Hellos and Goodbyes

This little one is fascinated by cell phones.

"Hello"....


He actually says "Hi" when he puts the phone up to his ear.

But today it's goodbye to this sweetie. She was our neighbor who is moving today. Allie will certainly miss her.

I will always be here Allie.

So will Gabers.

And so will your daddy.

Operation Dora Cup

It went with her to the pool.

It was there with her as she waited in line to see Santa.

...for the first day of school.

It was there on Halloween.

It was there for her when she got her first splinter.

...for 4th of July dinner.

It was there for snacktime.

...for playtime.

...in airports.

And come Saturday, the Dora cup will be retired and replaced by a new shiny toy.

This is a BIG deal for her.

I'll let you know how it goes Saturday.

ER x 2

Interesting weekend. Gabe has been sick...teething I suspect. Fussiness started a week ago. 101 fever on Friday. 102 fever Saturday. Then the ear pain Saturday afternoon.

Our only option to get our hands on an antibiotic was the ER.....Gabe was a hit at the hospital. He sat there in his purple gown they gave him to wear waving at people passing our room.

Meanwhile in AL, my mom falls in the garage and breaks her wrist, so she is also at the ER.

It really all started Thursday, when I took a big sip of my morning coffee and felt something small, round and soft in my mouth. I spit out a FLY! I had this feeling it was going to be one of those days. Shortly after that, I threw out my back and couldn't move for 2 hours. Once my back pain was manageable, Allie and I made a craft....which I burned a big blister on my finger from the hot glue gun. (Let me add, the above Boobie bird craft was done by Allie and her daddy.)

Then Friday morning I broke the coffee pot trying to make coffee. I was so mad. No coffee in the morning? Unheard of.

Luckily Grammy flew in Friday afternoon to ease our spirits. She just needed a baby fix and hopped on a plane to spend the weekend with us. Thank you Allegiant Air for your low plane fares! It has been so nice having Grammy in the house. Especially considering the kind of weekend we had.

This and that

Gabe fixed his hair all by himself the other day.

I haven't mentioned Allie's trip to the dentist have I? She did PERFECT.

I could not believe it was the same child who just 6 months ago was so freaked out she would not even sit in the chair.

Although she did perfect, her teeth were not perfect. 3 cavities. We go back the first Monday in August to have them filled under sedation. EEK!

The above collection of dinosaurs were a gift from Pop and Maw-maw for being such a big girl at the dentist office.

They are in formation playing "ring around the rosie".

This little outfit was a gift from our neighbors down the street. They are wonderful people and we are so glad we have such great neighbors.

Slip n slide fun

Have I ever mentioned how when I was a little girl my dad let us pick out gifts to give to our mom on Mother's Day?

My brother chose blue silk flowers while I chose a slip n slide. I love that story. Somewhat relevant to this post being that we are playing on a slip n side in the photos below.

Fast forward to today. My parents boast about how for card giving holidays, they simply walk into Target, find the card aisle, select the perfect card, and let the other person read it before returning the card back to its home at the card aisle in Target.

My family is not normal. But that is why I love our family.

On to the slip n slide pics.

Happy Monday to all.

Gabe's 1 year stats

Inches: 28 1/2 (10th percentile)

Head circumference: 18 3/4 (75th percentile)

Weight: 19 lb. 2 oz (5th percentile)

In a nutshell, and I've said this before, we have a little guy (except for his melon, he's right on track).

His Dr. said for us to sneak in calories wherever we can to try and fatten him up a bit. The thing that is perplexing is, he eats, and drinks his fair share of whole milk! He actually eats more than his 3 year old sister most days. I think the kid just has his daddy's metabolism. But, we'll do our part and throw butter and cheese on top of everything he eats.

Walking? Nope. He still speed crawls around and stands unassisted. He has taken a couple of steps from a push toy to the couch, but for now he still is not interested in walking.

Talking he says, mama, dada, Aya (for Allie), Izzy, Ni-ni (night night), bye bye, more, pop, pap pap (pappy), caca (cracker), uh-oh, etc.

He loves playing outside and cries when we let the dog out but keep him inside. He loves to climb the stairs and lock himself upstairs behind the baby gate. He will play by himself for an hour if I am in the shower or cleaning house.

He is a great sleeper. Takes (1) 2 hour nap a day. Goes down at 8:00 pm and wakes between 8:30 - 9:00 am. (Now, if only Allie would sleep in, she gets up at 7:00).

He still is the happiest little thing, constantly smiling and is very laid back.

Boating with Rob and Stephanie

This is Rob. He was so kind yesterday to call and get us a babysitter (THANK YOU PARNELL FAMILY) and then call and ask us to go boating with he and his wife, Stephanie. Since we have moved to Greenville, Rob and Stephanie have taken us under their wings and have made us feel at home. They are great friends and we don't know what we would do without them (sniff).

Okay, On to the fun.

Rob is an old pro. He made wake boarding look like a piece of cake.


He is also somewhat of a show-off on the water.





And here is sweet Stephanie. She seriously has to be the nicest person I have ever met. Stephanie has become my go to person for help with the kids. Her son Zac is Gabe's age, and we have made a pact to swap off sitting each others kids when we need to get haircuts, go to appointments, etc.



She also made the whole wake boarding, water skiing look super easy.


Tongue hanging out of the mouth is her signature look while on the water. Most pictures I took of her were like this.




This was Stephen's 2nd time out on the boat with Rob. They had been out on a guys night before; so he had one up on me, but he did great too! He was moving from side to side over the wake and almost had down reversing his feet on the water.

Then there was me. This is pretty much where I stayed with the water skis on. I was so mad at myself because I could no stay up.

I did learn that if I had to choose between unwanted gulps of lake water vs. saltwater....I pick lake water.

The wake board was much easier. I was so tense though....next time I'll loosen up and straighten my legs more.

And I wasn't the only one who bit it.

Thanks again for a wonderful time guys (and babysitter hook up)!

We look forward to doing this again soon!