Look Who's 3 Years Old!

Yesterday (July 27), was Abigail's 3rd birthday. It's amazing how fast the time has flown!

This year Abby wanted a castle cake. I helped a friend make this cake for her daughter a couple of years ago, and wasn't too excited about tackling the task on my own. So..... we decided to celebrate with cake and ice cream a few days early while Grandma Perry was still here. We wanted Mom to join us in celebrating Abby's birthday since she was here until the 24th, plus I was more than thrilled to have her cake decorating expertise to help with the job! The cake was beautiful! We invited several friends to come help us eat it since it was SOOO big!

The finished product

Abby and her friends are ready to eat cake and ice cream!

Abby and Tara on Abby's birthday. (We waited to open presents until her actual birthday.)

Abby and Coley are ready to open presents.

Abby is checking out her new keyboard. She especially liked singing into the microphone!

What a fun few days! She had a great birthday and even gave me a GREAT present. We have been working very hard on potty-training. Her birthday was the first time she was accident free ALL day- even during our trip to the park and the library! Yeah Abby!

Mom's Visit to Rochester

My mom was able to come visit for almost two weeks this month. It was so great to have her here with us. While she was here, she made all of the stuff for the nursery- dust ruffle for the crib, window valance, bumper, cribs sheets, quilts, etc. She also helped me with the near-impossible task of potty-training Abigail (definitely a two person job)!

We also had fun visiting some of the fun places near our house.

This was taken at the Hill Cumorah shortly before watching the Pageant.

Abby and Mom enjoy walking in the Sacred Grove.

Abby and Mom in the Butterfly Garden at the Strong National Museum of Play

Abby loves her Grandma Perry!

Tara and Abby in the Butterfly Garden

I couldn't believe how fast the time flew while Mom was here. It was tough to let her fly home on Saturday, but we are looking forward to her next visit!

A Day on Irondequoit Bay

Last weekend we rented a boat and spent half a day on the bay with some friends. We have wanted to spend some time on the water ever since we moved here (3 years ago), so we were thrilled to finally make it happen. We had a crazy thunderstorm the night before, but the morning of our adventure, the sky was clear and the temperature was perfect!

Abby is all ready to play in the water with her little friends, Hannah and Madeleine.

Coley and Tate enjoy the view while driving the boat.

Abby is just soaking it all in. She LOVED being on the water and is still talking about it!

Abby and Madeleine are ready to play in the water.

Coley and Abby have a great time riding on the tube behind the boat.

This is a view of the northern part of the bay. Just on the other side of the houses is Lake Ontario.

What a fun day! We are hoping to be on the water at least one more time before the summer is over.

Happy Birthday Coley!

Coley birthday is a national holiday every year! He was born on the 4th of July. This year he had to work on his birthday, but we had cake and ice cream ready for him as soon as he got home. We then enjoyed the fireworks together as a family.

Abby, like her Daddy, LOVES chocolate cake!

Abby "helped" Daddy open his present from her- a chocolate orange. She was VERY interested in the contents of the package!

The Happy Hosta

So.... we have been working hard in our yard with the landscaping and gardening. We've made lots of changes to the front flower beds and have been weeding constantly in the garden. This little flower bed near the back door is probably the most ignored area of the entire yard, but the plants LOVE this spot. The Hosta plant was probably only about 2/3 this size last summer. This year, we can barely use the paving stones. I'm just wondering what next summer will bring. It could be a little scary!

Just to give you an idea of how tall this crazy plant really is....

(Abby is NOT short for her age at all!)

I'm beginning to wonder if this plant thinks it's Audrey II from "Little Shop of Horrors." Right now it is content with sun and water, but I'm keeping my eye on the dog and my little girl! :)