Night at the fair

Janell and Julie took Gabe and Jaden swimming yesterday. Gabe LOVED it apparently. I can't wait to take him myself. They couldn't take pictures since they were both in the pool with the boys so that is a bummer. OH WELL they had a good time.

Calie had a wellness exam yesterday...Bryan and I dropped her off in the morning and picked her up after work. She's in good health. She's got a skin infection but what's new. We still have to give her allergy shots and she's OVER WEIGHT. She does not look over weight to me at all. We give her lots of exercise and she doesn't get any special treats or anything because of her allergy's. SO weird.

Last night we went to the Clark County Fair. We grabbed McDonald's on the way there so we didn't have to pay the fair prices for dinner and a fun time we had. We got flavored shaved ice, saw some lama's, Jaden got to ride 2 rides...Gabe was still too small, saw a huge snake and other reptiles, Gabe danced to live country music, saw some friends from church and fell asleep on the way home.

TGFW (Thank God for Weekend's)

So to add on to all of the other changes happening in our lives there lots happening at work.
We found out that our Project Manager is leaving. She took a job for Safeway corporate so now she'll be our client. I am sad. I really like her and just like the dynamic of our little team. So then that same day we hear that were no longer going to be on the Retail team and that we'll be joining the Target team. Course if we join them it's not going to be named the Target team because it's the Target team AND the Safeway team. So names are up in the air.
Plus one of the Admins on the Retail team has left as well. Friday was her last day and so I am taking over the Nike stuff plus this HUGE spreadsheet that she had put together for Trolley Square. I am going to be busy! I'm actually excited about taking this stuff on and being super busy. It will make the days go very fast! What I'm not excited about is that when they hire a new admin they will be taking that stuff away from me.

For someone who does not like change, I sure am going through a lot right now.

We have been going and going and going and going since last weekend. I could seriously sleep for like 2 whole days if I could. I am wiped.
Last weekend was full of fun and friends. James, Amber and Cameron came over for dinner Friday night. I had prepared the dinner Thursday night and put it in the fridge so that I could just put it in the oven when we got home Friday night. That was so easy and I'm glad I did that. Dinner turned out great and we had such a good time catching up with James and Amber. Cameron was shy at first but totally warmed up to us after 30 minutes.
Saturday Bryan went to work at Multnomah and I got a ton done around the house and hung out with Gabe. I had a very productive day which is always good. I had Teresa, Moo, Betty and Kimberly over that evening and Bryan had Gabe. We had a really good time. It was nice out so we ate outside on our deck. We had yummy food. Betty's cornbread souffle, my LHS (little ham sandwiches), chips and Moo's guacamole and for dessert Teresa made a to die for peanut butter pie. We had some wine and talked. We laughed and cried. It was a great time. Bryan ended up getting to go see The Dark Night with my dad and Nathan while my mom and sister watched Gabe. They had a fun time with the boys. They did finger painting which I am sure you know that the paint wasn't just on their fingers. HA I have a great picture that Gabe made me that I want to hang up in his rooom.

Sunday after church while Gabe was napping I met Teresa and Moo at the MAC counter for make overs. The weekend went WAY TOO fast but it was a busy one.

The week consisted of work, playing with Gabe, work, Baby-sit swap...we had Kambrie on Tuesday night and we had a blast. We were all completely exhausted, work, work, youth group, dinner play date at Kate's, work, work, work! I woke up on Friday morning totally thinking it was Saturday. That totally ruined my whole day. Why can't it ever be the other way around. Wake up on a Saturday thinking it was Monday or something and realizing it was Sat...now that would be SO much better.
Friday night we came home had dinner and played with Gabe. When he went down around 9 I left to go over to Kate's. She helped me set up a budget. Bryan and I are going to be more diciplined and live on a budget so I can get home and be the mother and wife that I've always wanted to be.
I got home around midnight and I ended up finishing the book that I was reading and didn't go to bed until 2. Not really smart when I'm already tired and needing sleep. But the book was SO good.

Saturday Gabe got up at his normal 7am time and we did our normal Saturday morning stuff. Breakfast, baby einstein movie, play time then nap. Did I take a nap...nope I took a shower and got ready for our afternoon fun activities. I made us all lunch and packed up the truck. Gabe woke up around noon and we met daddy at Gateway. We rode the train downtown. Well to Convention Center and then we had to hop on a bus the rest of the way because the Steel bridge is closed. A little adventure but totally worked out. We walked along the water front to The Flugtag where we were meeting Randy, Michelle and the boy's. The walkway was completely packed with people. At one point I looked at Bryan and said "Who decided to do this?" He just shook his head and pointed at me. HA Eventually the crowd thinned out a little but there was still a ton of people. I think they said that there were 60-80 thousand people there. NUTS! It was fun though. Gabe had fun with the boy's. It was fun getting to hang out with them. Afterwards Bryan and I decided to walk all the way back to the Rose Quater to catch the max. I think we walked 4 miles and it was so cool walking out the Steel bridge but by the time we got seated on the train I was exhausted. I feel SO old. I mean we just walked that shouldn't have pooped me out like it did. I was useless the rest of the night. Bad mommy. I put in baby einstein movies for Gabe and fell in and out of sleep on the couch.

