My little bookworm

Hannah is my little book worm. This girl LOVES to look at books and "read" books. She can littlerally sit for hours and be entertained by a pile of books. She is like both her daddy and her mommy that way :) I love that she enjoys books and I am looking forward to the day when she is able to read on her own! What a wonderful world will be opened up to her when she is able to read....I can't wait!

Gabe and the spoon

Lately Gabe had become mr. independent when it comes to his meals. Most of the time he does NOT want to be fed, but wants to do it himself. He is starting to learn how to use a spoon and it is soo funny :) I snapped a couple of pictures the other day so you could all enjoy the cuteness :)

Good try buddy, but you have got the wrong end :)


Such focus!

Open wide!!

Success! :)

My kids...from far away :)

One of my favorite things about our house is that we have a really nice back yard. We have wonderful neighbors on three sides, and in the back of the house there is a huge field behind our yard. We have several tall trees that provide fantastic shade and are perfect for little girls and boys to play under on sunny summer days.


Sometimes when we go outside to play I like to let the kids do their own thing. I sit on the deck and supervise, but I think it is fun to see what they like to do when I am not actively playing with them. Yesterday I snuck out with the camera to take some pictures when they weren't looking. (I didn't have my zoom lense on the camera, so that is why they look so far away.)


Gabe had trotted off to sit under one of the big trees and was busy throwing rocks and sticks and crumpling leaves, when his big sister decided to join him :)






Then she decided to smother him..

Then they caught my laughing :)


Silly kidders :)

Hannah at Indian Bear

Hannah is my little fish. She loves the water and loves to swim. At Indian Bear, even when we were in the pond, she was not afraid at all...she would swim away from Nick and wanted him to take her out to the raft in the middle of the pond. She wasn't even bothered by the fish in the pond (I am a bit traumatized by them :)) No fear for this little girl!

Gabe at Indian Bear

Every year Nick's side of the family does four day weekend at a lodge close to where we live. It is a really nice place with a big air-conditioned lodge that we all stay in, and a nice pond for fishing and swimming in :) It can be a bit crazy at times, there are 38 of us now, but it is also lots of fun! Here are some pictures of Gabe from the weekend!

Being cute wearing daddy's hat :)
Pweeeeese pick me up mommy!!!
Seriously mom, I cannot beleive you have that camera in my face AGAIN!

First Day of School

Something that Nick and I have been talking about/praying about/thinking about over the past 6 months to year is how we want our kids to be educated. Hannah is going to be four and September (YIKES!!) and the inevitable school decision is right around the corner. A lot of Hannah's buddies are going to be starting pre-school this year, and while we know that pre-school is not something that is right for our family, Hannah has show a lot of interest in learning and has on several occasions over the summer asked me to teach her to read. :) Nick and I are both avid readers, so this made me really excited :) So after much talking/thinking/praying we have decided to home school for pre-school. I am really really excited about it, and Hannah is too! :)

I did a good bit of research over the past month or so and we settled on using the Sonlight P4/5 cirriculum. I really liked the emphasis on reading, as well as the emphasis on other cultures. I spent a couple of day looking on home school re-sale board, ebay, and half.com, and was able to piece together the cirriculum for about half of what it costs to buy it from Sonlight. (Besides being an avid reader, I am also quite cheap...hee hee :)) Hannah was so excited to get her books in the mail! Every time one would come, she would would say it was the best book ever :)


Here is a picture of our school book shelf :)

Today was our first day, and we worked on the letter F. We also practiced writing our name, read about baby animals, starting learning about seasons and months, and practiced our bible verse for the week. I had a ton of fun, and I am pretty sure Hannah did too :)

In which I show off my accomplishments...

Feeble as they may be :) For some reason, I have been bitten by the organizational bug these past few days. Rather than try and figure out why, I have just gone with it... I've learned in the past not to question these things, rather to simply take advantage of them on the rare occasion that they do happen.

