Happenings

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I find myself very busy these days! Abby is QUITE the chatterbug. I know all you parents out there know what I mean when I say I have no idea where her vocbulary comes from. Each day she says two or three new words and phrases that she's never said before, and I'm always blown away. In fact, the other day I heard her counting something, and then I heard her say, "Cinco." Gracias, Dora! Hopefully Abby will be fluent in Spanish, which will come in quite handy! :)

Oh, and here's a funny story: Abby didn't get her way the other day, and she said, "No Mommy! Time Out!" And I replied, "Who's in Time Out? Me, Mommy?" To which she responded sternly and quite seriously, "Yes. Time Out, Mommy!" Geez. A teacher in training already! :)

There's so much more I can write about, but I'll just leave you with some pictures. Enjoy!

Matt and Jason's longtime friend Ben O. got married this past weekend, and we had a wonderful time! It was a beautiful ceremony and tons of fun to catch up with old friends!

Here's the Tenner Clan sans kids.
Emily and me with our favorite (and best ever!) mother-in-law. Honestly people, she is the best MIL anyone could ask for! (And no, she didn't pay me to say that. Honest!)

Emily and me with the BEST Father-in-Law ever!! (Rick DID pay me to say that.) OK, just joking. He really didn't! :) But he is absolutely great at three things: keeping our bellies full, keeping us laughing, and keeping Abby and Clark clothed. He is notorious for sporadically taking a trip to "Abbyland" and "Clarkland" and buying his two grandchildren amazing gifts!

Rick and Evelyn.

One of the best things about this summer is that BFF Ellie's parents moved to a new house. While they now live a little father away, it's worth it because they have a POOL! Woo-hoo! So, we've enjoyed hanging out over there a few times! And you know what? We're not even using them for their pool. We actually like Jordan and Eric! Another plus! ;) Well, we like one of them better than the other, but I'll leave you guessing. HA! Just joking.

The girls laughing at Matt

It must've been really funny.

Daddy/Daughter swimming time

Too high!

Miss Hollywood.

After dinner, it was time for the girls to watch a little Dora. Can you tell they weren't enthused about having their Dora time interrupted for a picture?! :)

And here are just some shots of Abby from our yard:

I swear she could do this all day long.

Searching for planes.

Happy girl

Gotta love ponytails!

Just another sweet one

Miss Blue Eyes

Just wanted to post some pics from my front-yard photo session last night. Gosh, she's got her Daddy's eyes!

This was taken last weekend in the car. Too cute not to share. Cheeeeeeese!

The Three of Us on The Fourth

Forgive me for being tardy in updating my blog, but I have a VERY GOOD Excuse. Honest. And one word will explain it all: Twilight. I have become a woman obsessed. The series of books has seriously brought down my productivity with anything house related. Just ask my husband. He can attest to that. I think he wore one clean blue sock and one dirty blue sock to church yesterday. Oops. Laundry hasn't been on my list of priorities, thanks to these four can't-put-me-down books. Thank Goodness Abby naps two hours every day! And once she's nestled safe and sound in her crib each night, I hop in bed and get lost in the land of Edward and Bella all over again. Ah. Have I mentioned I love these books??

OK. Enough of that. But that's my excuse! It's a good one, don't you think? (By the way, in case you feel motivated to comment about the books, I BEG you not to give anything away. I am one of those readers who hates when anything is divulged prematurely!!)

Now for our Fourth of July pics. We traveled to LV to celebrate four birthdays: my dad's, Matt's, mine, and America's. And a great time was had by all. Here are the highlights:

Miss Independence sitting on her favorite swing in Nana and Papa's backyard.

Our USA Cutie at my parents'.

When we told her this was "Uncle Sam", I think she became confused. Can't really blame her. As far as she knows, she only has two uncles: Chris and Jason. :) And this Uncle is totally different from her other two: he's WAY shorter and doesn't make you laugh like the others. He IS, however, like her Uncle Chris in that they both need your money. Chris is notorious for "forgetting" his wallet when we go out to eat!!! ha! (Love you, Chris. I know you're reading this!) :)

The Three Tenners on The Fourth

Abby with her BeBe and Pops

Abby with her Baboo (aka Chris)

While in Longview, we also enjoyed our time at Nana and Papa's Mill Run pool. She loved playing in the water...
...and also pouring water on Nana and Papa's plants.

After good food, birthday celebrations, and entertaining us all for four days, Miss Abby was pooped. Hers is the face of Happiness though.

