Take me to the fair!

Here are some photos from our super fun trip to the Sheboygan County Fair today! Gabe had SUCH a blast! He got to ride a roller coaster, as well as a motorcycle ride, an airplane ride, a big ferris wheel with mom, bumper cars with dad, and a giant slide! We also feasted on funnel cakes, ice cream, and fried cheese!! YUM! What a great way to wrap up the summer! Gabe starts school on Tuesday!

Rare Male Communication Ritual

Enjoy this rare video footage of a man, communicating with his young, in the way nature best intended ... using bodily noises.

Paging ... Dr. Luther...

So today I got ambushed by a series of questions from a very serious Gabriel, who decided it was high time that he figure out the meaning of life. So I'm sitting there, innocently eating my peanut butter toast this morning, when Gabe wanders up and starts firing away. "Momma, did Jesus live on the earth back when you were a little girl?" (How old do I look?) "Mamma, what is the Holy Spirit?" (Oh Lord, where is my catechism...better yet ... paging Dr. Luther!!) "Mamma, how long are you in heaven before you get to go home?" (Try explaining the concept of 'forever' to a 4-year-old) "Mama, Is God Jesus and Jesus is God?" (Yes. Amazingly, there were no questions asked. He had no problem accepting this answer.) So we played biblical 20 questions today, and I THINK I did okay. I guess we'll wait and see! Yikes! I think I now know the ultimate stress of being a parent and realizing that your child thinks you know EVERYTHING!

'Real food' experience

I tried to give Asher some "real" food the other day: chopped up macaroni noodles and cherry tomatoes. His reaction was ... apathy. He didn't seem to realize that it was food in front of him. If I fed it to him, he was okay. But he wouldn't go after it on his own ... until the end of the meal when he picked up his plate and turned it upside down -- tossing it on the floor as if to say, "That's enough of THAT nonsense!" What a funny guy! I guess he'll be getting oatmeal and gerber food for awhile yet.

Gabe'n Ash play piano

Every day it seems that Asher and Gabriel interact more and more with each other. Yesterday, I caught this video footage of them playing together on Gabriel's piano. Gabe likes to play "Praise band" on his piano, where he pretends to be his daddy playing at church. This time, Asher got a chance to make some music too! Very cute! Enjoy this little 75 second clip of the boys having fun together!

Asher's Bath

Check out this video of Asher's bath in the kitchen sink, taken earlier this week! With some handy pointers from my friend Nhia at work, and a LOOOOT of patience, I figured out the fun of YouTube today! It's actually pretty easy, once you get the hang of it. And the best part of it is, since YouTube is 'associated' with BLOGGER, all you have to do is download your video, and then click one button to blog it! Fun stuff! Pay no mind to the extra blank footage on the end of this video. I'm still getting the hang of it!!
Enjoy! My favorite part of this little movie is when Asher tries to grab the water with his fingertips!

Boys will be boys

Okay, so I totally stole this from my mom's blog, but I had to ... it was just so darn cute! This photo was taken two weeks ago while we were in Door County with my parents and my sister and her husband, Leo. We spent one afternoon on the beach. And Leon and Nathan had so much fun in the sand -- I just love Gabriel's expression in the background, like he's thinking "Ummm...hello? Guys? What just happened here? Can't I play too?" Apparently a little pip squeak on the beach bragged about the size of his "moat" at which point Nate and Leon took it upon themselves to show this kid a thing or two about how big a hole can actually be! (Did I get the story right guys?? I wasn't there, so I want to make sure!) I'm sorry, but being the FRIENDS buff that I am (even years after the show's over -- random quotes tend to continue popping into my head ... probably since I watched all 10 seasons on DVD during my maternity leave ...) I keep hearing Joey in that one episode where they're on the beach and his head pops out of the pit he's digging on the beach and he says "Check it out!! Dug me a hole!!" Okay, if you've never seen it, nevermind. But if you have ... FUNNY!!

Many many years ago ... in a land far far away...

