Our Birthday Girl

Nyah Noodle turned 2 last week!! (Or Gabe would say "Nyah Papaya" - a nickname from Uncle Brad and the boys over Christmas that stuck!! We have so many silly names for her!) I can't believe my little darling is growing up so fast. Not only physically but her personality gets larger every day! :) She is such a little firecracker!! And so so sweet at the same time. We all just adore her. Here are some pictures of her fun day. From baking with Mama first thing in the morning (check out that great morning hair!)... to decorating cupcakes with Grandma R.... to blowing out candles and opening presents... with a lot of silly play time with Gabe in between. What a wonderful day celebrating our sweetheart!! We love you, Nyah... bigger than the sky!!!!!!!!!

Tea Party Baby Shower

I have the sweetest friends. Let me just say that first. I mean who gets a baby shower with their third baby usually? I had never heard of that before I moved here. Well, I LOVE that they throw little parties and get-togethers for just about everything here and everyone supports it! It is so fun to hang out with these women. They certainly made me feel special on this occasion... which I really appreciated, more than they will know. Preparing for the birth of a new baby so far away from my mom and sisters has been hard, I'll admit it. I miss the support of my family. I mean, what can be more life-changing and exciting as having a baby?! But being so separated from my family, especially the women, at a time like this has been a difficult challenge... one that I have struggled with my entire pregnancy. So having these wonderful friends that I know care about me and support me has made that ache in my heart less. I am such a lucky girl to have them! Here are some pictures of the lovely Irish tea party shower that some of them created for me...There was a gorgeous silver tea set with several delicious herbal teas with honey, sugar cubes, lemon slices, and cream of course, as well as a rich hot chocolate with caramel, whipped cream, and marshmallows to top it off with. (I have to say I had at least 6 cups of yummy drinks... but they were tiny cups!) Then there were beautiful and delicious scones - raspberry white chocolate, lemon, and lemon poppyseed. Dainty little Linzer cookies, fresh fruit and gold chocolate topped it all off. And all was arranged beautifully under and around the cutest decorations ever! It was darling! I appreciated and enjoyed every single detail... it was totally a girl party, my favorite!! :)
Below are the talented hostesses: Kristina Wi, Aubrey Petersen, Stephanie Rigtrup, Marcie Paternoster, Alexis Allen (and Kelly Jensen who could not attend). Thank you so much!! I had such a wonderful time!! Here I am ready to leave for the party... me and my torpedo tummy at 35 weeks!! Hopefully only a month to go... woohoo!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Those sneaky leprechauns came again this year, playing tricks and spreading around gold coins. Gabe and Nyah were delighted! After gathering up all the hidden gold, we enjoyed a green pancake breakfast... and lo and behold the milk was green too!! :) After that Gabe opened up a package from Grammy and Papa that was full of fun games to play at our family party that night! And of course some yummy treats as well. We are so spoiled with awesome grandparents on both sides that send fun packages and love us so much!

Later we enjoyed an Irish dinner and played games until bedtime! It was so much fun. Especially hearing Gabe tell me how much he LOVES holidays! :) He also apparently loves corned beef and mmm'd his way through dinner then exclaimed "Mom you're the Best! You make the best dinners!" Everything is worth it when I get feedback like that! :)(oh my goodness, Gabe's face in that picture seriously cracks me up! Eric was trying to get him to do a "softer" smile but this was the only picture of everyone looking at the camera... and his crazy smile is pretty funny anyway!)

Gabe's snow man

We had big, fat, lovely snowflakes falling earlier this week! It only lasted a day but it was fun! Gabe and Nyah went out first thing in the morning and built a snow man. I was so impressed! Of course it was 99% Gabe but he always includes his little sis. She tried to help but since she wouldn't keep her mittens on, she inevitably ended up crying in pain from her poor hands. :( When we all came in to warm up, Gabe went right to the window, asked me to draw up the blinds and positioned his stool for the best viewing of his snowman. Of course Nyah immediately followed his example. Here they are admiring their hard work! I have to add that Gabe told me the reason his snowman is short (2 balls instead of 3) is because he's a baby snowman. Oh, and you can't see his mouth because it's like "this" (his lips are folded in a straight line...invisible!) He is so imaginative! I know he was having trouble forming balls with the wet heavy snow and he couldn't figure out what to make a mouth out of... so this was his answer to both dilemmas! But I love the nice big, round eyes and the cute arms sticking out!!

An afternoon at our favorite park

I'm not sure what the name of this cool park is but we love it! There are playgrounds, lots of grass to run on, and a lovely duck pond all surrounded by towering trees. It is right next to the temple in Bellevue so we get to see the beautiful temple grounds too every time we go. We always park at the temple and then walk through this mini-forest on a trail that leads into the park. The very first day we arrived in Washington we came straight to this park. We had been driving all day and needed to get a hotel room for the evening but we wanted to let the kids out to run around first - get some fresh air and expend some energy! Eric had been telling me about this beautiful forest walk and park right next to the temple so we drove there first. It was my first experience here in our new home state. I fell in love then and we have been coming back ever since!This weekend we wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the sunshine, so we packed up and drove to the temple and our favorite park. Here are some cute pictures of Gabe and Nyah having fun on the playground. They are so fun! Gabe is getting so much more adventurous and "crazy" on the playground... Eric and I love to see him venturing further out of his cozy comfort zone! ;) By the way, it's really hard to get candid photos of Gabe because he moves around so much when he is excited... so I get these goofy-intense smiles instead! Haha!