Abigail Geunter Maye

January Abi-isms:

sumba-where = Somewhere

"Aaaaaaaaaand buh cuz, i want to." (repeat this about 10 times in cute sing song voice.)

"The wind is blowing. It is a good day."

Abi: "Daddy is at work."

Mommy: "What does Daddy do at work"

Abi: "He drives. He does lots of fun stuff. He wears shoes."

Abi is growing up sooo fast. She is such an amazing little girl. She is so sweet to her sister and she is so good for her Mommy & Daddy. She is working on her final 2 molars and dun dun dun duh.....she is Potty Trained

She empties the garbages upstairs everyday and gives the pennies she earns to Jesus. She is just so amazing I can't describe it in words.

Abi & her friend TessaAbi decorated all of these by herself!French braids!!!Abi and Kate watching TV:

Abi is sooooo going to be an artist someday. She loves to draw and paint!

She loves being tickled by her Daddy--except for when she doesnt. :)

Meet the newest member of our family

Say hi to Steve

(probably only Jason and Michelle will get this: "Hi Steve")

We switched to a Ford Expedition--as of today. He's 10 years old and purrs like a kitten. He is soooo luxurious to us--seeing as the rodeo didn't even have cupholders! I haven't even been able to count all of his cupholders. The poor rodeo. She was so good to us. We miss her and hopefully she'll be good to someone else too. Poor thing--we never even gave her a name. Rodeo just seemed to work.

Steve will join the family with the Green Bean. Unfortunately we lost "The Viper" 5 years back (the viper was our honda accord--we called it the viper because it could accelerate so much faster than the truck!). We are excited for Steve's spacious interior and extra seating.

Budget template

Click here if you would like a free budget template I made. It isn't perfect but maybe might help you. It is an Excel file.
If you do download it and have feedback on how to make it better or if it really helps you, I'd love to hear it. I hope it helps someone!

My Guilty Pleasures

So I'm boring and have no pictures but these are some guilty pleasures I'm willing to share. What are yours?
1. After Kate's last feeding every night I just hold her and she cuddles so nicely. I LOVE it!
2. Taking Abi to the Library. I love it and I know she does too. I love coming home and reading all of the books with her. We've even started reading books with more words and less pictures and those are her favorites.
3. I've come up with the best thing--I give Richard a hug and then I go limp in his arms and he then catches me--which usually results in lots of tickling. LOVE it!
4. Budgeting--yeah, I'm an accountant at heart. I love arranging and re-arranging money and trying to make things work. I love budgeting for gifts each month and slowly acquiring what I can for birthdays and Christmas and stuff.
5. Organizing--yeah, this is constantly on my mind how I can eliminate even more in my house and make more room for nothing. I love opening closets and having plenty of extra space for whatever might someday need a spot. I love when every item has a spot it belongs so it doesn't lay around and make clutter.
6. Spending time with my friend Jenna--When can you be with Jenna and not have a good time?I am seriously having issues about them moving to med school. I think we may have to move with them.
7. Looking at pictures of my girls. We often pull up old blog posts after they have gone to bed at night and look at their cuteness.
8. Google. Where would I be without it? I love how I can learn soooo much so fast.
9. Cooking--mmm...I love to do it--and eat it.
10. Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie Ice Cream....I haven't had it in FOREVER but it is by far the best. 2nd Best is All Lovin No Oven at Coldstone.

Soooooo Kate

Here is a cute story that is typical of Kate:
I laid her in her crib for a nap and went in 4-5 minutes later to check on her and I found her smiling at herself in the mirror. She is a cute smiley baby!

Kate Kate

Today was Kate's Blessing. We were so grateful to have Great Grandpa Allen, Papa, Uncle David, Spencer, Bishop Bingham, and of course Daddy in the circle.
Here is her blessing:

Kate, you are a choice daughter of your Heavenly Father. I bless you to have a close relationship with your older sister Abigail that can continue throught your life. I bless you with a love of the scriptures and the words of the living prophets, to help you develop a testimony of Jesus and His atonement. I bless you with health and strength. I bless you to be aware of where you came from, where you are, and where you are going that it will be an anchor to assist you throughout your life. I bless you with the ability to seek the blessings of the temple and gifts to attain your righteous goals. I bless you with strength to live an exemplary life. We love you and are so happy to have you as a part of our family.