Sunday I was in the nursery and we just had Gabe and Lily. That was fun and I had a good time talking to Edie. We decided to only go to 1st service so we could come home and get lunch ready for Nate and Jenny, but they didn't end up coming over till dinner. They had some family in town that they didn't know were going to be there. So we just had lunch at home and took naps. They showed up around 5 and didn't leave until almost 9. Jenny is going to be Gabe's Nanny on Wednesday's and Thursday's starting in September and so she had fun interacting with Gabe and it was just great to get to know both of them.

Funny about Gabe...right before Nate and Jenny left he walked up to Nate and I thought he was maybe wanting to give him a kiss because right after he walked up to Bryan and Gave him a kiss. But he then walked up to Nate again and was trying to pull up his shirt to see his belly button. It was so funny.

I am already looking forward to the weekend and it's Monday! Jenny needs sleepy!!!!!

"NAAAAAA!"

First off, about the video. Gabe LOVES dancing to "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts. I can't remember who did the original but we were in the car on Tuesday night and that version was on and Gabe was smiling, clapping and grooving in his carseat. It is too cute!
This started out at Grandma's house. They do funny things there. Grandma and Aunt Julie dance around to different songs and Gabe would always just stare at them like you guy's are weird. He finally gave in though and started dancing too. heehee

Saturday after Gabe's nap we drove over to Moo's for dinner. Moo was finishing up dinner and I had brought food for Gabe so I put him in Keira's highchair and fed him dinner while I talked with Moo. T and Kambrie arrived soon after. At one point all the kids were screaming and having fun. It was so chaotic in the house. Gabe loves to push things around and so he was pushing Keira's shopping cart around. Usually, he just pushes it back and fourth but this time it was like he was looking for trouble. We decided to move outside and eat out there. Nice big yard for the kids to go crazy in. Dinner was fabulous! Moo made a yummy chicken salad and peach cobler for dessert. T brought bread and I brought a bottle of wine. We had a blast hanging out and didn't leave until almost 10. I think Gabe was on the verge of a melt down at that point.
When I got home I put everything away, gave Gabe a quick bath and we both went to bed. I was wiped out. I tried to read a little but couldn't keep my eye's open.

Sunday Gabe and I went to church. Right as we were getting ready to leave I got a text from Bryan that he was home from camping. I was so excited. When we got there he had already unpacked, washed the truck and cleaned up. We ate lunch together and talked about our weekends then Gabe went down for his nap. Bryan and I both decided to take one too.
We all got up around 4 or 5 and hung out in the backyard for a little bit. I watered my plants and watered the new grass. Speaking of the new grass, we had holes or patches that the grass has died. We think because of Calie’s pee. I have heard that girl dog’s pee has a toxin in it and it kills the grass (don’t know if that is actually true??). Anyway, Bryan put some stuff down right before his graduation party and nothing was happening. It looked horrible and I’m sure everyone thought ew at the party. I was kind of irritated that our yard wasn’t "perfect" for the party but I think having all those people stomping on that stuff and pushing it more into the ground helped. The new grass is growing so well. Good deal!
After a while we came back inside and Bryan cleaned our bathroom and I cleaned up the kitchen and living room. Gabe played. I think he is saying "NO". Makes me wonder if I am saying it too much to him?? Quote from Teresa’s blog:

"On the way to swimming I heard what it might be like to have two kids. "Mommy,
Gabe wont take his hand off my car seat" and then I hear yelling "NO GABE" and
then Gabe yells BACK at Kambrie "NAAAAA". OMGosh I was laughing so hard. I can't
believe he "yelled" back at her. It was HILARIOUS. To me. She wasn't so
thrilled. She had a really ticked off look on her face. I looked back there and
his little hand was right on the edge of her car seat. ha ha!! I tried telling
her that he just loves her so much and thinks she is cool b/c she is a "big kid"
but she wasn't going for it. She was mad. ha ha."

I think he was yelling "NO" back at her. And when I was cleaning the kitchen he was playing and lately he’s doing this new thing with the cabinet doors that have safety locks on. He takes the handles and shakes them. Since they won’t open all the way because of the latch they bang and he does this over and over. I told him "No Gabe" once and he looked at me and moved onto the next doors. Those don’t have latches on them yet so he was banging them on purpose all the while looking at me with this look like what are you going to do mom. I told him no again and that if I had to tell him again he would get a spank. He then looks at me and says "NAA NAA NAA" (he definitely wasn’t saying banana) He is a little stinker. Mom thinks I’m going to get paid back for what a stinker I was at his age. GREAT! ;o)

Gabe is learning so much and I just love watching him grow. I look at him and he’s turned into such a little boy. My baby is gone.

