Ornaments

Each one of these have a special meaning and that is why they are placed upon our Abby tree.

Abrielle loved Disney movies like most little kids, but had a few favorites. She was in love with the movie "Cars". In fact she would pop in the DVD just to play the song "Life is a Highway" so she could sing and dance. "The Little Mermaid" was another one that she loved to sing the songs to, especially "A Part of Your World". Barbies were another of her loves and you will find several of those throughout the tree.


"Finding Nemo" was the first and probably only movie Abby sat through entire thing. She loved that movie. Our Saturday mornings were filled with "her shows" which included "Stanley and his Great Big Book of Everything."

Rollie Pollie Ollie was on this list of "shows" watched every weekend too. Of course we have a JackJack ornament on the tree too. It's a grey kitty playing with a mouse.

Every time we hear the Chicken Dance song, we think of our little girl and her doing that cute little wing flap. The ornament plays the song and now her sisters are able to dance along. You can also see a couple of the memorial ornaments that hang on her tree in this picture.
Abby loved her Elmo, so of course I had to find one to hang on her tree.
And we couldn't have an Abby tree without a letter A! You can also see one of the ornaments that was given to her by Mema for her to have on her own tree someday. There are four of those on the tree ~ one for every Christmas she was here. Hanging above the A is the Little Einstein's Red Rocket. This was another of her "shows" and we have 2 of these on the tree and one plays the theme song from the show.
My Little Ponies was another thing Abby loved to play with her Sissy.

The engraved ornament was a gift for our Abby tree from a friend, the white ornament with her birth date was sent to us from CMH, and the little kitty gymnast on the balance beam was just perfect for her tree to show her love of gymnastics.

We love what each one of these ornaments (and the ones I didn't show) represent on Abby's tree. Each year as we open the boxes, we will be greeted by the memories that each one of these hold. There is one more very special ornament that is hung on every one of our trees along with Grandparents and other relatives.

This glass ornament was made by the Daniels family and given to us by Cole.

Abby's Pink Tree

We added some new ornaments to the pink tree we take to the cemetery this year. Of course they were more Disney Princess and Cars ornaments.

I was really hoping to find some solar powered Christmas tree lights to add to the tree, but all I could find were in huge lengths (35+ feet). Maybe next year I'll be able to find some so that Abby's tree will be lit up for her. We were wanting to have her tree to her by now, but with the snow, decided to wait a bit. It will be there by the weekend though for her.

Animal Donation

I was given these cuties from Hannah Miller ~

Certificate of Appreciation

I received a package in the mail from the Department of Health and Human Services that contained a picture of me with the Certificate of Appreciation for Abrielle from the National Donor Recognition Ceremony we attended in Washington, DC in July.



Also included was a video of the ceremony and if I can figure out how, I will try to upload part of it to the blog for all to see.

Mac n Cheese

I wanted to share another layout I did for the favorite food challenge at GoodGriefBlog. Anyone that knew Abrielle was sure to know what her favorite food was ~ mac n cheese. She loved that stuff! It didn't matter if we went out to a nice restaurant, she wanted to order "mac-e-roni".


The journaling reads, "Abrielle loved mac and cheese! Her absolute favorite! Should could not help herselft from cleaning out the pan one night after supper. She got a little messy, but sure looked cute."

"Abby Tree"

The girls and I decided to decorate our "Abby Tree" last night since we had the others up already. Marc was gone to a basketball game, but I did quite well on my own. My "job" was taking the ornaments out of the boxes and handing them off to the girls for them to hang up. We added a few more ornaments this year, but not many. I had found a couple more Nemo and Cars ones that I had to buy.
Mady wanted to string the pink star garland on her own and did a good job with it. She also did the honors of putting the star on top.

Games

Today I'm sharing another layout I completed for a challenge at GoodGriefBlog to document a game played together.

The journaling reads, "We are a game playing family, so it was no surprise that Santa brought Abrielle her first game at 18 months. That was Old MacDonald, and we wore that game out. Her last favorites to play were her Nemo Go Fish and Dora Memory. Every Sunday evening we would play games together as a family. Abby also really looked forward to when her Aunt Becci would come out because she would play game after game with the girls. Photo ~ Christmas 2004"