Make a wish...

When we asked Abigail what she wanted on her birthday cake, she was still thinking of Hannah's Olaf cake so she asked for the snow monster from Frozen.  I can't remember his name, but um.....no.   It is of course HER birthday, but we knew she was just trying to copy Hannah and her cake, so we showed her some other possibilities.  Thankfully, she went for the kitty theme.  So cute.  Kara's friend does a great job making these cakes.

And Abigail is growing up.  She's not QUITE as hard to capture in pictures anymore.  Hallelujah!  By the way...when I called her to wish her a happy birthday she got on the phone and said, "Grammy, guess what.  It's tomorrow already and now I'm FREE!"  Also known as "three" for those of you who no longer speak preschooler. 

Look who's THREE!

I'm posting this a couple of weeks late, because I got behind.  Love how this turned out.  Little Miss Personality just turned three.  In case you can't read the text it says:

Favorite things at 3 years old:

Color - Pink
Bible Story - David and Goliath (she asks for this one EVERY time)
Toys - Books and puzzles
Activities - Singing (especially during nap time when she SHOULD be sleeping...lol)

Here comes Trouble...

Having so much fun...

And my favorite pic...does she not look like TROUBLE here????  That is our determined girl!

First try....

 

Ha ha...We loved this trike for Abigail because it's sturdy and made of steel instead of plastic, BUT...the seat is too high and can't be adjusted.  Notice how many wood blocks Bob had to put on her pedals to allow her to ride it.  Yep....totally Jerry-rigged and it's not too pretty, but it worked!  It helps to have two engineers figuring things out!

If at first you don't succeed...

After adjusting her seat, we headed to the school where there was more room to try riding.  True to form, she was hesitant at first, but proud of herself a few minutes later.  She actually fell off a few minutes later (yep...even with training wheels).  BIG TEARS and I wasn't sure we'd get her back on the bike....but three cheers for Hannah.  She did it!

New wheels...

Both girls got new wheels for Christmas from us.  After the guys put the bikes together, we headed outside for a WINDY tryout to see if anything needed adjusting.  At this point, Hannah's seat was still too high so she couldn't quite reach the pedals.  Back indoors for a quick adjustment.

Meowy Catmus...

Meowy Catmas from KC and the Santa girls!  KC looks less than thrilled with her costume.

The greatest story ever told...

As usual, we started off Christmas day with the Christmas story from their Jesus Storybook Bible. 

A little late...

We shot this a few days before Christmas when the girls tried on the outfits I gave them.  My ISO was sky high because it was a super overcast day.  And this is only one of the reasons I don't like winter....gloomy skies make it ever so much harder to get a clear picture.  But I still love the shot with their sweet little smiles.  They definitely put the joy in Christmas!

Take Two Family Series, Pt. 6...

And that's all folks!  Next up on the blog...Christmas Day pictures (as soon as I can get them processed!

Take Two Family Series, Pt. 5...

One more of Kara to show how lovely the our fall color was this year!  And ha ha....she's got her hands wrapped in her sleeves.  It was a little chilly that day!

Take Two Family Series, Pt. 4...

We decided to get the girls in on the action too.  Love these!

Take Two Family Series, Pt. 3....

Love, love this shot of the girls and their Aunt Kara!

Take Two Family Series, Pt. 2...

 
The kids were in a great mood that day and super cooperative since we weren't trying to do whole family shots.  Abigail enjoyed sitting on the fence as long as she could hold on.

 This is her "I'm trying to smile but I feel like I'm going to fall off this wall" face.  Lol!

 Much happier when we put her on solid ground!

Love her!

Take Two Family Series...Pt. 1

Yep...still MORE family shots.  Our first family session was the night before Thanksgiving and I wasn't sure I got enough to use for our cards.  So the kids all dressed in the same cloths again the next day and we took a break from cooking and eating to walk to the college.  There's an orchard there which I had seen from the street.  It was absolutely ablaze with fall color and I thought it would be a great place for portraits.  As it happened, it was too sunny for good photos when we went, but we found a little covered area that was secluded and completely new to me.  It worked great and we will definitely go back.  I LOVE LOVE the above photo of Hannah.  It is posed, but still so completely HER...that sweet, hesitant smile. 
 

Nathan offered to lift her up into a tree and she was a little fearful, but tried it!  So proud of her!  And don't you LOVE the color in the background! All those trees are bare now.