Settling in...

On March 18th we closed on our new house and started moving the weekend after. Moving with two little ones made this officially the hardest move. Thankfully, Derek's parents, his brother Carter and Carter's girlfriend came to help. We never would have done it without them. Though we have all boxes unpacked and for the most part are settled, once we put the kids down at night, Derek and I usually stay up until 11 or midnight painting, organizing, decorating, etc. Though the to do list seems like it will never end, we can't say enough how much we love the house. We have so much more space and great layout for the kids. 

With all the craziness of the house we decided to stay put this year for Easter. Considering we travel for almost every holiday it was nice to spend one at home. Madelyn loved waking up and finding all the Easter eggs and goodies the Easter bunny left her and Gabriel. She is such a fun age for holidays. 

This past few weeks Gabe started standing on his own(today he stood for over a minute), he is taking one step but falls with that step! I don't think it will be long before he is walking. He currently says, mama, dada, ma (for Mads) nana, ball and no. He is using baby sign language and signs: milk, more and all done. He as become 100 % all boy, he loves to sneak up and tackle, jump and body slam himself in his crib, climb anything (especially the stairs) and scream for fun all the time. He also has learned how to through a tantrum when he is not happy. Nothing major, but will dramatically through himself on the floor and cry. 

Madelyn started soccer and has had two games. She isn't the most aggressive player and often dances her way down the field but she is loving it! Watching three year olds play soccer is great entertainment! She also went to her first dentist appointment. I honestly didn't expect much out of the appointment because lets be honest the dentist is scary. However, she was a rockstar, sat and let them do the full cleaning, fluoride and check.  I was so proud of her.

Last weekend I had my first trip away from both kids. I headed to Chicago for 4 days to visit my best friend Kara and meet her precious newborn, Lillian. I must admit I struggled to leave my crew but once I was there is was such a perfect weekend away. We even got a special treat to have our mom's come up for a shopping day!

Hard to believe in a week we will be celebrating Gabe's birthday... time needs to slow down!

Matching cuties at school

Watching the St. Patty's parade with friends (it was a miracle we got them all to sit, getting a good picture was not happening,lol)

St. Patty's 2015

1st Dentist appointment

Playing with Nanny

1st Soccer Game

How do we only have one left!

Easter Morning

After finding Easter eggs and baskets (please ignore Madelyn's greasy hair, she decided to put Vaseline all over it when we weren't watching and it took 4 days to get it out)

Our only family shot, the best selfie we could get!

Before Church Easter morning

Morning snuggles and cartoons

Loved spending a weekend with this cutie, baby Lilly

Nothing is better than a mother/daughter day

Think we may need another car soon!

Here we go again...

Here we go again, time for number 3...... third move that is:) Hard to believe we have almost been in Easton for a year and no better way to celebrate than moving again! You would think we would have this moving thing down after 3 moves in 15 months but as we are packing I couldn't say we are more over moving than ever. Luckily, this is a local move and this one is because we are under contract on a new house!! When we moved last year we rented a house so we could get to know the area better before buying again. We are so excited about the new house and have no plans to move for a long time after we get settled! Our settlement date is March 16th, just a couple weeks away!

Besides packing to move we have been one sick house. We had been so lucky with our health until March with the kids not being sick but this month we have had it all. It started off with us all getting that bad stomach bug. In one 24 hour period all 4 of us were throwing up, it was a very rough weekend. Once we got through the stomach bug Madelyn immediately caught a virus with a high fever that lasted about a week. We had a couple healthy days before Gabe was diagnosed with croup and I am sure you can guess what Madelyn then immediately got...croup. It has been pretty exhausting but we are hopeful done for awhile and beyond ready for Spring. Even Madelyn said this weekend "We need this snow to melt so we can go to the park!" I couldn't agree more Mads!

Even with a sick and crazy month the kids have had a lot of new updates. Madelyn can now recognize all lower and upper case letters. She can almost write her name, she has the M, a,d,l, and n down. She struggles with the e and y. Mads has also become quite the little helper with chores. She likes to make her bed and is now in charge of setting the table. Of course they may not look the best, but we still love her wanting to help.

