Name the Movie

Abby is never really quiet for more than a minute or two and I love it. She is often heard counting, talking to the closest baby doll or Elmo, or just talking. But just as often as she is talking, she is singing. And as the completely unbiased mother, I think she has the most gorgeous singing voice. This is one of her favorite songs of the month. Can you figure out what movie it's from?

Happy Halloween, Part 1

We had our church Harvest Social last night and it was a blast! Because there are about 40 people who actively attend our church, getting together for activities feels like attending a family reunion (plus, there are lots of people who are related so it really is a family reunion). We had a chili cook-off, games for the kids, a cake walk, and trick-or-treating down the hallway for the kids. We had a fabulous time. And Abby looked so cute as a duck!

And here's our girl all ready for church in her new dress from Grandma Z. We're only mildly obsessed with her!

Beautiful!

On our drive to church this morning, we saw the most beautiful view of the valley that we had to turn around and bust out the camera. This area is gorgeous!

Latest and Greatest

We have a pretty cute daughter who is quite used to the camera coming out. She also has a pretty funny personality that continues to develop. As an example, she has recently learned that you get lots of attention if you fall down. So even though she's been walking for over a year, she will occasionally (I am being generous with that word because really it can be every 2 feet) "fall down" with a very dramatic, "Oh, NO!" When we're at home, Roy and I sometimes fall on the floor if directed to do so, but usually we just have to ask if she's okay or if the toy she somehow fell over that is sitting 3 feet away is okay, etc. So most of the time we respond, but don't over-respond. Nonetheless, we will be walking through Walmart, Lowes, an outdoor festival, church, on the sidewalk, etc and Abby will fall down. A very slow fall, usually well-planned, all while looking at the nearest person and doing her soon-to-be famous, "Oh, NO!" And she always gets a good response. So then she does it after a few more steps. Soon, our once-quick pace has turned into something that resembles a mix between slow and slower. And if she gets picked up to be carried, the dramatics turn real and life can be miserable for our new-found audience. So we usually let her fall enough times for the people around us to realize it's a game, not pay attention for a fall, and then Abby gets tired of not getting the attention she is trying so hard to get. And then she walks normally again, usually jabbering away about saying oh no and falling. Anyway, I digress. I mostly just wanted to share some of our gems from the week, which are a nice exhibit of how Abby responds to the camera and the command to smile:

Abby and Roy's new dance move.

Abby all dressed up for church.

Abby playing with her new sand/water/train table from Mor Mor and Far Far.

Resident Critter

We must attract squirrels. As our blog readers from last fall may remember, we had a squirrel decide that the wall between the bedrooms of our apartment was the perfect place to hibernate for the winter. We thought moving to Wise would solve the problem. Until last Tuesday at about 4 am when we heard a scratching sound in our ceiling. We dismissed it as a mouse for a couple of days (we have had several come in for visits during the last week) and put some mice-attracting mouse traps in the attic. Nothing was caught so then we added the extra incentive of cheese. Abby, our cheese lover, was distraught that we sliced cheese and then put it in the attic. It was a crime against humanity! Well, the noise continued and got louder and louder. Then it dawned on us that no little mouse could make that big noise. Yep, we've got a squirrel who has nested in our attic. So during Abby's nap today, we got Roy all suited up for battle--broom handle, cardboard box for catching, gloves, sturdy shoes, and the best part was the headlamp (thanks, Mom and Dad, for the very handy emergency kit headlamp). Roy didn't find a squirrel, but he did find the hole in the window where he makes his entrances. We're thinking he just comes in at night so tomorrow after work, Roy will suit up again and cover the hole with whatever super sturdy netting/grating Abby and I can find at Lowes. And hopefully we won't be woken up after that. After all, we have to get all the sleep we can while Abby thankfully sleeps through the night and Sam still can't do too much to wake me up. That time will come very soon!

It's a...

We had our ultrasound about an hour ago and are very happy to announce that Baby Z is a boy! We should have a nice kid's room filled with pinks, blues, greens, and yellows. We are so excited (and so very glad that we did all the baby equipment in gender-neutral colors with Abby...that will save us a fortune!). We're about 18 weeks away from the due date so you can start counting down the days until you see little Sam accompanying Abby on our blog (or maybe that'll just be us counting down!).

