Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Yesterday was beach day for Bella's class. Unfortunately, while the weather has been wonderful for the last week (and it's beautiful today...) yesterday was nasty. It was cold and rainy and windy. We wandered on the beach for an hour and a half, but then everyone gave up and hung out in the shelter where one of the dads had built a fire. These kids are usually pretty hardcore and can handle the nasty weather, but it was so bad yesterday that it was too much for them. I got back to my office, left my jacket on, turned the heat way up, drank a cup of coffee and it still took me two hours to warm up again...  

This morning I was getting Gabe dressed and I was singing a silly song rather loudly. He looked at me, started babbling and put his hand over my mouth. Bella complains when I sing loudly and obnoxiously, but I thought I'd have a little more time before he started complaining! I was feeding him a piece of bread and peanut butter for breakfast. Apparently it made him thirsty and he'd already thrown his cup of water on the floor. So he squirmed a bit and I walked over to ask him what was wrong. He looked at me and said "Agua." (The Spanish word for water.) Now, I'm pretty sure that it was just a babble and he really wasn't speaking Spanish, but still. It made me very proud! Apparently Dad's dirty socks taste good???  

Today was a big day for Bella. She got to tour the middle school! How did she get big enough to start getting ready for middle school??? Gabe had an appointment today for a weight check. He is gaining weight like he should be! He's just a little guy because he burns off all of the food that he eats by wiggling. Anyone who knows him in person can totally see why... In other news, Gabe found this ice cream bowl on the floor. He was clearly concerned because someone else ate all of the ice cream... The other day I went to get Gabe up and I found this. It looks like the little guy was holding on for dear life!    

We had a pretty good weekend. We've all been fighting with a bit of a cold. Nothing huge, just enough to make us all a little bit off. Because of that, we all laid pretty low on Friday night, which was what we all needed. Saturday morning Gabe had swimming lessons. I still don't have any pictures of that, but it really did happen. :) Swimming lessons are rather exhausting, so he took a three hour nap. Man, I can get a lot done during a three hour nap! Saturday night, Bella and I went to the dance team show. I've been going for years, I think since before my sister was on the team. Once Bella came into my life, it became a fun thing for us to do every year. Today we went to church and then Bella and I went to a bridal shower. Dad and Gabe walked out to the waterfall. Bella and I got to spend a lot of time doing fun stuff this weekend, which we really needed. Plus, Pat and Gabe got to do a lot of Father/Son bonding. That said, I feel like I didn't see much of Gabe this we

Gabe got his first bloody lip today. Given how often he goes diving headfirst off of things or into things, I'm surprised that this is the first one. I see a lot of ER visits in my future... That said, he's getting a lot better about going feet first off of things, so that does help. But seriously. I gave birth to a crazy man! A very sweet, loveable little crazy man, but he is a little daredevil. I think we officially have his first word! He says "I", which is either Hi or Bye, and he always says it with a grin and a wave. He is very proud of himself for his waving abilities too. Eating has gotten super fun too. He'll still eat anything, he's just getting more creative in how he eats. For example, this was tonight... Gabe wasn't feeling well yesterday, so we spent the afternoon at home. Naturally, we spent the day like this: He's a very good kitchen helper. And just because sometimes we need a good Mommy-Gabe picture... In other news, Pat and Bella jus

It's our last set of moose pictures!  Actual Age: 16 Months Adjusted Age: 1 Year!!! Time Home: 13 Months And here are the outtakes... The little man is growing up so fast! It's crazy to see that he's now the size of the moose. It used to be so huge...              

Gabe learned to blow kisses tonight. Seriously, can it get any cuter than that???

He has risen! I hope you have all had a wonderful Easter Sunday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. We had a lovely family day. We went to church this morning and I managed to get one cute picture of the kids. One of them was rather cranky this morning and needed a good nap, so this was the best that I could do. While Gabe napped, the three of us played a game and worked on dinner. After Gabe woke up, Bella put together an Easter egg hunt for him. I figured that he'd find one egg and then just sit down and eat it, but Bella said that he actually did find all of the eggs. After dinner, Bella performed a play about the Easter story starring several of her stuffed animals. She even made programs and taped a sign to the wall welcoming us to the show. That kid has creativity coming out of her ears... After the show we did some Bible reading and then watched a family movie. It was a nice, quiet family day, which we haven't gotten to do in awhile.  

