We love the new boat

So before my cold completely knocked me out last week, we decided the weather was finally nice enough to take the new boat out. It was so much fun! And we bought our season launch pass for the lake so now we can go out anytime we want. This summer is going to be so much fun. And luckily Gabriel loves being on the boat too. He wasn't so sure the first time we took him out, but this time he loved it. It's actually all he can talk about now. He stands at the front door repeating the word boat over and over again. And he gets pretty mad when he realizes no one is going to open the door for him so that he can go see the boat.

Frejya actually swam in the lake when we went. I thought she was a little insane, but she loved it. The next day they took the boat out again while I took a 3 hour nap. That day it snowed on them while they were there. Crazy!!

Back to life

I am just getting over one of the worst colds ever. I was sick for a full week. Horrible! I even had to take 2 days off work. It was seriously awful. Luckily no one else was sick last week (although they all were pretty congested yesterday - I'm hoping it doesn't hit them like it did me) so I was actually able to rest a lot. Frejya entertained herself for the most part. She loves to sing, so she finds karaoke versions of the songs she likes online (with supervision of course) and sings along. Cracks me up! But it can keep her busy for hours.

Gabriel finds weird ways to entertain himself too. Eating is always something he does well. Clothespins can be fun too.

It's also nice to have a cousin who lives right around the corner from us. Frejya and Joshie played a lot the last couple of days. They have tons of fun together.

Birthday bonanza

I'm finally getting around to posting again. Sorry for the break! We had a fun weekend. Maisy had her birthday party Saturday morning so we got to hang out with the whole family for a little while. We all went out to lunch (there are 17 of us now!) and my little porker decided that the 2 pieces (yes, two!!) of pizza he ate at the birthday party weren't enough. So he took Iris' plate and ate her lunch. He's a monster!!

Later that night Gabe and Frejya surprised me with dinner and an ice cream cake and we celebrated my birthday at home. I loved it! Plus they got me a video camera. I can't believe I've been a mom for so long and never owned one. I'm so excited to start being the obnoxious mom who videotapes everything. After dinner, we camped out in the living room and rented a family movie on PPV (because who doesn't want to celebrate turning 29 by watching Yogi Bear?). Then Frejya and I slept out there together. It was fun. Definitely not as comfortable as my bed, but fun. The next morning we decided to be lazy for awhile and just hung out on the couch and watched some cartoons before church.

Now it's spring break so the kiddos are home a lot more. And since the weather has stayed nice, I decided it was time to hang a clothesline. So that was our project yesterday afternoon. Gabriel pushed his cart around outside while Frejya helped me hang the clothes.

He's such a little ham. He must get it from his sister.

I also finished one more project over the weekend. I knit myself a cowl last week. It was a super fast, fun knit. And I love the way it turned out. Of course now the weather is too warm to actually wear it. But I just had to wear it yesterday. With my luck, cowls will totally not be in style next year. So I had to get at least one use out of it. (It wraps around a second time for super cold days, but I probably would have passed out from overheating yesterday if it had been around my neck)

It got mixed reviews at work. Apparently women like weird scarves/accessories and men do not. And please ignore my creepy arms in this photo. They look super bony/skinny for some reason. It kind of freaks me out.

Also, Gabe and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary yesterday. Yay us!!

Besties

Gabriel loves his little friend Lila. He carries her picture around the house sometimes and gets super excited when we're going to visit her at her house or when she comes over to our house. Plus they get to see each other at daycare every day. I just love watching them together. She is so sweet to him.

How predictable are we?

Guess what we did yesterday? We went back to the park again of course. How could you not with such great weather? Gabriel still loves the slide.
 

He loves the swings too, but I'm mean and don't swing him for very long. The whole point of going to the park is to wear the kids out, right? And he's not going to get tired sitting down the whole time. So I make him run around and play. We also went on a little adventure looking for sticks. He thought it was really fun.

While we were playing, Frejya was busy flying her kite. She was really good at it - way better than me. And it entertained her for an hour. That's a crazy long time for Frejya to play by herself without needing someone to talk to. I was amazed.

Gabriel watched her for about a minute before he got bored. And you probably can't really see the kite in these pictures, but it's a Spiderman kite. It was a Spiderman kind of day yesterday.

Park day (again)

Now that the weather is finally nice, I took the kids to the park yesterday afternoon. We were there for almost 2 hours and it was a blast. It was nice to actually get the kids out of the house and get some fresh air after all the rainy days we've had. Plus they went to bed really easily last night, which is always a plus. Gabriel is getting more and more active and I end up following him around the whole time.

Like always, Frejya made friends with every other kid that came to the park yesterday. That girl loves to play and can talk to anyone. She doesn't discriminate - boys, girls, younger kids, older kids, dads, moms. Anyone who will listen becomes Frejya's friend at the park. She's funny.

After spending over an hour at the park we were getting ready to come home, but then Greta showed up with the kids so we had to stay longer to let the cousins play. I wish I'd gotten some pictures of them, but it just didn't happen. By the time we finally got home, it made for a much later dinner than usual. But of course there was a fishing pole involved. Because who eats dinner without one?

Family fun

We spent the entire weekend home together as a family. It was so much fun. I actually got some of my organizing projects done and Gabe did a little yard work. Gabriel loved watching him and wanted to be out in the yard with him.

He actually wants to do anything Daddy is doing. Including sitting on the couch pretending to be a big boy.

This picture cracks me up for some reason. He just looks like such a little old man. And the headband is his favorite new accessory. And probably necessary when your house is as cold as ours. It was freezing in our house this weekend. So cold that we decided to build a fire last night. Frejya loved it because it meant she could toast some marshmallows. She almost ate the whole bag. Good thing I realized it before she actually did. A whole bag of marshmallows can't be good for you.

And speaking of big eaters, Gabriel thinks that he needs to shove a whole banana in his mouth all at once. You'd think I didn't feed my kids because they act like they need to eat everything in sight. Good thing we've got good genes.

Also on the agenda this weekend was a family walk. We stopped and saw Gabe's parents and got to see baby Albie. Gabriel loves to give kisses.

By the end of our walk it was dark outside and I got to walk behind these cuties. They were holding hands for a while but I couldn't get a good enough picture of it (not that this one is fantastic, but still better than my other attempts).

I love spending time with my family and feel so blessed to have them. I wish every weekend could be as low-key as this one was.