Luau!

Last night Eugene had his first big event of the year - a luau with our sister dorm. I still let Abby dress herself quite often, and here she is ready for the big event:

Eugene had some Hawaiian students in the dorm so they authenticated the luau with spam sushi and island music.

Eugene and his RA's built this super cool slip'n'slide! The students competed for an unknown prize which turned out to be a bale of hay :)

And while I was busy taking pictures, my OCD child was organizing the ladder ball game.

Here is a little of what has happened since I posted last:

Abby has become a much more sound sleeper, so I had some fun taking pictures of her sleeping. It's nice to have these so during the times she wakes up a lot I can remember that she does sleep.

My parents came down and we went to the Salem Airport festival. As much as Abby loves watching airplanes in the sky, I was surprised that they kind of freaked her out close up. We were lucky to get this picture.
Students started trickling in at the beginning of August. Eugene was one of the head planners of the RA retreat and took more trips to the craft store than I took all summer. It was really weird to hear my husband ask, "I'm going to Craft Warehouse, do you need anything?" or "Do you have any Jo-Ann coupons?"

Abby helped Daddy sort and pack the supplies for the retreat. We went to the campground to hang out the first evening and then came home to pack and head to CA the next morning. Was I insane? About 25 travel hours just me and a 2 year old. She actually travels much easier now than when she was an infant and it was kind of fun to have a mommy/daughter road trip.
One of the reasons we headed south was to celebrate Kristi's first birthday.

So cute! She was a perfect little party girl.
Tara had a cookie monster/count theme and made these adorable cupcakes! She also made all the table wear by hand - what a labor of love!
Cooookieeee! Andy made the smash cake. Those two seriously need to open their own bakery.
I finally got to meet this precious little miracle. Born at 1 lb. 10 oz. she has had to be kept mostly at home to keep her healthy. But in August she got to join the party!

A week was the longest Abby had been away from Daddy, but sadly the drive took what felt like forever and when we arrived home, he was at the Dedication Dessert. But he left us a beautiful surprise on the table. Abby carried her flowers all over the house with her and still talks about the "surprise Daddy got us".
Shortly after arriving back in Salem Abby and Daddy both got sick. I am thankful for my super amazing immune system because I usually do not catch what they have.

We found this princess dress at a garage sale for a dollar and that has been one of the most used dollars I ever spent. She wears it all the time, telling anyone who comments that she is a princess.

We spent an evening at the state fair and Abby tasted her first cotton candy.

To avoid 2am fire drills, Abby and I headed to my parent's house for a couple evenings.

Eugene got (another) new bar-b-q and has already put it to good use. He is now very picky about who is allowed to use it. The first one flew off the back of a truck when the students did not tie it down (but they helped pay to replace it in quarters and dimes) and the last one was just cheaply made and moved too much.

Grandpa Terry gave Abby a princess cookbook, so I get asked almost daily to make something from it. Last week we made sugar cookies and I discovered that you can never have too many sprinkles!