Second First Day of School and more...

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. Here's what we've been up to...
In Abby's two years of life she's already had two first days of school - one in Dallas and now one in San Antonio. Last week Abby started at a preschool here in San Antonio and she loves it! We are so thankful that we were able to find a place for her and as a bonus her sweet teacher and I went to high school together...small world.
My parents came last weekend and we had a fun and relaxing time. We spent Saturday evening downtown and had dinner at Mi Tierra, a fabulous Mexican restaurant and bakery. A few days later Auntie Becki, Abram and Hootsie came to visit us - the cousins had a great time playing together and Becki and I were able to squeeze in a little sister time, too - thanks Hootsie! On Friday the three of us went to Sea World for a couple hours. Today Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristine are coming for a visit and we are so excited.
Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms!

Abby on her first day of school. She looks so big to us in these pictures!
Abby teaching Abram something...probably how to draw a balloon.
Abby and Abram...this is the best picture I could get of them.

Abby and Daddy looking at the dolphins at Sea World.

Best Little Buddies

This past weekend one of my oldest and best friends in the world, Julie, came to visit us with her husband and two children. Julie's oldest, Annie is only five months older than Abby and although our girls have spent time together before this was the first time they have been old enough to really play together. It took just minutes for them to bond and they were inseparable the rest of the weekend. Abby kept calling Annie, "My Little Annie." Abby and Annie's little friendship brings so much joy to my heart!
Here are a couple of pictures of them being silly and eating marshmallows, which they received as a reward for Abby using the potty.
I'll post more pictures from our weekend together soon.

Annie looks so much like Julie...do I even need to write that Abby looks nothing like me!

Abby's Balloons

Earlier this month Abby started drawing balloons. Here is her first official balloon drawing.

Our First Family Vacation

This weekend the three of us took a little road trip to Port Aransas. We had an amazing time just swimming in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, playing on the beach and splashing around in the ocean. We also ate some delicious sea food. Abby's favorite thing was swimming in the pool - each morning Matthew and I woke up to, "Let's hit the pool!" She would have stayed in the pool all day if we would have let her. On Saturday we visited "Sand Fest," which is a festival on the beach where thousands of people come to see the most incredible sand castles. Here are some pictures from our first family vacation!

In the hot tub.

Trying to take a cute/creative picture.

On the beach.

Bathing beauty getting a little sun.

Abby's ABCs

We had just returned from a walk (hence the sunglasses) and Abby decided to perform for the camera, which is quite a rarity. She said her ABCs for the first time unassisted yesterday.

This Week...

Hey Everyone! Just wanted to update our blog on the happenings of this week. We had a great weekend - the three of us had a blast at Sea World. It was bigger than we thought so we are thankful that we bought season passes because it will take several trips to see it all. I know several of you are planning a trip to Sea World so here are a few tips to pass on...
- You can watch Shamu on the computer at http://www.shamu.com/ in preparation for your trip. So fun!
- It's expensive so if you think you'll be going more than once buy a season pass or two-day ticket. The gifts in the shops are not too expensive - of course Abby had to have her own stuffed Shamu and we were happy to see the price tag said $10 instead of $30!
- The sign says you can't bring outside food, but we did and they even checked our bag, saw it and didn't say anything. I'm sure if you tried to enter with bags of food from McDonald's they would say something but I guess they didn't care about a couple PB&J sandwiches...they know you'll be suckered into buying more food anyway.
- They have a waterpark geared toward little children so bring swimsuits.

Other stuff...
We think we've found a church that we'll be attending while we are here in SA - such a praise! Abby loved her class and asked to go back on Monday. We are planning to venture downtown to the Market this weekend which should be fun and then next week Abby and I are flying to Dallas for a few days. We hope you are all doing well!

Abby & Daddy at Sea World
Mommy & Abby petting the Clydesdale...I know it's Sea World but it's an Anheuser-Busch park so there was a barn with Clydesdales.
Clydesdales are huge...and a little scarry for littles!
Abby watching "Telling the Truth" a Seasame Street DVD starring Dennis Quaid as Tele Monster's uncle. The name of Dennis' character is Uncle Tommy and Abby keeps referring to the DVD as "Uncle Tommy" and has asked to watch it many times this past week. Matthew and I joke she has a crush on Dennis Quaid!
Abby watching "Uncle Tommy" very intently.

So Blessed

Lately we've been reminded in a million little ways how blessed we are to have Abby. God gave us a sweet-spirited, compassionate, kind and joyful little girl and we are so thankful. Matthew and I went to sleep last night talking about how we love Abby so much it feels like our hearts could burst. She is truly a gift...every good and perfect gift is from above.
These are a few pictures from the last week. We are off to Sea World today so hopefully we'll get some great pictures to share with you all. Thank you all for taking the time to look at our blog. We love all our friends and family so much!

Abby dancing in the street (well, sidewalk) in Louisville, Kentucky. My mom "Hootsie", Becki, Abram, Andi "Wella" Haynes, and I took a little trip to Louisville this past week. It was a blast and the kids did wonderfully.
Abby and Hootsie. Abby recently changed my mom's name from WeWe (Abby came up with this pronunciation herself of course) to Hootsie.
Our little artist. One of Matthew's co-workers got these paint pens for Abby and she loves them!
I think she's actually looking at the camera.

Bye! We're off to see Shamu!