Twin Day

Anna and Abbie

Abbie Grace and her friend Anna coordinated on twin day this year. They wore matching shirts and bows with pony tails. They were so excited to dress up together. We had a blast getting them coordinated and watching them match up. It was lots of fun.

Afterschool Snacks

Brie with Sticky Hands

Yum!

My Cute Crestwood Cougar

The Afterschool Crew

My babies!

One of the new school traditions from this first year of school is the afterschool snack. It's something I remember loving myself when I was a kiddo. My girls love this time of day. Sometimes we do fun stuff and other times it's a PB&J or Breezie Crackers (Wheat Thins) with Abbie Cheese (American Cheese). On this particular day we had a fun time making Rice Krispie Treats. The girls LOVE this particular snack (and who wouldn't). We tried to save some for NiNi since it's her super favorite but we ended up licking the bowl clean.

Prey and Competitors

So yet another Abbieism has emerged. This last week the kids were learning about Sea Life. Beach day is tomorrow and they have all been eagerly learning all kinds of things relating to the ocean. Abbie is great at picking up information. She is a fountain of new facts at the end of most school days. Last week when we were walking home from school she started to tell me about the little fish that were in the ocean. She said, "Mom, did you know that those little fish are the prey for the bigger fish?" "Yes, can you believe it?!?" I replied. "Yeah, I know" she says. "It's amazing because they have to swim really fast to get away from their 'competitors'." I had to really think about that for a second. Because yes, they do have to outswim other fish which implies some level of competition but what I quickly realized was that she meant that the prey had to outswim their PREDATORS. Ahhhh....it's all becoming clear to me now. Predator, competitor, close call either way!

Abbie's Zoo Trip

Phillip, Brie, Abbie and Faith at the LR Zoo

Faith and Abbie

Standing like the Blue Crane

Mrs. Murdock's Kindergarten class at the LR Zoo

Last week we got to go with Abbie's class to the Zoo. It was lots of fun.

She walked around with her friend Faith and her little shadow, Brie. Phillip was off work so he got to come to which was a huge blessing. Brie fell down three different times and scraped her hands and knees each time. However, that was the only true trauma of the day which is saying something. Abbie's favorite animal was (again) the Armadillo and Brie (again) said that the Bear Cat was her favorite.

Regarding NiNi's fitness

Tonight Abbie started an exercise regimine...of her own volition. She went upstairs, dressed herself and came down ready to go walk on the treadmill at NiNi's house. She also gathered up some weights (she has one pound ones that are just hers) and her towel for floor work (just like mom). So we all traipsed next door and Ab's walked on the treadmill for 15 minutes, worked up a little sweat and then wanted to do some weight work (which I did with her) and we ended with the crampy crunches referenced in the last post on Abbieisms. We then went downstairs and I overheard Abbie chatting with NiNi. She said that she wanted to exercise to be skinny and healthy. (Yes, I've already jumped on the skinny thing and we talked about being healthy is important but being beautiful on the inside counts more than beauty on the outside.) NiNi responded with something along the lines of "Oh girl! Your little tummy is strong and tight. I wish mine was like that." Abbie looked at her and said without missing a beat. "Well if you would exercise more and eat healthy then it would be."

Abbieisms

Abbieisms are sayings created by Abbie that I find funny. Here are some recent ones...
1. Betrayed-ed (see post below for details)
2. Crampy Crunches (This is Abbie's explanation for what it feels like to be on the floor and doing abdominal curls. She said doing them made her tummy feel all crampy. I replied that we call it a crunch. She said, well it's a crampy crunch! Too true...)
3. Names for Brie: Fuzzy Head, Peepy Weep. For the record, Brie hates these names and corrects her sister anytime she hears them which is frequently. The conversation goes something like this: From Abbie "Hey Fuzzy Head!" Reply by Brie "I not Fuzzy Head. I Awbwie Faif or Bweezy (Translated, I'm not fuzzy head, I'm Aubrie Faith or Breezie.)