He’s talking a lot. Mostly gibberish but he’s saying:
-Da de
-mum mum
-doggie
-cracker (sort of)
-buh bye
-hiiieee
-NAAAA (no)
-na na (banana)
There is probably more…

We’ve been learning body parts lately. He points to his nose and toes. He likes to point to my eye’s and ears.
Yesterday T told me that he was showing her where his belly button was all day and on Sunday Bryan was laying on the living room floor with no shirt on and Gabe kept sticking his finger in his belly button. HA

Have I said lately just how much I love being a parent/mommy!? I LOVE IT!

This week has been good. SameO SameO
Work
Gabe time
Dinner
Bath
Get ready for the next day
Sleep
Work
It’s gone fast though. It’s already Thursday and work has been very busy!

Monday night after dinner Gabe and I ran around chasing each out throughout the living room and kitchen. He’s just loves this. Calie runs with us too. Gabe thinks it’s hilarious. OH and I got to rock Gabe to sleep Monday night too. All that running most have wiped him out. He was very content to just snuggle and fall asleep in my arms. He rarely ever lets me rock him to sleep anymore. He would rather just be in his bed. We rock together and read books and stuff but he doesn’t fall asleep like he used to. That is why it is so precious to me the moments that he does. I can stare at him and hold him for hours while he sleeps.

Last night after we got home from Teresa’s we ate dinner and then I took both of my kids to the park with no stroller. Bryan had the car which had the stroller in it. I decided to go anyway. I wanted to go on a walk and Calie needed a good walk and so off we went. Gabe walked the entire way to the park holding my hand. Could not believe it. I thought for sure I was going to have to carry him. We played at the park for about a half hour and walked back home. I had to carry him half way home. We read some books when we got back and Gabe sat next to me on the couch stealing Calie’s toy and laughing hysterically when Calie came running up trying to take it back.
After awhile I could tell he was winding down so I started a bath. I went into his room to get a new towel and all of the sudden I heard a thump and my little impatient guy had climbed into the tub with all of his clothes on. Thankfully I had just started the bath so there was barely any in water but still good grief. It was kind of funny but not at the same time.
We snuggled and rocked for a while and we tried to wait up for daddy but I had to get him down. It was almost 10 by that point.

I hope it warms up today. It’s been pretty chilly and cloudy the last few days.

Look how long he looks

Life is a Highway...

Backwards

I am SO behind, but I'm ALWAYS behind. I've decided to go backwards...

First and foremost, FOR you T!

Breakfast cookies made the correct way and very moist! ;o)














A little background, I had sent some breakfast cookies to Teresa's for Gabe. She emailed me saying that she needed to talk to me about my cookies because mine were basically rock hard and hers were moist. What did I do wrong...WELL I happened to put the whole flour mixture into the cookies when it only calls for 3/4 cup. OOPS. This batch was much much yummier!

Today has already been very busy. Gabe woke up at his usual time of 7am. I snuggled with him, changed his diaper and gave him breakfast. Breakfast almost always consists of a banana. I think it was last Saturday I gave Gabe something else for breakfast and about 10 mins after he was done eating he was pointing up at the counter saying "nananana". At first I wasn't sure what he wanted but when I sat him on the counter and he grabbed for a banana. Course the "nananana" should have given it away. I need to pay more attention to the sounds he is saying. He still isn't talking that much but he does say dada and mama, nanana (banana), he has said cracker and sometimes in the morning he says something that sounds like he's saying "Calie". So back to banana's...Gabe LOVES them, I mean really really loves them. Wednesday T told me that Gabe would not eat his lunch because he say that Kambrie had a banana in her free lunch that she gets at the park they go too. T checked the box that they have for kids to put things in it that they don't want and NO banana's. At first K wanted it but then I think she ended up sharing half of it with Gabe. AND T's mom found 2 more in the box a little later so he had 2.5 bananas that day. HA

After breakfast my mom came over to watch Gabe while I met Jenny at Starbuck's. I had a meeting with her at 8:30. We had a good meeting and we left Starbuck's around 10 because she had to go pick up her in-laws at the airport. Gabe was down for nap #1 when I got home. I talked to mom about the meeting until Gabe woke up. Then I changed him, got some food together and headed to the mall to meet Moo and T. Our guy's are all camping this weekend so we had some girl time. Moo got some makeup at the MAC counter and we walked around. Moo and I got a jamba juice and we took Kambrie and Gabe to the little play area. Side note: Moo left her girls with her mom. It was fun to watch Gabe and Kambrie play and just sit and talk. I had to keep getting up and down though. Gabe ust kept leaving out of the play area. Little stinker. He loved going down the slide. I had to keep bringing him back around to the stairs though because every time he would go down it, he would try and climb up the slide and other kids were wanting to come down. We're back home and Gabe is peacefully napping and I'm sitting outside finally catching up on this hog.

