My 5 month old cutie

Here are some pictures of my now 5 month old Gabriella... what a big girl. She now eats rice cereal, rolls over, loves to watch her big brother, and still smiles all of the time! What a sweetheart! She is sick right now for the first time in her life which is both good and bad. Great that she hasn't gotten sick until now through the whole cold and flu season... but so sad to hear that little baby coughing so badly :( Here she is on a day when she was feeling better!

And you've got to love naked baby pictures - especially since they are holding hands!

And here she is taking her first bite of rice cereal... she actually is doing pretty well with it!

I truly love having this little girl in my life! What a blessing to get to spend every day with her. I wouldn't trade the time I spend at home with her and Oliver for anything in the world!

A helpful website for the |researcher| in you

Have you ever been asked a question where you didn't know the answer and would like to look it up - but you didn't know where to look. Or have you ever been sitting at work with nothing to do but surf the internet and you don't know where to surf? Or have you ever KNOWN that you were right about something and your husband was wrong and you wanted to show him some proof! If any of these apply to you, I've got the website for you! It is called Wikipedia - a free, online encyclopedia that is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world. From their website:

• Since its creation in 2001, Wikipedia has grown rapidly into one of the largest reference Web sites.
• Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute, since their primary role is to write articles that cover existing knowledge; this means that people of all ages and cultural and social backgrounds can write Wikipedia articles. With rare exceptions, articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the edit this page link.

The home page has a new article featured everyday as well as an "In the news" section for those of you that like to keep up with what is going on in other parts of the world. You can also exercise your proofreading skills by editing current pages or contribute some of your expertise on any subject you feel knowledgeable about by adding to pages that already exist or creating new ones. You can also just use my favorite option... the search field. Type in anything you can think of and most likely there will be a page for it.

Some sample questions for fun... and a link to their answers:

What years was Saved By the Bell on the air? Answer

What happened in the year 1980? Answer

What is a Kumquat anyway? Answer

As you can see, by clicking on any one page, you are then provided with links off to many others - keeping you hooked for hours! Enjoy - and happy researching! Let me know what you end up searching for...

He Is Risen!

Happy Easter everyone!

We had a great weekend with my parents and sisters down in Fulshear. I am a list person - so it is usually easier for me to summarize things in list format. So here you go... some highlights from our long weekend:

• My sister Megan got engaged to her boyfriend Travis!
• The kids got to go to have two Easter Egg hunts... one hosted by my parent's neighborhood and one at Grammy and Grampy's house
• The adults got to hunt eggs too (see previous post)
  
• Oliver got to meet the Easter bunny. He was really intrigued by him and wanted to watch his every move... although from a distance! But he did give him and hug and a high five. There was a petting zoo at the hunts we went to which he usually loves. But the whole time we were in there he was craning his neck looking for the "bunny."
• When Oliver woke up early in the mornings, he went and got in bed with my parents. So that meant a little longer sleep times for us! However, unfortunately Gabriella didn't get the message about sleeping in.
• Our first experience cooking LIVE crawfish!
• A yummy Easter lunch with my family
• Reading the Easter story from the Bible to Oliver... and having him say "Amen" halfway through signifying he was done listening! Priceless!

For pictures documenting all of these antics... click here!

A new kind of easter egg hunt

My Dad was wanting to have an Easter Egg hunt for us, but getting 20 somethings interested takes some motivation. He found something that spoke to all of us however, cash! He stuffed eggs with quarters, $5 bills, $10 bills and a couple $20 bills. He then made us stay inside with the shades drawn while he hid them in their very large yard - front and back! He told us he was going to make them extra hard!! He even wrote down where he hid them all so that we wouldn't be leaving money sitting around the yard hidden... I think he didn't trust his memory :) He gathered us up when he had them all hidden and outlined the ground rules. Then he turned us loose. We all pushed each other to get to the yard the fastest. It was the closest to feeling like a kid again that I've felt in a long time. It was awesome! Unfortunately, my dad's promise to make it extra hard proved true. I could only find 2 of the 27 eggs. So, after about 45 minutes of six of us hunting, Dad had to come out, consult his list, and give us some hints. We were finally able to find them all, but the boys came out ahead of the girls because we gave up earlier - they were much more competitive I guess. It was a fun and rewarding way to spend the afternoon. I only ended up with $12, but still I am a fan! :)

A little game of tag

My friend Jennifer obviously loves me because she wants to know these things about me by including me in a game of "blog tag." I'm it - so here you go.

What I was doing 10 years ago?

Graduating from high school - wow! I was just about to celebrate my 18th birthday. At my birthday party, my friends and I decided it would be fun to revert to our childhood and play "Red Rover." However, there is nothing scarier than a huge 18 year old boy running as fast as he can to try and break through your arms. I believe I "let him on over" without requiring him to break through first!

5 Things on To Do List

• Get a manicure and pedicure
• Redo our tax withholding (fun times... I am so old)
• Clean my refrigerator (this one has been on the list for some time... so don't look in my fridge!)
• Hang the curtains in my bedroom
• Find a way to have time to go get my eye's checked... it's been a couple of years and I'm sure my prescription has changed
  

My Favorite Snacks

• Pistachio Pudding Dessert
• Breads!
• Sugar coated pecans
• Desserts, desserts, desserts
  

Things I would do if I were a billionaire

• Make me and my family financially secure
• Help our church meet their goal of being debt free and starting new church plants
  
• SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOP
  

3 Bad Habits

1. Being judgmental of other parents... like I know what I am doing!

2. Twirling my rings... that are way too expensive to be lost or dropped

3. Not being able to resist dessert when I know it is just sitting in my kitchen waiting to be eaten!

5 Places I have Lived

• RockSprings, Wyoming (my birthplace)
• Brush, Colorado
• Chandler, Arizona
• San Antonio, Texas
• SugarLand, Texas
  

5 Jobs I have had

• Sandwich maker at Schlotzsky's Deli - where I ended up with yellow finger nails everyday from the mustard.
  
• Sales Associate at Bath & Body Works - where I ended up with a HUGE crate full of lotion... I think I may still have some of the leftovers...
• IT chica at Paladin IT Services
  
• Advertising Coordinator at the Arizona Office of Tourism
• Website Developer for BenchMark Wireline Products - my Dad's company (still currently doing that in my spare time). Click here to check out my handy work
  

Who do they look like

People are always asking me "who do they look like" when talking about my kids. I have such a hard time judging. So I did a little research and dug up some old pictures of Matt and me when we were young... so you can judge for yourself. Post a comment and let me know who you think our kids look like...

Amanda

Matt

Click here to see more pics! I look forward to hearing what you think!

My little snowman!

A Snowy Morning

Well, the threats for snow proved true. Last night after the kids went to bed, I looked outside and noticed a tree had white stuff all over it. I thought... is it blooming for spring already? But no, as I looked a little closer I noticed that same white stuff was falling from the sky - SNOW! Here are some pictures of our first snow since we've moved back to Dallas. Probably the first and only snow we will get this winter. It is especially funny having just come from visiting Phoenix where it was 80 degrees and everyone was wearing shorts!

What I saw when I walked out of the front door this morning

Our snowy house!

Our trip to Phoenix

We had a wonderful trip to Phoenix this weekend. Oliver did awesome on the airplane -yay! It turns out that the DVD player did just what it was supposed to do - entertain him the entire time. Gabriella on the other hand was not such a fan of the airplane. We had many moments when we were the "screaming baby" family on the plane. Oh well - what can you do. But we had a great time visiting with our Phoenix friends, neighbors, and Matt's past co-workers.

Some highlights from the trip:

• Driving by our old house and getting to see our neighbors the Ralphs
  
• Visting Matt's old office that has been recently expanded and going to an Indian buffet with his past co-workers for lunch
  
• Visiting our old church and seeing folks there
  
• A playdate at a park with a bunch of friends and their now bigger kids
• Visiting the McCoy family and seeing their new house, twin girls, and baby on the way
  
• Seeing a TON of brand new babies and showing off our new baby
  
• Watching LOST with our Phoenix LOST fans the Rokuseks
• Visiting the Webbs who drove down from Flagstaff to see us - and eating with them at our usual spot - Chipotle
• Our friends the Gepharts and Rokuseks being awesome hosts and letting us stay at their houses
• Having dinner with the Spletters - some of the first friends we made in Phoenix
  

Below are a few pictures from our trip (notice the shorts and tank tops - it was 80 degrees there while it is threatening to snow today in Dallas!). Click here to see many more

Marisa Spletter holding Gabriella

Oliver and his buddy Olivia "Lia" Rokusek - he LOVED following her around

The Dillards and The Webbs

Jackson Webb and Oliver showing me their balls