Dance/Gymnastics

Abby started a class today called Dance/Gym which is a half hour of ballet and a half hour of gymnastics. She told me gymnastics was her favorite part, especially hanging on the bars! I didn't look that closely at the age range for the class but it must be 3-6, as some of those girls are really tall! She wore the leotard the whole time, a cute hand me down from Vanessa, and ballet slippers for the dance portion. I didn't get any action shots as it is a class, in a room/gym, without parents :)

Summary At Age 3

There's no stopping her now! Abby's off riding her bicycle, as fast as she possibly can! She has loads of energy, all day long! No naps for this gal anymore but in bed by 7:30 and sleeps about 12 hours. She continues to attend the Weeping Willows class at the park district for two hours, two days a week and keeps everyone there entertained. Abby is full of personality and loves to dance, sing and act silly. She plays dress up and likes to pack up her things to pretend she's going on "vacation". She can put her shoes on by herself, is potty trained, and is gaining quite the vocabulary. We are working on recognizing letters and numbers but she can say her ABCs and numbers to 20. She knows colors and shapes and we couldn't ask for anything more!

Abby is liking puzzles more and more, enjoys swimming and gymnastics. Did I mention how much she loves to sing and dance around??? Her best friends (imaginary friends) are The Wiggles. Yes, the Australian singing group for children, made up of four grown men, and yes, that's kind of odd. She is friends with all the kids on our street and plays well with all of them. Her new bike seems to be her least favorite toy to share, although last summer she had no trouble borrowing other children's bikes... It is fair to say that pretty much anything her big brother is doing, she wants to be doing.

33lbs (75th percentile)

38" (68th percentile)

Abby Turns 3, The Final Chapter

Our neighbor, Carter, turns 2 next week so we decided to split the difference and have a party at a local gym in the middle of the month for all the kids on the block. It was great fun! They had an hour to jump, slide, and run around before we headed upstairs for cupcakes and presents. Even some of the adults got in on the jumping action (those foam ball pits are hard to climb out of !). Abby ripped her tutu after about 5 minutes at the gym, but that didn't slow her down any. Her favorite activities were jumping on the trampoline and climbing up the large inflatable slide to slide down face first! No fear for this little girl!

Playing in the Snow!

Last week's snow wound up being about 6-8" deep so there was plenty to play in and shovel! It was super cold though so a big warm-up was needed once they all came inside. Road crews worked through the night and had things cleaned up well by mid-morning, although it was slow going. There's also the added time of bundling everyone up and packing a change of shoes for all of us whenever we go out!

Abby Turns 3, Part 2

On January 4, Abby's actual birthday, Alex was still off for winter break. We had a fun playdate with neighbors that included lots of Just Dance 3, playing dress up, arts and crafts, and snacks!

Cub Scout Fun

Brad and Alex have been working diligently constructing his Pinewood Derby car. They spent some time this weekend sanding it down to look similar to a little Luigi car he found in the toy box and wants to mimic. We have until January 25 to get it finished and make sure it meets the weight limit. The race is January 26 at Pack Night.

Alex's Cub Scout den was also invited to attend a college basketball game at the University of St. Francis in Joliet last weekend. This was the first college basketball game for most of the boys and taught them a positive lesson in teamwork and sportsmanship.

New Year's Eve

Alex's understanding of New Year's Eve is that we get to "knock cups", eat fun foods for dinner, play games and say "Happy New Year!". He knows that New Year's Eve is December 31 and that January 1 begins the new year. He has never asked to stay up until midnight, but I'm sure someday his friends will clue him in on the whole ball-dropping phenomenon. Brooke came by for the evening and we enjoyed watching the coverage from the safety of our own home.

First Snowfall

We had to wait until January 12, but we have our first measurable snowstorm rolling through!

The Party Source

There is a great party/liquor store in Northern Kentucky called The Party Source. We dropped by pre-New Year's Eve to get some decorations and it took several days to get all the glitter out of Alex and Abby's hair! They tried on every pair of funky glasses and every hat in the store!

Assembly Required?

Santa brought a bike with training wheels for Abby. In a box. Unassembled. Yep, he did, and she waited patiently for Brad to put this together.

He also delivered the Spyro Skylanders Wii set for Alex, which required little assembly and he was able to play immediately. It has interchangeable figures so when he wants to change characters in the game, he just puts a different figure on this little platform near the Wii. He absolutely loves it!

Abby Turns 3, Part 1!

We had a family, "Wiggles" themed birthday party for Abby on December 26. Abby celebrated with all of her Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, etc. It was a fun afternoon! She was showered with all sorts of beautiful clothes, dress-up attire, Hello Kitty galore, and Wiggles paraphernalia. Gigi even gave her a recordable Princess storybook, which she enjoys listening to very much! This same evening, we celebrated cousin Lauren's 32nd birthday over dinner and needless to say, everyone slept well that night :)

Christmas 2011

Yikerz, pictured above, may have tied with Bananagrams for most enjoyable game of the holiday!
Abby was particularly excited about Christmas this year! I have to add that both she and Alex are little troopers in the car. While we did make a few more pit stops on the way to Cincinnati than we would have liked, these two do not complain about being in the car and for that we are thankful!

Relaxing under the giant blankie at Grandma Kathy's house.

The wonderful thing about having our families both in Cincinnati is that we get to visit with them all at the holidays. We celebrated on Christmas Eve with Brad's Mom's family, Christmas Day with Brad's Dad's family and on the latter part of Christmas Day with my family. Jackie and Scott were visiting from Washington, D.C. and it was great to catch up with them too! Bananagrams is our new favorite game and I am certain we have yet to get any snow because I finally broke down and asked for snow boots for Christmas. The kids each came home with a castle this year, one more dainty than the other. Brad thoroughly enjoyed his time off work and is looking forward to any work travel that will give him a chance to use his new, grown-up luggage. We had waited until Christmas to tell our kids about an upcoming visit to Disney World, and while they were (and still are) excited, they were more interested in playing with their new toys than anything else!

December Fun!

Before our trip to Cincinnati to celebrate Christmas Dec 23-29, we spent our weekends in December visiting with friends and extended family here in Illinois. I had fun helping with Alex's class party, we went to see the Chipmunks movie (adorable!), and we opened gifts as a family. We ate lots of delicious treats, put together puzzles and toys, and played oodles of new video games. Life is good.