Next stop: Orange, TX !

Christmas morning we got up early, loaded up the car and headed East to see Mimi & Papa. The Tramonte gang was right behind us and we arrived to another session of gift opening and another multitude of toys for both princesses. Poor Tanner got some stuff too but being only a couple months old definitely puts one at a disadvantage ;)

The girls were sooo happy to see each other!

What's in the GIANT stocking??

Look who got a fancy new camera just like her daughter-in-law and son-in-law??

A tunnel and tent to have at Mimi's house!!

Mia got a new scooter so Gaby was more than happy to show her the ropes...

There's always time for a little play-doh fun...

The family shot (minus a sleeping Tanner)...

The daddies and their cuties...

There's the Tan-Man...

After our super yummy 2nd-annual-made-from-scratch-fried-chicken-dinner we roasted marshmellows for smores...

They are Ohhhh Sooooo Goooood!!!

Bathing beauties...

Both girls were so gentle with Tanner and loved on him alot.

What a sweet moment!

It's always a blast to see Mia and Gaby together! They have such a great relationship.

We all had a really lovely weekend at Mimi & Papa's!

Navidad en Houston

For the first time in MANY years, Byron had almost two weeks off for the holidays. That usually means we have to hit the road. Our first stop in our Christmas vacation trekk was Houston. We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my parents house. We all made different parts of a delicious dinner and then exchanged gifts. As you can guess, Gaby got a boatload of gifts.

Sometimes I can't get over how beautiful my mom is... This is a Gaby shot...

Our little photog...

Barbie nail polish- yipee!!!
Her very own camera!! How exciting!
The family football star...
Sweet new baby with lots of sounds...
My awesome family (minus Suzy-boo!)...
My goofy family :)
There's never a dull moment at the Salazar house. It was a really great day!

The Trail of Lights

We actually made to Zilker Park's Annual Trail of Lights this year. We went on our "Christmas" night. It was pretty chilly that night so it really put us in the holiday spirit. Gaby loved looking at all the lights and looking for her favorite characters. Our sweet Gaby has started to show interest in taking pictures herself. (Taking after her mommy?) Here are a couple of her awesome shots... There's something to be said for natural talent ;)

"Christmas"

Santa came to our house early this year, hence the quotations around Christmas. Good ol St. Nick knew we were going to be out of town for the big day and was nice enough to visit Gaby a little early so she could get all her loot. Gaby got one big gift from Santa and one big gift from us (an indoor trike) and then a bunch of smaller gifts. Santa did an awesome job this year- his gift....a dollhouse!!! How fun!! Sooo much stuff!!! Trying out her new drums... Santa didn't forget a Dora doll...

That's one happy little girl! Opening all her presents was a little overwhelming, so I'm glad we'll be stretching out all the gift giving for the rest of the week.

We are off to do our yearly Houston/Orange/Sieper trekk.

So it'll be a while until my next post.
Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We'll see ya in 2010 :)

Coloring in the Lines

Gaby is starting to do a really good job at staying in the lines when she colors, don't you think? Also notice the top right hand corner..... That's her attempt at writing her name! Not too shabby! She's got the "G" and "A" down, but we are still working on the others.

Pretty darn cool :)

Awwww, Phooey!

Gaby's been saying this for the last few weeks and it is really the most adorable thing ever!

I had no idea where she had picked it up b/c that's definitely not our word of choice when we're disappointed ;)

This morning we were watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and what do you know but there's Donald saying it over and over. So mystery solved! Just goes to show how much is actually picked up from TV.

Little. Pink. Tree.

Guess who got her own little Christmas tree for her room this year?? Check out the look of total concentration as she hangs the ornaments... Naughty or nice??

A New Look

If you haven't noticed by now,

I changed the background of the blog.

And "why??" you might ask.

Because I realized that pictures look so much better

against a black background.

So, voila, a new look.

I like it. Don't you?

Santa Photo

We went to visit Santa today. Gaby was super excited to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.

For the past couple of weeks, when you asked her what Santa was going to bring her for Christmas the answer was very simple- "Dora." This past weekend the answer changed to- "Dora and a Mermaid."

So cute!

Anyway, walking up the parking lot she was all smiles and ready to see the big man. But once we walked in and got up close she wasn't too sure about the whole sitting on his lap thing. Our first attempt ended in a huge crying fit! So we went to have lunch and had a long discussion about how nice Santa is and tried again. This time she would talk to him but was not really interested in sitting on his lap. Which actually, I should be proud of the fact that she doesn't want to sit on some random old guy's lap. (This silly tradition really does go against the whole "Stranger Danger" concept.) Finally, the only way she would get near him was sitting on my lap.

Soooo, here's what we got...

Still pretty cute, huh??

Want to see Santa pictures from the past two years??
2008 2007

School Photo

Isn't she a doll??

Addendum...

For the record, Byron wanted me to inform the world that he also attended the Little Mermaid show.

He sat through the whole thing with us although there is not photographic proof of it.

Way to go, Byron :)

The Austin Zoo

Saturday after Thanksgiving Mimi and Papa came in for a quick 30hr visit with the princess. They arrived before my parents flew out and we all had a really lovely lunch together. It is such a nice thing when the In Laws and the Parents get along. I love it!

On Sunday, we were looking for something to entertain us. It turns out that Austin has this little rescue zoo which most people had told me really wasn't that good and not very exciting. But I thought we should check it out for ourselves. So after a super yummy breakfast at Kerbey Lane (can you say peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes??) we headed to the zoo. We were so pleasantly surprised! This zoo was really sweet and actually alot of fun! It had so many more animals than I expected and to know that they were all rescued from unfortunate circumstances made it so much more special.

There were peacocks everywhere but none of them wanted to flaunt their feathers :(

For the Dora fans, we were extremely excited to meet Swiper the Fox in person!

Trying to kiss the llama...

A face only a mother could love...

Trying to whistle like the parrot...

Gaby made Papa help her "walk sideways" on all the railings....

Trying to see how tall she was compared to the bears....

A giant Galapagos turtle eating a salad...

Quack!!

We had a great time at the Austin Zoo and look forward to going back again to see what new animals they have rescued from bad circumstances.