a bit of catch up!

We had such a fun fall... I didn't get to document it all in our blog! Eric's parent's came for a visit the weekend of October for Salmon Days. We always love going to that festival. They have tons and tons of free things for kids to do, including a bunch of blowup things. Most I can't get either of the kids to even approach, much less go inside, but there was one obstacle course that both Gabe and Nyah loved!

gotta pause to hitch up those jeans... he's not in any particular hurry! :)

Woohoo, he climbed up that all by himself!

Love this picture... look how happy Eric is too!

Nyah needed a little push...

She just wanted to jump at the end and not get down!

One day the kids made grisly cupcakes with their Grandma Cheryl... check those out! Gabe was very meticulous and did a great job.  We gave Nyah her own to keep her occupied and it turned out particularly gruesome with lots of eyeballs, liberal blood, and a knife stuck in the top for good measure! Ha!

We love Grandma Cheryl!

Being silly with some treats from their Halloween package!

We love the fall!!

Sweet Sister Time

The title says it all... my sweet big sis Mel was here for an extra long weekend and I had the time of my life! She is the mother of 5 busy boys and when you take into consideration that we live in opposite corners of the country, we have not had quality one on one time for years.  Even when our families are together it is insanely busy and distracting with all the kids and activities; fun but crazy!  So what a treat to have her all to myself at my house. :)  We took her around to all the usual sights in Seattle, went hiking, on drives, out to eat, and lots of hanging out time at home. I can't begin to say how much fun I had! Life was so easy with her too... her mothering instincts are finely honed and she anticipated who needed attention and what needed to be done constantly.  I literally just got to talk and talk to her without missing a beat - she was feeding Ian while I was cooking, or she was unloading the dishwasher while I was setting the table. It was amazing having two mom's around! Well I could go on and on about how blissful it was but I'll just say having her stay with me was an experience I won't soon forget. I am so blessed to have such a warm, intelligent, faithful, positive, and creative sister. Wow.  I love her with all my heart and can't wait for another one of these mini-vacations! I've decided I can't live without them from now on!

Lunch at Pike Place Chowder... delicious!!

Ian snacking on Mel's purse!

 

Nyah making friends with a street musicians little dog

bubble gum alley

Bye Mel! We love you!!

Happy Halloween 2012

Trick or Treat!! Man, I love Halloween! It's so fun to get all dressed up, walk around the neighborhood seeing everyone's fun decorations and costumes, eating wonderfully gross food, carving pumpkins... the list goes on.  We have so much fun with Halloween at our house, probably because my mom always made it so fun for me growing up. Now I get to create the great memories for my own family!  Here is our cute witch princess, our fearless fireman, and funny little Chewbacca.

Gabe is finally really getting into Halloween. In the past he has enjoyed it but with a large dose of apprehension for all the "scariness".  This year he giggles and says it's really cool when something is a little scary to him. :)  {Nyah's not quite there yet (she hasn't even warmed up to Mr. Bones) but it's really good for her to see her big brother having fun and being brave! Needless to say our scariest decorations consist of black paper rat silhouettes along the baseboards and spider webs over the front door!}  This year at the ward Halloween carnival the fog machine in the spook alley set off the fire alarm... so we had a visit from the fire department during our trunk or treat - very exciting!  Definitely put a positive spin on us running around in the pouring rain trying to trick or treat while the fire alarm was shrieking! :)  Gabe got in a picture with a real fireman which was super cool! But this is the best picture of our handsome hero:

I think Nyah enjoyed trick or treating but she absolutely insisted we push her in the stroller from doorstep to doorstep.  And don't try moving the stroller an inch before she returns from the door or she screams and hollers like we are leaving her behind.  Eric calls her a little diva... which I have to agree with!  She was actually really brave too even at some of the scarier doorsteps.  One had a huge spider that jumped up to scare people and she screamed the most ear piercing scream and then ran back to me like the devil was chasing her.  (It didn't help that Gabe was behind her screaming in excitement!) At another door there was a hooded man whose skeleton face lit up and he started to talk when you got near.  He was holding the candy bowl so it was really a challenge for little kids to work up the guts to snatch a candy bar. With the fog machine going, it was pretty dang scary!  Gabe wouldn't go near it but Nyah went with Daddy and when he told her to say hi she said the sweetest little "hi" to the ghoulish character, my heart melted.  It was so cute.  After about an hour she climbed in the stroller and declared "All done! I go home!"  We went home and she happily went straight to bed. That girl knows what she wants!

Nyah's chariot

Ian is a such a sweet little trooper. He smiled for the pictures, chewed happily on his stroller rain cover while we went trick or treating, and went to bed late without a problem. What a gem! (I have the exact same pictures of Gabe in the same costume in the same poses that I really want to compare but I can't find them on my computer... coming up soon!)

Got it!

I finally caught on camera Ian sucking his thumb! I'm still expecting this little habit to disappear one day and so I'm really enjoying seeing him self soothe in such a sweet way.  I'm sure if he is still sucking his thumb in a year, I won't think it's so great! But for now I love it.

things to remember

For the past several weeks, maybe longer, there has been a list of things running through my mind that has been nagging me to write down. Funny or cute little things that I don't want to forget about my 3 kids.  I was just about to go jot them down and figured I may as well do it here on the blog.

