Easter Egg Hunt

We had a lil' egg hunt for Gabe. I think we were more excited about it than he was.

 Gabe sporting his battle scars. He had a fight with the stroller and lost. Just in time for family easter pics! Yay!

 I told Michael i looked like an easter egg. He agreed. Such a supportive hubby.

Cowboy boots. Do it. Having a great Easter so far. Missin' our fam but looking forward to a nice afternoon with friends! He is Risen! Have a blessed Easter! :)

It's my birthday!

Had a great birthday! Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes/cards and gifts! I woke up to bfast made by nulkie...took a family walk and then had a quick dr. appt. Baby sister is doing great. After that gabe took a 3 hr nap and I got to relax while Nulkie was in class. He picked up fried chicken (at my request) for dinner. SO i'm a happy preggo! You really can't beat fried chicken and ice cream cake. And then some harry potter for a movie night cap. Good stuff! Here's a lil' interview with Gabe. He certainly had no problem chewing birthday cake!

All Hail the Conquering Graduate!

 Graduating from the Engineer Captain's Career Course.  I know what you're probably thinking--this guy graduates a lot. I know. He's a smartie pants. This is the 3rd course he's graduated from this year..and he has another in July. I think he just likes presents and celebrations :) Well done Nulkanator!!

 Forgive me, these pics are not superb. I was trying to keep Gabe running away while snapping pics of Nulkie. The whole time Gabe was saying "daddy" just loud enough for the entire auditorium to hear. But he was pretty good overall at the ceremony. And there were close to 40 babies/toddlers in attendance which helped. Apparently the career course was very fertile this year. Michael says "what else are you supposed to do in garrison?"

 Besties from the ECCC.

                                            Six month baby bump!

Gabe attempting to pet "baby sister".

Mistaken Identity

So about a month ago I was at the Commissary and the deli lady mistook Gabe for a girl. I was naturally aghast that anyone could think my handsome son could look feminine. I mean i certainly don't dress him girly. Fast forward to Tuesday at the park. A man there with his two grandsons asked "So is that a boy or a girl"? I responded nicely, "it's a boy" (while internally seething) and smiled pleasantly. Then Gabe proceeded to poop his pants and I had to pick up turds among the wood-chips using a doggy-poop bag. Good times. Anyways after the two incidences of thinking he was a girl/ numerous comments by my husband that Gabe needed a haircut, we decided that today was the day. I contemplated that his long thick lashes and rosy cheeks combined with his curls might confuse some about his gender..so i caved in to the haircut idea (i was very resistant to losing my baby's curls). So we took him down to the PX for a lil' trim. Instead the barber cut off all his hair! No more curls! My poor little baby! I thought the barber understood us when we said just a little off the sides and top. Not a baby high & tight!  Michael held Gabe in his lap the whole haircut. He cried and kept saying "no" most of it. So anyways his sweet blonde curls are no more. I know, i know, hair grows back. And Gabe was happy as a clam once the haircut was over. What's funny is with his new do he looks like a mini-Michael. I'm talking clone. 

 Daddy will save me from the evil razor...

 Wait no, the evil barber took all his hair!

 Final product. I know, still cute. The new shorter 'do makes his eyes look even bigger if possible...and his jaw more square. aka mini-daddy.

Cutie pants! No more mistaking this guy for a girl!

This is how our saturday went:
5am- Nulkie wakes up to hitch ride for pancake breakfast in Crocker (middle of nowhere) Missouri
650ish- I wake up, rush Gabe to potty hoping he's dry (he's not) and then dress him for the day in a half-coma state of sleep and delirium. Then I give him milk. Make bed. Halfheartedly clean kitchen from last night's mess. Then convince myself to put stew in crock pot. This includes cutting up 5 lbs of half-frozen london broil with a dull knife. Not pleased. Finally get to making myself presentable for the day and pack extra shorts for Gabe. Also grab movie to return to blockbuster. Was Black Swan- creepy and still confused.

8:06- finally hit the road for Crocker to meet husband at pancake b-fast. Call him for directions. Stop at shopette for cash. Was supposed to have met him at 8. Will be there more like 830. Finally find VFW after driving through tiny little town. Even though saw about 2 cars on road, parking lot is packed. Meet hubby and then rush Gabe to bathroom. Feast on pancakes and sausage.

