January & February 2026

We have had some cold and snowing days so we are embracing indoor activities. We saw Zootopia 2.
Played lots of games inside.
We went to a boat show and Abby tried her hand at kaiaking. She loved it and we will do tit for real when the weather gets warm!
Abby got a new loft bed to give her more area to play in her room. Both Abby and our cat love it!
I had to go to a conference in Louisville and Abby came and stayed the night with me at the Omni hotel. She loves hotels!
We went to the Newport Aquarium with some friends on one of the days she had off school.
She had her best friend Ivy over for a sleepover and they enjoyed hot chocolate and a movie!
They wore matching shirts to church the next morning.
She is really into making friendship bracelets lately.
Abby did have a lot of fun playing in the snow!
Snow Angel!
And we made snow cream!
They were out of school for almost two weeks when the snow storm hit. We did “NTI” (Non-Traditional Instruction) for most of those days.
When they finally went back to school, they celebrated the 100th day of school by dressing up as old people.
They had a Valentine’s Day party at school.
We celebrated at home with cards, candy and some new K-Pop demon hunters swag.
We finally had her grandmother’s memorial service at the end of the month. It was a hard day for everyone but Abby handled it well.
Abby has also restarted swim lessons and is doing very well!

Happy New Year!

We had a fun Christmas Break and a Happy New Year!

Abby insisted on getting a new outfit for New Year’s Eve! We toasted with Sparkling Apple Cider.
She tired her hardest to stay up until midnight but at about 10:30 we looked up a count down on YouTube and celebrated (blew horns, toasted, kissed, etc.) then went to bed.
This was New Year’s Day breakfast. Abby’s new years resolution is to eat 5 fruits and vegetables everyday and so far she is doing great!
Over the break we had lots of days of play at home. These 18 inch dolls are her favorite toys right now.
We went to lights under Louisville and she loved it!
We went to the science museum.
Abby got her first professional haircut.
We had some warm days and went to the zoo.
Thank you for all the Christmas gifts that were sent to Abby! We have enjoyed them all! Here we are playing the Hello Kitty Game while we wait for our food at a restaurant.
Unfortunately, Shawn’s Mom passed away a few days after Christmas. Abby is upset of course but we all take comfort that she is no longer in pain and that we will see her again in heaven one day. The memorial service won’t been until sometime in February.

Merry Christmas 2025

We had a very Merry Christmas this year with many Holiday activities! It has been a very busy month.

We visited Santa and as usual, Abby is afraid of him and had to have Mommy in the picture as well. Her number one wish was K-pop demon hunter’s dolls and hair coloring chalk (she got both, see pictures at the end of the post).
She won’t even get close to this Santa statue.
We have already missed three days of school because of all the snow we have gotten!
Each day of December, was a different dress up day at school (that is 15 days if you are counting 😳). This was dress up like your favorite Christmas song. Of note, Abby in formed me at the end of the day that her favorite Christmas song is jingle bells. I got this shirt because this is the only Christmas of her life where she will actually be missing her two front teeth.
She had a school Christmas performance which was really cute!
Here is a video of one of their songs.
She had a school Christmas party in her classroom. Here she is making a snowman ornament with her friend Octavia. (Also, this was “Polar express: wear your Christmas PJs day”)
Her teachers had presents for all the kids.
Abby has been so excited about decorating for Christmas.
At Abby’s request, we got inflatable decorations for the front yard.
We went to see A Christmas Carol. This is Abby with the ghost of Christmas past.
Some friends had us over for a gingerbread house decorating party.
She also had a dance performance.
It was a grinch themed performance.
Abby did great!
We went to Nana’s house for a few days before Christmas and the cousins put on a Christmas story play which was so cute!
All the cousins also wore matching shirts.
We sang happy birthday to baby Jesus.
We drove around and looked at Christmas lights.
And Abby did some outdoor ice skating.
On Christmas Eve, we went to the candle light service at church.
Santa came on Christmas Morning!
There are her K-pop dolls!
We had Christmas dinner with Shawn’s parents. Notice Abby’s purple hair—she got a set of hair chalk and now she can have all the hair colors!Shawn’s mom is not doing well. She has stage 4 pancreatic cancer and is near the end now. It was a bitter sweet Christmas because we know she will not be here next year. We would appreciate your prayers as we walk through her last days with her.
Abby is a silly Willy!

