Grandparent's visit!

 My parent's flew in last friday and conveniently the army had given Nulkie a 4-day weekend so we picked up my parents around 945 am in st. louis and hit up the free zoo. It was sunny and  low 60s...perfect weather for animal watching. Last time we went it was mobbed and all Gabe wanted to see was the hippos. This time it was less packed and Gabe wanted to see pelicans and rhinos. We took him to see both!

 In the butterfly aviary

 Sunning ourselves on the lovely beetle sculpture.

 Family pic...and you can see a hint of the bump that is forming. Some days it seems bigger than others...yes i'm totally wearing maternity clothes. I'd just rather be comfortable at this point.

 petting a hippo head

He is the king of hearts! This shirt arrived in a super sweet valentine's package from Aunt Carolyn & Uncle Ron...thanks guys! It's perfect!

 Chillin' at the park on Nulkie's lunch break. The temp dropped to a high in the low thirties...it was a bit nippy.

 giving daddy a horsey ride. gabe will go ask Micheal "horsey ride" "mount". then he climbs on Michael and rides around the house. Or he gives one to daddy :)

 Gabe is talking non-stop now. I call him my parrot. He copies everything i say. I think he learns 50 new words a day! He is also saying the alphabet and counting to ten by himself. He even reads letters off clothes and books now! His memory is amazing...he'll mention the name of a friend he hasn't seen in months. Last night i was feeding Gabe dinner and he suddenly starts saying "crab, crab crab" over and over. I didn't really know what he was talking about until i saw the spider crawling on the napkin holder. He thought it looked like a crab. SO naturally i squealed a few times...but i manned up and smashed it. After i threw it out i said to Gabe..."yucky spider". so the whole rest of the time he kept saying "yukyspider..eeh eeh eh" mimicking my squealing noises! Little stinker!

Fish face!

We had a great week with my parents. It flew by...i can't wait for the day they are actually driving distance away! Gabe had a blast with the extra attention and loves being with Grandma and Pop Pop... i enjoyed having a bit of a break. Nulkie had class everyday, but he was released early a lot and came home for lunch. Were working on planning a big RV trip this summer...should be awesome! Hope life is good with all of you...we excited to begin March and have sunnier, warmer weather.

 

Hiking the engineer trail Saturday morning, followed by an outstanding brunch :)

 Being a ham at breakfast

 Prettiest bouquet of flowers i have EVER had! They are completely gorgeous! Well done Nulkie!!

 Me and my lil' Valentine!

 See what i mean? From every angle these flowers are sooooo stunning. I love them.

 The Johnstons! Beefcakes (aka Brian) is Nulkie's best bud. His wife is an army nurse stationed in Ft. Bragg. They've been separated 3 years now (thumbs down) but are finally getting stationed together this summer! Yay! So anyways we finally met her this weekend during her visit. It was really fun! Gabe loves "manda" and "uncle mian"

 Look at my pretty blue eyes!

Things to do on a snow day...

 You should definitely go sledding in your backyard...while letting the doggies run free. I mean no one is on the roads when there's 4 inches of snow! Panic!!

 Cheeky liked sledding for awhile...until he face planted in the snow!

 You should absolutely teach your 2 yr old to eat snow. But not they yelllow snow (or "lellow" as Gabe calls it)

 Dress up in your hubby's extra snow gear and go sledding with the baby.

 Action shot!

 Look at that directional skill. That's from years of sledding at Normanside!

 Nulkie enjoys being out in the snow more than anyone i know!

 You should dress your dogs in their cute sweaters and roll around the the snow with them

 You should make home-made decadent hot chocolate. Mine was even better than this picture. I'm talking whole milk, sugar, cocoa and vanilla extract. Topped off with whipped cream and you've got some delish stuff right there.

 You should go find a better hill (unplowed road) and sled there.

 My personal fav pic of the day. Happy baby and daddy.

 Getting doughnuts after sledding is a must do. Fortunately we have a doughnut joint right outside post! We even let cheeky have his own :).

 

I was blamed for the doughnut run as a "preggers craving". But i only ate 1 doughnut. HUbby had about triple that! 

You should totally ignore the piles of laundry everywhere and snuggle up with your hubby and watch an afternoon flick instead. Who cares about laundry? It's always winning anyways! Hope you;re all having a pleasant wed., we sure are over here on snow day #2. 

Happy 1 Year!

 Gabers face

Michael's been home one year today! Wow that went fast. And it's a blizzard/ice storm so Nulkie has the day off! Wahoo! And I actually have a dinner plan! It's a good day!
This is Gabe last friday at a mexican restaurant called El Jimador. We put him in his drug rug to feel the authentic Mexican culture. Very classy. Actually it was nice to get out of the house considering Gabe & i have been hermits the last 2 weeks.  Were all finally recovering from our colds, although Michael & I still have to blow our noses a lot. But no more fevers! Baby #2 is good..about the size of a lemon now! Were getting excited to find out the gender. Michael thinks it's another boy which he's pumped about. I can't decide myself. Gabe says "sister" or "brother" depending on his mood. Well that's about all that's new here. March is when we find out the gender and where were going to next...so we hope feb. goes as fast as Jan. did! Should be fun with family visiting and Nulkie starting grad classes.