Goofball baby

Gabriel can be so goofy. These pictures were taken on two different days. What a silly baby. He rode the firetruck from Grandmom back and forth on the tile and cracked himself up. That's a weeble toy in his mouth, he loves to carry it that way, and then he wants to be chased! It's adorable. Luke gets a big kick out of chasing him.

A masterpiece in the making

Homework time!! Luke came home from school on Friday with a project to do. He had a little gingerbread-type-person he had decorate and bring back to school to introduce to his class. Dad jumped on board to help out. And just look what they created:
(and check out how stylish Luke is dressed! :)

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's...

Now Mom does take credit for the cape--I found an old shirt that we could cut up! We did well and his teacher LOVED it!!!

Daddy's return

Hey--guess what? Michael's home!!! No really, I am not even joking! He is really here. It's unbelievable! We are all thrilled that he is home! For those of you who don't know the whole story, Mike left on Dec 31st, came home in the middle of June and then left July 23rd again. We have had 7 1/2 months without him this year!! We are celebrating his happy return. :)

The pictures are obviously of when Luke got home from school. The look on his face pretty much describes how happy we are to have Daddy home again. Hey, Uncle Thad--here is another "running from the bus" photo, I know you like it :)

He was screaming "Daddy" the whole way!

Jumped right up into Daddy's arms.

Luke was pretty overwhelmed, he was trying hard not to cry!

Dog days of summer

Thanks Great Granny! Granny sent the boys a little yip-yip dog that walks and sits and, you guessed it, yips. They LOVE it as you can tell by the photos! It is a huge hit, thanks Granny for making their day. Luke did ask me why there isn't 3 of them and I said it's because Granny loves Mommy and knew one would be plenty!! :)

"A package, a package!!"

Guess Gabriel thought she was hungry!

PS--Kell, are you having Greater Tuna flashbacks? Yeah, I used "yip" on purpose! :)

Happy Birthday to my Momma!

Momma, Happy Birthday to you!!! I cannot tell you how much I love you. You are an amazing women, the best mother ever, the perfect Grandmom, and not-too-shabby-a-mom-in-law :)
You have done more for me and my family then you will ever realize. Take this day to realize how much you are loved and how many lives you have touched just by being you! All our love! Happy Day!

19 months today

I tried so hard to get a full on picture of Gabriel, but it was all in vain. He was too interested on touching the camera and running away. These pictures are still pretty cute and I am quite sure they will bring a smile to your face :)
Today my angel boy is 19 months old! Can you believe time has passed so quickly? I don't know where it all goes and why it has to go so fast! We love you Gabriel Todd.

Present time!

The boys were quite happy this past week as 2 sets of presents have arrived in the mail. One from their Grandmom and the other from a good friend of ours, Heidi (who is now in Germany)! They were all thrilled with the gifts, Grandmom sent some VeggieTale books, and Heidi sent some Pixar Cars Pez dispensers, pencils with Luke on them (he LOVES those) and some birthday money for Luke to spend. Thanks so much for thinking of the boys! :)

More pictures to come soon, it took me 3 days for Blogger to load these!!!!

Stage presence

Watch out Josh Groban, here comes Kaden-man.

First of all, can you believe that I got this photo? It was just before bed last night and I put on my Josh DVD so that I could relax a little. The boys love watching the song from Polar Express (Believe) because it shows the movie during the song. So then Kaden started singing, which my boys always sing to Josh, but then he went and found something to use as his microphone. He stood by the TV watching and trying to copy what Josh was doing. Hilarious. I am glad I got the camera. I know that Momma and Mel are LOVING this picture. I mean look, they have the same type hair and everything!

Oh yes, Happy Birthday to Melanie! You are the most wonderful person I know. Have a wonderful day and know that you are loved so much!

And on another note, the man came a few minutes ago to fix my phone! Yeah! Another problem solved.

Rain, rain go away

So I realized that taking pictures of the hard rain doesn't really do it justice but you are just going to have to trust me! This was from last week when I lost my Internet (not because of this rain mind you, just happened on the same day!) It was a complete thunderstorm with thunder that shook the house and lightning that seemed to hit all around us. I HATE storms like that. If any of you have seen my sis-in-law's blog she was just remarking about how much she enjoys these lovely Florida thunderstorms, not so much with me. I still get scared, storms freak me out. Thankfully none of my boys are scared, storms don't seem to phase them. It rained almost every day last week and rained again this weekend, but no huge storms again. I much prefer sunshine. Rain rain go away, come again when you absolutely have to, but not before, thanks :)

Is this a joke??