930-leave Crocker and head to Hutchinson's for dual-family garage sale. Am given adorable lady bug bedding for future girl and old baby girl clothes (score!) . Peruse for more clothes and pick out some pink cowboy boots for future baby girl. Keep Gabe from running in the road.
10ish- leave sale. Stop at another sale. Turns out it's an auction so we leave. Head to Lowes for build and grow program. Pit stop at Sonic cuz preggo wants a cherry-limeade chiller (it's 90 degrees out) and nulkie wants one too. Finally make it to Lowes. Build pinball thingy. Gabe helps hammer the nails and almost spills nulkie's rt. 44 cherry limeade all over plywood. he keeps asking for "more cherry wimade pweese".
11ish- Leave lowes. drop off creepy movie. finally head back home. Feed gabe meager lunch of grapes and string cheese. Put down for nap. Nulkie falls asleep "reading" on couch. I fall asleep on bed.

315- hear gabe waking up. rush in and take to potty (he's dry this time). wake nulkie up. eat cheetos on couuch. Work on dishes in kitchen, cleaning gabe's room and family room. vacuum. empty dishwasher. Nulkie & gabe go to wash truck and clean it out. I take 1/2 of stew and fresh rolls over to neighbors since they just had a baby. Totally sure I woke them up..oh well. Spill stew on baby belly on way over to drop off stew. back in time to clean up a bit before the lil boys arrive.
545- Caleb (2yrs) and Zane (5 mths) arrive. Their parents have a ball to attend. We watch them till 1020. Finally crash around 11. On Sunday we had stuffed french toast. Made it to church on time (a first!) and then stop by price cutter to pick up steak/drinks/salad stuff for impromptu BBQ in afternoon. Get home, put Gabe down and make pudding pie. Have our neighbors Brian & Priscilla (they're moving to Carson too..yay!) and the Carls over at 4pm. Great time of fellowship and fun! Phew I'm tired after reading this. Hope you all had fun-packed weekends like we did! Nulkie graduates the captain's career course this Friday at 1000am! Sorry no pics, totally forgot.

 

Matching drug rugs with your 2-yr old are all the rage people. You should get on that. I know of a greattttt lil' truck stop outside Moriarty, nm that sells them cheap. Dirt cheap. And look how stylish we are! 

 That lil' blonde cutie I'm standing with is Logan. He's bud of Gabe's and I stole him for the day :) He and Gabe had a great time together. Logan's eating habits put Gabe to shame..he actually chewed his food and cleaned his whole plate! Amazing! He can come play anytime...Gabe won't stop talking about him!

 I have no idea what tactical vehicle this is. I know Nulkie, i should know this. But i don't.

 Nulkie & the boys in front of a Buffalo. These are pretty sweet route clearance vehicles. There was some Engineer expo happening so Nulkie decided we should take the lil' guys over to check out the "big trucks". In reality, Nulkie just wanted to score some more free stuff. After he already had a bag of SWAG (stuff we all get) from his first drive by. Gabe & Logan scored some balls and notepads so that was cute. I'm sure people were confused at how i was so preggers again and carrying around a 2 yr old and 20-mth old.

Apparently Gabe was the only one who got the memo to look at the camera. Thanks for the t-shirt Uncle Brian & Aunt Christina!

Snowboards

  As promised...Gabe's "snowboard" and tigers mini-snowboard.

 

When i put Gabe to bed last night we put on his snowboard and then tigers. It was pretty cute. Although tiger did not wake up with it still on...but Gabe did so that's good. 

Tiger-- his most beloved stuffed animal. AKA the most ratty disgusting one in his batch of friends. We don't know why the $5 tiger from the kiosk at the Wichita zoo is so special...considering he has some nice plush stuffed toys from Brookstone (that i kinda want to cuddle with myself) and other ones in cleaner condition. He carries tiger around all day and wraps him in a blanky for "nap time".

