UPDATE: Mother's Day Out

We switched Abby from the school in St. Charles to one in Wentzville. Now she will be going from 9-2 Tuesdays and Thursdays. She starts on Tuesday.

Christen and Abby just went to the Open House this morning and it sounds like Abby had a lot of fun!

Mother's Day Out Program

So, after talking with other moms/friends from our playgroups, I decided to sign Abby up for a Moms Day Out program. She will go on Wednesday's during the school year, from 9-3. They teach them their colors, numbers, etc., plus she will get lots of outside play time with other children. When I went to sign her up, she didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay and play with all of the "new" toys.

She will start on August 26th. We bought her a new backpack, a blanket for rest time, and a new lunchbox. She is so excited to go to school and Mommy is excited to have a day to herself for cleaning, shopping, reading, etc. ;)

Wish us both luck on August 26th!

Just testing mobile blogging. I can now update our blog from my phone!

Summer Vacation 2009

For vacation this summer we went to Branson with some of my family. It was a great trip!

We left pretty early in the morning because we needed to get the oil changed in the car before meeting up with everyone else. Abby was all ready to go with her kitty and her pillow.

Sitting in the car with Daddy waiting to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Slusher. As you can tell in the window, it was not a very nice day out. :( I think it rained the whole trip down there. We stopped and ate at Lambert's Cafe on our way through Springfield. Here is a picture of Abby trying to take some food off her Aunt Robyn's plate. Crazy girl!

Probably one of her most favorite activities on vacation was swimming in the pool. She wanted us to put her on the side so she could jump in. Of course, getting her out of it to go inside was always a chore. ;)
We took her to the fish hatchery one day to feed the fish and she really got into it. I am not sure how many cups of food she went through, but she loved watching all of the fish jump for the food. She also tossed her cup in one time. Oops!

Abby and her Grandpa waiting for the tram to take us to Silver Dollar City!

Abby and I on the tram ride to Silver Dollar City.

Here is Abby playing in the sprinklers at SDC. It was so hot out, so it was nice to have these water areas to play in.

This was my favorite picture from the whole trip. Abby was all ready, fishing pole, hat, and all, to go for a ride on Grandpa's boat. She loved it! She even tried throwing her pole out to catch some fish.

She even got to drive the boat. I will tell you that she is a much better boat driver than me. ;)

This was a Barney ride that they had at one of the outlet malls. She loves Barney! Unfortunately, it was not working the day we were there, so she didn't get to ride it. :( She did get to give it a hug and kiss though.

I have a LOT more pictures from summer vacation, so if you would like to see more, check out my Facebook photos, or email me. I will send them out!

Sam's New Job!

As some of you already know, Sam started a new job almost a month ago. He is working at St. Anthony's Medical Center in South County. He is really enjoying it there, and the benefits are great! The only downside is that it is 55 miles each way, but I guess he is used to all of the driving by now. ;)

He already has many projects on his plate. He is working with Sharepoint again, which he loves (and is VERY GOOD at). He is hoping that this will be at least a 10 year opportunity. He is also still doing some work for BJC on the side.

Abby and I are so incredibly proud of him and how hard he works for our family!

Easter Day

We had such a fun, and exciting Easter this year! Abby was a year older, so she really got into it. She got to have 2 egg hunts and visit with the Easter bunny. We also made a stop at the cemetary to visit Grammy and EJ.

Checking out the loot from the Easter bunny!

She was not very happy about us trying to take her picture. We just wanted one of her in her cute Easter dress before she messed it up. ;)

I thought this picture was so precious. We have taken her to the cemetary many times, and she usually just wants to run around. This time she actually stopped, and looked at the headstone. It breaks my heart to know that she will never know my Grandma. She was so important to me, and I know she would have been the same for Abby.

Brother and sister!! How adorable! We tried to get Abby in there too, but she wasn't cooperating. Go figure!

Her first Easter egg hunt of the day!

She got lots of coins to put in her pig!

Looking for eggs with Grandma and Grandpa at her 2nd hunt of the day!

Abby and Grandpa playing with some foam pieces. They were tossing them and blowing them in the air. So cute! She has a blast with Grandpa.

Grandpa trying to get her to touch the Easter bunny. She wasn't too sure. (It was actually Sam's cousin, dressed up.) She did warm up to her though.

Abby, Mommy, and Daddy with the Easter bunny.

Blues Game on Friday, April 10th

On Friday night we took Abby to her 2nd Blues game. My Dad got some tickets from work and wasn't able to use them, so he gave them to us to use. They were 12th row! We had 4 seats all to ourselves, which was really nice. We got to spread out and Abby had room to move.

Before the game started, and the teams were practicing, Sam took Abby down to the glass to watch up close. When they were done and the clean up people were coming around, they tossed a puck over the glass to Abby! She was so happy! She had the cutest smile on her face while her and Sam were walking back towards me at our seats. The puck was all wet and covered with shaved ice, which she also thought was pretty neat.

Abby and Mommy after she got her puck!

She couldn't wait for the game to start. She was dancing to the music and yelling "hock, hock."


Hanging out by the Bernie Federko statue.

Egg Coloring

This was Abby's first year coloring Easter eggs! We all had so much fun. She took each egg and dropped into the coloring cup and then wanted to fish it out with her hands. ;) Here are a few pictures!

