This weekend I took a trip to Dallas to see my good friend Heather and Steve and Melinda. We had a wonderful time together laughing, talking, and hanging out. Being with Heather reminded me of rooming together in college. She was so sweet to do a little photo shoot of Abby while I was there. Heather has such talent for photography and Abigail was very cooperative. Thanks Heather for a great weekend!
Abby was a good little patient
We decided taking her temperature under her arm was a better idea
Don't worry, she won't be wearing that flower bow again until her head's bigger. 
If she's not sucking on her passy, she's trying to eat her fingers and hands. This past weekend we went with Ben's family on the annual trip to the lake house. It was a short last minute decision, but we were glad it all worked out. We all had a lot of fun, but I think Gracie had the most. She jumped off the dock, road the wave runners, and tubed behind the boat (she even got knocked off the tube and insisted laughing for more. I didn't get many pictures because we were having too much fun.
We sure are going to miss Nana and Pop when they move to Guatemala.
We sure missed Kim and Jason and their 4 kids.
On Monday, one of Gracie's friends through a "messy party". She had a great time playing in pudding, jello, whipped cream, noodles, spraying dye on a sheet, and much more. It was such a fun idea and the kids loved getting messy.
Of course she had to try the pudding.
The conversations during these pictures:
Gracie:" Mama, I love Abs" (her new nickname Gracie's given her)
Me:"That's sweet, I love her too! And I love Gracie. I bet Abby loves Gracie too."
Gracie: "No, Abs loves Mommy, because you have the nulk (milk)"
Today marks potty training day 2. Gracie has never gone pee-pee in the potty because she's been a little nervous. Yesterday I decided was the day to start and after about 10 minutes of reading stories on the potty she went. We couldn't believe she went. We had a few accidents of course, but overall she did very good for her first day. She even came up and told me a number of times she had to go and was very excited. We celebrated by going to get ice-cream last night with Daddy. She looks so big and cute in her panties. I already think we need to go up a size in panties with that big booty she has. Hopefully the rest of this week goes well. I'm not looking forward to being home bound, but I am definitely looking forward to having a potty trained girl. What a big girl I have.
We had a great 4th of July with Ben's family. There was a big family reunion that weekend with Ben's Granddad's side of the family. We loved having all of Ben's siblings together. Gracie especially loved her cousin Spencer. We enjoyed swimming, sail boating, go-cart, eating, playing, and just being together. Gracie had a lot of fun doing sparklers and poppers and thought the fireworks were so pretty. It was nice being out on the Ranch, because we got to do our own fire works and I think the boys had a fun time setting them off.
We had a wonderful time in California. The girls and I went for the first week, and after Ben's big Step 1 test he met us out there the 2nd week. Gracie had lots of fun with Grandma and her cousin's and I enjoyed spending time with my sisters. It was so nice to wake up each day knowing there was someone around to be with. My sister Nora has 2 kids the same ages as mine, which made it fun for us to laugh when we were together. Some of our highlights:
Grandma making pancakes with the kids
The baby girls (3 days apart). Of course we had to get a picture of them matching, but they were a little tired.
Every morning Charlie and Grace would watch cartoons (Elmo and Mickey) together under the blanket and eat their toast.
The kids hit the sprinklers up the one hot day we had while we were there.
Bow Night: Nora and I stayed up until 1 am making bows...we couldn't stop ourselves. We need to make this a tradition every time we're together. I think making them is just as much fun as having our girls wear them.
Of course we made matching ones...
And more matching ones for all the girl cousins (next time we're all together we'll have Addie join in).
These two had a love-hate relationship. It's funny to watch 2 year olds play together. They thought they were pretty cool riding in the car buckled together. (we just drove down the street)
Grandma played doctor with the kids. These brave patients all broke their legs.
Gracie's favorite part of Disneyland: Mickey and Minnie
Gracie's favorite ride.
The girls went out for "girls day" while the boys so willingly stayed home from 9am to 9pm and watched the kids. I imagine their day looked something like this.
Of course we went to the beach. Even though it was a pretty chilly day, Gracie still got all the way in the water and loved every minute of it.
We had a wonderful vacation and look forward to our next California vacation were the whole family will be together...Christmas!
Abby finally had her 2 month check up. We were a little late since we went to California, but she checked out perfect. She is just below the 50th percentile for her weight, height, and head circumference and proportioned just right. She weighed 10 lbs, 9 oz, and was 20 inches long. The doctor said she was "just right" (average) for her age, but we think she is better than average...she's perfect.
