Catch Up!

Just over 6 months since the last blog update.  Shameful.  In my defense, I DO have two small children at my beck and call full time.  And no working laptop.  Okay, those are poor reasons, but it is really hard to sit down and blog!  I vow to myself to try and set a few minutes aside once a week to 'play catch up'.  I'll try to re-cap the past 6 months "briefly" here ;)

Celebrations!!!  (hopefully I don't miss any)

• Easter came and went, we had a lovely time! (April)
• We celebrated Gabby's 3rd Birthday!!! (May)
• We celebrated Papa's Birthday!!!  (May)
• We celebrated Mother's Day!(May)
• We celebrated Daddy's Birthday!!!  (May)
• We celebrated Meme's Birthday!!!  (May)
• We celebrated Mumma's Birthday!!!  (May)
• We celebrated Father's Day!  (June)
• We took an amazing 2 week road trip to Maine! Saw lots of family & had a great time!!! (June/July)
• We celebrated the 4th of July!  (July duh)
• We celebrated Kim's 16th birthday!  (July)
• We celebrated Tina's Birthday!  (July)
• We celebrated Corey's Birthday!  (July)
• We celebrated Crystal's Birthday!  (July)
• We celebrated Gracey's 1st Birthday!!!  (August)
• We celebrated Kassi's Birthday!  (August)
• We celebrated Nana's Birthday!  (August)
• We celebrated Brooklyn's Birthday!  (September)
• We celebrated Maddox's Birthday!  (October)
• We celebrated Brandon's Birthday!  (October)
• We celebrated Jade's 13th Birthday!!!  (October)
• We are about to celebrate Halloween!  (October)

 Kids Milestones =)

• Gabby turned 3 and Gracey turned 1, those are pretty big milestones ;)
• Gabby is still doing well counting, she can go to 12, sometimes 15 without any help, & 20 with prompting.
• She is so cute singing her ABC's <3 br="br">
• She [The Gabster] really likes [LOVES] hide & seek, would play it 24/7 if she could.  She is pretty bummed Gracey isn't very good at it.  Yet.
• Still working on pen/pencil grip.
• Loves to color/paint/draw.
• TRIED cutting with scissors a few times. Complete. Utter. Fail.  Will work on this again more but not rushing it. 
• Talks about our Disney World trip almost daily and it is so adorable!  She is beyond excited =)
• Gracey has grown in leaps and bounds!  She is a real little toddler now, no longer a baby. So bittersweet.
• She has started taking her first steps and is not running all over the house yet (thank goodness) but is up to 3 or 4 little steps at a time.  It's very cute.
• She is up to 12 teeth total at the moment and is working on her canines, then she *may* get a break until her 2 year molars come in.  She has had teeth coming in pretty much non-stop since her 4th month!
• She gave up her binkies at a year old, in only 4 days =)  Without so much as a tear (well maybe one or two)  She was our oldest binky baby & it was time!
• She talks non-stop also, not about Disney [not that we know of anyway] In her own language at the moment, but she sure is a chatty one!

 Other Miscellany...

•  Still looking to move to someplace new...house/apartment/whatever, just someplace else!  Won't be until we get BACK from Disney World most likely, but it is still on the books and WILL be done!
• Have I mentioned Disney World at all in this post?  We are still VERY much excited about our upcoming trip in 192 days! Our plane tickets have been purchased for a while now [Thanks Mum, for the amazing Xmas gift!!!] & we will be paying off the rest of our vacation in the spring/tax season.  We are still setting small amounts of money aside here and there when we can (Disney Gift Cards, spare change, etc) As of this writing Kimberly is unable to go due to school obligations, Jade will be going (provided her grades are well enough maintained) so some mixed emotions there.  We are staying at the Art of Animation resort (Disney's newest property) in a Finding Nemo Suite!  And have only 13 more days until I make our ADRs [Advance Dining Reservations]  I think I will make a whole post about our Disney trip plans sometime soon ;)
• My health you ask? It's been better.  It's been worse.  MS, not having a flare so that's good.  I have good days and bad, as always.  My weight is down 38lbs from the beginning of the year so that's good =)  I wish it looked it though!  I don't really see it.  My blood pressure is lower by a bit, but I am still on meds [and forever will be]  I did manage to DRASTICALLY lower my cholesterol just by losing weight and changing my diet.  My Dr. was very impressed and that made me proud =)  Still working on the blood sugar [and more weight]

I am sure there is much more, but this is long enough for now.  I will update more at another time.  I need to put together a picture slideshow of some sort...hard to choose a *few* pictures showcasing 6 months worth

We are looking forward to Halloween [Did pumpkins last night!]  Daddy shall be a KING, myself a QUEEN, Gabby shall be Princess MERIDA and Gracey shall be Princess Cinderella!  We will go to Meme & Papa's for a *meet & greet* photo op & some candy, then off to the Mall, then maybe stopping off at a friends house...Can't wait!!