her first piece.

her first real chew of bubble gum!

the first taste, she said it tasted like strawberries!

getting ready to give it a taste!

examining her gum and all it's glory!

handing over her first piece of gum!

on the way to colorado gabriella got her first piece of gum in the morning of our second day of driving!

she was thrilled!

surprise!

so on december 21st. i will turn 30!
that is so old!
but anyway, today we had planned to got to a craft show and get jake's haircut.
then we were going to give the kids naps and go Christmas shopping...
some days things don't go like you had planned.
we went over to my mom and dad's house and family and friends were there waiting for us!
they had a surprise birthday party for me!
i had no idea!
it was a great afternoon.
great food and company!
thank you so much to my mom who cooked lots of great food and to my husband for keeping it a surprise and not throwing up on the way there from anxiety!
all of the pics. are on my mom's camera so i will try to post some when i can.
i am so thankful for my family!
it was a very special day!

a quick note.

alright well today is the 3rd and i still haven't blogged this month!

i had high hopes for this month, and i'm still going to try to do it, but sometimes life gets in the way.

like feeling extremely sick one night

or

feeling like i just found out i was pregnant and having that tiredness that went along with it all over again.

this i was definitely not planning on and it is really putting a kink in my plans for the month.

or

if you computer decides it doesn't want to work anymore and won't even turn on to let you access your pics. or do anything for that matter.

so...

i will keep pressing on!

today is another day and i need to muster up some energy and kick into high gear around here!

laundry, unpacking, repacking, wrapping for parties this weekend, school drop off and pick up. just to list a few of the jobs on my plate for today.

a full plate indeed!

ok i'm off and running...well i might not run, speed walking is more like it at this point!

a preschool feast.

the last day of school before thanksgiving break gabriella's class had a feast.
i am so thankful i can go volunteer in her class on fridays.
i wouldn't trade that time for anything.
they learned about the pilgrims and thanksgiving.
the teacher's had a beautiful centerpiece for the feast.

watching all the kids was very neat to see.
my kids eat very differently than most of the kids at school
our dinner's are filled with lots of talking and cleaning up after themselves, they love napkins, and not too much eating ever really happens on their parts.
well apparently kids do eat without looking around and really clean their plates.
i was smiling the whole time because i was thinking how different dinners would be if my kids ate!
the girls impressed me with the amount they ate at the feast...as if they had to show their classmates they know how to eat.

for dessert they had pumpkin cake, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and these little cuties a mom made. i just love these and would like to try to make them next year with the kids.

being in gabriella's class is always a treat and i love to see her HUGE smile every time i get there to volunteer. it is priceless to see her excitement!

we're off...

we are Colorado bound!

hopefully it only takes 16 driving hours.

so that is not including potty breaks, eating breaks and a quick sleep...somewhere.

the kids and jacob are all packed and i have so much to do today.

i haven't packed for myself yet because i only have one two long sleeved shirts (is this going to be a problem in Colorado in November?:)

i can't get my jacket zipped up, so i'm thinking it won't take me long to pack.

one thing i am looking forward to is washing a whole dishwasher full of dirty dishes, before we leave.

yep, our dishwasher decided to stop working last night. why does it have to do that at 11:45 pm the night before you are going out of town?

i have a doctor's apt. this morning and then have to go straight to gabriella's school to volunteer at their Thanksgiving feast.

jacob is now sick as well. he gets sick the day before EVERY vacation we ever go on...and that is not a joke. and we don't go on vacations often and he is never sick any other time of the year.

on a happier note:

i am very very excited and hoping for a WHITE Thanksgiving!

hopefully it's not white while we are driving:)

can't wait to take lots of pics.

this will be a trip to remember for sure!

gamma and gampa

gabriella absolutely loves her "gamma" and "gampa"

i am thankful to have them in our lives because they love us and care four us and our kids.

thank you for making our yard look so beautiful!

we love you guys!

HUGS.

are the BEST of the BEST!

happy and sad.

we said goodbye to papa a week ago and while i got some great pictures before he left it is very sad that he isn't here with us right now.
jake especially misses papa a lot and talks about him all the time.
papa will be back in about 90 days and we are counting down!
we are so thankful for the time we got to spend with him while he was here.
i am so thankful for my family and the positive role model they are for my kids.
we are so excited for your return papa!

