Bits and Pieces

These are just a bunch of fun photos from the past few days.
The first is a picture of Gabe and Roxy waiting for dad to get the car ready to go to school. I thought it was kinda cute.
The second is a photo of Gabe showing off the ash mark on his forehead after Ash Wednesday church. He was SOOO excited about this!
The third photo is one that Nathan took at a cafe the other night right after making the comment, "This is our life personified, right here." Cups of java side by side with sippy cups. Classic. :)

Quick update

Ohhhkay, so I've been a complete blogger slacker this past week. But I wanted to write a quite, photoless update of what my boys were up to today, so that everyone knows that I'm still alive and well. :)
Asher had a cute moment today when he discovered Gabe's crayons and paper downstairs on the coffee table. Gabriel is always drawing and coloring (he's quite the little artist) so naturally, Ash was pretty curious as to what all the hype was about. After staring at the crayons, and trying (once) to nibble on the crayons, he finally got the idea and tried pounding on the paper while holding the crayons. I quickly took his hand and helped him make some marks -- along with his name -- with which he seemed sort of pleased.
Two second later, I caught him toddling into our kitchen, paper in hand -- heading straight for the fridge where he immediately began pulling at magnets, in an uncoordinated attempt to hang his masterpiece, the way that we always hang Gabe's. Well, I thought this was just about the most adorable thing EVER, so I quickly helped the little guy out. I tried to get a photo of him standing by his artwork, but the cheeser was too quick and wouldn't stand still for a photo. But anyway, it was definitely one of those moments that just made my heart swell up. And now we have his drawing up on our fridge. Sniffle!! :)

Sharing the germs

Well Asher and I had quite the day yesterday. I'll try not to be too detail-rich on this post.
I woke up at about 3 a.m. yesterday with stabbing pains in my tummy, aches everywhere -- I began to wonder (at first) if this just wasn't the long awaited morning sickness, as I dragged my trash can closer to the bed. But soon the aches and pains, chills followed by extreme warmth, followed by numerous trips to worship the porcelain goddess, made me quickly realize I had caught a flu bug. The only thing that made it worse? Going into Ash's room in the morning and finding his bed drenched ... with his own ... well ... "tossed cookies" to put it mildly. So Ash and I had quite a day. I spent the entire day not eating OR drinking ... moving from room to room like a 90-year-woman. UGH. My husband, sweetheart that he is, managed everything for me. He called me in sick. He even called HIMSELF in sick, basically, cancelling all but one of his shoots to stay home and take care of me and the boys. Anyway, today I'm feeling like a NEW woman. Hurray! I can't stand the flu and I'm rather ticked that I got it, in spite of my flu shot. But luckily, both Asher and I seem to have come out of it okay!
The photo is of me and Ash on the couch where we spent most of the day yesterday.

What to expect when you're...

Expecting! Yes, indeed we are! It's still very early -- only about 6 weeks or so. But then I've never been the type of person who could wait a full 12 weeks before sharing news this major. Our third little bundle of joy is due Oct. 5. So it seems I will have to readjust to all the aches, pains, stretchings, cravings and heartburn. Yep. I get hearburn in a vicious way when preggers. Also, with this pregnancy, I've had more nausea than ever. I never had morning sickness with either Gabe or Ash, so this is new to me. (And I guess I'm probably due for some retribution on that end, after not suffering through it with my first two pregnancies). But I can't complain, since it's not that horrible yet.
We're all very excited. Especially Nathan, who has already responded gallantly to my first craving -- the other night when we were watching FRIENDS and one character, Joey, had a piece of fried chicken and I immediately NEEDED chicken -- he ran right out to try to hunt some down. Unluckily, everything was closed. But he got an A for effort!!
So anyway, we are abuzz with changes in our household. It doesn't seem quite real yet, but we are making the adjustment -- the first step which will be to buy a bunk bed set for Gabe's room, because it won't be long before he has a new, little roomate! Anyway, stay tuned for (what I'm sure will be) fun posts over the next few months!
(The photo is an oldie but goodie: taken of the boys one year ago this month)

Chomp chomp!!

