DNA transparency

Well, I might not look like my mom or dad--but no doubt about it I am related to my brother Cameron! Here is me and my bro at the park last weekend. How on earth did I get so lucky? We played catch, then laughed with each other, then we went home and got a yummy snack of pretzels. Here are a few pictures of our park fun!

Mommy is off to Tokyo on Saturday--I will miss her, but on the other hand that means more time alone with my dad! When mommy's gone daddy and I eat less vegetables, stay up late, and drink less milk! Travel safe mommy--I will miss you :)

PLAY BALL

Last night I got to hang out with my Godparents David and Sherry (that kind of sounds like a 70's folk band doesn't it?)

Uncle David and I played catch and it was a blast!

Good catch Uncle David! (How could he miss--I'm like Nolan Ryan with a football)

I'm out-c-ya!

Eat My Dust, Michael Jordan!

Man, did you see how much air I get when I shoot hoops? In case I haven't mentioned it before, I love to play ball. Mostly basketball, but really any game involving a ball will get me going. Last Saturday at Cameron's basketball game I showed my support by running up and down the side of the court yelling "SHOOT" and "GO." I think the players appreciated my enthusiasm.

I can't wait until I can get my game out on the court and show everyone how it is done. Until then I'll practice shooting footballs at the hoop.

Day O' Fun

I am really being misleading by titling my entry a "Day o' fun" when in reality I had quite a week of fun. Lisa took me to the zoo TWICE and of course I got my weekly visit with "Ma Ma and Pa Pa" (Grandma and Grandpa Lesinski). I also was outside a lot last week as we are having incredible (don't know what that word is--but I think it means go to the park) weather.

Last Saturday we started the day by going to Cameron's basketball game. My big bro shot a couple of great baskets and I cheered him on emphatically from the sidelines. When Cam was sitting on the bench I waved to him across the court and he waved back! We waved back and forth for a few minutes, each time I laughed harder. What great brothers I have!

After the game we stopped at the park, took a nap then went back to another park to meet my friend Kate. I spent most of the time running around checking out the equipment. First, I loved walking up and down the see-saw (with mommy holding my hand of course--I'm not quite ready for Cirque du Soleil), sliding down the slide--solo of course, I am MUCH too independent to require assistance (clearly I get this from daddy), and playing in the sandbox.

Next stop after the park was painting! Mommy and Nicole (Kate's mom) took us to a paint the pottery place. I chose the colors and let my artistic juices flow. After we finished painting, well after Kate and I finished painting--we left the remaining grunt work to our mommies--we chatted by the entrance for awhile.

First, We are just acknowledging how much fun we had.

Then I told Kate about the advertisement on the window for an upcoming art show, she proceeded to tell me that the artist is actually a local favorite of hers!

I talked up the other artist on the white advertisement and Kate clearly disagreed with me at first.

But in the end I think I won her over when I offered to take her to the showing and give her a lollipop! Sugar works everytime!

We parted ways shortly after our artist discussion, and I gave Kate a few smooches on her check and gave her a very strong "BYE-BYE". I overheard our mommies talking about doing this again--yeah!

Arizona Fun

Well my travel schedule has again picked up.

This time I jetted off to Arizona. At this juncture it might be prudent for mommy to sign me up for my own frequent flier miles so hopefully one of these flights I can get bumped to first class (I totally deserve the pampering). And I'm sure all the folks in first class would have been receptive to the 20 minute screaming fit I had on the way to Arizona - good times for all.

I decided to abort my afternoon nap so I guess I was a little cranky :) Mommy handled it like a trooper and actually laughed. I overheard her telling the person sitting next to us that it's times like this she wished she had a lolly-pop stashed in the bag. Hopefully she'll learn from her mistakes and keep these more handy. You know--for the sake of others :)

The trip was planned to meet all my aunts and cousin for a ladies weekend (hey, wait a minute... how did I get suckered into that???) and celebrate Grandma's birthday. I had so much fun. Those gals sure know how to spoil me with attention and also give mommy a lot of breaks. I learned to say everyone's name (translations below):

Grandma (Chicki) = Kick-key
Therese = teece
Maureen = reen
Patty = addy
Kerrianne = kee-kee

Here are a couple of shots of me and "Kick-Key" walking around the golf course behind her house. She was showing me all sorts of things, including the moon which was out during the day! I shouted "MOO" at the top of my lungs when I saw it. Then me and "Kick-Key" decided to play football! Just kidding, but doesn't it look like we are about to huddle up? Pretty funny if we were--what a team we'd make!

On Sunday, we went to church where my Great Uncle Mickey said mass. My daddy's Uncle George and Aunt Zita met us there and they even sat in the cry room with me and mommy! It was fun to spend some time with them, even if it was during the mass. I was a bit more "active" than the other kids in the room so mommy took me for a walk in the back of the church.

We made our way up to the balcony and when mommy prevented me from climbing on top of the people already sitting there I screamed "NO," just at the quietest part of the mass. I think Uncle Mickey was very courteous when he paused the mass just so I could be heard. Needless to say, my "behavior" warranted us stepping outside so I got to run around on the lawn and play in the sunshine (boy, bad behavior is really "punishable" isn't it...hee hee). Aunt Patty chased me around and helped me climb a tree.

After mass we all ate breakfast together at the church pancake breakfast and got to visit more with Uncle Mickey, Uncle George and Aunt Zita. Here is a snap from after the mass--me and mommy w/Uncle George and Aunt Zi.

I got to spend another couple of hours hanging out before we packed our gear and took off. I was very good on the plane ride home and was really excited to see daddy when we landed.

Another successful trip logged!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hi everyone. Today is my second ever Valentine's Day. Even though I have been through this one time already, I just could not think of what to write on mom's card, but then it came to me, and I dutifully scribbled my love onto the paper.

The last few weeks have had a lot of milestones for me. Mostly, I got all of my sharp teeth in - you know, the ones that look like doggie teeth. Boy did those keep me up at night, and mommy and daddy too.

I also am saying a lot more, and have a lot of my own words for things. Just today, I started calling cars "beep beeps" and I say "Bailey" really clearly when I am calling our dog. Of course, I call every dog I see "Bailey." Dogs are "Baileys."

My brothers have been showing me how to play touch football, and when they tell me to "go long," I run as fast as I can yelling "Go!" over and over. In fact, I really love to throw balls and daddy says I have a really good arm for a kid my age.

But after all of this hard work, I like to relax and watch a show. Everyone knows when I want to do that because I bring the remote and say 'show, show, show.' I like Baby Einstein videos and also the Animusic videos daddy got me for Christmas.

Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow I get to ride on an airplane with mommy to go to Arizona to see Grandma Green and all my aunts and cousin! Yay!

Kickin' it

So what's new? Well, I have learned a lot of words and some of them I cannot repeat as my mom and dad say "nooooo Gabe" every time I say them, so for now they remain sacred (I'll give you a hint---several of them have four letters, what is the big deal?)

One of my new words is SNOW! Believe it or not, I have seen more snow this year in Portland than I've seen in my entire life (wait, this is only my second year alive during the winter--whatever.) I realize nothing compares to my midwest relatives who can actually measure the amount of the snow on the ground, but it is fun!

Hope everyone is staying warm! Ciao for now!