Abel's first birthday party!

Abel's friend, Isaac, from daycare turned two this week and had a birthday party. Abel was invited to the Thomas the Train themed event and he had a blast. At first, I think they were both confused that they were together somewhere other than Loretta's house, but they adjusted quickly and played a lot! They had a Thomas the Train violence free pinata. They had to pull strings instead of whacking it (love it!) and when the candy and treats fell out of the pinata, Abel grabbed all the little plastic dinosaurs and not the candy (how lucky are we!?). They ate cake, and just spent a lot of time looking at each other. It was very cute and a very sweet afternoon!

Abel and the Firetruck

I don't know if I've written about it before, but Abel LOVES fire trucks and all the other emergency vehicles that make noise. He woo woos along with them and notices them everywhere. We found this shirt (perfect!) and I think we've decided he's going to be a fireman for Halloween (mostly due to the $10 costume we found at Target!)

Addy Lee updates!

She's in the exercauser, the high chair, wearing 6-12 month clothes (including this super cute hat from The Gap)....she's growing so quickly and is still so incredibly sweet!

Abel and Adelyn Lee!

These two really really love each other. They smile at each other, laugh with each other...Adelyn is totally enamored by her brother and watches him walk all over the room. And Abel wants to include Adelyn in EVERYTHING and be her best friend. There is absolutely NO jealousy on Abel's part and it is soooooo sweet! So here they are, dancing, holding hands, playing with Abel's old exercauser, and kissing.
I included two shots of them holding hands. It was very cute. Abel climbed up on the couch and said, "Hold hands," and grabbed her hands. Then, I took a picture. Next I said, "Smile Abel!" and the second shot was his posed smile. I'll be really psyched when he figures out how to smile on cue!

Pumpkin Patch!

Last weekend, we took the kids to the pumpkin patch with my mom. It was a little too carnival like and about 90 degrees out. It was all a little bit overwhelming. So, we climbed on the hay pile, looked at all the animals, bought Abel a balloon...but skipped the pumpkin patch part because the line was about 20 miles long. So, we're going to try a different patch next weekend so Abel can get his Halloween pumpkins!

And, yes, that's Abel swinging all by himself on a big boy swing!!!

Water Table!

I ordered Abel this water table this summer so he could use it outside. HOWEVER, it came without the very important pieces that are used to plug up the table...so we contacted the company and they said they would send us more...but they never did. SO, come the first weekend of October, Ryan got out a saw (very manly) and just created plugs for the table. So, here is Abel, experimenting with his water table, in long sleeves, in October!

Abel and the motorcycle

So Abel is very enthralled with vehicles of any kind. He woo woos along with sirens, he looks for motorcycles and city busses, and he points out campers and cement trucks. When he and Ryan take the recycling to the library, Abel calls it the motorcycling. It's really hilarious. Last Sunday, SIX motorcycles showed up in front of our house! It was a stupendous moment for him. He and Ryan went outside to see them and Ryan said he didn't know who was more excited: Abel, or the guys riding them because he was so excited. So, Ryan grabbed the camera and one of the guys took the picture.

Sibling Photo Shoot

Since Abel was being so calm, we plopped Adelyn down to try to get some shots. Abel is learning how to say, "cheese" when he's smiling. Honestly, I think that he does a better job when you just tell him to smile! Anyway, I can't decide which picture I like better, so I'm including them both!

Cousin Lovin'

We were able to get all 5 of the cousins to sit still for about 30 seconds while they were all here in Indy last weekend. After Henry and Hannah got up, Abel stayed seated, so Harper sat with him. She's VERY loving and wanted to have many photos taken with Abel. I'm not sure he knew what to do with all the love!

Some Abel Updates!

Abel has been a busy man in the past few weeks! He is speaking full sentences and asking LOTS of questions. He communicates easily with all of us and continues to love his sister very much. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Jen, from college was in town and we met at Holiday Park. This park has the coolest playground I have ever seen in my life. There were slides that were about 3 stories high. Abel went down them (with daddy) and played hard for a couple of hours. He's also throwing (EVERYTHING) and discovered dress up last weekend when my nephew got some costumes from my mom for his birthday. Abel went right toward the helmet to investigate! Also while the cousins were here, they all had a grand time with their Uncle Kevin!