So I was thinking back today, and realized that nine years ago this month, I was headed off to college to get ready for my first experience with Marching Mizzou -- our college marching band. What a crazy time that was! I had never marched in my life, and was about to spend several weeks sweltering in 90 degree plus Missouri weather while standing on blacktop for several hours a day in NO shade! What fun! At the time, you were horribly covered in slimy sweat and wondering if it was worth it, when at the end of the day, all you had mastered was the beloved Missouri waltz step. Joy joy. But looking back on it now, those are some awesome memories!
I recently had the opportunity to visit with Amy and Colin, who stopped thru on their way home to Ann Arbor Michigan. She's a great friend from college and the person who took the time to explain marching charts to me when I was just a pip-squeak college freshman at MIZZOU and had no idea what direction I was marching in. :) Colin was also in the band.
Recently, Gabriel has shown HUGE interest in marching bands, and keeps asking me about what instrument I played and how it all worked. I think I'm gonna have to get out my old videos to show him the sheer size and scope of what Marching Mizzou mania was all about.
The fuzzy photo is of our "squad" my very first year. Amy might have to help me with the names. I know Heather Brauer is on the far left. And then Amy and then I think the next girl's name is Kate. And then me on the end. We're making a U with our flutes and holding up 2 fingers because our squad was U-2. Seriously. And we thought that was pretty funny. The photo was taken in San Diego, where we went for the Bowl Game when I was a Freshman. Fun times.
On a totally separate note, Nathan gets hubby of the year award today. He knows I've been having a rough week, so this morning, he popped right out of bed and somehow herded both boys downstairs with zero noise levels so that I could sleep in a bit. Then, when I finally woke up, it was to the sight of my boys bringing me breakfast in bed on a tray! Nathan had made me an omelet with all the fresh goodies from our garden: zucchini, tomatoes, basil as a garnish -- it was lovely! Soooo yummy and such a marvelous way to be treated like a queen for an hour or two! Thank you boys! I love you so much!

Pirate Baby and a New Tooth

Check out Ashers groovy headgear! I think he looks like a little pirate baby with his bandana on his head! We had a GREAT night last night. It was the first time all summer that we haven't been hectic and busy, and we were able to have a fabulous dinner and then spend time in the front yard, just hanging out, enjoying the evening and playing with the boys. To top it off, Asher fell asleep in my arms on the porch swing. What a perfect, perfect night!
Oh, and FYI : Asher's first tooth popped out yesterday. (Or at least, that's when we noticed it) It's just barely thru the gums, but you can feel the little point of it. It's very exciting! Before we know it, he'll be eating steak!! :)

Standing Man

Well I suppose that once you learn to crawl, the world is open to you! It seems like it's been forever since I blogged last, but my only excuse is that I have MUCH LESS time on my hands now that I can no longer plunk Asher with a toy on the floor at my feet as I blog without worry. Now he is mobile, and my days are spent chasing after him, from room to room. Lord help us when he finally discovers the stairs!!
This is a photo of how my little man greets me in the morning now! (Photo was taken this morning) Our routine is basically this: He calls out "mamamamamam" from his crib (As I am always the one he calls for when he is in seriously dire straits .... needing food, or out of bed etc. Nathan, he calls for all the time, when he's happy!! Not fair!!). Anyway, after he begins calling out my name in a loud forcefull voice, I pull myself out of bed, open his door, and there he is!! Standing man! It's impossible NOT to smile when you see a mini pudge-muffin standing there all proud of himself and grinning at you! What a doll!

BIG NEWS!!!!

ASHER IS CRAWLING!!! Yep, it's official folks! At age 8 months and four days, Asher is now a mobile human being! He took a few hesitant knee-bends forward on Saturday afternoon, but quickly fell onto his tummy. Today, however, was different. I put him on one side of our living room carpet, and I went about seven feet away, to the other side, and proceded to call him -- shaking various toys as bait. The little guy propped up his arms and legs, and proceded to frog hop a few inches forward, but quickly tired of that and began slowly moving one hand forward, and then a leg ... concentrating so hard, until he'd achieved a full-fledged crawl!! All the way across the carpet!! I'm so proud of my little man! Of course (in true manly fashion) his favorite incentive for crawling, seems to be going after the TV remote, if it happens to be on the floor! He's getting so big! Now, when I wake him up in his crib, he's usually sitting up, instead of laying down, and he is beginning to try to hoist himself up on the bars. Uh oh. Time to think about lowering the crib matress!
Way to go Asher!! We're so proud of you!!!

Nate's Song

I was scanning thru our iTunes library the other day and came across a tune that Nathan made in Garage Band on our Mac one night while I was at work and he was bored. I stole it, without his permission of course, and decided to post it here on my blog!
He did all the vocal and instrumental stuff on our computer and then threw it all together to make a song. What fun!
Listen to Nate's song here
He said it's a work in progress, but I still think it's super cool! Let me know what you think!

