Abbie Turns 4!!!

Wow, I have a 4 year old daughter???  Where in the world did the time go?  And what a 4 year old little girl she has become!  She's one of the sweetest, most caring, compassionate, smart and beautiful 4 year olds I know.  We celebrated her birthday 2 times on Saturday.  Saturday morning started with a "fairy" party for just little girls (her choice).  She had 9 of her closest girl friends over to Carole's (the perfect place to host a little girl fairy party).  They started the party off by getting dressed in their white and pink tutu's and wings, then headed to the kitchen to make cookie fairy wands made of fondant and sprinkles.  Then we headed into the living room to complete the makeover with facepaint and bling bling stickers.  After the little fairys were all made up, they went to the dining room to enjoy a "tea party" complete with real china that Abbie picked out.  After cupcakes and presents, we all headed outside for pictures and to watch the little fairies run around the farm.  I think they all had a great time and I know Abbie felt just like a little fairy!

In the afternoon, we let the boys come to her party/cookout.  Friends and family came back to Carole's around 5:30 and we had a relaxing, laid back cookout.  The food was great, spending time with friends and family was perfect, and the laterns we set off at the end of the night was the finishing touch to what she claims was her "best birthday ever!" 

A huge thank you to everyone who helped make Abbie's birthday perfect.  She's gone through a lot this year with selling our house, moving in with MiMi and Poppa, giving away our dogs, and saying goodbye to her friends at her culpeper preschool.  I wanted her to have an extra special birthday party and I think that was accomplished!  She's truly blessed (as are we) to have such special friends and family.

I saw this on Pinterest (that's how a lot of my sentences start out lately), and thought it was the perfect idea so I had Abbie answer these questions and I'm posting it on here because I figure that's where we're likely to keep up with it best.  It's tough keeping up with things when you don't have your own house!  So here are her 20 answers as a 4 year old...

1.  What is your favorite color?  pink

      2. What is your favorite toy?  princess

      3. What is your favorite fruit?  banana

      4. What is your favorite tv show?  dora

      5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Mac and cheese

      6. What is your favorite outfit?  Pink butterfly dress

      7. What is your favorite game?  Hi ho cheerio

      8. What is your favorite snack?  Crackers with cheese

      9. What is your favorite animal?  giraffe

    10. What is your favorite song?  Twinkle twinkle

    11. What is your favorite book?  Tinkerbell books

    12. Who is your best friend?  Carson

    13. What is your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms

    14. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Splash in the mud puddles with my umbrella

    15. What is your favorite drink?  Chocolate milk

    16. What is your favorite holiday?  Thanksgiving

    17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Flopsie and princess blanket

    18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Lucky charms

    19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday?  Breakfast for dinner

    20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A mommy

Goodbye Spring Ridge Road!

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to Culpeper!  We finally sold our house-the proverbial ink is dry on the paperwork finally and we are finished with the stress of selling our house. In a few years, when we are happily living in our new home, we'll look back on this time and laugh (or maybe get mad all over again about our beautiful trees). 

Saying goodbye to Spring Ridge Rd was more difficult than I imagined.  TJ and I went back to do one final cleaning (alone-hard to clean with 2 little girls running around) and as we were finished and about to leave, we did one final walk through.  I walked into Abbie's room, and the tears started.  The memories of the last 6 years flashed before my eyes.  This is the house that we got married in, adopted 2 dogs in, started our family in, brought our 2nd baby girl home to.  This is the house that we learned that we are good at fixing up houses with not a lot of money!  TJ's blood, sweat, and tears are in this basement.  This house has so many wonderful memories!  And leaving Culpeper is tough too.  We have made lifelong friends while in this house (how will I survive not being 8 minutes from the Krauss'), had the BEST neighbors while in this house, joined a moms group that got me through those first baby jitters.  And sooooo much more.  How do you say goodbye to the start of it all??  I guess we will do it with a smile on our face thinking of the next house that we will make even more memories in.  Goodbye Culpeper. 

