Finishing California

Our last days in California were so bittersweet and such precious times with friends for whom we are so grateful!  Here is a brief, though not all-inclusive, summary...

Last Country Mart playdate with Nat, Josh, Les, Sammy, Jen, and Lucy (or "Yuce" as Abby Jane says)...

Big Pepperdine cookout- here are all the ladies and a few of the children... 

Went back to the fountains with the "Malibu library" crowd- here are Abby Jane and Jaxon, though Charlotte and Campbell were there too!

Last beach playdate with Jenny and Campbell, Trisha and Jaxon- how we will miss these sweet friends and amazing memories!
Sammy's 1st bday party was a puppy party (with real puppies brought in for the kids to play with!)  I don't have a great picture of the JOY this event was in Abby Jane's life, but I do believe that playing with all those puppies may be the highlight of her life so far.  OK, one of them.

Abby Jane kissing the birthday boy...
Precious Les and Sammy with us girls...  Jane asks to go to Sammy's house on a daily basis...
Sammy putting out that candle with his fingers.  What a man!
Aufhammers, DuBachs, and Hoffs...
All the kids being in the same place for a picture lasted about 10 seconds...
Sandy and Ken got there Sat. afternoon after Sammy's party and joined us in a whirlwind couple of days of packing and the aforementioned traveling craziness.  Here are the guys and Abby Jane taking a break from their hard work.  Truck is due to arrive tomorrow!

I will catch you up on our first week out here in the next couple of days, but I could not go forward until I had recorded that last week- and even that's leaving out some precious times during which my camera battery inopportunely died...

As we've said before- it's a sweet thing to be sad to leave people and a place- it would be so much worse if we were leaving nothing dear there after investing three years of our lives!  We feel blessed for sure...

Safe and Sound

Abby Jane and I are officially in Atlanta!

We were originally supposed to leave on Sunday, but as Jake's mom Sandy, Abby Jane, and I were planning to fly standby, the availability of flights pushed back that date until yesterday.

My mother-in-law did an amazing thing and listed Abby Jane with her... which meant that when Sandy (with her higher seniority with Delta due to Jake's dad) got on the first flight out that we arrived at LAX for, my daughter flew across the country with her... while I stayed at LAX until I caught a flight!

It was the kindest thing- not that it's a terrible thing to fly with a toddler, but it's BUSY and PHYSICAL, and at this stage of pregnancy, those things are not very fun or comfortable in such confined spaces.

So I actually got to write thank-you's, crack one of the twins books I've received (these kids are coming soon, so I thought I would start reading up- I hear it's a little different than one child), and watch a movie on the plane.

I know, I am SO spoiled.

But after the emotional and physical drain of the preceding days of packing and goodbyes to precious people, it was SO perfect. My sis-in-law Susan picked me up from the airport last night and when I arrived at my mom's, my daughter was already bathed, fed, tucked in bed, and reportedly happy and settled.

(She did wake once in the night and when I went in to her, she said- through her tears- "Mama... Mimi? Airplane?" as if to say, "Did you even KNOW I got on an airplane yesterday with Mimi?")

Jake and his dad are on Day 2 of their cross-country trek, with today's route scheduled to be from Albequerque to Little Rock. Jake has the laptop with him, so all our pictures and stories from the rest of our time in Malibu will wait until they arrive. It was very, very sweet, and I'll leave it at that for now.

We are so thankful for our wonderful family and all their amazing help!

Last Week Goings On

Last Sunday was our last day at our wonderful, amazing church. After the service, a huge group of us went to lunch.  The Jones family gave Abby Jane twin baby dolls who are now a staple in our lives. Here are Canon and Abby Jane discussing the twins (or the string cheese in Canon's hand)!

We had a delicious dinner with the Hoffs on Saturday night, and Abby Jane was sent home with a pair of dress-up heels that she was very attached to.  She calls them her "running shoes"- and wants to wear them everywhere (see below as we're getting ready to go to the pool!)- though we make her keep them at home!

Yes, I'm only 26 weeks along and this big already (only a few pounds less than I was when I delivered Abby Jane!)- heaven help me with three months still to go with these girls!  I had an ultrasound yesterday, and the girls are about 2 lbs each and are doing just great.

Holding onto her baby dolls in her "running shoes"...

