Beading Fun!

We just love necklaces :)

Happy B-day Byron!!

Today, is Byron's 35th Birthday!! Saturday night we had a little Mardi Gras themed party with a few of our friends.

On the menu? Hurricanes & Jambalaya. Yum & yum!

I believe the birthday boy had a great time on his very fun and special night.

Tonight, we had Byron's favorite spagetti dinner with a homemade birthday dessert. Gaby sang "Hanny Birfday" to her daddy and helped him blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!!
Gaby and I adore you :)

Tripp's Party!

Saturday was Gaby's friend, Tripp's, 3rd B-day party!

There was a petting zoo with lots of cute animals- goats, baby piggies, bunnies, chickens, ducks and a goose. After warming up to the many animals...

Gaby had fun with the goats...
and especially the bunnies :)
And of course, there was some yummy cake!
Gaby really enjoyed playing with all the sweet animals. Tripp's party was lots of fun!

Da Pak!

Every Wednesday afternooon, Gaby & I go to the park.

We usually run into Gaby's friends, Ellington & Emma. And sometimes Siena and Aiden, too. Here are Gaby & Ellington having lunch last week...

On Fridays, Gaby gets to go back with Patty & Josie. It's a great park! Perfect for Gaby's age and even the older kids seem to have fun too. What's really cool is when we are in the car, Gaby can tell that we are going to "da pak" when we start heading that way. I guess it's buildings, landmarks, streets that she recognizes or something. But, I find that so incredible from a two year old! She knows when we're on our way to swimming, or to school, or home. Even when we're getting close to my parent's house in Houston. Pretty impressive! Anyway, the park is alot of fun for Gaby where she can play with her friends and for mommy to be able to chit chat with her friends. Now that the weather is getting warmer it's going to be really nice out there on Wed afternoons :)
Swinging like a big girl...

Peek-a-boo!!

Valentine's Day

Gaby had a really great Valentine's day! She got some presents- a cradle for her babies, some new kicks, a cool picture frame...

and her annual Valentine's day Beanie Baby teddy bear from her daddy.

But the best part was a little surprise we had cooked up for our sweet! First, Gaby's Pita, Tia Chela, and Carlos were in town.
So this morning, we all met up with Gaby's friend, Tripp and his parents for a yummy pancake breakfast and then we went to....
....Elmo Live!!! Gaby ab.so.lut.ley loved it!!! The kid was mesmerized during the whole show! It was so much fun to watch Gaby and Tripp loving every minute of it. I have to admit. It was a pretty good show. Gaby has never really watched alot of TV but lately she's really been into Elmo and all his pals, so to see it live and in person was truly exciting for her.

Checking out the Elmo balloons w/Tia Chela... Trying cotton candy for the first time...
It's so fun to watch things through Gaby's eyes. It makes everthing seem so amazing and magical!!
With Pita in town, Byron and I got to go on a Valentines date. Yipee!

Cool New Stool !

Pita's birthday present to Gaby this year was this very cool stool! It took a few weeks to get here so we just got it yesterday. Gaby already loves it!

The name on top is a puzzle and Gaby is now learning how to spell her name...
Thanks, Pita!!

Works of Art

At school Gaby does alot of artwork and the other day they sent home her folder and workbook so we could see some of her dazzling works of art. She's got quite a collection already! She's really into mixed media :)
Check out our budding little artist's work...

Wazz Dat??

Translation: What's that?

This is now the new phrase I hear about 100 million times a day. Ok. Maybe I'm exaggerating. A little. But still, people, I hear it alot! It's nice to know that Gaby is inquisitive and interested in what's around her but if this is the precursor to "why?", then mommy's brain is going to be fried!

The funniest thing is that she likes to point to people and say "wazz dat?". How do you explain to a two year old the difference btwn "what" and "who"??

Hooooollllllld me, Mommy .

I guess it's been a couple months now. It's just slowly become more and more frequent. She's learned it and she loves to use it.

At first it's whine, whine, whine, "up", "up", "up" and then when she realizes I'm not paying attention to her she looks up a me with those big brown eyes, flashes her long lashes, and gives me a sly little smile and says "Hooooolld me, mommy."

That's it! Drop whatever you're doing. Nothing is more important at that time, no matter what it is, to not bend over and pick up that adorable, precious little girl. What can I say- she's good:)

Dance Class is a No-go!

Last wednesday and today Gaby and I took a trial dance class. They were opening up a time slot for 2 yr olds and were trying to see if there was enough interest to add the class. So last week we, along with four other 2 yrs olds, went to try it out. That day they made one very critical error- they sent the moms out immediately and made us sit out in the lobby, where we could watch what was going on inside from a couple of TV monitors. What's the best way to describe the situation in that room...... um.......let's see..... utter chaos.....that would be a good word! All the girls were screaming and crying and soooo not happy to be dancing. And as usual, it was sheer and utter torture for us moms. I also felt so bad for the instructor. The girls wanted nothing to do with her and what she was doing and you could see the total frustration on her face. So we went back this week to see if it would be different and, after convincing the instructor to let us moms in for the first few classes, we tried again. And there wasn't as much crying today but the girls still did not want to do anything the instructor was doing and pretty much would not leave our sides. So the instructor came to the conclusion that this probably wasn't a good idea and asked us to try again this summer. Too bad. I realllly wanted to see my sweet Gaby in a pink tutu and black tap shoes but it was obvious she's just not ready for this yet. Reinforces the fact that she still really is my little baby and not such a big girl afterall. Selfishly, that makes me feel good :) Oh well. Hopefully this summer she'll be willing to twirl, tap, and shake her booty :)

Mia's B-day Party

Our sweet little Mia Rose had her 2nd b-day party this weekend. We headed to Katy for the party festivities! Candie and Steven's new house is gorgeous including Mia's awesome playscape. There was a bouncy house that the girls could not get enough of! The weather was great and we had a lovely day celebrating with everyone.

The birthday girl!

Getting the hang of bouncing...

Party girls!

Aunt Can & Miss Mia

Happy Birthday to you!

Cake! Yum!

Sooo good!

Having fun with Daddy!
Gaby got in on the present opening action :)

All in all it was a great day!
The girls are finally starting to play together! The were playing with these little pink chairs that Mimi and Papa gave them for Valentine's Day and were having their own private discussions. So, so cute! We've been waiting for this for two whole years!