Wake Up, Wake Up So Early in the Morning!

Gabbie and Noah are the alarm clocks in our house. Around the same time every single day, Gabbie will start saying, "Gabbie wake up, Gabbie wake up." Then if we don't come to get her right then, she will get down on the floor by her door and put her mouth to the crack and say in her loudest voice "Mooom, come get me. Gabbie wake up."

The second we open the door she hops up from where she was laying, whether it be on the floor by the door or on her bed with her feet against the wall where she was kicking, and says "I'm so, so hungry. I'm so hungry."

She is the happiest little thing so bright and early in the morning. It probably helps me to be in a better mood when she just won't let me sleep in.

Here is how happy she usually is right after she wakes up (and how messy her hair gets anytime she leans back on it):

Noah is pretty regular with his morning routine too. He will play in his room for about five minutes but then he will get so mad at us for not coming to get him that he will start screaming/crying. As soon as we open the door he does exactly like his sister and stops screaming/crying and smiles at you. Silly kiddos.

January (so far)

When Gabbie got home from the hospital, she and Noah both needed to have breathing treatments. Gabs was pretty brave about it once she got home but the one time they did it in the hospital she was terrified. Noah was and is still terrified of the treatments. He screams the whole time unless he is nursing while we do the treatment. His wheezing went away after he finished his antibiotics. Then he had to be put back on antibiotics for a double ear infection and his wheezing is back.

Even though the kids weren't 100% they still enjoyed playing together and with Daddy. Noah has recently learned how to sit up, but most of the time he flings himself down so he can roll around on the floor.

These two are so stinking cute.

A friend in our ward brought Gabbie some sparklers for New Years Eve. We didn't end up doing them until about a week later when we were all feeling better. She was a pro at them and quickly caught on.

Every night after bathies, the kids play together on the bed in Noah's room. They love that time together. Of course I had to go get the camera and take some pictures. Gabbie wanted to 'help' take pictures so some of these are taken by her.

We've been amazingly busy lately with Kyle's new calling as Elder's Quorum President and my search for a job. Unfortunately, I don't foresee this changing so we will update as we can.

December Memories

Sorry it has been such a long time. We have had many things happen in the last month so I have been a little distracted. I have put together some collages of the month of December for those of you who love to see the kids.

Gabbie and Noah are best friends. I love seeing the two of them grow together.

A lady from Kyle's work gave him this gingerbread house kit. One Sunday after church we pulled it out and started working on it together. (if you are expecting those kits to actually taste good, don't expect too much. I tried to eat some of the gingerbread and it tasted like cardboard...go figure).

Our church ward had a Christmas party the weekend before Christmas. Gabbie, actually Daddy, decorated a sugar cookie and then chowed down. When it was our turn to sit with Santa Gabbie wanted nothing to do with him. I was standing behind her so she grabbed onto my pants and refused to let go. Noah was indifferent.

This little guy is growing so quickly. He loves to play and slobber all over people. Aunt Taylor got to help feed him when she visited for Christmas.

One of our new holiday traditions is to make gingerbread houses together. Kyle spent a lot of time and effort to make a real gingerbread house while the rest of us just used graham crackers. Of course Kyle's turned out the best and he put the most effort into it. Gabbie really enjoyed all the helping she got to do, not to mention all the candy available to eat.

The picture on the top right is all of our houses. Starting in the front and going left you have Gabbie's house, my mom's house, Kyle's house, my house, and Tay's house. We each decided on a theme for our houses. It was a lot of fun thinking about the back story of our creation.

It was great to have my family here so we could share our traditions with them. Christmas Eve we had lasagna for dinner and then we had a birthday party for Jesus where we ate cake and we each gave a gift to Jesus. Gabbie's gift is to be reverent in Sacrament meeting. Daddy's gift is to read the whole Ensign each month. My gift is to work on family history and do the temple work for my ancestors. My sister Taylor is going to share the gospel more openly and freely. My mom is going to have more meaningful prayers. My dad is going to become more active in the church. After dinner and the party, we opened our Christmas jammies, hopped in the car and went off to see lights.

