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.