Busted!

Grace got caught eating her brother's Cheerios this morning. She'd better be glad that Mommy caught her before Gabriel did!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

While Daddy slept in this morning, Gabriel drew him a picture for his birthday.
This is his masterpiece.

Kids Fair and Heart Walk

We went to a Kids Fair this morning by the 2nd Street Bridge. Little did we know that the Kids Fair was part of the 2008 Heart Walk. We decided to join the walk as long as we were there. Dan put Gabriel on his shoulders, and the four of us walked the three miles across the 2nd Street Bridge and back. Afterwards Gabriel got to jump in an inflatable bouncy thing and have his face painted. Grace had a ball! She said, "Bye-bye-bye-bye-bye . . . " all the way back to the Indiana side of the bridge and leaned out of the stroller waving at everyone we passed.
Gabriel sat so still and good for his face painting.
He wanted yellow balloons.

Halloween Costumes

Grace is going to wear the Jack-O-Lantern costume that Gabriel wore two years ago.
We found this dragon costume at Old Navy. It seemed appropriate for Gabriel.

Squinchy Face

This is a silly face that Grace makes when she is playing. She usually growls while she makes this silly face.

Peek-A-Boo, Mommy!

Chicken Nugget

Friday (9/19) I had to go to work for a meeting (BOO!). On the way home I stopped and got McDonald's for the kids and myself some lunch. We were a little tired of hot dogs on the grill by Friday. Grace snatched a whole chicken nugget out of my hand and started gumming it to death.
She gummed it until she had a piece just large enough that she could get the entire thing in her mouth. Then I retrieved it from her and broke it into small pieces for her.

Sister in a Basket

I came into the living room Thursday (9/18) morning to find this . . .
I had no hand in this. Grace did not cry or seem concerned. She just took this play in stride. She is going to be one tough cookie after putting up with her brother's nonsense.

Cute Pictures

Here are just a couple of random pictures of the kids playing on Thursday (9/18) morning.
The scratch under his nose is where Hershey got a hold of him. Gabriel has a tendency to just flop on top of Hershey at random times. Hershey finally put Gabriel in his place on Tuesday evening.

Swinging

We spent some time outside Wednesday (9/17) afternoon swinging on the swing set. Gabriel likes to spin in circles on the swing.

Grace likes to swing high and fast.
I love the open mouth laughter!

Cruisin' with the Car

I have worked with Grace on walking with the car push toy. She has had a difficult time with coordination and leaning too much on the car. Wednesday (9/17) after breakfast, she just came walking in the kitchen pushing the car. She was turning it and everything. Gabriel and I cheered for her and made such a fuss over her. She got SO excited!

Cartoon Fix

Tuesday (9/16) Grandma brought her portable DVD player over because Gabriel was craving some cartoons. I put in his Curious George DVD while I fixed his lunch. He laid like an angel in the floor and watched cartoons for about 20 minutes. Thanks, Grandma and Papa!

First S'mores

Monday (9/15) Daddy started a fire in our patio fireplace so Gabriel could have his first campfire s'more. Grandma came over and we had some yummy, sticky fun! His first bite of the s'more
Mommy and Gabriel enjoy s'more together
Gabriel collected sticks from the yard to help Daddy build the fire. Kindling was NOT in short supply.
Sticky mess, but yummy mess!

Sleeping Angel

My angelic baby girl

Gabe's Tats

We had some fun Sunday (9/14) giving Gabriel some marker tatoos. He thought it was pretty funny, and so did we!

Aaahh . . . . washable marker . . . . it comes out of carpet too! :)

Hip-hip-hooray!

We have been 8 days without electricity. It has been inconvenient and, at times, frustrating. We have had a good week though. We have had the opportunity for many things this past week. We have gotten to know our neighbors next door a little more. We have enjoyed PERFECT weather. The kids and I got to spend a lot of quality time together and played a lot of new pretend games. Housework that would never have been done (cleaning behind the refrigerator) has been done.

We were so excited to come home from Grandma and Papa's house tonight to find our lights back on tonight. I have run the dishwasher, sterilized pacifiers, started laundry, and reset my alarm clock for work tomorrow.

I have missed my blogging hobby in the past week. I have a lot of catching up to do because we had many Kodak moments while I have been home with the kids this past week. I will work this week to get caught up!

If any of my blogging friends are related to Duke linemen, please send them our thanks. We appreciate their hardwork so much. We know that they have put in many long hours and worked around the clock for the past week. They have more work ahead of them, and we appreciate them and the work that they do.

Storm Damage

We were really fortunate last Sunday during the wind storm. We had very little damage. Here are a few pictures of our backyard. It is difficult to see, but our neighbor's tree fell across the powerlines going along the back of our yards. Our powerlines were laying across the backyard. Our roof, lawn furniture, and play things were all unscathed however.
You can see that the neighbor's tree limb snapped.
Here are the limbs and the powerlines tangled together.

Playing with Uncle Eddie

We had dinner tonight at Grandma and Papa's house because Uncle Eddie was in town for the evening.
"Monkey see; Monkey do." Up the stairs they go.
"Catch, Gabriel!"

Happy First Birthday, Abby!!

We went to Abby's first birthday party this afternoon. Missy had a game planned for all of the little kids. Gabriel thought this game of tossing the ball in the bucket was a piece of cake.
Gabriel, Audrey, and Sam colored together.
Abby enjoyed her cake.
Play dough was in the treat bags so Gabriel laid on the floor and played with it while Abby opened gifts. He was such a good and patient boy.
Here is the birthday girl and Grace posing for a picture together.

Another Success

Gabriel had a dry pull-up most of the evening tonight. He asked to use the potty before he took a bath. At that time, his pull-up only had a small little tinkle in it. I think that he peed a tiny bit before he realized that he needed to use the toilet. Are we getting close to being potty trained? Only time will tell.

Sticker Chart

Gabriel has had a problem the past few months with having serious tantrums every night when bath time or bed time is mentioned. By the time he gets in bed, Dan and I are both exhausted. We decided that action had to be taken . . . tonight we put him on a sticker chart. He gets a sticker for not crying when getting in and taking a bath, not crying while getting his clothes on after bath, and not crying when he goes to his bedroom/pottying before bed. Tonight was such a wonderful change of pace. There were no tears during bath time, no tears or argument while putting on pj's, and no tears when pottying before bed. He still cried when I turned off his bedroom light and left the room. Oh, well! I'll take any small successes.