So first in line...the junk closet. You know that space in your house where you just throw things that you aren't sure what to do with, and you tell yourself that you will take care of it later when you have more "time." But then you never have the time/motivation to take care of it, so it ends up being a big, gigantic disaster. Well, that is pretty much the story of our junk closet :) It has been bugging me lately so I decided to tackle it today while Gabe was taking his morning nap. I didn't take a before picture, so you will just have to trust me when I say it was a huge freaking MESS!! However, after two hours of sorting and pitching, two trash bags full of junk and two big boxes of junk, our closet now looks like this....and I must say, I am quite proud of myself :)



My second big accomplishment for today falls into the decorating category. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am NOT gifted in this area...at all... :) Well my mom got me these picture frames a couple of months ago, and I finally decided what to do with them. These are pictures of Hannah, Gabe, my niece Sera, and one of the three of them together. I really like how it turned out :)




All in all I would say it was a pretty accomplished day. :) I also scrubbed out the fridge today, but I will spare you the torture of looking at my fridge :)

Sisterly visit :)

I went to see my sister for a couple of days this week. So much fun! Nothing like a little sister time :) Lots more pictures to come, but here is my favorite of our three little monkeys :)

I can't resist...

...this sweet little face :) Can you?

$5.50

$5.50...that is how much this little swimming pool cost. And I didn't actually even buy it for the kids, my mom did :) I would say though, that it should be valued at least $55,000 worth of fun! :)




Wouldn't you agree... ;)

Me and my kids :)

I am sure that there are lots of other mom's out there with the same problem that I have noticed that I have. As I look through our pictures from the summer, I noticed I have a ton of the kids, plenty of Nick and the kids, and practically none of myself and the kids. I always seem to be the one taking the pictures, so I am never actually in any of them :) And since I want my children to be able to look back and see that their mother actually was a part of their life...I tried to have Nick take some pictures of me and the kids the other evening while we were playing outside. Well...it was less than successful... :) So I now present to you...me and my kids :)

Summertime baby :)

Can I just say, that I am loving summer time :) Being able to get outside with the kids, get sweaty and dirty, and just have fun! Good times! :)

Jumping...

Hannah has been in a serious jumping phase lately :) So of course I took some pictures :)

A wee Irish Lad

About 2 weeks ago my parents went to visit my sister who lives in Northern Ireland with her husband Geoff. (Yes...I was VERY jealous!) They brought back this adorable shirt for Gabe from Krissy and Geoff, so even though these pictures are a little fuzzy, I thought it would be fun to post pictures of Gabe sporting his authentic Irish shirt :)

My cousins wedding :)

I took pictures for my cousins wedding 2 weeks ago, and just now finished going through and editing all of them. This is my favorite one, so I thought I would share :)

Gabe B-day Party

We had Gabes first birthday party on Sunday :) I decided to do a sock monkey theme, because I think sock monkey's are super cute. And I really get a kick out of doing the kids parties, and making everything coordinate, etc. We had a really great time celebrating out little guy's first year with our wonderful family. I have to give a special shout out to my sister Steph and her husband Lance, who drove 6+ hours on Saturday, stayed for the party on Sunday and then made the long drive home again on Sunday evening/night. And they did all of this with a 15 month old who didn't feel well. Thanks you guys! It really meant a lot to have you there and we really appreciate it!

Me and my little Monkey :)

Yummy....cake...yummy! He was so funny with the cake, he started slowly, but as you can tell, he didn't hold back in the end :)

Monkey Butt!!! I love these!!!

Awesome banner my sister made!

Sock Monkey cake :) I am no professional, but I was happy with how it came out :)

Birthday Boy :)

Today is Gabe's first birthday. It seems crazy to think that a year ago today, my sweet little boy was born. When we first found out that we were having a boy, I was a little nervous. I felt like I wouldn't really know what to do with a boy, but that I did know how to raise a little girl. :) And while I would definitley say that boys and girls are different, I wouldn't trade my little man for anything!

Gabe, my little man, my little choo-choo (my silly nickname for him that makes absolutley no sense), you are such a wonderful blessing to me. I love your fearless attitude, and how when you decide that you want something, nothing is going to stop you from getting it. I love that you are walking and almost running, and that you will try eating just about anything that we give you. You don't always take more than one bite, but you will always give it a try :) I love that you say mama, and that when you need comforted you want your mommy first. I love holding you when you are sleepy (about the only time you are still :)) and snuggling with you. I love you always and forever sweetheart!

Anyone else seeing a pattern here?

Little stinker :)

Caught in the act...

Playing in the fridge, and taking all the silverware out of the dishwasher are two of this guys favorite activities...he's a rotten one folks :) Lucky for him, he is cute enough to get away with it!

Captain Droolie Pants...

Someone is teething. Which means someone is chewing..



and drooling...

a lot...