I can't believe our Gabby turned 3 years old on Saturday!! The time goes so fast, but it's also hard to remember life without her. She is such an incredible blessing to our family. She has such a great sense of humor and says the funniest things these days. She's also very sweet and loves to give hugs and kisses. She gets so excited when Jeff comes home from work. She runs to him and jumps into his arms for a big hug. It melts my heart! We love her so much. 
I took a picture of Megan when she turned 3 holding up three fingers...I tried to get Gabby to do the same, she wasn't really interested.
On Saturday morning our little family went to the Koi Pond Gardens. They have about 9 fish ponds and it's a beautiful place! We took lots of pictures and the kids had fun. Before we went to the ponds, we asked Gabby what she would like for lunch and she said french fries. We went to McDonalds for a little birthday treat for her!
We had a birthday party for her on Saturday, which was her actual birthday! We had 5 families and the grandparents over for a BBQ. The weather was pretty nice that morning, but by the time the party started it was raining and windy:( We still had a fun time and the kids had a blast. 
The theme for her birthday party this year was a "dorsey"(horsey) party! She's really into horses these days and gets so excited when she sees one. Jeff drew two pictures of horses for pin the tail on the dorsey! We let the girls paint them. Gabby wanted some help, but Meggie did her's all by herself. 
I found a template online for a pony cake and this is how it turned out... 
I was pretty happy with it, except I was hoping the icing wasn't so thick and smoothed out nicer. Also the blanket on the pony was supposed to be pink, but I ran our of pink food coloring and used red instead. Gabby loved the cake...she's still talking about it!!The kids played outside, even in the rain. We put the bouncy house outside under the deck and they loved that!
On to other news, last week I had an appointment for the girls to see an allergy specialist. Jeff and his family have a lot of allergies and I've been cautious with the kids since the beginning. I nursed them all until they were over a year and slowly introduced foods to them, to try and avoid allergies. My main concern was an allergy to peanut or other nuts. Megan did have one bite of peanut butter once and didn't react, but Gabby had never had it before. The specialist said that our kids are not a great risk of being allergic. Apparently, it's more a concern if the mother is the one allergic(this was news to me!). The doctor basically said go home and feed them peanut butter and he also said to give it to Marty. I'm still a little nervous to give it to Marty. So, we went home and I gave the girls each a teaspoon peanut butter. Megs liked it and Gabby spat it out! And...neither of them reacted to it!!! So, we made peanut butter chip cookies the next day and they loved those and so do I. I am so thankful and thrilled that they are not allergic and now I don't have to be so careful.The specialist said that introducing foods like peanut butter the younger the child is, the less likely they will be allergic. That's contradictory to what I was told 5 years ago when I had Megan. But, I guess study have shown this to be true. I will probably give it to Marty in the next few months...if I'm brave!
Also, last Sunday I noticed Marty had some hives on his bum and the one hive was HUGE...I was going to post a picture, but I don't think I will.
I instantly thought he was allergic to some food we had given him. When we saw the allergy specialist on Wednesday I told him about Marty's hives and he said if he's had them for a few days, they are not food related. He said the hives Marty had were probably viral, just like getting a cold and this is how his body reacted to it. It's amazing all the things I am learning:)Last night we had a meeting at church and my dear friend got hired on as our Children's Director. I am so thrilled that she will be in charge of the Children's department at church. Our church is growing like crazy right now and there are so many kids. Such a blessing!! Her journey began at our church when we were little girls. She was a friend of mine from school and she came to pioneer girls club at church during our elementary school years. We remained friends through school and after high school we just went in separate directions. We reunited again about 4 years ago and I'm so thankful and blessed to have her in my life!
Today is my brother's birthday and I want to wish him a very happy birthday!! Loren we love you so much and I'm blessed to call you my brother. I wish we lived closer and we could hang out more often. You have a very special place in my heart:)
Marty has been walking more and more in the last week. He is really getting the hang of it and it is SO cute!! Although, when he wants to get somewhere fast, he will drop and crawl. He is getting more confident every day now...
One year ago, Jeff was asked by some friends of ours to run in a relay race. There were 5 people and each person ran 4km. Jeff has never been a runner before, but he thought why not! He ran in cargo pants and runners that were covered in duct tape(because they were falling apart)!! He only had one week notice about the race and he did amazing. If I remember correctly, he did 4km in about 15 minutes! Anyways, since that race he has be running quite consistently. So he did the same race this year, except he didn't do the relay, he did the 10km! 
He is built like a runner, long and lean! He has a long stride and runs really fast. His race was last Sunday at 8am. We got the kids up and dressed and headed out to watch him run. The kids were so excited to watch daddy run. He was at the beginning of the start line and when the race started he was way out in front. People were telling him to watch his pace because he was going to quickly. This was his very first time ever running 10km!! He lead the race for the first 6.5 kms and then he started to get tired. Two other runners passed him, but he finished the race in third place!!! I think there were about 150 runners in the 10km race. I was SO proud!! He was hoping to finish the run in 40 minutes and his finish time was 40:54 minutes. 
He received a medal and a cup for doing so well! He was so tired afterwards and we stayed to watch some other friends finish the 1/2 marathon. Then we headed to church! Jeff really is amazing, to see where he was a year ago to now and not doing a "normal" running program or training...sometimes I still can't believe it! 
Jeff has been working so hard on our new windows. Putting in all the new window sills and window trim. Last week, he would work all day and then come home and work on the windows until the kids went to bed. He is such a hard worker! The windows are looking great and they update the look of our house. There is still lots to do, he hasn't even started on the exterior of the house yet...one thing at a time! 
Jeff's parents went to visit Eric and Traci for Easter, so we celebrated Easter with them last weekend. They had a fun Easter egg hunt for the girls in their backyard and then we enjoyed a very yummy dinner together. 
We went to our church service on Good Friday. It was a very emotional service for me. Good Friday always seems to be hard, just remembering the sacrifice that Christ made for us. The service was a recount of Jesus' last 24 hours and worship. I just feel in awe of what Jesus did for me... While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8. Isn't that just amazing!!! And I just love knowing that Easter Sunday is right around the corner. To know that our hope is because he didn't stay in the tomb!!
Since it is Easter and I love Paska...I thought I would try it! I've never made Paska before, but I always love it when other people make it. I found a recipe online to make the dough in the breadmaker. It took 2 hours to make the dough and then I let it rise for about 1/2 hour and then baked it. It turned out awesome!! I made the yummy icing for them too. We had the Paska for Sunday morning breakfast. Maybe I'll make this an Easter tradition for our family, we'll see:)
Last night our really good friends treated us to an amazing dinner out! It was a very fancy restaurant and it was so nice to visit and not have to attend to our kids. Between the 3 couples, we have 8 kids. I am so thankful for the amazing friends in my life....truly, such a blessing!
Megan has her ballet recital this coming Friday and she is so excited about it! She gets her costume this Wednesday and it will also be her last class. Her little class is going to be so cute, I can hardly wait to see them! Her swimming lessons end next week as well, so her schedule will not be as full in a few weeks:) I think I will sign Gabby up for swimming lessons soon, and give her a chance to be in something also. She really loves to play around in the hot tub and I think swimming lessons would be fun for her.