Gabe - 8 Month Day!

Gabe is 8 months old today...where has the time gone?! He is such a sweet and happy baby, and brings us joy each day. Here are some of his recent developments:

-He cut two more teeth this week, bringing his total to four.
-He says mama, dada, and nana. Talk about melting my heart when he says "mama" repeatedly while "crawling" toward me.
-His main mode of transportation is army crawling.
-He enjoys standing up while holding onto toys or the couch.
-He is 20 pounds!
-His eyes light up when Joshua is playing with him.
-He laughs easily and smiles at everyone!
-He enjoys eating cereal and most baby food, but hasn't seemed too fond of the jarred meats...I don't think that I would like them either!
-The best development yet is that he has been sleeping through the night almost every night for the last two weeks!




















Here is a video of "a day in the life" of our boys. Joshua was being sweet to entertain Gabe with a game of "Where are me?" (a.k.a. "where am I?" or peek-a-boo).

Ike, Missing My Boys & Grapefest

All week long, Peter and I have been watching the weather channel, trying to figure out what Hurricane Ike was going to do. The boys went to Houston last Sunday to spend the week with grandparents. Our plan all along was to drive to Houston yesterday and spend the weekend with family and then bring the boys back Saturday. As Hurricane Ike continued heading toward the Galveston area, we decided to just drive down yesterday and turn right back around. We met my parents in Conroe just hours before I-45 got unbearably clogged. We were so grateful to not be stuck in that terrible traffic! And so glad to be reunited with our boys! That was my first time to be away from Gabe and definitely the longest time away from Joshua. Peter and I had a good time hanging out together and did a few things that we don't get to do often...like go see a movie and ride our bikes.

Now that Ike is pounding Galveston, we are glued to the tv. I am just so distraught over the fact that there are so many people that didn't evacuate Galveston Island. We are praying for their safety. I guess we will know much more in the morning.

I wanted to leave you with a few pics from Grapefest...it is going on this weekend in Grapevine. Last night we met up with Janelle & Ella, and Todd, Kristin & Laney . It was so much fun! We just walked around for a while, let the kids dance to the live music, and did some serious exercise in the bounce house.

Peter took on the responsibility of pushing the boys in the stroller...


















My sweet Gabe...he seems like such a big boy sitting up in the stroller.























I love this picture because Ella and Laney are so excited to be dancing to the music. As you can tell, Joshua was not as excited. He did enjoy running circles around Janelle for a while.


















This picture is so sweet as the kids rush over to give Kristin a hug...I like to think that they were all talking to the twins.























The kids loved the bounce house...Joshua was sweating and red in the face by the time we convinced him to get out.

Gabe Army Crawling

We finally took a video of Gabe in his very fast army crawling mode! It just so happened that when I was recording this short clip, Joshua decided to show off his new thing also...making sure brother doesn't get any of his toys!

Papa's 80th Birthday

I am slowly getting caught up on summer events, but one that can't go without mentioning is Papa's 80th birthday party. The party was on July 12th at a treasure of a restaurant called The Carriage House in Houston. They had great barbecue and neat antiques throughout the restaurant.

It was a surprise party, and he was definitely surprised when he saw that we had driven in from Dallas, and many of his longtime friends were also there. Papa has played in bands for a long time, and several of his band friends came to wish him a happy birthday. They were all so sweet, and I had a flash-forward moment of what it may be like when I am 80 years old and have lived a lot of life with my good friends.

There were a few tense moments at the party, which ended up giving us a good laugh. As you see in the picture below, Papa was blowing out his candles when the present behind the cake fell over on top of the candles. The tissue paper caught on fire and Papa threw the paper off the cake. He continued working on blowing out the candles, mind you. The paper fell behind the table by the paper tablecloth and wood wall. Luckily, Peter's mom ran over to the paper and started stepping on it. This was all caught on video and I wish I had it to post on the blog because it was very funny!

Gabe and Papa posing for a pic...

A pic of most of the family that was at the party...

Conversation with Joshua

Having a conversation with Joshua is a new thing for us, and I love that he can verbally tell me what is going on in his head...for the most part! This morning on our way to church, we took a minute to pray. After we said "Amen" this was the conversation...

J: I show God my raisins.
M: Did you know that God can already see your raisins? He sees everything.
J: I show God my water.

Minutes later...
J: I done pooping. I show God my poo poo.

A short conversation, but it had me laughing so hard! I'm sure it won't be the last time that the topic of conversation turns to poop!