I'll start with Ian. My baby is now 6 months and here is a snapshot of his life:
*For several months now, whenever I'm changing his diaper up on the changing table, he grabs my sleeve and laughs and laughs as my arm moves around wiping his bum or doing up his clothes.  It's like he thinks it's a game we are playing! It is soooooo adorable!
*His front two teeth are coming in.(He already has his bottom 2) A little too soon if you ask me...!
*There has never, and I mean never, been such a sweet, calm, easy baby.  We are so blessed!  He may be happy to just watch and wait for his turn but he is always ready for some attention and a smile will just bloom across his face when you talk to him.
*Having said that, he has just barely developed some lungs!  It is extremely rare that he cries but when he does, you better watch out because he is MAD!!  The only times this has happened is if he is super tired or hungry and we have put him off too long. I've learned my lesson that this sweetheart has a limit! :)
*Ian loves his big sister and brother so much.  No matter what, they are who he will watch.  Eric and I could be dancing a jig and he would still be craning his neck to see them. (And they think he is absolutely the best and have always been super sweet and positive to him.)
*He giggles when I sing to him. Not sure how I feel about that one! ;)
*Every night when I'm getting him in his pj's he squirms like crazy, kicking and flailing his arms and just laughing over anything. Of course Eric and I can't help but tickle him by kissing his tummy, sides, and neck.  I swear he either anticipates us tickling him or wants us to so much he can't help but laugh even before we start! 
*He is loving his jumperoo lately and at times will frantically jump around in it while screeching and hollering.
*He is our first baby to love sleeping on his tummy... and sucking his thumb! Uh oh... but I still can't help but think it is the sweetest and cutest little habit in the world.  He is so precious!
*When he is tired and we are late getting him home for a nap, he will suck his thumb very loudly, with a "nmyum, nmyum, nmyum".  For some reason I just LOVE it!

Well that felt good to write all that down about him! Life is busier with 3 and I feel like I don't have the time to capture in writing all the things that I treasure about him every day.  Today Eric came down the stairs with Ian in his arms after just getting him up from his nap and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of love and gratitude for this sweet boy.  It hit me that it is such a blessing to have a baby in our home. They are so pure and innocent, so sweet and soft.  Nothing could be closer to God than a little baby. What an honor to have that time and opportunity to have them bless our home. Every moment should be treasured.  I hope I appreciate it enough. I don't want to look back and have any regrets.

I cannot get a picture of Ian sucking his thumb... this time I tried sneaking up but he saw me and popped up smiling! This was the picture I got instead. :)

Gotta go but the rest about Nyah and Gabe will be coming soon....

34 going on 70

Gabe came home from kindergarten today with a smiley sticker on his hand for being quiet and attentive during class.  What a good boy! He was pretty proud of it and later offered to give me one as well. Of course I said I would love one, so he peeled a smiley sticker off an old homework assignment and graciously brought it to me.  That's when he informed me that he had added a bunch of lines across the forehead like I have in my skin up there, he said. Well I was laughing out loud at this point and he had that pleased yet slightly confused expression like he doesn't know exactly what he did to make me laugh!  Oh my goodness that kid makes me laugh every day!  But I have to admit I was a little surprised to know that he had noticed a bunch of wrinkles on my forehead... good grief, seriously?!

Ian's first food

At 5 months old, Ian's doctor didn't like him being in the 25% for weight. [She's a bit of a worrier. :)]  So she said to go ahead and start feeding him the big-boy stuff. Well, he loved it. Couldn't get enough, in fact!

Whistler, B.C.

In September we took a long weekend trip to Whistler with our friends the O'Neill's. It was such a beautiful, relaxing vacation!  Whistler is just gorgeous and this time of year was perfect weather, sunny and 70's every day.  Wow it felt so good to be up in the mountains, taking a break from day to day responsibilities. Well, at least for Eric... I guess mine came with me! ;)  Once we figured out the right sleeping arrangement (after one very long night with kids taking turns being up), our stay was wonderful. Eric and Joel went mountain biking a lot and Whitney and I explored the village, took the kids swimming, and pretty much took it easy.  We also had fun all together at some fun parks and hikes.  What a great trip! I want to make it a tradition to go every summer.

 

On the way home we stopped in Vancouver and spent the afternoon there. We had a picnic and walked around Stanley park, searched for crabs on the beach, and wandered around Gaslight District. It was fun way to end our vacation.

Just perfect

How often to you get a picture like this?!  Oh my, I love these two little people so much...

Mommy and Nyah time

Now that Gabe goes to kindergarten every morning, we have Mommy and Nyah  time during Ian's nap.  It's fun to have more one on one time with my little sweetheart.  More than anything in the world, I want to have a close, happy relationship with my daughter. (Well with all of my kids of course!)  So anyway, this is our time to get started! :)  She is still a little spitfire and most of the morning is spent with her yelling "MOMMY LOOK!  I JUMP!!" while she jumps from the coffee table to the couch.... or her yelling "I FROG!!" while she leap frogs across the floor... or her yelling "MOMMY, CATCH! BALL!" while she stands poised to chuck a ball at me.  You get the theme here, right?  A lot of yelling and physical exertion!  But we do have quieter moments when we read together (she loves to look at books) or cook/bake together (she is a great help dumping ingredients and licking pretty much everything she can get her hands on!).  Overall we have a wonderful time together. 

One day she found a water gun and was absolutely engrossed!  I banished her outside, for obvious reasons, and she happily spent an hour shooting water and filling it back up repeatedly.  She was so cute I went out and took some snapshots.  It was hard to decide which to post so I'm posting too many. Oh well.

Of course poor Denali got squirted. She is way too tempting of a target!