Early Christmas

Abby loves keyboards and pianos, anything she can pound on. Every time we sit down with her at the computer she tries to type and pound on the keyboard, so Eric decided to bring her an early Christmas present that he knew she would love. There was an old keyboard lying around that was not being used, so he gave it to her and you can see from the pictures how much she is enjoying it already.

Just another day in paradise....

Our lives have been relatively uneventful lately except that one of my best friends named Abby (just like our little one) is dating a guy from Scotland whose name is Myke. This week Myke flew in from Scotland to visit Abby for the first time here at her home. So, we have had the chance to spend some quality time with Myke and we really like him. Myke was nice enough to bring us some gifts from Scotland the first time he met us. He brought us delicious Toffee (Eric has almost finished that box off already) he brought us Scottish shortbread, he brought us some Scottish Smarties (Kind of like m&m's) and he brought Abby the cutest little t-shirt from Scotland with a picture of Nessie the Lochness Monster on it. It was so cute we put it on her and took pictures in it. Mimi also bought her a pink vest that was so cute we put it on with the t-shirt and she was a styling girl. The pictures are so cute. There is also a picture of my friend Abby and her boyfriend Myke. Our little baby has been lucky enough to have some really close people send her international things that we will keep for keepsakes for her in the future. We got a t-shirt from her cousin Matt that is living in Japan. That t-shirt is also really cute, but still a wee bit big, so we will have to wait to try that one on and take a picture. Anyway, here is a great picture of Abby (the baby) and Abby (the friend) and Myke.

Once in a lifetime opportunity!!!!

On Sunday, Eric, Jan, Frank and I got the opportunity to go see John McCain while he was speaking at the Seagate Center here in Toledo. However, it gets even better than that. Both of Eric's brothers work for the Republican Party in some way and his brother Jeff was able to get us VIP tickets to event. We were really excited. And then we learned that not only did we have VIP tickets, we got to sit on stage with Senator McCain. There were only 9 people that got to sit on stage with him and we were 4 of them. We were all over the news and C-SPAN has a great video that you can see all of us for long periods of time. We were on C-Span and millions of people saw us sitting behind John McCain and shaking his hand. How great is that. We also ordered the video from C-SPAN so hopefully many of our family members who missed it can watch the video with us over the holidays. Sadly, Abby did not get to go with us, but Eric's Aunt Cheryl was kind enough to watch her for us while we were there. We really appreciated it. We got a few pictures that I will put up. There are some good ones of McCain. We were really close the whole time. The first sideview picture is of Eric and Jan getting ready yo shake Mccain's hand.

Pumpkin Patch!

On Saturday we took Abby to her first pumpkin patch. I found one that looked cool in the Toledo Parent magazine. Their website looked good and we were all excited to go. So, we rounded up Jan and Frank and we all went to Genoa. We got there and they had tons of animals running around that you could look at and pet if you wanted. (we did not let Abby touch any of the animals.) However, after being there just a few minutes, you could tell the farm was not all that it was cracked up to be. Everything was kind of old and Frank kept saying he felt like he was in the twilight zone. But, in the long run, I guess we all had a good time and we did get some pumpkins out of it, for a good price. Abby also got her first hayride here (if you can call it a hayride. They called it a hayride, I would call it a wagon with benches and a couple of pieces of hay on the ground.) We definitely had better hayrides in Notwalk when I was growing up. Next year, I think we will try one of the other pumpkin farms in the area to carry on our family tradition. We did get some great pics of everyone having a good time (notice the old Ronald McDonald characters in some of the pictures.)

6 month checkup-

Abby had her 6 month check up at the doctor on Friday. She now weighs 15 lbs. 8 oz and is 25 1/2 inches longs. Her head is 42 1/2 cm. around. She is no longer in the 50th percentile (except in her head circumference), she is now in the 40th percentile. She is a small baby, but what do you expect, we are not exceptionally tall parents. But, the doctor said everything looks good and she is growing like she should. She had 4 shots and an oral vaccine. One of the shots she got was the flu vaccine and I think it made her a little sick because Sat. night she did not sleep well and she threw up. She is better now though, so that is good. Here is just a fun picture we took. This is Abby's new favorite toy.

