Odds & Ends

A few thoughts and happenings from our lives the last week:

• I painted my toenails dark red almost a week ago. I don't know for sure when the last time was that I painted my toenails, but I'm almost embarassed to admit that it was probably the day before we got married almost 3 years ago. Since I painted them, Roy has been psycho-analyzing me and it's hilarious. He just can't wrap his head around the idea that I just wanted to have red toenails because it's fun to have painted toenails in the summer.
• Abby wanted to sit on the toilet this morning so we stripped her down and put her on. After a couple minutes of her talking to me and some teeth-brushing time, she peed. I was so excited! We talked about why I was so excited and she got an M&M as a prize, but she still has no clue what was going on. She's been sitting on the toilet for close to 2 months now just so she's not afraid of it when potty-training does come and though we still have a while to go before we tackle that obstacle, I will remain happy that she has gone once!
• We met Abby's newest cousin Ethan last week. He was born the morning that Roy graduated so uncle and nephew will share a special bond. Abby really wanted to hold "thn", as she calls him, and did a great job. We watched a video clip this morning of her holding Ethan and every 2-3 sentences today we get, "Baby?" and she shrugs her shoulders as if to ask, "Where's the baby?"
• Abby is growing up fast. Just this last week she has become obsessed with various stuffed animals and babies. She feeds, shares pacifiers with, and puts her babies in bed. Her giraffe, BYU bear, and other animals get taken on stroller rides, to the park, and cuddled when it's time to sleep. I've really seen her mothering side come out.
• We are just a month away from Abby being able to go to nursery at church. She has no idea what is happening, but I'm scared for her because she is now incredibly clingy and needs to check in with me about every 10 seconds. She does great when she's at our house (actually, almost too well...we now have to check the garbage if she's been in the kitchen alone, look over our balcony to see which toys were launched, double-check before sitting on the toilet to make sure there aren't any special surprises, and have had to do several all-out search parties to find important items like phones, keys, make-up bags, cameras, etc), but as soon as we are in a new environment, her neediness is kicked into hyper drive. Thank goodness for library books and dads! I'm doing all the reading I can on helping her and Roy will be the one to take her to nursery and have to listen to the inevitable wailing as he leaves. Good thing Janna (the nursery leader) is our friend!

Graduation

The long anticipated day arrived. Roy has graduated from law school! Hurray!!! The actual graduation was pretty short and the professor who spoke was hilarious. It was a crazy day, but we all survived. Our nephew was born at 2:05 that morning so there was an extra thing for the grandparents and new big brother to juggle, but they made it. And since the thing that matters is that the diploma is sort of in hand (more like a scroll stating that he'll get a special package from GMU in August), I'll save you from reading too many details. Instead, here are some pictures from before and after the ceremony. Good job, Roy! Abby and I are so proud of you! And, I have to admit, we are proud of ourselves too!

My two favorite people!

Doesn't he look good?

The representatives of the Zwahlen family who attended graduation.

Before graduation.

After the ceremony. Abby slept through part of it!

Roy with his parents after the ceremony.

Roy with his second mother, Cyndi, and best friend, Chris. The Ongs flew out from Utah for the ceremony. Thanks again for coming, guys! Roy loved having you here to celebrate!

Walking across the stage, the last graduate of the class of 2009. You should have heard the cheering for Roy. He's either very well-loved by all the graduates and their guests or else everyone was super excited for graduation to be over...I bet it was the first.

Here's Roy grabbing his "diploma". The dean is laughing at him because Roy leaned over while he was grabbing the scroll and asked if he could have two. Always looking for a way to make people laugh!

Abby Update

We are so grateful for the warmer weather we've had lately! It's helped us get outside, enjoy summer treats, and just be a little bit happier. Here are some recent Abby pictures to illustrate how we have spent our days since returning from our fun Utah trip!

Eating popsicles. What could be better? (Especially when you're getting 4 molars at once!)

Williamsburg:

Grandma Z spoiled Abby with a play kitchen. Really, it's for the bonus room and all the grandkids will enjoy it a ton, but I'm pretty sure that since Abby was the first grandchild to see it, she will at least attempt to dominate it!

Music Makers:

As some of my fellow Music Maker moms will remember, Abby has been terrified of the parachute until recently (even scared to touch it on some days). Now she loves it, even though she has this determined I-will-not-smile look on her face. Today she didn't even want to get off when it was time to put it away.

