I hope everyone had a great holiday. As expected, I had a wonderful Christmas. Santa was very good to me. He brought the Tinker Bell movie and Hannah Montana costume that I asked for along with lots of other toys too. Both sets of grandparents and Aunt Nancy came over in the evening to see the haul I may. I had a great day playing with all of my toys and my family. Today Mom and I are hanging out and playing with toys. I still have a bit of a cold, so we are keeping things pretty low key.

We're On Santa's List For Sure

Christmas Randoms

There are just too many things to blog about this time of year. A few notes....

-Had a Christmas party at Grandma Bonnie's last weekend...love my Barbie car, cupcake making set, styleable doll head, and Barbie and the Diamond Castle movie. Still haven't gotten to some of the toys I got. Played basketball with Uncle George and Geordan for a long time. Out really late that night.

-Had a gift exchange with Jake today. Got a swimming baby....best thing ever!

-Not feeling real great today. Mom is finally better, but I keep going back and forth.

-Ready for the Big Day to get here!

-Plan on going to church on Christmas Eve and staying HOME all day on Christmas.....come see us if you'd like anytime that day

A Joyful Noise

Tonight I was in my very first Christmas program! I worked really hard at Sunday school and at home with Mom practicing. My class did a recitation and sang Away in a Manger. I am happy to report that I performed just like a big girl and sat very quietly through the rest of the program. Mom and Dad were thrilled! We don't have any pictures as we were encouraged to obstain from photography since it was a church service, but here I am right after I got home tonight. I had dance class today as well, and Mom and I finshed our Christmas shopping (finally), so I was very tired!

Sugar High

I made cookies at Grandma Bonnie's this weekend. What messy fun! I helped mix a couple batches, and put sprinkles on some of the cookies. Mom and I started to feel sick Saturday night. We are still feeling bad, but are getting a lot of rest today.

Merry and Bright

I had a wonderful Christmasy weekend. Saturday morning Daddy took Mom and me to Arends-Awe to see SANTA! We arrived just in time to see him drive in on a tractor (still talking about how silly that was). Again I told Santa that I would like the Tinker Bell movie and a Hannah Montana costume. I also saw Jake there, so we really had a lot to talk about this morning.

That night we went to Grandma Pam's for our Christmas celebration with Daddy's family. The three of us kids had so much fun unwrapping and playing with the goodies afterward. Jaycie and I got matching pj sets for us and our babies. Tucker and I spent a good part of the night singing with a keyboard and microphone that Tucker got. We all had a nice, fun, relaxing time. Jake and I have been playing with my new Barbie cruise ship for the last hour. I see a lot of Barbie parties in my future.

One Stuffed Turkey

I had a terrific Thanksgiving! Hope you all did too. We went to Aunt Amy's on Thursday morning and had a fantastic meal. I had a geat time as usual there playing with Tucker and Jaycie. Dad, Mom, and I stayed in Bloomington that night, and I got to go swimming at the hotel. Friday morning we went to Champaign to watch Daddy's cousin Jacob and the rest of the Triopia Trojans embarass the heck out of Stark County in the state championship football game. They won 42-7!!! On Friday night I went to Grandma Bonnie's to help her decoratre her tree. Today I got to spend the whole day with Dad and Mom running errands and doing some visiting with my great grandmas. I was very excited to wake up to snow this morning and am hoping we get a little more so I can play in it with my new snow boots.

Baby It's Cold Outside

A quick rundown on my life:

- Jaycie spent a couple nights with us last week.....wild time as usual
- Mom and I went to Aunt Amy's on Friday....Chuck E. Cheese, bonding withcousins, Christmas dress shopping

- Saved a cat from a field last week...Dad thinks it got into a hot motor....spent a week at the vet....now the proud owners of an ugly, stinky cat named Splotches (we love her)

- Helped Mom start the Christmas shopping

- Yesterday was observation day at dance class.....Mom, Dad, Grandma Pam, Grandma Bonnie, and Papa Charlie were all in attendance

- Spending all day tomorrow with Grandma Bonnie so Mom can "big girls only" Christmas shop

Well, the cold has certainly come. This is the time of year when my mom thinks that she is going to die if she has to put so much as a toe outside. She comes by this naturally though, right Papa. I am more like Daddy who is probably not even wearing a coat outside today.

