Valentine's Day 2013

 We had a great Valentine's Day this year!  Gabe in particular enjoyed it, and no wonder he sure got spoiled!  Here are the pictures I took, there are a lot but they sure do a better job than my rambling:

 Presents for the Grandparents!

 We got portraits taken at JCPenny while my sister, Lisa and her baby Aaliyah were visiting.  It was our one and only chance to get pictures of all the cousins together until who knows how long, so we took advantage of the opportunity and got this made for my parents.  I don't think they've even seen it yet, but...I tried!

 

 This was made for Erik's parents.  It was fun to make, and the kids sure enjoyed getting their hands traced and painting!  It probably could have used some better planning and designing on my part, but it was well-received (and at the very least--seen!) by the recipients. 

 Gabe signed his names all by himself on all 20 Valentines for his preschool!  I didn't realize it at the time, but most preschoolers can't even write their own name yet, as I have come to find out.  Wow...good for Gabe; what a smart little guy!

 The silly hear-shaped egg I made for Elisa.  She ate it.  Then asked for another one.  Ate the other egg.  Then asked for a 3rd.  I gave her some bread.  Silly piggy.

 We enjoyed going to a Valentine's Day party after preschool.  Gabe had fun playing bingo (he won!) and Elisa enjoyed all the commotion and attention of the party. 

 Gabe's Valentine (sorry Eva!)

 Elisa stylin' her Valentines Day outfit

 Gabe got LOTS and lots of Valentines from his preschool friends and teachers.  He also got lots of candy--we are still working on the Halloween candy!  Arrrggghhh!

 Opening presents from Mommy and Daddy.

 Gabe picked out a little stuffed unicorn for Elisa. Here she is about to pull it out of the bag.  She calls it a "pony-corn"

 Haha silly babies.  They enjoyed their lolly-pop lips they got from daddy.

 Valentine's kisses from big brother!

 My goofy girl!

 

Erik made us a nice Valentine's day dinner! He called it "a taste of Anaheim".  He made the Mint Julip  we always get when we go to Disney Land and the "Pommes Frites".  He also made Chicken Kiev and asparagus.  And last but not least, Godiva chocolate cheesecake (made to be cupcakes!).  What a nice husband I have!!

And no Valentines day would be complete with out my made-from-scratch soft sugar cookies with homemade frosting.  Yum!

Silly Little Stinker

 My silly little Gabie--sometimes getting into mischief, but most of the time being super loveable and cute!

Gabe thought it was a good idea to paint his toenails with my lipgloss a couple of weeks ago. No Gabe, it wasn't. 

 

We love out little Gabe!  I wish I could keep him little for longer, but alas, he must grow up.  I'll miss him and his silly toddler self, and I'll enjoy his goofy, mischief making self while I can, even if it means scrubbing out pink stains in the carpet!

Aunt Lisa and Cousin Aaliyah's Visit

 Last month we had the pleasure of having my sister, Lisa and her daughter, Aaliyah over for a nice long visit.  The kids sure enjoyed playing with Auntie Lisa and cousin Aaliyah, and I enjoyed having a little extra help with the kids and girl-talk! 

 Playing in the tub

 

 

 At the Space Center--it always boggles my mind how these things are sent up in space!

 

 

 

 

 

 It was fun exploring downtown League city and stopping for doughnuts!  

It was also fun going to the beach and to consignment store and thrift stores with Lisa and Aaliyah!

