balloons since it was a celebration medal day. Abbi wanted one, but was so tired after missing her nap that all she could do was lay her head on it to rest. But she was happy :)

She rested with the balloon like this for at least 10 minutes while the kids went crazy with the balloons!
A fun basketball class!!

Abbi Grace at one year!!!

It is so hard to believe my precious baby was ever this little! But then again, could it really have been over a year ago that I held her in my arms for the first time?
She brought such a smile to my face back then and she still does today!
What a sweetheart!

This little sweetie is such a big girl now! She is full of joy and energy and happily toddles around the house all day, carrying her "treasures" and placing them in random spots. If we can't find something, we know that she must have "hidden" it :) We almost sent the back of Mark's phone to the Share Shop because she threw it in the bag of things to give away!

Oh, how I love her little mischievous grin! She is just such a happy girl now that she can walk all over the place and she just keeps us laughing!

Abbi still doesn't say very many words, but she is an expert at communicating! If she wants to read a book, she will pull up on the rocking chair and rock it back and forth and fuss and look at me like, "come on and read to me!" And she will continue doing it until I stop whatever I am doing, grab a book, and pick her up and read. Then she rewards me with a humongous grin and a sweet snuggle! She does the same thing when she is hungry: she will crawl to her highchair and bang on it and fuss until I put her in and give her some food :)

She has really started hollering to get my attention when she wants something and I suddenly realized that I had not taught her sign language like I did the other two girls. Poor third child: I just put all her food on her tray and let her go at it without teaching her how to ask for more or milk or anything! So we've been working on that the past 2 weeks and she signs for milk a LOT. She does it when she wants anything, actually :) But we are working hard at "more" and "please" to cut down on the yelling for everything else.

Abbi also understands so much more than I realize. Earlier this week, I started singing, "The Wheels on the Bus" to her when she was snuggling in my lap. She grinned really big, but then started fussing to get down. I thought that was odd because I've never had a baby who didn't enjoy doing "The Wheels on the Bus!" But then she crawled right over to the bookshelf and pulled out a book and started looking at it and grinning really big and I realized that she had found her book that contained the "Wheels on the Bus" song! Pretty smart!

Abbi loves to throw her toys and then crawl really fast to go them them. It is so funny. She will laugh after she throws them and make excited squeals as she runs to get them. My tupperware drawer is her favorite place to play and chuck things because they will slide well on the kitchen floor. The best part is that instead of just emptying my drawer, she usually puts it all back!

This crazy girl decided to give up nursing right after she turned one. She just didn't have time for it anymore! I would have been sad, but she also started sleeping through the night at the same time! I'm guessing that she was just too busy to drink enough milk during the day and she had to wake up a bunch at night to get what she needed. But now that I let her have her sippy around the house and she eats a ridiculous amount of real food from her high chair, she is sleeping at least 13 hours a night! And I feel like a new person... I had not realized how tired I had been for the last year until I finally got enough sleep and felt like a fog had been lifted! It was worth it to have a fat and happy baby, but I am glad for the chance to rest and restore my tired body )
It is so nice to be out of the "put everything in her mouth" stage! She is usually so happy to be carrying things around the house that she usually does not even try to eat them.
I think that Abbi is probably one of the most dramatic babies I have had. I'm not sure if that is because she has 2 other siblings to compete with for attention and she has to be loud for me to realize that she needs me or if that is just her personality. But boy can she get my attention! And if you try to take away one of her little "treasures" she throws herself down on the ground wailing like you have beaten her or something. It is so dramatic that it is hilarious but I am trying not to laugh and to teach her that her behavior is not appropriate.

She is also very insistent when she wants something, especially food. She has figured out where we keep the bananas and will randomly beg for them at all times of the day and get so upset when I don't just give her one right away. I always end up having to take her out of the kitchen and distract her with a book or something or she will never give up hollering for it. She is one determined little girl and I can tell that I have my work cut out for me!

Abbi is very affectionate and loves to snuggle and give kisses and be tickled and thrown around. Mark is ever so excited that she is big enough to really throw around and play. She tries to do everything that the big girls do and if she can't, she hollers for Daddy or I to help her. If she is upset, she definitely wants Mama, but all other times she is a Daddy's girl if he is anywhere around. She gets so upset if he takes the big girls out without her!
Abbi is quite friendly and loves to "chat" with other people and show them her treasures. She usually wants me to hold for about 2 minutes in a new place, but then she absolutely must get down and go exploring. They only time she is content to stay still in my arms is if I am wearing her in one of my baby carriers or reading her a book.
I just can't get enough of this happy little sweetheart and I can't wait to watch her grow and see the little lady she turns into!
I love you so much my sweet Abbi Grace!!!!

Snow Day!

We finally got a little bit of snow! It was perfect, just enough for the girls to play in without messing up the roads. The girls were incredibly excited, of course, and the most exciting part was apparently eating the snow. They talked about eating snow throughout breakfast and the entire time they were getting dressed. And when I looked at my pictures later, about 50% of them caught them in the act:

Snow from the slide tastes great as well:

Making a baby snowman:

Just right!
But it only lasted a minute before Karis had to eat it:
Snow angel sisters:

Thanks for playing in the snow with us, Daddy!

And we definitely couldn't have a snow day with hot chocolate! I came across this recipe on Pinterest and just had to try Nutella hot chocolate! It might not be quite as healthy as making it from scratch, but boy was it easy and good!