More Pictures

Gabriel caught a mild cold this week. So we discovered the kid's tv show "Blue's Clues" through NetFlix as a distraction. It's his new favorite show!! Here he is hugging Wall-E and watching Blue's Clues with a big grin.
Animal cookies in a box, need I say more?!
I made fudge for the first time. I found a super simple recipe while flipping through a cookbook to find a recipe for dinner (heehee). It was delicious but a little on the caramel side for texture.

Tricks on Mom

Just want to record some cute things Gabriel has done recently.

Yesterday while I was putting him down for a nap, I was kissing him good-night. I'd say, "I kiss your...hand good-night" then "I kiss your... knee good-night" etc. He usually would make suggestions by naming his own part, "head" or "hair" or "nose." Yesterday, after every kiss, he said "yuck" and wiped the kiss off. It made me laugh and he did it with a smile.

Then later, he played a game with me. He looked out the window and said "Oooo! A fire truck!" I went over there and said "Where is the fire truck? I don't see it." And he said, "oh, it's hiding." He did that about three times, with lots of enthusiasm. He did the same thing when he went camping. He said he saw a "snowman" but when we asked where it was, he'd look around and say, "oh, it's hiding." I don't get it, but it cracked me up.

Camera & Cat

Gabriel is growing up so fast, I feel compelled to take as much video as I can even if it's just every day stuff. This video makes me laugh for several reasons. When he was tiny, I "clinked" my cup to his cup in a mini-toast. Now, whenever we have the same of anything, he "clinks" it with mine. Snakes are his favorite animal, at least when talking about them. It's the first answer to what's on Old McDonald's Farm. He has trouble looking through his camera to see the slideshow animals, but he thinks he sees a snake anyway. :)

Camping!

Yay, my parents organized one more camping trip for the season at South Lake Tahoe's Meeks Bay. It was fantastic. The weather was great--80s during the day and a bit cold in the 40s at night. But it wasn't crowded, we ate good food, got to play in the water and relax, and we all had a lot of fun!

Naturally, there were two activities of choice for Gabriel: climbing on the rocks and throwing rocks in the water. Here is Gabriel on a rock he can climb by himself.
Climbing up a steep hill to get to rocks.
I wonder where he inherited the urge to climb?Our last morning was cold, but Gabriel dragged his bunny out for the walk and made this "snowman" out of rocks by the lake.

Cute Smiles and Little People

I realized I stopped keeping track of when Gabriel turns another month older, and thus stopped taking a close up picture around that day. I took this yesterday. Gabriel is 2 years, 2 months old now. This is after his nap and he's watching his favorite movie "Cars."
This made me laugh so hard. I found his megablocks people lined up like this on his table. He has named these characters: mom (I guess I'm more blonde that I realize), dad (cool hair), and uncle John (because of the blue hat). He calls them by name when he plays with them.
Gabriel's favorite activity lately with these people has been a Boffer War. Gabriel sees dad fighting with padded swords with his friends, so Gabriel has been "fighting" with "swords" with these characters. "Whop, whop, whop" as one knocks down the rest. (sigh) I'm trying to teach him that they can play nicely too, race or chase.

Running Through the Sprinklers

Time for the sprinklers again!

Beds

Gabriel woke up crying in the middle of his nap on Friday. Since I was still tired too, we slept together for a bit. This was too cute not to take a picture, kitty and toddler.
My parents came over Saturday morning and helped Paul build this awesome bookcase/headboard for our room.
Paul plugged in our alarm clocks and such, reaching under the lid and through the drilled holes for cords.
The kitty tried it out and I took a nap. It works!