Tonight I'm meeting Teresa over at moo's for dinner and more hang out time. YEA!

Yesterday was one of those Friday's that you just have absolutely NO motivation to do any work. It happened to be Sand in the City too so most of our team was out at pioneer square doing that.
The day started out with me sleeping in way too late. I got Gabe ready to go to my moms and drove to work. Bryan left for the weekend today around 1:30. He went camping with the boy's at our usual White River spot that we stay in on Memorial and Labor day.
When I walked into the elevator all of the sudden my purse just fell off my shoulder. the strap totally broke. I am sad, I really liked this purse. It has been my ultimate favorite of all the purses I have ever bought AND I have bought A lOT! I don't usually go 6months to a year before buying a new one. I just get tired of them. I have had this purse for at least 2 years. So needless to say I am on the lookout for a new purse.

After work I hopped on the max with anticipation of seeing Gabe in the next 45 mins. I was sitting reading my book when we pulled into Gateway and I was thinking about where my car was. My thought process went something like this:
"Ok, I'll get my car at my parents and...OH CRAP I drove today!" I had to get off the train and get on the one going back downtown. WHAT THE HECK was I thinking? Good Grief! I ended up falling asleep on the way back downtown and woke up 1 stop before I needed to get off. Thank God! With the day I was already having I'm surprised I didn't go all the way to Beaverton.
When I got to my parents 2 hours later Gabe was in the backyard with Grandma mowing the lawn. I hung out with my fam tonight and when I got home I put Gabe down for bed and then cleaned up. I'm sad that Bryan isn't here but am excited to have our huge bed to myself this weekend!

I was reading Teresa's blog a little earlier and saw a picture of her and Gabe on it and I started to tear up. I don't know why? Gabe will still be with her on Wednesday's and Thursday's for another month. I'm already getting sad that she won't be watching him after Aug. :o(
Speaking of that. Our family is going through more changes. Life definitely keeps us on our toes.
Change #1 - Bryan works at his current temp position for Nike until the 22nd of August.
Change #2 - On August 25th he starts his new temporary position for Nike. This one has a potential to go permanent and Bryan had heard that the manager of this team has hired every temp worker that has worked on his team so we're praying that that works out if that is the direction God wants to take us next.
Change #3 - Along with that Bryan is working for the same manager on a freelance job.
Change #4 - Bryan is working on easing out of JR High. I know that I have said this before but I think that this time it's really going to happen. Bryan and I have been praying about it and he really feels that it's time to move on at least for right now. We still have to work out all the kinks and Randy and him are working together to work something out. It's actually really sad. Bryan came home really upset Wednesday night. This has been something a part of our lives for a long time. It's not going to be easy.
Change #5 - Teresa ((sniff)) won't be ((sniff)) watching Gabe anymore as of August 28th ((sniff sniff)). So to make a long story short (hopefully) I have been trying to figure out what to do. I talked to the daycare downstairs in my building and I was going to call Marcia's friend Michelle who runs a daycare out of her home and I know her really well. There are a few other girls in our church that are nanny's too. Time was ticking away and we all were starting to get a little nervous. A few Wednesday's ago Bryan came home from Youth group and said that he had talked to Nate (Not Nathan my BIL or Nathan Teresa's husband) and he said that his wife Jenny was a nanny and that he'd talk to her and also that I should give her a call. I told Bryan to get me her phone number and I also thought I'd talk to her at church if I saw her. Well, a couple weeks went by and I hadn't seen them at church and I still hadn't gotten her phone number. I was picking up Gabe at Teresa's and she said excitedly that she saw Jenny at the park they go to and that Jenny was really excited about the prospect of watching Gabe. She had even mentioned it to the family that she nanny's for now. T said that she got a really good vibe about it and that it just seemed to be such a God thing how everything had happened like it did. Jenny and Nate have attended our church for a while now. They help out with the HS group and I got a chance to talk to her a little at the women's retreat that we have every year. She is really sweet and you can tell that she loves kids.
I had a good meeting with her this morning and I need to talk to Bryan about a few things. Nate and Jenny are going to come over for lunch on Sunday the 3rd so that she can just see Gabe in his environment and just get a look around the house. For the first 3 weeks she will be watching him here at our house on Wednesday's and then on Thursday's she'll start at our house go and get Maxine a 3 year old that she watches also and they will be at their our for 2 hours and then she'll bring Gabe back home in time for his nap and I'll just come home after work. I am really excited. Every thing sort of gets a little crazy after that. She'll start back up with the full time family that she works for and so Gabe will be over there. Bryan and I will be meeting the other family too. Gabe has already met the to kids.
Once all of this settles down a little Bryan and I are going to really buckle down and figure out a way to get me home. That is my number one goal! I HATE being away from my little guy! HATE IT!
So there you have it. Changes Changes Changes

