Easter

At the end of our little circle is a house that has been empty for a while.  It’s very overgrown, and makes a great place to have an Easter egg hunt.  Which we did as a neighborhood.  

  As soon as it was over, my kids enjoyed their loot right in the middle of the street.

 

Saturday, we searched for a school or a park to have a family egg    hunt  at, but had no luck because everything was too crowded.  So we ended up in a  deserty area.  There were pricklies and a little barb wire,  but it just made it more challenging.

I was so happy that Dave, Chandler and Marcus were able to come.  We had fun with almost everyone on the Gabrielson side except Chris and JJ’s fam.   We had some great games of Dominion until the wee hours of the morning.  Got in some basketball, and a little time in the batting cage.   We even snuck a little conference in there.  It was a great weekend.

Give me 5!

Gabe turned five during the moving craziness.   I have never spent less time planning for a party.  It was amazing.  and wonderful.  I am still marveling at all the time saved. 

We decorated our empty living room with streamers and a sign (it’s become a family tradition). 

At Gabe’s school,  he got walk around the sun with the earth 5 times to represent 5 years.  And of course pass out treats.

We had a party a Nana’s where we did presents and cake.  Earlier that day I went to the store and let Gabe pick out his own cake.  It was Pirates of the Caribbean if you can’t tell. While Gabe was at school, I got him his present.  A new bike!    Gabe’s guest was his cousin Dane.  We all love Dane because he’s so funny. Then we headed to Jump on It, and had a BLAST.  We love Jump on It, including Mark and I.   We run all over the place, and I usually am just dripping with sweat by the time we leave. I was capturing the kids in my dungeon.  It was fun.     It was a pretty fun birthday!  I’m so glad Gabe has made it to five.   Gabe can be such a refreshing joy.  I’m so glad I have my little guy to snuggle with and play video games with. This birthday seemed big to me because he’s no longer a toddler.  He’s a kid now.  A boy.   Happy Birthday Dude! 

What a month!

  I have been putting off writing a post because there is so much.

We are finally moved and settled into our house.  I LOVE IT!!!  It is a darling little house with a very practical yet fun floor plan. (I’m all about the floor plan)   It took a few weeks of work before we moved in to get it ready.  Mark and I took out the flooring in the kitchen, living, room, laundry room, and hall.  We laid down laminate wood floors.  We had to do quite a lot of painting, and the yard work was crazy.  Thankfully our parents did most of the yard work.  Thanks again wonderful parents!  They helped so much.  It was a lot of work, but we enjoyed learning new things, and Mark likes to do physical work. (I could have lived with hiring someone.) 

The neighborhood is awesome.  We live of the corner of a cul-de-sac and there are 35+ kids on the circle.  Emma, Gabe and Abigail has lots of friends to play with. 

Mark is supposed to be studying for the CFA exam in June, but has not been able to stop working on the house.   I’m not much help when it comes to helping him studying, because I love to work on the house too.   He won a volleyball tournament with Bob last weekend, and continues to work hard at his job. Thanks sweetie :) 

We celebrated our 8th year anniversary by going (what else) snowboarding.  It was soooooooooooooooooo fun.  Thanks for Sondra and Aunt Linda for babysitting for us.  It was a great day.  I landed 4 beautiful 360s. :)(the self-portrait snowboarding picture.  we have so many of these. It’s funny. )

I got my real estate license before we moved, and have been so busy I haven’t been able to do any work yet, but I look forward to it.  

Emma is still loving her school.  She recently sang in the school choir, and performed many times including once at Tuachaun.  She loved it.  She continues to do so well in school, and at home.  She is so sweet and mature.  I love the way her brain works.  She is very curious and asks a lot of questions lately.  She says she just wants to know everything.

 

Gabriel has discovered video games, and wants to play them non stop. When he’s not playing them, he is acting them out.  “Okay mom, your are on the blue team.  Do you want a sniper rifle or a rocket launcher?  Let’s go throw grenades at Dad.”     Yeah….  after a long talk about how real guns hurt and we shouldn’t pretend to kill people,  he only plays Mario Kart and Sonic now.  When he is not doing that, he is playing with Abigail, going to school, gymnastics, or riding his bike around with his friends.  He continues to be such a great listener.  I love that I only have to tell him to do something once (most of the time)  He has also taken on more responsibilities at home by cleaning the toilet and setting the table everyday.  He also is a big help with Abigail.

   

Abigail just had a big day of Potty Training.  She did awesome.  I have a system, which I got all ready.  Mark was taking Gabe and Emma away,  and before they even left,  she went poo-poo and pee-pee all by herself.  I was kind-of like, “well, now what should we do?”   She loves her Dora underwear.   Abigail is getting so big.  She wants to be just like her brother and sister.  She wants to have friends over because they do, she wants to play video games because they do etc.  I’m glad she has such good examples to follow.    Emma said she’s not a baby anymore because she talks and walks and doesn’t wear diapers anymore.  It made me so sad because she’s really isn’t a baby anymore.  She is one awesome kid though and I love to experience her grow. 

I was thinking today how blessed I am,  If I could have any life situation I wanted, I wouldn’t ask for anything different. What a great feeling!   That’s not to say there is nothing I wish to change about myself, because I have lifetimes of improvements that need to me made,  but I love the Gospel, my husband, children, country, family and home so much.   I really don’t deserve it all, but I am so grateful I have it.