Some Cute Videos

Here are some random videos exhibiting the immense cuteness of my kids. 

Gabe loves singing to his Thomas song.  He knows all the words.  And if he doesn't, he makes them up.  For example: "Thomas! He's the chicken one".  Gabe doesn't know what "cheeky" means, so he substitutes a word that he knows and is phonetically similar.

A spin-y chair is cheap, thrilling entertainment for kids.  It allows them to get plenty dizzy while I remain un-dizzy.  Er....not dizzy.

Gabe's Chalk Drawing

I think we may have a little artist!  Here is Gabe's chalk drawing, done all by himself last week! Zero help from mommy, in fact, I didn't even know he drew it until he came up to me and told me that he "Dah-wew Mommy dancing".  He told me that the round things are the music (I think it's supposed to be my iPod stereo and the filled in square is the iPod).  What a silly boy.  I NEVER dance, so he must have quite the imagination!  We are beginning to think that Gabe is a very creative child--he is always trying to make and build things. We love Gabe!! But then again, how could you not?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we didn't do to much but it was nice to have Erik home instead of working!  Since we don't have family that lives close, we were on our own this year.  I didn't really want to attempt to cook a turkey and all the other bazillion side dishes that went with it--and I would have settled for turkey sandwiches or even going out to eat so someone else could cook the meal--but luckily for us some friends from church invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner.  Erik made his traditional frog-eye salad and even made the sweet potato casserole!  It was a good meal with good company, and the kids sure had fun!  Here are the pics:

First Present of the Season

 I saw this little train kit at Walmart and thought it would be perfect for Gabe! How could it not...a train (which Gabe loves) made out of cookies and candy (which Gabe also loves)!  I thought it would be fun to wrap it up and put it under the tree as a precursor to Christmas.  Gabe was so very excited to open it.  He still talks about it to this day:  "When I woked up, dere waz a prwesent under da trwee and I opwened it"  Haha, I love the Gabie-twang.

 Anyway, here is a cute video of him opening his present:
 

With (a lot of) help from Mommy, Gabe put together and decorated his train and obsessed over it ALLLLLLL day long:

He looked and looked at it until he figured out he could eat the candy off of it.  So he ate all the candy, looked and looked at it some more, until he then figured out that the train was make of gingerbread cookies, and this is what we have left of the train Gabie and I made together:

Happy Halloween!

 The older the kids get, the more fun Halloween is becoming!  We had lots of fun this year.  I think Gabe is grasping the concept of Halloween just fine--at least the costume wearing and candy getting--Elisa just likes the candy part.  Both are terrified of anything remotely scary, so needless to say their outfits and our Halloween decor is very tame. 

Gabe went as...who else, but Thomas the Train!! I found his costume at Goodwill for $5! Good thing, I seriously would have shelled out the $25 at Party City for this costume, that's how perfect it is for Gabe!

Erik carved this AMAZING Thomas the Train into a pumpkin.  He spent a lot of time on it; more impressively, he did it between studying and taking his step 3 board exam!

Gabe had preschool on Halloween day and got a TON of candy! Seriously a 5-pound bag, not just cheap nasty candy, but GOOD candy like full snickers bars, swedish fish, ring pops, etc.  He cried and cried when I dropped him off because I didn't bring his pumpkin pail.  I'm sure getting all that candy helped him get over it :)

After picking up Gabe from preschool, we headed to the library for their Halloween "party".  LAME.  So lame.  The kids got 3 peices of candy each, and there was absolutely nothing else to do there!  No crafts or anything!  Waste of time, and here is how Gabe felt about it:

I have much better pictures of Elisa in her costume than this, but unfortunately I am unable to access them until who knows how long, so, in order for me to EVER get around to publishing this post I will have to forgo them and you'll just have to deal with these sad pics:
 

This is the only picture I have of them two together with their costumes on.