There's nothing like a little fiber in your diet!
This post is just for fun. Here is a photo of Gabriel in St. Louis. My parents got hit with that major ice storm that moved thru the area a few weeks back -- they lost power for a few days and a GORGEOUS tree that used to be in their front yard has now been reduced to this stump. Gabriel saw this as we were packing up to leave and decided to chew on the pieces of wood, yelling out "Mom! Dad! Look! I'm a beaver!" Of course, I immediately sent Nathan outside with my camera to capture the moment.

Pile of boys

We made a quick trip down to St. Louis this weekend. We had a great time seeing everyone and eating TONS of yummy food at Gret and Leon's Super Bowl Party. It was super fun! Here is a photo of the boys wrestling. Poor Gabe is "stuck" on bottom, then Nate, Uncle Leon, and Asher on the top! What a great weekend!

First Haircut for the little man

It was finally time.
With his hair hanging in his eyes, over his ears and WELL over his collar, Asher was long over due for the barber's chair.
So, at 14 months, he finally got his first "big boy" haircut today. I took him to Cost Cutters here in town, because paying big money at the salon I go to seemed rather pointless, since he hardly has any hair to begin with!
I would be lying if I said this was easy. I also would be lying if I said I didn't grab him onto my lap and stuff my face into the long silky hair at the back of his neck and tear-up a bit before it was his turn. What is it about a first haircut that makes mothers weep??? I have NO idea! Maybe it's the idea of growth and change that bothers us!
He had a little trouble sitting in the chair. But once they distracted him with a toy, he was fine. Then the stylist worked SUPER fast, while Ash twisted and turned -- snapping his head back and forth. I was worried, until .... inevitably, he fell into the glassy-eyed stupor that all men fall into whenever a female runs their hands through their hair.... and he sat quite still, with a dazed look on his face, throughout the remainder of the haircut. Way to go Asher! The photos are of Asher in the chair .... also, a blurry shot of the final results as Asher ran around the salon while Gabe was getting his hair done. He danced to the music playing on the radio, twirling all over the room -- charming all of the stylists, of course! What a goof!

Officer Gabriel

Gabe had a thrill today when we went to City Hall to renew Roxy's dog license. As we were walking down the steps from the second floor, he spied the "Most Wanted" photos on the wall and asked me "Are those the men the police are trying to kill?"
I laughed and said "No, they're just trying to catch them."
As we walked past the police station/door on the first floor, he leaned over and asked me "Where are the policemen? Can't I see one?"
Feeling sort of foolish, I marched him to the window and asked, rather sheepishly, if my son could see a police officer. The lady at the desk seemed to think this was the cutest thing she'd heard all day. She quickly went to go find someone. Gabe was rather excited. "Do you think he'll be wearing a hat?" He asked me.
Pretty soon, an officer (without a hat, but with a gun!) came out and was kind enough to take a few minutes to shake Gabe's hand, show him his badge, and even show him his office and give him a few gifts, such as a plastic police badge, a police magnet, some pencils and a hackey sack. Then he took Gabe out back to see the police cars. Gabe got to hear the siren and see the lights, which he found very exciting, but he was too nervous to get close to the car.
After we thanked the officer and left, Gabe realized "MOM! We forgot to ask to see the jail!!!" He was pretty disappointed. I'm not even sure if there IS a jail at the City Hall ... it's probably located somewhere else ... but now, Gabe wants to be a police officer or a fireman for "next Halloween."
Look out fire department ... you might be next on our hit list!! :)
(the photo is of Gabe, proudly displaying his new police badge)

CROCS!!

