Abby's First Birthday Party!

We had a small party at home for Abby's first birthday with a few friends and family. To follow tradition, we had pizza, which we have had for each girl's first birthday!

My attempt at a #1 cake. The icing didn't spread too well, but I don't think Abby cared :) She had her own little smash cake made out of the parts I cut out for the #1.

Here she is with her birthday cake! I love how she is waving in the beginning of the video :)



She really got into the cake! She was sucking all the icing off her fingers. I think she over did it a bit, because she spit some of it up later on. But, she definitely thought it tasted good!


Abby's friend Dillon helping her open gifts!!

I just love this face!!


Abby with her friend Avonlea!

Here she is doing her birthday dance! She "twists" when she hears music or you say "dance"! It is the cutest thing ever!

And finally, this is what I mean when I say she likes to get goofy with Sammi :)

Sammi also learned to play Happy Birthday on the piano! She got a book for her birthday that had colored keys and the colored notes. So, Sammi taught herself some of those songs pretty quickly and it didn't take her long to memorize them so she didn't even need to look at the notes. Anyways, so I put the same colors on pieces of tape and put them on the piano keys. Then I wrote out the notes to Happy Birthday in the colors and she learned to play it that way! She missed a few notes in the video and needs help with Bb, but still pretty impressive I think!



Overall, Abby seemed to really enjoy her party! She LOVED all the attention and it was nice that everyone could just play with her and enjoy her.

Abigail turns 1!

I can't believe my baby is one year old today! How did that happen??!!

Here are some pictures from a year ago!

Minutes old!! Born at 4:15 PM. 5 lb 15oz.

So tiny, yet such chubby cheeks!

Sammi and Maddie meet their new sister!

So sweet!


Maddie has always been such a caring, sweet big sister. She is like a little mother to her and constantly is helping her with food or getting her a toy. She is so caring and loving!

Sammi and Abby have developed a special bond too! They like to be goofy together, always giggling and being loud and crazy!


Look how tiny she was in Uncle Dave's hands! How in the world did she go from this tiny little peanut......

to such a big girl!!!

It's hard to believe Abigail is a year old now. And amazing how much she has grown and learned in just a year! A few weeks ago she said her first word (besides mama and dada)......."Uh Oh"! And of course now her favorite game is to throw her cup the floor and then say "uh oh". She can also say "all done", which sounds like "ah da" but so far I think she has just repeated it after we say it after meals. And she still LOVES to eat! There hasn't been much she hasn't liked and is eating 3 full meals plus snacks now and can pretty much eat whatever we eat, including meat. She also tried her first taste of cow's milk and she likes it!
Abigail is such a sweet little baby and is crazy about her sissy s. They are the first thing she is looking for when she wakes up and gets so excited when she sees them. She hates to be alone, but that usually isn't an issue since there is almost always someone around to play with her! She still loves to snuggle and seems to have a blankie attachment possibly even more than Maddie does, if that is possible! She has no interest in walking, which is very strange to me considering the other two were practically running at a year old! She cruises around the furniture very well, but can't stand on her own yet and isn't interested in trying to walk even with help. She would just rather crawl. But, that is just part of her laid back nature! She is also a good sleeper. She sleeps 12-14 through the night and usually still takes a morning nap and later afternoon nap.

We couldn't be more blessed with 3 sweet little girls and are so happy to celebrate our baby's first birthday today! Happy Birthday Abigail!!

Halloween 09

For those of you who read the blog, but aren't on facebook, here are our Halloween 2009 pictures!

We had a very cute Tinker Bell, Princess and Pumpkin! That pumpkin costume has been worn by all 3 girls now and by someone for the past 4 years! I think it is just perfect on Abigail.

She really is our little pumpkin :)

And she LOVED trick or treating in the stroller! She kept kicking her feet in excitement and loved watching everything going on around her. And she was very excited to hold either a piece of candy or a bag of chips in her hands!

Both Sammi and Maddie did great too. Sammi of course sped ahead and was always the first one at the door. Maddie was a little slower and got tired pretty quickly, but she kept trekking on and was much more open this year and not too shy at all!

It was fun to trick or treat in our new neighborhood for the first time and the really only "frightening" thing that happened was 3 deer leaped in front of us just as we rounded the corner shown in the picture. They darted from our backyard, across the street and ran around scared and panicked for a few minutes before running through the neighbors yard. It was quite the excitement!

My family came over to help pass out candy and join in the excitement. Here is Uncle Kevin with Abby and Sammi!

The Barbie Party!

This year we had a big Barbie party for Sammi's birthday! My very best friend Jen is a spitting image of Barbie, so she was extremely generous and agreed to dress up as Barbie for the party!! We had 10 little girls total!