Goin' to the chapel

Well folks, it's official! I've been an old married lady for FIVE years! Today, Nathan and I celebrate our fifth anniversary -- five years of being crazy about each other, of putting up with each other, and of sharing all our joys and challenges! What a great five years it's been!! Today, I keep finding myself thinking back to my wedding day, and all the emotions and joy that were involved. It was far and away one of the very best days of my life! The first photo was taken at the end of the ceremony. The second is my bridal portrait, back when I was a young 22-year-old!! :) (Photos by Brent Kuhlmann)

Sucking Oranges

Well, we found a new treat that Asher likes best ... sucking on California oranges. I was at the grocery store a few days ago and suddenly remembered how much Gabriel loved lemons when he was a baby. So I quickly picked out a few lemons and limes, and also a bag of oranges. We slice them up and just let Asher go crazy, gumming them to pieces. He LOVES it! So now, in the mornings, Gabriel and Asher share an orange. It tends to get Ash pretty messy, with the juice and the pulp running everywhere, but that's okay! It's worth it to see the look on his face! It's really funny, because as soon as he finishes up a slice, he starts yelling at it quite loudly, (not at ME, but at the orange! Crazy!) until I replace the chewed up version with a brand new slice. Then all is right with the world. What a funny little man!

True Love

For those of you without kids, this is a photo of Lightning McQueen.(photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar) I've been seeing a lot of him lately -- more than I'd care to actually!
The other day, I surprised Gabriel by bringing home the Disney/Pixar video game CARS for our Mac. He was THRILLED. His eyes got huge and he immediately ran to play the game on our computer.
The catch?
We soon found out that although Gabriel REALLY REALLY wanted to race, the "races" had to be unlocked by defeating all 10 activity games on the darn thing. (Each activity having 5 levels each, for a total of 50)
Also, the game had four movie clips, each of which had to be "unlocked" by defeating the games, and then winning all of the races, and then going back and beating all your best scores at the various games and races, etc.
Needless to say, this would have taken Gabriel a year.
So I'm guessing that most of you can deduce how I spent Asher & Gabriel's naptime yesterday? Instead of flopping on the couch with my newest summer romance novel, I sat in front of our Mac and spent two hours slowly defeating each and every game so that my 4-year-old could wake up from his nap and race cars and watch the movie clips. Ugh. Double UGH. I can't admit to the fact that it was COMPLETELY without fun, but come on ... after two hours I was ready to bash my head against a wall, and I had cursed at my Mac in record amounts. But in the end, a happy 4-year-old more than made up for the effort.
So what was Nathan doing when I left for work today? Trying to beat all my scores. Because the rest of the movies don't unlock unless you beat them AGAIN. And of course the first thing out of Gabriel's mouth this morning was "Why are some of the movies still locked???"
When I left, Nate only had one more game to beat. Pray for his sanity, folks. Yes indeed ... pray!

Farm boy

I took Gabriel and Asher to the Farm Tech Days festival here in Sheboygan. It's this big deal that always happens somewhere in Wisconsin every summer, and this year, it was in our town. Basically, there are a gazillion tractors, combines, etc. that you can look at or, if you're age 4, climb up and sit on, as long as you're super careful and "don't touch ANYTHING!!!" (That was my line all day today). Gabe had such a blast! (Asher slept through most of it while in a carrier on my back). Gabe said his favorite part of the day was riding the toy tractors (as you can see in the photos) and fishing in the kid's tent. (also in the photo) He also liked the ice cream, but was leary of the petting zoo. (Check out the photo of the goat who REALLY wanted to say hello!) And after three hours, I could barely pull him away from the monster tractors. He kept saying, "Just one more mama!" I heard that about five times! How sweet! (I especially like the photo of him standing under the ginormous tractor! These things were HUGE! Some of them had cabs that were roomier than my first apartment!) Anyway, we had a fun afternoon! And it was very affordable! What was my grand total for an afternoon of fun with my boys? Inclduing admission, parking AND ice cream ... $7. A steal, no matter how you look at it!