The girls got some great one on one time with Grandma and Papa tonight. It was so fun!

Kate LOVES Papa & Grandma!

Isn't this the cutest picture of Kate with Grandma????

These are the grins she is always giving to Papa!

Christmas

Sleeping in Christmas Morning:

The girls and I onChristmas morning--Don't you love Abi's Nightgown Grandma Tregaskis made for her?!?! Abi LOVES it!

Abi was so good Christmas morning. She had fun opening up her presents and playing with them. We took our time--I think we'll take even more time next year. It was great. Kate was awake for a while just smiling and then she fell asleep and took a nice nap.

Abi in her new dress I made her. I made one for Kate but she has yet to wear it...maybe next week?

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was very laid back and mellow. We are grateful for the thoughtfulness of our family, friends, and neighbors. We're thankful for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has made all of our most important blessings possible.

I Love Richard

So, i don't really post much about Richard on here. He doesn't like the spotlight and he rarely ever checks our blog--stinker. I had to write about what he did yesterday though. So first the funny--

Does your husband do this too?

I came home after Kate's Dr appt to find this. I find it hilarious how so many men leave all the cupboards open. I laugh every time I see this picture! Richard was so sweet and took Abi to work with him so I didnt have to juggle the 2 at the doctors. I guess getting Abi ready took opening all of these cupboarsds.

Richard also was sooo amazing and cleaned our fridge, floor, and even under the fridge yesterday because the turkey I had thawing in the fridge decided to leak all over my fridge and out the door! Ewww.... Richard cleaned the fridge so well that the inside looked brand new! It was incredible. I love, love , love my hot hubby. I'm so glad to have him and that he is the father of my children. They are so lucky to have such a wonderful Daddy! I love him more now than ever. He is amazing but he is all mine. You can't have him but he can teach lessons. :)

Merry Christmas Gram

here is a little taste of Kate's cuteness. Enjoy

Oh, and does this outfit look familiar? Abi was wearing it two years ago--check her video out here. Do they look a lot alike or what?

Happenings

Trying to get pictures of a 2 year-old smiling while sitting still and a 1 1/2 month old smiling necessitates this picture overload. Thanks to Emily and April for the dresses and Michelle for the sweater!
So our little girls are just amazing! I'm a mother-I get to brag. Abi has grown up so much in the past few weeks. While Richard was back in DC for 6 terribly long days, we eliminated the bottle, got her big girl bed up off the floor and into a frame, and started potty training. Now a week and a half later she has been dry for 3 days! She is doing so awesome! She is one of my best friends and I just love her. She takes such good care of me and is just a sweet little thing. She loves Kate so much too. Abi loves to count and can get up to 19. About 2 weeks ago she was only successfully counting to 3. She is excited about Christmas but I don't think she knows exactly what to expect.
Kate has grown a lot too. I moved her to her crib while Richard was gone and she knows how to sleep through the night--she doesn't do it every night but she seems to more often than not. Kate is a super smiley baby. If she isn't tired or hungry and you smile at her you'll usually get a really big smile back. She laughs and coos and gurgles and is just too stinkin cute. I love giving her chubby cheeks kisses and I love cuddling with her.I love her so much too and I am so happy to have her in our family!She started really trying to grasp at toys this week which has been fun. She loves bedtime storytime with Abi. One of us lays down with the two girls in Abi's bed and reads and she seems to love it!
We are so happy to have Richard back from his trip and hope that he doesn't have to travel more. I'm still learning how to survive with 2 kids. some days are so much easier than others. I just became the Relief Society Chorister--hmm... yeah . . .I'm so not good at it.
Anyway, we're looking forward to Christmas this week!

Aerobic Steps

Does anyone that lives near me have aerobic steps I can buy, borrow, or trade for?

What Abi said to me...

Abi brought me a bottle the other day and asked me to fill it with milk so she could give it to her baby. Problem was...she wanted me to fill it with my milk--not milk from the fridge. Silly thing.

Almost a Smile

Sisters