Happy 3rd Birthday Abby!

On December 15th, Abby celebrated her 3rd birthday. She is growing up so fast and now she says she's a "big girl!" She started out her day with a fun day at Mother's Day Out. She wore her p.j's to school and wanted to take doughnut holes as her birthday snack.

Later that evening we went to eat at her favorite place, Chick-fil-A. It was such a great place to go that evening since it was Kids Night Out. They served free kids meals, had a fun craft project to do and even Santa made an appearance. She had a wonderful evening there!

We concluded our evening with cake and presents back at the hotel. Let me tell you about the cake...my oh my, it was amazing! It tasted as good as it looked too! Thank you to the Cake Fairee for a beautiful Mickey cake. It sure did surpass all my expectations!

Little Miss Abby

She's growing up right before our eyes!

Visiting Santa at Chick-fil-A

Making a craft...it came out so cute!

It's Santa!

Opening up some of her many gifts!

Ariel and her new boxcar for her Thomas the train set.

The birthday girl and her cake!!

It was unbelievable and delicious!

Happy Birthday Abby!

Abby's new preschool

After a long search, we found a wonderful church preschool for Abby to attend. We are so happy that she has adjusted and is fitting in nicely. She sure did miss her friends back home in Texas but she is making new ones and loves Ms. Trisha, Ms. Lyza and Ms. Haylie..her teachers. She still goes twice a week and even naps at school. We know she will have a wonderful time the rest of the school year!

Working with play-doh!

A super cute craft she made at Mother's Day Out last week using her foot and hand prints!

Her first day!

Ms. Lyza and Ms. Trisha with the class!

Silver Dollar City Videos

Here are some fun and cute videos of our trip to Silver Dollar City back in November. What a fun time we had!

The finale at the park! It was such a beautiful sight!

Here's a look at our train ride! Abby LOVED this!

Here's a short video of Abby riding the tea cups! It was so much fun!

Here's Abby and her daddy riding the Dumbo ride (or atleast that's what we call it)!

Abby riding the lady bugs! She absolutely loved this ride!

Her first ride of the day (and one of her favorites!)..the Catapillars!

We had such a wonderful trip and can't wait to go back!

Silver Dollar City

The day after Thanksgiving we made a drive to nearby Branson to visit Silver Dollar City. It's a theme park where you step back in time to the 1800's. It's such a fun place to visit with a beautiful backdrop of the Ozark Mountains.

Since we are in the holiday season the park was decorated with over 4 million lights! We arrived after lunch and enjoyed taking this picture of Abby before we went into the park.

Abby at Silver Dollar City

Once we were in we saw the beautiful Christmas decorations all throughout the main entrance. The gorgeous 40 foot tree greeted us as we walked in and we just had to stop and have our picture taken.

The giant tree



Sleigh bells ring are you listening....

After taking pictures we made a bee-line to the Kiddie Park. That is Abby's favorite part of the park. They have a separate area just for toddlers and young children. They have three rides that are just for them...the Catepillar, the Lady Bugs, and the Jumpin' Frogs.

This time around Abby did not ride the Jumpin' Frogs. She remembered how much she disliked them and immediately said, "No ride the frogs!" So off we went to her favorite ride, the Catepillars. She rode with Daddy and just loves this ride. She rode this one a few times. I have a video of her on it too that I will post separately.

Abby & Daddy on the Catepillars!

Waving as she goes by!

The second ride she got on was the Lady Bugs. This was the first time she rode it and all by herself too! We weren't sure how she would do but she surprised us as usual. It is a slow ride and she absolutely loved it! I will post a video of it also in my next post. She rode this 3-4x's!!!

Abby on the Lady Bugs!



After her many rides on the Lady Bugs, we made our way to the bigger rides. Off we went to ride the Tea Cups! This was a very fun ride and I took the cutest video of her while we were on it. She had a blast and we rode it a few more times!

Riding the Tea Cups!

We also rode the Dumbo Ride (well, it was just like it but called something else) and had a blast. I didn't take a good picture of them since they were high in the sky the whole ride but I will post a video of them on it. You can barely see Abby's head poking out of the ride!

After we had our fun on rides, we made our way around the rest of the park. Walking along the "bouncy bridge" is one of our favorites. Abby walked along Daddy most of the way but then too many people were on it making it a bit difficult to keep your footing so he held her the rest of the way. But she did walk across two more times that evening!

Walking the bridge


As we walked over we made our way to the shops that are nestled in the heart of the park. Pictured near the center of the shops is this beautiful tree adorned with lovely clusters of grapes (or what looked like some type of berry).

