I love the sunshine...

Oh, how I love the sunshine! We had a beautiful, wintery day today! It was quite warm and it had just snowed last night...so Megs and I went out and enjoyed the snow and sunshine while Gabby slept. I did shovel the driveway and then we just played together. It was so much fun and I couldn't believe how warm it was! I am so ready for Spring and some warmer weather now.
Having some family fun times, bouncing on the our bed:)Megan is still not napping regularly these days. I have kind of given up on the napping thing with her, but I am enforcing quiet time. It seems to be working a little better now and she doesn't come out of her room every 10 minutes! I give her some books and she can play with some toys in her room that are quiet. Yesterday, I desperately wanted her to have a nap because she was overtired and cranky. We went to the mall in the morning and she walked/ran the whole time. She kept telling me she was tired, so I thought for sure she would sleep. It took about 1.5 hours for her to fall asleep and then I only let her sleep for about 1/2 hour so she would still go to bed at night time. She was NOT happy with me when I woke her up:( I find myself getting frustrated with her when she won't nap. Now I have been praying every morning before I get up that God would give me calmness and patience with her and I am feeling so much better now. It's amazing how your day can change for the better when you start it with prayer:)Jeff and I are going on a "date" this weekend!! It has been SO long since we have been out together without the kids. I'm just getting used to it now and it seems normal, but we really want to go on a date about once a month now! We are just going to some friends house for the evening and Jeff's parents have graciously agreed to watch the girls. It is such a blessing to have family close by...I don't know what I would do without our parents help!! I am SO thankful for them.
Gabby is getting so fast at crawling now. She loves for Megan to crawl and then she follows her. Megan thinks it's so funny because she thinks that Gabby is chasing her. So cute! I love to watch the girls "play" together. I hope and pray that they have a very close sister relationship as they grow up. They really seem to adore each other!I think that's all for today...I am off to bed!!

I'm going to school...

We went to a fantastic little program last week called Strongstart. It's through the school district and it's for 0-6 year olds. It's very structured...the kids have playtime, then wash their hands, go to the bathroom, snack, wash hands again, outdoor play, story time, etc. It's in one of the elementary schools in town and last week was the grand opening. The program started in September and it's growing every week. It's every weekday morning from 8:45 - 11:45 and you can drop in anytime. I'm really excited because I can take both kids and the best part...it's totally free - snack included!!! The goal of the program is to build strong families, as they say parents are the best teachers. We are going to go once a week and a bunch of our friends are going to go to. Megan was so excited when I told her we were going to go to school. She asked it she could bring her backpack, and water and snack!! So fun.
Here Megan is learning to use a pen properly!! She likes to make grocery lists.

We had a little playdate with one of our neighbour girls this week and Meggie and S dressed up in some of Megan's princess dresses.We had Gabby's 9 month doctor check up this week. Here are the stats:
Weight: 18 lbs 12 oz. - 50% percentile
Height: 27.5 inches - 50% percentile
So, she's pretty average! She did not like the doctor's cold hands as she was checking her:( The doctor said she was doing really good and she couldn't believe the full head of blonde hair that she has!! I know she totally doesn't look like me...blue eyes, blonde hair, but I know she came out of me:)Megan has been having more naps again this week, but it's totally inconsistent. I really don't know what to do about this. I know she still needs that little hour or so nap, but I can't force her to have one. She does sleep really good at night usually 8pm-7:30am or so. I have been encouraging quiet time now when she doesn't nap and she just comes out of her room every 15 minutes or so. I just hope this phase passes soon.

We had some friends over for dinner and the evening on Thursday night. I made a new dish, I got the recipe from Jeff's mom. It was delicious! It's called Thai beau. It's a chicken dish, with coconut milk, ginger, garlic, cilantro, red peppers, mango and more. It turned out really good!! I will definitely have to make it again. I'm sometimes hesitant to try new things, because things don't often turn out for me:(

Our internet was down for a couple of days this week and so I had more time to do some scrapbooking. I'm really getting into it again and I am working on Gabby's book. I wanted to do a book for each of the girls of their first year and then after that I will just do books together, since they are in a lot of pictures together anyways!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Clapping and Crawling