I have to admit (and I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone..) I'm not a big fan of Crocs. Occassionally, I'll glance at a pair in a store and think to myself, "Those might make nice gardening clogs." But I would never wear them out in public, and I don't quite understand the phenomenon of grown adults wearing solid, plastic shoes that LOOK like solid plastic shoes. It's sort of reminiscent of days gone by (the 80s for instance) when people also wore strange shoes made of wicker, called Huaraches. Remember those? Or jellies? Yet another example of plastic shoes gone wrong. I remember having a pair of jellies as a kid. I was DYING to have them. And they were the most uncomfortable shoes I ever owned -- except for my huaraches.
Anyway, we were in Payless the other day -- surrounded by Crocs, and fearing for our lives -- when out of the corner of my eye, I spied a tiny pair of camo-colored Crocs, size 5. Small. Cute. I was surprised at how cute. I put them on Asher's feet and they became 20 times cuter.
So I have indeed changed my mind about Crocs ... at least for little tykes. I think they're adorable. On adults? Not so much. But on Asher, the little shoes just look so FUN!
Here are some photos of Ash enjoying his new Crocs. He loves them, and even carries them around when he's not wearing them. The photo of him standing on his head, was how I caught him watching Sesame Street this morning ... frozen in that position, watching the TV through his legs. What a goof! The other photo is of him rolling on the ground, playing with his Crocs.

Sledding Party

We had SUCH a fun day! Today, Gabriel had his very first "little-people" birthday party. :) We invited about 8 of his friends to meet at the sledding hill at 11 a.m., followed by pizza and cake at our house. What a blast! Although you can see spots of grass in the photo of the sledding hill, it was some of the best sledding we've ever had! The snow was packed so hard, it was like flying on ice! We had a few mishaps, with Gabriel bouncing down the stairs on his sled (ouch!) and mom taking out hapless children who had to do flips to get out of the way ... yikes! But no one got seriously injured! :) It was so much fun to see all of the kids getting so excited about sledding, and pizza and presents! What a great group of friends!
In the photo of the group (from left to right, starting in the back): Seth, Shea and Abbie; Joel, Isaac and Jen; Me and Asher: Josh is sitting in front of Jen, with Austyn in front of Josh. And then Katarina and Gabe are sitting in the front. The other photo is a picture of Gabe and Nate, getting ready to go down the hill together!

Happy Birthday Gabriel!

We celebrated Gabriel's 5th birthday yesterday! I can NOT believe that he is so old already! We took some time in the afternoon as a family, to celebrate, eat cake, and open presents. Gabe LOVED it! When I dropped him off at school, he was greeted with a chorus of "happy birthdays" from his classmates, and even from those in the older grades, who he must have told in advance, about his "big day." All in all, it was a super-fun day! The photos include a picture of Gabe blowing out the candles on his Spiderman cake, Gabe with his new, giant Cars coloring book and finally, Gabe playing with his new Buzz LightYear toy, which has these light-up spinny things that whirl around its head. (It's hard to describe) HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABRIEL! WE LOVE YOU!

Snow Play

We got about 2 inches of dry, powdery snow last night, so the boys and I had a great time playing in it this afternoon! Gabe made snow angels and tried eating snow (as you can see in the photo) while Asher (who FINALLY fits into his snowpants) was rather intimidated and fussed/cried everytime I set him down on the ground. Then we went inside to have hot chocolate.

More fun with clothes

Here's what my little charmer looked like after his morning nap today. He seems to have decided that the best thing to do, when faced with bedtime, is try and take all his clothes off. It's so adorable! Whenever I go into his room lately, I have no idea if he'll be pantless, shirtless, or some strange combination inbetween, such as in this case, when he got stuck with the shirt up around his back! You'd think he would start to cry in his crib if he got stuck like this, but I never heard a peep out of him! What a goof!

Where have I seen that guy?!?

Okay, if you're anything like me, when you see a face you're sure that you recognize, it can drive you crazy until you figure out where you've last seen it! This happened to me quite recently -- last night, in fact -- as my hubby and I were sitting down to enjoy Pirates of the Carribbean, Dead Man's Chest. I just KNEW that I had seen (or rather heard) the actor who was playing the gurgling, slimey, pirate Davey Jones. (an excellent performance, by the by) These kind of things will drive me crazy until I figure them out, so I decided to look up the actor, Bill Nighy, online. Sure enough, he also starred in one of my other favorite movies, Love Actually, in 2003, as an aging, washed-up rock star, Billy Mack. If you haven't checked out either of these movies, I'd highly recommend doing so. They are both fabulous!
Another face that caught my attention was the guy who played Orlando Bloom's father in Dead Man's chest, Bootstrap Bill Turner. Being a complete movie geek, I was sure I'd seen him before. And I had .... as it turns out, he had a role in Good Will Hunting, playing the professor who originally "discovers" Will Hunting.

