A Saturday of Fun

A few weekends ago, we had a great Saturday. It all started with the discovery that Abby's hair was long enough for pigtails!!!! Woohoo! She looks so big, especially as she rocks herself in her new rocking chair. :) We then decided to take advantage of a beautiful morning by sqeezing in another trip to the zoo. As you may have seen, we went to the zoo last month with Grandma and Granpda -- but Abby was dying to see the pandas! haha. Or maybe Mama was dying to see the pandas . . . either way, we were rewarded with up close views of the panda eating and then climbing a tree. Awesome!

To end the day, our dear friend Brooke came over to play Wii and have some dinner. Abby has decided that Brooke is simply awesome and just couldn't get enough of her.


So, between pigtails, pandas, and pretty friends, Abby had a particularly perfect day. Ha!

Playtime!

It has definitely been a whirlwind of activity around the Biancavilla House lately. Had to share the fun!

Abby dressed herself for this picture -- ok, I helped with the clothes that morning, but she accessorized all on her own. Ahhhhhhhh! A little diva already. I ask: who teaches her these things?!?!?! :)
Abby proudly wears her food after feeding herself a yummy bowlful of refried beans -- and I definitely know her taught her that! LOL.

Abby doing what she knows she's not supposed to (and no, not from me!!!) . . .

Abby smiling the angelic smile she gives Mom after being told not to do what she knows she's not supposed to do. . . . (did you follow that?).

Performing her latest trick -- spinning in circles and getting so dizzy that she falls down. Then, crookedly running to Mom or Dad to hold her until she's un-dizzy! (She learned that one from Daddy!)

Abby peeking through the window in her very own teepee (it's awesome . . . a souvenir from Seattle) before running out of it and neatly trying to fold it down. She's not total Destruct-o, she does need some order in her life . . . no idea who she learned that one from either :)

After digging through the closet, Abby dons any bag she can find and tries to run through the house blindly -- again, who teaches her these things?!?!?!

"Baby" is one of our latest favorite words. She gets so excited to see her baby, runs over to hold her, cuddles her on her shoulder, and lovingly rocks her and pats her on the back. I hope she learned that one from me. :) Well, I hope so until she decides to drag Baby around the house by her hair! :)
BUBBLES! Need I say more? :) No child has to be taught about fun, wonderful, exciting BUBBLES! In fact, I don't think I ever outgrew bubbles . . . :)

Happy playing to all . . . and to all a good night!

Going, Going, Gone!

Not to repeat a theme from my last post, but "going, going, gone!" is too perfect to describe this series. My girl LOVES watermelon! :)

New Faves

Abby is in her new "going, going, gone!" phase so it's nearly impossible to snap a good picture of her . . . thus, I am intensely proud of these ones. Had to share!


I know, this one was already featured yesterday, but I looooooooooove it! She is a straw pro now.

I just think this one is hilarious -- she looks like she just kung fu'd the tiger, and is now thinking "oops!". LOL

And this is the perfect image of my silly bundle of love and devilish spunk. :) She is my joy!

Don't ask me why, but I love this image. She was twirling around in her new tutu and I forgot to change the camera settings. I need to work on the image a bit, but I think it could end up to be something pretty cool and artsy. :)

First Trip to the Zoo!

Abby loves cats and dogs, so we thought for sure she'd LOVE the zoo. We were right! We had a fabulous day at the San Diego Zoo with grandma and grandpa. Though naptime intruded on our day and cut it short, Abby saw enough animals to decide that she adores giraffes, likes snakes (ahh!), and thinks monkeys and otters are pretty darn silly. :) We will be returning in short order to visit Mama's favorites -- elephants, polar bears, and panthers. Oh, and lions too.

This gorilla is waaaaaay scarier than the one above! And it's a female (born in 1965). Crazy!

This is Abby marveling at a 15 ft anaconda. Scared the heeby jeebies out of me!

Happy Independence Day!

This year we once again drove down to Phoenix to visit Jim's brother and his family for 4th of July. Before I say anything else, I have to tell you -- it was HOT! (But they are worth they heat, so it was ok.) :) But seriously, it was hot. HOT.

Abby did surprisingly well on the 4.5 hour trip. She slept for 2.5hours (shock), enjoyed kiddo songs that her daddy had downloaded on the iPOD, then played with Mommy the rest of the trip. Pretty impressive for a 15-month old! We were amazed, as usual, at her traveling abilities. What a relief!

The next morning, we couldn't wait to get to Brian, Desiree, and Dianna's house. We had missed our family! And they have a fabulous new house that we were dying to see . . . with a POOL! We spent the weekend relaxing, watching Abby chase the dogs, desperately trying to put her down for naps (ha!), catching up with family, spoiling Dianna (rightly deserved!), and playing in the pool. Abby didn't quite make it to see fireworks -- staying up until 9pm without a nap was just too much to ask of her. Bummer! Next year . . . . she literally cried the most pathetic cry because she was so completely exhausted. Yikes!

On the upside, her uncle, aunt, and cousin did get to witness a few other firsts. Abby's very first bite -- or two or three -- of chocolate (courtesy of Uncle Brian), her first successful sip from a straw, and her first real swim in a pool (last summer doesn't count). The water took a bit of getting used to (unlike the chocolate!), but she was addicted in no time. Even 85 degree pool water is a relief when it's 110 outside!!!! She even like getting dunked! Definitely my child . . . :)

A few of my weekend favorites:


Don't ask me why, but I seriously love this picture

Our Dianna is growing up! Beautiful new haircut and all!
Not that this is the greatest picture, but I just had to show off my latest favorite of Abby's clothes :) Red and ruffles -- what could be better!?
Brian and D enjoying the bath water ;)Desiree and D waiting for playtime until Abby adjusted to the water

Everything is better with a rubber ducky!

Ok, and a mini wakeboard

Graduation, Grandpa, & Growing Up!

Last weekend. we flew up to Seattle for Brandon's high school graduation. While there, Abby met her Grandpa Biancavilla for the very first time (super fun!). We had been to Seattle last year to visit, but it was definitely a different experience with Abby 15 months old. She's growing so fast!

We flew in on Wednesday and went directly to the graduation ceremony (with one very tired and hungry baby). Although it was a bit of overload for Abby, I wouldn't have changed a thing about it. It was really special to be there for the procession and to see him walk. If it hadn't been so dang HOT and uncomfortable, I have no doubt I would have seen a tear fall from Jim's eye :)

The next morning, Jim's dad (Jim Sr) and his girlfriend, Lisa, joined us for an early trip to Pike's Place Market. OMG, you have to go! It's seriously one of my favorite places in the world. While Grandpa bought out the place with T-shirt purchases (ha!), Jim and I found our favorite vendor and bought Abby a handmade "Crabby Abby" onesie to match the one we purchased last year at Pike's Place. (Not to repeat myself, but I seriously can't believe how much she's grown!). In the picture below, you'll see one VERY happy Jim after finding his favorite (and hard to find) cigars at a small shop . . . near the original Starbucks . . . seriously, how cool is that?!?!?!

After spending the rest of the day with Brandon at his mom's house (thank you for the hospitality, TR!), we finally had to take our exhausted child back to the hotel to sleep. We hit up the Space Needle the next day . . . not only to show the newcomers, but because there's this fabulously humongous water fountain that we just had to take Abby to. Last year, she was obviously too little to enjoy it, and the day was oddly hot for Seattle. . . . we thought she'd love to play in the water. Jim took her down to see the water shoot up 3 stories tall. And she was fascinated. Until the water, in a monstrious explosion, unexpectedly doused the two of them!!!! They were soaked! It was stinkin hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Abby did NOT think it was funny and promptly burst into tears . . . :( but man, it was funny! She recovered enough to chase the birds all around the park though . . . so the day wasn't a complete loss after all. :)

And THAT, my friends, is a fabulous weekend :)