Last Fourth Birthday Post

Abby had her "Well Child" visit at the pediatrician on Monday and it went really well. This was her first real visit at the doctor since we moved - we have done a flu shot and one trip to the emergency clinic, but those have been a long time ago.

So, the stats:
Height: 40.5 inches
Weight: 36.2 pounds
Awesomeness: High, though not actually measured in any test form, just my opinion.

Abby made each of the people we interacted with laugh at some point, and on purpose each time. Her attention span go stretched a couple of times, which just led to more humor.

She had her first vision test that we know of. They marked her at 20/30, though I'm not sure that was correct. She could see what was on the vision chart, but she does not know what a plus sign is, so she could not convey what she saw.

She also had her first hearing test (that we know of). Her left ear tested great, but there was some sort of issue on the right. They did not say there is a problem, just that the equipment would not get a reading properly. They asked if she has had draining lately, but she has not that we can think of. There was no concern, the plan is to just re-check next year.

Abby also had two vaccinations, which she handled with only a flinch. The doctor told us that she would need shots with trepidation, we suggest she tell Abby directly. When she did Abby shrugged it off and said "okay!" The doc was shocked but very happy. The nurse that administered the shots told me I had to hold her down, but I didn't really. So proud of her.

I have friend that do whole blog posts to mark birthdays with a bunch of fun stuff, but I'm in the midst of gearing up for another cross-country trip, so here are a few:

Favorite color: Pink (which is an official change from green just recently)
Favorite book: Anything long and involved - typically from a collection-sized set
Favorite food (meal category): Not anything in particular - she eats pretty well. Not a fan of potatoes in any form, even fries.
Favorite food (dessert category): Red Mango (frozen yogurt with lots of fun toppings!)
Favorite toy: Every toy is from Toy Story right now - even her oldest friend Mary is now assuming the role of Woody the Cowboy!
Favorite place: The Magic House

We are insanely proud of our little girl and how smart and brave she has become. Can not wait to see what the next year brings!

Abby's Birthday: The Party!

On Sunday Abby turned four. We actually had two parties to celebrate, but one was back in May before she was done with school for the year! Luckily she understood the reason for the split scene, plus, she got cupcakes twice so that was victory for her.

This years party was similar to last years, but much smaller. Don't tell anyone, but the invitations were even extremely similar. Instead of a flower cutout we did a cupcake, but I did use the same template. Work smart - not hard, right?

Our apartment is huge for the three of us, but not huge for ten children and ten adults. This meant a picnic-party-at-the-park. Those are my favorite anyway because we did not have to clean house (frantically), and there is built in play if the kids get bored! The big concern about going all-in for an outdoor venue is that if the weather is cruddy you're stuck with it. We never seriously discussed a rain-plan, either, so it was even better that the weather was perfect for some outside time!

The theme for Abby's party came from her favorite book series - Pinkalicious! In the first book a little girl turn pink from eating too many pink cupcakes with pink icing. I would say that was the easiest party theme ever!

We made a GIANT cupcake from a special pan for Abby's first birthday party. We wanted a utensil-less event, so we did not need the huge pan this year. That left me room to be creative - I used one cup of leftover-cranberry juice and filled the rest of the way with water. It turned out the Perfect Pink:

Anny found a butterfly craft online that we tweaked/improved. This is the final product of the test version:

Even though we said "no presents" the cousins brought one - Abby is in love with what was IN the box as much as she was in love with the hugeness of the box! She insisted on carrying it to the car with no help!

 One of the activities made easy by a childrens-book-theme is that Anny read the Pinkalicious book to the whole gang. They sat, almost completely captivated by the book, for the whole thing. Fun to see that others knew the book and shouted out the punchline at the end, too!

Don't want to make the post too picture-heavy, so one last shot - this is Abby apparently playing with matches waiting to blow out her candles! She helped to make them and so she had to wait a whole 24 hours to eat them, which made them even more special for her!

Thanks to all that came to the party - we had a blast and I think all of the others did too!

For more pictures, hop over to our Picasa page: https://picasaweb.google.com/armonroe

Two more posts coming - one on "Abby at Four" and one with official doc-visit stats. That appointment is not until Monday, so it will drag out. Oh well.

Abby's Birthday: The Video!

I forgot to post the video I put together for Abby's Fourth Birthday. It was much harder to whittle down the number of pictures this year - I've taken so many more!

Anyway, here is the video:



More posts coming about her birthday - but I wanted to be sure I got this on the blog before I forgot!

Photo Tales - A Girl and Her Baloons

Alternate Title: A New Favorite Picture!

Last weekend we took an Epic Roadtrip to Casper, Wyoming, to celebrate the retirement of Anny's parents. It was not only a long road trip, but also a quick one - we left Thursday and returned home on Monday afternoon. The drive took us across the state of Missouri, across the longest state I have ever driven through (Nebraska), and into one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done into Wyoming.

This picture is a new favorite of mine. Anny's mom has had a garden for many years - her rose bushes out front are beautiful from what I hear, and her other gardens have veggies and such. This year the only thing that is growing is Rubarb because they are spending a good deal of the summer just relaxing and doing some traveling. The sign is Rhubarb there reading simply "Carol's Garden" and it's perfectly centered and all. (I would expect nothing less in their yard, to be completely honest!)

Abby loves balloons (reminder to Rob: order some for Sunday's party!) and there were about 40 balloons for the party! They were in sets of red and white for my MIL's school and sets of orange and black for my FIL's school. Abby has recently developed a love of the color black. Her favorite is still green, as it has been for about a year, but she's a fan of black crayons and markers sort of all of the sudden. She requested to play with one of the black balloon bunches - and ONLY the black ones.

(I only put so much focus on that because I really wanted to color them, but don't have the time or patience for it this week. A friend suggested the same, which I thought was pretty funny!)

Stormy Season Upon Us

Alternate Title: Five Plagues Down, Glad I Have a Daughter!

Needless to say, this has already been a crazy year for us with the weather. Starting on December 31st we have had:

• Tornado hit Sunset Hills, between my work and my wife's, and only about a mile from each.
• Two snow storms that shut school down for enough days to push end-of-school back by a week
• An ice storm that helped contribute to those days, too
• A Tornado that tore up our airport, which is an international hub
• A Tornado that hit on the southwest side of the state, but tore down a hospital that is in the system I work for
• Just heard word of an earthquake less than an hour from St Louis, too!
• (The other "plague" is the locusts - I mean cicadas! They are insane so far!)

My Sister-in-Law asked that I do a blog post on how Abby is handling all of the craziness with the weather. In a word - oblivious.

She loved the snow and was unsure of the ice, though she was looking forward to ice skating lessons, so there was some upside for her, too. She had a blast staying home unexpectedly for those wintery storms, though she got pent up pretty quickly and we could only spend so much time at the mall.

The first tornado was interesting for all of us - we had NO idea what the siren going off was about. We were at the Recreation Center signing up for ice skating lessons for Abby, and getting our whole family ID cards for Parks and Rec. We heard the sirens blare on what was a beautiful December day. By the time we got home the sky had turned and Anny was opening the shades so we could see the impressive rain. When the next siren blew, being the third, I suggested we drop the blinds and maybe hang out in the closet until the worst of it was over.

Since then we have huddled several times in our very spacious master-bedroom closet. We have a lantern and books at the ready, all we need to do it pull the laundry out and we have a nice space for all of us to sit and read or catch up on the day.

Abby has really taken all of the craziness in stride - most of these bad tornado-style storms have hit at bed time, which I thought would be a major challenge. Abby has just relished the full-on attention and the extra story (or two) at the end of the day. I think we have talked with her in general terms about how dangerous the storms have been, and how some people have lost their homes or lives. I do not think she grasps it, and for now that is okay with me.

As for the earthquake? I am just adding that to the list of plagues that we are going through. I was relieved to hear a meterologist say this morning that we are having a VERY strang season. This is not the norm. I look forward to a season of normal soon, but I'm not counting on it until it happens! In the mean time I am going to drink lots and lots of water - in addition to the earthquake we are having a heat way of August-sized magnatude. Does look like it will let up for Abby's birthday on Sunday - fingers crossed!