I promise that for Christmas, she is...

getting a ride-on/pushing toy!  Bless her heart to be so resourceful in the meantime.  This was taken before bed the other night...

Prom, a party, and blueberries

Last Friday night was our friend Ryan's 30th birthday party, celebrated in "vintage" prom style at a place in Santa Monica.  That was later translated into "wear prom style from favorite decade"- so my mom sent a formal I wore to a Christmas dance in high school and I tried to make my hair really big like the early 90's- which didn't work out very well... and Jake dressed up as a chaperone!!!  So if Jake's a chaperone, and I'm dressed like I'm GOING to prom in the 90's, what exactly does that make me as his date???  QUESTIONABLE, I know.  It was SO fun, though...

We did the awkward prom pose in front of the picture backdrop they made.

The girls...

Stewart, Jake, and Jake the chaperone writing someone up (he had the works- a nametag, no belt, short pants, white socks, and a POCKET protector- it was hilarious yet almost painful to see)...

On Saturday, we went to the 2-yr.-old birthday party of our precious little neighbor, Jacob, who Abby Jane LOVES!!!!  It was going to be a treasure hunt on the beach, but THIS nasty smoke blowing in from the awful fires... 

dictated a relocation of the party to indoors.  This picture is really dark, but Jacob's mama Tiffany is due Christmas Day!!

How darling are these little cupcakes with sharkfins??

And sailboat apple slices!!

And finally, this picture does not do it justice, but Abby Jane is the messiest blueberry-eater!!! It goes everywhere!  But I do love her getting those antioxidants- and loving them!!

On Saturday...

We went down to the beach for an hour or so...And ran in the waves...
And watched...
Something majestic...

And Abby Jane turned 9 months!

She is an expert crawler, can flip over faster than you can say Jiminy Cricket (which gets exciting while dressing or diapering), pulls up on anything and everything, loves to walk/run holding onto our hands, and does the head-shaking/arm-waving dance all the time.  Her favorite things are her activity table (a slight obsession), her books, anything object she can teethe on, swinging at the park, playing outside with leaves, dirt, and grass (dirty dresses and knees are my favorite thing- they show a fun day!), playing with the dishwasher, and her ZZ (big zebra).

She has acquired two top teeth and inhales Puffs like it's her job.  She also likes blueberries, and we're working on a few other finger foods in addition to "stage 3" foods.  She waves bye-bye and hi all the time and says both words a lot, too!  She also has added "ni-ni" for night, night.

This age is absolutely ridiculously fun!!!!

Remember Punky Brewster?

Abby Jane in baby leggings... which are extra funny on chunky thighs!

Swinging and Dancing

As promised, the following pictures are from our playdate with our dear former neighbors, Carrie and Mihret, at Griffith Park.  

Mihret has gotten so big and so much more communicative!  It was so wonderful to be with them.  The girls had a great time playing, as always, and Abby Jane had a great time exploring the playground! 

 She also had her first experience in a swing and seemed to think it was great!  

Below is Abby Jane busting some SNL-esque moves with Jake last night while I was at a meeting.  And no worries, she didn't even get a bruise!

Fall Festivities

So we had been excited about Abby Jane's pumpkin costume, but it absolutely cracked us up after we actually put her in it.  She was oblivious to the whole get-up, which is entirely uncharacteristic of her!  Here she is with our neighbors last night- yes, there are eight children who are two and under!  If any of you have a better shot of this, please pass it along!

After the above picture (which was HILARIOUS in the making), we went up to another residential area on campus where there's older children who were actually going to trick or treat.  We took this picture at Heroes Gardens overlooking campus on our way home.
Today we had our 3rd annual tailgate party, which also acted as an excuse for the babies from our small group to get a picture in their costumes!  We also all got our barbeque and sweet tea fix.  Below is the stadium Bundt cake I had the most fabulous time making for the occasion, not that it helped Auburn any (I also did Holly's candy corn-topped double frosted brownies that is of course a big hit!)...  

  

Here is a slightly too-far-away indoor picture because for maybe the third time this year, it RAINED!!!!  But here is Em and Canon the turtle, us girls, Jen and Lucy the panda, and Lesley and Sammy the cow!
Gillean and Stewart got in on the action with the kiddos and came as Cousin It and a convincing Sarah Palin...

Stay posted for pics to come from our first time to a playground, and WELCOME to the world, Blake Slagley!!!  And that's the end...

Camping Trip

We went on our first camping trip as a little family for my birthday last weekend!  It was SUCH a great time.  We just went to Malibu Creek State Park, which is only 10 minutes from home in case Abby Jane wasn't a good camper.  But it turned out she's a fabulous camper, and we totally felt like we'd been "away" when we came home on Sunday!  Here's our tent in our pretty campsite under some HUGE eucalyptus trees...

It was COLD at night!  S'mores and hot chocolate were vital, of course.  Abby Jane's pack and play fit in the tent perfectly, so she slept snugly under several blankets, but still woke up with a red little nose!  
Abby Jane ate her meals strapped into the picnic table and was totally unfazed by the change of scenery (except for being very distracted by birds!)We went on a hike (Abby Jane's first) up to a lake and through some of the surrounding area (passing the site where M.A.S.H. was filmed) on Saturday afternoon.  We stopped by some fisherman at one point, and for some reason, Abby Jane thought it was hilarious when they casted their lines.  She started belly laughing, which they thought was funny and casted some more...Jake went on shutterfly.com and made a bound book for my bday of my girl and I (and some family and friend pics) from the last eight months as well as a few preggo pictures- it is such a treasure!  The trip was made complete with crazy coyotes howling in the night, s'mores, some serious gin rummy by lantern light (CA law prohibits fires this time of year), s'mores, freezing cold showers paid for by putting quarters in the machine (good times, I promise), YUMMY dinners, and the following video of Jake's camp chair going from a little broken to a lot broken (cool headlamp and all)...