Happy Birthday Baby!

 

Can Ian really be a year old already? Has it really been 12 months since that sweet baby was born into our family?  This past year with him has changed our family so much.  Life is unimaginable without his spunky presence.  And he IS spunky! No one believes me because he is always a quiet angel around others... but at home he really lets his hair down!  That boy has no problem letting us know when he wants or doesn't agree with something. He loves to scream too... in happiness, excitement, annoyance, fear, tiredness, etc.  He is developing a little attitude too... uh oh.  If he wants something and I take it away he will screech so loud it would peel paint off the walls but when I try to give him something else he will chuck it as hard as he can with this really mad expression on his face!  I have even relented and tried to give back the thing I took and he still won't take it - he is so mad at me for daring to take it away in the first place!! He makes me laugh.  On the other hand, our Ian is super silly and loves loves loves to laugh!  It doesn't take much to get him giggling.  He's a little flirt and loves to play games with anyone.  He is my first little thumb sucker and it just melts my heart when I see him sucking his thumb.  We have a sweet little routine of snuggling before his sleep times while I sing to him. He cuddles against my shoulder and pops that little thumb in... sometimes I struggle to lay him down... I hate to let go of this precious baby.  It struck me a few weeks ago that this time is so fleeting with my babies. Even though we will be together for eternity... my children will be adults.  This time that I get to cuddle and protect and hold them close is so SHORT. It kinda breaks my heart.  I don't want to waste a minute or take any day for granted.  (Which of course I will...)  But I really want to remember that this time is a gift and that I need to treasure it. 

 

Well, to celebrate the special #1 birthday for our little man, we took the family to the Family Fun Center. It was our first time and we really had a blast!  Cheryl and Don were here so it was extra fun.  Here we are on the go-cart track... can I just say that Eric is a maniac?! BUT I did get around him at one point. :)  Gabe got to go with Grandma and Grandpa and had a great time.  Nyah and Gabe got to drive their own little bumper cars too which was very exciting!

 

Nyah and Ian watching from the sidelines. There is that little thumb! He was missing his nap but no complaints from our sweetheart.

Time for cake and presents!  Nyah and Gabe went together and bought Ian a big blue ball... do you think he liked it?!! :)

 I made him a cake that would really fit his personality.... a little monkey!!  He LOVED it... oh my goodness.  I was distracted for a just a few minutes and he had snarfed down his whole piece and was very happy about it!  That little dude is about the cutest thing in the world! We love him so much...

 

Happy Easter!

Easter was so exciting this year! The kids are really getting into the swing of things with the holidays and their wide-eyed rapture is so fun to witness.  I dragged myself out of bed at 6:30am when I heard little pattering of feet and excited exclamations coming from downstairs.  Gabe and Nyah were scouring the house for their hidden baskets and coming across the eggs they decorated the day before and set out for the Easter Bunny to hide.  It was a blast to watch!

Later we headed to the park and played games like the egg toss, the egg roll and the relay where you balance an egg on a spoon and run! It was really fun - even with only our little family.  Ian army-crawled around the park and ate his fair share of dirt and grass while we played. :)

For Easter Sunday we had friends and the missionaries for dinner. What a fun holiday to kick off Spring!

Dear Easter Bunny

Gabe left this wonderful note for the Easter Bunny this year.  He is such a sweet boy. I can tell he badly wants to believe but at the same time he questions everything and wants to analyze it and figure it all out. He is a very literal kind of guy . Not like me at all. I don't remember ever even thinking about the particulars of things - I just accepted and enjoyed! But he wants to understand it all.  My favorite was how he would ask us very serious questions in a nonchalant way: how big is the Easter Bunny? what color was he? did he walk on just two legs?  I told him I had never seen the Easter Bunny so I didn't know what he looked like or how he walked/hopped. Eric told him he thought he was a giant purple bunny. Gabe just smiled and shook his head and said, no Dad I think he is white. When it was time for bed he made sure the baskets were filled with paper grass and laid out on the table, and bowl of carrots waited next to his sweet little note. When he was setting out the plastic eggs (which after he asked about I told him the E. B. fills the eggs we leave out) he asked me how the Easter Bunny was going to open the eggs to fill them with candy when he only has little paws. He thoughtfully left all the plastic eggs open to make his job easier.  Gabe is such a sweet little guy!!

a trip to the zoo

We tagged along with our friends' preschool field trip to the zoo the other day. It was gorgeous weather and I'm so happy we got out of the house to enjoy it.  It has been a long and rainy winter.  Here are some cute pictures of our fun day.