Last weekend was just NUTS!
We had Bryan's graduation party! There was a lot of prep work and I had already had a very exhausting week to begin with. Gabe and I went to Costco on the Wednesday night before the party to get some food. We actually had a ton of people volunteer to bring some food too. That was so awesome!
We had an great turn out and it was just a great evening to celebrate with friends and family. Bryan and I are SO happy that there is NO MORE SCHOOL!

Nate the Grill Master! Thank you for doing that for us!

When Gabe saw that I put out cookies he was all over that. How does he know? I've never given him a cookie before. THEY just know. I had walked away and came back to this. Little stinker!

Happy Belated Independance Day!
We celebrated with Friends at Travis and Marcia's house.

The Kids beating up Bryan. HA

Gabe in the mood for a nice cold beer!

Gabe and Daddy Chillin

Me and my buddy

Fireworks "oooh aaahhh"
This was taken with the firework setting on my camera just FYI ;o)

AND now just some random pictures of Gabe (because he's so cute)
Our little family made this together. Gabe loved getting his hands in the cement.

Gabe eating watermelon

HELLO! How freaking cute is this bottom!?

Boring Blog

Sorry my blog has not been up to par lately...We've been busy but boring. Our phone and internet were down for about a week and a half too.

June 13th
Bryan GRADUATED! YAHOO! So I thought life would look different after graduation, I'd see Bryan more, the little projects that I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for Bryan to start would happen. Nope, everything is the same with the exception of the short/stressed out temper that he had LOL! Goes to show, you think you know what your life will look like or WANT it to look like and God has a different plan. Our family has gone through A LOT of changes lately and it's hard to adjust sometimes.

Anyway, like I said that day (Graduation Day) was the best day of my life and the worst day of my life.
Why the best? Because NO MORE SCHOOL...NO MORE HOMEWORK…NO MORE MEANY PANTS UP IN THE OFFICE...YEA!
Why the worst? Because 2 hours before Gabe and I were supposed to be downtown at Bryan's portfolio show Gabe hit is head on a pail and had to get stitches. Let me explain for those of you who don't know already.
After Gabe's nap I thought we had a good amount of time to play outside before eating lunch and going to the portfolio show. It was such a beautiful day. My mom was going to pick me up at 2 and we were going to head downtown. Gabe was having a blast. We had the bubble machine going and we were playing in the water. He was holding the hose and putting water in this pail that I have. It's an old pail (probably not the best idea to let Gabe play with it) and it's rusty in places.
Well, he was getting tangled up in the hose and I just knew that he was going down. My insides started to panic and I got up to go over to help him. You know I was maybe 3 feet away from him (you think, I should have been able to make that in time) and when I got up saying "Gabey, be careful" everything went into slow motion. I was taking those 3 steps, Gabe starting to fall but catches himself "NOOOOOOOOOO" SMACK! He hit right at this rusty little spot just right that it sliced his forehead. Blood everywhere. Blood curdling screaming. I run inside with him trying to clean him up as he's clinging onto me. I grabbed my cell and called my mom to come over NOW. God parted the sea for mom because she was far away and she hit every green light and had NO issues getting to my house in less than 15 minutes. By that time I had Gabe cleaned up and he had settled down and was eating lunch. We called his pediatricians office and they could get him in at 2, when we were supposed to be leaving for Bryan's portfolio show. So I made a bad decision to not tell Bryan what happened or why I wasn't there etc. If I could go back I probably would have called him and told him now.
We got right in at the dr's office. She cleaned out the cut and said that he would need stitches. She gave us 2 choices and her opinion on both. We could either do the glue or get 3 stitches. We decided to go ahead with the stitches and thus begins a moment I don't ever want to go through or remember EVER again. It was seriously the worst situation I have ever been in. The nurse held his head down and I held his arms and mom had his feet. I could cry just thinking about it. He screamed and screamed and screamed. I just talked to him and told him that mommy was right there with him and just tried to let him hear my voice. I was pretty strong throughout the whole thing, but when she told me I could pick him up, I lost it. He was doing that trying to catch his breath thing that you do when you've sobbed and he kept looking at Dr Mary like how could you be SO mean to do that to me. It broke my heart. Dr. Mary said not to worry all kids at that age hate her, which I am sure isn't true but I have known some kids that HATE going to see the Dr. We left and we made it downtown 15 minutes before the ceremony. I had Bryan's Cap and Gown too. EEKS There was NO WHERE to sit. It was completely packed. They added more chairs thankfully. The ceremony was short and good. It was a proud moment for me to watch my guy walk across the stage and get his diploma.
After graduation, we met up at Claim Jumper's for dinner and had a wonderful dinner. We were all exhusted by the time we got home.

