31 and a half weeks

I don't know why I feel compelled to add the half week. Well yes I do... I feel huge and want to remember that I was almost 32 weeks when this picture was taken, haha! :)A little under two months left at the time I'm writing this. Whew! I feel (and look) like he could come next week but honestly I really do need the time to finish getting ready. And you know, it hasn't been too bad so far. For one thing, I've tried really hard this pregnancy not to complain. (Eric doesn't count though, heehee!!) I know it is such a blessing to be expecting a child and I'm so thankful and excited to welcome him here too! It hasn't been a breeze (boy am I jealous of the women that go 9 months with relatively few problems) but all things are manageable thanks to a lovely block of time every afternoon where I'm free to relax. Thank you naps and quiet-time! :) (I'm certain Heavenly Father made babies and toddlers need lots of sleep as much for their growth and development as for their mother's sanity!!) Of course having a supportive and loving spouse makes all the difference in the world too. Thanks babe.

Jello jigglers

At preschool a mom brought Jello jigglers for snack time and boy, was Gabe impressed! He thought it was the coolest thing and described it all to me in detail. (Obviously he hasn't had a lot of exposure to Jello!) So anyway, I agreed to take him to the store to pick out Jello and make our own jigglers! The best part was picking out the shapes to punch out or cut. Or maybe it was watching the way they ate their treats... haha!

Green smoothies = yum

Eric got the BlendTec blender for Christmas and he was THRILLED! (that's a joke although he was happy! I may never live this one down though...!) So every day, at least once, we enjoy a green smoothie packed with delicious nutrients. It feels awesome! Mostly because I love watching Gabe and Nyah literally inhale all that spinach, flax, fruit, and other good things! :) It's been less than 2 months and we have made 110 smoothies!!! (It keeps track for you. And honestly some of those times were for grinding wheat, making green icecream, chopping nuts and a million other awesome things that machine does.) I love it!! Here are Gabe and Nyah enjoying their smoothies one morning cozied up on the stairs. They were being so cute with their legs up slurping away and smiling at each other. I couldn't capture the moment exactly but here is my best shots:

Valentine's 2012

We started out Valentine's off with a festive breakfast of pink, heart-shaped pancakes and a strawberry smoothie. During the day Gabe went to his preschool Valentine's party, we put our finishing touches on our valentines, and got ready for our fun family night! That evening we had our traditional doorbell-ditching of valentines... Gabe and Nyah were delighted! :) So were Eric and I! It was so fun to receive those little notes of love from each other. My favorite was Gabe's valentine to Nyah. First of all he put dog stickers on the front (because she loves doggies, he said!) then he drew a picture inside:Yes, that's me with the enormous stomach!! I bet he explained a hundred times how that was me with the really fat tummy! In fact when Eric asked why he wasn't in the picture Gabe immediately said there was no room for him because Mommy's tummy was SOOOOO fat!! Lovely. :) We had so much fun that night. I sure love my precious family.

Birthday boy Eric

We had a birthday boy in the house this weekend! Eric's parents usually will come to town to visit for his birthday and this year they took us all to lunch at Eric's favorite BBQ joint Famous Dave's. Eric was loving those finger-lickin' ribs!Later that evening I made him a special dinner and topped it off with his favorite: cheesecake, of course! This year he requested the Decadent Chocolate Cheesecake... and it sure was! As you can see, our VIP wasn't the only one that loved it... Gabe had to lick his plate clean and Nyah snarfed her own slice then moved around the table begging bites from everyone else! :) Eric even discovered that weekend that cheesecake makes a delicious breakfast too!The next evening Eric and I were able to go on a birthday date while grandma and grandpa babysat. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my BFF! ;) Thanks Cheryl and Don!

To top off a fun weekend, Gabe got to play Cars Monopoly with his grandparents... an exciting new game that we are all getting very good at! You can see by that radiant face, how much fun he is having!

my artists

Gabe is really becoming a wonderful artist! Each painting or drawing he does is full of details, all with a story behind them. It is so fun to listen to him explain his art to me. I get a direct interpretation from the artist himself - wow! :)
Nyah is a fledgling artist herself, but more often than not, her canvas is her own skin... usually hands and arms but at times when I'm not as vigilant, it can end up on her face as you can see!

Snowed in!

Finally we get some snow! It may not look like it, but we are snowed in! No snowplows means packed snow and ice sheets on the roads... no one is going anywhere. Bundled up here at home, it's been heavenly though. The blinds are all pulled up so we have unobstructed views of the beautiful, white landscape out there. I have been making soups and baking bread (plus a lot of organizing but that's not nearly as romantic!) Nyah points out the window every so often and says "no-ing!!" :) Gabe is spending most of every day outside playing with the neighborhood kids, interspersed with short breaks of us huddled by the fire drinking cups of hot cocoa while his snow clothes spend a minute in the dryer. (It's awfully wet snow!) It is so fun!! School has been canceled all week... even work for Eric has been on hold. (Well, technically he has been working at home but he takes lots of little breaks!) It didn't take long for our fun-loving Daddy to break out the sled and take the kids out... Gabe loves it but Nyah prefers to run (or trundle slowly) along side the sled mostly!We have a little trail through a green belt in our neighborhood that we love to walk on. The snow has transformed it into our own winter wonderland! I feel like I'm in a fairy tale book in there! :) Gabe wanted to go to his pond and see if it had frozen over... well it almost was! He had fun forming snowball "bombs" and chucking them in! I think we are at the tail end of this snow break though. The sky is giving us less snow and more "freezing rain". It's wreaking even more havoc with the roads but I am loving the gorgeous ice sculptures forming outside on all the plants. Within a few days all this will be gone (sigh) but I have to say we loved the change and appreciated every minute!

Christmas lights at Temple Square

One of my favorite things about going home for Christmas is that we get to go see the lights at Temple Square. I have been able to see them almost every year for the past 20 years... and I'm always still awed. They are beautiful! Especially with the temple rising above. Wow. It was a perfect night to go because the weather was so mild. Everyone had a wonderful time. Gotta love this first picture of the very-excited-kids taking off down the sidewalk (that's them way too far away!!)

the sisters on TV and New Year's fondue!

My sister's and I were all invited on Channel 2 News at noon while we were there! The Sister's Cafe was featured on their Fresh Living show earlier in the year but only Mel, Mindy and Amy were there to be on. This time we all got to be on together and I have to say it was a lot of fun! We did a "cooking" segment about fondue... a fun idea since New Year's Eve was in just a few days. It was a lot of fun! We actually posted the segment on our website too. Here we are right before heading to the news station that morning:We saved all the yummy fondue makings for our own family fondue party on New Year's Eve! It was a blast and everyone appreciated our delicious contribution to the night! :)Then on New Year's Day we headed over to the Richardson's for more fondue!! Actually it is their tradition to have fondue to celebrate the new year. It was lots of fun.

Utah Christmas Trip

Bright and early on Christmas morning (actually dark and early!!) we were on a plane to Utah! Dear old Santa came a day early to our house so no one missed a thing. In fact, we got a double Christmas because we were at Grandma Richardson's house in time for present opening and to Grammy Sterzer's in time for Christmas dinner! It was a wonderful day and so special to be able to see our loved ones in Utah on our favorite holiday!Nyah with aunt Caitlynn and grandma R - Gabe with Grandma and Grandpa. Cool new remote dump truck, Gabe! This was the only picture of the kids opening gifts and my parents! Nyah loved her new book from great grandma and grandpa Rice... so did Gabe!