Momma Hundling's Day off

I had the day off this week on Thursday, and what a much needed and beautiful day to be home! The day started off with a run before the wind became too annoying. I came home to a child who was still sleeping and a breakfast request of pancakes, to which I added caramel sprinkles-very very good! By the picture to the right it is obvious that us girls decided this would be a day we wouldn't bother to comb our hair or put crayons on our face (other than sidewalk chalk!)

We spent the morning 'spring cleaning' the kitchen, sorting through Gabbie's clothing to box up small clothes (a monthly task anymore!), and helping Brice before the rainy night started. Gabbie's naptime was good for catching up on bookwork. And we took good advantage of the wind by doing all the laundry and hanging it outside to dry! Gabbie tagged along for a home health visit and a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up on the basics. The day started with being reminded we had no bread, very little milk, and no more clean clothes, and by the end of the day we were exhausted but order had been restored!

Here is Gabbie modeling her morning attire-PJ's and boots!

C'mon Mom! Lets go shopping!

We enjoyed walking around and saying Hi to the ducks :)

Better water the flowers, then we can be sure it will rain tonight!

All of us girls had a fun day :)

We have quite the busy weekend coming up, so good thing we got our work done on our day at home! Gabbie will spend Saturday with a sitter while I go participate in my first ever triathalon...Sunday she'll hang out with Brice while I go to a wedding shower and a Discovery Toys party, then that evening we will help celebrate a First Communion. Whew! Next week Gabbie will have her 18 month pictures. She did well on her hearing test that was done this past week as well. Now if she would only learn to mow lawn we'd be on a roll :-)

Recent Happenings

The snow is gone, Spring is here, and time is flying! Things have been busy here, mostly with winter storm clean-up and getting things back in shape. The garden is half planted, just waiting for May to plant peppers, tomatoes, etc. Radishes are up already, as well as spinach. All my tomato and pepper plants are outside adjusting in the greenhouse Brice built me last year. Sure can't wait for that first tomato sandwich of the year! Gabbie has enjoyed getting her hands in the dirt as well!

We have had our first night fishing at the pond. Neighbor Tyler came to join also! Pictures will be posted soon-they are currently on my camera that I can not find at the moment (a common problem around here-good thing its a fairly cheap camera and I download frequently!). We had a great time! I always enjoy fishing, since I do not bait my own hook or take the fish off. I basically just sit and relax! The only problem is that since this night we went fishing, Gabbie feels free to run down to the pond anytime she is outdoors. I need to keep her on a leash when she's out of the house between that and the electric fence containing the cattle around here!

Some fun pictures of outdoors time-not uncommon for Gabbie to stay outside for hours at a time (and throw a tantrum when its time to come inside!)

As most people know, we "replaced" Brice's old Toyota. Found a great bargain on a Nissan. So much debating between doing that or updating the "family car" to a van or cross-over. We are thrilled with our decision, as it means an affordable car that is running well and no car payment. Gabbie (aka Mom) loves the sunroof! An added benefit: this car has a cassette player. The "family car" has a CD player. So in the morning I pick the car to take to work based on which book I want to listen to, ha ha.

Gabbie had a very brief illness this past week. Took her to the doctor with a very high temperature (103) and all they could tell was it was 'something viral'. In about 36 hours she was back to happy Gabbie, so it was thankfully short lived! She still has very little clarity to her words...lots of babbling, with inflection that sounds as if she's participating in conversation. She sits and reads books, flipping the pages and moving her fingers on the objects, but just babbling that can not be understood. We had been told at her 15 month check up to "wait and see how she is at 18 months", and we are fast approaching her 18 month birthday. We aren't ignorant to the fact that she should be saying more words by now. She definitely should be telling us when she wants milk, up, down, etc, but its still mostly a guessing game. Time flies so fast here-now getting into planting season, I hate to keep waiting if there are things we should be doing to help her. I do still believe she is just perfect otherwise-tonight after I made bars we sat on our chairs outside and licked out the bowl and the beaters!! Now seriously, does it get better than that?! (for those worried....this is a dessert recipe that calls for no eggs, so it was safe to eat the batter). I wish I could have found my camera for a picture of her chocolate covered beautiful face!

Hope everyone is having a great Spring so far! If Gabbie would leave them alone, I'd post pictures of my blooming tulips! Maybe later this week...