A Week in the Life of the Zwahlens

We had a great week--here are a few highlights:

• To celebrate Roy being done with finals (HURRAY!!!), we took Abby to Mount Vernon (George Washington's Estate) to visit the baby animals. This year there are only lambs, but last spring they had the cutest baby pigs. We thought we would try out the animals at Mount Vernon and get a feel for how Abby would do at the zoo. The only time she cared about them was when one of the lambs had the nerve to baaa at her. She was shocked and offended for a moment and then went back to being indifferent. There's just too much else to pay attention to (and too many people to stare at until they admire you) to even notice the lambs, which were the entire purpose of the trip!

• This week we did quite a bit of babysitting. The picture below is with Abby's friend Claire. They are about 4-1/2 months apart so the most playing they do together is Abby watching while Claire plays and Claire trying to avoid the gooey hands of this noisy baby. It was fun to watch. We also babysat Jake and Ryan a couple nights (sorry no picture!). Abby and Jake, who is a year older than Abby, had a kick-off--Abby was laying on the floor kicking her feet so Jake lay down opposite her and began kicking his feet. They also held hands in the double stroller, leaving both kids a gooey mess.

• Abby's new favorite thing is her Bumbo chair. She loves to be in the kitchen when I am cooking and doing dishes. So we all love the Bumbo. A few days ago I was slicing carrots and came across a monstrous baby carrot. I showed Abby who prompty grabbed it. It took a couple minutes, but she got it right where she wanted it:

• Abby is in the process of learning how to give kisses. She will only kiss me so far. The kiss is, of course, is an open-mouth-tongue-hanging-out kiss, but she drools and spits up on me anyway and she's too cute when she does it. So now at bedtime I will give her a kiss on the cheek and then she will return the favor with a kiss for me. I love it! This picture is right after she was giving herself kisses in the mirror. Unfortunately I laughed right before the camera caught her kissing herself and then Abby wouldn't perform again, but you can see that the mirror got a little wet.

Here are a couple more fun things that don't have pictures included:

• We went to look at the book section in Target the other day and Abby was so excited. We looked at books for a good 10 minutes and she just couldn't contain herself. She was kicking and jumping in Roy's arms.
• Abby's new game is to grab one of our hands and use us to help her roll over. She has zero motivation to do it all by herself, but she thinks it's great to use us to roll back and forth.
• We discovered this week that any song that we sing that involves jumping is the best song ever. So now nearly every song involves at least one jump. Why not get exercise along with singing?
• If you want to be BFFs with Roy, just get a Wii. And if you want to be BFFAEs (Best Friends Forever And Ever) with him, get him his own Wii... I only say that because I think that every day this week we have had a conversation about the qualities of Wii and how it would benefit us. Hmmm...do you think he's trying to hint at something?
• This was our last Sunday in the ward before we leave for CA. Now I have to make new friends in the Mother's Room! We look forward to our summer and we are excited to see our VA friends when we get back!