September--Back to School!

Mama had to go back to school this month, which means that Grandma Sexton was back on the job! She being more excited than me... While I love my job, I love my Gabrielle more, so I don't like missing out on all the fun that she has with Grandma! Gabrielle gets to do a lot of activities with Grandma and Grandpa many days. They oftentimes go back to their house in Brighton, which is one of Gabrielle's favorite spots to play. Gabrielle also started preschool this September at the early learning center at Grace Lutheran Church in Howell. I am so impressed with the program there, and Gabrielle LOVES going, so I am very glad I signed her up. The theme the first week was farm animals. She pasted die-cut animals into a red paper barn and got to use paint for the first time--painting a red barn. For the second week, the theme was mice. For snack time the kids had to eat their Cheez-Its like a mouse by holding them with two hands and nibbling on them. Too funny. I will write more about preschool in October because I actually will get to go Oct. 15th.

We went to Spicer's Apple Orchard to get some apples, cinnamon donuts, and cider. Gabrielle loved the hayride. They also have some giant tube slides that are fast and fun, and she isn't so timid anymore...So, she played on those slides with all sorts of big kids. They also have pony rides on the weekends there, and she really wanted a ride. I was surprised because over the summer at Potter Park Zoo, she wanted nothing to do with the ponies. Just before her first pony ride, THE BATTERY DIED ON MY CAMERA! AHHHH! That is my worst nightmare seeing as how I take pictures of everything. Luckily for Gabrielle, she will get another pony ride next month because Mama made the mistake of not charging her battery!

So what else is new with little Gabrielle? I used to be able to give a better monthly update, but ever since she started using full sentences exclusively, now I am just more amazed by her vocabulary. She now uses the words "recognize," "because," "supposed to," "favorite," "fragile," and "concentrate." And she likes to ask me why I left her to go to work for the day. (Yes, I know, dagger to the heart!) Here are a couple examples of her sentences, "Mama, I need to concentrate on my cuttering (coloring)." "My head is supposed to go on the piddow (pillow)."

I asked Gabrielle what she wanted to be for Halloween. She said, "A cape." So, I am taking that to mean that she wants to be Super Bunny from Max & Ruby because Max is always tying a red cape around his neck and running all over pretending to be Super Bunny. We'll see how that works out on next month's blog post!

Gabrielle's 1st Day of Preschool!






Annual Trip to Spicer's!




Gabrielle with her pumpkins!

August Updates

August was a such a fun and wonderful month. I was so grateful to be able to spend every moment with my little chica. We stayed close to home, so here are some pictures of our favorite summertime activities!

We loved pet-sitting Cookie. She is the best dog EVER!


The joys of Play-Doh!!!







Look who's driving the Island Queen at Kensington!



Raspberry Picking with Poppy at Spicer's






Gabrielle showing off her summer style!



Gabrielle with Cousin Aili



Yay, Poppy! Tailwind Series Champion!

June & July = The Best Months Ever!

Hi Everyone!

I will now be posting Gabrielle's monthly updates at the end of the month rather than the middle of the month. I was doing her "monthly" birthdays, but now will just be doing a monthly update. Now that Gabrielle is such a big girl, we don't have so many monthly milestones. A few of these pictures (strawberry picking and the ones from Grandma's) are from the end of June. This month we found out that Gabrielle is terrified of fireworks. She was also afraid of the noisy "rollerposter" at the fair. Another funny word of Gabrielle's is "vampifer" which is anything with sharp teeth. She talks in complete sentences, and is even using pronouns such as me, you, I, he, and she...If only using the potty were so intuitive. That's a whole different story!

We are loving summer, and spend a great majority of our time at home playing with side walk chalk and bubbles and frequenting the many parks around town. Here are a few of our most fun adventures.

We went strawberry picking at Spicer's with Heather and Declan. Gabrielle was really excited for this because Ruby (from her favorite show "Max & Ruby") likes to pick berries. We ended up with a lot of strawberries, and I made some amazing freezer jam!








It's always a fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's Sexton's. Gabrielle LOVES the playhouse, and she can go up the ladder so fast. She also loves to play with the hose and spray anyone who comes too close!





Our Trip to the Farm Center @ Kensington

Gabrielle's favorite animal was the rabbit, Nutmeg. It was HUGE! It's hard to see in this picture.



This is "Boo Boo Turkey." He had a boo boo on his wing, and she really wanted Mama to get in the pen and kiss the boo boo.



We actually had a great time at the farm--even though Gabrielle's face might tell you otherwise!





For the second summer in a row, we vacationed at Houghton Lake. This year we got a much bigger place with plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms to accommodate all of the guests we had this year including Grandma & Grandpa Sexton, Grandpops Sulkowski, & Aunt Beth. We had a wonderful time minus the fact that Gabrielle drank a little too much lake water and suffered from some GI issues for several days!! We had AMAZING weather this year and spent everyday on the lake! Lots of family fun!











