Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Gabe was on a roll today... G: What's the thing with the keyboard and the buttons? M: An accordion G: Yeah, an accordion. I've been practicing and I think I could be really good. Can we buy one? M: No. We're not going to do that right now. G: But I think I could be really good! Why not? M: Well, accordions are really big for people like Daddy so you need to be a lot bigger. G: Oh Mom. They come in little sizes. Gabe was telling the guy at the store that he'd lost Perry. G: I think that maybe I should get a new one. M: You want to get a different parrot to replace Perry? G: No. A copy. M: Then what will Perry say if we find him? G: They'll be twins. We're about to have a swordfight. G: Wait! I'm not en guarded! He grabs the hat off of Josy's head. G: Now I'm ready. En guard! Gabe just got back from a sleepover at a friend’s house. I asked if he had fun and he said "oh, you bet I did." G: Have you seen my eyepatch? M: No G: Where did you last

And this is what happens when Josy and I are home alone together.  He gets ready to go on a run in the dark. We pull out the walkie talkies. I try and fold some laundry while he and the bear try to take over the laundry basket. I washed his sheet and blanket, so when I made the bed, I set up all his animals. He was very confused, but also exciting about it. He’s so much fun. He’s big enough to respond and play and it’s so entertaining. If he sees someone else getting a kiss he does his hmm hmm noise and picks up his little face so that you’ll give him a kiss too. It’s so cute that there’s no way to resist giving him a kiss!

A couple of months ago, I decided that it would be fun to make Gabe a pirate curtain for his bed. I figured that it would give him a fun reading area for book nap, plus it would just be fun. While we were in Arizona, I found some adorable fabric and I just needed to have a chance to make it. Well, since Gabe and Pat have been skiing on Sundays, Josy and I have had the day to ourselves. I’m not sure what I’m going to do when ski lessons are over because I’m enjoying our Sundays. Anyway, Josy takes a three hour nap in the afternoons, which has quickly turned into my sewing time. I finally finished my table runner experiment, so this week it was curtain time. I managed to get it all done before he got home, which meant that I got to surprise him and surprising Gabe is the best. His enthusiasm makes it all worth it. Needless to say, he loved it. And that makes all of the seam drama (a different story...) totally worth it.

Gabe had his first ski lessons! (Yes, it’s blurry. But this is the first picture I actually have of a Gabe skiing and Pat was under strict instructions to take a picture for me, and this is what I got. Also, it was so wet that his camera fogged up...) Both boys woke up with epic bedhead. This is our routine, every single morning and I love it. A lot of sword fighting happens these days. Josy is ready for school, with a lunch box and his blanket! Gabe drew this great picture of Captain Gabe and his pirate ship. It even had cannon balls and a plank! Sorry kid. You may be growing up fast, but you are still not ready for your own computer... We played at the mall for awhile while Gabe was at gymnastics and found all sorts of fun things to play on. Gabe is working his multitasking: reading a book, watching tv and snuggling with the cat at the same time! My belts and Blippi glasses are now part of the pirate costume. A friend was getting rid of some books and she gave us a stack, including

Pat and Gabe went skiing today, so it was just Josy and I home. It was raining and would have a great stay-at-home day, but I needed to get a few miles in for the running challenge I’m doing this month, so Josy and I decided to walk to the park in the rain. It was raining pretty hard when we left and I was rethinking our decision, but luckily it calmed down and wasn’t too bad. Josy was pretty excited to play in the park too. Luckily we planned ahead and bundled up for the rain. He was pretty sure he needed to climb down all of the big kid climbing equipment, so that was fun... After we played for a bit, we headed home and the rain cleared up enough that I was able to take my hood off for a bit! Then we decided to go to lunch. I’m not sure if Josy and I have ever gone to lunch just the two of us, but it was a lot of fun. Josy managed to charm everyone we saw and a couple of grandmas were willing to adopt him. Plus, we got to go to a restaurant that just opened up this weekend that remin

G: When I grow up, I’m going to be a the last warrior! But I think what I want to do when I grow up is to bury dead people in the ground. I think it would be fun. But a lot of work. I’ll have to take a lunch break. ————- In the middle of dinner, Pat and I were discussing normal dinner-time things, when suddenly... G: How many kids should my wife and I have? M: I think that’s a conversation you should have with your wife. G: Maybe 10,000. M: I think that may be a little high. ————— G: I'm trying to track down a mystery. M: What is the mystery? G: Why is the ocean and water and salt blue, but snow is white? ———— I made Gabe a graham cracker frosting sandwich and he thought it was wonderful and declared we should have it every day. Then he added a piece of cheese to it. ————- Gabe’s new favorite thing to do is hand you a sword and announce “I challenge you to a duel!” I challenged him the other day and he responded with “I’m honoring to accept!” We’re raising a classy pirate. 

Yesterday was our first day back to work and school. Well, the first day for everyone else. I went back last Tuesday... It was a rough day. To start with, no one wanted to get up early. Gabe just wanted to snuggle the day away. He was fine when we got to school, but Josy didn’t want to go in his classroom, so I sat on the floor with him on my lap for 20 minutes while he watched the other kids play, until he decided that he wanted to join them. I picked them up and I asked Gabe how his day was and he told me it was hard. I asked him why and he asked if he could have a popsicle. So, I’m not sure why it was hard. I never got a straight answer. But over the course of the evening he did mention two of his friends that used to be at school, but aren’t any more. I think his big problem is that he misses his friends. There were seven kids that have been at school with him since they were in the baby room and in the last year, six of them have left. Three moved, three are still in town but swit

We’ve officially been married for 7 years. Since we dated for three years before that, that means that next month will be a whole decade that we’ve been together. That’s just crazy talk. Since our anniversary was last Monday and Bella was still around, we decided to celebrate on Friday. We made the kids ravioli and put them to bed so e we could have a fancy dinner just the two of us. Actually, Josy was in bed and Gabe was watching Muppet Treasure Island, so our dinner had a pirate soundtrack. But that’s just our life right now. It’s been a good seven hears. I feel like we’ve crammed a lot of life in. But there’s no one else I’d rather do it with.

Well, we managed to make it through our mandatory quarantine. I’m back at work, although Pat and the boys are still home waiting on more test results. Bella made it back and I’m sure she’s not excited to be back at school. And we’ll be back to the normal business of life very soon... Although, I will say that it was kindof fun to have a few days to just hang out and play without worrying about trying to get any work done. It was also a good chance to clean out a few things and rearrange some toys and things. Plus, my fridge has never looked cleaner!! First morning back and Josy found his favorite toy: my Turkish tea pot lids. There’s been a lot of playing in this box. I’m impressed that it hasn’t gotten destroyed. He loves his kitty. And she was very happy to have us home. She’s been way more snuggly than normal, and that’s saying something because she’s a pretty snuggle cat. I took the kids on a walk and the park was empty, so we stopped to play. Josy was determined to keep up with Ga