Christmas

Season's Greetings!  So sorry this post is late!  We had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas in Breckenridge with my family!  Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera along with us, so all of the pictures were taken by my Mom or on Joe's phone.

Gabi & Maya had a blast on Christmas...I think they are at the perfect ages for that right now.  Maya was just so excited for presents to be opened....she kept saying, "What is it?...What is it?..." when someone would be unwraping a present.  They definitely must have been on Santa's nice list because they were spoiled!

Before heading to Christmas Eve Mass

Hoping they are on Santa's nice list :)

Three Santas

 We opened presents Christmas morning...thankfully waited until 7am (still earlier than normal, but I can't complain) and were patient while everyone gathered to begin the "opening ceremonies"...heee heee. (It is late as I'm writing this and I'm super tired, so you'll have to excuse my corniness.)

Maya in her new sleeping bag...Gabi recieved one too, so we'll have fun camping this summer!

Sock Monkeys from Uncle Tom and Angeline!

Maya feeding cookie monsters cookies....she was really scared of it when she first opened it...she ran away from it and said, "I don't like cookie monster!"  Finally, she warmed up to it and it is now one of her favorites.

Say Cheese!  I need to learn how to download the pictures from this camera, because the girls take some funny ones!

Family picture after Joe and I had opened the presents the girls had made and wrapped just for us at Evonne's house...pictures of themselves in cute little frames.  They did a good job at keeping them a secret!

Joe in his new Carhartt!

The girls helping Uncle Tom open up a present.

We had a very fun time celebrating Christmas with my family!  So thankful we were all able to get together.

Picture with Santa

Picture with Santa...yeah, right.  Maya took one look at him and said, "NO WAY!" (Note the tears in her eyes.)  I don't blame her...people in costumes kinda freak me out too.

So, we have a cute picture of the girls together in front of a fake fire instead! :)  We tried again when Gio, Marco, and Milan came.  Holding Gabi's hand must have helped this time.  What's up with the tongue though? :)  Crazy girl.

Merry Christmas!!

Disney on Ice...Toy Story 3

Maya...so exited for it to start!

So was Gabi!  She was on the edge of her seat the entire show!

The aliens and "THE CLAW......."

The girls' favorites...Woody, Bullseye, and Jessie

We had a blast while we were in Denver!  We were able to stay with our good friends, The Delaneys.  Their girls, our girls, and Gavin (Joe's co-worker's little boy) all stayed at their house with a babysitter while we attended the KL&A Chrismtas party.  I was lucky enough to be in town when my awesome teacher-friends had their annual cookie exchange, so we all got caught-up and ate lots of good treats.  We were also able to see Julia, Griffin & Lily, and our former neighbor, Angie.  I really miss all of our friends, but that is about all I miss about Denver...definitely not that traffic!

Merry Christmas!!

Ready for Christmas!

Season's Greetings!  We sure are enjoying the Christmas season including the Buffalo Christmas parade and other festivities, a trip to Denver for a couple of Christmas parties, and lots of baking and gift wrapping!  We are looking forward to a few more Christmas parties, Gabi's school Christmas program, and our trip to Breckenridge with my family for Christmas.



All dressed in their Christmas dresses ready to go to town to visit Santa (will post a pic of that after I figure out how to get the scanner connected to my new computer - it is quite comical!)

Sweet girls in front of our first real Christmas tree cut!  Joe, Dave, and Greer went on a tree cutting expedition in the mountains after Thanksgiving.  We actually picked this tree out while hiking last summer. :)

We put our old fake tree in the girls room and decorated it up very girly!  They love it (and it makes their room so cozy!)

Sweet Maya

Silly Gabi

The girls and I cut out and decorated Christmas cookies this morning.  I then spent the rest of the morning cleaning the kitchen...yikes.

We wish you all a Blessed Holiday Season!  Merry Christmas!

Love,
Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Turkey Day Fun!

Hello!  We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It sounded like it was a beautiful day where most of our loved ones were celebrating.  It certainly was a great day here in "God's Country!"

Gabi put the bodies on the base, the head (butterscotch chip) on, and the candy corn feathers on.
I assembled the two peices and added the eyes and waddle. :)

Gabi and I made 25 chocolate turkeys (a Grandma Dorothy tradition) on Tuesday night.  We planned to take some to Evonne's (our babysitter's) house and have one for all of our guests.  The girls thought they were just great and I guess Jackson did as well....he ate all but 8 of them. :(  So, we had a do-over on Wednesday night so each of our family members would have one sitting next to their plate. :)  Darn dog anyways.

Gabi adding the turkey head.  I just realized that she isn't wearing her glasses in this picture...I wonder where they were.  Usually she is very good about keeping her glasses on and enjoys having them.

Grandpa Don carving up the turkey!

The kiddos at their table!  Yummy turkey!!

Just about ready to sit and enjoy the food.  That's butternut squash soup using squash from our garden...it was really good!  Dave & Joyce made hurricane drinks for us that they had enjoyed while in New Orleans last week.

After the feast, the guys took all of the kids outside for some sledding behind the 4-wheeler!  They had a blast and we have decided this is one of the many reasons we love living in the country!



Ready to go!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't wipe the smiles off these faces if you tried!

Joe gets in on the fun. :)

"old-fashioned" sledding too :)

 

Back inside warming up with those turkeys Gabi made!!

We had our traditional ornament exchange.  Sorry blogger is being annoying and won't let me load these pictures the correct orientation...grrr. :)

Gabi received a tinkerbell ornament!!

Maya gave Uncle Greer a trout ornament made locally.

Group Photo time.  I wish I had gotten a photo of all of the attendees together.  I guess we were having so much fun that we forgot about doing that!

On Friday morning, Amanda & I went to Billings for a power shopping trip.  We did really good and had a fun time!  That afternoon, "Nona" (Greer's mom) took Gabi & Gio to see Happy Feet 2 (the 3-D version) in Sheridan.  These two have quite a good time and really enjoyed the movie and the car ride.

We are so thankful for all God has blessed us with.  Much love to you all! Tara

Thanksgiving...a bit early

Hello!  Not much new around here.  We are all doing great!  Our first snow storm arrived Thursday evening that resulted in a 2 hour school delay (yay!) and about 12" total.  We're really looking forward to Thanksgiving with Joe's family, a trip to Denver in a couple of weeks, and our week in Breckenridge over Christmas!  Here are some pics:

Curly-Q

These are our lovies.

The life of a cat.

We're training her early.

Gabi loves the snow.

Maya does not like the snow...this is her "I'm cold and want to go inside now" pose.

Gio joined us this morning for a little fun with watercolors.

 
We have so much to be thankful for...family, friends, health, good jobs, and a beautiful place to call home.  Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

Love, Tara

Halloween Fun

Here are some pictures from our Halloween adventures.  The girls had a great time and the weather held out long enough for us to get our fill of treats.

Headed towards downtown Buffalo to the "Monster March"

The crazy candy corn and silly giraffe!

The best part of Maya's giraffe costume is the rear end.  I got her shaking her hips (which she is really good at anyways) and about fell over from laughing so hard.  You can see for yourself how cute it is here:

Lots of cousins together and Kate & Ella's house before trick-or-treating!

Bombarding the neighbor's front door..better hurry up, Maya!

We headed to Diane & Splint's house after trick-or-treating for some more festive fun.  The lefty couldn't quite break the pumpkin pinata, but she sure gave it her best shot.

Joe, Gabi & Maya carving pumpkins the night before Halloween

Maya loved the seeds and goo from the pumpkin...she also loved the roasted pumpkin seeds that it turned into!

 Thanks for checking in on us!  Lots of love!  Tara