More Christmas pics...

Isaiah & his new Hess truck

me & Gabe at breakfast

Herbert/Forbis family photo

Christmas in Hoboken

Well, we certainly had a memorable Christmas. It got off to rocky start and we had our share of mishaps(two of us being sick, and going through 3 different cars to complete the trip) but getting to see my family made it well worth it. We enjoyed the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular show and great food, as always. Mom and Dad were very generous with the kids as you'll see below. It seemed they enjoyed the giving part just as much as the kids enjoyed the getting part. Well almost!

in front of the skating rink and Christmas tree in Rockafeller Center

Isaiah and Grandpa in front of Radio City music hall

Gabe and Grandpa on the path train

the beautiful nativity scene at the end of the show

tired Mommy holding two tired boys in her two tired arms

Isaiah eyeing the goods

where's the fire!?

here's Isaiah in his "dirtbike guy" outfit showing off what santa brought

(he wore that outfit around the clock for 3 straight days)

I feel EXTRA proud today...

Isaiah pooped on the potty for the first time today!!! And it was HIS idea! He's very proud of himself too!!! These kinds of joys of motherhood make my heart feel so tickled! :)

In search of a decent Christmas card picture...

I won't lie...

...it wasn't pretty...

...blood was spilt, punches were thrown, but in the end we walked away with one decent shot.

Merry Christmas!

Hallelujah!

Isaiah is potty training!!! As many of you know, I have recently struggled with getting Isaiah excited about using the potty. I have sought out advice from the best of the best (ie: Shannon, Meredith, Andra, to name a few) and decided to let it go for a while. Yesterday I decided to ask him to use the potty and he sat right on it a peed! So for the rest of the day he didn't wear a diaper and he used the potty every time! But.... there is a catch.... he won't wear underwear. So, yes, he walks around the house butt-naked. We bought spiderman underwear, nascar underwear, even the Cars movie underwear. He is totally not interested! So, now I have a NEW dilemma: how do I get my potty training child to wear underwear!!! :) Oh well, guess you can't win 'em all! ;)

Happy Birthday Isaiah!!!

Here's Isaiah being a little bit camera-shy while we sang "happy bithday"


The best part: opening presents! "it's mine" became the catch phrase of the day.





Isaiah showing his blue tongue from the sprinkles.


Happy little Batman-in-training

fun boys

always easy to get a smile!

"to infinity and beyond!"

Look at what I can do!

While I had my back turned cooking today, Gabriel figured out how to work his way out of his highchair... great. One less contraption for Mommy to use when I need two hands! We had a great Thanksgiving. Gabriel ate off my plate and loved it. He's really tired of baby food and is loving trying new things.

"hello!" from Gabe!

fun with a parachute at the park





























mmm mmm good! In true Forbis fashion, Isaiah picked all of the chocolate chips out of the cookie! :)

Story time

The boys are finally getting over their colds! Gabriel is starting to have some better nights, sometimes only two short feedings. It has occured to me recently how very soon I will miss him being in this cuddly stage so I am trying to remember that even when I'm tired and want to sleep. He is such a hugger! I have really enjoyed him. He has such a fun, loving, playful and lovable personality. Isaiah has been keeping me on my toes lately. In a moment of frustration the other day I muttered under my breath "oh crap". Not only did he hear exactly what I said, but he scolded me and said "don't say that Mommy, that's a BAD word!" Thanks to Isaiah my SON is going to clean up MY potty mouth! :) Another cute Isaiah-ism is what he calls bedtime... "clickly-o-clock". If we tell him that it's time to go to bed, he says , "no" and points to the clock and says "see, it's not clickly-o-clock". The genius that he is has it all figured out... because it will never be "clickly-o-clock"!!!

Happy Halloween!

The kids both have yucky colds so we tried to do some fun Halloween stuff but the kids didn't hold up too long. As you can see, Isaiah was Spiderman, which he is several days a week anyway, Gabriel was Super-Baby, and you may be having a little trouble figuring out what I am supposed to be... well, I pretended to be a "well-rested Mom" :) :) :) A little makeup under those bags under my eyes did wonders! Gabriel had a rough night last night between his cold and teething. He went down at exactly midnight and was up at 2:30, 3:30, 5:30 and 6:30 for good. He was screaming and inconsolable. As a nursing mother you always expect that to be your secret weapon, but he was not interested in the least. Poor thing, it was pitiful! Anyway, we went to a local church that was doing some fun games and inflatable rides. Isaiah wasn't in the mood for anything... except candy of course:)

i'm...not...tired...

Italian Cookies

This is a great recipe given to me by one of our stained glass customers. You really should try it!!!

1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
3 c. flour, sifted (I just use a wire mesh strainer)
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond flavor

1. Cream together butter, eggs, sugar and almond flavor.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Slowly add to butter mixture.
3. Mix well. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. Cookies should be just barely golden on the bottom; don't overcook.
5. Make icing with powdered sugar and milk; I like to add a little melted butter to help the icing dry and harden. I also like to ice the cookies when they are still a little warm so the icing melts into the cookies a little bit.

Enjoy! They're sooo good!

Holding hands...

This is how we found the boys watching saturday morning cartoons :)

how sweet!

Super-Boy & Super-Baby...

... saving their world one temper-tantrum at a time!!!

Another cute story about my big guy Isaiah...

Isaiah was in the bathroom with me the other morning while I was putting on my make-up. He opened Justin's drawer and got out his deodorant. He looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I gotta do my pits". I could help but indulge this little guy who wanted to be just like his Daddy. So, we took off his shirt and applied deodorant to his tiny, hairless underarms!!! :)

Here's Isaiah riding a battery-powered motorcycle that our neighbors let us borrow.

Sweet story...

I have to share what happened last night with you. It's too cute! Justin had to go with his dad on an appointment in Winston Salem last night, and didn't get home until 11:00pm. When he got home he went in to check on each of the boys before he came to bed. I was fast asleep in bed when he came in shaking me saying "Where's Isaiah! I can't find Isaiah!". I jumped out of bed and we ran into his room checking under the covers and behind the chair. Then we went into Gabe's room, who was fast asleep in his crib, and found Isaiah sound asleep on the floor right next to the crib. Justin gently picked him up and moved him back into his bed. This morning we told Isaiah that we found him in Gabriel's room last night and asked him if he wanted to start sharing his room with Gabriel and he smiled and said "YEAH!" So, this afternoon we will be disassembling and reassembling the crib in Isaiah's room! I'm so glad to already start seeing that "brotherly love". This may be a pretty interesting experiment so stay tuned... I'll keep you posted! :)

All by himself!

Gabriel pulled up all the way today! And as you can see he was very proud of himself!

So it was an interesting morning...

I took the kids to the grocery store this morning, and when we got home, Isaiah wanted to stay and play in the car while I unloaded the groceries. Gabriel was asleep, so I decided to leave him in the car... bad idea. Isaiah found a black ink pen and decided to do his latest artwork on his brothers face! Believe it or not, baby wipes did the trick! They work for everything!

Climbing Silver Lake Mountain

This was one of the few moments Isaiah actually let us hold his hand. Most of the time he said "my do it!"

grandma & gabe swinging

great smile!

I thought this picture was funny because Gabriel looks bigger than Isaiah!
Dad & Justin sailing

Some more pics from our trip

always happy

"Hey, I look like you!"

dinner at Le Bistro

one good-looking couple! i love you guys!

it's a hard-knock life

precious

Gabriel actually began crawling while we were at the lake house, so my parents got to see it for the first time! Each day since we've been back, he's gained a little more speed. Isaiah's not thrilled, to say the least. "Baby!" gets into everything now! ;)