Merry Christmas!

We wish everyone a very merry Christmas! We are spending Christmas Eve in Asheville. It is a bit of a change for us to be away on Christmas Eve, but we are excited about Santa coming to our new home. We are hoping to see family on Christmas Day; however, Abby and Steve are pretty congested, so we may have to postpone. We are keeping our fingers crossed though. (Abby was not a big "Ho Ho" fan this year, so we played dress up at home instead.)

With Wings Like Eagles

Right after New Years a moving van will pull up to my best friend Aimee's house, pack up her family, and move them to Florida. She and her wonderful husband, James, have answered the call to be the Ministers of Students at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Wauchula, Florida. It is hard to let them and their beautiful children go, but we know that they will be following God's calling and will be blessed for it. This past weekend, we were blessed to be at the dedication of their beautiful daughter, Tabetha Rhea. We want to wish them all the best and let them know that our prayers and hearts will be with them the whole time.

Tabetha looked beautiful in her gown!


Daddy (aka James) telling his church about Florida.


Mommy (aka Aimee) can really belt them out still!
(Just ask Abby who danced and clapped through the whole song!)


"I wore the scottie dog dress for you, Aunt Aimee!"
Abby really wanted her Aimee time.

Talmadge and Abby checked out the set for the children's play.
They gave "heaven" the full toddler treatment.



Tabetha's "girlfriend" look.
She had changed and was in her
casual wear after the service.

Time Flies

Here are a couple pictures of Abby and her best buddy Ben from about this time last year. . .

Momarrazi strikes again!

Ben was obvious not excited to be heading out for
yet another shopping trip.

And here they are last week. . .

The toddlers taking a break.

"Why did the baby cross the road?"

"I forgot!"
(Abby thought that was the best one she has heard in a while.)

My how the time has flown by!

*********

It's off topic, but I didn't want to do another post, but did I mention that the windchill was minus eight this morning in Asheville. That may not be cold to some, but it was quite chilly to us. Case in point. . .

We had some last minute shopping to do today.
Abby pulled her lap blanket up to keep out the cold.
No, really, she did it herself.

I Abby!

Abby has recently been saying "I Abby" when someone asks where she is while playing Peek-a-boo or when she is hiding. It got me to think about how much she does now compared to a year ago. It has been such a crazy year (especially the last four months) that I haven't been able to keep up with her, blogging-wise. Here's what it is like to be Abby these days. This post turned out to be longer than I thought. Sorry. I hope you enjoy it anyway.


The Move:
In case you haven't heard (haha), we recently had to move to North Carolina. Though we desperately miss Tennessee, especially all of our friends and family, we are settling nicely in Asheville. Abby has actually done the best of the three of us. Just see for yourself:

A toddler's paradise. The first two weeks in the apartment
were spent sans furniture save her little chair and pack and play
and an air matress for us. She was in heaven. Everything on her level.
I think she was disappointed when the furniture arrived.


Abby gave her friend, Jasper, a big hug on moving day.
She misses walking through the yard with "yapper."


Gramps and Abby check out the moving truck.
Her toys were the only things on the truck for a while. She was
confused as to why we had gotten such a big truck for such a job.

The movers were very thorough.


Abby and Daddy double checked every box to make
sure we had unpacked everything.

Now that we are moved. . .

We are open for visitors. We were so excited that
Granny, Kathy, and Randall stopped by on their
way to Atlanta. We can't wait for them to visit again!
We can't wait for more visitors.. come any time.


Game On! Abby and Daddy can finally concentrate
on their gaming skills again.


Breakfast is Abby and Daddy's meal.
They love to share their cereal with each other.


We talk to Grammy (who apparently is called MiMi according
to Abby) and Gramps every night. We recently added
a webcam. Great Fun!

She has been "helping" with the housework.


She uses her 'ipies" to help dust.


Also, she has been helping with the groceries.
(I refer you to the Snacktime post.)


She loves her new room.. especially the toy box.



She is catching up on her reading now things have
calmed down some.

MISC. . .

She loves to enjoy some "fine" dining.


For those who know her,
you know that this is her natural state.
She must always have access to her belly button.

Did we mention it has been REALLY cold.


That didn't stop us from travelling across the mountain
for Turkey Day!!


YUM!! Thanksgiving brunch with her cousins,
Aleigh, Mathew, and Ethan.

Our little elves

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Abby and some of her closest BFFs got a little creative for the holidays. Enjoy watching Ben, Talmadge, Tabetha, Emma, and
Abby do a bit of a Yuletide Disco.

Early holiday fun

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Turkey Day!

A thanksgiving message from our favorite Turkey.

We are up early and getting ready to head across the mountain. We wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy Turkey Day! We have so much to be thankful for this year and wanted you to know that our friends and family are at the top of our list.

Bedtime Snack

You know those times when you're hungry but you don't know what you want to eat until you see it in the pantry?

