Visit with Grandma Donna :)

We had a wonderful visit with my mom last weekend! It was quick, but she got a lot of quality time with both her granddaughters! Here are some photos of our time together!

Mandatory trip to the aquarium.... :)
Finally, I'm in a photo!!!

Abby in her favorite hat!

"I love my Grandma!!"

The Girls!

And of course....SMILES and pure cuteness!

Grandma Donna & Madelyn

Grandma Donna has been here all weekend spending time with us (mostly indoors because it still has get to get above the mid 40's out here!!!) enjoying her 2 special girls!

Maddy sitting in her door-hanger bouncy for the 1st time! (used to be Abby's)

My Cute Little Abby

Abby posing for me!

Bumbo!

With Maddy, I've really enjoyed going through all those standard milestones as I did the 1st time around, but even better is that they usually involve some toy or aparatus that used to be Abby's (good thing we held onto everything....and had the room to store it all!). Brings back a lot of fun memories! I finally remembered she is big enough for her bumbo seat! Its great because she likes to sit more upright than her floor chair allows, so this way she can really see whats going on around her at her level.

Below are photos of Abby when she used the bumbo about a month older than Maddy is now! Aside from the hemangioma on her face, I'd SWEAR this was maddy!!!! Maddy's already outgrown this purple outfit! She's easily got 2+ pounds on Abby's weight at this age!

Abby!

Dress Up!!

Abby's favorite thing these days is definitely dress-up! I really need to get a trunk full of fun costumes for her to wear-- without me worrying if they rip or get dirty!! Even better, ones she can put on more or less by herself!!

She woke up from her nap and insisted on wearing her fireman hat and eating her candy bracelet!
Fairy in training!!

.....Cause I'm a rockstar!!!!

Going incognito for the mommy paparazzi!!!!

While I was getting Maddy ready for bed, Abby came in with her accessories and insisted I put them on her! Lucky me she even posed!! Must be a star in the making!

And the snow repeats....

It started snowing at 12:30pm today...so I wanted to get the before/after!

This snow is more wet than the last batch so it seems to stick to everything. Last week's was very dry and made it impossible to even make a decent snowball nonetheless a snowman! I attempted neither, but still figured I compare the two types!

Then 3 hours later..........@ 4:30pm

And it is still coming down.....so if it continues I will post the next set!

Sissy is dirty....

Abby loves to tell me "sissy go poo-poo"!! Most times Maddy has not, but she insists she is stinky, and signals to me by swaying her hand in front of her nose as if she smells something bad and makes a sour face. So last night I told her Maddy needed a bath because she was "dirty"....Abby insisted on helping.

Cute profile shot! Love her little dimpled chin & chipmunk cheeks! They are sooo sweet to kiss!

Scrubbing her little feet. Abby likes to do everything I do....of course! Look at those chunky thighs!!! Abby never had rolls like that!

i LOVE my sister

Abby now asks to hold Maddy from time to time, and Maddy is very patient with her.....not so much the other way around :) I laugh though because when Abby holds her it seems like Maddy is 2/3 her size!! She's our little chunkster!

Whats new....

Well, the weather has been putting a damper on our activities lately, specifically the S-word (snow!).

So the snow from last weekend just melted as of Friday, and now it just started snowing again at noon today (Saturday!!). No break whatsoever. Hopefully it doesn't accumulate too much this time around. But we have been up to other things.

Last Friday Abby had her 2nd dentist visit. They only checked her teeth and did flouride because they said they like to wait until all her baby molars are in to do the 1st cleaning, and she only has 1 more to come down. So that cleaning will likely be this summer at her next appointment. But she was a big girl and let the dentist look in her mouth.

And Abby is still going to preschool on Wednesdays and LOVES it! She learns new songs, plays with her friends, and lets mommy have a few hours to herself....KEY!!!

And yes, Mike is still gone for another 4 weeks. We just got over the half-way hump, so now we are headed downhill on this journey. We love getting to skype with him on the weekends so he gets some face time with his girls.

Then this coming Friday Grandma Donna will be here, and the following Tuesday Great Grandma/Grandpa Reiss will be here to visit as well, so our house won't be so quiet, and I can talk to someone other than a 2-year old (kind of a one-way conversation most times!!). And before we know it, March 6th will be here and daddy will be home.

Happy Super Bowl weekend to everyone!! XOXO Allison, Abby & Madelyn

Playgroup @ Fire Station #7 in Norfolk

We had a very fun and hands-on playgroup at the firestation today!

Aside from the snowy drive to get there, we did have a nice visit!

The firemen were very accomodating to our group of mostly 2 year olds and showed us the ropes! They even got a call while we were there so we got to watch the ambulance leave in a hurry!

Abby......looking up and probably thinking that hose will probably hurt if it falls on her head! Or at least thats what I was thinking as I quickly took the photo!

Abby wasn't all that enthused when it came to touching and especially sitting in the firetruck.
Up until then she enjoyed it all and walked hand-in-hand with her best friend Emily following the fireman's lead. The only thing she willingly touched was the hose.
How tall am I??? Just shy of a firetruck tire in case you were wondering.

Waiting at the beginning of the tour for instructions from the fireman....listening carefully!

Oh Sooooo Sweet

We were snowed in all weekend.....just the THREE of us (plus Roxy of course!)

So here are a couple cute shots I got of the girls this morning while we were lounging around.

When I look at this first photo, I see so many facial similarities between the girls! But Maddy is definitely chubbier than Abby ever was! She has cute chipmunk cheeks that are SO fun to kiss!!!

More snow....

This is what the pool/yard looked like this morning after 8 hrs of snow

Let it SNOW!!!!!!

Well we finally got a real snow storm. They say it is one of the top 3 in this area in decades!!

We woke up to about 6+ inches of snow and more is expected to fall through tonight and will likely stay until Monday or so until the weather warms up enough to start to melt it!

Abby woke up, ran in my room and said "go play"!!

So......on went the rainboots and the clothes and she was ready to play! I was kind of surprised how eager she was to touch it since it was her first experience but she didn't hesitate. I opened the back door and she and Roxy ran out to enjoy the snow. Abby mostly liked dusting the snow off the flat surfaces and she'd say "look mommy I did it". Until she went for the bbq and since it was up high the snow she knocked off fell right on her face and she was in shock for a few minutes until I came to the rescue and cleaned off her face.

Fun to watch her enjoy something new and rare! Too bad daddy isn't here to do it with us :(

Old Friends renewed!!!

My college dorm roommate Kristin and her two boys Liam & Eamon came to visit us from D.C. for 2 nights this week. Her husband is busy finishing up his last semester of Law School, so he was eager for a few nights to himself to study, and we got 2 days to catch up on old times. Plus the kids got to meet now that we both have 2, and Abby & Liam had a great time playing together. Liam is 3 and Eamon is 1!

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of the two of us......hence no adults around, so we will have to make sure to do that next time!

Eamon & his monkey
We took a trip to the zoo....and met the zoo turkey! Abby ran away crying after this picture as the turkey started to confront her! No harm done though.....I think he was just letting them know who's boss! And toddlers think they are boss, so he had to set them straight.

Silly kids!!

All three of them!!

Liam holding Maddy!! He was eager to hold the baby the last day!