Cousin Week

We named the last week in May "Cousin Week" here at our house. It was super fun as Abigail and Luke got to spend quality time with all of their cousins throughout the week. Aunt Jenn, Madison and Olivia came over on Tuesday and stayed for a couple of days. There was a lot of dressing up and dancing together. The girls had a ball!

Luke liked the extra attention as well. Madison took really good care of him.
Jenn and the girls left Thursday after lunch just as Aunt Mil and Joshua were rolling into town for the long holiday weekend. Luke slept through Joshua holding him but I am sure he really enjoyed it.
Abigail's sharing abilities were put to the test all week with all of the cousins, but I think she did really well overall (we did have our moments). Below are a couple pictures of her sharing her newest prized possession with Joshua. How cute are they?

It is HOT in Mississippi, so Joshua and Abigail enjoyed cooling off in the sprinkler in our yard Saturday morning. The sprinkler ended up not being near as fun as "painting" the play set proved to be.


Monday we made our first trip of the summer to Brandon's Splash Park. Joshua and Abigail are at a great age for the splash park this year and ran all over the place. Nana and Coach treated us to a pass for the season that we plan on enjoying A LOT and that Joshua can enjoy any time he comes over. We are so excited about it!

Staycation 2011

With high gas prices, hospital bills, and such a young baby we decided taking a "staycation" would be better than traveling somewhere for a vacation. Chad took off work one week in May and we spent the majority of it here at home. I was really excited about it and Chad was a little hesitant about it. I think he ended up enjoying the week more than he thought he would and was able to mark a few things off of his "Honey Do" list at home as well. We made the most of our time together and did a lot of fun things around Jackson.

Monday we went to play at the LeFleur's Bluff State Park playground. We had never been there and were so impressed with what a fun playground it was. Abigail LOVED it and we have already been back. (Yes, she is wearing a jacket in this picture. We had a random cold snap in the middle of May and it was 58 degrees that day.)

Tuesday morning we went back to the Children's Museum. It was a great time to go as there were not that many people there at all. We spent a couple of hours there playing and took our cue to leave when a school group of 200 kids came in around 11:00am.

Abigail enjoyed playing dress up in the music/dance room.
Here she is sitting in the real car you can play in. She LOVED this because she was able to "drive" and push all of the buttons she is not allowed to touch in Mommy or Daddy's car.
Wednesday we went to see the Mississippi Braves play. We didn't make it through the whole game, but she did really well overall. She was excited to wear her baseball hat like Daddy.
We veered away from the "stay" part of our "staycation" on Friday and drove to Memphis to see Chad's Papaw Ken. He had never met either of the kids and we were excited to introduce them to him. Abigail and Luke both behaved very well and we enjoyed our visit with him.

Abigail has now met all of her living Great Grandparents and Luke will hopefully accomplish that by the end of the summer after a trip to South Carolina to meet my PopPop and Grandma Giet.
It was a super quick trip with a lot of time in the car, but both Abigail and Luke were troopers. Here are my two cute road warriors.

P.S. This trip also marked Abigail's first stay in a hotel that she can remember (she and I stayed in a hotel when she was 7 weeks old when Joshua was born). She thought it was the coolest thing ever and touched everything in sight. Jumping on the bed, playing with the phone, swimming at the indoor pool, eating breakfast in bed, watching Disney Channel ... what more could a two year old want?

Recent Abigail News

Abigail is transforming into a little girl before our eyes! I blink and she has learned something new. At 2 1/2, she is seeking even more independence and talking and acting as though she is going on 14 already. The drama she brings is probably just a foreshadowing of her 14 year old self to come as well (begin praying for us now please!). She talks NON STOP from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed at night. I take that back. She talks for a good hour to hour and a half even after we put her to bed too. I'm not exactly sure who she is talking to until 9:30pm each night, but they have some funny conversations. You can not get anything past this girl either. She is always listening, comprehending, and repeating what you say. Her memory astounds me as she will recall places, things, conversations, etc. from months ago regularly. She has adjusted beautifully to becoming a big sister and has BIG LOVE for "Luke Man" or "Lukey Luke" as she calls him.

Here she is below on her first day in "Big Girl Panties." She was so proud of herself, but not proud enough to keep them dry. We continue on the potty training journey and are getting better and better each day. Stopping to go to the potty is more of an annoyance to her than walking around with wet pants.