Resilience

Gabe's back to wearing the brace again. It's almost identical to the one above. We call it his "snowboard". He only wears it at night and its supposed to fix his feet without needing surgery. Let me just say, after a 2.5 hr drive up to columbia with no accidents and a nap, I was already impressed with Gabe. Then he was a champ for the orthotist..he helped him screw in the shoes onto the bar. This was one of the best experiences i've ever had at an orthodic office. The secretary was awesome, the orthotist actually had all the equipment on site and we were done within 30 mins! Not to mention the building was gorgeous and Gabe did all his chores in their bathroom (amen)! He should be all set with "foot doctor" appointments for awhile now.
     On the long drive back Gabe was so good the whole time..he even told me he had to pee so Michael helped him "pee like a man" on the side of the road. In back roads missouri there are no rest stops. It was hilarious, Michael carried him out and pulled his pants down and whew did Gabe have to go! Michael was so proud...i was so proud..and Gabe was proud! He alll smiles after that experience. I know you probably feel like i should change this blog to a potty-training seminar...but seriously it's very exciting. I mean at this point you'd probably feel like you're missing out if i don't update you on Gabe's bowel movements. 
    Anyhow, the orthotist suggested with start out slow with brace wearing--only do a few hours the first night and gradually arrive at the full 12. Well I find with Gabe that the "cold turkey"approach works just as well, if not better. So last night we put him in his "snowboard", read him a story and he went to bed without a peep! Yes you heard me. No whining at all. Despite having his feet all locked up. So he's pretty much a rockstar. I'm going to try and rig up a mini brace for tiger to wear--so they can both wear them together. Should be pretty cute.
 If you look up the definition for resilience...you should see Gabe's name there. He's so good at adjusting to anything we throw at him. He's very good with change...better than me for the most part. Michael's decided that he'll take actual snowboard lessons with Gabe when we get to Colorado since he'll prob already be a pro.  Surely there must be a correlation between dennis brown bar wearing and mad skills at snowboarding. If not we'll make Gabe our own case study.

 Last Saturday Michael took Gabe to Lowes for their free program for kids...Build & Grow. Even though Gabe was one of the youngest kids there...they had a great time. He got his own work apron and first patch! He helped Daddy hammer in the nails and then they checked out tools. It was a good male-bonding experience. They'll be going this weekend too.

 gabe is very serious about building. No smiling allowed.

 check out my awesome rain boots and rain jacket!

 Lowes is fun!

 This Friday night I got to ditch Michael & Gabe and head to Osage Beach for a ladies weekend. I can't remember the last time i stayed up so late and got so little sleep...but it was worth it! The condo was really cute and all the gals had fun visiting and eating. We had cheese fondue and anything you can imagine to dip in it...then choc. fondue for dessert. On a side note...i had my own special cheese made for me due to my super-sensitive taste buds to spicy! But I was brave and tried the VIP cheese..although my mouth was  burning. Brandi's birthday was Sunday so we celebrated with yummy cupcakes . That's the only time i remembered to whip out my camera and take a pic. Brandi, bless her, brought fried chicken to dip in the cheese. Preggo was very pleased about this! And yes, i was the only preggo. There were 4 nursing babies that attended ladies' night as well.

 How did Nulkie fare?, you might be wondering.  Well he stayed out till 1am playing RISK with some of the other dads. I guess Gabe finally passed out on the couch around 1030. That was after 2 accidents. Poor nulkie...Gabe gets distracted at other freinds' houses and has to be taken to the bathroom or he'll forget he needs to go! Nulkie also lost risk. Disappointing considering he was the only solider in the game. Lame!

Nulkie & Gabe met me at target on Saturday around 11ish. We found Gabe his summer wardrobe and some shorts for Nulkie. We were planning on hiking but Cheeky fell asleep on the way to the park. This was after he ate the biggest hotdog ever! Food coma! So Michael & i had to suffer by sitting on the bed of the truck sipping orange creamsicle milkshakes, watching the water and enjoying the glorious sunshine. All in all, awesome weekend! Today we head to Columbia for Gabe's new brace. Wish us luck!

Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without.

These are the two I can think of. And my Military I.D. of course (spoken like a true army wife). When i don't have Gabe with me it's strange. Like an appendage missing.  Or my cell. My cell is actually purple. And i get to upgrade in May! Wahoo...smart phone here I come.

Hope all is well with you folks. Were doing good here. I actually have a  "ladies night" out at Osage Beach so Nulkie has his first overnight alone with Gabers!! I'm super excited for a break and to have some female-bonding time :) Tomorrow is supposed to be warm and sunny so Nulkie & Gabe are going to meet me at the outlets for a little bit of shopping. Gabe needs some warm-weather clothes since he outgrew everything from last summer...shocker, i know! That's what happens when you grow 3 inches! After shopping were going hiking. I hope to post some nice pics of our day trip. Have a great weekend everyone!