A Little Sideways

Okay.. so I forgot and shot this video thinking I could rotate it like I do photos. OOPS. Oh, well. It is too cute to keep to myself. As Abby and I were getting ready to run errands this morning, she got away from me. Her favorite show, The Imagination Movers, was on and they were singing their closing song where they tell everyone to turn around. Needless to say, it is Abby's favorite part. Also needless to say, this one will be put in the "boyfriend" folder for when she is older. Pardon the boxes in the background and excuse her hair. We had not gotten around to fixing it yet. Again, sorry it is sideways, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

HalloWEEK

Although we had been in Arden for a week, Abby and I spent most of that week going back and forth across the mountain. She had her 18 month check-up on Monday the 27th. She was given a good bill of health. She, as always, is tall and skinny. She weighs 24 lbs 10 oz and is 34.5 inches long. She received two shots and three stickers. She was really great during the appointment. She kept the doctor busy chasing her around the room.

Abby has found many new hangouts at the apartment.

Later that week, I went to the New Kids concert in Atlanta with Aunt TeeTee, so Abby spent the night with Grammy and Gramps. She was excited to stay with them and get the opportunity to sleep in her bed. (We had not moved our furniture yet.) This kicked off what we refer to as Angie-palooza since my 30th birthday was coming up. I had a blast re-living my teen years with my teen crushes and my best friend. Although we didn't get back until 5 am, I was excited to hear the "Momma. Momma. Momma." the next morning. I got big hugs that were returned tenfold. After a quick nap (thanks Tiff!) and lunch with Gramps, we headed back to see Daddy in Asheville.

A fun traffic sign at the concert venue. We were nerds who
obeyed the "no cameras" rule. We were kicking ourselves
when they didn't even check and everyone was taking pictures
right and left.

On Friday, we again headed across the mountain so that she could trick or treat with people she (and we) knows. She was a fairy this year. (Yes, the wings are from last year's butterfly costume, but she loved them when I put them on her. We decided to reuse them.) Thank you, Lauren and Megan for the dress! We were able to visit the Raines (our neighbors), Grammy and Gramps, and Uncle Tom. Unfortunately, the night was wearing thin and we didn't get any pictures with Uncle Tom and the kids.

We love this picture. Notice how she
is on her tip toes. :)


Our little fairy heading out for the goods.


And she got 'em.


Grammy had a special treat bag for her.
She didn't waste any time digging in.


She even got some dinner from Grammy
and Gramps.


We made it to Gladys's house next door
to see the dolls in her living room.


"Whew.. this trick or treating stuff is tiring."
Here, she takes a break in Gramp's recliner!

***I am sorry I didn't get pictures out like last year. Now that things are calming down, hopefully I will get some out soon. ***

It was a crazy week and things were just getting started. We might not have gotten any pictures from Halloween night at Uncle Tom's, but we made up for it the next day when we had a Puckett birthday breakfast. I will post pictures from that adventure soon.

Game On

Okay, so it has been a while. Much has happened. We are in Asheville (well, Arden to be exact). We've got an apartment and our furniture has been moved across the mountain. Our hearts are still in Tennessee, but we are learning the ropes here in North Carolina. We have been blessed with visits from friends, even when we had no furniture for them to sit on. I had a FANTASTIC 30th birthday. Steve likes his job and the company he works for. We are blessed. I promise many posts and even more pictures soon! We've got some good ones. Thank you all for your e-mails and phone calls over the past couple of weeks. We are in awe of the support we have received. It has made this change much easier. I'll update tomorrow between boxes... I promise!

Eighteen Months and Still So Cute

Our big girl running through the leaves.

I am writing you from the Holiday Inn in Asheville while Abby and Steve take their afternoon naps. The job is going well. We have secured an apartment that is close to where we need to be and are starting to get acclimated to the area. However, we still miss home greatly and the people even more. We will keep you posted on how we are doing.

Now, more importantly. . . Abby is officially 18 months old today. We celebrated with a visit from Aunt TeeTee and Ben. What a treat! Abby was so excited to see them here when she woke from her nap that she shook and about leaped off the bed. We have had a rough week/month/summer; however, Abby is doing wonderfully well! I have stopped putting words on her list on the side because I can't keep up. At last count, she is saying over 35 words that we can understand. We are very proud of how she says "please" and "thank you" although it sounds like "peees" and "dinku." Her new nickname is "Miss Independent" because she is so anxious to do things on her own. It is bittersweet for us, as many of you know. She is turning into a child rather than a baby. (Don't worry, she still loves to snuggle while falling asleep so all is not gone from the "baby days.")

I do not have my camera cord to upload pictures, so I thought you would like pictures from last Saturday's leaf raking efforts. Please continue to remember us in your prayers as we are going to be trying to get our "stuff" over the mountain over the next few weeks. Thank you for your prayers thus far, they have definitely been felt.

Abby loved getting to help Daddy. Her
favorite part was running out of the pile of leaves.


"Daddy! I found grass! It's still there."

Ben even gave her a hand at supervising the clean up.


"Oh, Mommy! Put the camera down and
let me work, will ya?!?"