Christmas at Great Grandma's

Sunday was the first of our Christmas celebrations. We went to Great Grandma Hageman's house, where Abbey spent time with lots of different family members.

She loves looking at Christmas lights.

Opening presents with Grandma.

Presents are great, but the paper and ribbons are lots of fun, too.

Here are four generations of the family. Abbey was getting a little tired at this point, and we wanted to take the picture before we had a meltdown.

After putting on her jammies, our little social butterfly found her second wind. She was such a good girl, especially since we didn't even leave until after her bedtime. She woke up in the middle of the night, but we found a surprise this morning...one of her top teeth broke through during the night. I've been singing all sorts of silly Christmas songs with her, so maybe Abbey will really get her "two front teeth" for Christmas this year!

Visitors

The best part of the Christmas season is getting together with friends and family. This Saturday we spent time with the Lukas family and our friend Linda, who thankfully made it here safely from Chicago. Sunday brought a visit from Uncle Joe and Aunt Amanda, who always make Abbey feel special!

Connor really enjoyed Abbey's favorite "pet" her stuffed Sparty. He insisted on carrying the dog around and was so adorable.

Abbey is pretty possessive of her doggie, but I think she was more than willing to share him with Connor. Stacy, Eric, Ryan, and I hope that Abbey and Madison become great friends (they are only 7 months apart,) but I am afraid Abbey is going to be the friend that always tells Madison how CUTE her older brother is! Abbey was enchanted by Connor, and he was kind enough to share some of his toys with her.

Aunt Amanda is always willing to get down on the floor and play with Abbey and her toys. Abbey loves having such an interactive friend.

Snow Day!

Friday morning found Michigan blanketed in snow. For once, the weather forecasters were right, and we were hit with a pretty big storm. I, along with teachers across the state, jumped for joy, since the icy roads meant we got to start our Christmas break a day early. Abbey and I spent the day inside, and Ryan even got to come home a little early. He came home to a great surprise, too, since my dad came over to clear our driveway and sidewalks!

The view out our front door. Brrr!
Abbey is looking outside and mentally chastising me for not buying her snow pants yet.
I think she forgave me!

In general, she has been very good with the Christmas tree, although she finds the needles, no matter how often I try to sweep them up...the perils of a live tree, I guess. I try to distract her with her other toys, but you can see here that she can only be distracted for so long! (Her rattle is sitting next to her.) I made sure to put only non-breakable ornaments on the bottom branches, so that she can't get into too much trouble.

Peek-A-Boo

Now that she is starting to understand more words, Abbey likes to play games with us. One of the things she finds hilarious is crawling into the dining room and hiding until I ask, "Where's Abbey? Where did Abbey go?" She then peeks out from around the speaker with a giant smile on her face. Lots of fun fo both of us!

Gearing Up for Winter

Abbey finds our basket of hats, gloves, and scarves absolutely fascinating. She takes different things out of the basket to play with and sometimes walks around with it like it's a walking toy.

Our little Spartan finds some things that fit... ...and some things that don't.


Along with the cold, December has found our holiday decorations. Abbey found a new friend in Reindeer tigger.