Here is Sammi before the party, a big 5 year old! She was beyond excited :)

As the girls arrived, they ate TONS of cheese curls and snacks

And of course played with Barbies

Here they are anxiously waiting for Barbie to arrive. I don't think some of them believed me when I told them Barbie was coming!

For some reason, they all went and hid in the corner when she came! When she arrived, she gave Sammi a present first. It was a Barbie book/DVD, Barbie coloring book and Barbie socks!

Next, we went downstairs and played "Hot purse", which is basically hot potato, but with a purse.

Once the girls were "out", they each went and got their picture with Barbie and she gave them a special Barbie lip gloss ring. All the girls were so cute with Barbie.

Then we had a scavenger hunt around the house. We said that Barbie had lost some things from her purse and the girls had to help her find them. They found a headband, pencil, party blower and barbie fruit snacks. Then at the end of the hunt, Barbie gave them each a prize which was a little outfit for a Barbie doll. They all seemed very excited about opening their prizes!

Next was time for cupcakes! Here are all 10 little girls! A few girls were neighbors, a few were from church and a few were from preschool.

Sammi could hardly stop sucking her juice box down to blow out her candles! She was very excited to have 5 candles though!

Brandon got us and anniversary cake too. It was delicious!

Then, we had also had a Barbie pinata! Sammi wanted to hit it, even though it was the kind with the strings and it ended up falling down with just one whack! So, we tied it back up and just pulled the strings after that!

And finally, presents!! Sammi got a lot of nice things including different kinds of Barbies, crafts and a Littlest Pet Shop! She LOVES everything, especially the Littlest Pet Shop! And Maddie was very excited to play with everything today while Sammi was at school.


It was a really great party and I think all the kids had a good time! And we are so thankful to Jen for dressing up as Barbie! It really made the party special! Sammi was so exhausted, she fell asleep after about 2 minutes of reading her new book.

10 years ago!

10 years ago Brandon and I met as freshmen band geeks in the Pitt marching band.

10 YEARS AGO!!! How is that possible???

6 years ago TODAY we got married!!
Happy Anniversary Brandon!

5 years ago TODAY we had our first bundle of joy, Samantha Jeanne. I truly can't believe it's been 5 years and am so blessed by the beautiful little girl she has become.

4 years ago, she turned 1! What a cutie!

3 years ago, she turned 2 and was a big sister

2 years ago, she turned 3 and somewhere along the way to 4 she grew up.

1 year ago, she turned 4 and became a big sister for the 2nd time.

Here she is today, 5 years old, riding a 2 wheeler bike, taking care of her siblings, always helping me out and constantly asking questions. She is bright and funny and so outgoing and caring. We love you so much Sammi! Happy 5th Birthday Sammi!

Another first

Tonight, Abigail signed the word "more" for the first time! I'm not surprised "more" was her first word considering she loves food and always does want more! Plus, we really only sign "more" and "all done" consistently. I can't believe she is now at the age where she can understand some of what we say and have enough understanding to sign a word and mean it! She is growing up way too fast! At the same time, it is adorable and I love watching them learn so many new things at this age.

In other Abby news, she definitely broke her 3rd tooth on the bottom, and I think one of the top ones broke through too. And she has 2-3 more on the way (all on top)!

Anyways, here are 2 short videos of her signing for more and also babbling "baba" and "mama" :)

Exciting news!

Well, we have exciting news tonight! Sammi rode a two wheeler bike for the first time!! Her friend Maddie who lives down the street learned how to ride one this summer, and ever since Sammi saw her riding one, she has wanted to also! Her Barbie bike is a little bigger, so her friend Maddie loaned her a smaller bike, that is about the size of her sister Maddie's bike, to practice on. We gave it a try maybe a month ago, where Brandon or I had to hold on to her seat the whole time. She had a little balance then, but not enough to ride without us holding on. So, since then it's been kind of rainy and cold and we just haven't had many chances to get out and practice. But, Sammi has been practicing on her own in the driveway, just kind of walking along with the bike and getting the feel of balancing. Tonight, even though it was chilly, the kids really needed to get out of the house, so we went for a walk. At the end I told Sammi I would help her practice on her bike again. Well, she got her bike out, hopped on and just took off!! I never even had to hold her seat! Brandon and I were both amazed! I ran inside to take a video of her, since I didn't want to miss capturing such a special moment. She is still a little wobbly, but can make it pretty far on her own. A few more days of practice and we will probably try the bigger Barbie bike! Hard to believe she is 4 years old (almost 5!) and riding a two wheeler! How did she grow up so fast??!