Christmas morning! Abby is checking out her new cell phone, she loves to talk to people on our phones-so now she has her own! She walked around all day with it to her ear "talking" to everyone she could think of!
I didn't take alot of pictures on Christmas day, but we had a very good dinner and spent lots of quality time together! Abby and I went to Druber's Donut shop this morning to see Santa and eat some yummy donuts! Needless to say, Abby was not excited about sitting on Santa's lap.
*Note: I started this post a couple days ago, but due to the yucky flu in our house, I am just now getting it finished. I am glad to say that the flu bug only lasted about 24 hours, and only Richard and I were sick. I am praying that Abby doesn't come down with it later.*
I can't hardly believe it's already here, this week I'm officially 30-weeks along in my pregnancy! Yay! The countdown is on!
I had a dream a couple nights ago, well, I ALWAYS have dreams when I sleep, and I can almost always remember them. Some of my dreams are very vivid, and the dream I had a couple nights ago was no exception. I dreampt that I was at the end of my pregnancy and I went to the hospital to have the baby. (Just in case we haven't told you, it's a girl, and her name will be Alivia Jane Wallace.) Well, in my dream everything went very smooth, and I held Alivia in my arms. She was so perfect and beautiful!
When I reached this point in my pregnancy with Abby, I remember that I couldn't wait for the BIG day to come when I would meet her! I was so excited about everything, about being a new mom, about getting the room ready, and mostly about meeting this little person that was going to bless our lives. Well, at this point in this pregnancy, I am definately not feeling the need to rush things along. Don't get me wrong, I am SO excited to meet our new little girl, but I am also very nervous about having a 19 month and a newborn!
We are very thankful to have a healthy toddler running around, and a healthy baby girl in my tummy. So...10 weeks left, and counting!
This is not Abby's 1st winter, but it is her 1st winter that she is old enough to "play" in the snow. We went outside for a little bit to experience the 1st snow of the season.
In this picture, she is screaching from excitement!
Trying to walk is a little harder with 5 inches of snow on the ground!
I put snow on her nose, and she started crying. After she realized it didn't hurt her, she was trying to figure out the whole thing. (Looks like she's concentrating pretty hard.)
Abby is always wanting to mess with my jewelry, and of course, I always tell her no-no. Well, I found these play beads in a box in the closet the other day and gave them to her. I knew she would like them, but I had no idea how much! She put them on right away, and wouldn't take them off. She wore them to Wal-Mart, Dillons, and didn't even want to take them off at nighttime. The next morning, she went and found them right away and kept them on all day again! She loves them.
She wanted to go play and I made her sit still so I could take a picture, this is the face (and tears) that I got! I still thought it was cute!
Here is her sad, pouty face... Isn't it pitiful?
I came home from doing a jewelry show one night and this is what I found. Abby and her daddy were watching a movie together and she fell asleep on the couch. This had never happened before. Richard left her there until I got home because he thought it was to cute to move her.
Ok, so this is really late getting posted. But, here it is! Our little baby was a ladybug. We were only going to go trick or treating at a few houses, but Abby decided it would be limited to only 2 houses! After the 2nd house in our neighborhood, she decided she was tired and just laid down in the street and wouldn't walk anymore. I didn't think about it until afterwards, but I guess we could have pulled her around in her wagon. Oh, well!
Here is our little family, with one on the way...
And here is our little baby... Isn't she cute?
Awhile back a friend did a recipe challenge. We were all supposed to post a family favorite recipe on our blog. Here is a family favorite of ours! WARNING: Do not make this recipe if you are in any way counting calories, I'm sure because of the ingredients, it is not the healthiest meal to eat. But oh my, it is so yummy!!!
CHICKEN FETTUCCINI ALFREDO
1/2 cup butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup grated parmasean
1/4 tsp. pepper
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup milk
16 oz. fetuccini pasta
1 lb. chicken or (shrimp, if you prefer)
In a double broiler pan, melt butter and cream cheese. Add heavy whipping cream and pepper. Allow mixture to get hot. Once hot, use wire wisk and slowly add grated parmasean (mixture will be very thick). Then, use wire wisk and slowly add milk to thin out the alfredo sauce. Allow sauce to get hot once again. (When sauce gets hot, it will thicken up a little bit, to the perfect consistency.)
Dice up and brown chicken in a skillet, turn burner to low so the chicken stays warm.