 Elisa was a flower fairy.  I actually had this costume last year for her to wear but it didn't work out.  I worked great for this year though!  She was adorable in her fairy wings, the picture fails to show how cute and adorable she really was in her costume!

Some friends invited us over for a little Halloween party/get together.  It was fun to line up all the cute kids in their cute costumes and take pictures! We enjoyed the pizza, and of course the company!

The kids and I went trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood, for the first time EVER.  I really just wanted to see who was who on our street, go to a couple houses, get some candy (I was hoping for mostly things like MilkyWays and Reeces for me), but we ended up going through our street and the one behind us as well.  Not too mention pounds and pounds of candy! Gabe still talks about going trick-or-treating!  He had a lot of fun.  I wish I had pictures of the kiddos trick-or-treating, but it was too dark anyway. Elisa liked walking around, seeing things and people, and just hanging out with big bro and mommy.  I don't think she understands the trick-or-treating concept yet, but once she does I'm sure she'll talk endlessly about it like Gabe!  She looked adorable (of course) in her fairy costume and got lots and lots of attention!  Attention from doggies too...I had her wear her squeaky shoes and it made all the dogs go crazy when she walked! It was the funniest thing!

Halloween was over and it sure was fun, but the candy isn't over yet! Arrggghhh they still have a whole bag left, and it's already been picked over by yours truly, so I am just dealing with the begging and pleading for candy the best I can!

Family Portraits 2012

 Today we got our family portraits taken (yes, I am posting this the very same day!).  They we super last minute, I meant to get these taken a month ago.  We got them taken at JCPenny.  They are inexpensive as far as photos go, but unfortunately it shows.  I am sorry to say we don't have $300 to shell out for those on-site fancy pics, so this is what we have to settle for 'till then.  
Yeesh, not a good session at all! The kids (namely Elisa) refused to cooperate, so here is the most tolerable, I won't even bother posting all of them because they are just BAD:

 We didn't get a printout of this one, but I really like it!

 The only good one of Elisa, and she isn't even looking at the camera or smiling!

 A cute one of my cute Gabe

 

 Family portrait.  We got a printout of this for our wall, it's---tolerable.

 Our portrait for the Christmas cards

 Too bad Gabe wasn't looking at the camera, this is such a cute pic of Elisa!

And last but not least, this gem, I just had to post it:

See what I mean??! Bad!! So bad, it's funny! LOL

She's a Hazard to Herself

 This past week has been a hard one on Elisa.  Two big boo-boos within one week!  They were both accidents, and I think they look worse than they really are.  I wouldn't call Elisa clumsy, but I think she may be off balance a bit, considering she had a big head, especially in comparison for her below-10th-percentile weight!  I am thankful that these are the worst owies we have had (knock on wood!)

 She was pulling at a laundry basket, when her hands slipped off and she fell back and hit her ear on the coffee table.

 She randomly fell in the garage while I was unloading groceries, and hit her forehead on the trailer hitch on the back of the car.  It didn't bleed much and she only cried for a minute or so, but Erik said it probably could have used a suture.  I just hope there isn't a big ugly scar right in the middle of her head :(


My poor little girl.  

Thanksgiving Presents!

The kids love opening presents! They're in for a real treat come Christmas, but till then...they enjoy the presents that come in the mail from Grandma! 
Here is the kids opening their Thanksgiving presents (Thanksgiving presents---could they be any more spoiled! :P)

Gabe (and Elisa's) Family Tree

I have so much to post about!  Unfortunately, I have been unable to get any pictures off of any camera right now besides my iPod (hence the post delay).  One camera has a dead battery but the battery charger is MIA.  The other camera has batteries but no USB chord to hook it up to the computer (Erik said he probably threw it away...grrr!)  So, I will post a couple of posts from the iPod, sorry the pictures don't turn out very clear but it's better than nothing!