The other white meat

Okay, so I was walking through Piggly Wiggly doing some grocery shopping today, when what did my wondering eyes behold in the meat case??? PORK STEAKS!! Yes indeed! Pork steaks have made it to my Wisconsin grocery store! I was shocked! I had heard rumors that there were pork steaks in town, but I had never seen them for myself. Now, if you're from Missouri, you know what a pork steak is. Basically, it's like a tender, juicy piece of steak/rib meat on a bone. SOOOOO good. My dad, back in St. Louis, makes the world's most perfect pork steak. And I supopse I'll have to ask him exactly how he does it, now that I too, have pork steaks in my freezer! Yahoo!! Anyway, that was my wonderful find for the day!
In other news, Asher was fussing in his crib today and NOT taking a nap. After a few minutes I went in to find my little man standing there with no socks AND no pants!! He had taken his pants off! The little stinker! I'm really not sure how he managed this, since he can barely walk around the room without toppling over like a drunken sailor, let alone manage the logistics of separate pant legs! It's a mystery I suppose I'll never solve!

Enjoying unseasonable weather

Today, after Gabe was done with school, we decided to enjoy the warm temps and take a bike ride over to the park. It was good for all of us to get out of the house and get some fresh air ... or as I put it "blow the stink off" of us. Gabe was confused by this turn of phrase, and was rather concerned that his "stink" wouldn't blow off, if he was wearing a coat and a hat. It was too cute. So anyway, the boys enjoyed having the muddy playground to themselves. Asher is now old enough to walk around and explore it for himself, which was strange to see. But I think Gabe loves it that Ash is finally old enough to be of some use on the playground. They had fun going down the slide together and swinging together, even though Gabe was a bit too big for these swings. (He still insisted, because he wanted to play with Ash). To summarize, they had a blast. And I had fun too, but realized that this is the last "semester" that we'll be able to do this in the middle of the afternoon, because Gabe will be in school full time next year. :-( They grow up too fast!

New Year's Hike

We went on a hike yesterday, to celebrate New Year's Day. It was really great to get out in the fresh air. These trails are dog-friendly and right near our house, which made me decide that this summer, I'm going to break down and get a fishing pole so that I can take Gabe fishing here next summer. It's just the most perfect little stream! Anyway, Gabe and I had fun running around with pretend (stick) guns and shooting "beasts" as he called them. I also had fun capturing a few images with my new camera.

Snuggle

Here is Asher yesterday, sharing a snuggle with me in his new, fleecey duckie towel/hoodie from Grandma Carol. One of his favorite things to do is to take a bath. And he usually doesn't like to come out into the cold, so his new towel is a big hit, as it covers him from head to toe!
Our house has been slowly settling down from the post-Christmas chaos. The boys spend every afternoon on the living room carpet, grabbing toys from under the tree and playing. It's been a lot of fun!

Christmas 2006

Here is a 5-minute video recap of our Christmas extravaganza! We had a wonderful holiday together, complete with glow worms, light sabers and a Rody! If you don't know what a Rody is, just watch! But let me tell ya, he doesn't stand a chance against an armed jedi knight.... Merry Christmas everyone! We hope you all had a blessed holiday!

Boys in Boxes

This short video speaks for itself. After all, what would Xmas be without packing materials and boxes?? :) But if you want more info, read the post below this one! Incidentally, Jingle Bells, by Bing Crosby (playing in the background) has become Gabriel's favorite holiday tune. Enjoy!