A few pictures from Christmas morning.

Gabbie was very happy and energetic on Christmas Eve then on Christmas morning we were surprised to find that she was really sick. On Saturday she started an antibiotic that was supposed to make her better. Her temperature reached 104 and she had a terrible cough. We got into a doctor on Monday morning and they told us to go straight to the children's hospital in downtown Houston. After a super long time of waiting around in the er, they admitted her with pneumonia. It was a very long week. Gabs stayed in the hospital for 3 days and was able to come home on New Years Eve. This is what our sweet little girl looked like during the early stages of her battle.

During the time that Gabs was dealing with pneumonia, we found out that Noah was sick too. He had a sinus infection, an ear infection, and a bronchial problem. Even though he had to be on an antibiotic and have breathing treatments, he was super happy.

There's the month of December in quick review. Sorry it's not a lot of detail but that's all the time I have for now so enjoy.

My TWO Favorite Kiddos

I love how close Gabs and Noah are. They love spending time together and laughing with each other. There are many times when we will catch Noah smiling and laughing at his sister because she is doing something he thinks is silly. Gabs can definitely get him to smile! Here are some of the great pictures we have taken of the two of them together...

It sure is great to have kids who get along, who adore each other. It makes my day when Gabs will stand in front of her brother and make him laugh.

Birthday Girl

Gabbie turned 2 last Friday. We decided that we were going to wake her up early before Daddy went to work so she could open presents and we could have breakfast together.

This year I tried to make her cake myself. I did everything homemade except for the black outline on the cake. If you can't tell, it's supposed to be the Magic School Bus (Gabs loves that show right now). Despite all the errors and time it took to make this, it was fun. Everything turned out tasting really good so that makes up for the mistakes in looks. Gabbie thought it was awesome!

She didn't want anything to do with pictures so early in the morning...

showing off a pair of church shoes that she will be able to wear in a few months...

She had to try on the dress she got and accessorize with stickers. Lately we will find her giving Noah lots of hugs like this...

Opening her package from Grandma Christensen...

All dressed up and ready to go celebrate at Chuck E Cheeses.

In case you were wondering Grandma Christensen, Kyle still does the tongue thing when he is concentrating and if any of you wonder where Gabs gets it from, here is the proof.

Happy Birthday Big Girl. Its hard to believe that two years ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of this girl. She is such a special person. I am so blessed to be her Mommy and get the opportunity to teach her about the gospel of Jesus Christ. She has the most infectious laughter/smiles. Thank you for everyone who thought of her on her birthday and wished her a happy day. She thought it was awesome.

Purty Tree

This year we ventured out on Black Friday just for the fun of it (plus I wanted to get a Candyland and Chutes and Ladders game for $3.99). When we got home, we were all very tired. Gabs ate her breakfast then played with Daddy's hat for awhile before she laid down for a nap.

While she was sleeping, we put up the tree. She walked around the corner after waking up and was super surprised.

She woke Daddy up from his nap so he could help us decorate.

This was the first year we have ever had a tall enough ceiling to put up our whole tree; I was very much looking forward to it. The tree was so tall Kyle had to stand on a stool to even decorate the top part. He tried to let Gabs help him with the star but she was too short, so he had to do it by himself.

I was trying to teach Gabs how to do the 'Vanna White pose' and show off our tree. This is the closest we got.

Thank you Grandma Christensen for getting us this tree from freecycle. We think of you every time we put it up. I love how our handmade decorations make the tree so special. This year Gabbie and I made a christmas tree ornament from a sponge and decorated it with colored brads. We also made wreaths with pipe cleaners and aluminum foil (it's definitely not the most put together tree but each year when we put it up again, we get to remember the fun times w had as a family making those ornaments.) We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.