it's a miracle....

I was thinking tonight that it's a miracle that God gives his precious children to his other children to raise. It's also a miracle that more people don't screw it up worse.

Abby had her first big girl 2 year old gymnastics class tonight. She did SO WELL!!!! She got really excited when she saw her teacher ('teach' or 'coach' as abby calls her). She went right in to the gym and only got sidetracked for a minute. She stayed with the group and only looked back for us once. She did a great job waiting her turn for the trampoline and just seemed to do really well and have fun. Chris was a little sad that he didn't get to go out there with her, but it was good that she was able to move on to this milestone. I spoke to her teacher last week when we were there and asked her how she thought it would go knowing abby's temperament. Coach Llars said it might take a few weeks but she thought abby would do fine. I was worried she'd get kicked out of class the first night. Coach Llars promised she wouldn't. Anyway, back to tonight....when class was over Coach Llars and Abby came out to us and Coach said how great she did and we were worried for nothing. I told her we'd make sure she got a good nap every Wed cause that's what put her in such a good mood for tonight. Anyway, we were really proud of her and a little sad that she doesn't need us for her class anymore. It's a workout though, so sitting and watching was a nice change of pace.

The other thing that made me think about parenting was when we went to eat after Gymnastics (to County's of course - was there ever any doubt where we'd eat!?). While we were waiting for a table these two army guys came out with this older couple. One of the army guys was the child of the couple, and i assumed the other guy was a roomate that was brought along for a free meal (or maybe that's just memories of college when my parents came to visit and fed everyone in the house). Anyway, as soon as the army guys walked outside, they put on these horrible hat things - think green beret only not cool and with a big insignia. There was some sort of proper flip up/fold up that had to occur - it took them like 5 minutes. All the while i was thinking, "what an ugly hat - why do they have to make them look so stupid?". When the parents and son got closer to me I could hear the dad make a comment like, "do you want to not wear the hat now?' or something to that affect. The son said that it was part of his uniform and had to be put on as soon as he was out of doors. Direct quote, "No, I have to wear this ugly-ass hat as soon as I walk outside". Now here's the kicker - as I was about to agree to the ugly ass-ness of the hat, the parents started falling all over themselves (obviously lying) about how 'cool' or 'great' they thought the hat looked. ONLY A PARENT WOULD LIE LIKE THAT! It took everything in me not to just say the truth. In fact, the parents kind of looked at me like they knew what i was thinking and were begging me to keep my trap shut.

Also, Chris Ricker is the best dad. When the best dad awards come out in heaven, he will get one. He loves abby and is so good to her. He managed to change abby's diaper sitting on the porch with her in his lap while taking off a leotard and jumper. I love him.

Monday - abby swims with the fishes

For Memorial Day, Chris wanted to have a cookout at M&D's, so we grilled Chicken wings and legs, had watermelon and banana pudding, and for dessert, made homemade ice cream. While lunch was on the grill, Dad, Chris, Abby and I went down to the lake to see Wade and Tucker's catch from the night before. Apparently they were still catching catfish at midnight and didn't go to bed till 2am...that's real camping! Abby wanted to go out on the boat, so Tucker and Chris took her. She loved the paddle and wouldn't let Chris paddle without her trying to help. She went for 2 boat rides and then was playing at the edge of the lake when she slipped in and went HEAD FIRST into the lake! Chris jumped in to save her and almost lost a Birkenstock in the process - what a brave Dad he is! She was ok, but covered in nasty lake slime and dirt. We took her up to the pool to hose her off before my mom saw her, but we still couldn't get all the nastyness out of her hair. By the time we made it back home, my aunt had called mom and told her what happened, so we weren't as slick as we thought. She immediately got a bath where we scrubbed and scrubbed her hair - everything mostly came out, but she still smelled like the lake. Later tonight she got another bath to get off all the ice cream from dinner, and now she smells like Johnson's baby soap once more.

Sunday - the dairy Queen

Given Abby's new love of ice cream and chicken nugget's request for a chocolate dipped cone, we drove to the big city of Manchester and hit the DQ (Dairy Queen). When we got back, Wade, Kristi and the kids had come out and camped, so we spent time with them. Uncle Hub had cooked for a small army so we came over to his house and ate. Abby of course spent most of the day on the Ranger, and when we could get her off would go immediately to the 4wheeler. The highlight of the day was Abby, Tucker and Hayley getting to pet/chase and play with miniature horses that a neighbor of my parents has. Dad took everyone down the road to this guy's house and asked if the kids could see the horses. The guy let the kids have free reign and they loved it. My Mom said that as Abby chased the horses she would say "neigh, neigh". I of course was at my Mom and Dad's taking a nap while all of this was going on, but I am sure it was great. Chris had to work Saturday night so he stayed home and rested - we missed him and didn't get home till about 10pm, so he got plenty of alone time!

Sat - take that Augusta - we've got our own Masters!!

We went to Callaway on Saturday for the Masters Water Ski tournament. Apparently, I don't care as much about water skiing as I would have thought, but I did acknowledge that there were people in the water skiing, doing tricks, etc. Chris, Abby and I had fun playing in the water and digging holes on the 'beach'. Abby unsuccessfully tried to take all the water out of the lake and put it in our holes in the sand, and then reversed strategy and tried to take all the sand off the beach and put it back into the water. She also wanted to ride the 'choo choo', so we took her over to the train. She FREAKED OUT she loved it so much - we love to see her get so excited over things. Tomorrow some friends and I are taking our kids back to Callaway, so we'll have more pictures from the 'beach' to post - maybe we'll make it to a real beach this summer.

chris gives abby an ice cream treat (or 'tweat' as the case may be) just about every night. So, when we were at Publix yesterday he wanted to get cones and see if she could step up to the big leagues. We had a little family debate on what you call the kind of cone shown in the picture - sugar or cake (like 'cup cake' cone he says - i say 'i've married a crack head'). Anyway, he was right and I was wrong.

we just love having abby and seeing her grow and experience all of the things life has to offer. It reminds me of one time when I was in NYC with some local kids my age and we went to time square. It was amazing...like nothing I'd ever seen. One of the local people said 'yeah, I like coming here with people who are seeing it for the first time, it reminds me of how magical it all is'. That's what life with abby is all about - the magic of everyday things.