Future musician

So yesterday I was cleaning my room, and came across my flute (which, incidentally, I had been searching for, for quite some time). I quickly picked it up and rattled off a few scales, and Asher just sat there frozen on the bed, in mid chew, (holding a teething ring). His eyes got HUGE as he stared at my mouth, wondering where in the world these sounds were coming from. It was adorable! Afterwards, I let him have a look at the "magical" instrument. He had great fun holding it. Surprisingly, he didn't try to chew on it at all! (My new nickname for the munchkin is "Mr. Chew." If you've seen the Pengiun's Xmas Caper movie on the DVD of Madagasgar, you know that the rabid dog owned by the old lady in that cartoon is "Mr. Chew." Well, since Asher drools and chews on everything within arms reach, I figured the name was appropriate.)
In other news, he's getting quite close to crawling. There have been a couple times in the past few days where I thought he would go for it. He gets up on his knees and arms and rocks back and forth, gazing longingly at a toy that is just out of his reach. One of these days soon, he'll figure out that he can move, and that will be the end of my quiet, peacefull life as I know it!

Arrrg Matey! What be yer name?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm SUPER excited about the new Pirates movie coming out in theaters TODAY! Due to babysitting snags, I'm sure I won't get to see it for a few weeks yet, but I'm still really pumped about it!
This post is totally inspired by my old college roomate, Francie Krantz, and her blog. She has one of these cool gizboos on her blog, and I found a similar one online. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do links on blogs (can anyone help me?) so once again, you have to click on the headline "Arrg Matey!" and it will take you to a fun page that will give you your very own pirate name!
When you comment, make sure you share what your name is! Mine is "Black Cloud," which to me, sounds more Indian than pirate, but oh well! ARRRRRRG Matey!!!!!

This just in ... the world is warped.

It often happens that I read a disturbing story at work that is difficult to digest. It's part of my job. Especially since I spend a great deal of time scanning the AP wire for stories to put on various pages of the newspaper. In fact, one of the hardest aspects of my job is letting go of these stories when I come home. Too often, if I'm especially antsy or just plain NOT tired when I get home at 12:15 a.m., I find myself laying awake at night, bothered by something I read on the wire. Having heard similar comments from coworkers, I've come to realize that it's part of the baggage we have to carry as journalists. I may not LIKE to read about a man who kills 10 people etc., but it's part of the job.
So tonight, as I was sitting here putting together the Nation/World page for tomorrow's newspaper, a story broke around 9 p.m. "Subway rider attacked with power saws" And I can't help but think ... WHAT THE HECK!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?
To enlighten you, a 30-year-old man went ballistic in a NY City subway system, and attacked random strangers with chain saws!!! Folks, I couldn't even make this stuff up if I had to! Check out this link, courtesy of CNN. (You have to click on the title of this blog entry to get there) It will make you never want to take your family on a public transit system again. Ever. YOWZA.

Growing up!

My garden has grown by leaps and bounds during the month since I've planted it! You can't tell here, but the corn is waist-high (not knee high!!) and the tomatoes and zucchini are HUGE and full of blossoms. My blue hydrangeas bloomed in the front yard. The white ones have yet to pop out. Anyway, this is just a little post in tribute of my garden! In the photo with Roxy, you can see a bit of it -- tomatoes, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, red cabbage and lettuce in the back. What fun!

Swimming in a sunset

Without a doubt, this was one of my favorite moments from our past weekend in St. Joseph, Michigan. It rained for a good portion of our trip, but on Sunday night, it suddenly cleared off at about 8 p.m. and the sun came out. We hurried down to the beach with the boys, (We got there just before the crowd hit, because of course, we weren't the only ones to notice the gorgeous weather ... and it stays light there until almost 10 p.m.) Now the first thing you have to understand is that the Michigan side of the lake is MUCH MUCH warmer than the Wisconsin side. The water was about 68-70 degrees. Like a bathtub compared to our frigid Sheboygan water! (Trust me, we tried to swim in Wisconsin this afternoon and it was bone-chillingly FREEZING!!) So in Michigan, the boys and I had fun playing in the water. Asher yelled at first, but soon got used to the gentle waves, as long as he could cling to his mama for dear life in the process. But anytime brother Gabriel tried to splash us, even the tiniest bit, he let out an angry yowl of disapproval, accompanied by a severe look in his brother's direction. Ah yes dear readers, everyday these two act more and more like true siblings!

