Good-bye, Welcome, & Congratulations!

Today we had lunch with Corinne and Cornelia at Chic Filet! We had a great lunch and great time playing at the Chic Filet playground. The end of lunch was a little sad since we said farewell to Corinne as she's off to Seattle on Friday. I feel so lucky that Corinne & I have been fortunate enough to live in the same area for the past 4 years :) We'll miss you, Cheyenne! But I'm sure we'll see you soon :)

Before lunch Corinne joined us for a grocery shopping trip and got this great picture of Abby:

lil' farmer Abby

Also today, another one of Mommy's very good friends had a baby! Welcome to Wesley & Cody's new baby girl. (I don't know the name yet.) Congratulations!

And while we're on the topic of Mommy's best friends doing amazing things this fall, Congratulations to Janel, who finished the 2011 cycling season as the top-ranked women's cyclist in the United States! Whoa!

Cox Farms 2011!

This past Saturday Anna, Abby, Matt, & I went to Cox Farms. This is our 3rd season there and every year it seems to be more and more fun. Anna & Abby loved the animals, spooky corn maze, tractor ride, slides, apples, cider, kettle corn, and play equipment.

This year we went into the goat petting area WITHOUT food - which was a good idea. We didn't get tackled by any goats this time!

Hello, goat!

Playing on the pretend train:

Slides:

whoo-hoo!

Abby speak

Abby has a ton of words now. I'm trying to remember them all to write them down, but there are so many!

Mama
Dada
Anna
Abby
Elmo
Ber Ber (Bear Bear)
Wa (Woobie)
hi there
bye bye
ni ni (night night)

Da and woof for dogs
pa for pig
baaaa for sheep
cat and meow
Maa for goat

gra for grapes
Bra for bread
Chee for cheese
ma for milk
wa for water
ice for ice cream
ta for turkey

no
more
all done
help
i love
i too

haba ba for Happy Birthday

ba for book
pa for park, potty, popsicle
tu for tub
bu for bug
ca for car
airplane
da for diaper
ta for talk (on the phone)

She also communicates to us in tons of other ways. She gives kisses and hugs to everyone and everything (dogs outside and cute animals in books). She sits and reads books to herself all the time (like Anna). And she just started music class where she already in enjoying singing, dancing, and playing instruments. At the end of the first song on the first day the music stopped and Abby said a quiet "more" while making the more symbol with her hands. She was happy to know that the class ended up having a LOT more music!

Go Giants!

Not only did the Giants loose to the Redskins last week (for the first time since we moved here), BUT we watched the game with Redskins fans!! Ahh!! Actually we had a great time watching the game at our friend's house despite the Giant's loss and the fact that we had to listen to the Redskins fight song following the game.We're hoping for a better result tomorrow against the Rams.

Taylor and Manning :)

You're done, Rams!!

Pizza Makers!

Yesterday we made homemade pizza for dinner. Anna & I made the dough in the bread machine during Abby's nap. Anna also requested a "chef's hat," which I figured out how to make out of construction paper and a napkin. We told Daddy our plan and he surprised us by coming home early to help out! Abby & Anna each made their own personal pizza and Mom made a big pizza for everyone. Anna was super excited to make a pizza with exactly what she liked on it - just crust and pepperoni. (I was surprised how much I like that combination - the pepperoni oils melt into the crust and make it delicious!)

working the dough

Anna's pepperoni and crust pizza

Abby's mini pizza

Mommy & Daddy's pizza

Abby in her chef's hat

waiting patiently...

and everyone enjoyed the final result. In fact we ended up having one of the most fun dinners our 4 person family has ever had. We played a game of telling jokes and Abby turned out to be the best comedian. She put us all in hysterics.

I think pizza making is going to be one of our new family traditions!

Grandma & Grandpa visit

Grandma & Grandpa came to visit last week to help out Mom while Daddy was in Seattle. We had a great visit. I didn't get many great pictures, but Grandma caught this one. I'm actually not sure what is going on in the picture or when it was taken, but it is certainly entertaining:

Sister playtime!

Over the past month, Anna & Abby have enjoyed playing together more and more!