Funniest Night So Far

I think tonight was our funniest night as a family so far. I say "so far" because with Matt and I as parents together, we are bound to have funnier nights than this.

Gabriella and I decided to make Matt some cookies tonight to celebrate his birthday early. I have the exact number of eggs that I need for his cake tomorrow so I browsed the cookbook looking for a recipe that had no eggs and that I could make gluten-free. We found a match with "Russian Tea Cakes". I was excited, they are one of my favorite cookies!!

We girls mixed them up and put them in the oven to bake. Every time I checked on them in the oven, Gabriella would yell, "Stay back! Cuidado!"

They were finally done and I pulled them out of the oven. Half of them crumbled when I took them off the cookie sheet and then they crumbled again when I dusted them with powdered sugar.

I got a little "handsy" with Matt. I've always wanted to put a powdered sugar hand-print on someone!

Gabriella was really upset and cried every time she took a bite of her cookie because it would crumble all over. Matt rubbed a handful of crumbs all over his face to try and calm her down. It didn't work with her but he and I both had some laughs!

We finally got her to eat some more and then she loved them!

When Matt rubbed them all over his face he made a giant mess on the floor and Gabriella wanted to help clean it up. As you can see in the background, Josie got some birthday cookies too.

I had put some paper towels under the wire cookie rack to catch all the crumbs to make it easier to clean up and thought that we could eat the crumbs with a spoon since all the cookies were crumbling. Matt put it on the floor and he and Gabriella started eating it. 

She wasn't too sure about it at first, but then she joined right in. 

"You eat it with you hands!"

(she refers to herself as "you")

Showing me that her face looked like Daddy's after they got done eating without their hands like puppies do. 

Little powdered sugar boy!

We all laughed so hard tonight! We had a gigantic mess on the floor and counter, my entire kitchen was covered in powdered sugar, our cookies were a total disaster, and we laughed harder than we have in a long time. I love how God and a goofy husband can turn a potentially stressful situation into a hilarious family memory! 

A Busy Week & Gabriella's New Song

We have been busy this past week! 

Xander's first Super Bowl game!

National Wear Red Day

to spread awareness for CHD (congenital heart defects)

I got a new haircut!

PS. I LOVE it! I finally feel like an adult since I'm not rocking the ponytail every day!

The kids grew some mustaches!

Gabriella thought it was hilarious

Xander wasn't too sure about it

Here he is at 5 weeks. He is the rolliest kid ever! he's already rolled over from his tummy to his back 4 times! And he is super close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He rolls around like crazy!

Today we had a cookie for snack after breakfast. Mommy needed one so Gabriella got one too. Here is the picture that we took to send to Daddy. 

Gabriella has recently started singing songs. Here is her rendition of Happy Birthday as she is singing it to her cousin Hunter.

A (Belated) Birthday

This year my birthday was weird because we didn't get to celebrate until 2 weeks later. But we did get to drag out the celebrating over a two week period, so that was nice.

All four of us came down with a stomach bug the day before my actual birthday, so we were not up for celebrating  the next day.

Finally feeling a bit normal the day after my birthday, the kids were up and watching "Veggie Tales"

Later that day Gabriella helped me make birthday cupcakes. 

She also helped eat them! 

On Saturday we were supposed to celebrate at my parent's house, but my mom was super sick. So Matt watched all four of our nieces and nephews and Gabriella so my sis-in-law and I could go to the mall for an hour by ourselves. Then he took me out to dinner at Sizzler. He took Gabriella to the buffet line and let her pick out what foods she wanted. She thought it was awesome!

We had a Buy-One Get-One-Free coupon so we got the lobster and colossal shrimp & steak. I'm allergic to seafood so Matt got to eat all the seafood. He was stuffed afterwards!

On Monday Gabriella helped me make some Gluten Free cookies that were an exact replica of  Girl Scout Samoas. They were AMAZING!!! Check out the recipe GF Samoas! 

On the 30th we finally were all well and ready to celebrate. James was with Jonny and he had fun playing with Xander and Gabriella. He is so gentle with the younger kids. It is cute to watch them play together.  

Jonathan watching all 3 kids while Mom and I made dinner

Mmmmm! My standard birthday dinner order: chicken cordon bleu, broccoli, mashed potatoes and Jell-O. My mom rocks!!

After pie, Jonathan had to try out Xander's toy too. 

4 Weeks Old

Xander is only 4 weeks old today, but I can't imagine life without him. He is such a chill little guy (most of the time!). I love how well he and Gabriella get along and how snuggley he is!

Snuggles with mommy!

Gabriella's exact words were: "You help mommy Baby Nanoo sleep!"

She loves helping me take care of Xander. 

Thank You, Jesus, for entrusting me with these precious angels!

All Four Grandkids

We finally got all four of the grandkids from my parents' side together! And we finally got Ariella to hold Xander!

Between all four of them, we managed to get a decent picture. 

James kept trying to hold Gabriella on his lap because Ariella was holding Xander. Gabriella was not interested in that! 

Tech-y cousin!

Bath Time and More Fun!

We finally got to give Xander his first bath. He LOVED it!! Both our kids are little water babies!

Matt had me put a washcloth over "his little parts"

He just laid on my lap and wiggled his legs around for a long time. So cute!

Such a snuggley little man!

I'm not sure what you call these little toys, but it was Gabriella's and we got it out yesterday for Xander to try out. Gabriella crawled in it with him and started showing him all the toys and how to play with them. He finally got the hang of it and started batting at the lowest one. 

First bath together! She was very excited to have Xander in the tub with her! 

Xander's First Two Weeks

My little man is two weeks old today! Its been a couple of crazy weeks, but we couldn't be happier!

Gabriella loves Xander and was constantly wanting to hold him.

Matt had a couple vacation days left and made good use of them...

First doctor's visit! 4 days old

Sweet sleepy chuckles!

Having some snuggle time with Daddy. This was on Daddy's last vacation day

Our first day at home with just the three of us. 

Little silly pants! This is how she posed for a picture to send to Gramma

She loves holding brother and asks multiple times a day!

Day 13, this was how the first 6 hours after getting circumcised went. Poor little man :(

But he woke up happy in the morning! Two weeks old today

How Gabriella would look with a beard! Ha ha! She had just finished a gluten-free Oreo. 

I love my kiddos! Its amazing, I was getting terrified about having two of them when Gabriella was so young still, but so far so good. Gabriella and I have had lots of laughs during the day when we are trying to figure out getting her to the toilet fast enough while I am nursing, cleaning up after Xander's spit-ups and watching Veggie Tales together. She is a good sport and has managed to successfully take herself potty twice (she has been unsuccessful many more times than that!). Both times she was very proud of herself and wanted to call daddy to tell him about it. 

My house is a mess, the laundry pile is growing by the minute, and I am so tired I could fall over and sleep for two weeks! But I couldn't be happier!!