And the 2nd new addition.....

And Great Grandma Fran bought Abby this adorable sandbox too! It is a "Purple Stegosauraus" and it came with great sand! All the kids at the party had a blast playing in it! I think we had 4 or 5 kids in it at once! Thanks Great-Grandma!!!

I'm just excited that now we have outdoor things to playwith! We have such great weather down our way that it makes being outside that much more enjoyable and entertaining.

The first new addition......to our backyard!!!

Grandma Donna's birthday gift to Abby was this fantastic gently used playhouse for the backyard! Its just her size, and as soon as she's walking she will enjoy it even more! Roxy likes it too!! Thanks Grandma!!

Abbys 1st Bday party with friends

We had a GREAT celebration today in the backyard for Abby's birthday! We had about 30 adults/kids come to share with us. The kids ate pizza and decorated cupcakes, then played in the yard and then we opened gifts inside! PHEW!!!!!! I'm exhausted!!! 1 Birthday down.....and 17 more to go......and thats just kid#1!!

Mom, Sarah & Ricky came down to help and celebrate, and I couldn't have done it without them! Ricky was my videographer, mom & Sarah took photos, and generally kept things going smoothly as I ran around.

Thanks to everyone who came to celebrate Abby's first year!!

The Birthday Girl!!! She loved eating hers! The kids decorating their cupcakes! They seemed to love it!(tired) Mommy & Abby
Aunt Sarah and Abby
Opening gifts! The cards were the best, as usual!!

FINALLY!! We drink!!!

So, its been quite the drinking battle at our house these days. I've been trying for months to get Abby to accept the sippy cup, but she refused to learn the concept of tipping her head back and raising the cup at the right angle, so she would just get frustrated at her sucking attempts with nothing coming out. So I had ventured into the world of straw sippy cups, and she does well on those, but they are such a pain to clean. Now that she is done with the bottle stage, I'm happy to say that last night she FINALLY learned (don't ask me why now) to drink from a regular sippy cup! She loves it and thinks she is so funny when she tilts her head back and sucks! It may seem like a silly feat to some, but for me, as a mom, it was a huge accomplishment!

Now I move on to the battle of getting her to eat fruits & veggies!!

Cake & Gifts!

Grandma Donna helping Abby eat her first slice of marble cake! Yum Yum
Chowing down on that cake!
Opening presents!! She loved tearing the wrapping paper and squeezing the gifts with her usual shaking motion!

Celebrating Abby's 1st Birthday in San Pedro

All 3 sets of great-grandparents were accounted for as we celebrated Abby's 1st Birthday!

Plus Aunt Arlene, Grandma Donna, and Great-Aunt Lillian too! We had a wonderful lunch at Great-Grandma Reiss's house.

Great-Grandma Fran & Jim
Great Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Helen
Great-Aunt Lillian, Aunt Arlene and Great-Grandma Paulette (aka hostess extrordinaire)
Great-Grandma Paulette and Great-Grandpa Bob

Visit to Aunt Amy's

Abby is now an official San Diego Chargers fan!! Pink "Tomlinson" jersey and all!! She had to wear it Sunday in honor of the game!
Amy, Matt, Jackson & Abby

Hanging out with Aunt Amy (and blue baby dolly) at a great sportsbar for lunch on the boardwalk! Beautiful weekend to be in San Diego!

Visiting old friends

So my friends and I are in the midst of planning our 10 year high school reunion, so we got together briefly this weekend while I was down south to discuss things. We had a great lunch down at the beach with Abby.

Great to see you girls!!

Trip down south....Visit to the Fujimoto's

We made our trip to San Diego this past weekend, and it was wonderful. On our way down there I arranged to spend the afternoon with my aunt/uncle/cousin in Dana Point!

Sheila showed Abby her 2 guinea pigs! Abby got a kick out of seeing them buzz around the cage!

There it is in the photo.......I can't remember its name.....

And here is the birthday cake that Sheila decorated for Abby

"Yummy cake mom!!!! Best dinner ever!"

And here's the Fujimoto clan.....plus Abby & Jackson

Fun with Jackson dog

Toy time with Jackson...he's loved playing with Abby (mostly her toys he tries to sneak out of the house to the backyard!!)

Silly crawler.....

She loves to make this fishy face these days....and smack her lips together so they "pop"!

Snack time...in a cup!

Learning to reach into the snack cup and pull out 1 treat......although right now 10 come out at a time.....she's catching onto it though.

Yeah MR.UPS MAN!!

Thank goodness for cardboard deliveries!! Best kid toy ever!!!

She probably thought...."Mom, where have you been hiding this FABULOUS toy!!!"

Exhaustion!!!

This is what happens when you play too hard for 3 weeks straight.....you nap together!!!

Out and About with Mommy

I needed a good reason to get out of the house today, and what better reason than shopping!! Abby will soon learn its a great way to spend daddy's money!! We went to Barnes & Noble, which had an adorable kiddie play area where Abby played on the train table; and then we stopped by Petsmart and watched the fish & birds do their thing--she's been watching Roxy & Jackson run around wrestling for the last week, so I'm sure she loved seeing a different animal for a change! She loved both experiences, so we may be frequenting these venues more often.

....And yes, her sippy cup is in a beer coozie.....it absorbs all the condensation quite nicely from the cold water and actually gives the cup a better grip for her slippery little hands! I figured this one out this morning as I was running out the door! Maybe I'm onto something....