Family Pictures

Big Boy

I am just so amazed at how big Gabe is getting. He is 6 1/2 months old, but he is already 20 lbs! He's got these cute roly-poly legs and arms and a little round belly. He doesn't look really fat, he's just a solid boy.

I put some new clothes on him this morning, a shirt and jeans. Both are sized for a 12 month old! They fit him pretty well, except the arms and legs are a little long. Also, the socks he is wearing is for 18-36 month old.Lizzy has excema on her hands and it has really been bothering her latley. So, I bought her some gloves to wear at night. We lather her up and stick the gloves on and she sleeps with them on. She was very excited to find Diego gloves and here she is showing them off. I hope it works. I have to wear gloves at night as well for my excema and it is not fun.

Elf Yourself

Have you ever heard of Elf Yourself? It's hilarious. You take pictures of yourself off the computer and put it in this program where it puts your face on an elf body and then they dance or sing. I did one for my family; Adam, myself, Lizzy, and Gabe. I posted it here on my blog, check it out. The only thing is that the picture of Lizzy is a year old and Gabe's is from a day or so after he was born, so he looks funny. But these were the only pictures of Gabe that were on Adam's computer when I did this.
Try this out for yourself too and have a good laugh!

Lizzy's Birthday

On November 21st, Lizzy turned 4! I can't believe she is that old already. We had a few friends over to eat cake and ice cream with us, but otherwise it was a quiet day.

Here is Lizzy blowing out her candles.

Lizzy really wanted an Ariel cake for her birthday, so I made her this. The night before I baked the cake and then put it in the fridge overnight. A cold cake is easier to frost - less crumbs. I found a picture of Ariel on the internet and drew the outline with black frosting on her cake. Then I filled in the spaces with the correct coloured frosting. Kind of like paint by number :)

Here is how it turned out.

Lizzy showing off her presents from Mommy and Daddy: a train set and a Little Mermaid doll (kind of like a polly pocket). She loves to change Ariel's tail into legs and put a dress on her.

Me Lizzy just chillin'.

Gabe. He's now 6 months old, and a hefty 19 lbs. What a big boy! He's sitting up by himself now and loves it.

Halloween

Lizzy showing off her tail just before leaving for trick-or-treating.

Lizzy was a skeleton-cat. I think her favourite part of the costume was the whiskers I drew on her face with my eyeliner. It was chilly out that night, so Lizzy is wearing her winter jacket underneath her shirt. She looked at it and said, "I don't want to be a fat kitty!"

"Meow!"

We went to our Branch Halloween party at the church and all dressed up as skeletons. Well, I found skeleton shirts at Wal-mart for cheap. I thought it was cute that we had a theme. I especially loved Gabe's skeleton onesie

So cute!

The booty!

Crafts

The public library here in Albert Lea has the best children's programs that I have seen. The story time is really great and Lizzy loves attending. Recently the library put on a "Where the Wild Things Are" party. They read stories, played games and did crafts all associated with the book (and the new movie).


This is the mask and crown Lizzy made at the party all by herself.Me being a "wild thing."Lizzy being a "wild thing."

My mom sent Lizzy an Halloween craft for fun. She had such a blast making her own jack o lanterns and decorating them.

This is the Daddy pumpkin Lizzy made. Can you see a resemblance?

Gramma and Poppa

Here are a few pictures from my trip to Ontario to visit my grandparents.

Gramma and Poppa meeting Gabe for the first time.

Poppa and Gabe.

Lizzy and Gramma.

Blogging requires two hands

So a month has gone by and I have not blogged. I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to sit down at the computer and do this. When I have a moment to myself - or with one child - I think, "What do I need to do?" Should I excercise, or do the dishes. I probably should have a shower sometime today. Oh yes, and laundry needs to be done too. Oh what about my writing assignments or my Primary lesson? I'm sorry to say that blogging comes late on the list and I usually only have time to do one or two things (most likely one) before Gabe wakes up or starts cying or Lizzy needs me.

The problem with blogging is that it requires two hands. Gabe doesn't like to be put down for too long, and while he is in his bouncy chair or on the floor, I try to get some chores done, or cook, or something of a similar nature. So that is my problem with blogging. Today is Sunday so it is easier to have time to sit down. Adam is home, no chores need to be done, and did I mention Adam is home? That's the best part.

So an update:

I got to have an excellent visit with my grandparents in Ontario recently. I took the kids (minus husband) and drove the 8 1/2 hours (without stops, so more like 11 hours) to Atikokan. Everyone kept saying how brave I was to do that, but really it was just necessity. I think all the men in my family really worried though. You know, a woman driving by herself, with two kids and an old Suburban. They must have all prayed for me, because I had no problems and everything went really well.

I had a really good time and it was great to see a whole bunch of family. It was the first time that my grandparents saw Gabriel, so that was really nice. (I'll post some pictures once I get them on my computer).

Well, Gabe has now woken from his nap and is crying; a testament to my earlier words. So adieu.

Misplaced Posts

So me being silly, posted some more pictures on the wrong blog. I put it here on our funny sayings blog.

I posted two new posts titled Haircut and More pictures. Check them out if you wish. While you're there, read some of the funny stuff that Lizzy says and enjoy.

It's easier to do a link than to re-do two whole posts. Those pictures are from my phone. Yes I was able to find the cord and now they are on my computer. Fun times.

As promised...

Finally some pictures as promised!
Here's Gabe. He drools so much as evident by his discoloured shirt. I love his double chin.

"What's going on here?"

Lizzy's fort she made in Prince Rupert all by herself. She's so proud!