Recipe

I had several requests for the recipe for the chicken-Chile Stromboli that I made at Danielle's, so here it is.
Ingredients:
1 (10 Oz.) can of chunk chicken in water, drained
1 (4.5 Oz.) can Chopped Green Chiles ( I only use half a can, use as much or as little as you like)
4 oz. cream cheese (or reduced fat cream cheese)
1/4 c chopped roasted red bell peppers
1 tbsp honey
dash salt
dash pepper
1 (11 oz) can Pillsbury refrigerated Crusty French Loaf
dreid parsley flakes
1 tbsp butter
dash garlic powder
1 egg

TO make:
1.Heat oven to 350 degrees, grease cookie sheet.
In medium bowl, combine, chicken, chiles, cream cheese, roasted red peppers. honey. salt, and pepper, mix well.
2. Remove dough from can, place on lightly floured surface. Carefully unroll dough. SPread chicken mixture evenly over dough to within 1 in. of the edges. With lightly floured hands, carefully but firmly reroll dough. Press edges to seal; fold ends under. Place loaf on greased cookie sheet.
3. In small bowl, combine egg and water, beat well. Brush over top of loaf, sprinkle with parsley. Arrange roasted red pepper strips about 2 inches apart on top of loaf. With sharp knife, cut 5 or 6 diagonal slices 1/2 deep on top of loaf.
4. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown. In small bowl, combine butter and garlic powder. Brush over warm loaf. Cut into slices.
ENJOY!!!
And of course I can not have a blog entry without a picture of the baby!!

A new niece in the family!

This past week, my sister had her second baby. Her name is Grace Christine. So, the whole family went down to Columbus to meet our newest family member. She as very cute, but seemed so small compared to Abby, now that Abby is a big girl of 6 months old. My mom was so happy because she had her whole family in one room. Eric, me, Abby, my sister, Conrad (her husband), Isabelle, Grace, and of course grandma Margie. My mom said she was in her perfect little world at that point and she could not have been happier. We took some very nice pictures of the kids. They all look so beautiful together. We can't wait until they can all get together again and play. Abby loves to play with Isabelle, but since Abby is not very mobile yet, she just watches Isabelle running around her in circles. They are hilarious to watch together. So much fun.

BABY's FIRST GEOCACHE!

Eric and I have had a hobby for 3 years now called geocaching. We have explained this hobby to most of our friends and family and they understand what it is. For those of you who don't know, it's kind of like a big scavenger hunt all over the US (and the world). If you want to know more, just google it and lots of information will pop up. Anyway, Eric and I have not been since the baby was born because it is hard to do with a small baby. Yesterday, we took Abby on her very first geocache. She had so much fun, she loved it. She likes being outside anyway, so this is just another way for her to be outside with us. Here are a couple of cpictures of Abby at her first (and second) geocache ever!

6 Months old today!

Today Abby is 6 months old. I can't believe I have a 6 month baby. I can still remember when Eric and I first realized we were going to have a baby and how nervous and excited we were. We could not wait to tell everyone. Now it is over a year later and I still can't believe what a perfect. happy, wonderful, beautiful, precious little girl we have been blessed with (as I am sure the grandparents will attest to). Eric and I are two of the luckiest people in the entire world to have each other and this special gift from God which makes a happy little family. And I thank God daily for Eric and Abigail and the joy and love they bring to my life everyday.
On a different note, we bought Abby a little birthday present of new shoes. We realized that she has not shoes that fit and that since it is getting cold, maybe she needs some shoes to wear. So we bought her her first pair of pink (fake) crocs. We took some pictures today with and without her crocs on. She did not quite know what to do with her newshoes (since she so rarely wears shoes at all), so she decided to eat them. It was very cute, and if only I could still bend this way. jeez.