God's Army just grew by about 50 kids!  We had a really fun Primary Activity today.  We did a B.O.O.T. (Building Our Own Testimonies) Camp with the Winder Ward.  We found the basic idea on Sugardoodle and then my awesome sister, Virginia, helped come up with ideas and certificates. 

I was only able to take a few pictures so if anyone else took some, (Jamie, Jaime, Joanna?) I would REALLY appreciate it if you'd share!! THX!

Here's what we did:

Winder/Fort Yargo B.O.O.T. Camp

Station #1 : Spiritual/ Physical Examination

Drill Sgt Wiley did an AWESOME job making sure the recruits were cleared for duty!  Then they split into groups and received their dog tags before moving on to the next stations.

Abby is THREE!!!  Unbelievable!

We've had a fun day celebrating ABBY.  She woke up bright and early (actually....she slept in until 7) and ripped into her gifts.  She got a Furr-Real Kitty (as close as Mommy would commit to the 'real thing'), a Dora beach towel from Daddy, a Dora coloring book and puzzle, new crayons, a Backyardigans DVD, new toothpaste (something she had requested), a princess from Kaydee, lacing cards from Aunt GinGin, $$ from Gammie and Greema, a treasury bond from Uncle Dave & Aunt Marge,  and a Melissa & Doug birthday cake from Aunt GoGo, Uncle Jeff, Addie & Isaac.  She says "THANK YOU" for all of her gifts!!!

Then we had princess pancakes for breakfast (made with sprinkles and whipped cream).  We went to Jungle Jumpers and then to McDonald's for lunch.  This afternoon we went to Borders so Kaydee could redeem her reading log for a free book and Abby spent some of her birthday money on a book for herself.  We ate supper at "Noodle Cutty" (Stevie B's Pizza--Abby has such a sophisticated palate...chicken nuggets for lunch and cheap pizza for supper) and then the plan was to go to Toys R Us.  However, after supper Abby decided that she would rather come home and eat her cake and ice cream!  (This did NOT make Kaydee happy!)

She felt like quite the celebrity with all the phone calls today--thank you, everyone for remembering Abby on her big day!!  She is such a special girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family!!!

In celebration of our Princess Abby....her most favoritest things:

 Abby's favorite book:  "D.W.'s Lost Blankie" by Marc Brown.  (She has it memorized!)

Abby's favorite song: "My Savior My God" by Aaron Shust  (The CD is practically worn out.........)

Abby's favorite tv show/movie: She tells me "Dora".....she likes all Dora movies.  That's not saying much, since she's probably only ever seen 3 movies in her life.....but she has watched just about every episode of Dora!!  

Abby's favorite food:  Yogurt

Abby's favorite color:  Blue  (Except when it's pink.  Or purple.  Or yellow....)

Abby's favorite sport:  Soccer

Abby's favorite friend:  Kaydee

 Abby's favorite toy:  Bumby

There are lots more pictures in the August Gallery.

Abby (who will be THREE on Saturday!) had her very first hair cut tonight.....and LOVED it!!! She was so funny!  She sat in the chair and tilted her head down like a pro.  We went to Target afterward and she tossed her hair around like "Look at me! I just came from the hair salon and I am so beautiful!"  There are before/after/during pictures in the August Gallery.

Today was the first day of school---Kaydee had a GREAT day!  She says she loves First Grade! 

It's time to go back to school, and therefore time for the proverbial  "What I Did This Summer": essay, or in this case, a list.

Let me start by saying that I realize that it is only August 1st and there is *technically* plenty of summer left---especially here in the South.  But, seeing as school starts tommorrow (BOO!) it's time to tell you the best things of this summer.  So, my list:

This summer....

....I quickly grew tired of "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" but couldn't bring myself to tell the two dancing girls to choose another song.

.....I listened to the sound of late night giggles and a pinky promise to do more giggling the next day.

....I watched several Barbie "musicals" ("Never had a job before......")

....I swam with mermaids.