Happy Easter Eve!  I'm not sure that anyone but Bella calls it that, but that's okay. She was very excited about Easter Eve. There was an Easter Egg Hunt this morning that she really wanted to go to. Since Gabe had swimming lessons this morning, Pat took Bella to the Easter Egg Hunt.  Gabe and I decided to go for 15 minutes, so we could at least take some pictures before heading to swim lessons, but someone decided to fall asleep in the car and rather than taking him to out for 15 minutes to watch other kids look for Easter eggs, I chose to let him sleep. So, no Easter egg hunt for Gabe and no pictures of them together. Bella had a lot of fun though. Once we all got back home Pat went outside to work on a garage project, Bella spent the afternoon playing and I did a bunch of baking to get ready for tomorrow. Gabe took a long nap, which made my life easier. Once he woke up, he decided to help me bake. Unfortunately, we have different definitions of helping. He decided to help by

"I'm just sitting here on my sippy cup. It makes a great chair!" "Can I ride in my car seat like this?" A family walk minus one. Usually I put him in the laundry basket. This one he did all on his own...     He was very proud of himself for doing this. Apparently hanging out in the locker before swim lessons is fun? The best selfie we've ever taken.          

Life is never boring around here. It might be an ordinary day, but it's not boring... This morning, I was just about to leave for work and Gabe made a shocking discovery. If you pick up the toilet lid, there is a whole pile of water to play with! It's a good thing we leave the bathroom doors shut so that the cat can't play in the toilet either... Bella had a dentist appointment today, so I pulled her out of school for the appointment. She missed math class, which she didn't mind at all... It did mean that I didn't get a lot of hours in at work today, but that's just my life right now. Tonight Pat went to youth group, while Bella and I dyed Easter eggs. We've been doing this together for 5 years and it's fun to see how she's grown over the last few years. Bella had swimming lessons, so Gabe and I went for a run while she was at the pool.  Before a run, it's important to make sure that you're well hydrated and have a snack. It was a pretty ordi

Winter is over! I mean, it might not be, but today is absolutely beautiful and warm and it felt like spring. So after work, the kids and I went to the park with one of Bella's friends. How great it is that we live in such a great place. What a great view for a trip to the park! Gabe thought that Bella and her friend were absolutely hilarious on the swing. He really liked swinging himself, but when they were on the swings, all he could do was smile, laugh and and wave all of his limbs.    

If Gabe had been born on time, today would be his birthday. For his actual birthday, he got an avocado as I wasn't quite ready to give cake to an 8-month-old. In honor of his adjusted birthday, he got a cupcake. I think it's safe to say that he liked it! He ended up straight in the bathtub afterwards...            

I've thought of a few things since I posted that last random update. He loves to clap. He's very proud of himself for clapping and everytime he does something fun, like waving or listening, he has to clap for himself. He's also started smacking his belly like he's playing the drums. It's more fun when he's not wearing a shirt, but he can play the drums even with a shirt on. ------------------------- He has a favorite color. I know that sounds ridiculous and I never would believe that a baby could have a favorite color if I hadn't seen it myself. Gabe likes red. He has a giraffe with neck pieces that are different colors. He knocks over the giraffe just so he can get the red piece. He sticks it in his mouth and carries it around the house. He doesn't care about the blue, green or purple one, just the red one. ------------------------------ He loves putting things on his head. He doesn't care what it is. Clothes, toys, bibs, Bella's ski helmet, you

A few random moments from our life... Friday Uncle Tim came down for the day. We had lunch and then went to visit Gabe. Poor Gabe was pretty confused. He looked like Gramps, but not quite. He stared at him with a half smile for quite awhile.   ---------------------- Pat and Bella went up skiing today. I gave them strict instructions to get a picture, but that did not happen... That means that Gabe and I had the day to ourselves. It was probably a good idea. I went to Uncle Tim's concert on Friday and last night we got a babysitter to go to a work thing, so he hasn't had a lot of mommy time this weekend. So, we spent the day just the two of us. We started out by skipping church because we both fell asleep 20 minutes before it started. Oops. We had a really great 2.5 hour nap though. We went for a run this afternoon. I haven't done much running since Gabe was born and it's time for me to get back into that. Today we ran to the grocery store, which was a really good plan e