Monday, Monday

For all interested parties, we will be having our ultrasound next Monday (yeah!!!). I've been dying to find out the gender of Baby Z. So if you want to find out what we're having, you'll have to check our blog next Monday afternoon/early evening, where we will be thrilled to announce Samuel David (Sam, for short...named after each grandfather) or Sophia Grace (Sophie, for short) and his or her stats.

AHHH!!!

One of the favorite stories from the "when we were growing up" years that Roy's siblings talk about goes as follows: they were living in Izmir, Turkey and all four kids were still at home. They had a nice house with a big kitchen and their family wasn't the only ones who enjoyed that kitchen. The rats did too. On one particularly memorable day, Roy's mom armed each kid with a broom, assigned them each a doorway or major appliance to block and had Roy, the baby of the family, stand on top of the kitchen shouting directions and orders. Without going into gruesome details, I'll sum up the story by saying that after playing a little broom hockey, the rats no longer shared their kitchen.

That story is one that will probably never get old because everyone laughs so hard when they tell it. And of course everyone also remembers the reactions of siblings and their mother, which always makes for a funnier story.

Last week, we had our own kitchen invasion and, because of his Izmir experience, Roy knew exactly what to do. We set up a tunnel of big toys, boxes, the ironing board, etc leading from the oven hiding place to the back door. After a little shaking of the oven, the little mouse (okay, so it's not a rat or a family of rats, but still disturbing) headed for the door, only flying into a few obstacles. Feeling a bit smug, we thought we'd solved that problem quickly and easily and without losing more than a granola bar and bag of rice to a hungry critter.

Then this morning at 6:37, I heard Roy calling my name and saying he needed me. I ran out from bed, totally freaked out because he sounded stressed and worried. I found him in the kitchen with another tunnel, this time leading from the laundry room to the back door. This time, he had chased the mouse from the front room, away from the bathroom and bedrooms (thank you!), out from under the fridge, and back into the laundry room. We still haven't gotten the mouse out yet, but heard lots of scurrying and think he may have escaped down the tiny hole next to the pipe by the washer. So as soon as Abby gets up, we're making a little trip to Walmart to pick up some supplies.

Moral of the Story: Although years later, a story about playing broom hockey with rats may make an entire gathering of people laugh at Thanksgiving dinner, you may have to at least partially relive your experience. Thank goodness Abby has slept through both mouse-capades, otherwise I'm sure we would have had a much more "exciting" and complicated time of it!

Moments from the Week

One of our moments of pride and excitement came this week when we got a steal of a deal on this tree swing for Abby. Roy got it all hung up on the only straight and strong branch in our yard and Abby loves it. Sometimes she just loves to put her babies in and push them, but she'll occasionally get in and want to go "up and down" in the swing. I guess part of why this is all so exciting for us is because Wise is sort of a funny place and has only one sidewalk. On Main Street (and then it's only half of Main Street that actually has a sidewalk). Our girl loves being outside and it's not always thrilling for us or her to walk up the hill of our street, play in the rocks in the driveway, or out on the boring front porch or uneven and sort of lame back porch. Now she has a great place to play and relax. As you can tell, she loves it!


I told Abby we would take one more picture and this is how she posed. She wouldn't put the bottle down until I took the picture. She makes me laugh!

We attended the 31st annual Town of Wise Famous Fall Fling on Saturday. There were the usual festival attractions and food, but this festival had some other special surprises in store for us. There were live bands playing fabulous music, dogs everywhere (Abby loved that), beautiful homemade crafts, homemade salsa and jams, and a fire truck ride. We got to sit on the top of the truck with about 15 other people and ride around a few blocks of town. They even had the siren, lights, and horn going for added effect. Abby couldn't stop saying wow and laughing. Roy and I thought it was great too!

We got part of our unpacking to-do list done this week, which we both tried delaying by trying to convince the other person it was his/her turn. When we found Abby playing in the empty boxes we just hadn't collapsed and thrown away yet, we knew we had passed the window of boxes being in our house. But she sure makes for a cute box model, right?