Now I Know . . . .

. . . why there are other species that eat their young. It would be SO much easier than trying to potty train them! I am not kidding you!

Gabriel does SO WELL all day at Staci's. He has had ONE accident at her house all week. Once we get home, it's like he doesn't know what the toilet is for. He wets himself repeatedly and has had a poop accident too. If we insist that he go try to potty, he screams, cries, and fights us. We have not had a fun week at home this week. I know that every stage kids go through is temporary, but when you're in it, it seems like the stage takes forever. If this one doesn't end soon . . . . AAAAHHHH!!!

Riding His New Bike

The weather was not necessarily nice tonight, but warmer than usual. Gabriel took advantage of the opportunity to ride his new bicycle in the driveway for a few minutes. He needs to practice riding and get more strength in his legs.

Grace Making Silly Faces

Grace saw me with the camera tonight and started making silly faces. She is such a clown!

16 Month Well Baby Check-up

Grace's 15 month check up was a month late. She went to the doctor yesterday afternoon. She weighs in at a tiny 20 lbs. 6 oz. and 30 inches tall. She is in the 10th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. She is making all of her developmental milestones perfectly and is the picture of health.
I think she's the sweetest, cutest girl ever!

Naked Birthday

Gabriel has promised us for months that he would wear underwear when he turned three. Well, yesterday was the day! When he woke up and I reminded him that he was going to wear big boy underwear, the tears started. He begged for his Pull-ups! I gave him a choice --- wear underwear or go naked! He chose to go naked!

We played Candy Land together while he was half naked.
He ate breakfast while half naked.

He did really well all morning. He ran to the bathroom when he needed to potty, did his thing, and went back to playing. No accidents all morning!

More Birthday Gifts

When we got home from Chuck E. Cheese's, family gathered at our house to see Gabriel open his birthday gifts.

Here is our silly birthday boy wearing funny glasses and the baseball cap from Uncle Eddie and Aunt Stacey.

And who could resist another piece of cake?

Bobby and Ben opened the remote control construction vehicles that Gabriel got from Evan and Jake. Bobby gave Gabriel a little remote control truck 101.
Next Gabriel opened family gifts.

Mommy and Daddy gave him a two-wheel bicycle with training wheels.

Grace had to give the bicycle a try! Like I said, she wants to do everything that her brother does.

Birthday Party at Chuck E. Cheese's

Gabriel had his birthday party this afternoon at Chuck E. Cheese's. It was a lot of fun!Uncle Ed came from Indy to enjoy some games and pizza with us.Evan and his dad played some fun games. Grace and Abby took in all of the fun and excitement.After some games we all enjoyed pizza.Sam and Jackson

Evan
Bobby

Chuck E. Cheese posed for a picture with Gabriel.

Next Gabriel blew out his birthday candle.
Everyone enjoyed some cake, especially Grace. She had icing everywhere!

Gabriel opened some gifts . . . Sam was very helpful too.

Jackson and Daniel hung out as the party wound down.

Thank you to everyone who came! We had a blast!

Playing with Cars

Grace ALWAYS wants to play with Gabriel's cars. She wants to do everything that her big brother does!

Math Lesson

Dan gave Gabriel a little lesson tonight in number recognition using a calculator. Gabriel listens to his daddy so well when he's explaining something new.

Holdaway

On the way home from Staci's today, Gabriel and I were talking about family members' names. Grandma's name is Wanda Holdaway. Grampy's name is Bob Ellnor. You get the picture.

When we got to Papa, I said, "Papa's name is Ed Holdaway."
To which Gabriel replied, "Ed Holdaway?? He not Holdaway. He drives away."

I really don't understand what he meant by that, but I thought it was funny.

Stickers

Gabriel received a birthday card in the mail today from Bobby and Ben. There were stickers inside, and he decided to decorate his shirt with some of them.

Baking Cookies

We needed a snack before bed, so Gabriel and I made oatmeal cranberry cookies. Gabriel stirred.

Then he put the cookie dough on the baking sheet. The scoop was a little difficult for him to handle.

Grace enjoyed the fruits of our labor before going to bed.

Valentine's Dinner

We had a fun Valentine's dinner tonight of Steve's Pizza King . . . yummy! Bobby, Ben, and Uncle Rob had dinner with us.

Grace ate a whole piece of pizza.

Gabriel prefers his pizza cold.

AHHHH . . . brotherly love!

Cousins

The kids took advantage of some nice weather today. Bobby and Ben came over, and everyone played outside. Grace loves playing outside with her brother and cousins.

The return of the car . . . Gabe was so happy!

Ben was the king of this castle.

Gabriel had Bobby and Ben playing McDonald's. Bobby and Ben were supposed to push him to the swing set like it was a drive-thru. Gabriel would order his chicken nuggets and milk from them. There goes my Mom of the Year award . . . again!

Winking

Grace likes to wink lately. It is SO funny because she winks with her whole face! She squinches up her cheeks, eyes, and forehead. It's the cutest thing ever!

Valentine's Morning

We had a fun morning this morning. The kids received books and balloons as their Valentine gifts from Mommy and Daddy. Gabriel was the first one up.

Mommy fixed cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

Gabriel had to read his books, Arthur books, during breakfast.

Grace enjoyed her yummy cinnamon rolls.