Hall Happenings

We hope this finds you all happy and healthy! Here are some pics and updates from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!
Gabi & Maya are both doing great. I took them to see Dr. Julia for their 2 year and 4 month old appointments a few weeks ago...here are the stats:



Maya: 24in (50%), 13lbs 12.5oz (50%), 17in head (90%)


Gabi: 35.5in (>90%), 29.2 lbs (80%), ?head(a lot to remember with 2 kids at once!)



Both passed the developmental questions/tests with flying colors. The 3 of us left with a total of 6 shots amongst us -- Maya got the worst of it...poor girl!




We started feeding Maya rice cereal a few weeks ago as well. She is finally getting the hang of it and doesn't make quite as big of a mess as she did in the picture below.



Last week, my friend Char hosted a scrapbooking baby shower for Maya. Everyone made scrapbooking pages for Maya's album. They turned out wonderful and will make putting the album together so easy! I was especially glad that everyone signed the pages that they made, so we will always remember who contributed to the album. Thank you to all that came! Here are some pictures from the party.

Marisol & Maya the drooler!

Morgan, Marisol, Maya, & Danielle playing Ring Around the Rosy

Gabi & her beloved Elmo

Good friends, Donna & Kristine, with Maya

Last Saturday, Joe & I went to the Booklover's Ball, a black tie event benefiting the Denver Public Library. It isn't very often that we get dressed up, so I thought I would put a picture of us that was taken for Black Tie Colorado. Even though we were definitely out of our element and didn't know anyone (except Mayor Hickenlooper & Governor Ritter!), we made the most of it and had a good time. We've decided that our next Saturday night out will be dressed in jeans, joined by good friends, with cold beers in our hands! ;-)

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of Maya. She is such a happy baby -- we have really been blessed. Gabi & Maya have been sleeping in the same room for about a month now and it has gone really well. Both are hard sleepers, so that helps. Maya sleeps from about 8pm - 8am, waking up once around 4/5 to eat and then goes back to sleep. Gabi is just zonked from 8-8. Even our extremely creeky floors don't wake her very often.

We're headed to a pumpkin festival tomorrow and to Marisol's 2nd birthday Sunday. Should be fun!

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

The Party Was A Hit!

A picture is worth a thousand words...this one pretty much sums up how much fun Gabi had with 14 of her little buddies at her 2 year old birthday party last night. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for lots of playing and eating in our backyard!

We went with a bug theme for the party...Amanda made the ladybug cake (isn't it cute!?) and I made the bumblebee cupcakes. We also served dirt (oreas, chocolate pudding, and gummy worms)!

Just about ready to blow out the candle! So excited...

Enjoying some watermelon with a few of her best buds...Octavia, Peyton, & Lathyn...

Here are some more party attendees hard at work making their bug jars...they turned out really cute!

When the bug jars were assembled, we went on a "bug hunt!" I spread ~200 plastic bugs all over our lawn and the kids searched and searched to fill up their jars. We think they got them all, but I'm sure Joe will snag a few with the lawnmower! ;-)

Gabi's favorite part of not only her birthday, but her "birthday weekend," was opening presents. She loves her new umbrella, raincoat, and golashes from the Monterastelli clan. She wants to wear her purple boots with EVERTHING! She puts them on first thing in the morning over her pajamas. They really are quite cute.

She also received a Mr. Potato Head family -- she really likes them, but...

...Maya isn't too sure about them yet!

Gabi is growing up so fast. Her vocabulary expands everyday! She can identify all of her colors, animals, shapes, letters, and numbers. She loves dancing to music in her CD player and is constantly giving us some good laughs. The "terrible twos" have made their appearance every now and then, but she is still a very happy little girl.

Thanks for checking in on us,

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Happy 2nd Birthday, Gabriela!

We celebrated Gabi's 2nd birthday today! Can you believe she is two already?! How time flies when you're having fun! Gabi took cupcakes to Tracy's house this morning to share with the other kids and we took her out to eat at The Outback tonight because they have the best mac & cheese around (she pretty much inhales it!) We'll celebrate more on Sunday during her party and I'm sure we'll have lots more pictures then, but in the meantime, here are a few from this evening!