Cinderella and BFF’s

   

I took Abbie and Savannah to their first ever real Ballet.  We went to a church in Staunton to see Cinderella and the girls had a ball.  They both sat so still on the floor watching, then came to cuddle with me a little;-)  They loved getting dressed up and spending the day together.  It’s the sweetest thing ever to see my little girl and my little sister’s little girl grow up together being best friends.  I hope they stay that way always.

Happy Birthday MiMi!

We had dinner at our house to celebrate MiMi’s birthday-crabcakes, salads, and yummy cake.  The cousins had a great time playing together.  They don’t see each other often but when they do, they play great and make up for lost time.  Happy Birthday MiMi!

Tess’ favorite activity

Yes, that is a babydoll stroller.  Tess thinks her hiney fits in there perfectly and also thinks that her sister is here on earth to push her around in it. 

Playtime

When it’s warm outside, we’re almost always out there, but when it’s cold, this is what we do….

Snow playdate with good friends

One of my favorite things about living in Culpeper is our friends.  The girls and I have made such great friends here and thinking about moving to Warrenton makes me sad.  Anyway, we have had such a weird winter here in Culpeper.  A few little snows, but they last only hours instead of the days like I was used to growing up.  So once again, we took full advantage to the snow that lasted only 5 hours.  Our good friends, the Krauss’ came over-the kids had a blast sledding, snow ball fighting, and just running around in it.  Melissa and I got a great workout pulling them up the hill;-)  We went in for lunch and came out to see no more snow, only grass;-(  Fun while it lasted!

Valentine’s Day

No pictures, but I wanted to share a story about my sweet Abbie.  This blog is my way of remembering all of the little things with my girls.  I wish I was able to write down every cute little story, that’s not happening, but i’m trying to do better.  So Valentine’s Day came and I had to go to work so I was up early.  I went in to wake up Abbie because I promised I would.  I whispered in her ear that it was Valentine’s day.  She sat straight up in bed immediately, jumped up and said “close your eyes mommy, i have a surprise for you.”  She went to her drawer and pulled out a sweet little card that she had made for TJ and I.  I immediately teared up because of the sweetness in that moment.  My little girl had made me something, then hid it and kept it a secret so that I could have something to open on Valentine’s morning.  What a sweetheart!

Superbowl Party

Our annual superbowl party—not many pic’s but we all had a great time.  Good food, great friends, guys downstairs, girl time upstairs, kids playing.  Great night!

First snow!

Look at the love in Abbie’s eyes (her daddy really did hang the moon)!

First snow of the year!  We didn’t want to miss the fun so we headed out at 7pm (next day was supposed to be warm=no more snow).  Glad we did, the girls (and hubby) had a blast!  Tess wasn’t so sure at first, but quickly warmed up.  She tried to keep up with her big sis and daddy in the snowball fight but discovered that eating the snow was much more fun!  Abbie was really good at making the snowballs this year.  The Christmas tree that was still on our porch (i know, a little redneck-thanks hubby) was a great shield for the fight.  Tess and I went in to warm up while daddy and Abbie made their huge snowman.  She was so proud that night, and a little disappointed to wake up to see the snowman had disappeared!! 

Park Day in January

 

A warm day in January??  I’ll take it!  We headed to the park, fed the geese right from our hands, played on the swing set, watched the birds come in, and just enjoyed some family time.  Both girls had a blast running around the play set, going down the slide and swinging.  Tess LOVED feeding the geese from her hands, Abbie….not so much, but she enjoyed watching from afar!

I knew I always wanted my girls to have their own personality but wow, they are so complete opposites of each other.  Now that Tess’ personality is really coming out, it’s so neat to see the differences.  Abbie is so timid around new experiences, Tess just walks on up with no care in the world.  Abbie is so quiet, Tess-so loud.  Abbie is patient, Tess is the EXACT opposite, she knows what she wants and wants it NOW.  Love it!!

So proud!

Abbie spent the day with MiMi back in December, and as always, they created a special project together.  This is the project 4 weeks later and she’s never been so proud!!!  She took special care to make sure it always had enough water and sunlight.  Thanks MiMi for spending that special time with my little girl!  She has no idea how lucky she is to have such loving and supportive grandparents!