A month ago Gabe's preschool wanted pictures of family members so they could make a family tree for him.  So I sent a bunch of pictures to Walmart Photo Center of family members (that was a fiasco--Walmart's photo center is incompetent--that's a story for another day though).  A week later, Gabe came home with a piece of construction paper with a bunch of random faces slapped on it.  Now, I know the girls didn't know whose who in Gabe family, and I don't expect them to (I did label who was who though!) but the modge podge of heads didn't cut it for me. 

So I took matters into my own hands and made Gabe (and Elisa) this:

Labeled and organized, plus it gives the toy room a lift!  But the main point of doing this is so that Gabe can see and recognize family members--of whom we hardly ever get to see anymore now that we are here in Texas :)

Another Birthday...

...They're not too exciting after 25.  It was a good birthday though.  My sweet friend Andrea took me out to breakfast...lots of birthday wishes from facebook....the kids napped at the same time...nice phone calls from the family...of course Erik spoils me every year! He gave me flowers, and a couple of awesome things on my birthday list.  The first one being a ruffler foot/attachment to feed my sewing addiction! I've figured it out and I'm excited to put it to use!  I've been looking forward to getting this and using if for a long time!

I also got a Jon Schmidt piano book, I am enjoying playing out of it.  I love his stuff!

Since my birthday falls around election day, I was half kidding when I told Erik that I wanted a new president for my birthday.  I was surprised to find this in my email.  I hope it helps, Mitt! 

And last but not least, I asked Erik to sign us up for Netflix! It's so far awesome, thanks  Netflix for diluting my desire for constant sewing, now I'm obsessed with the TV series LOST instead (no, I've never seen it...finally catching up after all this time)!  I also got a nice gift in the mail from dear MIL, actually I will probably use it for some desperately needed clothes for ME, Elisa has clothes enough for 3 little girls, as tempting as it is to blow it all at Hobby Lobby!

Only two more years till I turn 30....ugh...but I still have 28 and 29 to enjoy!

Old McDonald's Farm

...And before I get any more behind, this post features our little trip we had last Saturday (Oct. 27th) to yet another pumpkin patch/farm thing.  Only this one was cheaper, closer, less crowded, and the weather was better.  It was definitely smaller than Dewberry farm but we got to do everything they had to offer, and that was enough with two small children! 
There was a petting zoo, or rather, individually fenced-in animals that you could walk in and pet (if that makes any sense at all)!  They had just about every farm animal there is to pet.  We liked the bunnies the best...so soft and fluffy and cute!  They also had a pony ride--Gabe enjoyed it but Elisa refused to get on, a couple of playgrounds, a train (the selling point for us!) and of course a pumpkin patch.  I love that everything was included in the price!  It was such a fun day, we really enjoyed going. Here are the pics:

 The kids loved playing tether ball!

 Petting those furry rabbits

 Gabe riding a pony

 Elisa petting the goat

 Just being his cute self

 Elisa saw some other kids holding out their hands to feed the animals, so she started doing it!

 Aren't they cute?!

 Miss personality

 Me and my Gabe on the train ride

 Elisa enjoying the swing

 Picking out a pumpkin

Gabe's pumpkin

Gabe's Christmas List

Q: What does Gabe want for Christmas?
A: Trains!!

That is all!

Galveston Train Museum

 Aug 17th (months and months ago, that is how far behind I am), we visited the train museum in Galveston.  Unlike the train park in AZ, most of this museum was REAL trains, which was pretty neat. I'm so used to Gabe's little trains that these real trains seemed incredibly massive! Gabe of course had fun, it was a little  too hot though.  It was a fun experience seeing real trains even if they STILL stank from getting wet from the nasty sea water that hurricane Ike brought in 5 years ago! 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 Gabe enjoyed the train table as much as the trains themselves.  There were also a bunch of white-plaster people set up all around the station.  They were a bit creepy, especially since we were just about the only people in there!

 

Gabe playing with the "phones" in the phone booth at the "station"

A mini train exhibit