Are you kidding? Have you ever been so mad you could just scream??? I am at that point today. I just had to vent to keep from going crazy! Here's the frustrating details...I PROMISE to give the short version because this would be a novel if I didn't. But please fill in with as much unfortunate things as possible.

Friday the 4th---DirecTV goes out. New receiver brought to me and installed Monday.

Monday the 7th---No receiver, called, waited 30 min, passed around 4 times, disconnected, no record of me calling Friday. Called back after frustration down, receiver was mailed, will be there Tues.

Tuesday the 8th---Receiver came, I set it up, no problems. Lost internet. Called, waited 45 minutes, need new modem and cables, office only open Tues and Thurs mornings.

Wednesday 9th---NO internet, driving me crazy!

Thursday 10th---new modem, I installed, NOT working. Called waited 55 minutes and hung up.

Friday 11th---Mike's home :) He put new card in back of computer. No internet, called, waited an hour, worked with guy for 35 minutes, problem fixed!

Sunday 13th---Mike leaves, computer mouse stops working, ($40 wireless mouse, one month old) can't fix it, put old mouse back on.

NOT DONE YET!!!!!!!

House phone stops ringing, does one ring and then quits, can't receive calls. Need new jack in kitchen.

I am so frustrated. Now I realize that these are not emergencies by any stretch, but I am still angry. What else can I lose? Wait, I shouldn't say that, there's still an air conditioner, fridge, etc...no jinxing myself) No smooth sailing for me. Ugh.
Alrighty, I feel a bit better now that I have complained! Happier blogs to come! Have a GREAT day!!!!!!!!!!

The more the merrier!

Kaden-man and his buddies!

Yeah, that's me in '85, dolls and bears.

Like mother, like son? In this case, yes. Here is Kaden-man and his nighttime friends. At first he just had the big Nemo, but then Grandmom gave him a little Nemo, so he joined the crew. I am not sure where the green dolphin came from, but he has to be in bed as well. The 3 snakes are presents we bought the boys from The San Diego Zoo, Kaden has adopted all of them. It's not bedtime until all creatures have joined him in his bed. Obviously I used to fill my bed with my friends as well! Do you know how long it took me to get situated at night?? :)

Joke

What cat do you not want to play cards with???







yeah, this is a good one--------a cheetah!!! Ha, ha, ha, I KNOW you are laughing!!!
:)

A new beginning...

At 6:15 this morning, Josh Groban starts singing to me, not a shabby way to wake up even if it is crazy early! Maybe not too early for some people, but for me getting up to wake up my 5 year old for Kindergarten, anything before 7 is TOO early!!! But, there I was. I was quiet as I went in his room, not to wake Kaden-man, and thank goodness I didn't. Luke woke up, stared at me and flashed a HUGE smile. I told him to be very quiet, I grabbed his clothes and we left the room. Luke was SO excited, I could barely get him to eat any breakfast, we settled on yogurt. The bus comes at 6:50---like I said, crazy early, and thank goodness the stop is across the street from our house! My sweet neighbor (10 yrs) said she would walk Luke to his class for me. (that was the only thing I was worried about, the Kindergarteners have to make their own way from the bus to their class in the morning, no one specifically helps them get there!) So, I thanked my neighbor immensely. The bus showed up and Luke ran to be the first one on, no kiss, not even a "bye Mom". So, I guess it's safe to say he wasn't scared of getting on the bus!!!
This afternoon, the bus was over 10 minutes late after school, because Luke and another kiddo were on the wrong bus to start out with---glad they check and re-check these things. But he made it home and more importantly he LOVED every minute of school. He told me all about everything, especially the play park. His hair is still soaking wet from playing outside in this heat! He had a great first day and I am so excited for him. So starts a new chapter he his life, and in mine...

Orientation excitement

Luke woke up happy and ready to go!!!

Well, the time has come, Luke Thomas has entered school. Yep, today was the first day of Kindergarten---sort of anyway. Today there was an hour orientation with parents. We met his teacher and helper. They both seemed great. I am sure Luke will have a WONDERFUL time there. This is Luke's teacher's 30th year, so congrats to her! That is awesome. Tomorrow he will go with only half the kids in his class, the other half will go Friday (Luke will be at home), then on Monday they will start altogether, so I guess technically Monday is Luke's first day of Kindergarten. But none-the-less today was an exciting day!! (Thanks to Yadira for watching Kaden and Gabriel for me this morning--you are such a blessing!)

Here's Luke in front of the school, how excited is he???