June 15th
Father's Day was a pretty good day. Nothing too exciting happened. Gabe wrote on Daddy's card while he was in the shower and we gave those to him before we went to church. Gabe didn't nap in the nursery and was so exhausted that he fell asleep the second we left church. We went home and put him down and Bryan and I had lunch. The fam went to the Fairview park for lunch and fun times. I was sad that we weren't there with them but you gotta do what you gotta do right. Gabey needed a nap. When Gabe did get up we gave daddy his gifts. Some new flip flops, a body pillow and a Video Game. Then we headed over to the park for a while and after we hung out there we all went back to my parents house. Nathan BBQ'd fajitas for dinner. We ended up having to leave before dinner though because Gabe was melting down. I gave him a bath and rocked him to sleep. My wonderful dad brought us some of the fajitas dinner when they were finished so Bryan and I could have some. It was SO yummy!

We tried out a new thing this last Friday. Thursday night when I picked up Gabe from Teresa's, we talked some about the kind of week that I was having and just how overwhelmed I was feeling and she gave me some ideas and what they did when she was in my position. My house has not had a good cleaning in a long time and so Bryan and I are going to try this new plan out.

Every Friday evening Bryan is going to watch Gabe either at my moms or take him out for a couple hours so I can get the cleaning done. It's good for Gabe to have some daddy time and then I am not feeling SO stressed the rest of the weekend to clean and I can just enjoy being with Gabe.
It actually felt really good to get that done and when I got back over to my parents to pick my boy's up they were just finishing up dinner and I had this huge weight off my shoulders. I think this is a good plan (thank you for the idea, T) so hopefully we can keep this up!

Bryan and I are trying to figure out some other things too. We've been talking about getting rid of some things because it's just not working the way it is right now. We have a lot of praying to do and listening to what God has for us next.

Saturday was SO HOT! I think it got up to 103 degrees. We woke up at 7 and I fed Gabe breakfast and Bryan left for work. After breakfast Gabe and I played and he went down for a nap around 10. I took a shower and got everything ready to take over to Moo's. I had to wake Gabe up and I fed him a snack and we left. We got to Moo's right on time. It was Mia's 1st birthday party. The party was in their backyard. The décor was cute and the cake was a caterpillar and they had a ladybug cake too. They had a good turnout. The kids played in the pool and the adults sat in the shade and talked.
By the time I got home I was completely exhausted. The heat/sun had sucked all the energy out of me.
Gabe is constantly cracking us up. He is so funny and OH SO CUTE!
He just LOVES Kambrie. Every time he sees her he wants to give her a hug. T told me that every morning Gabe will wake up from his first nap and see Kam. He'll then go up to her and give her a huge hug. SO CUTE!

He is really into planes right now. If we're outside and a plane goes by he immediately looks up and points to the sky. If we're inside and he hears a plane he stops whatever he's doing to look up and point to the sky. I think it would be fun to take him to the airport and watch the planes.

I bought him a pair of converse shoes and he started "Tap dancing" in them. He stomps and taps…it is hilarious.
We got his stitches out this last Friday and thankfully he was such a good boy. It only took about a minute for her to get them out and he got irritated while the nurse held his head but he still likes his dr. He was smiling at her and when she was checking him over he was fine.

Sometimes he will randomly attack Calie. She'll be walking towards him and he'll just attack her. She'll run away and Gabe will start after her and Calie always ends up behind him because she's faster obviously and he'll crack up, turn around and attack her again. lol

Last Saturday morning Gabe and I were in my room and I had gone down to the kitchen to throw something away and when I walked out Gabe was standing in front of me with a wad of toilet paper in his hand and a trail of it leading up the stairs. At first I was like "Gabe NO" but it was so funny and I had to get it on video. If you want to see it go to http://dailygabe.blogspot.com

Last night I had stopped by the store on my way home from dinner with Kate and Teresa and while I was picking up a few things for the week we had a major thunder storm outside. While at dinner we'd see lightning every now and then, but in the store it sounded like it was right above us. It was SO loud I could hear it very clearly in the store. When I went out to leave it was pouring and I got soaked walking…NO…running to the car. When I got home Bryan said that Gabe wasn't scared at all, but that it was very loud and he did look a little concerned. He was in the best mood last night. He was screaming and attacking me then he'd attack Bryan then Calie. It was so funny. I just love his laugh. It gives me SO much joy to hear it and see the huge smile on his face with his little chicklet teeth. ;)

Ouch! :(
Father's Day!

