Getting old isn't so bad....

Yes, you read it correctly. Aging is not so bad when birthdays are this much fun!

My birthday was actually in April, but I'm just now catching up on my blogging.

It's pretty bad when your friends blog about your birthday before you do.

Breakfast with Amanda, Clarissa, Gabby, Vanessa and Kim

Kim left just minutes before this picture was taken :(

Dinner at the beach.

A last minute plan that came together.

Zach was sick earlier in the week which made it hard to plan anything.

Doesn't everyone need a golf ball monogrammer?

A special thanks to my family and friends who make all my birthdays so special.

And happy birthday to my "older" twin brother.

Three smiling kids and other April moments

This smiling shot was taken one morning when I actually had all three kids up and dressed by 7am. This is a rarity and therefore warranted a picture.

Since the boys' schools start at different times I normally wake them up and get them ready in stages to avoid the daily bickering sessions.

After the boys were both at school I was able to hang out with Gabby. I couldn't resist taking pictures of her in this cute little hand-me-down from Amanda's girls.

Some other unblogged photo moments from April are posted below.

One day I went to feed Gabby and noticed Sam's wallet on her tray.

Shame on Sam for leaving it within reach of her highchair.

The first thing she pulled out was his credit card... smart girl :)

Gabby at our church Resurrection Celebration event

After we left the church we headed out for a little Easter fun....

another "knock and run" opportunity for the kids.

We wore our bunny ears and "egged" about 14 families.

Don't worry. We didn't use real eggs... just plastic eggs, balloons, and Easter treats.

Vanessa and Vivi joined us.

During our adventure we passed by someone we knew who was smoking turkeys and collecting canned goods for our homeless community's Easter meal. We stopped to give him some treats and explained to the kids what the turkeys were for.

The kids expressed interest in the topic and at least for the moment seemed appreciative of all that they have.

Happy Easter!

When we saw the bunny tracks on the floor we knew the Easter Bunny had visited....

Here's some pictures of our day.

Gabby was excited to get downstairs because the boys had already told her that the Easter Bunny was bringing candy.

Gavin showing off the items in his Easter basket.

Zachary's favorite part of Easter is finding the eggs and of course their contents!

Gabby wearing her second outfit of the day.

It's very rare that my little mess-maker can go the whole day without a wardrobe change.

My Little Swiss Miss Mess

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that Gabby also loves pulling everything out of the pantry.

For this reason I have chosen not to put any canned goods or heavy items on the bottom shelf.
Silly me for not considering the mess she could make with an unopened box of Swiss Miss Cocoa.

I was cuddling on the couch with Zach and it sounded like she was in the kitchen pantry tearing up my paper plates..... WRONG!

It was the paper packets of cocoa and what a mess it was.

This is the look she had on her face when she realized she might be in trouble.

What you can't see is the four empty packets on the floor behind her.

And this is the smile she had when she realized that despite the mess she made, her mommy still thought she was cute!

(Don't mind that her shirt is backwards. She also likes to undress and re-dress herself.)

It's a darn good thing I think she's cute....

Gabby has been such a handful lately.

I know it's just a stage that she'll soon outgrow, but at the moment it seems neverending.

She's our baby so a part of me doesn't want her to grow up, but there are certainly days I wish I could fast-forward to naptime.

She spends most of her day getting into things.

In fact, here she is removing a child safety outlet cover.

Her other hobbies include climbing onto tables, grabbing everything in reach from countertops, emptying dresser drawers, playing on my computer and throwing things away.

Fortunately there are also many precious moments like this where she looks at me and gives me a sweet little smile.

I was anxious for her to get through this stage until recently when I went through all of her little clothes from last summer. It was a sad reminder of how fast she's growing and that she'll only be this little once.

Spring Break

Today is the final day of Spring Break.

We didn't go anywhere special, but I think we all enjoyed sleeping in and spending time together around the house. We had a lot of rainy weather so there were days that we had to get creative finding things to do.

Fortunately on the nice days we had plans for outdoor playdates and birthday parties so we still managed to have plenty of fun.

Gabby is always my biggest challenge to keep entertained.

She's constantly getting into things or she's on my computer.

Here she is checking my email while enjoying her cup of milk.

The boys enjoyed practicing on their cash register.... just one of our rainy day activities.

Gabby at the park.

Gavin in a tree (again!)

On Saturday I came home from a birthday party with the boys and Sam had dressed Gabby in an outfit that actually matched... including the shoes. I was so impressed. I never know what she's going to be wearing if I don't pick out her clothes so I was pleasantly surprised.

After several days of rain, the boys really appreciated the time they had outdoors.

I tried to get a picture of them together, but Gabby refused to let Zach put his arm around her.

She's getting so verbal and has no trouble speaking her mind.

It was nice having the boys home. Tomorrow school resumes. I'm sure Gabby will be miss them as much as I will.