She was showing off all of her pretty eggs in this picture. (Also, she was suprised by her blue fingers!)

Easter Sugar Cookies

Abby and I made some Easter sugar cookies the other day. It was so much fun (and also a HUGE mess! ) She was such a great helper. She dumped the ingredients into the bowl, stirred them up, and then poured them into the mixer.

Here she is cutting them out with the cookie cutters. Notice the egg-shaped one that she is wearing as a bracelet. Too cute!

She is so deep in thought here, decorating her cookies.

The finished product. As you can see, some of them turned out a little crispier than others. That is due to the fact that my oven is AWFUL! It will burn some things while leaving others barely done. :( Oh well, Abby loved to eat them anyway.

She is so proud of herself! Her Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her too!

Easter Egg Hunt

We took Abby to her first "organized" Easter egg hunt. It was at Rotary Park in Wentzville. We all 3 had such a great time. She didn't win any big prizes, but she did get a lot of Tootsie Rolls and a free My Little Pony bucket.

Here she is walking with her Daddy to the field for the 1-2 year olds. She was so proud of that pink bucket.

She wanted to open up each egg before she put it in her bucket.

Carrying her bucket of loot to the picnic tables. They wanted everyone to just take the stuff out and leave the eggs for next year. I have no clue what that face was about. She was making it all day! :)

Mommy and Abby dumping all of the candy into her bucket. She thought this was great fun.

New Job!

So, Sam started his new job on Wednesday. He is working for a company called Tera-Vista. They manage Carbon Credits. He, of course, does software development work for them. He is very excited about this opportunity! It is in Webster Groves, so it didn't require us to move, which I know a lot of people are happy about. ;)

Job Update

I am so incredibly proud of Sam. He has been working so hard to make contacts and set up interviews. He has 2 interviews on Monday, a phone interview on Tuesday, and another interview on Wednesday. I am positive that something will come of at least one of the interviews.

I hope to update by the end of the week with great news.

Bad News

So, for anyone who hasn't heard yet, Sam lost his job. They are outsourcing his position, and he was the newest one in, therefore he was the first to go. :( We are very hopeful that he can find something very soon. So, if anyone knows of a Software Developer position that is open, pass it our way. Thanks!

Abby Got Glasses!

For those of you that don't already know, Abby had to get glasses. She has some astygmatism. The eye doctor says that since we caught it so early, and if she wears her glasses all of the time now, she may not have to wear them when she gets older. That's what we are hoping for.

She is doing great keeping them on! When she gets up in the morning, she will go get them so we can put them on. I was pleasantly suprised that she took to them so well.

Of course, she looks absolutely adorable with them on. ;) I guess I may be a little bias though. Here are a few pics of her with them on.

Potty Training

So, we have started the dreadful task of potty training. We were planning on waiting to start on it until Abby was 2, but she was showing signs of interest. We figured we would run with it.

During the day, while we are at home or on small trips out, she wears her big girl underwear. If we go out for long trips, and when she sleeps, she wears a pull-up. I set a timer for her, and every 30 minutes she sits on the potty. So far she has only actually peed in it once. She does tell us right after she goes in her pants though, which is a step in the right direction.

Wish us luck!

Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey's Circus

Bill took me, Sam, Abby, Eric, Heather, and Hailey to the circus. It was such a blast! We had front row seats, so the girls could stand right against the railing and watch the animals. She ate some popcorn, drank some juice out of a fancy cup, and got a neat ballerina toy. Sam and I had a great time too. ;)

Abby and her Daddy watching the clowns. They let everyone come down on the stage before the show, so she got to see everything up close. It was really neat.

She was very interested in the silly clowns.

Abby and Mommy. :) She was chowing down on that popcorn!

Abby's cousin, Hailey, got a cool hat from one of the clowns.

Abby's First Blues Game

We took Abby to her first Blues game on November 1, 2008. We got tickets for the Penthouse Suite, since we are season ticket holders. It was such a great night. My parents and sister were there, a bunch of Sam's friends, and some friends' friends.

Here are some pics from her awesome first Blues game!

The day of the game, we took her to Build-A-Bear to make her own Blues bear. This is her "Go Blues" pose.

Abby and her Daddy before the game started. She loved looking over the glass wall and watching everyone.

Here she is with one of her many snacks of the night. ;) She really loves her "hot gogs."
I think this is such a cute picture of the 3 of us. We got Abby that cute little Blues jersey from Target. She looks so cute in it. What a great time we all had at Abby's first Blues game! :)

Long Time

It has been so long since my last post. I swore I had made one since Halloween, but apparently not. ;) I will try to be better and keep up with these posts. I know you all like to read them.

Keep your eye out for new holiday and other Abby pics!

Halloween

Abby had a great Halloween. This was the first year we took her out. We took her to a few houses by us, and of course, she was a hit. Here are a few pictures:

Here she is in her wagon as we were leaving the house. Of course, she had to bring her kitty with her. :)

It didn't take her long to get the hang of it. She wasn't scared at all to walk up to the door, once she realized she would get candy in her bag. :P

She is showing her Daddy where to draw the lines for her pumpkin.

What an adorable little smile! :)

She did such an awesome job scooping all of the goop out of her pumpkin.