3 Years Ago...

3 Years Ago, Abigail had a very traumatic and difficult day.  
She mourned a great loss and Larry and I don't forget that or take that lightly.  
But today, she is a happy happy happy kiddo.
We know that there will be many more questions in the future, but we take it one day at a time.

Christmas Eve

Best Christmas Gift of the Year:  Abigail woke up and occupied herself by quietly making paper snowflakes with computer paper (yup, she used scissors while we were sleeping) until 6:30, when she crawled in bed with up (cold as an ice cube) and cuddled for 30 minutes before she rolled over and sighed happily "I have the best family."
No, Kiddo, we have the best daughter!!

Most kids get to open pajamas on Christmas eve.
Our little monster was delighted to open Wolverine Claws instead!

Christmas Eve 2013

Small Point of Frustration: This was the highlight of my day.  Apparently Larry doesn't share my family-centric sentiment because the only update he posted on FB was nonsense about football. 

Christmas Time is Here; Happiness and Cheer

I love Love LOVE the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I feel totally ripped-off that Thanksgiving was as late as possible and this time was short,  but we have crammed a lot of fun stuff into Christmas Time.

I hope to update more while on break, but for now, here are pics of Abigail discussing gift options with Santa and a picture of her at her holiday concert, where she sang 4 pieces.  Her BFF is on the left side of the pic wearing jeans.

Tiny Dancer, part 2

Abigail posed with her flowers after her performance.
Her Aunt Steph, a former dancer, came to see Abigail's
performance and brought her flowers with
super-hero flags stuck into the bouquet!

A pic from the show

Today was Abigail's first, and maybe last, dance recital.

This was her best move!

She kinda' liked dance.  On Tuesdays-Fridays, when we picked her up from Junior Kindergarten, she always eagerly asked if she got to go to dance class that day and when we said "no", she would get disappointed.  But on Mondays, when we picked her up and announced it was "dance night" she would pout and protest as we cajoled her into a leotard and ushered her out of the house.  And when class was over, she would bound happily through the door and tell us about her favorite parts of the class.

At the dress rehearsals this week (yes, plural, 2 dress rehearsals), she was bored at best, resigned at worst.  She grumbled and pouted about it, but when she was on stage, her face lit up.  She smiled and did a great job.  Once back off the stage, she turned it off and begged to take Karate lessons.

We want her to take some type of lesson.  We don't want her to have to have multiple-night commitments at this age, but we want some structured activity in her life.  She liked dance, but clearly didn't love it.  We will look into Karate next, and maybe someday (after seeing some Broadway shows) she may want to try dance again.  But if not, that is okay too.  We love our little tomboy for who she is and Larry said tonight "It is amazing that we have this little person living with us in our house."