That is Nyah's friend Emmy in the purple - her little bestie! They are adorable together!

The double stroller brigade (I had mine as well!)

Our little sweetheart not too thrilled to be stuck in the stroller. When I took him out he started squealing he was so happy!

Gabe begged all day to see the flamingos - his fave!

Are those kids laying flamingo eggs on those nests?!

bananas make me happy

I used to cut up Ian's food in little chunks for him to pick up.  But one day I was in a hurry (in other words he was starving and not shy about letting me know it) and I handed him half a banana. He immediately stopped whining and looked at the banana, then me, then the banana, with this gleam of excitement in his eye. Then he started this funny little laugh like "huh, huh, huh" and reached tentatively for this new and strange object to eat. He was absolutely thrilled as he ate it and ever since he loves it when I give him a banana to eat on his own.  Even now, he can be crying but if I hand him a banana, he stops and gives me a little smile as he stuffs it in.  He is so darn cute!!

Nyah's 3rd Birthday

Our pretty princess turned 3 on Saturday... I can barely believe it.  She continues to be a fireball of energy and spunk.  When I think of Nyah I think of her sweet smiles where she cocks her head to the side and tilts it a bit - a very coy look, haha! I also think of her endless, sweet chatter and questions, questions, questions! I think of how she is so happy she will randomly let out a shriek of happiness while she plays- especially when in the shower or bath. (It is ear piercing in the bathroom though and I have to constantly remind her to use a quiet voice, to which she immediately whispers "Like this, Mama? Like this?" but within 10 seconds she is back to yelling!)  I think of how she adores her brothers and will mimic everything Gabe does right down to how he holds his sandwich while he eats. And how she lovingly mauls Ian constantly. I think of how affectionate she is and will just wiggle and squirm with joy when she climbs into bed with us to cuddle. I think of how she loves to "go" anywhere really... the park, store, for a walk, outside to wash cars, whatever.  For the past year at least, whenever she sees anyone getting their shoes/coat on, she starts loudly saying "I GO?! I GO?! Coat! SHOES! I GO!" She does not like to be left behind, ever.  I think of how she makes me pretend food and wants to sit down and pretend-eat every last bite with me.  I think of her sweet voice and all the cute little ways she says her words. I think of the soft way she says "I yuv you MaMa."  My heart just melts thinking about my beautiful daughter.  I have a lump in my throat when I think about how much I love her, what a precious little soul she is, and how much happiness and laughter she brings into our family.  

 

 

For her birthday we went and saw the fishies, as she likes to say! In other words we went to the Seattle Aquarium. It was a beautiful, sunny day to be downtown. Here we are at the tidepools:

 



 

After the tide pools the kids go their faces painted.  As soon as they were done, Nyah took off like a shot into a dark corridor where there are lots of aquariums.... I followed her to find that she had forced herself right to the front and was happily watching the fishies. See her between the lady in the red coat and the lady in the white coat?  That girl isn't afraid to go for what she wants! 

Of all the cool things to see at the aquarium, I think the kids love this old flannel board with cut out sea life to play with the most. We had to drag them away!

The sunshine felt so good, we lingered on the boardwalk for awhile before heading home. The kids love this statue of underwater treasure.

When we got home we opened presents!  Nyah got a new kitchen with lots of wooden food and pots/pans, etc to play with. She loved it! (So did Gabe... oh my, he was ecstatic!) :)

Gabe made a present for his little sis... a coconut tree! It was so cute and creative. He attached some fruit snacks to the bottom too. :)



Grammy and Papa gave Nyah a chest full of gorgeous dress ups! Here she is decked out in Cinderella gown, heels, sunglasses, necklaces, bracelets and rings!

WHOOO's turning 3?! 

 I made Nyah an owl cake this year - I think she liked it. Here is a before and after picture of her pretending to take a big bite then giving me a silly grin to let me know she was teasing me. :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!! We love you bigger than the sky!

Leprechaun mischief

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!  Yesterday was so fun, I couldn't wait to post about it.  We love St Patty's day around here... even those mischievous leprechauns are welcome at our house!  I woke up Sunday morning to hear Gabe and Nyah running around downstairs exclaiming in excitement over all the clues our sneaky little friends left us during the night.  It was so fun to hear their excitement, enough to even get me out of bed at 6:30am! ;)  It was seriously like Christmas morning.  I just love having little kids in our family. They make everything so exciting and fun!



