Cute Baby Videos

Here are some links to a couple of cute videos of Julia. Sometimes it takes a long time for videos to load, so I just linked to them – click the text or the pictures below  to see the videos :).

Julia loved her first try at the sippy cup. Gabe was super cute showing her how to use it too!

Julia went through a phase where she would make kissing sounds at us when we did it to her. April 2010

Julia was in a really fussy mood until I mentioned I might just take her to the botanical gardens instead of the other things I had planned on doing – then amazingly she started laughing and was in a good mood!

Breakfast with the Butterflies

Gabe and I didn’t let stormy weather stop us from enjoying the butterfly release party at the botanical gardens on Saturday.

We were looking forward to a yummy breakfast with butterfly shaped pancakes like they had last year, but they didn’t have any this time. Not to be a “Negative Nellie”, but it seems that they increased the price and lowered the quality of the butterfly release party compared to last year. Here’s a link to the photos and video from last year’s fun party: Butterfly Celebration 2009. This year they only had one craft, no games and we paid $16 for the two of us to eat store-bought food with a few grapes and strawberries on the side.

What really matters to me is that Gabe had a good time, and he did (as always) – so that’s great! He enjoyed the craft and was very interested in the large butterfly they gave him. Here’s a video of him releasing it:

The butterfly landed nearby after being released, so Gabe was able to see it up close and gently touch it some more. He even posed for a close-up photo for me:

Butterfly Release Video and More

On Wednesday morning Gabe was determined to go to the Botanical Garden! He kept asking over and over if we could go. I wasn’t sure about it at first because I have been sick with a cold for over a week now – add that to the heat and my ever-growing pregnant belly, and it sounded like an exhausting trip to me. But he was so excited, so I decided to just go for it. Luckily, when we got there I remembered about the free shuttle rides – what a blessing! A nice man named Dan drove us around the gardens, pointing out interesting facts and stopping wherever we wanted so we could get out and look around. Since he is a Master Gardener, I took the opportunity to ask him lots of gardening questions (in case we ever decide to do something with our landscaping ha ha). Here’s a photo of Gabe in the cart with Dan.

When we got to the children’s garden, we said goodbye to Dan and did the rest of the trip on our own. Gabe played and enjoyed the water features, while I sat on a shady bench :). We also went inside the nature center, where Gabe got to pet a turtle and he even got to release a butterfly! I didn’t catch a good photo this time, but that reminded me that I never shared any of the photos from the butterfly release party earlier this year…

To celebrate the opening of the butterfly house, they had a pancake breakfast for the kids and lots of fun games and activities for them to do, plus they each got to release a butterfly! Here’s a video of Gabe releasing a Butterfly that day:

Gabe Releases a Butterfly (4.25.09)

Here are some more photos from the Breakfast with the Butterflies Celebration:

The last photo is actually from another visit to the garden to see the Big Bugs art installation they have had up this summer – very cool!  I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

~Gabe in the Movies~

OK, I finally got a chance to pick out some “movies” to show you! I had so much fun looking at all the little clips from Gabe’s 8th month. Here are some of my favs:

Green Beans
Gabriel is usually pretty good about trying new foods. But I do film the first bite if I can, just in case I get a good reaction :). Here is his first taste of green veggies (yes, I noticed the typo in the title, oh well):

First Time Playing in the Grass
Remember all those photos from the Botanical Gardens? Well, this next one was from one of those days. It was the first time I let him take off his shoes and play in the grass. He loved it!

Learning to Crawl
I made this one when Gabe was first learning to crawl. At that time my cell phone was his biggest motivation. Now he crawls everywhere with ease. His biggest motivation is still anything that he’s NOT supposed to play with :).

Breaking Out of “Swing Swing”
When I need to make sure Gabe isn’t going to get into mischief for a few minutes I put him in the swing, which he considers to be his own little prison. Here he is trying to break out of “Swing Swing”.

First Sweet Potatoes
Well, the sweet potatoes went better than the green beans at least :). I make my own baby food, so I think these were a bit too stringy for his taste. He did really did like them after a few more tries though…

Now days, most of the new foods he is trying are all little bits of grown-up food. He loves it. Hope you enjoyed my little film festival. Oh, and if you’d like to see some digital scrapbook pages featuring Gabe, check my next post on Scrapbook Ideas!

~The Best Day of My Life~

Three years ago today I married my true love and best friend. Here’s my little tribute to you babe :). I’m looking forward to our future – each day is better than the last!