Pretty in Pink

Gracie Kate is dressed all in pink today. We walked around the pond for few minutes this afternoon, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to take her pic.

Celebrating Baby Holdabal

Saturday we celebrated Baby Holdabal (Holdaway + Kubal) with a baby shower for Stacey at Jeeves & Co. in Scottsburg.
Is there any question why the kids love their Aunt Erin so much?
Grace was adamant that she get the bow from the cake. This is odd because she is not a big sweets eater. She would much prefer popcorn or pretzels over cake. She took one bite of the bow, and then she was done with it.
Just like for Aunt Erin's bridal shower, Grace was quite the helper for Aunt Stacey's shower too.
You can tell how tired Grace was from this picture. Erin gave Stacey a baby t-shirt that said, "My mom is hot." Ha Ha!
This onesie says, "My auntie rocks." Guess who gave that to her??
Here are some of the women from the Holdaway side of the family: Stacey, Julie, Christine, Karen, Mary Jo, Terri, Grace, and Claire.
The immediate Holdaway ladies: Erin, me & Grace, Wanda, and Stacey.

We can't wait to find out if the baby is a boy or girl and find out what his/her name is going to be! We can't wait to welcome Baby Holdaway into the world!

Gabriel Celebrates at Chuck E. Cheese

Gabriel had his birthday party Friday night at Chuck E. Cheese. He was SO excited for his birthday party! He chose a Pokemon theme for his party this year.
Nora was missing her mommy a little while Alicia was playing games with the boys, and she was fussing a little. Ya know what always makes me feel better when I'm fussy? Something sweet to eat. I was just sure it would make Nora feel better too. A little taste of birthday cake icing . . . .
Yes, that may look like a frown. Let me tell ya, every time my finger got close to her mouth, she was WIDE OPEN for more! She loved it!
After some time for games the kids sat down to eat some pizza. Here are Sam, Jake, Riley, and Grace waiting for their pizza.
After pizza the kids played more games. Robbie and Gabriel challenged each other at Air Hockey while Abby watched.
Grandma likes to play Skee Ball.
Grace posed for a picture with Chuck.
Before we did cake, Gabriel had his turn in the Ticket Blaster. I know this picture is super-blurry because of all of the tickets flying around, but you can still see his giant grin.
Alicia and Nora
The kids were shouting, "Happy Birthday" while we prepared to cut the cake.
Jake thought Gabriel needed a little bit of help blowing out his candles. Ha!
Party-goers cheesed with Chuck . . . Landon, Jake, Sam, Gabriel, and Abby.
The big kids played games too. I don't know what this game was, but Daniel and Dan were into it!
After cake Gabriel opened his gifts. . . Legos, cars, Beyblades, Pokemon . . . He was a happy boy!
The dads were deep in conversation . . . Jeremy and Billy.
Uncle Brian and Aunt Erin gave Gabriel this Lego sorter.
Before the party broke up, there was more time for games. Daniel and Jake shot some hoops.

Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with Gabriel! He had a blast! Thank you for his gifts and for your company.

Gabriel is 6!

My baby boy turned 6 years old today. It seems like yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. The last 6 years have flown by!

A present from Mommy and Daddy was waiting for him in the kitchen when he woke up this morning. It was a Wii steering wheel and a Ben 10 racing game for the Wii.
When he got home from school, he was greeted with cards from Grampy and Barbara, Great Gramma, and gift from Uncle Rob, Bobby and Ben.
The packing in Uncle Rob's gift was about as fun as the actual gift itself.
Uncle Robbie gave Gabriel all sorts of cool stuff! He got candy and gum . . . what kid doesn't love that?!?! A hat, Hot Wheels cars, and gift cards for Zesto's/Chillers.
I tried on the hat that Uncle Rob gave Gabriel. I think it's quite a fun hat. I'll have to borrow it for hat day at school.

Happy Birthday, Big Boy! I love you so much!

Winter at the Zoo

This is crazy . . . but Monday, since we all had "the day off," we made a trip to the zoo. Yes, it's February, and we went to the zoo for a fun family outing. Crazy . . . and I love it!
As soon as we got to the rhino statue, Gabriel asked to have his picture taken. He's such a good blog boy.
The giraffes were licking the metal bars of the gate. Interesting.
We NEVER stop at the African petting zoo when we visit the zoo. The zoo was so nice, and we were having such a nice afternoon that we decided to stop. Grace was afraid to pet the goats. When she finally decided to reach down and pet this little guy, he moved his head. He had been sitting as still as a statue until she reached down to touch him. She was startled and jumped. It was quite comical.
Me and my babe. . . this picture reminds me of the self-portrait I took of us in Jamaica for some reason.
I love watching the gorillas. They are so much like people that it fascinates me. Grace is always scared of the gorillas, so we never stay as long as I'd like.
My little man posed with a tiger.
The polar bear was so playful and so fun to watch. Gabriel and I watched the polar bear for the longest time. She had a ball that she was playing with in the water. She also had a 5 gallon bucket. She'd put her head in the bucket and swim around.
Gabriel and I met back up with Dan and Grace and watched the sea lions. They looked so relaxed just swimming leisurely back and forth.
The kids were tired of walking so we took a break for some hot chocolate and some time at the playground.
I think the chimpanzees were the highlight of this zoo trip for the kids. There were 3 chimps in the exhibit. They were swinging around and having fun. One of the chimps relieved himself while sitting up on a rope, and the urine collected on top of a barrel. Then as the chimps were swinging around, they would stop and get a little drink from the top of the barrel. The kids laughed and laughed as they watched. Dan and I laughed because the kids were laughing so hard. You know . . . there really is nothing funnier than bodily functions.
Grace talked about wanting to see the penguins from the time we got to the zoo. Once we got to the penguin exhibit, she couldn't take the smell and got out of there as quickly as she could. Silly girl!
A little fresh air and a nice long walk makes a girl tired. Our little peanut slept all the way home. What a wonderful afternoon spending time with the family!

Teacher Mom

When I dropped the kids off at daycare Friday, one of Grace's teachers stopped me to tell me a little story. The kids had gone over to the church one day this week, and part of the conversation the pastor led with the kids was about what they wanted to be when they grow up. When it came Grace's turn to respond, she said, "I want to be like my mommy." Ms. Dawn asked her, "Well, what does your mommy do?" Grace responded, "She's a teacher-mom."

It makes me smile to know that my little girl understands that being a mom is THE priority for me. I'm glad that she thinks I'm setting a good example for her by working full-time and being a mom. It's such a difficult balancing act, and I'm never certain if I'm doing it the best I can. If nothing else, I'm glad Grace approves.

Counting to 5

Grace did this in school last week. They were practicing writing the number 5 and counting 5 objects. Most of the writing she does in preschool is tracing, so I thought it was nice to see that she did some writing that was all her own. She has labeled each side of the paper with a 5, and she has written her name on the right side of the paper.

Preparing Valentines

I've been behind on blogging, and I haven't taken many pictures recently because I was sick most of this past week. I hate that I didn't get pictures on Valentine's Day of the kids with their Valentine gifts, their treats from school, etc. I just barely had enough energy to make it through the day though.
The kids chose their own Valentine cards. Grace chose Hello Kitty, and Gabriel chose Star Wars.
Gabriel did an awesome job of filling out his Valentine cards. He wrote his name and his classmates' names all by himself, and he did it pretty quickly.
Grace signed her name on all of her cards. She was so excited to be doing Valentine cards for her friends!
Saturday Grandma came over and decorated Valentine boxes with the kids. Grace loves decorating things with stickers.
She had such a good time decorating her Valentine box.