When it was me

Okay, so some might consider this my "selfish" post. Keep in mind that I'm not trying to be self-centered here, but the other day, I got to thinking about how odd it is (and yet NOT odd really) that almost ALL my blog posts are about my kids, and NOT about anything else. Then I got to thinking about how strange and wonderful it is, that when you have kids, they really become your entire life. And any dreams and aspirations you had as a singleton, or a young married woman, do in fact, get put on hold. And rightly so! But, I've decided to try and make more of an effort to post a few more personal entries, which tell my few readers more about ME. (The photo is of me on my honeymoon in Deadwood, SD. ... when it was still just me in my life...me and a brand new hubby!)
So without further adu: Here are some things you may or may not want to know about Katrina!
My favortie color: Pink
Favorite faraway place I've visited: Rome. I'm super excited for the upcoming trip my hubby and I are taking for our 5th anniversary -- we'll get to see it again!
Favorite author/poet: Carl Sandburg -- Chicago Poems
Biggest pet peaves: 1) When you're the only one in a huge bathroom with a million stalls and someone comes in and goes into the stall right next to yours. 2) When people have their windshield wipers on and it's not raining, and they start to make that aggrevating, high-pitch squeaking noise on the glass. ARGGHH!! :)
Favorite band/song lyrics: I love Dave Matthews, and they haven't let me down yet. One of my favorite lyrics by Dave? "The first time I kissed you I lost my legs..." (Old Dirt Hill (song)-- Stand up (CD))
Favorite way to exercise: Lately it's pilates/yoga. I look pretty hilarious trying to balance in precarious positions such as "downward facing dog" and "plank." But hey, I do it when no one else is home, so nobody can laugh as I stumble gracelessly through the air while in "warrior" pose!
How I got my name: My mother came up with it in a dream.
Actor/Actress who stars in most of the movies I own: Marilyn Monroe, followed closely by Mel Gibson and Tom Hanks.
Favorite food: Crab legs. KING crab legs! I love it when my honey makes me a ginormous pot of crab legs ... with hot drawn butter for dipping. HEAAAAVEN!!
Person I'd be happy to become: My grandma. She had a wonderful love of God, family, and all the wonderful, fine things that grow out of the ground! :)
Person I'd most like to trip while they were running: Regis Philbin. I don't know why.
What I would have been, if I hadn't been a journalist: Anthropologist.

Well that's just a little bit of useless Katrina trivia. Hey, if you respond to this email with a comment, feel free to fill in your own answers to some of these questions too! I often wonder how my friends and family would respond to these kinds of "quizzes."

Over the rainbow

We had a gorgeous rainbow tonight. I called from work to tell my boys to look out the window, and Nathan said Gabriel was so excited and happy to see it. He gave a little gasp of surprise and said "Ooohh! A rainbow!" Very sweet. I wonder if we all secretely think these words when we see rainbows -- the little kid in all of us marveling at the sky. For me, it was a nice reminder of the "finer" things in life. And I had a nice little moment while looking out the window -- remembering a specific time in my childhood when a friend and I went looking for the end of a rainbow, to find the promised pot of gold. We never did find it of course, but it must've been a fun adventure anyhow, for me to have remembered it so many years later. It just goes to show that the journey is often just as important as the destination!

Finding Asher's Giggle Button

Click on this audio post and you'll be amazed at the belly laughs coming out of Asher! (don't be alarmed by the sort of "screaching" noise he uses to start out his laughter ... he does that all the time!!) I found his "Giggle Button" today. Apparently, he is helpless when you tickle his chubby thighs -- erupting in helpless gales of laughter and grins. What a great time we had today, laughing and playing! On a separate note, I was in the middle of making dinner tonight, when Asher got fussy. So Gabriel is happy to announce that he fed Asher most of his Gerber Apple/Banana dessert while mama kept one eye on him, and the other eye on a pot full of parbroiling brats'n beer. Gabe was so proud of himself! Everyday it seems, he takes his role of big brother more and more to heart!

Swimming boys

Here are some photos of my boys swimming in Gabe's new paddle pool in our backyard yesterday morning. Nate had just finished mowing the lawn, and surprised Gabriel by jumping into the pool with him! They had some fun splashing each other and pouring buckets of water on each other as they slid down the inflatable slide. Asher and I watched from afar, and took pictures! What a fun afternoon!

All that Yucky Love stuff...

