Look who's got a tooth!

Nyah's little gummy smile is changing! I'm a little sad but excited too because any new stage is fun with babies. We can't believe she has been toothless for so long. Gabe had a tooth by 2 1/2 months... Nyah is 8 months! Wow! I had to post a comparison picture of Gabe doing the same thing when he got his first tooth... he is 3 1/2 months here. Love the finger-in-the-mouth pictures!!

broccoli, anyone?

Nyah is teething and not too thrilled about it. Neither am I! It seems her life is just not right unless Mama is holding her. Fun but a little tiring after a few hours... days... weeks. Ok, it's just a few days now but it feels like weeks! :) So anyway, one evening as I was attempting to make dinner, she was protesting loudly at being left on the floor amidst a tempting array of toys. She wanted to be held NOW! Well, we reached a truce of sorts as I plopped her on the counter next to me. She seemed more than happy at this arrangement and immediately dove for the broccoli... and here is the sequence of events:

Whoa, what is this cool stuff??and it goes straight to the mouth of course...hmmm, not too bad....and she's on to seconds...Whatever makes you happy, babe!! :)(and no, she didn't actually eat any - just a lick here and there!)

Christmas tree decorating

Decorating the Christmas tree is one of my favorite activities during the holidays. It is so exciting getting it out and unwrapping all the ornaments. We get a new ornament each year, usually on a vacation or to celebrate something special that year - like a new baby! - so it's fun to reminisce as we hang them on the tree. We had the missionaries over for dinner that night so they stayed and joined in the fun!
The night before, while we were setting up the tree (and watching a little football), Gabe was so excited about the star on top he jumped the gun...! :)But when it was time, Daddy helped him put it all the way up top!The Christmas tree is done and we are loving it's festive colors and warm glow! And look what we found underneath... now that has to be the most precious gift ever!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hosted Thanksgiving this year! We were so happy to share it with good friends since it was our first Thanksgiving away from family. We had a lovely evening... the food was delicious and the company was even better! Luckily my friend Lomney brought some brie en croute to snack on because the turkey took an extra 90 minutes to finish roasting. Everyone was about half starved when we finally ate! It was worth the wait though... everything was absolutely delicious from the turkey and mashed potatoes to the pumpkin pie.

Marcie and Lomney slaving away in the kitchen!Eric carving his own bird for the first time! He was thrilled, let me tell ya! :)

Hear are some pictures of the tables. Gabe helped me make the Mayflower boat for sailing on his table! Each child also had a little boat name card. I'm not sure why I didn't get pictures of us eating at the table! Oh well! Marcie helped the kids make apple turkeys after dinner... fun!!And the night would not be complete if everyone didn't get a "ride" on Denali! :)

Bring on the snow, Seattle!

We Love Love Love the snow in this family! It's one of the things we have missed the most here in Washington. So when we woke up to the white stuff one morning, all of us were pretty excited. Gabe starting exclaiming about how it was Christmas now and Santa was coming! Despite learning that we had another month to wait for that momentous occasion, he was still bouncing around with excitement and couldn't wait to go out and dig around with is trucks in all that snow (all of a 1/4 inch at this time!!) He looked so adorable out there trying in vain to "dig" in the snow. He was so cute and good natured about it though - just told me it was too hard with his big digger so he was going to try it with his little digger. (He could not figure out why the big one wouldn't work since, as he explained to me, it had the "claws" on the front - evidently perfect for digging in the snow... but not so much with half frozen dirt!) Later he had a bit more success as the snow finally started to stick. (He is crouched behind the digger in this picture) It was so beautiful. Here are some pics of the house and neighborhood. (I wasn't the only one out taking pictures of it, either... it was so fun to see other flashes going off as the neighbors captured the moment too!)

I was so happy all day watching it fall gently down while we were snug and warm in our cozy house. It was a perfect winter day...

play hard... sleep hard

I was thrilled to find my computer cord in the mail today - yippee!! I can finally post about all the fun things we have been up to! Where to begin?!! Well, I thought I better start with some good ole playtime with Gabe and Nyah....

