Here ducky, ducky!

There are a bunch of ducks at the golf course that sure love us (well, our bread crumbs anyway)! Today Gabe and I headed over to feed those duckies and this time they were up on the grass so we got an up-close-and-personal experience with them. At first Gabe didn't mind... but when I stepped back to take these pics, those ducks walked all over him - nabbing that bread right out of his hands as he was trying to break it up for throwing! He was NOT happy about that! My tough guy quickly got over it though and was soon happily digging up rocks amidst those pushy ducks. In fact, he got a little pay back because once our bread was gone Gabe wanted to throw rocks into the water (of course) and those silly ducks kept following us around, hungry for rocks I guess!Couldn't get Gabe to look up (too many possible rocks to scope out) but isn't that a gorgeous backdrop?!
And they're off to greener pastures! (Eventually they caught on to the insult of diving after rocks)

Spring tease

For a while there Spring was really teasing us with some perfect weather! Now that it's back to cold rain (and the occasional snowflake!) it's hard to believe how nice it was there for a bit. We took advantage of the sun though and hit the park almost every day! Gabe's favorite thing is to dig up rocks and throw them into water! I swear he could do that all day. It reminds me of how my sis Erin once said Ben spent the afternoon at the lake trying to throw every rock on the shore into the water! That's Gabe for sure!! Too bad Ben's so far away in Detroit...they are obviously kindred spirits. :)There was no water at this park but Gabe made due with playing in the mud! Here he is taking a break to eat lunch with friends...
We had 5 baby boys and 4 mommies that day! Aren't those boys cute?! (I had a rent-a-baby... my nephew Jack! :) haha!!)And here we are again at Heritage park - this time with Daddy, Mindy and Jack!

Poor little sickie...

My Gabe is so sick. I keep thinking he is getting better and then the next day he is back to square one with the fever, coughing, runny nose, and crying. Poor little guy! The one funny thing about the situation is that he pulls the most hilarious faces when he has a stuffy nose! At least I think that is where it started...some of these faces don't seem to have a thing to do with a bothersome nose! :) Whenever I laugh at his faces he smiles and says "funny!!" - he thinks he is so funny! And he is right!! So here are a few shots of the entertainment around our house...






Another thing that has popped up during his sick days is a highly developed sense of cleanliness...to the point of obsession I'm thinking!! If there is so much as a string on the ground he is bringing it to a trash can chanting "garbage, garbage", often with an accompanying "eww, ku-ku"! Even a tiny piece of lint on his arm is viewed with suspicion... or a droplet of water on the table! I'm not exaggerating!! At dinner he wouldn't eat because he was so concerned that there was a bit of his lunch remaining on the tray (that would be a little smear of pasta sauce that escaped the wash rag earlier)...he kept saying "messy, messy, messy" over and over until I cleaned it up!! Eric and I were like "is he serious?!!" It is so funny! Since he has a very runny nose he is constantly running up to me saying "nose, nose" in the most woebegone voice until I wipe his nose. I have to go around the house with a roll of TP at my side! I guess it's better than his original way of dealing with it - wiping his nose on his sleeve! That got a lot of "eww!!"s from me! (which may have started his whole fastidious streak- great!) Anyway, I could go on and on with more examples of how "messy" he thinks our house is! :) It just cracks me up - I had to share!!

Gabe and I...the world travelers!

Gabe and I got to go visit Grandma and Grandpa in Magrath, Alberta over Easter... it was such a fun trip! We bummed a ride with Mom and Dad and thankfully the 12 hour drive was not bad at all. In fact, Gabe was an angel - what a good sport! With a ball in each fist, a stack of books at his disposal, and endless viewings of Finding Nemo, Gabe was in a good place! :) The entire time we were there, the weather was gorgeous... with lots of sun and blue skies. Consequently we spent a lot of time outdoors. Here we are at Uncle Bob's farm land feeding the horses - they still have their shaggy winter coats. Grandpa brought a truck load of hay and they came running over! My little bareback rider!! For being such a cautious little guy, Gabe has no fear of huge animals! Must be Denali's good influence!Gabe loved those horsies...and they loved him too!! They were so curious about him; 4 or 5 of them came over individually to him and would lower their heads down and put their nose right against his head. Gabe would hold perfectly still - not afraid in the least. It was so interesting!

Saturday we headed out to the farm for a picnic where we could enjoy Grandma's delicious fried chicken! It was so beautiful out there. Since this is where Mom grew up, we have been visiting Magrath my whole life. Even though we were there at the tail end of winter, it was still beautiful. I love the landscape of southern Alberta - the rolling hills and golden fields, the huge blue sky, and the unexpected deep coulees. (Coulees are like small steep valleys cut through by water - they often have jagged rock edges and are full of trees) I have pictures of Dad holding Gabe on the edge of one below... Everyone was so sweet with Gabe the whole time we were in Canada. Here is Aunt Cindy taking him down to the water to explore and Dad helping him throw rocks into the water...how exciting!!
And what would a trip to Magrath be without a softball game?!! We got to watch a ball game with Cole and Jordan playing!Alex and Gabe... my sweet cousin Alex was so cute with Gabe. He adored her by the end of the trip!

the big Easter egg hunt...

We had the best Easter egg hunt ever!! There were eggs, candy, and treats all over Grandma's yard and best of all, my cousin Ciana bought a real live bunny rabbit for the kids - what a perfect surprise! Thanks Ciana - you are awesome! :) Gabe and Brock were loving it! So was Alex until that sweet little thing peed all over her! Aaaaah! :) Here are just a few of the dozens of pictures I took that afternoon!Alex and Gabe hunting for gold wrapped chocolate eggs - but Gabe refused to identify them as anything other than FOOTBALLS!! :)Brock and Gabe... I LOVE the faces Brock pulls! What a funny guy!That rabbit sure was loved by those boys... it even got smothered in kisses!!The sisters: Aunt Jackie, Aunt Cindy, and MomMy cousin Jordan and his girlfriend Ashley

Cole, Uncle Jim and DadBrock and his fun mommy Ciana!

And here we are at the steepest egg toss hill you have ever seen!

the Easter Bunny loves us!!

The Easter Bunny came early to our house this year! He must have known we were going out of town for Easter and wanted to make sure Gabe got his basket... he must love us a lot! :) He actually sneaked in on Saturday afternoon while we were all taking a nap. We woke up to his usual trickery of hidden eggs and baskets throughout the house. Once Gabe caught on to the idea, he had a blast searching for all the goodies! It was so fun for Eric and I to see his excitement and happiness - I absolutely love the holidays!! They are a 1,000 times more fun with Gabe in our family! The Easter bunny had fruit snacks hidden in Gabe's sport ball eggs and he was eating them as fast as he could crack them open...it was so funny! So all our pictures of Gabe are of him stuffing his mouth or chewing!!
I had to add this funny picture of Denali with her bunny ears... well, to be honest we call them her bat ears!