Milestones

A few updates on the milestones we're passing around here:

1) I hit 200 blog entries yesterday! Can't believe that. With my first entry, I just knew I would be done after a few weeks. Little did I know how addicted I would become. So, happy 200 to me!

2) Despite Abby Kate's illness and extreme lethargy, she has decided this week is a good time to show new tricks. She now claps for everything and is so proud of herself. Of course, we are obnoxiously proud of her, and cheer and yell every time she does it. Man, now I see why the babies of the family love that attention! :) She has also started really crawling on her knees, has waved bye-bye....twice (see what I mean? Too much attention on her every move!), and has discovered baby dolls. Here she is, smiling, even after puking much of the day. Those baby dolls bring the smile out....

3) The last milestone is a significant one....for Carlie, anyway. Today was her fall program at Sunshine School. And, the girl SANG!!!! Now, she only sang random words here and there, and she didn't smile until the last few lines. But, we were proud of her for even participating!

Last night, I was trying to get her to practice some of her songs, and this was how our conversation went:

C: (after I sang a while with no response) "Mommy, you can sing them if you want to"

M: "But, Carlie, I'm not a turkey---you are!"

C: "I'm NOT a TURKEY!!!!!"
M: "Yes you are, Carlie! You have a turkey costume and you're singing turkey songs tomorrow."

C: (said with a very disrespectful roll of the eyes) "Mom! I'm CARLIE! I'm not a TURKEY!"

M: "Well, okay, you're Carlie just acting like a turkey. I'll sing part of this and you finish it." (followed by me singing more lyrics of her program)
C: (while walking away) "Don't know."

M: "You don't know?"

C: "Don't know any of that Mom."
M: "Okay, let's go to bed. I can't wait to see you tomorrow on stage! You're going to do great!"
C: "Ahhhhhh!!!" (her famous frustrated sigh)

So, you now see why I wasn't sure she would even get on stage. She was the last one in the auditorium (by choice) and walked with her head down the whole way, embarrassed and humiliated to look like this:

(by the way, they are supposed to be turkeys who are working out to get skinny so they won't be eaten on Thanksgiving...thus, the reason for a gym sign on her chest. It was cute!!)

Anyway, she kept her head down for the whole first song, hoping to disappear amongst the sea of turkeys. (see her on the far right!)But, then realized her friends behind her thought it was cool to sing about being a turkey. So then, she smiled and sang along for a while.

She is a FUNNY girl to watch perform....or not perform. But, we're proud of her anyway!

My other favorite part was seeing her work in the classroom. Everyone had a "Thankful For..." list at their seat that included many of the following key items: Mommy, Daddy, sister, brother, God, Jesus, the Bible, etc. etc.

Here is Carlie's list:

Notice who is #1. Not Mommy. Not Daddy. We didn't make the list at all, actually. Number 1 was Caroline. Of course. And, here are those cute turkeys together:

It was a fun "kickoff" celebration of thanksgiving week for us. Tonight, Kendyll gave us her own Thanksgiving program from what she has learned so far this year. And, tomorrow, we're having a pilgrim feast as a family that includes using their manners, and eating their foods. Should be interesting! I'll be back with more tomorrow. (Man, I'm going to be at 300 posts before the year is out at this rate!)