Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Everyone! We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was complete with family, lots of food, some intense Mexican Train Domino playing, and being entertained by Gabi.

The feast is ready! Our Thanksgiving guests -- Tom, Dave, Joe, Tara, Mary, Gary, and Joyce is the picture taker (Gabi was napping)

Gabi enjoying her first Thanksgiving dinner -- she loved it, of course!

As previously mentioned, Gabi was our entertainment for the weekend. She loved having everyone around to clap for her and laugh at her. She loves her family!

Riding her fire truck


Helping Papa Dave unwrap his ornament during the annual Thanksgiving ornament exchange.

Wearing Uncle Tom's big boots

Giddy Up Horsey!

"Here Comes the Bumblebee..."

Gabi is walking more and more everyday. We have lots of fun with her! We're so thankful our family was able to join us -- thank you all for traveling so far and for the fun time.

Tune back later this week for a big announcement from Gabi!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Watch Out...Here She Comes!

Gabi is officially a walker! We've been practicing for a few days and she thinks it is so fun to walk between Joe and I. It started as 1 or 2 steps between us and then collapsing in giggles and now, as you can see in the video, she is making it pretty far. She still crawls most of the time because it is a lot more efficient, but she is getting better fast! Let the chase begin!

Fall has decided to come to Golden, even though our weather has been very dry and warm for the most part. Joe has raked up close to 30 bags of leaves so far. Remember that silver maple tree I mentioned in a previous post, it isn't so well-liked in the fall! :) Gabi didn't know what to think when I put her in the pile of leaves and didn't want to touch them at first, but she warmed up quickly as you can see in the video.

"Yuck."

"Hmmm, whadat?" :-)

"Leaves are pretty fun afterall!"

Now if we could just get her to use a rake...maybe next fall!

We hope you all are looking forward to Thanksgiving. Both sets of parents and my brother, Tom, will be joining us in Golden. It will be a full house and sure to be lots of fun! May we give Thanks to God for all of the joys He has given us this year.

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Happy Halloween!

Hi Everyone! We hope you all had a fun Halloween and are enjoying the fall weather (we definitely can't complain -- it's been in the 70s all week!) Here are some pictures from Gabi's Halloween. She loved being in her peacock costume and acted even sillier than her normal silly self in it.

We went to visit lots of people for Halloween -- some neighbors, Joe's office, Tara's school (Thursday night), and actually took her out trick or treating with some friends around Golden. The picture above was taken by our neighbor, Angie, in her front yard. The picture below is at Brian & Julia's house with friend Lily before our candy-seeking outing! Lily was a cute bumblebee.

We spent last weekend in Buffalo visiting Joe's family. Gio and Gabi had such a fun time playing. Greer got them on video and posted it to YouTube. Click Here to see the video of their fun times together. We also went to the pumpkin festival in town and picked out a couple of pumpkins. They have so much fun together.

We put Gabi in her costume last weekend as well, so Grammy and Papa could see her. It is the cutest when she is crawling because the wings pretty much blanket her entire body, so all you see is the little tail wiggling back and forth. Good for a few giggles!

This is the rear view:

Gabi is just about ready to walk -- she gets closer and closer each day. I'm sure by my next post, we'll have some footage of those first steps. Her new thing is to say, "What's that?" (Heard as "Whatdat?") and point at an object. I bet we hear it and answer it at least 100 times a day. She is very observant and curious and it's fun to see her putting everything together. She still loves books, being around people, and being outside looking at everything.

We hope you all had a very fun Halloween! Thanks for checking in on us!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabriela Peacock

More Birthday Pics

Hi everyone! Here are some pictures from our trip to Laramie last weekend. We met up with Amanda, Greer, Gio, and Joe's parents. We celebrated Gabi's birthday and took in a Wyoming football game.

Aunt Amanda made Gabi this Dora birthday cake! Isn't it cool?!

Not only did it look great, it tasted great too!

Gio helped Gabi open presents!

Gio, Gabi, & Aunt Amanda at Jerad & Jen's tailgate before the game.

Gabi meets Cowboy Joe in Tailgate Park

This is what the UW quarterbacks were doing too -- asleep at the helm! So frustrating! Gabi can fall asleep in the noisiest places! I wish I could do that!

Eating some of Great-Grandma Phyllis's apples in the park. Those 2 little teeth (now three) had some work to do!

Until next time! Have a great weekend!

Tara

The Big One!

Here are some pictures from Gabi's first birthday! The first celebration of the day was at Teresa's house this morning after I got off of work. Octavia & Peyton helped Gabi celebrate by eating cupcakes and singing Happy Birthday to her! Octavia even helped Gabi blow out her candle!

Yumm!

Octavia & Gabi

Joe & I helped her celebrate again this evening with another round of cupcakes and singing. Even Grandma Mary and Grandpa Gary got in on the celebrations thanks to Skype! We are meeting up with Grandma Joyce, Grandpa Dave, Uncle Greer, Aunt Amanda, & Gio in Laramie for a football game and some more birthday celebrations on Saturday!

Joe thought these blocks would encourage her to become an engineer someday! :)

Our Silly Girl

It is hard to celebrate Gabi's birthday without thinking about her birthmother in Guatemala and what she must be feeling today. Words cannot express our appreciation for her for giving us our daughter. We're sure her decision was not an easy one a year ago. This little girl has brought such joy to our lives and a kind of love that only parents must know. Please pray for Gabi's birthmother, that she may be comforted to know that Gabi is healthy, happy, and thriving in our family.

Gabi went to see Dr. Julia today (whose birthday is today too!) and came out with the following stats and 4 shots (ouch!):

• 23lbs. 1.5oz (85th %ile)
• 31.25inches (100th %ile)
• Healthy as can be!
  

Thank you all for helping us celebrate our Gabi and her first year of life. The support we have received this year has been amazing and we are so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful friends and family!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Dancing to Her Own Beat!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for stopping by for a Gabi update! She's been busy learning new things! I think going to Teresa's house (our babysitter) a couple of mornings a week has really helped her with walking, talking, and her new favorite thing to do, dancing! She is doing really well and didn't even cry when I dropped her off last Thursday, which is good, but I was kind of sad too!

Here is a video of her dancing to her favorite artist, Stevie Ray Vaughn! Grandpa Gary is so proud!

Gabi has started "cruising" around the furniture and with her walker. She also loves to do squats, which makes my legs burn just watching her!

Gabi has always been a good eater, but we've found a new favorite...spaghetti! Yum! She wasn't too big on the peas, though.

I think I tried too hard to get these pigtails to work, but I thought they were cute, nonetheless. Someday!

Gabi really likes Cowboy football, even though Mom & Dad are a little frustrated with them this year. She loves the music and when everyone claps (even though there have been more boos than claps this season!) ;-)

Gabi and I went to visit our friends, Char and Jason who had a baby girl yesterday! Morgan McKinnon Delaney is such a cutie! Her and Gabi will be good buddies once she gets big enough to defend herself! Congratulations you guys!

It's hard to believe that Gabi will be 1 year old next week (the 25th)! Tune back then for some birthday pics!

Love to you all!

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Gabi's First Photo Shoot...

...Okay, professional photo shoot! ;-) If you're a regular reader of our blog, you know that Gabi has had her picture taken many, many times and does actually pose on request! ha!

Our awesome photographer, Tanja, put Gabi's photos into a gallery ready to view. Click HERE to create an account. Then, click on Gabriela's gallery and enter the password "hall" to view. E-mail me at tmlamay@yahoo.com if you have any questions.

Have a great weekend everyone! Tara