Betrayed-ed

So this weekend Phillip did his second triathalon which was his first outdoor tri. We did a team tri in February and came in second place (which shocked us). Had we known that our team name was going to be announced we probably would have picked something other than "Garlic Gangsters," but I digress.
The tri went great for Phillip, he came in second in his age division which was awesome. We went down to Arkadelphia with the Simon fam as well. Becky and Phill did the tri on Sat and Ken did the Duathalon on Sunday. I watched kiddos as I have no interest in bike riding or open water swimming. Bring me a half-marathon but no tri's please! As we were entertaining the kids on Sunday, Elaina and Abbie managed to run into each other and bump heads. Abbie, as usual, didn't feel anything as she seems to be impervious to pain when it is directed toward her skull. (Literally a hard head) Elaina, however, had a full on goose egg on her little forehead and shed some tears over the incident. Abbie had already run off and Becky snuggled Elaina and then told her to run on but she was still feeling a little weepy (as would I) so I picked her up to give her an extra little snuggle. Well, that didn't sit well with the little green giant known as Abigail Grace and she proceeded to register shock, disbelief and then betrayal on her face. She turned her back on me and started crying as she walked away. Becky and I noticed this and one of us asked her what was wrong as she was walking. She turned around and with her little fists by her side she cried out, "Mom, you betrayed-ed me!" Bless her heart, she was more hurt by my snuggling Elaina than by the actual injury. So Beck and I had to spend then next few minutes convincing Abbie that I loved her more than Elaina and that she was the most special Abbie I could ever know and that she was still Queen of the world to her momma. (A title only shared by her sister.) It took some time but she managed to recover. What a drama queen! Wonder where she gets that from...hmmmmm.....

Anatomy by Abbie Grace

So, along the line of the "frinkles" post...one of my all time favorite things that Abbie has ever said was "foot knuckle." As in...
"MOM!!!" crying and yelling.
"What, Abbie? What's wrong?" says Tracie.
"I hurt myself." Sniff, sniff as she says this.
"Well, where did you hurt yourself, hon?" asks Mom.
"Right here," she says pointing to her ankle "on my foot knuckle."

Yeah, the compassion that followed only came after I doubled over and tried to hide my laughter. Gotta love these days!

Brie at the Fire Department

Fire Fighter Durham, Jr.

Brie and Dad on Engine 1

Breaker, Breaker, Come On Back

A couple of weeks ago, Brie and I stopped by the Fire Station to visit Phillip. He let her climb around the truck and pretend that she was on the headset. It was so cute. She's quite the little fire groupie!

Frinkles

My girls say really funny things from time to time. Sometimes I know where they come from and other times, I have no idea but either way, they make me giggle. Last night Brie had a milk shake from Dixie Cafe (a favorite place) and it came with sprinkles on top. She was holding it on the way to the car (yes, it had a lid) and it got too cold to carry so she handed it to me. When I was putting her in the car, she looked at me with her serious face and said, "Momma, don't fill my frinkles!" Which translated means, Momma, don't spill my sprinkles. It was so cute. Right up there with her phrase to start all of us out the door, Let's Rock and Roll! (That she got from her Daddy...)

Aubrie's Easter Bunny

Aubrie by the Bunny

Aubrie's Bunny

Aubrie was walking with her Daddy and I in the yard today when we found a baby bunny! It was so tiny! We are hoping that we will be able to show Abbie when she gets home from school. What a great find on our Easter weekend!

Fancy Abbie

Fancy Abbie

Fancy Abbie, Poet Extraordinaire and her helper!

Yesterday was "Be Your Favorite Book Character" Day at Crestwood. Abbie chose to be Fancy Nancy from Fancy Nancy, Poet Extraordinaire. We had originally wanted to be Nancy from Posh Puppy but she just got the Poet book this week so it was more fun, apparently. So, yesterday we got up and got to work on her ensemble. We teased her hair so it would look more like Nancy's and wrapped her in a toga just like Nancy is wearing on the cover of the book. (The toga was a white table cloth, I had to talk her out of using my good blanket that I keep on the couch, she was slightly disappointed until she saw that the tablecloth had some lace on it). We added a crown to her hair and beads and she looked beautiful! She wore her toga all day long, even on the playground. Great Day, Great School! (Note in the pictures that Brie is still in her PJ's. There wasn't time to get me decent for public view, Abbie all fancied up and Brie dressed. Nothing like an exciting morning in the Durham house!!)

Easter Egg Hunt at MDO

Aubrie Faith, 2 1/2 years old
Hunting for Eggs

In front of the MDO sign

Full Basket!

Aubrie went to her first official Easter Egg hunt yesterday at MDO. Last year she was just too little to really "get" the idea of the hunt but this year, she got it! I had so much fun watching her run around at her sweet little school. We LOVE her MDO. It was absolutely wonderful. (First Baptist Church of Sherwood) Great teachers and administrators! We got there just before the kids were ready to start the hunt. We had to walk through the playground to get to the door so Brie saw the eggs around and was so excited! We lined up with her class and they attacked the playground with some speed. There were eggs flying all over the place. She had a great time filling up her basket and when she maxed out her basket it was off to the playground where she played on everything. She can climb up everything (steps and bars...and the slide) and go down all if it too. It's amazing to see how big she has gotten this year. She is fearless on that playground! It was a great day and a great way to kick off our Easter weekend!