BREAKFAST WITH SANTA

This is the moment every parent thinks about. "Will my son like Santa?" "Will he cry?" "will he actually sit there and be a good little boy for mommy so she can take a picture?" These are the thoughts that run through your head at this exact moment.

At first there was curiosity. "who are you?" "what is that white stuff on your face?"

Next he got shy.

Then he was done "alright I gave you a minute to take pictures so I am done...ooh, what are those big red things over there? I like those better then santa"

So there we have it. He wasn't a a crying child, nor was he happy to see Santa, he just sat there knowing we wanted to get some pictures of him and then moved onto the next thing. Not bad I guess!

Then here is the whole gang who went to Breakfast with Santa. Gabe does't look too happy, maybe he did like santa after all!

WHAT A HAM

So, it has happened.

My son has turned into a mini me. Now, when it comes to looks, my husband can win that contest HANDS DOWN, but personality....well, I do have to say that I have a few personality traits that are starting to seep through to my son. I truly haven't tried to influence him one way or another, but they just seem to happen.

Today we went to the petting zoo at thanksgiving point. The weather was gorgeous for being december and I wanted to take the last chance to be outdoors before the "real snow" hits in. While we were there we looked at the adorable animals; which by the way gabe has started to really interact with them (as shown from the following 2 pictures).

And once that was through we ventured to the mini houses that are there and that is when it happened. I realized that my son is TOTALLY GQ! Everyone used to tease me when I was little that when a camera or video camera came on I completely turned into this big cheeseball and every picture taken I had to be in.

Well, unfortunately for all of Gabriel's future siblings....he is the same way. What do you think?

I have to admit that my friend who was there with us captured more adorable shots of him, but she hasn't been able to send them to me yet, so these are just the few I took. Isn't he precious! I mean, I didn't even have to ask him to do these poses....he just DID them!

The unfortunate thing though, is when I want to have him pose...he does this. Is it just me? Am I stealing his spotlight or something? Goodness, I just wanted a cute picture with my son, is that too much to ask?

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS*HOT COCOA*......AND REINDEER?

Yes you heard right...reindeer. For FHE last week we invited my parents to come with us to Thanksgiving Point where we saw all of these fun christmas lights and displays, listened to Mannheim Steamroller, drank some delicious peppermint hot chocolate and just enjoyed the snow.

Then, after the fun drive we saw them. Poor little guys. They truly looked miserable standing there in the cold with hundreds of people staring at them and taking pictures. I swear one of them looked like he was falling asleep just standing there. Yes, I am talking about the reindeer. I truly don't think I have ever seen a real reindeer before, only on the movies.

So, here you are, some pictures to enjoy just like we did.

Imagine "Carol of the Bells" playing right here

Then imagine "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"

Here is the end when we say goodbye

Then, the reindeer. My parents are holding Gabe in the corner if you can see them.

What a fun way to bring in the holidays!

ALREADY?

Gabe turned 11 months this week. I truly don't know where the time has gone! I feel like life is just one constant roller coaster that as soon as you hit the first down-word motion you zoom as fast as you can and in a million different directions until the ride finally crashes to a stop. That is how I feel about this past 11 months of my Gabriels life. Constant change, constant movement, a whirlwind of new discoveries, expressions and feelings have come and gone in this house hold.

Well, this past month has been no different. I do have to admit this isn't the best footage we have of gabe's "new discovery", there are some that are far better and longer then this, but yet here it is!

Can my son really be walking already?!?!? Yesterday he was walking all over the place without any help. It was incredible! He has been taking a few steps here and there these past couple months, but not until 2 days ago did he really take his first few steps. The crazy thing is, he isn't just walking, he is starting to RUN everywhere he wants to go! HEAVEN HELP ME NOW! Hey, at least maybe now that I have to run to chase him everywhere I can finally loose the last couple pounds I have been wanting too! :-)

WHIRLWIND WEEK

This past few weeks have been crazy, but fun!!! It started off for us in Seattle last weekend to watch the MLS cup! But before we headed to the game we stopped at Pikes Market to look at the fun place! I LOVED IT!

And while we were there we had to stop at the gum wall...so cool but gross at the same time!

Here are some fresh crabs, lobster and shrimp at the market...yummy!

Look at that produce, you can't get better then that! (I wish we had a market like this here)

THE MLS CUP

-WE WON!!!!!!!!!-

Here is the team after they won holding the cup!

Here is my Father and Mother in law celebrating with the team

And of course, we had to celebrate as well!

Nate and Wingert are good friends that nate is actually wearing one of his playing jerseys! He claims it is his good luck charm!

THANKSGIVING IN CONNECTICUT/NEW YORK

Here are the two cousins playing! Actually, Gabe was just pushing her in the wagon and it was so cute! I just couldn't get a good picture of it...

Here is our table before we added the yummy food! Doesn't it look great?

Here is a picture of Gabe and Nate in their matching Holland soccer jerseys they got that weekend!

Then lastly, I was able to see this amazing play! Everyone has to see it, it was amazing!

We hope you had such a great thanksgiving as well!

MLS CUP BABY!!!

We are headed here tomorrow to watch our team ReAL SALT LAKE challenge David Beckham (um, I mean LA GALAXY...excuse me :-) to fight for the MLS CUP! It is going to be such an exciting game!

And then I am headed here for a great thanksgiving dinner cooked by my amazing mother in law! SO FUN!

Have a great thanksgiving everyone!

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!

I WAS SUPPOSED TO SEE THIS ON FRIDAY!

OF COURSE ELTON JOHN HAD TO GET THE SWINE FLU!