I love to hear these two giggling away on the floor... Nyah absolutely adores her big brother, and he thinks she is pretty cool too!

Gabe's puppy mask he made in preschool... he was being so silly and giggling almost as much as I was!

who thought the laundry basket could be so much fun?

Seeing my darlings sleep is almost as special as seeing them play... they are so precious.

wrestling, snow storms and computers

I have so many wonderful pictures I want to post... but I have those hated computer problems again. First it was a virus (got that fixed, whew) and now my pictures won't download from my camera. (It may have something to do with the day I found Nyah gnawing on my camera/computer cord... hmmm.) I was so happy to be up and running online again but I'm back to being frustrated because I want to share the fun that has been going on. So until I figure this all out here is a little teaser of what is to come...

1. Gabe is initiating Nyah into the world of wrestling.....and she is loving it! :) Let's be honest though, anything Gabe does, Nyah loves. She just gets a big grin on her face with any attention from her big bro. Can't wait to show you some action shots I got!

2. We are in the middle of a colossal snowstorm!! It is awesome! Eric and I are loving every minute. It reminds us of home - both of us have been walking around with a smile on our face all day! And Gabe... good grief, that boy thinks it is Christmas morning, literally! When he saw the snow this morning he started jumping up and down and asking if Santa was coming now! :) The next thing he was wanting was to go out and play in the snow with his digger!! (Allow me to mention that at this point in the day, no snow was sticking to the grass and there was barely a skiff on the dirt - haha!) I have some adorable pictures of him out in the snow digging around with his trucks.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week getting ready for Thanksgiving. We are excited to be hosting dinner at our house this year. I am roasting a turkey and doing all the trimmings myself this year so wish me luck! Have a great holiday!!

preschool already?

Gabe is loving preschool! I know I have mentioned it before... but I haven't dedicated a post to our fun little group of preschoolers! October was my month to teach (we have preschool every Wednesday from 9:30-11:30) and I sure had a lot of fun with the kids. Our theme was Community Helpers and Pumpkins! Here is a picture of them making fireman ladders with licorice and pretzel sticks....
Another snack time... we made pumpkin pudding! Mmmm...

I never got any pictures of us doing one of our MANY fun activities. I was somewhat distracted trying to keep 4 little people, with 30-second attention spans, engaged - haha!! Some of the things we do are read books, sing songs, learn finger plays, dance, draw/color/paint, play games, write letters, and make fun crafts. My favorite was a pumpkin life cycle book that the kids created. It started with a seed and went through the life cycle until the end was a jack-o-lantern...and another seed to start over. With each phase (or page) of the book they used a different medium of art - gluing, painting, crayons, cut-outs, tape, etc. It was really cute and very fun! That may have been my favorite but Gabe's favorite was probably a paper firetruck we made in a "direction-following" activity where the kids had to create it using a series of steps. Of course making a truck would be super exciting for our Gabers! :)

Well, he is off to school this morning and I'm left wondering how this sweet little guy:

grew into this handsome little man in a year and a half...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We had SUCH a fun Halloween!! Eric's parents came in town for the whole weekend and it was a treat to have them for a this holiday. Here is a picture of our fire-breathing dragon and our sweet pea:Our entire weekend was packed with spooky fun activities...

The Ward Halloween Party and Trunk-or TreatPumpkin Carving is one of my favorite things about Halloween. Gabe was totally into the pumpkin guts this year and even wanted a scary jack-o-lantern!! :)

The decorating! Our jack-o-lantern luminaries looked eerie and festive along the drive... Nyah has to be our cutest Halloween accessory :) (are those MICE running along the floorboards behind her?!!) Making ghoulish goodies with Grandma

Mummies and creepy crawly bugs for dinner!! For dessert, a dirt cake complete with worms crawling out of it!! And let's not forget our other yummy treats - pumpkin seeds and cranberry wassail- yum!

Last but certainly not least... Trick or Treating!!Caught red handed!!!!! Someone thought they would get a start on stuffing their goodie bag with treats from home! :) What a FUN weekend!! I'm sad it's over... except now we get to look forward to Thanksgiving!