Abby helped us do the Popcorn Song while holding the parachute today. The tongue out says, "Boy, holding this parachute is tough!" As a side note, please notice her fancy necklace. She wears those a lot now...

Utah Trip: Part 2

We've been back from Utah for a week now so all my excuses for not updating our blog have vanished. We are visiting with Roy's mom so I don't have all our pictures with us so our stories will have to do!

We were mostly visiting with my sister Becky and her family. Abby LOVED her three cousins, Alli, Holly, and Brynne. She loved when Alli and Holly did gymnastics with her. She learned very quickly to run across the room, stop, and throw her hands in the air as if to ask for applause. All our meal times seemed to be doubled in the amount of time it took Abby to eat because she was so busy watching everyone and copying what they were doing. She was definitely the messiest eater of the bunch, as Alex can attest, and left piles of food after each meal. One huge highlight for me was that Abby learned (finally) how to fall asleep by herself without more than a couple minutes of fussing. This has been huge for her!

While in Utah, we have to visit Provo. And the Cougareat. In the world of Michelle, there are three do-not-miss foods when in Provo: BYU brownies, bread and honeybutter, and Creamery ice cream. I ate two of the three that day, but I plan on making those scrumptious brownies to celebrate Roy's graduation on Saturday. We got to visit some friends and show Abby off and also saw Dr. Monroe, a professor I worked for and love! She is Abby's "professional grandmother" and I'm bummed I forgot to take a picture while we were together.

I am happy to report that Abby did awesome on the plane. On the flight out, she cried so hard for the first 10 minutes that no one wanted to sit by us. As soon as we were airborne, she fell asleep so I got to lay her across two chairs and relax, which was awesome since it had been a really long day and I wasn't feeling great.

My excuse for the trip was to see my sister Cindy graduate. If she ever updates her blog again, you can see pictures. :) Graduation was fun, but as Alli said the second it was over, "It was long, it was long, it was long, it was long!" We also got to go to two weddings and two birthday celebrations. It was so fun to be around friends and family for all the celebrations and, even though it made me miss Roy more, being at the weddings was an additional reminder about the importance of marriage.

Since this is a pretty eclectic post, I might as well answer a couple questions about Roy and our plans for him. He walks at graduation on Saturday (yeah!) and then begins the Bar prep course on Monday. There are no job offers or interviews yet, but there are some possibilities out there so we're hopeful. Roy can't even start working until mid-August anyway so there's plenty of time before we even need to worry. As always, something will work out!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

Roy just called me and he has finished his last exam for his last class for his last semester of law school! Hurray!!! Abby and I are so proud of him! Here are a few pictures of the last three years...and our attempts to get distracted from the labors of law school.

Utah Trip: Part 1 of ?

No, we're not lost and we haven't forgotten that we have a blog--we've just been having fun! Abby and I are still in Utah for a few more days, but I wanted to post these pictures so blogging isn't as intimidating when we get back. Earlier this week, we visited my old mission companion Sarah and her baby Asher. For the first time, Abby actually wanted to hold the baby so we had to document it. It was so fun to catch up with Sarah and meet Asher! He's a cute boy!

Abby was supposed to be kissing Asher, but it looks more like the reverse is happening!

Easter

We had a great weekend down in Williamsburg! It was fun to relax and be with family. Abby was most excited about seeing Zach. As soon as she saw him, she screamed and began chasing him around the house. They ran laps for several minutes around the front door, dining room, kitchen, and hallway. And neither one took a nap that afternoon because they were so excited to be at Grandma and Baba Z’s. High energy kids! Roy and Michelle took the title of late-night owls with staying up until the late night hour of 10 pm on Friday. We were glad everyone redeemed themselves on Saturday night.



Now we know that Abby knows just what to do when the camera comes out. After church, Grandma Z wanted to take a picture of Abby in her Easter dress so she pulled out her camera and Abby posed. Really, how could we choose just one of these to share with everyone?

Abby caught on quickly to the idea of hunting for Easter eggs. Her version went something like this: run to an egg, grab it, crack it open, start shoving treats into mouth, see parents approach, throw still-open egg into basket, pick up and eat any candy that fell on the grass, clap and point at others to clap, run to next egg and begin again.

Easter baskets do double as necklaces, right?