It's amazing how fast a little baby can develop in one week!! Last week I heard a clicking sound in the living room where Gabby was and I was in the kitchen. I ran around the corner and found her clapping. It was so cute! Now when we ask her to clap she does it. What a smart little girl! And on Sunday she started crawling for the first time. She has been crawling backwards for a little while now and then she just started going forward and now she is fast! We have to keep the gate for the stairs shut all the time now. She seems to get into everything now. I have to be careful to not have small things lying around.I have been a little frustrated with Megan this week. She has not been napping:( I don't know if she is ready to give it up because she is only 2 1/2 years old. Also on the days that she does not nap I notice that she gets grumpy in the evenings. I have been forcing her to stay in her room at least for a quiet time so I can have an hour to myself in the day. I don't think she totally gets the "quiet time" thing yet. But, today she napped again and I was excited about that. She seems to be going to bed a little better these days too.Shoveling snow with daddy!
We have had lots of playdates this week with Meggie's little friends and their moms. We had playdates on Friday, Monday, Tuesday and today. Wow, that's a busy week for a 2 year old!! Megan loves to be with other kids and always enjoys going to other kids houses to play with different toys.We had my parents over for dinner last night as they are heading to Mexico on Saturday for 2 weeks! I'm a little jealous that they get to be in some hot weather while we are freezing cold here:( Also, we are going to miss them...2 weeks is a long time, especially when I usually talk to my mom almost every other day!

Bye for now!

A great deal!!

We have had a pretty uneventful week...which was nice after the busy Christmas holidays!! We all have had colds for the last week or so, but I think we are on the mend:) Last Friday night we had Jeff's parents and brother over for pizza and a movie. None of us lasted through the movie and we had to shut it off part ways through...we were all too tired!

Here is just a little family picture from Christmas...I think it is one of the only ones where we are all looking at the camera!Megan LOVES curious george these days...we probably read it to her 10 times a day!!

On Saturday, Jeff's mom and the girls and I went shopping and I bought my dress for Eric and Traci's wedding. I saw it last week and have been thinking about it and so I decided to try it on and buy it!! It is a little big on top, but fits really good everywhere else. It will just get my mom or someone to alter it a little bit. It was a Christmas dress and so it was half price:) Very exciting. It was regularly $100 and I got it for $40!! Now I just want to get some strappy black sandals to go with it, oh and probably a necklace.

Here's the front...it also comes with little spaghetti straps. Jeff thinks it would look better with straps! I don't know which way I will wear it yet....and here is the back!
We got Megan a dress up princess dress chest for Christmas. It has 3 princess dresses and all the accessories to go with them. She has enjoyed trying the dresses on, but she especially likes the high heels and necklaces!!So today I straightened my hair and so I asked Meggie if she wanted me to straighten her hair too and she said "sure". So we did!! I think it looks so cute and it only took a few minutes to do.Her hair started to got curly again as soon as I put her in the bath:(
Gabby started eating puffed wheat this week and she loves it! It is so great to be able to give her just a few of them to keep her entertained while I get dinner ready:) Although, Megan likes them too and secretly steals them from her high chair.
On Saturday night Jeff and his brother went to our friends house to watch a movie on their big screen and Jas came over and we just visited. She had rented a movie, but we never ended up watching it. We talked from 7:30pm to about midnight!! That is SO late for me, but I wasn't even tired and it was so good to just chat and hang out with her again. It seems with kids and jobs, we often don't have the time to do that much anymore:(

I hope you all are having a great week!! Also, I would love to know who all reads my blog, just for my own interest. Please leave a comment and let me know...thanks so much.

Happy New Year

It is now officially 2008 and I can hardly believe it!! It seems like this year has gone by so fast. With little ones the time seems to pass even quicker. Last year at this time I was about 6 months pregnant with Gabby...and now she is such a big girl.I wanted to post a picture of Derek and Colleen and tiny baby Sarah. This is taken at the hospital and I think she was about 4 days old. We are so excited to hear that she is now home and doing well. We can't wait to get to know you, little Sarah.We had a great party with some friends over the holidays. It was so nice to hang out with old friends and catch up. We have all known each other since we were little kids, except the spouses. We played some games and ate lots of food!! It was great to see everyone again. Me and my soon to be sister-in-law!!The boys celebrating Derek being a new dad...with cigars!!
We didn't do anything exciting for New Years this year. We had Curt over and just hung out and we were in bed about 11pm. We did hear some fireworks in our neighbourhood at midnight and that woke us up:(

Now, Jeff is back to work and we are getting back into our usual routine. I am thankful for a new year and look forward to seeing what God has in store for us this year!! I think back to 2007 and am so grateful for all the blessings. God is so good.

Happy New Year to you all!