Little green footprints told us that they rifled through our St. Patrick's games and jokes....

this trail led right to Denali's bed...

they tied a green ribbon around her neck!! Now Denali won't get pinched!

And most shocking...they used our potty!!!

The leprechauns always leave chocolate gold coins for the kids to find too... and they loved it as usual!  It was really cute because Gabe left everything exactly the way it was so Daddy could see it. (It was Eric's day to sleep in) Before getting in our green church clothes, we played games for awhile - hiding shamrocks for prizes and playing a St. Patty's matching game.  Over breakfast (with Irish scones of course) Gabe declared it to be the best St. Patrick's Day ever! :)

*I have to add that Gabe told me immediately that the footprints were paint and wondered why they would dip their feet in paint...? At one point he asked me "are you sure you didn't do this Mom?" which I ignored as I was talking to Nyah luckily. :) He let it go and his doubts certainly didn't diminish his excitement that morning. But geez, nothing gets by that kid!!

Potty training superstar!

Nyah in her Aurora panties... hanging out with mommy today!

 
Yesterday I was in the office going over my lesson for church when I heard Nyah yell "IT'S COMING, IT'S COMING!!" from the bathroom... I go in there to find her on the toilet seat going poop!!!!! She had taken off her pjs and diaper all by herself too.  I was incredulous!  When I potty trained Gabe, the hardest part was getting him to go #2 on the potty.  (He held it for 5 days initially then went in his underwear for weeks.)  And this little whippersnapper took matters into her own hands and taught herself!  Well she will be 3 in a few weeks and has been begging to go peepee on the potty for the past month.  Obviously I've been putting it off for a bit too long.  So this morning we made it official and broke out the princess panties Santa gave her.  She had ZERO accidents all morning, going #1 and #2 on the potty, until we had to pick up Gabe at the bus stop at noon.  I think putting on pants and shoes and all made her forget and she did have an accident. I am totally not complaining though... she has done amazing. I have to pinch myself to see if this is real! :)  I'm really hoping it lasts. She is napping now - in panties - so we will see how it goes.  By the way, I decided since she seemed so ready, to go all out and "throw away" the diapers and go cold turkey... let's see how the sleep time goes.


Reading books on a convenient "boat" mommy made for obvious reasons!

She wants to do everything herself, of course.

Ouch!

Gabe and Nyah were both sporting shiners last week!  Gabe bonked his face and split his eyelid while playing at a friends house.  Nyah fell at the park and scraped her face and hands up.  Both of them looked pretty beat up for a few days... but I have to add that it's amazing how fast kids bounce back and heal.  Wow!

Happy Birthday Daddy

We always get to kick off the year with Daddy's birthday.  I think I can safely say that the highlight of Eric's birthday this year was going mountain biking!  I actually got a babysitter so I could go with him... my first time getting to share with him one of his greatest passions.  And he is really good at it!  It was fun to see the terrain he loves and watching first hand, even experiencing, the thrill of it all.  Can I just say that mountain biking is not for the faint of heart? And I would never consider myself in that group... but goodness, it is definitely what I'd call an adrenaline sport.  I have never been so scared in my life as when I was careening down the mountain on a 6 inch wide trail full of rocks and roots as it twisted, turned, shot up, and literally dropped straight down. I would have been screaming if I had been able to catch my breath. And I wasn't even doing the hard stuff! I would pull off to the side of any jumps or drops or crazy-looking, elevated, wooden-bridge things... but Eric was doing it all.  Geez.  The reason it's so scary is because you are in control (as opposed to being strapped into a rollercoaster). Perhaps I should say "in control" since it really is hypothetical, at least for me.  At one point we were on a trail that was draping up and down across a narrow ravine - so you were blasting down one minute then immediately charging straight up again. And if you went too slow going down, you would get stuck going up and literally fall backward down the mountain.  Anyway, to make a long story short, I panicked at a fork and hit the brakes... let's just say I'm glad I was wearing a helmet.  Poor Eric thought I had broken my neck and I still remember him barreling through the trees to get to me in a panic.  It's actually kinda a sweet memory, just for that. :) So I didn't look too pretty on our date that night, with a swollen nose and scraped up face... but we still had a wonderful time.  We went to The Metropolitan, a famous steak house in Seattle, then out to a movie.  I'm pretty sure my sweet hubby had a great birthday.

On Sunday (Eric's actual birthday) our friends had us over for dinner and I brought his birthday cheesecake and took some pictures. I love this first one... it captures how much those 2 love their Daddy.