Gabriel is one mobile little boy. He crawls or more like scootches everywhere, prefers to stand so pulls up on anything he can find and as of this weekend has climbed up to 4 stairs. He is constantly putting himself in the plank position to stand up but can't do it on his own yet. He loves to eat solid foods. He still doesn't have ANY TEETH, so I definitely feel like I am always a nervous wreck because he is just gumming it. He can say mama, dada, bye-bye, and nana. He says mama the most and uses it to call me often, which melts my heart. Just this weekend I started planning his first birthday, how can that be only 2 months away!! 

Here are some pictures from the past month :)

Night time snuggles 

Daddy's packing helpers!

Nothing better than Uncle Carter snuggles when you are sick!

 Valentine's Day 2015

Someone was more into their buddy than smiling!

Snow Day

Snow Day crafts 

Lunch Date with friends at Ellie's House

I may have Croup but I'm still cute as ever!

Someone got to go swim with Daddy while Madelyn had swim lessons

after swim lessons

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe this time last year we were starting the big decision process of should we move to Maryland or not as well as trying to prepare for Gabe! It is safe to say 2014 was a pretty crazy year for us and full changes. We are ok it 2015 is a little less eventful :)

Last week Derek had to go away for a week long conference and we were lucky to have Grandpa come for the week to spend time and help us out while Derek was gone. Madelyn has been working very hard on potty training and has successfully been going out into public with her big girl underwear!!She filled up her first potty chart while Grandpa was here and got to go to the toy store! We still of course have accidents here and there but for the most part think we are finally potty trained!!! Madelyn has also moved to the next level of swim lessons and it is amazing what a good swimmer she has become.

As for Mr. Gabe he has become very active, he isn't crawling yet but can get around by scooting, rolling or any other way he finds possible. He has been up on all 4 , rocking and even moving his hands forward but hasn't actually crawled yet. He is almost impossible to hold now because he won't sit still and changing his diaper is a work-out itself. He also still has NO teeth. I think the boy might be gumming it to eat his first birthday cake, lol! Madelyn crawled at 9 months and walked at 11, so maybe he is following in her footsteps! He is an excellent eater so far, and since starting food developed some adorable chunky cheeks! His favorite thing by far right now is the bathtub. You can't even walk into the bathroom with him unless you plan to give him a bath or break his heart!

Love when they nap together, precious!

Really Mom, I am over these pics!

Coffee date with Grandpa!

First potty chart filled!

Off to work with Daddy!

Family Pictures we got taken in Iowa, weren't easy with 4 kids under 3 but love how they turned out!

Christmas 2014

Each Christmas gets more special as Madelyn really gets into the Christmas spirit and excitement. It was also a big year because nobody cried when meeting Santa. This year Madelyn asked Santa for a princess and pink roller skates. We tried to do all the fun Christmas things this season, bake cookies, make gingerbread houses, carriage rides, see Christmas lights, crafts, etc.
We headed to Virginia on Derek's birthday (December 23rd) and stayed for 5 days. It was a fun Christmas week with family and Madelyn loved spending a week with her cousin Tate. After we came back Mom and Richard flew to Maryland so we could have Christmas with them. It is always more fun when you get to spread Christmas out over a few weeks. We all were very spoiled this year and received tons of nice gifts. Just the other day Mads said to me "Mom, where did Christmas go?" lol, I could relate to her pain, always sad when it is all over for the year.
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Madelyn's Preschool Christmas Program

Sending letters to Santa!

Picture with Santa (Madelyn 2 1/2 Gabe 8 Months)

Our beautiful gingerbread house

Madelyn had her friends over to decorate Christmas cookies
( Lilly, Ellie, Kate, Sam)

The suspense was killing her

Rudolph came to downtown Easton, we got to talk to him on the phone!

SANTA CAME!

Christmas morning before running to see Santa presents!

Someone got their pink roller skates :)

Whole family on Christmas

Opening presenting is exhausting ( ps. the matching outfits was not planned :) )

Christmas round 2 with Nana and Papa!

Dr. Madelyn, thanks to Aunt Sue!

Mads and Nana's BIG dessert while out to eat!