Painting

This was our first painting experience. She had fun. Of course, she wanted to get it all over herself, which I limited to a degree. She enjoyed the bath afterward, but I also had my first experience having a child poop in the bathtub. The joy!

Cousins

Here's Abigail hanging out with her oldest cousin, Emma, who has always been one of her biggest fans.

Goofy Kid

This is for the benefit of people who live elsewhere. Just a little video of our kid being goofy at dinner.

Halloween 2008

Our friends, Justin and Laura Holmes (Fred & Wilma), had a Halloween party. Jeremy's parents took Abigail overnight so we could go to the party. There were some fun costumes and great people. Unfortunately, I was a bit sick that day, so we didn't hang around for as long as we'd like to. I hope they make this an annual event though.

We also had a fun day at the pumpkin patch with Abigail. Spooner Farms in Orting has it all, pumpkins (of course), corn maze, animals, an activity barn and dad's favorite, the pumpkin sling shot! The photo was actually taken by a complete stranger, with his camera! We had to talk him into taking a photo for us...the camera was not in its bag, so we didn't have ours even though we thought we did. oops.

We just had a Halloween party at our friend's house. Jennifer set up wonderful things for the kids including cookie decorating, coloring, watching the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, food for kids and adults, a game and gift bags for all the kids. We had a lot of fun. Little Miss Abigail loves to be around people, but she also is super independent - disappearing down the hall, going downstairs by herself or just wondering alone. It will be interesting to see if that's just an age thing or a personality thing.

Young Marrieds Halloween Potluck

We had a Halloween potluck at our house last night for our church young marrieds group. In retrospect, we should have taken pictures of the people too. We had scary themed food, and I was in charge of the cupcakes. We played games and had a great time.

Sponsor Child

You can all join me in praying for our little sponsor child, Maria, who is just a bit older than Abigail.

Fall Days

One of my favorite times of the year on the lake is fall. You wake up to fog on the lake, geese flying by, fisherman out on their boats quietly floating, crew boats breaking the glass, and our neighbor even reported 4 deer on our beach the other morning. These pictures were taken this very morning.

Jeremy's 30th Birthday

We had three birthday celebrations. Here, we were celebrating Ross, Jeremy & my dad's birthday all at once. We gathered here for pizza, salad, apple pie and ice cream. We also saw yet another defeat of our Seahawks, who are having a rough season. It was a great party, non-the-less.

One of our birthday celebrations was with Jeremy's family. We had a big birthday dinner and celebration at our house.

Another celebration was with friends at the RAM on the waterfront.

Sixteen Months

At sixteen months, Abby maintains her joyful, fun personality. I always wonder what's going through that noggin of hers because she is randomly and wonderfully quirky. She likes to be in the same room as us but is fairly independent. She went through a phase of being a bit more clingy, and we had some sleep struggles lately where she was trying to exert her will. We toughed it out, and now she goes to bed without a peep. She's social yet independent. She has a lot of words and is very mobile. She seems to figure out easily how things work - seems clever. She enjoys clapping, music, reading, scribbling and making a mess. She's a kid that doesn't mind being dirty and loves to be outside. Eating is not very interesting to Abigail. She'd rather be active. Stuffed animals are one of her favorite things. She's learning what is a "no" and is clarifying as she walks by something she's not suppose to get into. She's tested that lately and has received time outs. However, she's a pretty obedient kid and easy to take out and about. She delights us.