Sports Camp

Gabe recently finished up the Start Smart Sports Camp through the city recreation department. It was a 6 week camp that gave the kids a foundation in the basic skills of kicking, throwing, hitting, catching, etc. He had a lot of fun, enjoyed being with his buddy Steven, and even managed to learn some skills along the way! His favorite activity was anything that involved throwing (Will, who was allowed to participate even though he wasn't old enough, loved all of the batting activities.)

Steven and Gabe (I don't know why Gabe always makes that face!?!).
Will showing off his goalie skills.
Gabe (and Steven) practicing their soccer skills.

Chaffee Zoo

The animals...uh, I mean the boys!

A little over a week ago, I had a day that I wasn't going to be babysitting Dalia (our 15 month old part time daughter), so I decided to surprised the boys with a trip to the zoo. I didn't tell them until after we had picked up Gabe from preschool. The boys were SO excited! They chattered all the way up to Fresno. Will kept saying, "I just so happy!"

Here are some pictures from our adventure...

Gabe taming the beast!

Just hanging out with the Orangutans!

Will reacting to the noise of one of the animals. I love the lower lip sticking out!

Checking out the Cappybaras and Giant Anteaters.

Keeping an eye on the Elephants and commenting on why they need an "ocean".

Field Trip

Miss. Joy & Mrs. Lobb's Preschool Class

Earlier this month, Gabe's preschool went on a field trip to a farm in Tulare. They planted corn, fed goats, went on a hay ride, and made butter. Gabe was "Calendar Kid" that day...on a normal day it basically means he is the teacher's helper, but with it being a field trip day Gabe got to lead the group, go first, and do any special tasks. He was very excited to be on the farm and being "Calendar Kid" made the day even more special!

Gabe and his best buddy, Steven.

Trying out some "branding"techniques.

Gabe and a goat

Gabe making corn feed for the goats.

Gabe and his friend, Sophie, got to ride up front on the hayride.

Making butter. Gabe definitely moves at his own pace. Example...The woman in charge of making butter kept telling him he could turn the crank faster. His teacher and I looked at each other, smiled, and both said "No, he can't." Gabe, unlike Will, is usually very diliberate about his movements. He's our thinker who likes to take time to smell the roses!

Wahoo!

So, I had a doctor's appointment today and it went well! They started by doing another ultrasound for Gabe. The tech was great! She made sure Gabe saw all the important stuff, fingers, toes, etc. And she even printed Gabe a dinosaur picture of his brother (the spine). He is very excited about this baby and I am grateful that my doctor's office was more than happy to an ultrasound just for him (and at no cost!!). They reconfirmed that it's a boy and moved my due date up to the 12th! She also said that she'd probably be willing to induce me on the 9th, based on my past pregnancies (though we think it would be fun to have a 08-08-08 baby...but I guess the baby will be the decision maker on that one!). So, either way we're in for an early August baby! This appointment was also great because it was the first one with this pregnancy that I haven't left the office with at least one prescription! Finally, I seem to be healthy!

Gabe's picture of his dinosaur brother...I had to steal the picture away from him to scan it, fingerprints and all!

Grandma Bea's Birthday

My Grandma Bea with her son (my dad).

Grandma Bea will be 89 on the 25th of April, and since she was in town we decided to celebrate a little early! We're always game for family, a good meal, and ice cream cake!

Will kind of stole the show when he decided to help her open her presents...

Here he jumped up on her lap and yelled, "Maybe it's a TOY!"

Since Grandma arrived, Will has taken it upon himself to make sure Grandma drinks all of her drinks...he'll pick up the cup, hand it to her and say, "Dwink it all, Gwandma Bea." After dinner was no different, but this time I guess he thought she might need some motivation and took turns with her.

"Your turn Gwandma Bea!"

"My turn!"

And what brain freeze looks like on a 2 year old...I guess he got a little too much ice.

Grandma Bea and her boys (and the cowboy dog "Jack" that Gabe gave her for her birthday).

Baking with Uncle Dean

Rolling out the dough

Every spring, my Grandma Bea, Great Uncle Dean and Great Aunt Marilyn come to visit for a few days. The boys absolutely love all three of these amazing people and Gabe was more than excited to get to bake bread with Uncle Dean. My mom came and picked Gabe up this morning and he was able to spend the day baking bread and enjoying the company of all of our visitors. He absolutely loves to help out in the kitchen, so being Uncle Dean's assistant made his day. The end result was lots of yummy bread, including two little loaves that Gabe made for himself and Will. He was so proud of his bread that he took one of the little loaves for show-and-tell the next day!

Learning from the "Master"

Okay, so how long do I have to wait before I can eat it?

Uncle Dean is known in our family for being a big tease...the other day, he told Gabe to be careful not to press his belly button because his legs will fall off. Gabe laughed and I thought he realized Uncle Dean was only joking, until we were driving home that night. On the way home, Gabe asked (in a rather worried tone), "Why will my legs fall off if I press my belly button?"

Gabe loves making this crazy face, he prides himself on making his eyes as big as possible

Not to leave Will out...we often ask the boys, "Who loves ____?" and they answer "I do! I do!" This afternoon on the way over to my mom's, I was doing this and had run through several family members and friends. Will was apparently done playing this game because he interrupted me and said, "Mommy, I just love all the people." I replied with "Will, you're such a sweetie!" His response was, "I not a sweetie, silly mommy! I just a Will!"

Neurotic Nico

Okay, so this is our very sweet and loving doberman, Nico. She's 3, large, and still has a lot of puppy in her. She's also a bit neurotic. Case in point...she's afraid of our wood floors. Yes, you read that correctly, we have a dog that is afraid of our floor! I do however have to give her a little bit of credit on this one because until recently our floor had "speed bumps" (it was installed incorrectly and with the colder weather the boards expanded causing 2 medium and 1 extra large sized bumps).


I remember her coming around the corner of the kitchen island and tripping (her feet completely came out from under her and she landed on her side) on the largest bump, but it took us a day or so to connect that event with the fact that she wouldn't leave the carpet. More than once she found herself "trapped" in the living room or on the small patch of carpet behind our couch. No matter what I tried I couldn't get her to budge. I even tried a trail of dog treats leading to the "safe zones," but to no avail. I certainly wasn't going to try to physically move her! She'd have to wait for Mark to come home and rescue her...poor thing! After a few failed attempts at trying to lure her onto the floor, we tried the leash. It worked! Apparently she trusted us more than herself to steer her clear of the "speed bumps"!

The floors were fixed last week, the bumps are gone and we no longer need the leash! However, she still needs some nudging every now and then, and she definitely steers clear of the area where the bumps were. We can only hope that someday she'll be completely over her fear of the floor!

The boys and "Wacko" (Will's pronunciation of Nico)