 It wasn't fun, however, when this little stink tried to crawl out our 2nd story window! Yes, you read that right.  Aaliyah tried to crawl out the window.  I didn't see any of it, but I heard she was dangling out of the window and Gabe and Elisa were each holding on to a hand so she wouldn't fall! I'm realived that Aaliyah didn't fall, but seriously, why did the whole neighborhood have to witness this event?? WHY? There were several people walking outside and saw the whole thing.  I know I'm being petty, seeing as how my little niece could have died, but c'mon!  It seems like there is always a witness when you want them the least.
Anyway, it's highly probable that she got up on our leap frog learning table and pushed out the screen (don't ask why the window was open--I didn't open it--*coughLISAcough*).  All this occurred in the 3 minutes it took Lisa to go to the bathroom! Kids are so crazy! I'm so glad she didn't fall! Yay for heroes Gabe and Elisa! I'm so proud of my kids.  I doubt she would have died should Aaliyah have fallen, but she might have broken an arm or leg! It's bad enough that this incident actually occurred, let alone this little girl sustaining any injuries.  Yikes.
Besides the obvious, I'm most upset that I punished Gabe before I knew what had actually happened---I assumed he himself had opened the screen.  I made up for it with candy, ice cream, and praises, but I hope he's not scarred for life.  Poor Gabe; he was so confused as to why I was mad at him.  Bad mommy day. We shall never speak of this again. 

 All in all it was a nice visit and Aaliyah sure seemed to have fun! Too bad her mommy was sick a lot of the time!  Aaliyah is such a good, cute little girl and we loved having her here!  I'm glad Gabe and Elisa have a cousin, even if it is just one and they live thousands of miles away.

iPad Pictures

Well this is a totally random post with no coherent theme, but who doesn't like pictures?  Here are a few of my favorite pictures that I took with the iPad.  Most of them are from when we first moved in our new house here in TX (seems so long ago now!). 
 

The real me.  I sent this to Erik on one of his first days of residency, I'm sure he loved it.  This would make a great FB profile pic!

 What's better than one Gabe?  Two Gabes! Or, "two dabes" as Gabe likes to say.

 

 The kids playing in their first of many Texas showers.  They thought it was the coolest thing in the world to have water falling from the sky.

 I let the kids have at it with the watercolor paints on the first or second day we moved in.  Elisa made sure to take advantage of this opportunity!

We didn't have too many places to go when we first moved in, so we enjoyed making up our own silly activities at home! Gabe's first project in our new home: decorating a box.  It was fun (and messy!) to bring out all the craft supplies at let Gabe have a go at it!

 Gabe was obsessed with the iPad when we first got it.  He loved to take pictures--mostly of the ceiling--but there were a couple of super cute ones of himself.

 Cute happy Gabes!

 Mommy and her Gabe

 Gabe took this one

 Gabe took this one too, with his favorite Thomas "snow train".

 Look at that cute little piggy nose!

 Me and my favorite boy

 I'm not sure how this one got taken, but it most have been an accident because this was taken when Erik and Elisa were at church and I stayed home with Gabe.

 Me and my favorite little girl

Mommy loves her Gabe!

Bayou Wildlife Park

There is a super fun place I love to take the kids here in Texas called Bayou Wildlife Park.  It's like a zoo...but waaaaay better! It is unfortunately $18 a person to get in so we don't get to go as often as I'd like, but luckily we've had a few opportunities to avoid the expensiveness of the park while enjoying it's awesomeness. It's basically a safari ride and you get a bucket to feed the animals, and they don't mind coming right up to you and eating out of your bucket!  Also there are a couple of deer that will come up to you like a dog and let you pet them! The kids sure love it and it even includes a free pony ride!



The first time we went was with the Resiterns, and they paid our way so it was free! We had so much fun (I think this was back in September--it was almost too hot still, but bearable).  I took the kids because Erik had to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second time we went was with a group from our ward.  We paid $6 a person (group rate) but still better than $18!  I was almost too cold this time (December 31st) and the animals didn't seem to have as much ambition for food as they did in our previous trip, but it was still fun.  Erik got to go too!

There were a couple of downsides to this last visit to the park.  The tour guide just had to tell us a horrible story about a newborn giraffe getting it's eyes pecked out and killed by some buzzards.  I think the ride would have been much better without that tidbit of info (ignorance is bliss, right?!).  Also Elisa stuck her hand in the cage of a peacock and got her little baby hand pecked at.  It didn't do much damage, just scared her mostly.  Stupid birds and their stupid pecking beaks.