....I "camped" in with two "explorer girls."

....I read love notes and hung special pictures on walls

....I eavesdropped on Kaydee teaching Abby letters, numbers and words.

....I taught a future med student how to make Broccoli Salad ("This is GREAT, Mom!! Now I can make this in my apartment while I'm in Medical School!")

...I helped Abs make the perfect blueberry muffins.

....I overlooked the "just five minutes" of talking that continued for hours (and inevitably turned into giggling) every night.

...I played at parks I never knew existed.

....I had FUN and fell in love with my girls all over again.  (After all.....girls just wanna have FUN!)

We have a rule in our house about attitude.  Give Mommy attitude and you give Mommy $1.  KD's attitude bought lunch at McDonald's this week.

Tonight as we were getting ready for dinner Abby threw the bag of shredded cheese at me and shouted, "FINE!" (I had told her to put it down, she didn't listen, I reminded her....and......attitude.)  Shane told her she owed me $1.  I told him I didn't think she had any money.  (She doesn't get an allowance....she just relies on the kindness of Babu, Meema, etc.)  So she just apologized, gave me a hug, and we ate dinner.

An hour later we were cleaning the playroom.  I sent Abby upstairs with an armload of toys to be put in her room.  Minutes lapsed....she came back downstairs super excited---"MOMMY!   Me showed attitude at dinner and me thought me didn't have any dollars but me found me wallet and me has a DOLLAR!!"  (She was actually holding a dollar bill and a penny.)  She gave me her money and then her face fell.  "Now me don't have any dollars or any cents." 

I told her she could do some extra chores to earn her dollar and cent back. ;-)

Abby and Kaydee were dressing their cabbage patch dolls this morning.  Bumby also sported one of the cabbage patch doll's dresses.  I went up to tell them it was time to clean up.  Kaydee (in her usual way) ripped the dress off Bumby.  Abby started to cry and sobbed, "But her was yookin' so NICE!"  (Yookin' is "lookin'" in Abby language)

This summer is flying by waaaay to fast!!!  There are only two weeks until Kaydee starts school again!  BOO!!!

We're officially finished with our summer traveling--we had a great week + with Meema and Pap.  We got to hang out with Gammie and Babu, Abby got to celebrate her birthday a little early with a new Dora bike from Babu and a Dora microphone from Meema.  We went to the Science Center in Pittsburgh and played at Rocky Gap State Park with Aunt GoGo, Uncle Jeff, Addie and Isaac.  The girls played the Wii and splashed in the pool and got to eat at Poky Dot's TWICE.   Both girls were up at the crack of dawn every day, and went to bed giggling every night.  One night (after hearing them up laughing several times) I went upstairs to lay down the law and Kaydee said, "I know, I know.  We're going to sleep now.  But we made a pinky promise to do lots of giggling tomorrow."

We had lots of fun!!  There are lots more pictures in the July 2010 gallery.

We just flew in from Utah.....and boy are our arms tired! (HA HA HA!)  Actually, since we woke up at 4am to get to the airport, we're just plain TIRED.   But home safe and that's what matters.

We had a great trip to see Greema and PopPop! We also got to spend lots of quality time with Aunt GinGin and Grandma Bagley, we visited Uncle Cody & Aunt Dottie Jo to see their new basement (COOL!) and got to see LOTS of family at the 150th Pony Express Re-Ride.  We also played at the park, jumped on the trampoline, went to museums, had picnics and hot dog roasts.  We went to This Is The Place State Park, Temple Square and the Willow Springs Ranch. 

There were several "firsts" this trip:  Kaydee and Abby slept in bunk beds for the first time (THANKS, AUNT BETH!!), used an out-house for the first time (THANKS, UNCLE DON!), entered their first telephone booth (not operating, of course), and thanks to some museum trips the girls were introduced to a telephone booth, glowing rocks, a telephone switch board, among many other things the girls thought were "cool". 

There are lots and lots and lots of pictures in the June Media Gallery and 365 Gallery!