Airplane

Janell's B-day

Watching Baby Einstein

Tap Dancin Shoes

Feeding the ducks at the pond near our house (They aren't shy at all)

Mia's 1st B-day Party

Homie G's

He did it!

So Bryan graduated. Hooray! It was quite the day...It has been the best day of my life and the worst day of my life (more on that later).

Anyhow, I am super proud of my guy. He was so dedicated to his schooling and is such a hard worker! Thanks Bryan for everything you do for me and Gabe!
Congratulations!
We love you!

She falls

Well, I have apparently started taking after my Gabester, lately. I have fallen HARD twice in the last 4 days. SIGH

1st fall - Friday after work I was picking up Gabe at my mom's and Jaden threw a fit because my mom wouldn't give him her cell phone. It was quite funny so I decided to imitate what Jaden did to show his mommy, Julie. BAD move. I quickly realized that I am getting way too OLD to imitate a 17 month old. When I threw myself onto the floor I hit my knee on one of Jaden's toy's. AH it hit just right and I thought I was going to die. I almost threw up it hurt so bad.

2nd fall - Yesterday I was carrying bags out to my car to take over to T's for my baby-sit swap night. Thankfully Bryan was carrying Gabe. It was wet out because I think mother nature forgot about summer this year and when I stepped off the step onto the landing my foot slipped right out from under me. My leg went one way and my body went another. The shock that ran through my body told me that this was NOT good. I thought for sure I had dislocated my knee. Bryan went to put Gabe down in the house with my sister and came back out to help me up. I have never felt that kind of shock before. When I got up, I thought I was going to pass out and then I got all sweaty and hot. Going to throw up again. I sat on the stairs for about 5 min trying NOT to throw up and thankfully it passed. I went inside to change and then I headed to T's. The drive over there was horrible but I made it. I think we all had fun too despite me being crippled. Kambrie has an owie on her knee too, so when we went up the stairs to play in her room we all moved very slowly. HA.
Kambrie was a little mommy to me. Every time I made a noise indicating I was in pain she would say "ooooooh, why don't you get your ice packs, sit down here and put your feet up" It was so cute.

A little fluff

Me and my Monkey

Gabe's favorite toy (all we hear now is "pop pop pop pop")

Bubbles in the house

Aquarium

Aquarium's and Temper Tantrums

Update time:

Friday evening we got KFC and met Nathan, Julie and Jaden at the Happy Valley Park. We took Calie with us and took her back to the dog parks that they have in the back of the park. She desperately needs some socialization with other dogs. She did pretty good, but I do think that I will take her back there often this summer. She'll learn to be with other dogs and get her energy out too. There was this little dog that came in to play with the bigger dogs and all the big dogs surrounded the little dog and he told all of the big dogs what for. He was barking like crazy like "I can take you…come on…come on…let's go…I can take you". HA it was hilarious!
It actually got pretty chilly that evening so the boy's didn't really want to play that much. At least Gabe didn't. He was pretty tired. SO we all packed up and went home. Gabe and I were heading out pretty early Saturday morning so I gave him a bath, put him to bed and got myself in bed too. Bryan was where he ALWAYS is…in the office finishing up essay's and projects.
Only...

9 days
223 hours
13437 minutes
806256 seconds (as of 8am)

…until Bryan graduates!

