The little things...

"Enjoy the little things,
for one day you may look back
and realize
they were the big things."
- Robert Brauit

This quote is so inspiring to me. I have it sitting next to my computer.

But sometimes I wonder just what, exactly, are the little things? For apparently, one day, I will miss them, and look back longingly......and maybe with regret......if I didn't enjoy them.........these little things that hold the bigger meaning of my life.

This is a warning.

This gives me anxiety.

I don't think I am enjoying the little things enough.

It's hard when there's just so many little things to do & say & listen to & enjoy!

What a weekend

I know I post too many pictures of Gabe but I can't help myself...he's my baby.

We had a fun weekend complete with spontaneous Blazer game parties with friends, Sister time for me which = some Gabey/daddy time, Roller skating, good talks, grocery shopping with a great shopping partner, and exhaustion.

Friday Bryan left work a little early to go over to where him and Dan workout. The Manager there is wanting a new logo done and they want to get t-shirts and some other stuff done too. He talked with him for a about an hour and came home. I fed Gabe dinner and then we left for Travis and Moo's for a spontaneous Blazer game party. It was out back and the game was playing in their garage. It was a lot of fun. It was cold though so Travis lit there outside heater which was awesome. We left around 9ish and got Gabe home and into bed. Then I headed over to Kate's to chat and Bryan worked on Filter 7 stuff.

Saturday we were going to have a baby shower for Janell, but most everyone that we were going to invite had already given her a gift so we just had some sister time and then a fun lunch where my mom, Nancy (mom's friend) and Janell's friend met up with us.

Pedicure's with my sisters

I got home around 3:30ish and got to spend some time with my little guy and then I left to meet at Teresa's to go roller skating. It had been about 6 or 7 years since I've gone. It was a total blast and good exercise to boot.

Roller Skating with my girls

Bryan spent most of the weekend doing freelance stuff and working on his business Filter 7. After I went grocery shopping with Kate on Sunday and got all the food put away, Gabe and I headed over to her house for dinner/ice cream, playtime and the another Blazer game of course.

This week I have seriously been dragging (obviously since it took this long to post about our weekend). Tired, no energy, just blah...I was thinking maybe I was coming down with something but I woke up this morning to the sun shinning and suddenly I felt GREAT!
I think we need to move where the sun shines all the time! ;o)

lol

Daddy (after a shower) - "Mommy, look at our little duck"
Mommy - "OH you're SO cute"
Gabe - "I CUTE"

Gabe's 2 yr Pictures

Easter 2009

Easter snuck up on us WAY too fast this year. And it made me kind of mad, because I like looking forward to one of my favorite holidays for longer. But I got over it. It was all led up to by the partying we did.
I don't even think we did ANYTHING in 2008. Jaden was very sick and in the hospital and I think Gabe was sick too. I don't remember going to church, getting dressed up and I don't have ANY pictures. That makes me sad!

We had such a fun day! We got to church around 10:20am. We talked to friends and they had a good spread of food. Service was at 11am. We took Gabe to the nursery...that didn't go over so well, but I'll save that for another day/time.
I enjoyed the service. Randy spoke and there were songs all throughout his message. It was really good!
After church we mingled more and then left. We had a relaxing day over at my mom and dads. We opened Easter Baskets, had a fabulous/easy dinner, a fun Easter egg hunt (we weren't sure how the boy's would do, but they caught on fast and had so much fun) and I already can't wait for next year. HA

Easter Family shot

The Kiddo (Handsome little Devil)

The Parents
The H's

Janell and Audrey (A even gave me a smile...cute)
The old peeps being silly lol

That can't be comfortable
Easter basket timeThe hunt (this was SO much fun)
He stuffed the candy in his mouth as fast as he could

I am so thankful for Easter and the opportunity it gives to reflect on Christ and the resurrection. I'm so thankful for such a gorgeous time of year to remember the amazing blessings we have in our knowledge and love for our Savior.

Gabe is TWO

GABRIEL BRYAN
Gabe
Gabey
Gabey Monster
Punky Butt
Social butterfly
Very causious
Horrible eater (like his mom was at that age)
Big Blue eyes
Two chunky cheeks
His smile brightens everything
With those little toofers
all 12 of them
Pulling at my hand (he is very strong) saying "ome on" (come on) to show me everything
Loves to fake cry because he knows that he can make me laugh by doing it
My baby.
My boy.

He did it, he turned two. (April 6th, 2009) Despite all my whining and begging him not to, he just went ahead and did it.
I can't believe 2 years ago I was absolutely DYING of anticipation waiting for this little arrival. I wanted to meet this little boy and hold him in my arms as soon as possible. Here we are right before and a couple days after he was born...little did we know how much joy this little boy would bring into our lives.

