Gabbling With The Gersts: Wonderful Weekend

What a sweet blessing this weekend has been! I'm just in love with my little family, our little home, our little church, and our little group of friends. It's sweet how Missoula has become home to us in so many ways, even though we'll always miss Billings as our real home. It's been a great weekend so far. The sun is shining through my window as I sit down to blog some stories, pictures, and videos of life lately.

Yesterday we enjoyed spending time with great friends! We met Elijah's buddy Isaac and his parents at the mall to look around, visit the pet store to see the puppies, eat dinner, and play on the indoor train for kids. It was so much fun to watch the boys playing and getting to visit with our dear friends Tiffany and Zach. Elijah absolutely loves visiting the puppies at the pet store. He puts his hands on the windows and smiles with joy as he watches them come up and play! I keep telling him "some day little man, you can have a puppy of your own". It's amazing to me sometimes how OK he is with dogs of all sizes, especially because we don't have one of our own. He visits grandma and grandpa's dog Poke and auntie jess' Keelah, and uncle Jake's dog Cooper when we go home, but thats the main interaction he has with them and it's not much each time. Last evening we went to a BBQ with some of my work friends after our time at the mall. At the BBQ there were 2 lab dogs and they kept coming over to sniff him, lick him, and play with him as he was sitting on the ground. He loved it, even when they made him topple over he wasn't afraid. Lots of people were commenting on how surprising that is. I think he's like his mama and daddy and just can't wait to get one of his own... maybe by the time we finally get one he can do the scooping up poop himself! ;-) After the BBQ last evening we came home to put Elijah down and mommy got to go out on the town with her friends from work while Colin stayed home. It was the first time in a VERY long time that I went out with just friends and had a night off and was able to have a ton of fun! I loved it, but also loved waking up to my little man's cries reminding me that I'm still a mama and I don't miss my college days of going out all the time with friends on the weekends! :)

The boys playing at the Grizzy Express!

Elijah was in love at the pet store...

Today we enjoyed breakfast together before church. Elijah loves his toast and gobbles up an entire piece almost every morning, which always surprises me because we don't feed him that until he's nursed with mama so you'd think he wouldn't be that hungry!! But, he's just a growing boy-- that's for sure! He's getting bigger everyday. I was able to take some cute pictures before church and was shocked how grown up he's really looking now in the photos... and was also freaked out at how much he's looking more and more like his Uncle Jakey and his Opa! SO crazy to see my son look so much like my dad and brother sometimes! Church was a lovely Palm Sunday service that included sweet little kids waving their palm branches down the isle of the church as well as singing our favorite song, Eli's song, "What the Lord Has done in me". Still can't sing that song in church without tearing up. It just gets me every time. Tonight we get to enjoy some family time while we decorate and dye Easter eggs with Eli!! What a beautiful weekend it has been! Looking forward to celebrating Easter with our church family this coming Sunday and then having our good friends Jacque, Andrew and their little Libby over for lunch and a play date for the afternoon.Definitely hoping for more sunshine this week, a trip to the park or walks in the evening! Enjoy some pics of the little man from this morning!

A couple weeks ago at 9.5 months old- Elijah learned to pull himself up to stand. I found him like this one morning when going to wake him up. He's now doing it more and more! I overheard daddy talking to E this morning while Elijah was standing and starting to walk holding on to objects and he said

"oh, Eli, please slow down. you're growing too fast"

This pretty much sums up what I think on a daily basis!

The little man is looking more and more grown up every day! I love seeing how much he's changing. This morning it was really freaking me out how much he's looking like my brother and dad! Crazy!