Some dear friends and neighbors of ours handed down this purple princess Pontiac Solstice to Abigail and she is now all over the roads in our neighborhood. It took her a week or so to get the hang of steering (one of Daddy's sprinkler heads was sacrificed to her reckless driving) but she has mastered it now and asks to drive her car all the time.
The beginning of summer meant the end of Mom's Morning Out at church. Abigail LOVED going to "school" twice a week and adored Mrs. Darlene and Mrs. Angela. She learned a ton too! She talks often about her school friends and will really miss them this summer. Mommy already misses Abigail's school days too. We are already counting down the days to August when she starts back in a new class. Thank you PPBC for the awesome ministry of Mom's Morning Out. Below is one picture from her end of the year party at MMO (she couldn't put the sweets down long enough for a picture).

Luke is 2 Months Old!

Luke - 2 Months Old

Well, it's time again for my monthly post. I just turned two months old and a lot has happened since the last time I checked in. Mom said she already covered the Easter post, so I'll just fill you in on the rest of the month.

To start off, I am growing super fast! I graduated clothes and diaper sizes over the last month and seem to be carrying around a good bit more weight these days. I saw my doc last week and he gave me an A+ (naturally). His comment, "I only wish my retirement account looked as good as his growth chart." I weighed 11 pounds, 15 ounces and measured 22 3/4 inches. Mom got mad cause Dad called me husky. She says it is perfectly fine that I pork up a little bit. I am more than a pound and a half heavier than Abigail was at my age, so I think she just enjoys a baby with some meat on their bones.

I realized I didn't give you a tour of my room last time around. So, here it is...I kinda like it.

Mom and Dad went with a sports theme and I am already looking forward to the day I can play with some of the equipment that surrounds me in my room.
Abigail (turns out the "No" at the end of her name is not permanent) continues to be a source of confusion for me. She is always in my face jabbering about something. If she crams the pacifier in my mouth one more time there is no telling what I'll do. I've been entertained a little bit over the last month just watching her jump around and act crazy. I've even given up a few smiles for her too. I sense she is one I need to keep on my side in the years to come so I have softened up a little bit with her.

Here we are together playing on the floor. My face shows my shock that Mom let her get this close to me without being held back by an adult.
Then she worked on tummy time with me.
Sometimes I just have to bury my head and pray she doesn't smash me!
All jokes aside, I like the "little brother" gig and can't wait to get big enough to play with Abigail.
We went to Birmingham one weekend and I got to meet my Hunsberger cousins and Aunt Jenn for the first time!
Madison and Olivia are cool and took good care of me. I was surprised to learn that Abigail gets even louder when they are all together!


All the cousins got a picture together. I was smiling and enjoying the first one ...
... then I realized I don't stand a chance with these girls.
I am going to have to endure princess cups and dance parties the rest of my life!

Another big event was my recent dedication at church. This was only my second time at church (I got to go on Easter Sunday too) and everyone was so welcoming and happy to see me. I think I was looking pretty handsome for my big day.
Check out my double chin ladies!

I was getting pretty tired but my Mom insisted on taking pictures of me and Abigail.
Look closely, and you can see how I chose to express my annoyance with picture time. Pretty sure I'm going to be grounded as soon as Mom sees this.
As icing on the cake (pun intended), Aunt B made me pose with the cake Mom ordered for my dedication family lunch. Plain cruel if you ask me ... I didn't even get a piece.
All was forgiven by the next day and I cooperated long enough for Mom to catch my winning smile.

Easter 2011

I know Easter was weeks ago, but I am playing catch up. We had a great Easter weekend and Luke and I were able to go to church for the first time since he was born. God blessed us with a small miracle in that I was able to get Abigail, Luke and I ready for church Sunday morning by myself and made it to Sunday school and worship on time! It was such a blessing to be back in worship to celebrate the resurrection! The weekend also included an egg hunt at church, GG's birthday, and a wonderful lunch on Sunday with a lot of our extended Mississippi family. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The egg hunt at church included learning the Easter story through opening a series of eggs with various teaching tools inside. Here is Abigail opening the last egg of the story when they look in the tomb to find...

...it is empty! Jesus has risen!
At the egg hunt, Abigail picked up two eggs and promptly said, "I'm done." We encouraged her to pick up just a few more and not quit just yet. I think she was ready to get to the candy inside the eggs.


Here is diva Abigail ready to head to church Sunday morning with her shades, purse, and keys in hand.
Our first Easter as a family of four! (Don't be fooled, Abigail was being bribed with Easter candy corn to take this picture.)