Close up.

I love his little toes. So cute.
Sorry, no new pictures of Lizzy's haircut, they are on my phone. I have to find the cord to transfer the pictures on my computer. I hope I find it soon because I have some neat pictures on there.

Smokers

Please excuse my long posting absence, we having been moving half way across the continet. We are now at our new rotation site and Adam is loving it. He is working with an optometrist/opthomologist so he gets to do a lot of the more surgical things with the eyes. Already he has assisted in surgeries and even stitched up afterwards. He loves it! He gets to scrub up, wear the surgical gowns, gloves, masks, everthing. He came home from his first surgery day all excited telling me the details of his day and how he got to stick his finger in and behind some person's eye. Kind of gross, but also cool.

Gabe is growing fast. Already he is 15 lbs and 3 months old! He is starting to get heavy to carry around for extended periods of times. My back was sore yesterday and I couldn't figure out why until I realized that I was carrying Gabe in the Snugli for a couple hours the previous day! He is such a cutie! He is laughing now and smiles all the time. He's pretty vocal and likes to "talk" to us. He likes to sit propped up with pillows and is starting to really concentrate on grabbing things. It's amazing how fast babies develop. It's fun to watch.

Lizzy has had a fascination with smokers lately. Let me explain. In our last apartment, the people below us smoked almost all day long on their balcony. The smoke would drift up into our apartment and drive us insane. It was absolutely disgusting. We would always have to close the sliding door to the balcony and then it would get super hot and stuffy in our apartment.

Anyway, we had to explain to Lizzy that smoking is bad for you and we don't want to be breathing that into our lungs. We also told her that it was a bad choice to smoke and we are taught that we shouldn't do it. So now she thinks that anyone who smokes is a bad person. I've tried to explain to her that just because someone makes a bad choice, doesn't make them a bad person. I don't think the concept has stuck.

For example Lizzy ran away from me the other week down the street. I told her to come back and to stay near me so she can be safe. She said, "Why? Is a smoker going to take me?"

Another example: We were watching a show on TV and Lizzy was asking what was going on. I told her that the bad men were chasing the good guys. She said, "Are they smokers?"

Also she will ask me when we're out for a walk or shopping if some random person is a smoker.

Yesterday she came up to me and said, "I just went potty." She paused. "I wasn't smoking."

It's good to know that my 3 year old wasn't smoking in the bathroom.

I will post some pictures soon, but the batteries are dead on the camera, so I can't do it now. There will be some new pictures of Gabe and of Lizzy's new haircut! Fun times for all!

The ring... it fits!

The other day I was finally able to fit my wedding ring back on my finger! Now, getting it off is another story :) It's pretty much stuck now.

Adam and I have been working out every day and trying to eat healthier. I am happy to report that I have lost some weight since Gabriel has been born. About 30 lbs! The first 15 came off right away when Gabriel was born, so the other 15 was all me! I don't quite fit into all my pre-pregnancy clothes yet (just some) and I have at least 20 lbs more to go! But 15 lbs in two months is pretty good I think.

Hooray for Wii fit!

Pictures

Here are a few new pictures for all to enjoy.

"I'm a happy, happy boy!" He just smiles so much. It is so fun! I love that when he looks at me, he smiles. That makes me a happy, happy Momma!

Me and Gabe. And my nice new haircut!

He's so strong! He holds his head up really well and loves to stand. Sometimes he'll even push down, like he wants to jump. This is his monster shirt from Gramma. So cute!

Daddy showing off his kids. Gabriel showing off his hand-knit sweater and socks from Great-Grandma. Lizzy showing off her hand made new dress from Grandma. We all like to show off.

"Look how tall I am Momma!"

The Foggy Fog

Many mornings we wake up to white. The fog rolls in and we can't see a thing. It is thick and heavy and looks like a wall of clouds.

This morning the fog was in thick. And as it started to lift, the sun came out and it was so beautiful! I took a few pictures to show you how neat it looked.

This first one is kind of neat. I like how the fog rolls up the hill. All underneath that fog is the ocean, although you can't see it.

The fog lifted a bit more and a hug ship could be seen peeking out. This is a really big cargo ship that often docks here. It looks like it is sinking in a fog quicksand.

Another ship peeking out of the fog. I just thought these were really cool.

The Half-Blood Prince

Hooray! Adam and I got to go on a date last night. We went to see the new Harry Potter movie and took Gabe the babe with us. He did really well and slept through the whole thing.

I was really excited to see The Half-Blood Prince as it is my favourite book of the series. I think it was well done and I really enjoyed the movie.Adam thought it wasn't as good as The Order of the Phoenix and that this one was more of a "stepping stone" movie.

Of course there's only so much one can include in 2 1/2 hours and things were missed that I wanted to see. There was also one scene that was totally invented for the movie that surprised me. I think the director or writer wanted a bit more action in the middle of the story. Also one of the final and major scenes was changed and I was looking forward to a major battle, but it ended up as just the Death Eaters running away. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to write my own screen adaptations in the future!

Overall, Half-Blood Prince is a great movie and very entertaining. I had a lot of fun and wasn't disappointed.

One Month

These are some newer pictures of Gabriel. He is one month old and 11 lbs and 6 oz.

Who do you think he looks like?

The view

Here is the view from our balcony up on the 14th floor. We can see the ocean and the mountains and all of downtown Prince Rupert. We often see cruise ships go by and dock for a day. Then there are sail boats, fishing boats and big commercial ships.

I love being in the mountains again. I sure missed them and the fresh smell that comes wafting down.