Elf on the Shelf

Abby has been visited by an Elf on the Shelf for the first time this years and our whole family has enjoyed our elf, Cookie’s overnight antics.

Day One
Day Two & Abby’s first snow day.
Day Three & one of Abby’s favorite.
Day Four & the only one Abby hasn’t liked. She thought it was gross and a waste of cereal.
Day 5 & the morning after Abby lost another tooth.
Day Six
Day Seven
Day Eight & she loves kinder eggs
Day Nine
Day Ten
Day Eleven & Morning after Abby’s Dance performance
Day Twelve & Abby’s second snow day

Day 13 & Hopscotch upside down!

Day Fourteen & the morning after her dance recital
Day Fifteen & Cookie painted Shawn’s toenails in his sleep. This was another of Abby’s favorites.
Day sixteen
Day Seventeen & K-pop Demon hunters Elf which is Abby’s favorite show. Abby said this one was her very favorite!
Day Eighteen
Day Nineteen
Day Twenty
Day Twenty-one
Day Twenty-two
Day Twenty-three
The Last Day!
On the last day, Abby made Cookie mermaid clothes and we went to the new SpongeBob movie!

Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments.

Thanksgiving 2025

We went to Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie
And Gabby’s Dollhouse live with her friend, Ivy.
She is learning a lot in cub scouts.
Here is picture of her class at school.
We had Thanksgiving at our home.
Here is her yearly picture with the thankful pillow.
We also went to see Wicked and dressed up as Elphaba and Glinda.
We also went to an outdoor skating rink and she loved it!

We have been doing Christmas activities non-stop and I will have lost of pictures of that on the next post! We hope everyone is staying well and warm!

Halloween & Cub Scouts

The last week of October was Spirit Week at school. Here is a picture from twin day!
On Friday, she decided to be Wednesday Addams for Halloween Costume day. She was recognized for having one of the best costumes!
Parents were invited to come to her Halloween party at school.
They played games and decorated a pumpkin.
On Halloween night she went as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.
Here is our family costume.
The wig didn’t last long but she trick-or-treated for about an hour and a half.
On November 1st, we went to a local Day of the Dead Festival. She did crafts and got her face painted.
We also decorated pumpkin cookies this weekend. Abby has no interest in carving pumpkins so we skipped that this year.
Abby had her first Cub Scout Outing this weekend as well!
She learned about fishing.
Shot a bow and arrow . . .
A slingshot . . .
And a BB gun (which was her favorite)!
We also went on a hike, made pine corn bird feeders, learned about camping essentials, and how to tie a square knot. She had a blast!
We had a parent teacher conference and noticed her name on this bulletin board in the hallway.
Abby is a good helper!

Her teacher had only good things to say about her in the conference. Abby is excelling at reading and math and got 100% on all her assessments. She is also kind, polite, and a natural leader. Her teacher said she could teach the class and frequently helps her classmates to understand their assignments after she is done with her work. We are so proud of her!

Abby is Six! (And Fall Break)

This was taken the night before she turned 6. It was her last day of being 5.
She had a squishmallow themed party at Chuck-e-cheese or as she calls it, “Chuck’s house.”
Eating Pizza with friends/cousins at the party.
Brownie time!
Presents!
We played games for two hours!
This is her favorite game!
The birthday girl!
She is playing with slime and wearing a new princess dress that she got. Life is good!
Her Nana (Jennifer’s Mom) brought two of her cousins up for the her birthday weekend. Abby stayed with them in the hotel and went swimming in the hotel pool.
We had a separate celebration with Shawn’s parents. Shawn’s mom is on hospice and is not well enough to go to Chuck-e-cheese.
After the birthday party was over, we went to great wolf lodge (in door water park) for a couple days.
They had an arcade and this was the first time she has gone to a place where you get physical tickets.
They also had bowling! Abby is pretty good. She got one strike and a couple spares.
She ate ice cream in bed.
And did kids yoga in the mornings.
Here favorite was the water slides!
Ready to go swim!
When we got home, Mom and Abby went for mani/pedis
And we had family pictures taken.
We also went to Boo at the Zoo
Her hair looks so pretty in this picture!
She went to a street festival with her best friend, Ivy, and spent the night at her house.
She got this “tattoo” at the festival.
We finished fall break with our yearly birth family visit to celebrate Abby’s birthday.
There were presents.
Mikayla gave Abby a matching bracelet that “magically” connects with Abby’s bracelet. She hasn’t taken it off yet!
We had pizza and brownies.
Mostly we just played.

While on Fall break, she went to her yearly doctor’s visit. She is 4 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 96 lbs. she is very healthy and has no medical problems other than eczema.

Things are great!

Abby is loving Kindergarten. Her teacher comments all the time about how bright and kind she is. She has gotten rewards for being a good listener, helping others, and staying on task.
We closed down on Labor Day.
She got pretty good at the climbing wall.
Abby is playing soccer again this fall. Shawn is her coach.
And she is in dance again and this time her friend Ivy is taking the class too.
That’s all for now!

Back to school

On August 5th we went to Abby’s school and met her teacher Ms. Shields (left) and assistant teacher Mrs. Kay’s (right).
Here she is sitting at her desk.
Afterwords, we went to celebrate the start of school at Olive Garden.
The day before school started, she lost one of her front teeth at the pool (it had been loose for a few days). The tooth fairy brought her two gold coins ($1 each).
August 13th was her first day of school!
She was so excited!
Walking into the building.
She spilled grape juice on herself at school breakfast but her teacher took this picture and sent it to me.
Her teacher reached out and sent me the following message: “Just wanted to reach out and tell you how amazing Abigail‘s first day of school was! She is an amazing listener and has a very kind heart. I cannot wait to have her back tomorrow for another great day!”
She liked her first day but said it was too long. She was exhausted when she got home.

Vacation Time!

This month we went on vacation in Colorado. Abby had never seen mountains before so we decided to skip the beach this year and show her something new.

Before our vacation, Abby and I celebrated the 4th of July at the zoo.
Shawn had to work all day on the 4th so after the zoo we went to a cookout at a friend’s house. Abby had a ball playing with other kids. We Shawn got home that night we shot off fireworks from our back porch. Abby doesn’t really like fireworks because they are loud so I didn’t get any good pictures.
To prepare for vacation, Abby had her first professional mani/pedi.
She loved the nail salon and now wants to go with me every two weeks. Since she is five, we are going to limit her visits to special occasions.
We flew to and from Denver for our vacation. Abby is a great flyer and was excited to watch Wicked and The captain underpants movie on the planes. When she grows up she wants to be a pilot!
In Colorado, we went to a Bigfoot museum. Although Abby maintained the Bigfoot is not real she had fun seeing Bigfoot “artifacts.”
Abby loves hotel life. She is excited every morning for breakfast and the waffle bar. And we went to the hotel pool everyday of our trip!
We went to the Denver Science Museum.
Abby really like all the dinosaur bones!
We went to both the Denver and Cheyanne Zoos.
At the Denver zoo we got to see a hippo play with a ball which was really cool.

The highlight of our trip was going up to the top of Pikes Peak. Here is a Bigfoot crossing sign that Shawn and I had stopped at before Abby was born.

This is our family at the top of the mountain.
There was still snow on the mountain top!
Abby through snowballs at the side of the mountain.
Abby liked climbing on all the rocks!
The view from the top!
Abby also panned for rocks about half way up the mountain.
Also this month, We saw the Smurf movie and How to train your dragon.
Thank you to whoever sent the space Barbie. She loves it!
Here is a cool video of her jumping into the pool.
This is Abby jumping off of the diving board for the first time! She is so brave!