It’s Been SUCH a Long Time!

I know it's been way too long, and there's no excuse. So I'll try to cover as much as possible from the past several months I haven't been writing (or at least post pictures from those months).

We've been busy working on our yard around here for the past several months. It's actually more like Justin's been busy working outside while Jack helps him move rocks and dig in the dirt, and Abbigaile and I keep ourselves busy around the house. Justin dug trenches and places irrigation all around our house and we're so excited that we'll have some grass around here and eventually we'll be able to start a garden! The front yard is almost done, right now we're just waiting for the last of the weeds to come up so we can kill them and get planting and mulching. After we get the grass and mulch in we're going to build a sandbox and possibly a small swing set for the kids. We think they'll love it, and I'll love that they'll have a safe place to play outside at home.

Now for the kids—Abbigaile turned 1 on February 18 and it's just amazing to me how quickly that first year goes! Abbigaile took her first step on January 14 and didn't stop after that; she was walking pretty well even before her birthday. She definitely wanted to keep up with Jack and she's doing very well with that now; Abbi's all over the place now and she is FAST! We went in for Abbigaile's one-year appointment and the doctor was concerned because she hadn't gained any weight and had only grown ¼ inch since October. So the doctor gave us a month to fatten Abbi up: we put butter on and in everything, fed her lots of high-calorie foods, and switched her onto bulked-up baby formula. Luckily, when we went back we found she'd gained 1 lb. 2 oz. and grew another ¼ inch in a month! Now we're just trying to keep the same sort of diet for her so she keeps gaining. Abbi says a few words now: mama, dada, hi (it almost sounds like ha), more (ma), ball (ba), and sometimes it sounds like she says "this." She loves her babies, TownHouse Crackers, Gerber puffs, her sippy cup, and playing with her brother.

Jack is SO SMART! He amazes me every day. He knows almost all of his letter sounds and knows how to spell quite a few words. Some of the words he spells are: Jack (of course), sun, train, stop, hat, log, car, and dog . . . just to name a few. He's so into reading, spelling, letters, and, oh yes, running. He's as busy as he ever was before and even though he got a trampoline for Christmas he still insists upon jumping on the couch and his bed. Jack is finally potty-trained (yay)! It's not to say that he doesn't have any accidents, but he's doing a lot better. Jack is too funny; he loves the show "Super Why," which is a reading super-hero show. Jack quotes the show and walks around and strikes super hero poses; if I don't already have a picture, I'll take one tomorrow. My current wallpaper on my computer is a picture of Justin and I and Jack is running through it. The other day Jack was looking at the picture and says to me, "It's mommy, and daddy, and super-hero Jack." He's super-hero Jack quite often, then other times he's "Jack, just Jack." I love it! Oh, Jack went to his very first Primary activity on Tuesday and he had sooo much fun! He got to do an Easter egg hunt and play outside; it was the perfect day.

Justin is starting to work like crazy because it's the beginning of wedding season. However, he just got back from a three-day backpacking trip with his scouts in the San Gabriel Mountains. He had a blast! He just got back on Wednesday and I'm so excited to see the pictures. We're going to the same area in June to do a day-hike with another couple and we're so excited for that! Who wants to babysit? ;) We just went out last night and celebrated Justin's birthday a little early (he'll be 28 on the 18^th). We went to the Brigantine for dinner then went bowling. It was so nice to get out and do something as adults. We're trying to be better about going out and doing something without the kids once a month so we can have some time together. Hopefully we'll be able to keep that goal :D

Currently, I'm interning at Jodee's Bakery in Temecula and I absolutely love it! I think I could bake for a living and be completely happy. The internship was my Christmas gift from Justin; he's the best husband ever! Oh, if you're on Facebook, I think you should go check out their page and become a fan. I get to work with a bunch of amazing women and make yummy things, how cool is that? I may be coaching cheer again (I'll know for sure in a few weeks), but I'll be coaching JV this time around. I'm so excited for tryouts and the prospect of working with some of my girls again. I just got my new pressure canner in the mail and I'm so excited to start canning soups, veggies, broths, chili, etc. Now I'm really going to be reading and checking out lots of canning books from the library. On a not so fun note, I'm going in for a consult for my wisdom teeth on the 19^th because they're killing
me! I'm not excited about the surgery, but I am excited about being pain free (because it's hard to even swallow right now).

I guess that's a pretty brief general overview of what's going on in the Lowell house right now. I guess just let me know if there's anything else I should fill you all in on. We love you all, thanks for putting up with my non-posting over the past months.