2 day's old

1 years old (chunk)

2 years old

I looked through all Gabe’s old photos/baby book and reminisced about how amazing this kid has always been. We are so darn lucky to have him.
I have to say I didn't really understand how birthday parties can be too much until this year. I am worn out from the 3 little parties we had in a little less than a week. I don't think I can keep doing it. lol

Monday April 6th, I got to spend the whole day with him. We got up and snuggled, ate breakfast together watching cartoons, got ready to go to the zoo with Jenny and Daphne, but it was a BEAUTIFUL day, that day and everyone else in the City had decided to go there too. We didn't want to bother with the parking so we ended up going to Washington park for lunch and play time. It was a blast!

We came home and Gabe took a nap and daddy got home early so we sat outside and enjoyed the sun more. Gabe rode his new tricycle from Uncle Minny. It's amazing when the sun comes out and it gets a little warmer how much you just want to be outside.

That evening we wanted to take him to Red Robin for dinner, a sundae and a couple gifts from us. My family wanted to join us, so it made it all the more fun! It was a perfect day!!

Smiling at the peeps that were singing to him

I can't believe he kept the balloons on lol

Wednesday we went to his 2 yr Dr. appointment. NO SHOTS...he was up to date WAHOO!

Baby (I mean big boy) Stats

• Age: TWO YEARS OLD!
• Wt: 28 pounds
  
• Ht: 36 inches tall
  
• Clothes size: 2T-3T
• Diapers: size 6, hopefully this won't last TOO much longer
• Favorite Phrase: "uh-huh!" and "ome onnnn" (come on)
  
• Eye color: blue
• Best Friend: Jaden and all his new cars from the "Cars" movie
  

Seriously-- what happened to my baby? He just seems like such a big boy these days and it really feels like it happened over night. Here are some Gabe-lights (highlights).

-Current favorite foods: He likes his carbs, most muffins, bread, PB&J's or PB&honey sandwiches, crackers, fruit bars. The only fruit I can get him to eat are 100% natural freeze-dried fruit and some baby food fruits. Chicken pot pie (but he's starting to eat around the veggies now), CHIPS (like his mommy...have to avoid buying them which is good for all ;o), fries, and milk

-Vices: 1. Binky, 2. TV (ahhh- Like all of us, I swore I'd never be a TV mom) 3. Cars (the movie, the "cars" cars, the books about the movie "Cars"

-Words: "hi", "hello", "mommy", "daddy", "ball", "doggie", "kitty", "cow", "duck", "horsey", "sheep", "bird", "frog", "turtle", "monkey", "fishy", "no", "ameeeen", "airplane", "train", "car", "peace" (please), "potty", "poop", "diaper", "hand", "calyeeee" (Calie), "friesssssss", "gama", "gampa", "oulie" (Julie), "Jadin", "Nate", "Jenny", "moon", "hunry" (hungry), "Elmo", "Mickey", "Minnie", "Goofy", "Tiger", "Pooh", "Ernie", "Bert", Big Bird", "cheese", "mine", "cookie", "milkkkk", "water", "m-n-m", "yight" (light), "on", "off", "up", "down", "out", "baby", "eyesss", "nossse", "ear", "teeeph" (teeth), "hair", "tree", "spoon", "fork", "bath", "toys", "socksss", "pantsss", "shoessss", "rock", "door", "cracker", "balloon", "hot", "cup", "bee", "keysss", "boxxx", "kiss"
I am sure there are some that I am missing. He has been talking a lot more lately. He over emphasizes his S's on most words. It's SO cute.

-Phrases: "uh-huh", "ome onnn", "thank ou", "let's go", "uh-oh", "I wove ou" (kind of sounds more muffled though), "I sorrry"
He'll say more with prompting and is saying more new ones on his own...still a little muffled but, the other day when I was changing his clothes he was looking at his Lightning McQueen car and saying "car" over and over again and then all of the sudden he said "McQueen, this is Mommy." LOL

We had a party on Wednesday night with my uncle. He works graveyard, so it's hard for him to do anything on weekends. We had dinner at Olive Garden and then my mom did a Cars theme party.

And we had the "main" birthday party on Saturday. Grandma and Grandpa Wangsgard came to celebrate with us along with the rest of the family and friends. We had a baseball themed party.

The invites (this was really fun to put together. I took a baseball from the dollar store and wrote the details on it with a permanent marker, added 2 pieces of bubble gum and tied the little plastic bag together with a shoelace and a card that said "Take me out to the ballgame"):


The Cake:
The Food:

• Hot Dogs
  
• Chips
• Popcorn
• Peanuts
  
• M&M's
• Soda
• Lemonade

It was a really fun party. We ate lunch, opened presents and sang to the birthday boy!