It All Started with a Little Skittle...

The gingerbread house Gabby made for Christmsas Gabby and her "sister" posing after decorating the Christmas tree all by themselves Excited to see Uncle Michael and rough house Bonding with Aunt Ellen while getting ready for the slumber party Grandma stealing kisses  Christmas was a whirlwind as always.  We worked it out in such a way that we were able to celebrate with both side of the family.  We had "Christmas Eve" on Thursday (two days early) with my family at my house so that we were able to have the experience with both sides of the family.  Mom, Dad, and Aunt Ellen came in that day and stayed in a hotel. Uncle Jay, Katie, Carly, Lacey, Patrick, and Corbin all stayed at our house so the kids could all be together.  We enjoyed gumbo, visiting, and allowing the kids to play late into the night (all while Michael was at work running Escape Artist). Watching a late night movie on our "Christmas Eve"   BFF...

This year's field trip was to Old MacDonald's Farm.  Gabby insisted that we allowed her to ride the because because of the issues from not riding the bus last year.  Since it was much closer than the zoo last year, we allowed her to ride the bus. She also requested that we BOTH attend the field trip and of course since we are both wrapped around her tiny perfect fingers, we obliged to this request. However, Michael and I were both quite sick.  After an hour or so Michael went to rest in the car, since I was on the mend and he was feeling terrible.  Gabby adored spending the day with Bella and Leah her friends we were assigned to spend the day with.  They rode the train, rode the pony twice, fed all of the animals, went down the slides, and the favorite attraction was a huge mound of dirt that they all played in.  It was a beautiful day and the kids really seemed to enjoy the field trip.  Finally, they gathered with the...

Today is Gabby's first day of school as a first grader! Can you believe it?! How has my baby grown up so quickly and right before my eyes? She was very excited last night, but woke up saying she was "scared".  I explained that we are all nervous on the first day of school.  She needed lots of hugs this morning, but fell right back into the school routine.   Luckily she is filled with a classroom full of friends and was welcomed by a very kind teacher.  Hopefully this is the beginning of a great school year building her confidence and making friends while also learning a little bit.  I am also excited about the school year because not that the business is more established I get to work less and go back to being Mommy full-time and worker part-time. Gabby is excited for more one on one time as well.   I have faith that this is going to be a  year of fun for Gabby.  She has already insisted that she must ride the bus home dai...

Gabby performed her first play for all of the parents to celebrate the end of kindergarten.  She even had a speaking part and was very excited that it had so many lines.  She nailed it too!  After Mommy and Daddy enjoyed her performance where all of the kindergartners sang songs (Gabby's favorite: "Be a Lady), we accompanied her for a picnic.  It was a precious day.  Gabby and her classmates practiced for over a month to perfect their performances and the results were adorable! Being theatrical and pouring her heart into the song. Being the 'praying mantis' and nailing her lines in the play Two weeks and Gabby will officially have completed her first year of "real" school.   How does time fly so fast? She has learned to read over 40 words, can do simple addition, she can count by 10's, 5's, and count to 100.  She also has a vocabulary that is in the 99th percentile (meaning she has a vocabulary better than 99% of her age...

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter.  We celebrated a day early so that Corbin could be part of the festivities.  We started the morning by going to an Easter egg hunt that had over 1000 people.  Corbin was overwhelmed and refused to pick up eggs. Next we rode a train and then watched Gabby hunt for eggs.  After Gabby completed her egg hunt Nanny, Uncle Patrick, Corbin, and Grandma left.  Gabby stayed and played on bouncy houses with her friend Hadley. After lunch and hunting eggs the kids were exhausted so the went to rest.  So while they rested, Grandma and Papa watched them while we all went and worked on Uncle Patrick creating video footage we can use. When we arrived home again we dyed Easter eggs together.  Gabby chose to use her hands rather than a spoon to remove eggs. So now she has rainbowed colored hands.  Gabby enjoyed dying the eggs and Corbin enjoyed smashing them together, basically teaching himself how to...