Fun in a box

My sister, Gretchen, sent two huge boxes to our house last week, creating quite a stir amongst my boys. Little did I know that it was mostly for the boxes themselves, that the boys were so excited! Oh, Gabe certainly got quite a thrill finding each and every present, reading the tags (he's especially worked up about a package addressed to him, from "Batman") :) and tucking them under the tree. But after this was done, he noticed that Asher had crawled INTO a box and was sitting amongst the packing peanuts, throwing them around, shrieking, and in general ... having a ball. Then my (almost) 5-year-old quickly reverted back to the small boy he was, and decided that he too, wanted in on the box action! Within minutes, they were both in a box, having "peanut" wars. I kept thinking, as I was watching them, of one of my FAVORITE books as a kid, by Eve Sutton, "My cat likes to hide in boxes." Well, I guess "My boys like to hide in boxes" as well! I have video footage that I'll be posting shortly! :)

1-year portrait

Here is Asher's 1-year portrait. I can hardly believe he's gotten so big! We snapped these photos of him while we were shooting our Christmas card.

A teaser...

We have finished shooting our annual Xmas card. Every year, Nate takes a picture of the boys and we send it out to all our friends and family as a card. Gabriel started the tradition in December of 2002 at age 11 months, when we shot photos of him as a naked cherub, complete with feathery wings. Too fun! This was our card last year. Asher (at two weeks old) slept through most of it, especially since we had the heat cranked up to almost 80 degrees to keep him warm! But he did manage to pee on the present at the very end of the shoot. Yahoo! And yes, for those of you who are wondering, that is indeed his real skin. We always get asked if he's wearing some kind of "suit" ... but no! It's just his birthday suit! What a sweetie! :) We're very excited for everyone to see this year's card! We'll be mailing them off tomorrow!

Exploding Whale

Okay, this post is totally thanks to my friend and coworker, Jen Kuszynski, who e-mailed me this clip from YouTube in the first place. Maybe I have a sick sense of humor, but we all thought this was pretty darn funny at work!! FYI: This is real news footage from the 70s, I believe.

Belated Tree-Hunt Photos

We went out to get our Xmas tree a week and a half ago. I forgot to post photos, so here they are! Gabe was overjoyed to be hiking through the woods, looking for the perfect tree. For the first time in awhile, we didn't find our tree right away. We had to hike around a bit, before stumbling across the Balsalm that we picked out. And then of course, Gabriel had to supervise dad's sawing abilities as Nate did the grunt work. But it was beautiful ... and LIGHT! (as you can see in the photo where Nate and Gabe are hoisting the tree above their heads!) Gabe and I had such fun decorating afterwards. He hung most of the ornaments on the lower branches, and I learned (as I've been learning all season!) that I have to set aside my ideas of "what looks right" when it comes to decorating, and instead, enjoy the whims of a 4-year-old interior designer. :) It's quite enjoyable actually!

Sledding with the boys

Today, after picking Gabe up from school, I decided to get both boys stuffed into their snowsuits and take them sledding. It's been a long time since I've been sledding with Gabriel and (of course) Asher has never been.
It took almost an hour to find the various hats, mittens, scarves, boots etc. that we needed, and get the boys all ready to go. But once we were there, it was such fun!
All three boys and I squeezed onto our new, little tobogan sled. We were at Vollrath Park (bowl) and the hill sort of bumps down three times on the way down. The snow was packed down very hard (I guess there were over 100 sledders there on Saturday) so the first time we went down was rather fast, and intense, with the sled lifting off the ground as it flew over each mini hill in the series. I admit, I was a bit nervous and for a second, I questioned my sanity for having brought Asher along with us ... but all was well and we didn't capsize! At the bottom, Gabe let out a whoop and Asher just sort of sat there in shock. It was funny!
After that, Gabe pretty much went down alone for most of the runs. He was so proud of himself for going down the hill on a sled ALL by himself! The first thing he wanted to do was call daddy and tell him all about it! We topped off the trip by going home and having hot chocolate! What a great afternoon!

Catching snow flakes!

Today we had our first real "snow storm" of the season. Milwaukee was under a blizzard warning and got about a foot of snow, but we got 8 inches in Sheboygan. After Gabe got out of school (yes, he still had school today!) we all went outside and played while Nate shoveled. Gabriel had fun making snow angels, pummeling Roxy with snowballs, and teaching Asher his favorite snowy day trick -- catching snowflakes on his tongue!! Here are some photos of the boys trying to catch flakes on their tongues! Asher was trying really hard!!