Vacation Bible School

Last week was Abigail's second Vacation Bible School (VBS) experience. We went back to Immanuel Church because we had such a great experience last year.

Here are the girls ready for their first day at VBS.

This VBS was for three year olds and older, so Sarah missed out again, but she still had a blast. While Abigail was learning songs, making crafts, and learning about God's word I was doing the same (minus the songs) in the Mom's Cafe. I loved being able to stick around while Abigail was in VBS. Lily came with me and wasn't too much of a distraction. During VBS/Mom's Cafe Sarah played with a few new friends in the nursery. I'm really looking forward to next year when she gets to experience VBS for the first time.

Last Thursday night was an evening of song and celebration for everything the kids learned during the week. Of course Abigail loved getting to be on stage for a bit. Once her turn was over she didn't stop singing and dancing along (and Sarah loved joining in too). Here's a video of different snipits from the night.

Mealtime Shenanigans

Mealtime with the Kapaldo family can be lots of fun. Mealtime with the Kapaldo's at Nonna and Papa's house can be tons of fun! Maybe two weeks ago we were having dinner with my parents and grandparents and Abigail felt the need to stand in her chair, look to Papa, spread out her arms and say, "Papa, are you out of your mind?!" Before we knew it Sarah was saying it too. Every time one of the girls would say it everyone roared with laughter. It got quite loud in that dining room!

Last night Sarah uttered the silly phrase a few more times, and we got it on camera this time. No one says it quite like Sarah, and she probably gets the most laughs out of it.

Our LIttle Gymnast

The other day there was a gymnast being interviewed on TV. I got the girls attention to watch footage of the gymnast doing her floor exercise and they were pretty impressed. The next thing I know, Sarah is doing her own gymnastics. Last night I got her to perform on camera so I could share with you all:

Better Late than Never

So, a number of months ago my computer started making a clicking sound. Then, my hard drive crashed. My advice to you: if your computer starts making a clicking sound, back it up! I hadn't in a while and ended up losing a lot of stuff.

We were eligible for a free replacement drive, but in the meantime were using a much smaller one we already had. Because of this I quickly ran out of room and couldn't import anymore photos or videos. I got my replacement this week and Jonathan set me up with a newer, faster, and larger hard drive!

Remember reading about Abigail's first Vacation Bible School experience? Here is a little video of her singing with her classmates. This was one of her favorite songs from the week and she'll still sing it on occasion:



In other news: stay tuned for a post in the coming days announcing Baby #3's name!

Our Little Performers

On Sunday the girls got up on stage at church to share some of the worship songs they learned at GENESIS Kids. I was wondering if Sarah would even go up there, but she did. I was also happy to see Sarah participate a bit. All of the kids did a great job!

Team Work

Parenting and running a house are so much easier when you have someone to do them with. Jonathan was out of town three days and two nights last week, so I was playing it solo for a few days. It wasn't easy and it made me realize how much Jonathan does!

The hardest chores I had to tackle by myself revolved around sleep (my favorite thing). The girls decided to make things interesting for me. On Monday night Abigail took her PJ's off. After putting them back on I left the girls to giggle, gab, and yell themselves to sleep. The only problem was that only Abigail fell asleep. Once Abigail was snoozing away Sarah was unhappy and decided to cry and cry and cry some more. After maybe 5-10 minutes of this I went in to rock her to sleep. As I was doing this I looked over to Abigail and saw that she had taken her PJ's off again. I wanted to get Sarah to sleep as soon as possible. About an HOUR later she was finally down and I quickly dressed Abigail again.

On the other end of sleep is a new morning, hooray! Up and at 'em! Let's get off to a running start! Ok, that is NOT me in the mornings. Once I hear Abigail calling for "Momma" to open the gate I normally turn over and sweetly ask Jonathan to take care of it (because Sarah is often still sleeping). I couldn't do that, and it didn't really matter because Sarah was awake too.

Another way Jonathan helps out (and I didn't realize this) is in the area of accountability. Dishes in the sink? They can wait until tomorrow. Room needs cleaning? Another chore that can wait. Time to catch up on the sermon you missed on Sunday? I'm too tired. I think I'll just go to bed.

On a more positive note, the girls and I did have fun these past few days. Our Tuesday was particularly fun. We started it off with a trip to the grocery store and finished it off with a visit with my family. We first went to the mall to visit Nonna at Build-A-Bear. We left with two new friends: Rosie and Chuck.