6 months.

only 2 months to go!
i feel this little guy kicking really hard.
(21 weeks)
we still don't have a name, but the thought process has started so we are making headway.
(24 weeks)
we went through about 50,000 names with the help of auntie erica.
only about 5 or 6 made the possibility list.
1. Hudson
2. Bentley
3. Titus
4. Silas
i don't know where i put the list, but when i find it i will post the other name possibilities.
(24 weeks)
i am so thankful that everything has gone so smoothly so far.
i went to a new doctor and she was wonderful!
i was so nervous about my old doctor and very worried i wouldn't be able to switch, but i have found a wonderful lady to care for me during the rest of my pregnancy and c-section.
(24 weeks)
i will have an amnio. at 35.5 weeks and a scheduled c-section at 36 weeks.
i feel very comfortable with this and i know it is all in the Lord's hands and he will watch over us and protect us through this whole thing.

everybody jump jump!

on saturday we celebrated gabi's birthday with uncle rob, auntie erica, grandma, grandpa, auntie lisa (analisa), uncle mitch and kainoa all at nana, papa and mel mel's house.
daddy got a jumper for the day and nana and papa let us put it on their new beautiful grass...it didn't die so that is a good thing.
the girls were ecstatic!
mel said, "i always wanted one of these and now we got one for gabi's birthday." it was very cute.
they jumped ALL DAY LONG!
i thought it would be fun so i ventured in to take some video, but then after just a few minutes of sitting and taping i started to feel motion sickness.
i had to get out quick.

nana went in for a while and did some somersaults. she felt dizzy the rest of the day, but she is old :)

when it got cold the kids came in and we had hot fudge cake sundaes.
they were so delicious!
gabi got lots of fun stuff.
and jake was thrilled she got some new sandals!
we all had a great time.
another successful birthday celebration!

the celebration.

we had a very busy day on gabriella's birthday.
we had yummy pumpkin pancakes and eggs at nana and papa's for breakfast.
by the time we were ready to go to toys r us for our birthday trip daddy got home and surprised gabriella with some beautiful flowers.
they smelled very nice.
we went to chick-fil-a for lunch it was gabriella's request.
then we went to toys r us, where picking out a small gift quickly turned into a bit bigger.
nana and papa gave all of the kids a 10 dollar limit, but gabi could spend a little more since it was her day.
she ended up with a new bike with training wheels and we got her a helmet.
she is a pro already.
then we went home and gabi got to open her presents and we sang to her.
in the past we have tried to do this at the end of the day and the kids are a mess and they are all crying and it is just not fun so i wanted to do the gifts and singing earlier in the day and it worked out great!

gabriella loves spaghetti so we thought she would like olive garden.
she drank milk and maybe a bite of bread, that's about it...better luck next time.
saturday we celebrated with more of the family...and let's just say it was a jumpin, rollin, flippin good time!

minnie mouse, princess jasmine & a pirate!

HaLlOwEeN 2010
here's our little princess jasmine and minnie mouse before school.
and then here they are for their school parade, a cute little minnie mouse and a happy pirate.
only one couldn't handle the itchiness of the their first outfit.
on halloween day we were all a little exhausted.
uncle rob and auntie erica went home and gabi started to get sick, so instead of going to the carnival at church we decided to just stay home and keep it very low key.

these are two of the cutest pics ever.
now we are ready to take big steps or big shoes into November!

cuatro.

Today Gabriella is FOUR!
that is amazing to even say! if you asked her she would say she had been wanting to turn 4 since she turned 3.
if you are just sitting around chatting you will definitely hear her say, "I AM SOOOOO BIG!" she will raise her hand in the air as high as she can and she will say, "See! I AM THIS BIG!" (today, now that she is 4 she is weighing in at 26 lbs.) (technically NOT big on any charts) then she will follow that up with, "LOOK AT HOW BIG MY FEET ARE!" and she will lift up her foot up in the air as high as she can for you to see! (today she is wearing a size 7 shoe, the same as jake, who just turned 2) (so technically NOT big)

starting out so small has never ever slowed her down for one minute. She is such a lover of life and adventures and wants to make the most of every moment in everyday.
some of the many things gabriella will tell you she can do: speak spanish! count to 30 say the pledge of allegiance say her full address write her name...she has perfected the G! she can do flips...she really has a lot of gymnastic potential

gabriella frequently tells anyone she can that when she turns 5 she is going into kindergarten and then first grade and then second grade. the other day she was asking about college and i told her she was allowed to go, but she needed to live at home and i would drive her everyday! i can't imagine letting my baby girl move.
what gabriella wants for her birthday: a pony she can ride...until the other day she changed it to 2 ponies and a horse! all that she can ride.

yesterday gabriella said, " I am so excited to have a baby brother!" I am so excited for the enthusiasm she shows for life.

gabriella,
you are going to be a wonderful big sister for your nameless brother. i know you are going to help with everything you possibly can, because that is the way you are. you go all out all the time! you never do anything half hearted. that is a trait that i admire so much. you love singing songs to Jesus and we love to watch you sing and dance. your favorite song to sing is david crowder's he is jealous for me. you sing all the words without hesitation and a lot of times you even close your eyes while you are singing. it is so beautiful to see. on sunday you took your Bible to church and read it the whole way. we can't wait to see all the work God does in your life this year as you are four. we love you so much and are so very proud of you! mama and daddy