Fishing for something

With me working full time these days and Gabe both working full time and coaching the high school swim team, our poor kids are spending an awful lot of time at the pool. But they seem to be doing a pretty good job of keeping themselves entertained during their time there every day.

I'm pretty sure they haven't caught anything yet.

A lesson in smiling

We couldn't get Gabriel to smile on cue for the longest time. Whenever we've had family pictures taken, we've always had to tell whomever (Steph!) was taking the pictures that they didn't need to bother trying to get him to smile because it just wasn't going to happen. Well those days are now long gone. Gabriel has learned to cheese it up for the camera in the worst possible way.

What is with this face? It cracks me up but I'm a little worried that this is what he's going to look like in every single picture we have of him from now on. It also makes me wonder if maybe my eyes wrinkle a lot when I smile and he's just trying to copy me. That can't possibly be it though, right?

My life lately

I've been told that my blog is sucking these days. And that is definitely true, but can you believe someone actually told me that?! So here I am to show you that I am still alive. And according to my Instagram, things are going superbly.

Frejya's pig is still taking our time and will be for the next few months. I'm glad she's liking it so much.

Gabriel is growing like crazy and it dawned on me the other day that he is no longer even close to being a baby. I sometimes miss the days of being able to snuggle him forever and trying to figure out what he wants based on his cries alone. His latest thing is to tell me "I want my dad" every day when we get home before Gabe does. Breaks my heart a little, but is so cute at the same time.

Does watching a child sleep ever get dull? I swear I could watch my kids sleep forever. You'd think as they got bigger it wouldn't be as much fun, but I swear it is. Maybe I'll always love this?

We've been enjoying the crazy nice weather lately (minus today's wind which sucks big time - more than my blog even). So family walks are a must. And why not stop for some frisbee throwing?

And after a morning of walking and throwing the frisbee around, who doesn't want to eat ice cream for lunch?

And then there's this. I don't really know what's going on these days, but there's more to come about this one.

Like mother, like daughter

Frejya got her pig for the fair this past weekend. It definitely is bringing back lots of memories of my childhood. It's crazy to me that she's even old enough to be showing, though.

The whole family tagged along on the trip to Turlock to pick out the pig. Gabriel definitely got a kick out of seeing all the pigs.

And the coolest part of course was that we got to wear awesome boot covers.

Gabriel sure does love to dress up. This is what he looks like most mornings when I'm getting ready for work. He definitely keeps us laughing.

Winter Wonderland

Things have been so crazy around here lately that I hadn't even thought about my blog in a very long time (I blame my job and if you know what I do, you'll understand too). So allow me to show you a quick recap of our past month for you.

Thanksgiving was spent with my family this year which meant we packed up the car and drove to Mary's house. As per tradition, we got there early on Thursday to help with the cooking and then stayed the night so that we could have a mini-vacation and spend some time with Mary and Chris (and Iris and Jack too, of course). We have always gone to a movie together the day after Thanksgiving but this year we decided to step it up a notch. So we booted everyone up and went ice skating. Even Iris and Gabriel put skates on and got out there on the ice. Gabriel wasn't a big fan. He actually really wanted to be on the ice, but really wanted to be held while out there. I am by no means an ice skating pro, so this definitely did not happen (I have a hard enough time keeping myself upright, no way am I going to try it while holding 30 pounds on one hip!). Frejya, though, absolutely loved it.

After skating, we decided to go to a movie like always. The men stayed home with the little ones and Mary and I took Frejya and Maisy to the movies. We decided to watch Breaking Dawn while Maisy and Frejya watched The Muppets. Great idea in theory, but it meant I spent the entire length of the movie wondering if they actually made it into their theater and were doing ok. Not a very relaxing time at the theater for me.

And in the weeks since Thanksgiving we have been keeping ourselves busy with all sorts of other things. Gabriel thinks it's hilarious to stick his fingers in his ears and then talk really loudly.

He also learned how to get out of his crib and is now sleeping in a toddler bed. The first day there was no napping to be done in the afternoon and so he fell asleep on the couch later in the day. Cute now, but really wasn't cute at the time. And he actually still only really goes to bed for Gabe. For some reason when I walk away from him in his room he follows me out, but if Gabe puts him in there he'll stay put.

Frejya got a dog as an early Christmas present. I've never been a fan of chihuahuas, but so far Hugo has been a fun addition to the family. And Tekota is definitely happy to have a playmate.

And now it's Christmastime already. It's going to be a super busy week, but this is my favorite time of year. Can't wait to spend the weekend with family and friends.

Fishing with Daddy

Is there anything better?

Lessons in life

Frejya has been learning some valuable life lessons as of late. She is fully capable of driving my car which I think is pretty incredible. I still make her sit on my lap so that I can take over if necessary, but she uses the pedals and steers all on her own. And she's really good at not starting or stopping too fast.  She really has a knack for this driving thing already (and obviously we're only driving on private property where this is allowed).

She also learned how to do laundry this weekend. She had a pretty good idea from helping me out over the years, but she now knows exactly what settings to use, how much soap to use, etc. And her learning this chore is really going to help me out a lot I think. Plus she loves that she gets to keep any money she finds as she's doing this. 

And the last very important life lesson we accomplished this weekend was public speaking. She's really no stranger to public speaking but this was her first time being liturgist at church and she did an amazing job. She decided to do most of the readings all by herself and she really nailed it. Everyone at church was very impressed with how well she can read and how well she understood what she was reading. She made the gospel lesson exciting because she actually understood that it was a story, not just a statement to read. She definitely reads with good inflection. I don't know that I've ever been prouder.

 

And just one more thing: Frejya got straight A's on her report card. It's her first report card with real letter grades and she is super excited about it. And we are so proud!