The Berry Tree


One of the shops that is located near the Berry Tree is the Candle Shop.
This shop has always been a fun place to browse and of course, buy! We always dip candles when we come here and this was Abby's second time helping dip her candles. She had a fun time!

Studying Daddy's candle-dipping technique!

Showing off our acorn candle!


After our candle stop, we made our way to the train. During the holiday season they light up the entire train along with the cars. Throughout the train ride (about 20-25 minutes) you are greeted with wonderful light displays around the theme park. About halfway through the ride, we made a short stop to hear the beautiful story of Jesus. Abby was so in awe of all the lights, as were we! I have a few video shots that I will post later on. It was such a fun train ride through the park!

All Aboard!!

Some of the lighted buildings near the Train Depot

Abby and I waiting to get on the train!

On the train...as we turned the corner, you can see the lighted cars.

Riding through the park...beautiful lights all over!

After our fun train ride, we walked around the park to view all the lights. By this time it was dark so every single building, light post, tree, etc. was lit up. It was such a beautiful scene. We all loved it!

More lights...

The Christmas Village

Near the waterpark area...the REJOICE reflection off the water was beautiful!

Abby posing near the lights.

Since we were having a craving for kettle corn, we walked over to the waterpark/fun area and saw the beautiful lighted displays. Abby was saying how much she loved, "dollar city!"

Kiddie Fun Maze

We had such a wonderful visit to Silver Dollar City that we ended up buying Season Passes for next year! We are looking forward to spending more time here! What a great trip and thank you Grams and Daddy Bob for taking us along!

Thanksgiving

This year we traveled to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with Dan's family. We had such a wonderful time visiting family and seeing the sights that Missouri has to offer. On Thanksgiving Day we ventured out to Abby's great-grandmother's house. Hazel and her brother, Vern, shared their beautiful home with us. We missed seeing them! Other family members that shared this special day with us included Aunt Donna, Uncle Aldo and Natasha.

Before we ate, Dan and I took Abby outside to enjoy the beautiful pond that is near Hazel's house. She had a fun time playing in the leaves and looking at the ducks. It was very cold that morning so we only were outside for 15 minutes but we had fun.

After a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings we were treated to a slideshow of Donna and Natasha's trip to the Holy Land. Thank you Aldo for preparing such a wonderful show!

We had such a lovely time spending Thanksgiving with Dan's family. We hope to visit more often!

Abby and Mommy in Hazel's front yard

Daddy and Abby

The beautiful pond near Hazel's house.

Abby loved the all the leaves!

Having a great time playing despite the COLD.

A favorite picture of Daddy and Abby

Abby and her great-grandmother Hazel playing with her new magnetic paper doll.

Little Miss Abby

Opening her gift...a gingerbread ornament for her tree.

Giving me her best "cheese" at the moment!

Our Family

Visiting Santa (again, and again)

During our first week in Shreveport, we went to checkout the Boardwalk downtown along the Red River. The world famous, Bass Pro Shops, is also there so that store is always a must-see in my family. While we were in the Bass Pro Store, we noticed that Santa was greeting lots of children and Abby decided she wanted to see him. Much to our surprise, she waited patiently and actually sat in Santa's lap! We couldn't believe it! Last year she did not want anything to do with Santa. We had to be as far away as possible and try to distract her from seeing him. Now, well she insisted on seeing him! She did such a great job and the picture looks like she is frozen in his lap. Well, in fact, she is. Once Dan helped Santa lift her up she froze. Didn't move a muscle.

About 4 days later she said she wanted to see Santa again. She "forgot" to ask him for some things, she says. So off we go to Bass Pro again. This time she walked up like an old pro and let Santa lift her up onto his lap. She actually smiled in that photo and made sure to tell Santa everything else she wanted.

Finally, when we went up to Missouri for Thanksgiving we went to the Bass Pro Shop to do some shopping and Santa was there. Guess what she wanted to do...yep, see Santa! This time though the wait was over an hour so we passed and since we were going to Branson the next day we told her she could see him then. Off we go to Branson the following day and no wait to see Santa! Abby was thrilled and had a big smile on her face. That just made her day!

I am so happy that Abby seems to have gotten over her fear of Santa. I think each time she's seen him it's been a bit easier. Since we have seen him 3x's already I wouldn't doubt if we see him again. We are always at Bass Pro (now one of Abby's fave stores) and don't be surprised if you see another post for a picture with Santa!

First visit with Santa...frozen and not moving a muscle.

Second visit with Santa...yes, that's a smile you see!

Third visit with Santa in Branson, Missouri...she's an ol' pro at this now!