Our next stop.....Ice cream..

After spending time with the puppies, kitties, hamsters, mice, gerbils, birds, fish, frogs and various other critters, we headed to Bridge Street to get an ice cream cone from Maggie Moos. The clue there said this...Don't you just love ice cream? Especially when you get to choose any topping you like...from over TEN choices??" They did enjoy making their choices...and it was hard. We walked around afterwards while eating the ice cream...then headed to our final stop of the day.

Our next stop on the birthday adventure train....

Abigail is an animal lover..no doubt about it. After lunch we headed to Pet Smart to make a donation to their animal charity of the week, which happened to be the Limestone County Animal Shelter. Each girl made a $10 donation, then petted the puppies they had available for adoption. They all picked out one they wanted to take home..but fortunately, I was able to dodge the bullet on that one :) We went inside and visited the cats as well as the fish, hamsters, and other critters for a while before heading off for our next adventure.

..Abigail petting the puppy (a lab mix) she had picked out, if only she could have taken one home....
..the girls posing in front of one of the many tanks of fish they enjoyed viewing.....
..Abigail and another dog...maybe THIS was her first choice...

....Abigail with "my" little black and tan puppy..the one I would have taken home if I had gotten one--lol

Next stop on the birthday train..lunch

After getting their nails painted, the girls were starving (and so was I)! So, we headed towards the other side of Madison. Hoping that the pizza buffet would be spread(and finding it isn't on Saturdays), we stopped at Pizza Hut. Thankfully the girls were quite pleased with a large extra cheese pizza and I enjoyed the salad bar. While stopped here, we also opened gifts. Abigail was thrilled with her treasures..but most of all, with time spent with two of her special friends...."J", Abigail and "M"...
....two silly girls who love each other a lot....
..Abigail and her buddy "M" who have been close for several years....I think they'll always be good friends....

..It's a book and it's Pokemon...DOUBLE points for that :)

The third part of our birthday journey

We quickly applied our blindfolds and headed over to the nearest nail salon to get our nails painted. This is the clue the girls read upon our arrival there. "Just what will your TEN little fingers look like when we leave the salon? Will they be shiny and green or yellow or pink or purple?? Let's go see just how they will turn out!!"

Part two of Abigail's birthday trek

After leaving The Dollar Tree, we quickly buzzed over to Lowe's. As we got close, the girls put on their blindfolds and then, once parked removed them. This is the clue Abigail read aloud there. "With just TEN whacks of a hammer, what can you build? Let's go inside Lowe's and see!!"
..silly girls riding the lawn tractors....
...MP on the toilet.....
....after the class....
....JM on the potty.....
....all three girls in the shower stall.....
....Abigail on the potty.....I am SURE the employees were wondering what in the WORLD we were doing and WHY I was taking pictures of this....
...the girls just before we started building the drums.....
...MP is working hard on hers....
....here we are....

Abigail's birthday trek--part one

Because of Bruce's surgery (and fearing that he might be in a great deal of pain), I did not want to do a typical party here at the house. So, we decided to do a different type of celebration to honor Abigail's tenth birthday. I chose TEN special 'tasks' for her to complete/experience during the day, many of those with friends. Each task had the theme of "ten" in it as you will soon see. In order to keep a LOT of factors in check (time, budget, dietary preferences, ability to transport everyone safely..), I only allowed Abigail to choose her two best friends to come along.


We met the girls at 9:30 a.m. and they put on their blind folds. We then took a short drive to Dollar Tree, but parked slightly away so they would not know where we were until after Abigail read the description aloud. This is what she read. "With just $2 each and TEN minutes to spare, what will each of you girls end up buying? Let's go into Dollar Tree and see!!" They were thrilled with their shopping spree. Each ended up with a stuffed animal and a pack of mechanical pencils.
before our shopping spree......


...and afterwards.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ABIGAIL!!!!

Today, Abigail is TEN years old!! Tune in later to see pictures of her great adventure!! In honor of her tenth birthday, she will get to do TEN things (all with a 'theme' of ten in them). I'll post the clues and pictures after the fact.....just in case she sneaks on here before we head out in a bit.

Happy birthday sweetie! I love you!!

Since Bruce had surgery, we did go out to dinner to celebrate before her birthday. She chose one of her favorite places, Red Lobster. These photos came from there ...Abigail....being silly and acting like she is 'in love' with the cheesy Red Lobster roll....

..Abigail and Daddy....

Bruce's Shoulder Surgery

Only a really strange wife would take a camera into the hospital and document the surgery..right? Well, I do plan to scrapbook this event....as I have many/most of my surgeries :)
..at the waiting room in the hospital before we were called back...
..third floor of the main hospital.....
..now he's in his hospital gown...I LOVE the bear paw (looks like a pediatric one to me...but it was huge!!!! TWO of Bruce would have fit into it)..still pre-op.....
..just after coming out of surgery and getting dressed.....he's still pretty sleepy, but he sure is slurping down the sprite....
..at home...and in his comfy clothing...now you can see the dressing....
.....all bandaged back up and dressed....

Family Birthday Fun

Each year, usually on Labor Day weekend, we celebrate Abigail's birthday with our family. More often than not, we cannot gather everyone, but we enjoy those who are available to come and have a good time. This year was no different. In the end, only one of her five cousins could attend, but all her grandparents were able to make it, as well as one aunt and one uncle (two of Bruce's siblings). Abigail chose the menu (grilled hamburgers) and we even had a pinata. She got some really neat gifts and gift cards and money too. All in all, we had a nice and relaxing day. These pictures tell a little more of the story.
Mommy and Abigail, before the party begins....
Aunt Mary, Abigail and Daddy, ready for the game...after the party is over....
Abigail, Maddie and Maddie's cousin, Abby enjoy the loot from the pinata.....
...Abigail whacking the pinata...the kids hit it for a solid 10-15 minutes and it NEVER broke!!! Finally, they knocked it down, Abigail jumped on it, and then I ripped it apart and threw candy everywhere...it was quite funny.
..Abigail opens a gift card...she got lots of gift cards, money, some movies, a wii game, some clothes and some books too.
..blowing out the candles on her 'oreo no bake' dessert....my oven part is still back ordered...but thankfully this dessert was a big hit :)
..part of the day's lunch.....
..and the other part.....
...Abigail, enjoying her hamburger :)

Trying something new.....Archery

ARCHERY!!!!!!!!!!!


Abigail enjoyed helping a friend celebrate his tenth birthday. He had an 'archery' party....so she got to shoot a real bow and real arrows. At first she was not too sure about it..but ended up enjoying it and said she wants to return to the range and try it again. Unfortunately, I have NO clue about how to help her. Her friend's mom was the 'pro' in the pictures. The only thing I can 'shoot' well is a camera :)