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!

the pumpkin patch

We went on a preschool field trip to the pumpkin patch... what an adventure! Gabe is in a preschool that I am teaching with four other moms - so there are 5 kids total. And Gabe is the only boy!! Needless to say he is being exposed to a lot of new things... mainly all the different Disney princesses and their accessories. Haha! Boys and girls are so different. I am the teacher this month and it is so hilarious to "teach" this group of little kids! Anyway, here are some pics of our day at the pumpkin patch... what a fun time! This is as good as it gets with Gabe and a camera these days... :)My very own 2 little pumpkins getting a wheelbarrow ride! Rrrrrr - that's a heavy one!Gotta love this picture of sweetheart Brooklyn and all-boy Troy! haha!Jenna, Rachel and Gabe... taking it easy on some great seats!The tractor-pulled hay ride was Gabe's favorite part (needless to say)Let's not forget the teachers/moms! Me, Toni and Marcie......Kristina and Brianne plus assorted preschoolers and siblings!

Gumby Girl

I about jumped out of my skin the other day when I heard a bunch of giggling and looked down to see this!! As you can see, Nyah literally folded herself in half in an attempt to escape her rocking seat! Can you tell that she has the chair tipped forward as far as it goes... and she is teetering on the edge of a face-plant without a care in the world?!! The days are over when I could just lay her in there unbuckled! Gabe thinks she is the funniest little thing in the world. A day doesn't go by that I don't hear him laughing and laughing over something hilarious that she is doing! It makes me so happy to see my children enjoying and loving each other!

Another morning she really did escape out the bottom while I was in the shower (otherwise I would have gotten some great pictures!) It was a different bouncy - closer to the ground - and I watched as she bounced her legs out, then wiggled and wiggled until she gently landed on the tile! Then she sat there on her tummy looking around like... hmm, well look at that... I did it! :)

yum

Our little bug has started eating cereal and she loves it! This was her first reaction:

"ooooh cool, this is new!""Wait a minute, what is this stuff??""Ummm, not so sure, mom""No thank you!!" She may not have loved it then but she snarfs it down these days. By now she is on to bananas, green beans and her favorite... pears. Yummy yum!

Salmon Days 2010

Eric's mom and sisters came for Salmon Days again this year! I hope it will become a tradition now. It is such a fun festival. There is a parade, tons of vendors, delicious food from all around the world, and all kinds of fun kid activities.

Here we are hanging over the bridge checking out the salmon running up the river (this year we actually saw mostly dead ones...ick!) Gabe and Grandma going for a train ride!! The highlight of the day for our Gabers!The girls ended the day with a home spa treatment... an all natural face mask Caitlynn bought that day - good for purifying the skin and also, as we discovered, a perfect swamp monster disguise for halloween! :) We were laughing so hard!

Forks, WA

Heard of it?? haha. :) We headed out for a long weekend with some friends to hike in the rain forest, see some wildlife, and check out the gorgeous Washington coast beaches. We didn't glimpse any vampires but the country is just as beautiful as you have imagined! The forests are so deep in shadow with moss literally dripping off every surface, you feel like you have stepped into this fantastical world where a fairy or troll just may appear at any moment. It really brought out the fanciful in me! It was beautiful. The trees grow in the most peculiar shapes and SO TALL. We saw some breathtaking waterfalls and gorges. Wow. Everything about that place is amazing. I love that we live relatively close. I forgot my camera when we left home (I was a little distracted after discovering that my wedding ring had had a nasty encounter with the garbage disposal... another story.) Luckily Toni took lots of pictures to share and I was so happy at how many really great shots she got! She's much more artistic of a photographer than I am!

The only non-tropical rain forest in the world is in the middle of the Olympic Peninsula... the Hoh Rain Forest. Just one of the things we got to see and experience. I also loved the wild, rugged beaches out there. Most of the pictures we took at the ocean were at Rialto Beach. The beach was littered with enormous wave and water beaten logs that are bleached white. Very cool. We even got to watch a humpback whale out in the water for awhile. What a wonderful experience! I could have stayed there all day.