Playing at the Country Mart with Sammy

Jake had a going-away party given for him at their new office yesterday afternoon.  It was so neat to hear Jake's wonderful boss, Doug, affirm and talk about all that Jake has done at Pepperdine and how much they'll miss him! Abby Jane was excited to go to the "pahty" and have "nummy nummies"= ice cream.  

We went on our last family beach picnic last night, and it was such a special night!

Friday Fountains, Beach, and Daddy

Fountains at Juan Batista with Jen, Lucy, Em, Canon, and Brady- PURE DELIGHT!

We rounded the corner of the house to go down the stairs to the beach and were greeted with the sight of glasses of cab sav, sparkling lemonade for me, bowl of fresh fruit, brownies, and snacks for the kids... just for the fun of it!  Now THAT'S a Friday afternoon playdate!  (Sabrina started the trouble- the first time she joined our little group, she brought homemade sangria and cookies... we decided we'd keep her around.)

When we got home from the beach, DADDY WAS HOME from being gone this last week for the second half of his July school session.  It was a wonderful night.  Happy weekend!

Our Next to Last week... so far!

Yesterday afternoon we went to Carole's house for one last swim.  Carole has been a surrogate grandmother to me out here, and we will miss her dearly.  She presented me with two fresh little crib quilts she made for the girls.  Abby Jane received one that is the backdrop for the majority of her pictures in those early months!  A true labor of love from a lovely lady who has blessed our family tremendously.

We've been going to favorite places as much as possible- Abby Jane's favorite park (at the Country Mart), of course, and this morning we went to the beautiful pond area that has turtles, fish, and ducks... not to mention her favorite part- the water elements that send her home soaking and delighted.

This afternoon we went swimming with our sweet neighbor Hannah and her girls Cailyn and Jaana...

I have gotten a great deal of packing done and feel very relaxed at this point about what is left!

My dear friend Jen and her 12-month-old Lucy hosted Abby Jane twice this week while I had doctor's appointments, and Jen took some hysterical pictures of the girls that I'll have to post when I get them. Abby Jane's been asking for "Jean? Jean?"  It is such a treat to leave your child somewhere that they aren't ready to leave even when it's time to go!  Last week our precious neighbor Tiffany watched Abby Jane with her sons Jacob (2) and Luke (7 months) three times, and Abby Jane had such a wonderful time that I had to work hard to convince Abby Jane it was time to go each time!  She would then come home and sing about Baby Luke during her nap time.  Sweet friends!

Sunday morning pancakes

Her first time wearing the apron Daddy gave her on Mother's Day (over her PJs!)

After pancakes book with Daddy, hats evidently required.

Have a good Sunday!

17 Months

There was a HUGE swell today, and we went out to Surfrider Beach to watch the REAL surfers show how it's done on 10-12 footers.  All these pictures are from this morning...

This is another month of verbal explosion.  She has started throwing in full sentences: "I see a boat."  "I want my nigh-nigh" (nigh-nigh= any of her burp cloths, which are her interchangeable security blankets). "I need mook!" (milk)

A couple of months ago, I told Jake it would be so fun when she got to the stage that we could understand what she was saying.  Well talking is pretty much a constant in our home now!  Her favorite phrase is still, "Where AH dey?" (Where are they?) And I answer that question at a minimum a couple hundred times a day.  If we see a motorcycle, if we see a bird, if she mentions a playmate or family member... 

One of the other fun parts about this stage is that Jake can come home and ask her what she did that day, and she tells him the highlights pretty accurately.  Except that she usually includes that we went to the "pahk" (park), even when we didn't.  Wishful thinking.

She has become SUCH a girl.  Abby Jane has PREFERENCES on what clothes and what shoes she wears.  She has put what I picked out back in the closet and pulled out something different.  She likes to wear hats and necklaces (supervised, no worries) and carries a small watering can around calling it her "purse."

But she also makes great animal, car, airplane, and train noises.  She makes her food do "choo choo"  and "vroom vroom" on her tray during meals.  Her knees are in a permanent state of scabs and scratches from her falls from playing too hard.  So she's not too girly!

She has started eating dinner at the same time as Jake and I, and often has what we're having for dinner- YEA!  I had hoped we would get to this point before the twins, and she's done it in her own timing.

So all in all, she's surviving our whirlwind summer pretty well!