Attack of the balloons

We had a really great time yesterday celebrating Austin's 1st Birthday! They held a birthday party at Lake Poway and a lot of Austin's friends came out to party. While Austin was opening his many presents, Abby was watching with great interest, since after all Austin's toys are Abby's toys on Tuesdays ;)

Crystal and Brandon had these cute balloons at the party and the wind was kicking them around a lot. We sat Abby down right behind them and they were just cracking her up! It was adorable to watch!

Later, we tried to put her in a swing for the first time. Let's just say it lasted all of 10 or 15 seconds. She wasn't sure about it and protested immediately! We'll try again some other time!

Lions & Tigers & Burrrrs

Oh my!...that was a cheesy title ;)

We had a really fun weekend! We went to the Wild Animal Park and enjoyed a lunch up above the Lion Camp and then later we had the wonderful opportunity to hear a momma tiger roar at her three cute little cubs! We got to see the four all lounging in their pen and it was one of those picture perfect moments. Later we also got to take a glimpse at the baby elephant and the baby cheetah! Abby pointed at the animals and made her animal noises appropriately and we decided not to wait in the extremely long line for the Butterfly Jungle - maybe some other time soon!

Then on Sunday our friends Jeremy and Shelley had their parent's house in Escondido that has an amazing backyard and a pool. Unfortunately the pool was freezing, even with our really warm weather. Abby's interest in "swimming" really only went as far as a dip in and she was done! We had fun with Jon, Jenetta and the girls, and Jon's sister Jessica who was in town with her daughter Priya. It was great to visit and we even got to spend some time with some of our old friends, Matt and Rachel Keillor and their little daughter Natalie (playing with the dog in the picture with Abby). Fun!

Life at 14 mos.

Just wanted to put up some random photos of Abigail at 14 mos!

As you can see, she is growing very fond of Liberty and I do believe a cute friendship is developing. Libby is so patient with her and has mellowed out a lot - I guess she now thinks the kid is a good thing because she gets to vacuum after Abby has finished her meals.





What can I say? The girl loves the phone - oh, do I have my hands full for the teen years!



I believe Abigail has picked up a family trait from her great Grandpa Ferris - she works diligently with her mouth wide open - the only thing she's missing is the tongue sticking out the corner of her lips for extra concentration.



Abby is picking up a lot of sign language and it's really fun to watch her communicate with us! She has picked up a couple new signs recently - she knows "juice, sleep," and is getting closer to "diaper." But of course, her favorite is "more" and "please" - usually because they're associated with food though ;)

Here is a "more" sign for some more blackberries, which made quite the "cute" mess!





I'm super excited because her hair is finally long enough and there's a good amount of it to make a small little ponytail! She looks like Bam-Bam, but it's still quite adorable! Abby got a bunch of hair accesories in her Easter basket, so we'll be having fun playing with all the new ways we can do her hair now!

That's it all in a nutshell really! She is so much fun and I keep finding myself saying that every month, again and again - I hope it never stops! I love this lil' girl!

No chocolate bunnies this year

Happy Easter! We had an awesome day just enjoying the celebration of this glorious holiday! We enjoyed a beautiful service and even got a chance to see Abby's little friend Lily get dedicated. Then later the A-Team had an egg "hunt" at Grandma and Grandpa Kalla's. Austin, Crystal and Brandon joined us with our family, so that they could be with a family for the holiday since their's is all in Texas. We loved watching the A-Team play with their gifts and eggs. Abby loves her new cell phone! She loves to hold up her phone to her ear and listen for someone talking to her. So cute!!

PS - We got our first set of consecutive steps this week! She is one step closer to walking - hehe - pardon my pun :) I'll have to get a video up once she's made a few more steps in a row.

The "do" is done!

So I finally did it!! I chopped off my hair. Robbie was away for the day on Saturday, so I decided it would be fun to surprise him when he got home on Sunday and I've been really itching to do the big cut. Everyone knows that our family is slow to actually doing what we say we want to accomplish. But it does get done eventually ;) I really like it and I am excited to be sending 12 in. of my hair to Locks of Love.