33rd (whoa) Birthday

Am I officially old? I don't feel old. I had a wonderful birthmonth...yeah, I'm one of those people who drag things out a bit. Unfortunately, I was lame and didn't take many cameras, but here's what I did. Earlier this month I had dinner with my wonderful, Seattle girlfriends. A couple days before my birthday I had a few friends over games and pizza. Jeremy had the day off on Monday, so we went up to Seattle together, had lunch with my parents and niece and picked me out a birthday present. I have had the same winter casual jacket for over 10 years, so it was time for an upgrade. On my actual birthday I had dinner at Hunan Garden with the Durrs. This picture shows me having lunch with my mom and sister at Anthony's. On the 31st, I'll go out to dinner with some girlfriends from chruch at my favorite resturaunt for pizza in Tacoma, Katie Downs. Can I drag it out anymore?

Room Decorations

Here are the letters Uncle Corey and Auntie Jenn gave to Abigail for Christmas. Jenn's friend makes these and matched the colors perfectly to Abigail's room - room that has way more pink then mom ever planned. I'll have to take some more pictures of her room and add them here.

Swimming Lessons

We started swimming lessons at the YMCA this January. Abigail enjoys the water. She is such a curious girl, however, that she likes to watch all the big kids in the other pools while we're suppose to be singing, learning to splash and kick and blow bubbles. She's more interested in drinking the water rather than blowing bubbles. She goes under water with a little suprise, but it doesn't faze her much. She is just a joy!

Markus

OK - So, I was wrong. Apparently the Paparazzi did get a picture of them kissing.

OK- So, I just mentioned Kelsey, who is one of my close friends. Well, we have to give Markus an honorable mention...just in case. He seems to have quite the crush on Miss Abigail. He repeats her name while lying in bed. He says, "Abby, Abby," everytime he sees me. He is standing close to Abigail when I go pick her up at the nursery at church. To calm him down on a frustrating afternoon, Kelsey just scrolls through pictures of Abigail on our blog or smugmug website. So, we'll have to get a picture of them together, but for now, he gets an honorable mention.

Kelsey's Shower Cake

Here's the most recent cake I did for my good friend, Kelsey's, baby shower. She's due with her baby girl, ?, within the next few weeks.

Monkey on Your Back

I just looked over, and Abigail had a monkey on her back...oh, and a little spit up on her chin.

Six Months Old

Miss Abigail turned 6 months old on December 30th. Her name means "Joy of the Father," and she's really living up to it. She makes us smile and laugh all the time, and is, for the most part, really easy and good natured. She is 27 inches tall (89%) and 16 lbs. 6 oz. (58%). Moving and eating are the newest tricks. She army crawls or rolls to get where she wants to go. Something has thrown off her sleeping habits, so recently naps have become shorter, and she's waking up more often in the night. We're working on that. She's super social and most content when we're out and about or around other people. Her new Christmas toys and books provide exciting new activities. Her sing along stage and mirror as well as her little piano seem to be her favorite toys. Her favorite new book is called "Ten Wriggley, Wiggley Caterpillars."

Eating

Abigail started solid foods on Christmas. She does not like rice cereal or bananas. However, she does enjoy prunes, pears, apricots and apples. Unfortunately, eating solids has gotten her pretty stopped up, so we'll be sticking with prunes and pears for a bit. She is fun to watch eat as she experiments with this new experience.

Christmas 2007

Christmas....Enough Said!

Santa

I love Santa Claus!!! I believe this one is the real one. He was so lovely. He would wave to all the children in line and kept patting little Abigail on the nose with his white glove saying how cute she is. We agree, of course. Her first visit to Santa went off without tears. Nothing scares this kid.

Beppos

I went out to dinner with all of my family (minus the kids) to Beppos. It was great to have Nate, Shannon, Lucy and Will home for the holidays. This was a fun night with great Italian food and wine.

Seattle Shopping

On December 15th, we went shopping for the traditional Kern family gathering. We went down to Seattle to have breakfast at Pike Place. Next, we travelled up to Westlake Mall for shopping and lunch. Then came the Monorail ride to the Seattle Center House. Santa was on the Monorail for us to get a picture with and a candy cane from. At the Center House was the big train set up. Finally was the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton Hotel, which were very impressive. We're glad we skipped the 30 minute line, however, and walked quickly around to view the house from a slightly farther position. It was a very fun day with the Kern family.

Progressive Dinner

We had the first annual Durr progressive dinner, which was a fabulous idea which will be repeated in the future. The goal was to eat some fabulous food while seeing everyone's Christmas decorations. We started at Julie's for appetizers. Then, we went to Corey and Jen's for salad. Next was Dan and Lori's for the main course. We ended at our house for dessert. This is a tradition that I am glad began this year.