I hope y'all had a fun and fabulous Fourth too. Coming soon: pics from playing at Willowbend. You're on the edge of your seats now, right?? :)

Okay, I'm off to begin Book Four. Maybe the carpet will get vaccumed by the weekend....

The Many Faces Of Abbster

Abby is quite our little entertainer, as you know. So, last week at dinner and then at breakfast the next morning, I snapped away. Enjoy!

Here she is doing The Pouty Face.

...and here she is doing The Even Poutier Face. Gosh, she takes after her father! ha. :)

Ah, one of her favorites: The Scared Face. Classic Abby. She even shakes when she does it. Girl gets an "A" for Effort and Believability.

Well, soon after that, her daddy scared her. And then the bottom lip came out. She was not a happy camper.

....but as is the case with most kids, all was forgiven within a minute or two, and Abby then decided it was time to mimic her Papa. We taught her to shake her arm out in front of her and then...

...cup her hand to her ear. Just like her Papa. Rick, whadda ya think?! Impressive, huh??
Well, while she was hearing something, she apparently chose not to hear me say not to dip her hands in Ranch dressing and lick it off. Yuck.

This is the face of Pure Defiance. And with such Satisfaction on her face. Grrr.

Matt and I have concluded that Abby is probably going to be an actress when she grows up. Not to say she can't be a doctor or a lawyer, but girlfriend is quite the ham and full of expression. Maybe her soap opera paychecks can buy Matt and me a home in Malibu someday. Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. :)

OK, it's now time for some sweet ones...

I love this new one. It's like the caption could read, "Dear God, are you listening? Because if I have to listen to Mommy and Daddy ask me one more time what sound a horse makes, I think I'm going to have to hurt someone. Amen."

Just another sweet one.

Possibly a new fav.

And that, my friends is what chow time is like with Abbster!

Coming very soon: Fourth of July pics. Happy Evening, everyone!

The Soccer Tot in Action!

I finally got around to filming Abby at SoccerTots yesterday. It's pretty funny. While she loves to kick the soccer ball, you'll notice that she tends to cheat (just a bit, at least when she was told to kick the balloon in the goal.) Her two favorite parts of SoccerTots? Chasing the hula hoops and getting the stamps at the very end of class. Yesterday they all got stamps on their bellies too. Abby was so proud! After watching the video, you can decide if she has athletic talent like her daddy or is completely uncoordinated like her mama. :) Enjoy.

Roo at the Zoo

We took Abby to the zoo for the first time yesterday, and a great time was had by all! Abby had been in Longview since Thursday, so Matt and I were childless for three days, and it was glorious! Don't get me wrong, we missed Abby, but how nice it was just to get up and go! We went out to dinner (and even sat in a booth! Wow. Definitely a highlight of the weekend. Ha!), caught a movie (The Hangover is hilarious, by the way!), ran errands, went to the pool, all without a schedule. And while my goal was to sleep in, I was wide awake by 8:00. Oh well. Sure wish I could sleep later like I used to back in high school. Sadly, those days are long gone!

Anyway, we went to Longview Sunday after church for Father's Day. And then on Monday morning, we all drove to Tyler to visit The Caldwell Zoo. It was relatively empty, which was nice. And Abby had a great time seeing real animals right before her eyes. Her favorites? According to her: Lion (and she'll roar for you when she says this), elephant, and Swiper. (As in the fox character from Dora). We saw a fox right before we left, and I told her that itwas Swiper. She seemed impressed at the thought of meeting such a TV superstar as himself. :)

Here are the highlights:

Family pic Heading into the zoo
She's spotted a giraffe!
It's a shame her grandfathers don't love her more. Ha! She's got those two wrapped around her little finger!!
Watching the lions sleep. In fact, many of the animals slept while we were there. After all, it was sweltering, and they were exhausted! Don't really blame them.
Halfway done, and she's already felt the need to text BFF Ellie and tell her what an exciting time she's having at the zoo. Geez. :)
Feeding the ducks and turtles with Daddy. While she thoroughly enjoyed this feeding....
...not so much with the birds. If you look at the picture, you'll notice that a bird latched onto her feed stick and wouldn't get off. This freaked Abby out to no end. Love the "Holy Cow, There's A Freakin' Bird On My Feed Stick" expression on her face. Priceless!