Saturday morning Gabe woke up at his normal time…7, so we started getting ready. I fed him breakfast and packed his diaper bag plus some extra stuff like his Pj's, another set of clothing, snacks etc. etc. Bryan left early for work, but he did get to say goodbye to both of us before leaving. Gabe and I headed to my parents around 8:15. We were wanting to get on the road by 8:30, but that didn't work out. I think we actually got on the road around 9ish. We stopped and got gas and we were off. Nathan drove first. We took my tiny car. Dad didn't want to drive the van with the Gas prices the way they are. Julie and I were squished in the back seat with Gabe. It was fine though. Gabe fell asleep immediately. I knew that was going to happen. He was on melt down mode as we were leaving. Julie and I talked the whole way pretty much. It was fun despite not having any room to move.
Nathan and I switched half way. We hit an accident just before Tacoma which made us think that we weren't going to make it to the game on time, but I dropped them off with 2 mins before started. ((thumbs up))
After I dropped them off I drove along the waterfront trying to find parking. I was meeting my friends Michael and Kara at the aquarium. They already had tickets and Gabe was free so we went right in. I haven't been there in forever! Gabe was in aw of everything. Arianna had a blast…she ran around wanting to show us everything. She touched some of the sea creatures and got her face painted. It was so cute. She had a smile on her face the whole time.
Bryan and Gabe always watch Sponge Bob together…well Gabe doesn't really pay attention that much, but Bryan loves the show! I showed Gabe the Jelly fish and told him that those are like the jelly fish on sponge bob that him and Patrick are always going out to catch. He pointed at them and said "da". hee hee
Gabe was such a good boy on Saturday. I am seriously SO proud of him. No complaining at all. He slept half way on the trip up and was stuck in his carseat all morning and then I transferred him to his stroller so he was cooped up most of the day and he did so well! There was so much for him to look at, I don't think he even knew that he was cooped up in the stroller. We saw Jelly fish, tons of different other kinds of fish, an eel, seals, birds etc. We got to see a guy feeding all the fish which was cool. The eel kept snuggling up to the guy begging for food. It was funny. The guy kept scratching it's belly. Never seen that before. Gabe just stared…it was really cool. We tried to watch them feed a couple of the seals, but yeah that didn't work cause you know that one really big/tall guy always stands right in front of you, so we just went back in for a while and eventually left. We walked up to Pike's Place. It was packed! They were having a festival there and so we could barely move. It was crazy. We were only up there for about 15 min though because I got a text from Julie saying they were at the bottom of the 8th so I needed to get ready to go pick them up. Fast game today. Mariner's won of course.
Michael and Kara walked me to my car and then we went our separate ways. I went to pick up my dad, Nathan and Julie. As I got closer to Safeco Field I started to get seriously anxious. People were filing out of the stadium…it was like a sand toy when you pull it up and you watch all the sand fall out of the holes. Seriously it was crazy. There were cars and people everywhere. I turned onto first street right in front of the stadium and started to panic. I called my dad, told him where I was and was telling them to hurry up because I didn't know how long I would be stopped there and if I missed them how long would it take me to turn around to get back to them. UGH. It actually worked out well THANK GOD. They saw my car and ran to get in. OK that was stressful!
After we got out of that mess, we met Michael, Kara and the kids at the South Center mall. Julie and I went into Nordstrom's so that I could change Gabe and then we went to dinner at the Rainforest Café. Michael and Kara had never been there so that was fun. We had a total blast. My dad really enjoys talking with Michael and Julie and I talked with Kara and Arianna entertained us too with her "model" walk and she got scared when they did the storm part. She's very dramatic, but it is so much fun to watch and she always makes me laugh. I just love her! Dinner was yummy. Gabe ate SO much. We finished off dinner with a mud pie and said our goodbye's. I changed Gabe one more time and put his Pj's on and we were off. Julie's turn to drive. Poor Julie cause all of us fell asleep so she was bored and didn't have anyone to talk to. She listened to some music and we all woke up when she stopped half way to get gas and switch with my dad (dad's turn). Gabe started melting down about an hour and a half from home. Not to bad. He was done being in the carseat. He did, however have Aunt Julie to entertain him. Julie is quite a funny gal! ;)
When we got home Gabe was very excited to get out of his carseat and see his daddy and Calie. He stayed up until around 1 walking around and playing in his room. Bryan and I were both pooped. We were both laying on Gabe's bedroom floor and Bryan, I guess was in Gabe's way because he kept crawling all over him and making these faces and talking gibberish like "Daddy get out of my way". It was pretty funny.

Sunday was a lazy day for us. I was so WIPED out from our day trip on Saturday that I decided to just stay home. Bryan was staying home and Gabe was happy not to be in his carseat I'm sure. Bryan worked on school stuff all day and Gabe and I just played, hung out, napped and played some more. It was great!
I made a yummy dinner Sunday night. Honey-mustard chicken with potatoes and cooked carrots. Gabe didn't like the chicken but he did like the potatoes and ate almost all the cooked carrots. HA

So we have now entered the temper tantrum stage. OH YES!
Monday evening after work I went home and Gabe was still sleeping. Mom left and I cleaned up and got dinner ready. Gabe woke up soon after. I changed his diaper, snuggled with him for a while and then we both ate dinner. After that I cleaned him up and set him down on the ground. He walked away fine and happy. He came into the kitchen where I was cleaning up and I asked him if he would like a cookie (I have those Gerber stages cookies). I then proceeded to get a cookie for him and he all of the sudden for NO reason screamed and threw himself on the floor crying. OK what just happened? I picked him up and he did that limp/thrashing thing so I put him down and told him that I was going to be in the living room and that I'd wait for him to finish whatever it was he was doing. I have NO clue why he was throwing this fit? I sat on the ottoman and he followed me into the living room. I put out my arms and asked him to come here and he threw himself on the floor crying again. OH MY!?!? It was sort of funny to me but NOT at the same time. I just looked away. He cried for about 5 minutes. He went into the kitchen crying and then when he came back out he looked at me and stopped. I held out my arms again and he ran into my arms like I'm sorry, mommy. Now I loved that part, but what in the heck brought on this lovely temper tantrum? One may never know...