All our love,

Joe, Tara, big girl Gabi, & baby Maya!

Happy Maya Giggles!

We hope this video of Maya giggling brings you smiles -- it sure did for us!

Love to you all,
Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Pierced Ears!

I took Maya to get her ears pierced on Saturday. Gabi's foster mother pierced Gabi's ears when she was 3 months old, so we decided to do the same with Maya because we loved it! I was so nervous because I still remember what a traumatic experience I had when I got my ears pierced at 5 years old. However, I was so relieved when Maya hardly cried at all. She even smiled at the lady right before she did her second ear! Sometimes we think Maya is too laid back for her own good! I've also heard that it doesn't hurt babies as much as older people because of a lack of nerve endings in their earlobes (or something like that.)

Anyways, I picked out the smallest 14kt gold earings they had and they look absolutely huge on Maya. We've been teasing her about her "bling bling" all weekend. LOL!

High Flyer

We hope everyone has a great week and is looking forward to the 3-day weekend coming up. We're headed to Buffalo to celebrate Gio's birthday and for a pig roast at Amanda & Greer's new house. Should be a good time and you can bet there will be lots of pictures next week! ;-)

Love to you all,
Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Crazy Last Days of Summer...

Whew! The last week or so has been a bit crazy around here, but lots of fun! We hosted two sets of friends for dinner (one of which included a scary fire in our grill), enjoyed 16 fabulous teacher friends of mine for Bunko, went on a trip to the zoo and had some fun days with Grammy Joyce, shuttled the girls around to different locations/took time off work to watch the girls each day while our babysitter was on vacation, and I was even part of an evacuation at my school that was big news. Crazy stuff, but we're surviving, relaxing this weekend, and looking forward to getting into a routine this week.


Our friends, Karianne & Justin, came over for some Hall Ranch steaks before they headed back to Japan for their 3rd year of teaching at an international school there. They brought the girls little kimonos, so of course we had to try them out. Justin even had Gabi doing the sumo wrestler walk -- pretty funny!

Can you tell who Maya looks like in this picture? ;-) (Like father, like daughter)

Smiling at big sister -- she's pretty funny!

Kisses for Maya -- sweet girls

While Joe's mom was here, we took Gabi to the zoo and she had a blast. After seeing the kangaroos hopping, she decided she needed to hop around the zoo for quite awhile and say "hop, hop, hop" as she did so. She still loved the elephants and when she saw the giraffes, she said "is tall!" She wasn't a big fan of the carousel, but maybe after a few more tries, she might like it. Grammy and the girls had a fun time while we were at work and Gabi even does the Grammy celebratory dance now as you can see in the video below. She does it a lot after she uses the potty...quite comical! It's funny what they pick up on.

Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for checking in on us! Tara

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma!

Hello! We helped my Grandma Genie celebrate 90 years of life last weekend. She is doing so well and it was wonderful to see her. She is such a special lady -- with unconditional love, an enduring appreciation for her family, a powerful relationship with God, and a funny sense of humor. She also shares my love for all things sweet, especially cookies!

Holding her newest Great-Granddaughter (she has 11 total)

My parents met us in Alliance and we picked up my brother at DIA and brought him with us. It was great to see them and Gabi sure had fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Tom!

I thought this picture of Gabi hugging Jackson was cute. She sure loves her dog and cat!
I head back to school tomorrow. I sure am going to miss being home with my two girls, but we will still have most of the afternoon together, since I'll be home around 3:00 each day. They are going to an in-home sitter in north Golden. Gabi will have a blast -- I took them for a trial day last week and Gabi didn't want to go home when I went to pick her up -- about broke my heart! She's a social bug, so it will be good for her. So, my posts may be few and far between, but I will try my best.

Maya is still doing great -- just happy and content as can be! She is rolling over from her back to her stomach now and we've got her sitting in her Bumbo seat. She's still a little wobbly, but getting better by the day.

Joe's mom is coming this weekend to stay with the girls for a few days while our babysitter is on vacation. Gabi is super excited already!

Love to you all,
Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya