Change, Change, Change

So it has been a while since I updated our blog and so much has happened since my last post I am not sure where to start.

BRAD IS A DENTIST!

This is pretty exciting to be finished with dental school, but it is also sad to say goodbye to such wonderful friends who have been our family while in Philly. I will miss seeing all the kids we have had in Philly together, but excited to see where life takes all of our families. We are so proud of Brad. He is such a dreamer and has worked very hard to get into dental school and while in dental school (especially the last 3 years of school for those who knew Brad year 1)! :-) Graduation was actually much better than I thought it would be with the kids...Brad even fell asleep which was amazing!

LITTLE BRAD is 4! This is unbelieveable to me! Our baby who was just a mere 6 weeks old when we moved to Philly is now 4! Time flys by so fast! He wanted a choo choo train cake so I happily made one for him, and he gave me the best moment when he saw his cake and he grabbed my leg and say, 'thank you mommy for my choo choo cupcake, I love you'! Made all the effort worth it! He had a great birthday and got loads of presents and spoiled beyond belief!

WE MOVED! I really like our new house...it is like a mansion compared to our apartment in Philly. Plus it is only 5 years old so that is a treat coming for apartments that were 30 years old or more. Brad has already made claim to his room and he will quickly tell you to leave it when he wants to play! It feels like we were just busting at the seams and now we can actually breath! Too bad this move is just for a year...I sure hope we do not have to go much smaller when we move next time. Our move was so much easier than it could have been b/c of all the help we had. We are so blessed in the family department! We are also blessed to have taken bits of our philly family with us in our move, from the Millers we got our table which is just amazing, the Wilkins a very cool hutch all the way from Africa (top that people) and from the Newells a cooler! So we got something from almost everyone before they left...we will have to steal something from the Marsh's and Reeders homes to make ours complete so watch out...if somethings goes missing from your new homes when we come visit, consider this as your warning!

BROADWAY HERE I COME...

Mrs. Harris took me to New York while she was here and to a BROADWAY play...it was AMAZING. We went to see Cry Baby. I saw the movie when I was 13 and it was so cheesy the I fell in love with it...and so we went to see the show which was just...man...all I can say is that the next chance I have to go back I am running. I forgot how much I love the theatre until that night. Not only did we see a play on Broadway, but we ate at Bubba Gumps, got purses for cheap, ate a Greys Papaya hotdog (like from the movie "Fools Rush In"), and we went to Dale and Thomas (popcorn on Oprah's Favorite things...which to me is like meeting Oprah herself)!

PUTT PUTT GOLF

Since we had Brad's 4 year party before family left, we decided to take him to play putt putt golf and eat at McDonalds for fine cuisine! It was so much fun, Gabi just wanted to carry the balls and would scream if you tried to take them from her, and Brad was like lightening around the course, he was halfway done before Brad and I were on the 3rd hole. Brad did get a hole in one (Big Brad not little Brad) and we are never going to hear the end of it...it was impressive though! It was alot of fun and Brad really enjoyed it. His daddy tried to help him with his form, but Little Brad was not interested so it did not last long!

Swimming!!!

Gabi is adorable in her little bikini...she looked so cute I just could not stop smiling at her. Her little swimmer was coming out of the back and it was too cute for words really! She kept trying to jump in like her brother and loved walking in the water. It was hard to keep up with both of them because Big Brad was not swimming but next time he is coming in his swim trunks too to show off his rock hard body! The water was a little cold so we only stayed for an hour!

A LITTLE BIT OF HOME...

Believe it or not, I just know this next year is going to be good for us and partially because we have a little bit of my old home here with us. The East Texas post office is just about a mile from the house and if we get lonely and miss our family we can just go hang out in East Texas, PA! See it just goes to show you no matter where you live, everybody needs some Texas!

So here we are, excited and happy about the future! Can't wait to read about all of you on your blogs...I am not so great at keeping mine up but I promise to try and do better!

Picture Perfect?

So we decided to do a family picture when we did Gabi's 18 month picture. I call and get the appt, we are all coordinated and looking as nice as our family can and we set off for Sears! Two uncooperative kids later, we leave Sears with NO pictures. Brad normally does pretty good for pictures in fact sometimes we can't get him to get out of a picture...Gabi never been a big fan professional pictures (if sears/jcpenny are professional?), but she took it to the next level this trip. She cried for the family picture and would not even consider a picture by herself. I was so bummed because I was hoping to get a good family picture and document Gabi at 18 months, but no go this round. I am going to try to do Gabi again later this month, but I think the family picture will have to wait until the summer!

Around and Around we go

While my kids like the carousel at the mall, my stomach can't take too much of it. I honestly think I am going to hurl if I ride it more than once and closing my eyes only makes it worse! Who knew a kiddy ride could make me so sick. My kids have so much fun on it though and so I try to stick it out at least 2 times, but that is the max! The things we do for our kids!

Chuck E Cheese

So we never eat at Chuck E Cheese and because we don't eat there and we can normally find some great deals on tokens online it is a fun/cheap place to entertain the kids.

I must admit Brad has been more than Gabi because we don't go as much, but this last time we went it was so fun because Gabi was excited about every part of the experience!

Where do they come up with this stuff?

So after dinner last night, I took the kids back for a bath. Gabi kept yelling for her dad and so Brad followed suit! Brad eventually came back to see what they wanted and it went something like this!

Dad: What?
Brad: Stay here with us
Gabi: Dad, Dad, Dad
Dad: No...I am running away. I am out of here!
Brad: (getting upset) No Daddy don't run away
Dad: Yep...I'm running away to find a new family
Brad: Daddy don't leave us we're not a bad family!

Brad and I busted out laughing. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.

Fits Already!

So my sweet little Gabi is just shy of 18 months but already can throw fits with the best of them. This was today as we were leaving Target...she was upset I had her strapped into the seat and she was determined to get out. Instead of getting upset, all I could do was laugh. Sometimes I feel like doing the same thing, too bad we can't just let it out like the toddlers in our lives.

FREE ON CRAIGSLIST

So I have been furniture shopping on craigslist for awhile without much luck, so I asked my good friend Sarah the craigslist expert to help me out. Within 24 hours she found this really nice "FREE" entertainment center. We didn't know the sizes, but it was an older woman and Sarah said if we got it and I didn't like it she would take it. So we send our husbands out at 7pm to NJ to go and pick it up. Little did we know the lady was almost in Atlantic City (Brad was really happy with me)! So after a hour and 1/2 drive, putting together this womans entertainment center, loading the one she was giving away and getting two quilts (one of which has to be mailed back), Brad and Brian were headed back to Philly.
On the way home, Brad was pulled over for speeding and swerving...but luckily got off with a warning! Then as he was trying to pull into a WaWa to get gas, he takes a turn to fast and he and Brian hear crash! They get out to discover that the very nice entertainment center was now broken!!! So they got back to the apt around 12:30 and decided to dump the entertainment center behind Henry on the Park in the trash bins and call it a night. Brad has assured me that he will no longer be my errand boy on craigslist unless it is LOCAL! :-) But it was FREE right...I guess the saying there is 'no such thing as a free lunch' is really true!