So I had a much-needed chat with one of my gal-pal coworkers yesterday, all about the merits of what we leave behind when we go off to work everyday. Lately, I've been having a tough time with this, as I'm sure, do many women across America who decide to take it upon themselves to be a wife, mother AND full-time worker. We can do it all, gosh darn it! Or at least, it certainly feels that way. But for me, lately, the stress of what I'm leaving behind everyday, has started to grind me down. Luckily, I get to be with my sons all day long. Buy my husband is a different story, and we've been "two ships passing in the night" so to speak, for quite awhile now. I work nights, and he works days. We see eachother for about 30 minutes at the "changing of the guard" when he comes home from work to take care of the boys and I dash madly to the car with my briefcase in one hand and my coffee in the other. "Hi honey! Bye honey! See ya tomorrow!" For us, that is sadly, quite often the case, as he is soundly asleep when I get home, and the day is over with us having spent all of 20 minutes or so together. To put it mildly, it stinks. We both think so, but there's not much that can be done about it at this point.
These are some of my favorite pictures of us. The black and white photo was taken one evening last summer, when we were camping at the base of Devil's Tower in Wyoming. The sunset photo was taken while we were still dating, on a trip to Door County/Cana Island in winter. We had just broken through the foliage of the island and this spectacular sight was what met our eyes. Nate rolled up a snowball, put his camera on top of it and ... walllah! One of our first, most romantic spots of memory was ours on film forever!
So to all the women in my life, friends and family alike, go home and kiss your husbands when you see them. Because not everyone is so lucky to spend time together everyday, and you never know when hectic, crazy schedules may change on a dime! Appreciate one another, as well as the simple joys in life, like sharing dinner around the table at night. Those are the things that some of us miss mightily!

Bathtubs and hanging out

Well, as you can see from the photo, Gabriel and Ash had their first bath together yesterday! It was one of those nights where my husband and I decided at the last minute to go out to dinner somewhere nice, so I had 30 minutes to get both boys washed, dressed and "shoed" (the most painstaking part of the process due to the fact that Gabriel takes 8 years to find his various footwear and then decide which pair to wear, and THEN put them on himself!!) oh, and I had to get myself ready as well. So both boys got a bath together. Asher wasn't too happy about it, as you can see from his face. I made the mistake of turning the water on while he was in the tub and he FLIPPED out! He's ususally such a happy baby that this was quite an impressive show of anger and just plain ticked-off frowns and yells! Wow! Meanwhile, Gabe had a fun time showing Asher all of his tub toys and introducing him to the joys to be found in splashing mom and the rest of the bathroom, while getting clean!
The other photos show my boys hanging out yesterday. It was a long day, with just the three of us, as my husband was shooting a wedding. (FYI: He's a photographer, not a big game hunter...) Gabe sat with me on our swing in the backyard, and Asher crashed out on the couch surrounded by pillows, in the unlikely event that he decided to roll. I love his position here .... he looks as though he's quite had enough. Check out the hair! It was all sweaty, because he actually fell asleep on top of me first, while I was relaxing on the couch, and got all warm ... and then his hair started sticking up in the front like some sort of crazy flock of seagulls doo from the 80s. Very fun.

Last day of School

Today is Gabe's last day of school in the 3K program at Trinity Lutheran here in town. I can NOT believe that an entire school year has already gone by since that first day when we drove him to class and I cried all the way out of the school building. My little man is just growing like a weed! What a big boy he is now! Next year it's 4K and in the blink of an eye, he'll be graduating college. Wow. How the time does fly! We took this photo a few hours ago, as Nathan was getting ready to take Gabriel to school.

Photo Shoot attempts

So I decided to do a photo shoot of my boys yesterday afternoon, and I quickly discovered why I am NOT the photographer in our family! I don't have the patience OR the talent for it!! So without further adu, here are some photos from my clumsy attempt at pretending to be Annie Leibovitz for a day. I think I'll leave it to Nathan from now on!

Serenade

Gabriel made my day yesterday when he told me to sit on the porch swing in our backyard. He then proceeded to serenade me by singing James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" at the top of his lungs, with his head flung back and his little voice warbling and shaking as he belted out "You're beautiful! You're beautiful! You're beautiful, it's true! I saw your face, in a -------(missing words here due to the fact that he's not really sure what the words are, even though it's supposed to be "crowded place") and I don't know what to do! Cause I'll never be with you!"
But you don't need me to tell you how it sounded. Check out this audio post!! Gabriel was kind enough to perform his tune once again today, for the benefit of "audioblogger" so you could all enjoy it!

Photos of the boys

Here are some pictures I took of the boys yesterday morning! I had great fun styling Asher's hair into a spiked, cupie-doll sort of thing -- he seemed to enjoy it too! Meanwhile, Gabe was taking it easy sitting with Roxy and watching Bob the Builder after school got out.