Have you ever been to the Potter Park Zoo in Lansing? If not, you should go!! We had the best time. Gabrielle and I went with Aunt Bethany, Aunt Laura, Cousins Cadyn and Aili, and Grandma Sexton. There were lots of interesting animals to see. I have a lot of great pics of animals, which means that they weren't really that far away. It's a great park for young kids (& old ones, too!) It was an awesome trip!

Gabrielle in front of the playful otters-Check out her safari outfit!











We also went to the East Lansing Aquatic Center with Aunt Laura, Cadyn, Aunt Bethany, Aunt Beth, and Megan. I don't have many pics, but it was a fun day in the sun!



Other miscellaneous activities...

Mama: "What do you want for breakfast today, Gabrielle?"
Gabrielle: "Mc Donald's pancakes."



Another pic of Gabrielle in Mommy's shoes--one of the highest pair I own!



Gabrielle at Martindale Beach at Kensington with Cousins Kayla & Zoe



Thanks so much for checking in, Family & Friends! We hope everyone is doing well and having just as much fun as we are!

Enjoy the moment!

Colleen

Family Pics

We recently had some family pictures taken wearing some bright summer colors! Just wanted to share.



The Cousins-Gabrielle, Aili, and Cadyn




The Whole Fam

26 Months! Happy Summer Vacation!!

Happy Summer, Everyone!

This past month has been so enjoyable thanks to a bunch of amazing weather and lots of fun activities! Gabrielle got to have a new babysitter for a whole week because Grandma and Grandpa Sexton are on a European river boat cruise down the Danube from Amsterdam all the way to Budapest!! Jealous? I AM!! So, my good friend's daughter, Megan Purdy, came over everyday for a week to babysit Gabrielle. She took excellent care of our little girlfriend and they had a MEGATON of fun! Yahoo! Grandpoppy Sulkowski is babysitting on Monday & Tuesday, June 14th & 15th, and then mommy will be home for the summer! Double YAHOO!

Gabrielle has been a little sweetie this month. She has some funny little antics that make me smile. For example, she compares doubles of everything in terms of "mommy and baby." A full crayon is a mommy crayon, and a crayon broken in half is a baby crayon. If there are three to compare, then a poppy gets added to the comparison. She does this with Jammie and Grandpop's windchimes, food items, toys, and today she compared large construction trucks, as "mommy one and baby one" even though they both were gargantuan!!

Gabrielle is temporarily banned from her crayons. She really likes to make murals on the wall, and that is just not acceptable. Luckily, Magic Eraser was invented because not all crayons are washable! I wish it were as easy to get crayon off the couch. Another fantastic invention are the "Color Wonder" markers by Crayola. That's all she can play with at the current moment!

Speaking of fun inventions, Gabrielle recently was playing with her Crayola 3-D Sidewalk Chalk. I was a huge skeptic...How in the heck can sidewalk chalk look 3-D?? Well, ladies and gentlemen, it does, and I have more fun with the sidewalk chalk than Gabrielle does! It is seriously cool, and I would recommend that you buy it! All three of us have a grand old time playing with all sorts of sidewalk chalk.

Enjoy the moment!
Colleen

25 months!

So as crazy as it may seem, it seems like forever ago that we celebrated Gabrielle’s birthday. I kept thinking to myself, “Isn’t it about time to be updating the blog?!” Yay. I love that feeling!

Life with our little chatter box is so fun, as usual. She talks non-stop, and we are at the point where we have many logical conversations during the day. I never imagined her talking in full sentences. She gets the difference between “a little bit” and “a whole bunch.” She’ll tell you what she prefers. She’ll tell you her “favorite.” She finally knows her colors. I give a lot of credit to her color-changing night light. Because of it, she also knows the colors turquoise and light blue.

Some of her mispronunciations are hilarious. “Fodder” = spider, “O-Nits” = orange, “done-tin” = donut, those are just the few I can think of at the moment. When she says, “I do’ed it” instead of “I did it”, I have to chuckle.

Gabrielle has been able to spend quite a bit of time out of doors, especially when Grandma and Grandpa Sexton take her back to their house. With Grandpa’s multiple gardens, she has a grand time with the watering can and hose. He also showed her how to dig up worms. (She knows that birds eat worms so they are especially interesting.) There is also a super-fun playhouse with a kitchen inside and my old Cabbage Patch dolls, so Gabrielle can amuse herself for hours. She also likes the tire swing and will tell me to push her “high” and “fast”! It’s lotsa fun at G&G’s!

A day ago, Gabrielle proudly announced, “I paintin’.” Not a good sign when she did not have access to paint. Instead she found a black Sharpie on my desk and proceeded to draw a picture across the door and wall. Too bad there wasn’t a picture of my face (as well as Adam’s.) Luckily, non-acetone nail polish remover worked beautifully. Needless to say, there are no more Sharpie’s out. Anywhere. Until she’s 10!

She gets the concept of our neighborhood and our family. The other night at dinner, I was saying that I loved her and Poppy loved her, and I love Poppy and Poppy loves Mommy, and she loves Mommy, and she loves Poppy. And she said, “That’s everything!” And so it is. In so many ways.







The Sharpie Incident