Cook pasta as directed.
*Spoon pasta on plate, top with chicken, then drizzle sauce over pasta and chicken! Top it off with fresh grated parmasean cheese!
ENJOY!!!
Last weekend we went to hoe-down for one of Abby's friends' birthday party! Taylor turned 2 years old, such a big girl now!!! The kids had alot of fun, they were supposed to dress up like animals for the hoe-down, it was SO cute!!! Abby was a ladybug. I have been very absent-minded lately, and I forgot my camera at home that night. But thanks to Amanda, Taylor's mommy, I stole this picture off her blog! (Thanks Amanda!)
BEWARE!!! This is pretty long, but read and feel just a little bit of compassion for me...
Saturday's are usually my very favorite day of the week! Here is a typical Saturday at our house:
*Abby wakes up 8-8:30, Richard goes in and gets her. Brings her back to our bedroom and we play for a little bit while I'm still trying to wake up.
*Richard and Abby watch cartoons while I cook breakfast. We always have a big breakfast on Saturday mornings! After breakfast we all get dressed and ready for the day.
*At some point during the day, we usually go to Wichita or Hutchinson. We go to stores, or to eat supper and to just give us something to do!
*Abby takes a nap.
*I clean up the house, Richard messes around outside. When Abby wakes up, we usually go to the park and let her run off some energy.
*Come home, relax, watch a movie together and spend the rest of the evening playing.
*Abby goes to bed about 7pm, we watch movies and be lazy till we are ready for bed.
Ok, so our Saturday probably sounds pretty boring, but we like it like that! It is the one day a week where we don't really have to be anywhere, and can do whatever we want.
Well, here is how today has gone so far:
*Richard gets up at 6am to go to work. (He NEVER works on Saturdays, but he had to today)
(that also means no family breakfast, or spending the day relaxing)
*Abby gets up at 8am and is very cranky. She walks to every room in the house saying "DaDa, DaDa?"
*I feed her, then chase her around trying to fix her hair while she runs and yells because she doesn't want her hair fixed. I finally win, then I go get myself ready for the day. I have tons of things to do today because Abby and I will be out of town ALL week next week.
*I put her in the car and head to the car wash. I am cleaning out the crumbs under Abby's seat and she starts screaming for no reason. I tell her to cut it out! She slaps me in the face and yells "DON'T!" I slap her hand and tell her NO, she cries for 5 minutes.
*I call Richard and tell him that HIS daughter is driving me nuts! He says he has to go because he has another phone call.
*We head to Conklin to get the oil changed before our long trip next week. They tell me the soonest opening they have is Monday morning. Ugghh...!! One more thing I have to do on Monday before we can leave...
*Go to Kwik Shop to get gas. Man it is so packed there, I think that is where everyone in town gets gas! Wait in line, then remember I have my Dillon's card to get 10 extra cents off! Wow, only $2.69/gallon. As crazy as this sounds, it made me a little happy!
*Decide I need a latte to take me to a happy place. Get Abby, head inside Kwik Shop. Get my mocha latte, then look for some crackers to get Abby. While looking for crackers, Abby decides she doesn't want to walk anymore. She lays down on her back in the middle of the isle. Some old man laughs while walking by as I'm trying to pick her up and not drop the crackers or spill my latte everywhere. I check out, and carry her to the car.
*I needed to go to Wal-Mart, but decide it's not even worth the trouble!
*We go home. While getting out of the car. Abby wants to walk, (OK-fine). When she realizes we are going into the house, she decides she doesn't want to walk anymore and her legs become like jell-o. I pick her up, she yells.
*I heat her up some Chef-Boyardee ravoli (healthy, I know) and pray she eats fast so she can go lay her down for a nap and give me some peace and quiet.
*She eats, I lay her down. Aaahhh...quietness!!
And to think, it's not even noon!
The taste of Newton is the event that officially kicks off the fall season for me! It is so fun to go out to Main St. the 1st Thursday in October every year, eat good food and see friends you have'nt seen in a long time! Every year at the Taste of Newton, we see lots of friends, some friends that we went to Bethel with, some whom we have'nt seen since the previous year at Taste of Newton. (I know it's kind of pathetic, we live in the same town but don't keep in regular touch with old friends. Oh well, I guess that's how life goes sometimes...) Well, if you are planning on being on Main St. this evening eating LOTS of GREAT food-we will see you there!!! I can't wait!
...my last post, I have to share one of my favorite blogs with you. I had said at the end of my last post that I was in need of a good applesauce recipe, and I just remembered a SUPER easy applesauce recipe that I'm going to try! The recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs. You may have seen the link on the right side of my page, but in case you haven't ever checked out her page, you should do it NOW!!! Seriously, her blog is the best! It is A Year Of Crockpotting. This lady made it her 2008 New Year Resolution to make something in her crockpot, every day during the year of 2008! WOW!! She is so far sucessful in her goal. She has even been on Rachael Ray talking about her 2008 goal. Everyday she posts a recipe that she made the previous day. She writes the ingredients, then posts a picture of the ingredients, then tells you how to make it, then posts a picture of the results, then tells you her verdict-whether or not her family liked it. I have to admit, I would NEVER make some of the recipes she posts, but some of them look and sound really good! Anyway, it is still fun to read and look at. Well, last week she made Applesauce in the crockpot! It sounds so super easy, and looks really good. I think I will try this recipe because I am all for anything easy! I hope the recipe turns out as good as it sounds because I plan on making a whole crockpot full and then freezing some in jars. I will let you know my verdict...so stay tuned!
Go check out her blog,
the link is on the right---------->>>>>>>>>>>>
We have some friends that told us about a farm where we could go pick some fresh apples. This made me really excited because I have never picked anything off a bush or tree, so I wanted to go do it! I thought it would be fun for us as a family to go pick some apples together. So, we were off! Richard was not excited-to say the least. He thought of a million other things he would rather do on a beautiful Saturday morning, and none of those things involved apples. But, with the pursuasion of his wife, he came along. When we arrvied, I was amazed at how many apples were on the trees. Immediately, Richard started looking at all of the beautiful red apples hanging and started in picking them. Abby roamed around a bit, jabbered alot, and started eating an apple she found on the ground (it was ok, no worm holes or bugs). She then just sat there on the ground, ate her apple, and watched us try to reach the apples that were way up high (they were the prettiest ones-of course). We took a laundry basket to put the apples in and once it was about 3/4 way full, we decided we better stop. When were loading the car, I realized I had forgot my camara at home. That would have been such a good opportunity to take some fun pictures! Oh, well. We decided on the way home that we are going to make this a fall family tradition, every year we will go pick apples! It was alot of fun, even Richard admited he had a good time!
Now, what am I going to do with a laundry basket full of apples??? I have no idea!! Maybe make some applesauce, or cut up and freeze some for pies or apple dumplings to make this winter. ~Now, if only I knew how to do any of that! Anybody know of a good applesauce recipe? Or if there is secret to freezing apples? If so, send your ideas my way!
When it comes to Abby and the foods that she likes, one thing is for sure. She has inherited my LOVE for Oreo's!!! I have very often shared my Oreo's with her, but this past weekend, her daddy decided she needed her very own Oreo. He put her in her chair at the table and gave her 2 Oreo's. This is what she looked like 10 minutes after he gave her the cookies. She was thoroughly enjoying herself!!!
What a mess!!!
We had our 1st Dr. appt yesterday afternoon! My official due date is March 6, 2009. The 1st Dr. appt is always SO exciting, you get to hear your baby's heartbeat and see your baby on the u/s machine for the 1st time! (We only seen one baby!!!) It is so amazing to see your very small baby on the screen. We could see several features of our new little miracle. We could of course see the large head and the little arms, but the most amazing thing to see is the flicker of the heart!
I tried to scan our u/s picture last night but couldn't get it work right. I am going to work on it today so hopefully before to long you can all see the very 1st picture of our new little one!
WOW!!! It has been forever since we posted anything. Sadly to say I don't have any pictures to put up at the moment, but in case anyone was wondering-Yes, we are still alive over here. This summer has been so incredibly busy. Aren't summers supposed to be for relaxing??? I feel like we have had very little relaxing time this summer. Richard is staying VERY busy with work and the tons of stuff to do around the house. And I am staying busy with my jewelry business, and all the other millions of things I have to do everyday. (Ok, so maybe it's not millions of things, but sometimes it sure feels like it!) I am so tired ALL the time though. I don't remember being this tired with when I was preggo with Abby. I just feel like I never have any energy anymore.
*On a similar note...I have my 1st doctor appt. this coming Tuesday afternoon, which I am a little nervous about. Not because I think something might be wrong, but because I am nervous about the chance of twins!!! I have always known that their are twins in Richard's family, but just recently (2 weeks ago actually), I found out their are also twins in my family! Now, with there being twins on both sides our family, I suppose the possibility of us having twins is somewhat greater than normal. This chance of twins makes me very nervous, I can't imagine having a 19 month old and twins!!! Wow, what a challenge! A good friend just told me, "You know, God won't give you anything you can't handle", which I know is completely true!!
So, until Tuesday...
Ok, so I did not have time to do a random fact last Monday, but here is this week's! This week's random fact is about me!!! It is not funny, or anything spectacular, but it is a random fact. Here goes...
Growing up, my great-grandma lived right next door to us. I used to go to her house all the time. When I was 5 and in kindergarten, I would get off the school bus and go to her house while my mom was still at work. We lived in the country but had quite a few neighbors. One day when I got off the school bus one of our neighbors' dogs were out of the yard and it attacked me. I was in my grandma's front yard and the dog had me on the ground and it was on top of me. My grandma was eventually able to distract the dog and scare him off. It's toenails tore up my chest and I had to get stiches in several places on my face from his teeth. If you look really close, I still have a small scar on the right side of my jaw. I don't remember a whole lot about the recovery process, but I do know the event never made me fearful of dogs, which I am thankful for. Anyway, that is my random fact for today!
We have had an incredibly busy summer. Here are a few random pictures from these past couple weeks.
Abby is watching a DVD she got for her birthday, she is quite
entertained!!!
This is what happens when you leave 2 babies alone in a room. They
make a mess of everything!!! 
Abby sportin her newest birthday present from her grammi and
pops. She loves it!!!
Me and my handsome hubby when we were in Texas for the Premier Designs Rally. He was such a trooper while there! There were about 7,000 women and only a few hundred men.
This past Sunday we had a small Birthday party for Abby. Her actual birthday isn't until July 24th, but we had some family in town so we had it a little early. Here a few pics of her big day.
She absolutely loved her cake!!! I think she ended up eating 1/2 of this cake. ~Then later she got sick and vomitted.~
Ok, so I had this idea to start doing a Random Fact Monday on our blog-to spice things up a bit. I have no idea where this will take me, but to start out with I'll maybe do random facts about us and our family. We'll see where it goes from there! So here is our first Random Fact Monday!!!
Richard would love to be a farmer! Crazy, huh? He grew up in the city, but would LOVE to be a farmer. I honestly have no idea what sparked his interest in becoming a farmer, but he says it would be a great feeling to come in from a hard days work and actually look out at what you accomplished. He also would like to have farm animals. Who knows, maybe someday I'll end up being a farmer's wife. I guess it wouldn't be all that bad.
So, I feel the need to blog as I am avoiding doing housework.
Have you ever had one of those days where you have a list of things to do a mile long, but you don't want to do ANY of them? Well, I'm having one of those weeks. It has not lasted just one day, but the whole week. Like right now, I know I should be doing laundry, but The Real World is on DVR from last night and I feel like i just HAVE to watch it! Come on, it's the season finale and who doesn't love The Real World ???
I also am having a yard sale on Saturday and need to be going thru closets and marking the things I have already pulled out, but again, I am feeling very lazy right now. We have lots of large things to sell at our yard sale because our current family room is getting turned into a master bedroom. With the new little one on the way, we need the extra room. We are selling a dining room table, a couch, a 60" Big Screen TV (Richard is torn up over this one), a 27" TV, an entertainment center, and lots of other stuff!!! If you feel like you can't live without one one of these items, give me a call!
Well, I think I should really do something now, I have been putting things off WAY to long!
Today is Richard's birthday. He is the BIG 2-8 now!!!, I thought since it is Richard's birthday today, I would list some random facts about him that some of you may not know.
1. He was born in Memphis, TN. (this one is a well-known fact)
2. He moved to Newton in 2002 to play football for Bethel College.
3. He graduated from HCC in 2004.
4. He admits he would have never pictured himself living in a small town like Newton, but he will also admit that he likes it here.
5. He loves to work on cars, and fix things.
6. Fishing is a passion of his, and the other day he caught a big, well..., a big rock!!! Yes, you heard me right, a rock. How do you catch a rock??? (He catches fish too, though!!!)
7. His favorite cookie is iced oatmeal or ginger snaps.
8. His very favorite food is Mexican.
9. He wears a size 14 shoe, sometimes a size 15 depending on the brand.
10. And last but not least, he always says his birthday is "just another day" and that it is "no big deal", but you should have seen his face when he got his birthday present from me and Abby. He was glowing like a little kid! He loves presents!
So, Happy Birthday. We love you So Very Much!!!!!
ABBY'S GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER!!! We are going to have a new addition to the family expected February 2009!!!
This past weekend our church small group went on a camping trip to Marion Reservoir. We recently bought a 6 person tent at a garage sale for only $20! We thought that it was a great deal and couldn't wait to try it out on our camping trip. We weren't sure how Abby would react to camping, but came to the conclusion she would be fine. We took along her pack-n-play for her to sleep in and of course an air mattress for us to sleep on :) We were very wrong about assuming Abby would be fine with camping. She wouldn't go to sleep, she screamed and cried and we ended up abandoning our stuff and coming home a little before midnight on Friday night. And to top things off, the zipper on the door of our tent broke so we probably couldn't have stayed the night even if Abby had cooperated. I guess our $20 buy wasn't so great after all :( But we did get to go back to Marion all day Saturday, thanks to my aunt and uncle watching Abby for the day. We had alot of fun!!! During our not-so-much-camping trip, both Richard and I experienced alot of firsts. Richard had his first S'more (and really liked it), we piched a tent for the first time (even though we didn't get to sleep in it), Richard rode in a boat for the first time, and I went tubing for the first time ever.
My hubby in a boat for the first time EVER...
Us on the boat, me about to go tubing... Just so you know, after I finally got the hang of actually staying on the tube, I wiped out really hard. (Lots of sore muscles the next day, but man it was fun!!!)
Richard trying to catch a big one...
Abby just loves going to the lake, so since she was so good at my aunt and uncle's on Saturday, we decided to go to East Lake on Sunday with Abby (East lake is only like 5 minutes away.) We fished, swam, and cooked out hot dogs. Richard even caught a 3-4 pound catfish!!! Way to go daddy!!!
Even though camping didn't go quite as planned, we do plan to give it another shot before the summer is over. Next time we plan plan on buying a new tent, so that we don't have zipper problems again. Hopefully next time Abby will cooperate. All in all, it was a great weekend!!!
As many of you know, or maybe you don't, I watch a little boy during the week. His name is Braxton and he is now 9 months old, he and Abby are best buds- most of the time. Like most kids, they occasionally like to torment each other. Braxton loves to pull Abby's hair, and she likes to try to push him over when he's standing up.
Today, they bonded in a very new, and different way. They got tatoos together!!! If you can't tell, Braxton has a dinosaur on his cheek and Abby has a grasshopper on her's. We went to a children's fun fair earlier at one of the parks here in Newton. They got ballons, tatoos, and ate hotdogs and sno-cones. We had lots of fun!! Now, if you are wondering if I did all this by myself with 2 babies, the answer is NO WAY! Braxton's mommy was with us getting to have fun too! 
Man, do you realize how nearly impossible it is to get a good picture of 2 babies together?
Summer is such a fun time of year, if you can look past the blazing heat and all the millions of bugs! We spent lots of time outside as a family, our backyard is one of our favorite spots. When we bought our house 2 years ago, our backyard was like a deserted land. It had no green life (not even weeds lived there) and there was debris everywhere. When we bought our house we inherited broken glass, shingles, bricks, and clay dirt that came with the yard (what an inheritance!) Well, we have put many, many dollars and lots of hard work and sweat into our backyard and are finally pleased with how it is coming out. We now have lots of pretty green grass and a special area just for our 2 doggies. All our hard work in the backyard is finally paying off by having a beautiful view when we look outside.
Abby is just like her daddy, she loves being outside all the time. Just recently, she has learned how to throw a FIT!!! I have to admit, it is kinda cute to see her throwing a fit, although, I know it won't be cute when she gets older. She has started to throw fits now when it is time to in from outside. She arches her back, screams, and kicks her legs when we come in. What can I say? She likes to be outside!
When we aren't playing outside, we are playing in the house. Isn't she just the prettiest little girl ever?
