so many reasons to give thanks...

Each and every day I give thanks for this amazing life that I have been blessed with. Sure, there are plenty of tough times and challenges, but this life is a gift that's been given to me that I am so incredibly thankful for!! I have an amazing husband who is my soulmate and this precious daughter (oh what a gift!) and we have our health and that of our families and a circle of friends that is so warm, fun, and loving!! What could we possibly need or want! I give thanks to our Lord and Savior for all He is in my life and for all that He has blessed our lives with! Giving Thanks & Praise to God...


she's almost two:


hanging out with couins in minnesota for thanksgiving:



at home just being silly:


at the smu football game having fun cheering for the mustangs:

arriving at the smu game:

HALLOWEEN NIGHT!!

Ava came over to trick or treat in our neighborhood so that was a TREAT! It was so fun to see these two walking hand in hand in pursuit of candy! They really understood it this year. Abigail is a fan of M&Ms!!


Such a cute photo!!


Getting ready to head out! We went out early just on our block!!



Aw, here she is with Daddy!! What a great shot. My two sweeties!

HALLOWEEN FUN!!

Our Halloween party was a blast with about 70 people there and lots of neat costumes!! We dressed up as cow farmers and a little cow! She is a little squished here in this photo, but you get the idea!!



THE SCHOOL ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARADE! What a blast! Abigail wore her princess costume that Grandma and Grandpa Galan got her! :)

Here we are at Scare on the Square in Downtown McKinney with the gang! We finally got a group pic of most of the girls...the most we've gotten all at once!!

Ava the pirate, Violet the ladybug, Abigail the cow, and Addi the butterfly!!

Sweet princess at school!

The Halloween Photo Shoot:

We set up a time to get all the girls (6) in a special photo shoot. Well, we got 3 out of 6 and lost those three to koodies!! We still had a good time and missed our friends. Here are Addi, Aida and Abigal. We missed Violet, Ava, and Alli!

b a l l e r n i a

w o l f

she started ballet lessons or pre-ballet the first week of october. there was a ballet demo and since she loved it so much we decided to enroll her. she's a natural - no one in mommy's or daddy's family did ballet so this is all abigail!! it was so fun to try on the outfit and practice at home before the first class. then daddy went to video tape after three weeks! she was fantastic!!

VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i48gxQExQPs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVJxAfab7_U

Adios Crib, Hello Toddler Daybed!

We've converted the crib to the daybed set up as of this past weekend 10/03/09. We didn't plan to do it this early, but a certain little miss was not napping on the weekends. Occasionally, she'd do a 45min - 1 hour nap on one of the weekend days all the while she could nap a full 2 hours a day at school during the week. We figured she was just having too much fun with mom and dad during the weekend. Well, daycare suggested the conversion since she was sleeping in cots at school and felt like she had the ability to get out of it when she was ready to get up. Well, we tried it and it worked like a charm! Saturday she logged in a 2 hour nap and on Sunday too!! When she was done, she got down and came out into the living room! Fantastic!! Our sweet baby girl is growing. Boo-hoo!!! She looks so big in this picture. AAAGGGHH.

CAMPING TIME!!

Abigail went on her first camping trip ever! It was loads of fun. We went to Grandpappy Point at Lake Texoma. The weather was fantastic, scenery great and of course the BEST company ever. We went with a few friends and got to hang out and play, go to the beach, hang out by the campfire and eat smores , and more!! Here are just a few pics of the great fun we had.

S M O R E S ! ! !



COLORING WITH FRIENDS



AT THE BEACH!


ADAM HANGING ADDI AND ABBY !

AT THE CAMPSITE PLAYGROUND!

A QUIET MOMENT ALL ALONE SOAKING IT ALL IN!

YAHOO! THE ADULTS BY THE CAMPFIRE ONCE THE BABIES WERE DOWN FOR THE NIGHT!!

CUTE GROUP PHOTO AT THE BEACH!

THE GOLD POLKA DOTS

Friday is casual day at school - no uniforms! So we get to pull out something from the closet that isn't khaki, navy, burgundy or white! Wearing a blouse that Daddy picked made for some fun photos! Here she is discovering pork ribs! She loved them and just kept chewing off the meat from the bone.


Realizing that the bone doesn't taste all that great!


This was in the morning on the way to school
those gold polka dots just drew me in!


Trying to tell mom, enough with the camera so early in the morning.

Trying to figure out what this gold thing on her waist is.

Playing on the ottoman in the living room!

More figuring out the belt!

MY SWEETIE IN GOLD POLKA DOTS!

CONSTRUCTION IS UNDERWAY: OPERATION CREATE A FUN PLAYSET FOR OUR LITTLE WOLF!!

Abigail told mommy to write this on her chalkboard yesterday morning when Daddy started getting to work on the playset! Start date: Aug 15, 09.

So far so good...Daddy's all smiles.

Abigail checking out the tools!

Woo-hoo, progress!

The excitement is clearly mounting and so obvious on that face!

DAY 2: 8/16/08, Abigail bringing daddy some ice water!

Daddy happily taking the tall water bottle!

Aw, a sweet 'thank you' kiss!

The World of Mosaics...the Teachings of Jody Truly Mosaics

So, I was so blown away by my friend, Jody's, incredible mosaic talent, one of MANY talents this little lady possesses, that I had to beg her to teach me some. While I know I could never come close to what she creates, I would have fun learning from the pro and we could sit and enjoying talking about life while working on some mosaic projects! Check out her mosaics blog linked here to mine (see link off to the right).

I started with a birthday project for my sis...I figured if it came out bad, she'd still love it cause it came from me and from my heart and my cheesy arts n crafts mood. :)

Class I: Here I am on location with Master Mosaic-er Jody Truly.


Okay, so this is not quite as easy as I thought.

My teacher, the Jody Truly, from Jody Truly Mosaics. So kindly showing off my work...novice result. I strive to be her mosaics prodigy. Ha!

Here it is at it's current state. It's going to be a hot plate trivet. Ignore the fish, while my sis loves fish, I decided not to go that route when I realized how difficult that little fish would be as my very first project!

THANKS JODY!!!

A Playset for Abigail

Yup, we gave in to our active toddler and broke down and got her this playset! Hopefully, it will last her for years of play!! Neighbors and BFFs can all partake!! :)



Here she is going over the instructions with Daddy!!


She seemed excited when the boxes got here as if she knew what was going on. She even gave the picture of the playset a kiss!!



Look at all those nails!! More than "some" assembly required if you ask me!

Sure, Daddy is smiling now, but we haven't even opened all the boxes yet!