Maryland and Worship God 2011

I feel like this past month has flown by since Abigail and I were in Texas for almost two weeks and then nine days after we returned home, our little family drove to Maryland for five days to attend the Worship God Conference at Covenant Life Church (where Josh Harris preaches). It was such a wonderful time for us! We thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and getting to meet a couple bands and songwriters. Each day we all met together for group worship and sessions, then on two of the days, there were breakout sessions to attend.The times of singing in worship were AMAZING as approx. a couple thousand (not sure the exact count) lifted their voices in praise to God.

 Main Session

My church back in Texas sent their worship team to the conference and so we joined them for the week and enjoyed eating dinner each night with them and sitting with them during the main sessions. We really enjoyed their company! I miss them!

Before the start of a main session.

We had the joy of meeting and talking with Bob Kauflin and his super sweet wife, Julie, at the end of the conference. They are so gracious and down-to-earth. A true joy to get to know briefly!

Maryland is gorgeous!

 This little walkway was by the restaurants where we ate each night. Daddy enjoyed showing Abigail the ducks and water. :-)

 My handsome hubby and I enjoying the beautiful scenery!

The nice train conductor let us sit on her little mini-train for a picture. :-)

Not only was this trip work related for Kyle, it was also our first ever "family-of-three" vacation! (Not counting traveling to see family!) It was so wonderful to just get away from daily life and to enjoy spending time together at the conference, growing and learning together! I LOVE going to conferences and traveling and I must say, Kyle is becoming quite the traveler/conference attender as well! :-) I think it is so very important to take advantages of amazing opportunities like these to hear great preachers and teachers as they encourage us in our love for the Gospel!

The last evening of the conference, Friday night, they (Sovereign Grace Music) recorded a live album. They are hoping it'll be out near the end of this fall, I believe. It'll be called "The Gathering." The music is Wonderful!!! We are so excited for it to come out and can't wait to get our copy!

 

This conference is held every two years and we are already excited to, Lord-willing, go again and take more people with us! So if you're interested, mark your 2013 calendars! :-)

Pancake Makin'

When my oldest nephew, Keagan, was a little bitty guy, I started making pancakes with him. For some reason, he has always remembered that tradition, even after I moved away. Now, every time I come home for a visit, he wants to make pancakes with Aunt Sissy. :-) So, this week we invited his family over and I made pancakes with him and his brothers, Logan and Jordan. Of course, this was Abigail's first time to be apart of this little family tradition. I look forward to future years of making these together when all our kids will be old enough to join their cousins. :-)

 Keagan up on a stool helping me pour in the milk.

 Stirring the mix.

 Abigail trying to grab the spoon. :-) 

 Cutie Jordan!

 Showing Keagan how to pour the mix on the griddle. 

 Pouring pancakes all by himself.

 Adorable grinning Logan!

 My sister-in-law, Lisa, helping Keagan (her son) with the pancakes. 

Logan, Keagan, Aunt Lisa, Abigail, and Grammie

 Keagan and Logan helping Abigail to stand up.

 All eyes on the iPad! haha...

Just for the record, Abigail thinks she's just as big as her cousins! ;-) 

She loves spending time with them and watching them do things!

The boys playing with Abigail and her toys. They are great big cousins!

Fourth Generation Rocking Chair

My Dad's mother, Louise Frampton Oliver, (Granny) had a childhood rocking chair that her father made for her. She used it, my Dad and his sister used it, his sister's kids used it, Michael and I used it, Michael's boys used it, and now Abigail is getting to use it. It's such a special family treasure and we have to document each generation that uses it.

 For starters... she was super tired... haha...

 What a cute yawn... 

 Giggly girl...

 Cutie Pie

Abigail at 8 Months

So I'm a little late in posting Abigail's 8 months photos, but we're on vacation so hopefully there is a little grace. ;-) (Of course, I totally missed her 7 month photos on here. Oops!) Abigail is growing and changing SO much! Here are some fun little things she's doing now:

*Crawling EVERYWHERE! (Since 6 months old!)
*Pulling up on everything and standing.
*Taking steps while holding onto things.
*She says "Da-Da" ... so adorable!
*She cut her bottom two front teeth about two weeks ago.
*Crawling up steps
*She loves to spit and do funny things with her tongue.
*She loves to hear her voice and squeal at the top of her lungs!
*She loves to play peek-a-boo and can place something in front of her face and then remove it... to play with us.
*She definitely notices when people or dogs have left the room and looks for them.
*She LOVES real dogs!
*She loves to laugh and giggle and is pretty ticklish!
*She loves to eat... especially whatever is on MY plate! haha...

So it was hard to get any really good pictures of Abigail because she was constantly moving. Haha... but here they are:

 Abigail absolutely loves my parent's dog, Ellie!

 She is always trying to catch Ellie's tail.

 She caught it!

This was her look of excitement when she caught the tail! However, Ellie was quick and you can see her tail in the bottom left corner of the picture as she quickly jumped down off the chair once Abigail grabbed her tail. Hehe...

 She learned how to crawl up my parent's kitchen/office steps. 

It's Been A While...

I can hardly believe it's been a month since I've blogged on here! Time is flying by so fast and Miss Abigail is keeping me quite busy every day! haha... She is definitely on the move now! She loves getting into everything! She is quite inquisitive.

Abigial loves to be near me basically ALL the time. Haha... this includes while I'm cooking in the kitchen. The other day she ended up sitting in our dish drainer that was sitting on the floor. :-)

Kyle's parents came for a visit at the beginning of the month and we really enjoyed hosting them for the Fourth of July weekend.

 Mimi bought Abigail some new blocks. They enjoyed playing with them together.

 Showing Abigail letters.

 Papa C playing with Abigail

 All ready to go out for the day.

 Abigail with her Papa C and Mimi

 Kyle with his beautiful Mama, Kay

 We took Abigail to a fun toy shop

We enjoyed getting fun drinks from Starbucks.