Then we headed to my parent's place to play with Bridget and have dinner. As I was getting the girls ready to leave Abigail discovered a new way to make Bridget laugh:



I am glad I have Jonathan back, and I think the girls are too!

Ready or Not...

The past few nights Jonathan and Abigail have played hide-and-seek in the apartment before bedtime. Sarah sometimes does her own thing, or she joins in on the fun. Here's a cute clip of her playing along.

Big Girl

Today we bought Sarah her very own convertible carseat. We are ready to say "goodbye" to toting her around in her infant carseat. She seems to like it so far. Here she is trying it out before we installed it in the van:


To celebrate Sarah decided to take her first few steps today. For the past week or so Jonathan and I have been trying to get her to attempt walking. We would sit across from each other and do the "go see Daddy/come see Daddy" thing. She would almost always just plop down in an attempt to crawl. Today, however, she actually took steps! Here is a cute video of her taking a few steps (I will mention that she took a few more steps than this video shows-the camera proved to be a bit of a distraction for Sarah).

Jonathan's Big 3-0

Saturday was Jonathan's big day-the day he turned 30. Jonathan started his birthday the same way I did mine-he slept in. We then had a special breakfast of buttons and bowknots. Abigail serenaded Jonathan with the Happy Birthday song. If you listen carefully she includes herself in the birthday greeting.

The main event for Jonathan's birthday was our annual trip to Smolak Farms for apple picking. Auntie Laura, Uncle Nick, and Bridget joined us. This was Sarah, Bridget, and Uncle Nick's first apple picking experience.

We were able to make great use of our new wagon. During apple picking each of the girls gave Jonathan a special "apple"-a brand new iTunes gift card. Abigail did enough apple picking to fill our bag and the Hanks' bag. Sarah spent most of the time inspecting our apples.

After we picked a few pecks of perfect apples we ventured off to the pumpkin patch. We then went to the playground briefly. I didn't want to spend too much time there because it was so crowded. However, every time I suggested to Abigail that we check something else out she would say, "No thanks" or "I wanna play". I am constantly amazed at the new phrases that have come out of her mouth lately!

We did end up leaving the playground and headed back to the pumpkins for pictures. After that we went back to Nonna and Papa's house.

I planned on making pizza for dinner at my parent's house. Let's just say, though, that the execution of my plan was anything but flawless. I ended up burning the pizza. My excuse is using an unfamiliar oven. Jonathan made his own birthday dinner by ordering pizza.

We had Jonathan's favorite-German Chocolate Cake for dessert. I modified the frosting recipe by omitting nuts (in case Abigail got a hold of it). It was actually pretty good! For his birthday a group of us chipped in to get him AppleTV. Because I could only pre-order it I ended up wrapping a deck of cards and made it look like a TV with an apple logo on it. I think Jonathan was pleasantly surprised.

We ended our day with pictures of the girls in their jammies before heading home for the night.

All-in-all we had a great day celebrating Jonathan's birthday! Happy birthday to such a wonderful husband, father, and friend. We love you!

Good Company

This is who we get to have breakfast with. She started singing as she was eating, but slowed a bit once I brought out the video camera. It's still cute though:

August has been a sick month for the family. Abigail got a cold earlier this month, which messed with her lungs. We went to the Doctor where we were ordered to do nebulizer treatments. We kept this up as long as Abigail still had a cough. She passed things on to Sarah, which thankfully didn't get as complicated. The girls seemed better, so we went on our camping trip.

Then came Monday. We could hear Abigail coughing a bit through the night. We decided to get back to doing the nebulizer treatments. Things didn't go beyond a yucky cough and stuffy nose. Sarah came down with a cold again too. Abigail didn't get a fever until Friday morning. We paid another visit to the Doctor where she was tested for strep and mono. We also got a prescription for an inhaler on top of her nebulizer treatments.

Probably the hardest thing about being a parent is seeing your babies sick. I'm hoping they both get better by September (and I hope September is a much better month)!

10 Months

Today marked Sarah's 10 month birthday. I cannot believe we will be celebrating her first birthday this fall!

Sarah, like her big sister, is fearless. There is little in our apartment she will not try to climb up. One toy in particular has aided in her mobility. Here is Sarah giving it a try, at around the same age Abigail started on it. Notice how Sarah keeps pushing my hand out of the way (I was just trying to help ;-)

Now we have two girls who can get into just about anything. Yikes!

Summer School

I have a confession to make. Up until this a few weeks ago I wasn't making the most of Sarah's morning nap. Abigail would often play on her own or watch PBS Kids and I would hang out or try and get some cleaning done. Well, I thought it would be good to stop being so lazy and add a little structure to our time.

