A Glimpse of Summer

Here are a few pictures that highlight our summer a little bit. As for where we are now, only 3 weeks until Baby Appleton #2 arrives, but if he/she is like Abigail, maybe only 2 weeks! Wow--so hard to believe. But I've finally gotten most of my nesting projects finished and am trying to rest a bit so I'll be ready for labor. It's been a busy summer for us, with Mark continuing to be in school full-time and working full-time. We traveled a lot in June and in the beginning of July but have been camping out here since then.

Abigail is doing great! She's potty-trained (woo-hoo!) and is sleeping in her big-girl bed (after she's gotten up a few times each nap and night of course). Word of advice, if you're pregnant and wanting to potty train and transition a toddler to a big kid bed, don't wait until the last 2 months of pregnancy to do it. It's quite exhausting!! Oh yeah, and she's 2 now! Pictures will be posted of that below. She has so much personality and joy!! It's so neat to see her as a big girl now, but I have moments when I'm not ready for her to grow up so quickly.

So here are a few pictures, starting with the beginning of summer . . .

Abigail helped Daddy plant our garden this year (late May). And she loves going to collect the veggies each afternoon when he gets home from work. She has named the garden: "garlic and peppers." It's been nice eating home-grown tomatoes!

Mark and I spent our first nights away from Abigail over Memorial Day weekend. My parents kept Abigail, while we went to Roan Mountain, TN. We did a little hiking and Mark did some fishing, but most of all, we rested and spent time with the Lord. It was definitely a highlight of the year for both us--so refreshing.

In June, Abigail and I headed to Nashville to visit Heather. We had a great visit and are looking forward to seeing Auntie Heather when the baby arrives.



My parents visited us in July and had a great time with Abigail. They also did so, so much for us while they were here--steam cleaned the carpets, washed windows and blinds, and cleaned for me. We appreciated all of their help!


In August, three sweet friends of mine from my church here threw me a shower. It was a lot of fun and such a blessing. I very much enjoyed the girl time!

Happy 2nd Birthday my sweet girl! This was the first holiday where Abigail actually understood what it meant to open a gift. She was so cute opening them--before she even saw what it was, she'd say "wow!" My parents and Mark's Aunt Judy were here for her birthday celebration. We met up with our friends and their little boy at a place called Plaza Fiesta, which has to be 100 times bigger than McDonald's play area! They had so much fun. Then we headed back to our house for one of Abigail's favorite foods, pizza! We had such a fun day celebrating her.

This picture is a little out of order. But we went to NH for the week of July 4th. We had such a wonderful time visiting family and Abigail loved playing with her cousins.