To continue the update of our little family.... We begin with the oldest. Mark celebrated his 29th...yes 29th birthday in January. We had a fun party in behalf of him and his OLD age! (Luv ya babe!) Abby helped decorate his cake and picked out some balloons for his party. She even helped blow out the candles. I just hope it was as much fun for him as it was for her. We look forward to next year and the big 30!!!

With the change of the new year, the time we attend church changed also...to 1:00!!! Yuck! The first few weeks were really hard for Abby. She takes a long afternoon nap right then, and to miss her nap means big trouble. She was having a particularly hard time one week after church. She was hungry and tired and very emotional. I gave her a few gold fish crackers to hold her over until dinner was ready. After a little while I noticed the house was significantly quieter (at least on her part) and I found this....

She was completely sacked out on the kitchen table amongst her goldfish crackers. She was exhausted. I couldn't resist taking a picture! The amazing part of it was that she slept through this...

Hannah (can you tell that she's the one who got to sleep through church!) playing in her favorite drawer...you know the one with all the measuring cups and spoons. She likes to drop them onto the floor, and bang them against things, just to see how loud she can be. Apparently it wasn't loud enough to keep Abby from completely passing out.

Despite the long and dreary winter (I have been feeling it more than ever this year!) We have enjoyed some sunny winter days here, as there are only a few of them. Abby got a snow shovel for Christmas and puts it to good use on these days. It had snowed one day while Mark was at school, so Abby took it upon herself to clear the sidewalks. It was a good break from being stuck in the house, and she enjoyed playing in the snow.

Abby: one hard worker!

Hannah was a good sport through it all too!

Finally, for family home evening a couple of weeks ago, Abby really wanted to go bowling. So we did. We loaded up the car and went... just the four of us. Abby had so much fun watching us, and was excited when it was finally her turn. It was great to see how serious she took the game. She would line up the ramp perfectly and then watch the ball roll down until it hit the pins. We had a great time.

Abby waiting for her turn!

Finally her turn. (We were amazed at how strong she was!)

Lining up the ramp up just so...

and STRIKE!!!