Two weeks ago we started summer "school". We spent 30-45 minutes almost every day doing Bible time, our ABC's and 123's. We spent each day talking about a day of creation, followed by coloring a picture representing each day. Then we went over ABC's and counted to 20. I tried getting Abigail to play and count beads, but that didn't work. She just wanted to play with them.

Probably my favorite time of "school" was when we would sing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands and do a few simple hand motions. Check her out after a week of practice:



Last week we spent a few days talking about Adam and Eve. I wasn't sure what to do for an activity because you can only color so many pictures of the story (versus one page for each day of creation). So, we ended up reenacting the story of Adam and Even in the garden, where Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Abigail was cute playing with our set up. She kept saying "No mouth" regarding the tree. We had fun with it.

Hopefully we can keep this up. I am not always the best at continuing good habits. This might also give me a taste of what homeschooling would be like (just an itty bitty taste).

On the Move

Sarah is on the move! She has been officially scooting for a few days now. I call it a "tripod" scoot because she would push on three limbs and get her arm stuck under her chest. Here is Sarah scooting the other day:



In only a matter of days Sarah has added a new trick, getting up on her knees. I am convinced she spends time where she should be falling asleep for the night practicing this new skill. Before we know it she'll be crawling all over the place!

What a Weekend!

We had a great weekend. It started with The Great Giveaway on Saturday. Jonathan went early to help set up (around 7 or so). I met up with him, bringing the girls along, around 9:30. Thanks to many amazing volunteers both Jonathan and I were able to help with the event outside, where all of the giveaway items were. Inside the church was a kids wonderland. Abigail had a blast! She spent a lot of time playing with water and jumping in a bounce house. She was entertained and cared for for a good four hours or so. Sarah spent most of her time in our backpack carrier. She even took a little nap while my friend carried her around in it. What a great invention! Here is a video of Abigail and one of her first times in a bounce house:



After The Great Giveaway we went over to my parents while Jonathan helped my sister and brother-in-law move. We then took it easy and had pizza for dinner. Oh, did I mention Abigail missed her nap? It showed during dinner-she kept nodding off. My Dad ended up taking her out of her chair so she could sleep in his arms. She had a long and active day.

Sunday wasn't as eventful. We started the day off at church. The bounce house was still there, so the kids had a blast jumping away after the service. We came home and had lunch where it looked like Abigail was ready to sleep. I scooped her up and brought her to bed. Well, in that time she must have gotten a burst of energy because she did not fall asleep. She started falling asleep during dinner like on Saturday night, so we brought her to bed. I try to explain to her just how important sleep is! Here is our cutie sleeping at dinnertime:

Thankfully Abigail has gotten back into the swing of things. On Monday and today she actually fell asleep in record time and for just over two hours each time!

Now I Know My ABC's (Well, Sort Of)

A few months ago we thought it would be a good idea to get a poster for Abigail of the alphabet. We thought it might be a good thing to go over it occasionally to mix up her daily routine. Well, lately Abigail has been adding words to her vocabulary and has also caught on to the alphabet! It is amazing to me how quickly she learns new things. Here is a clip of her reciting her ABC's. She can't quite say them all right, but you can tell she has an idea of what each letter is.

New Toy

We bought Abigail a new toy out of a bit of desperation on my part. Abigail loves to move around. The problem is that she cannot yet walk on her own and depends on Mommy and Daddy to take her around the apartment. This can take a toll on our backs. So, we bought Abigail a toy stroller that doubles as a walker. She seems to like it and already knows that the kitchen is off-limits with the stroller. Instead of heading straight for the kitchen she'll stop walking with the stroller, and then will reach out her hand so one of us can take her into the kitchen.

Here is a cute video of Abigail in action as well as a still shot of her with her stroller.

On another note, now that Abigail is climbing things she's started crawling for real now. She had been previously army crawling/scooting but now her tummy doesn't touch the ground. She seemed to phase in this new mode of transportation ;-)

Christmas 2008

As expected we took many pictures of Abigail for her first Christmas. We took so many pictures that it wouldn't make sense to do a normal blog post. So instead we made a slideshow for you to enjoy with bits of video added. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Kapaldo Family!

Pre-Abigail Slideshow

I put a slide show together with pre-baby pictures as a sort of electronic scrapbook...I didn't realize I could post it until I saw that my cousin posted a slide show. So, here it is: