The Donut Shop

A fun thing we've been doing for the past couple of months is going to the donut shop after swimming lessons with Gaby's friend Tripp. Today, I finally remembered to bring my camera so here are a few cute pics.

Running to the shop- yipee!!

Picking out their drinks...

Donuts, yummy!!
Cutie Victoria joined us...
Gaby prefers the chocolate covered variety...
Yummy in my tummy :)

What's funny, for some reason, Gaby doesn't like the donut holes or the plain glazed donuts. She prefers the chocolate covered (which actually is MY favorite!) . But if you look at the third picture, see what's left of the donut on the table?? She only ate the part actually covered in chocolate and left the rest! That's my girl :)

First day back at school

Gaby went back to school today after being off for two weeks for Christmas break. I wasn't sure how she would react to going back but she was so happy to go see "los ninos" again. She was very excited during the car ride over there and was thrilled to see all her friends again. That makes me so happy :) It's so reassuring to see her enjoying herself with her new pals and wanting to learn new things.

More X-mas Pics (Marcie's Camera)

Well, Happy New Year to Ya !!

It's 2009! That sounds so crazy to me. I can't believe our sweet Gaby will be two in less than two weeks! So to finish off the holiday season, we headed to Houston for New Year's Eve and then spent the weekend just hanging out at my parent's house. We rang in the New Year with Byron's best friend from forever, Bryan Parker, and his lovely wife, Missy. We had an amazing meal at Pappa's Bros Steakhouse and then went back to their house for a little party and lots of champagne :)

Here are some of the fun things Gaby did this weekend.
Dancing w/ Pito...

Helping Tio Billy & Carlos put together a grill... Chilling with Carlos...
Walking around in Mommy's shoes...
Enjoying Pito's massage chair...
Learning about make-up...
And teaching Pita about make-up...
Then having deep conversations about make-up...
We headed back home on Sunday ready to get back into our regular routine. With the new year upon us we are looking forward to what's ahead and look back on what a very fun year we've had watching Gaby become such a fantastic little girl. It's indescribable what joy and happiness she's brought to our lives!

My Mommy !!

Byron likes to play this little game with Gaby where he comes up to me and gives me a big, long hug and lots of kisses and says "My mommy!". Well, that makes our little cutie a bit upset and so she tries to push him off of me, grabs my face, wraps her little arms around my neck, gives me tons of kisses and says "No! My mommy!". Which as you can imagine is about the sweetest, most wonderful, heart-warming thing any parent can EVER hear!!

I just love that game :)

Might not be the best thing to teach someone who might have a sibling in the future, though.

We're so proud of Daddy !!

This article was published in this month's Seton Family of Hospitals Network newsletter. Look who's starting to become an important fixture in the Austin medical community...

Gaby & I could not be prouder :)

Our favorite Christmas Present...

Gaby made this shirt a school with a tag that reads "Mommy & Daddy's best gift" !!

Isn't that sweet??

Christmas 2008

We had a lovely Christmas. We actually got to stay put this year and had everyone come to us, which was very nice for a change.

My whole family came up from Houston and we enjoyed an awesome Christmas Eve meal.

Gaby's pretty Christmas dress... We spent the rest of the day waiting for Santa...

Byron was "on call" the whole week and was actually busy, so that made him a little "scrooge-y"...

Our afternoon project- to build a gingerbread house. The kids started off enthusiastically but after about 15 minutes gave up b/c it wouldn't stay together. So the adults took over and had fun finishing up for them....
They did come back after it was put together to add some finishing touches, though...

Then it was movie time for the kids and the adults hung around, drinking wine and chatting away. We nixxed our usual tradition of opening presents after midnight on Christmas Eve b/c of Gaby but let the kids open one gift that night and then went to bed to get ready for the big day.
Christmas morning was a blast!

We had a huge breakfast and watched the kids go crazy opening gifts. Gaby's big gift from Santa was a very cool retro red play kitchen which was an absolute hit!!

Is it really mine??

" Would anyone like some mac & cheese?"
Turns out my little sweetie loves to cook just like her mommy. She has played with it non-stop since she got it. (I think Santa was very pleased about that!) The princess definitely got more into opening presents this time. I think the trial run in Orange helped :) She was having so much fun ripping off the paper and she was so utterly adorable with her commentary. Everything got an "oh boy" and an "ooooh" and a "wow". She learned very quickly from the big kids how to enjoy the art of opening presents :)
Gaby got so many great toys this year that will for sure enhance her playing experience :). She was having such a blast with all the kids around. This year we were not only joined by Lulu, Carlos and Susana but also by Billy's girlfriend's daughter, Lauren. The house was full of noise and laughter and it was truly awesome! Gaby was up to her usual singing and dancing being the center of attention self- I just love that! Christmas Day we literally stayed in our pjs all day watching movies, playing with our new toys and just enjoying each other's company.

That night we went to see the 37th street lights. It's a neighborhood that REALLY takes their Christmas lights seriously and has all sorts of funky displays. Very Austin-y :) It was pretty cool!
We had a super fun Christmas this year and feel so blessed to have had our family in Austin for our first "official" holiday in our home. We are looking forward to see what exciting things 2009 has in store for us!!

Christmas in Orange (the city not the color)

It's so fun when you can prolong Christmas for a whole week :) This past weekend we headed to Orange to celebrate and early Christmas with Mimi, Papa, Aunt Can, Uncle Stevie and, of course, my precious niece, Mia. We drove in late Friday night so that Saturday morning we could pretend it was the "big day". The girls woke up to lots and lots of goodies stacked under, around, next to and in front of the tree! Can you guess what their big gift was this year??
That's right, tricycles! And they looved them!


The also received great Dora tailgating chairs. Uncle Steven is already teaching little Mia the art of the tailgate (as he is an avid Aggie tailgater) and was happy to show Gaby the ropes. Now all they need are a couple of beers...
Speaking of Uncle Stevie, Gaby had a very weird affinity for her Uncle this weekend. We're not sure what it was- maybe the bald head, maybe the facial hair, maybe his big round cheeks- who knows but she sure was lovin on him alot. It was so cute!
Mimi has already learned that when she's at the store she needs to go ahead and buy two of EVERYTHING! And good thing she did because our little sweeties still have not mastered the fine art of sharing yet and it was so nice to say "this one is Mia's and this one is Gaby's". We had the yummiest of non-traditional holiday meals- homemade fried chicken & mashed potatoes. Soooo goood!! And the girls also decorated some Christmas cookies....
They managed to decorate them with what they didn't eat themselves. Don't they look yummy??
We had lots of fun this year with the girls and their presents although I still think they didn't fully get the concept yet. Next year should be a doozy!

Aren't they the cutest??