Mission Houston

Following our move in June, we headed to Houston for our middle- and high school mission trip. It was so great to be back in our "stomping ground" to serve. The students were great and worked very hard that week. They ran a VBS for a brand new Spanish-speaking church, sorted clothes for a clothes closet, served snow cones at an apartment complex, and passed flyers out in a neighborhood to promote the church. I am really proud of each one of them for being obedient to the Lord's call to go!

Here are a few of the sweet kids that we met in Houston...

While in Houston, the boys and I split our time with our families and the mission group. Each morning I went to help with the VBS and the boys spent time with grandparents. Josh & Gabe had such a fun time visiting the Houston Zoo and a children's museum. I also had the blessing to meet up with many of my Houston friends for a playdate. It is rare that I get to visit with friends on our short trips to Houston, so this was really great!

After their visit to the zoo, the boys posed in their Houston Zoo shirts...

We also had a birthday party our first night in town for Phillip and Elizabeth (who share the same birthday - June 8)...

The boys got to spend time with their great-grandpa (Papa)...

Josh and Gabe love swimming, so it was very fun to get to swim at Grandpa & Grandma's house...

Here are a few pics of our playdate at Memorial City Mall. Let me just say, that mall has the best play area. The only drawback, is that every other mother in Houston also thought it was a good day to go to the mall, so there were lots of kids there. It was so fun to connect with some of my wonderful Houston friends, but we need to do it again in a less hectic environment so we can visit more. I really wanted a picture of all the moms and kids, but it was an impossible feat.

Here is my mom with Gabe and Michelle with Jack...the boys are good friends already and holding hands...

This was the closest we got to a group picture...Kay & Jayk, Becky & Luke, Lauren & Ava, me & Gabe. Missing from this picture are Michelle & her boys, Amanda & Jackson, Becky's son Will, and Joshua.

Kay & Jayk having a good time...Jayk and Jackson hanging out together.

On Thursday of that week, the entire mission group went to Galveston for a fun afternoon at the beach. The students deserved a break because they worked so hard at each task they were given throughout the week! Our families went along, and it was fun to be all together at the beach. This was Joshua and Gabe's first time at a beach. As Lauren said, their beach experiences will only go up from there (meaning Galveston is not the prettiest beach) :)

Joshua's first feel of the warm Galveston water...

...and Gabe's first dip in the water

Grandma and Gabe lounging on the beach...

Oksana and Joshua looking for shells on the beach...

Grannie and Josh playing with boats in the shallow water...

Peter, Joshua, Tyler, and Ava posing for a pic...

Joshua was not very enthused about having to pack up and leave the beach...

We headed to the Kemah Boardwalk when we left Galveston. We all enjoyed the atmosphere of the boardwalk, even though it was sprinkling, and the great food at Joe's Crab Shack!

It was such a great week...fun with our students and families...wonderful opportunities for ministry and some very real, cool stories of how God moved in unexpected ways!

Our New Home

When we moved into our apartment community to serve as a CARES Team, we decided to live in the smallest two bedroom offered to save money. It was perfect for us because it was just us and Joshua. However, when we found out that another baby was on the way, my thoughts immediately went to the need for another room. Did I mention our apartment was on the 3rd floor. It was already a challenge to drag Joshua up the stairs along with whatever belongings we had on that particular trip (diaper bag, purse, groceries, lunch kit, etc.). I decided that we needed to move around October or November of last year, which put me in the last trimester of being pregnant with Gabe. When the time came, we just didn't feel a peace about moving, so we kept putting it off. Once I realized I could make my big pregnant self go up those stairs, it wasn't as big of a deal. I was a little nervous though about taking two babies up the stairs once Gabe came. Somehow God gave me super powers because we we made it for 4.5 months...me, Gabe, Josh and all our gear.

I don't know why I am giving so many details except to say that it was a HUGE blessing when Peter told me on my birthday in April that his present to me would be a move into a 3 bedroom apartment as soon as one was available. We were able to move into a 3 bedroom in June and it is on the 1st floor! It has literally changed my life to be on the 1st floor, not in an eternal sense (except I don't curse on the way up the stairs), but in a convenience sense! Not only did my husband give me this great gift, he also packed our apartment while I was on vacation in California with the boys AND moved us while I was at work the day after we got back from CA. He worked so hard to give us this gift, and we are enjoying so much having more space, and not having Gabe live in our room anymore! Thank you, Peter...you never cease to amaze me with the sacrifices you are willing to make for our family.