Ah, the Snake House. I liked this. Well, I liked it because it was air conditioned. Despite the look of happiness on her face, Abby didn't care too much for the snakes. I don't think she understood the concept of the glass acting as a barrier between them. I don't really blame her. Dora The Explorer paints snakes in a bad light, and frankly, she'll believe anything Dora tells her. :)

Oh, to be a kid again! Side note: When Matt and I take Abby out for walks around the neighborhood, we always comment on how kids have it so well--being pushed around in a stoller, supplied food and drinks. Matt jokingly commented about how it would be nice if we took the old recliner in our garage, added wheels to the bottom, put Matt in it, and let me push him around the neighborhood, cold Budweiser in hand. You know, he might be onto something...

The whole Tenner/Craddock clan.

A good time was certainly had by all!

VBS

I'm helping at our church's VBS this week, and I'll be honest, I'm having a blast! My Crew consists of nine 6-year-olds, and they are just adorable! (I originally started out with eight kids, but one little boy attached himself to me the very first day, so I let him into my crew. Apparently he took a liking to me because yesterday he asked me to be his girlfriend. How cute is that?! However, he wouldn't take no for an answer, so I politely informed him that I could be his mother. Gotta love first graders! ha!)

It's hard to imagine that in four short years, Abby will be where they are. Unbelievable! Because I'm volunteering up there all week, preschool-aged children of helpers get to attend as well. So, Abby is in the Tumbleweed Toddler class. Now, they don't really have curriculum, and I'm fairly certain she spends her hours playing with baby dolls, putting on and taking off her shoes, and snacking like crazy, but she's having a blast, which is what's important. The toddlers get to wear VBS T-shirts just like the big kids, and I thought it's too cute not to post.
Monday's artworkI'm so thankful I'm helping with VBS this year; it's really been a wonderful experience. But, boy am I tired by the end of the day! All you working moms out there, I have a newfound respect for you. I don't know how you do it!

Catchin' Up. And how is it June 12 already?!

Gosh, there's so much I need to catch up on, but oh-so-little time. Having a two-year-old is demanding. Did y'all know that? And not in a "newborn demanding" kind of way but in a "We're-Always-On-The-Go-Kind-of-Demanding," which I oh-so-love, actually. The pool has been calling our name lately, and I plan on going there as much as possible this summer. Gotta love pools! Abby and I have been having a great June so far. Our little two-year-old will repeat anything we say (and I mean Anything!) and is picking up new words and phrases left and right.

Here are some highlights:

1. Abby's new favorite (and almost overused phrase) is "Kick the ball in goal." This she picked up from Soccer Tots, which she LOVES and is pretty darn good at, if I must say so myself. She proceeds to kick her foot and show us how she kicks the ball, then she throws her head back, pumps her fists in the air and yells, "Goooooooal" really loudly. It's the funniest thing!

2. Abby and I rocked out to some T.I. and Rhianna yesterday on our way Soccer Tots. While she loves Disney's Choo Choo Soul CD, this girl is a hip-hop fan at heart. Her mama is from Longview after all. :)

3. Her favorite song in the entire world is The Killers' "Human." Seriously. As soon as we're all buckled in Matt's Tahoe, she yells, "Music, Daddy, MUSIC!!!!!" This is our cue to turn to Track 2. As soon as the music starts, she gets so excited. Come refrain time, she's even got a whole choreographed dance she does along with the music. It's hysterical. Matt and I absolutely love the song too, but we're afraid it's losing its luster as we've listened to it dozens and dozens of times!

4. Abby loves talking about past events. "Ant bit toe." "Boo-boo knee." "Daddy's mower. Ouch. Sizzle." "Boo-boo. Ellie's. Wawa (water). Fall down." I realize as I type this that all of my example phrases have to do with injuries. Oy. Two year olds sure do keep Band-Aid in business, don't they??

5. Abby loves to count. But she forgets 6, 7, and 8. Oh well. Surely she'll get that all figured out by Kindergarten. At least that's my hope.

6. There's a lot more, but Dora's just made it to the Red Path in the Cornfield, so I need to wrap things up. I think they're almost to Mama Bird, so I fear the end is near. Sigh.

Here are some pics from the past few days:

Love pigtails!

Dancing with "Baby Clarky"

Just a hat

Abby's BFF Ellie in the same hat. What a doll.

Baboo (my brother Chris) is in town for some Ranger games (we went to last night's), so this morning, we took Abby to Willowbend to play. While she does enjoy running around and playing in the play area, she'd much rather use up all of my quarters on the "choo-choos."

She loves climbing in that darn cup of coffee!

Just some cute pics:
In the wagon, ready to head to the pool

Just Abby

Happy weekend, all! :)