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

Another G & M Update! :)

Hello everyone! Here are some pictures and videos from the past couple of weeks! Enjoy!

Sisters

Maya really likes to watch Gabi. When Maya is sitting up, she'll follow Gabi around the room watching her every move. Gabi is getting a lot better with Maya and likes to "play" with her. She can say "Maya" and is excited for Maya to sleep in her bedroom. Maya has a crib now, but we haven't moved her into Gabi's room yet. We'll see how that goes!

Maya Smiles -- they come pretty easy and often now!

She's getting very good at holding her head up too.

I took the girls to the Jefferson County Fair this morning with some friends and their girls:

Charlie, Marisol, & Gabi in front of the sheep.

When Gabi saw the horses and sheep, she would make the appropriate sound and then say "PAPA!" She is used to seeing these animals on Papa Dave's ranch!

Gabi pets (she did after the pic was taken) Danny, the goat!

Here is a video of Maya checking out her feet -- she thinks they are pretty cool!

Here is another one of her kicking -- she is constantly kicking her legs when she is awake:

Our other big news is that Gabi is potty trained! Yippee! It was quite the undertaking and wasn't the most pleasant way to spend our anniversary and my birthday, but it was worth it. We have learned that Gabi will do almost anything for a jelly belly! Ha! She still has an accident every now and then, and we're still working on using the public restrooms and #2, but we have a good start.

The entire Hall family had some pictures taken over the 4th of July weekend. Here are a couple of them:

Marco & Maya

To see more, click here. The password is halls10
To see ALL of them, click here.

We're headed to Alliance this weekend for my Grandma Genie's 90th Birthday! Should be a fun time! Love to you all!

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

Just Chillin'

It is hard to believe that Maya is 2 months old already! She is such a sweet little baby and we love having her around. She went to see Dr. Julia on Friday and weighed in at 10lbs 7oz (50th %ile) and was 22.5in long (60th %ile). So, she is eating well and healthy as can be.

She has discovered her feet and loves watching herself kick! She is constantly moving her legs and can even scooch herself around on her back in her crib or on the floor. Even the nurse commented on how strong her legs were when she was giving her her shots. She is a smiley little bug and I think I've even heard her giggle once or twice. Maya has been sleeping 8-9 hours at night since she was around a month old, so that has been very nice for me.

On Saturday, we went to the Buffalo Bill Days Parade here in Golden. Gabi really enjoyed all of the horses, marching bands (she's really into dancing right now), and the balloons. It is a fun parade.

You can't beat this view!

Gabi's friend Lily (Lily's brother got to ride a street sweeper in the parade!)

You can't have a parade in Golden without some Coors trucks. I thought this was a good pic because if you look closely, you can see the brewery in the background.

Here is a picture of Gabi and Lily drinking their milk together in our recliner last night. They look pretty tuckered out after playing hard. Lily and I have the same birthday -- July 28 -- she will be 2 on Tuesday and I will be 30! Yikes!

Joe and I had our first official date night on Friday. It is the first time we had gone out by ourselves since before Gabi came home! We had a great time eating at the Olive Garden and seeing "The Hangover." Thanks to Char and Jason for babysitting! Joe and I celebrate our 7th Anniversary tomorrow!

Love to you all,

Joe, Tara, Gabi & Maya

Fun in Iowa

Yes, we were crazy enough to venture out on the road again last weekend...this time a 10.5 hour ride to Urbandale to see my family. Maya is at a good age to travel, but keeping Gabi happy and entertained was a full-time job each way. We made it and had lots of fun with my parents and brother.

Maya was baptized on Saturday at St. Pius X Catholic Church, the same church that Joe & I were married in. Our family friend, Deacon Rick did the private service and it was beautiful. He said that Maya was the first baby that he had baptized that did not cry at all. She even smiled after he rubbed oil on her head. What a happy girl she is! Our friend, Kara Jones, made Maya's dress and Gabi's as well. They are beautiful! My brother, Tom, is Maya's Godfather.

Joe, Maya, and Tom

Gabi and Grandma Mary

Proud Grandparents & Godfather

Baptism attendees with Deacon Rick

On Sunday evening, we had a party celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday. His birthday was actually back in April, but he wanted good weather so his band buddies could have a Rock 'n' Roll concert outdoors. They did an awesome job! It was fun to see some family friends that I haven't seen since I left home 11 years ago (or longer!) It was also nice to meet some of his co-workers and church friends for the first time. My uncles from Omaha were able to attend, so it was fun to catch up with them as well.

Gabi teaches Uncle Tom how to use a camera ;-) Gabi adores Tom -- and since we've returned from our trip, she keeps saying,"Tom?"

On our way back to Denver, we stopped in Lincoln and had lunch with my Grandma Dot. She got to meet Maya for the first time.

Early last week, my Grandma Dot asked me to take a close-up picture of Gabi and Maya together so that she could show her friends. When I was feeling up to the challenge, I sat them both on the couch and started shooting very quickly. I had to take almost 20 pictures to get a few decent ones. Here a 3 of them.

This is my ultimate favorite:

Doesn't Gabi look totally guilty here? Even though she wasn't the reason Maya started crying, her "I didn't do it and even if I did I'm too cute for you to get mad" smile says otherwise.

That's all for now! Take care!

Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya

A Wyoming Weekend

We hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. We spent ours in Buffalo with Joe's family and had a great time. Gabi and Gio wore each other out and Maya and Marco got acquainted. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Watching the fire at the cabin and waiting for "s'more time"

I don't know how Joe and Greer got them to pose like this, but doesn't it look like a prom pic? :)

Grammy Joyce with 2 sleeping kiddos!

Going with Papa to find marshmallow roasting sticks

Stop and smell the lupine

A random hug we caught on camera. There were lots of hugs and fun play between Gabi and Gio, but there were a few arguments as well. Sharing 101 here we come.

Waiting for s'mores on Grandpa's lap.

Gabi's 1st s'more. A new favorite treat, I believe.

We had professional family pictures taken on Sunday -- 29 of us Halls in all. I will post a few when we get them back.

Take care! Joe, Tara, Gabi, & Maya