And yet there is one wonderful, glorious, magical implication of it all.....Christmas is coming! Yes, Mom hates the winter, but there is nothing she loves more than Christmas (ah, the irony). Yes she knows that Thanksgiving is not even here yet; she chooses not to care. I already sat on Santa's lap last weekend. I, the girl who last year screamed when the man in the red suit came within 10 yards, am now virtually an elf. I told him that I wanted the Tinkerbell movie. He told me to be a good girl and we would see. I am anxious to put up our tree, which will probably make its debut this weekend...hint: there will probably be another blog update soon.

Quick Update

Mom has been a little distracted lately, hence the pause in blogging. Here's what's been going on:

- Halloween was great! I trick-or-treated at Aunt Sandy & Uncle Roger's, Great Grandma Pahlmann's, Aunt Nancy's, and both Grandma & Grandpa's. I have enough loot to last for months. Baby dressed as Tinkerbell. It was a fun night!

- Jake and I have been learning about the election (to the extent that toddlers can learn about elections). By the end of last week I could name the state and country we live in and name the presidential candidates. I also went with Mom to vote early Tuesday. They gave me a sticker, so I am now more excited than ever to vote someday.

- In "play" news......I played outside quite a bit last week in anticipation of the cool down. Mom syas we will probably be hibernating now for the next 6 months. Woo Hoo! I am very into hide and go seek right now, but I do not yet understand that you don't announce where you are going to hide to the person seeking you. I also had a great time playing with Livvy on Saturday afternoon while the Trojans kicked some Arcola bottom (Mom doesn't let me say butt). We mostly played babies.

Have a good week everyone.

Halloween Party

We had a mini costume party this afternoon. Jake was there of course, and Logan & Lakin got to come too. Yay! My costume was Aerial (the little mermaid), Jake was a dragon, and Lakin was an angel. We played limbo and musical chairs, made halloween pictures, and had treats. Jake's mommy Dana made us treat bags. Thanks Dana, we loved them! We had the most fun though when we just played toys at the end of the party. I am well underway on my 3 day long sugar binge!

Playing Pumpkins

I am getting very excited for Halloween. We have painted and carved our pumpkins. How do they look? We are planning a little mini party for Thursday hoping that Jake will wear his costume to our hosue. On Friday I am going trick-or-treating of course. Saturday we are headed to Aunt Amy's for a weiner roast/costume party. I will see many of you in the next few days. For everyone else, have a spooky good Halloween.

Farm Day

Last weekend was the Western Illinois Tractor Club (WITC) annual fall farm day, which was hosted at Grandma and Grandpa Shireman's farm. I spent the whole day there with Tucker and Jaycie. We had a great time running around, going for gator rides, and taking tram rides to watch the old time farm demonstrations. All of the guys, including Dad, Papa Charlie, and Great Grandpa, played with their old tractors and machinery on the crisp but comfortable day.

Besides that great day, I have sort of had better weeks. Last Wednesday night/ Thursday morning I was up until 3a.m. with a pretty bad tummy. Mom thought I was O.K., but Saturday at the end of the farm day activities I threw up again. We're not sure if that was a lingereing stomach bug or just all of the sweets I had that day. I am feeling much better now though, and am looking forward to dance today. This weekend I am going to Aunt Nancy's house on Saturday. I really miss her since she had been back at school, so I can't wait for our day together.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!

I won't say how old, but it's a big one. Here is an Abby and Papa's "greatest hits" for you Papa. Enjoy!

Roast It Up

We had a good weekend. I think we say that every week, but it's true. On Saturday we went over to Jake's house to play. You would think that this would barely even be a newsmaker since we see each other several times a week. However, a simple chage in venue makes all the difference. We played outside in the sandbox, and inside with his kitchen. It has a grill, so it is more of a "guy's" kitchen. Mom played tractors with Jake, and he was really serious about it. I wasn't even that afraid of his big dog Magic (for those of you who remember Buddy, Magic is his Mom). I was even petting her by the time we left. Jake and I are sitll talking about the play date this week.

Saturday evening we went to my Great Aunt Sandy and Uncle Roger's for my first ever weiner roast. Daddy's cousin Wendy was down from the Chicago area, so Aunt Sandy had everyone over so Wendy didn't have to spend all of her time making the rounds to see everybody. There were lots of yummy treats, a big fire, and professional quality roasting sticks (Uncle Roger doesn't mess around with sharpening the sticks; they're the real deal). I had my first s'more too, and told Mom it was "delicious". Quite a bit of Daddy's family was there. I saw Olivia again. Yay! We ate chips and ran around togehter. I also got to see baby Grant (Jason and Dana's baby). He is six months old now! He was a little cautious of the adults, but I think he liked me. I sure liked him. As soon as Maggie got there, I tried to be her shadow. She's 16, so naturally she was the coolest person there for me. I sat by her, told her silly stories that didn't make sense, and got up and followed her when she went anywhere. Still, when Mom asked me what my favorite part of the roast was I said, "eating hotdogs". Fitting I guess.

Have a good week everybody!

Fall Scene

I had a great week last week. The harvest season is going well for Dad. He hasn't had any major problems, and the yields are good. Mom has been helping out some with the pumpkin patch at our church, so I got to spend Friday morning at Logan and Lakin's house and Saturday morning with Aunt Nancy. YAY!! On Saturday afternoon Lakin and I had our first experience with what Mom and Libby call putting up "fall scenes." Here we are helping them. After Sunday school yesterday, Papa, Grandma Bonnie, Mom, and I headed south to see Geordan play soccer. We went for ice cream afterward and played at his and Kira's house before we had to leave. We have a pretty lazy week ahead and are loving these last few days of being outside. Hope you are too!

And In Other News.....

So the party sort of overshadowed what would have otherwise still been a great weekend. On Friday night Daddy's cousin Jenna and her husband Jamie brought their little girl Livvy over to play while they went to watch Jacob and the Trojans stomp Routt. GO TROJANS! Livvy and I had so much fun playing babies and kitchen. I hope she gets to come back again sometime soon. Isn't she a cutie?!

On Sunday Mom took me to the Prairieland Steamshow. In case you don't know, it is a big festival that highlights old time farm machinery and practices. There is also a flea market and there are a lot of folk crafts on display. I rode in the tractor parade with Papa and waved at everybody. Great Papa and Papa Charlie both had antique tractors there too.

Daddy spent yesterday cutting beans in the field across the road from our house, so when Mom and I got back I tagged along for my first combine ride of the season. After all of this, you can see why I was still tired tonight!

A Royal Affair

In case you haven't heard, last night I had the best Princess party ever! Grandma and Grandpa Shireman let me have it at their pool. Also there were Grandma and Grandpa Robinson, Great Grandma Pahlmann, Great grandma and Grandpa Robinson, Aunt Nancy, Aunt Roxanne, Kira, Geordan, Aunt Amy, Tucker, Jaycie, Mom, and Dad.

We started with some swimming, then we ate. After that we tried to have a water balloon toss game, but Jaycie and I were a little confused about the rules, so we ended up just throwing all of the balloons at each other (way more fun by the way). We also played a game where we had to put Cinderella in her window on the castle (think pin the tail on the donkey), and I won, kinda (I cheated and peeked at where I was going).

After more swimming it really got fun when I put on my Cinderella dress. Jaycie dressed up like Princess Jasmine. The spirit stick went to Snow White who really got into the festivities....recognize her? I was very surprised when she joined the party. I blew out my candles next, and then everyone ate cake. Mom finally let me open my presents, which are too numerous to list. I loved all of them of course.

We wrapped up the night with a moonlit swim. Grandma's pool has a light that changes colors, and it really made the pool look magical! The gazebo looked a little like a castle too. All of my royal subjects were wonderful party guests, and really made me feel like a princess, if only for a night!