IT'S THE HOLIDAY SEASON...

I don't know what it is about today, but I am feeling so festive! I leave friday for thanksgiving and I won't get back until the last day of November, so today I decided to pull out all of my christmas decorations and start putting them up!

I know some of you are thinking "that is WAY TOO EARLY!" And normally I would agree with you and wait until after thanksgiving, but there is something about today that just made me want to bring christmas into our home. I also visualized walking in from thanksgiving holiday to a home that is already decorated with our Christmas village all set up, stockings hanging from our fireplace, christmas lights hung on our roof, the smell of cinnamon lingering in the air...Truth be told, I wish I could decorate like this all year round! The only thing I will save to decorate until after Thanksgiving is our christmas tree.

But do you guys want to know a secret? I have even started doing this...

I know, I am crazy! But truth be told, 3/4 of these gifts are for my nieces and nephews! I just couldn't wait wrap them!

I hope everyone enjoys this holiday season, whether you have started already or if you won't start for a couple weeks!

MY GABE TIME

Lately, mornings have been my favorite time of the day. Even though they have recently been starting around the 5:45-6:30 hour, they still have become a very precious time for me. I have started to call it "my gabe time". Yes, I am with him basically 24/7 and yes, about 10 hours of the day it is typically "mine and gabe time" but mornings have become my favorite.

It all starts when I hear him giggling in the crib while I am trying to get my last precious moments of sleep before I go in to get him. But after hearing him giggle, I can't help myself to go in the room. Instantly upon opening the door, he squeals with delight at seeing me enter the room and then he jumps around laughing just waiting for me to come over to him.

Then after the morning ritual of diaper changes and feeding him, gabe and I ultimately gather on the floor and just play. We play anything that comes to my mind and we laugh and sing and squeal while doing it. Then after I see those eyes start to glaze over and I still don't want him to go to sleep quite yet, I bring him over to the couch and do this:

He nestles in right on my shoulder and we watch baby einstein. These precious moments are what I look forward too. A time where my son isn't kicking and squirming to get down on the floor, but he is still and wanting to sit next to me. It is "my gabe time"

And that is why mornings are my favorite.

WHO'S IN THE DRIVER SEAT?

Lately, when I have been trying to put Gabe in his car seat he burst up in lightening speed, turns around, grabs his handle and does this...

Doesn't he look like he wants to drive or something?

"LUCKY"

Everyone knows that I am a big disney fan. Maybe fan isn't a strong enough word...I am a fanatic. But recently I have become fond of a movie that I never was to keen on while growing up. That movie is:

101 dalmations

It is an adorable movie with cute characters and I especially like one puppy in particular.

Lucky.

Of course there is rollie who is adorable when he says "I can eat a whole elephant" but although that is a cute comment, there is no puppy like Lucky. After a while I was trying to think about why I like this one puppy above all the other 100....and I think I figured out why.

If you aren't familiar with this movie...lucky is the one RIGHT up next to the TV. Actually, there is another clip that I wanted to get where he is actually standing up with his face next to the tv. I have realized he is my favorite because...

I have him right in my home! Every single time the tv is on, boom he goes straight for the it. As if the screen isn't big enough already, he needs to be a foot away! I do move him away so it doesn't hurt his eyes, but truthfully, sometimes I just sit and watch him as he is there. His face just seems to light up even more knowing he is that much closer to the puppets on baby einstein or Handy Manny and his tools. And when his face does that I know

That I am "lucky" to be his mom.

TOP 20...

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE?

UM....YES!!!

(not me, silly, ashleigh!)

This is one of my amazing friends from high school and her husband Ryan Di Lello... and they just made it to the top 20 in SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!

Ashleigh and I have been friends since junior high and she has always been an incredible person AND dancer. She is the nicest girl you will ever meet and always has been. She and her husband have been dancing on a cruise ship for the past few years and almost as soon as they got back, they auditioned to be on this show...and the rest is history!

So, I am rallying my friends together to support her and her husband and vote for my friend!

It airs tonight at 7:00 so watch it! :)

A BOY AND HIS BENCH

I am grateful for the bench.

With this beautiful fall weather our days have been spent outside in the backyard. We do the usual routine, I set him down on the grass and stretch out my legs like I am going to play a game with him...

but he has a different idea in mind.

Every time I set him down, he bolts to one place

The bench.

It doesn't help that there is dirt all around the bench, but yet, he loves the bench. Maybe its because it is red, or because it seems to be the latest hot spot of the local birds, but he loves it.

So, today before church I thought he looked so cute in his little suit and thought it was perfect

I needed some pictures next to his favorite place around our house...

Also, I know that every single blog post is about Gabe....but hey, look at how cute he is! Why would you want to see anything else?

HALLOWEEN PICTURES

This was a first. Every time we get the camera out, gabe is all giggles and smiles! I haven't had a bad "photo shoot" of him yet! But for some reason, today he was not having it!

NO SMILES!

So, despite our bad luck with his halloween pictures, I think a few of them still came out pretty darn cute! I just hope on actual Halloween we can get some smiling pictures!

We are getting him ready for his fun costume...and no it isn't a scarecrow (even though that is what his nose looks like!) And I am telling you, it took me about 20 minutes to put that nose on! He DOES NOT sit still!

My neighbor has this cute display out in front of her house, so I asked if I can take some fun pictures of gabe...

Or at least they should have been fun!

If you can't tell, he is a Dalmatian puppy. If you didn't know this already then you do now! Gabe ABSOLUTELY LOVES DOGS! Especially when they bark at him! So, we had to dress him up as a puppy this year, there was just no other option

I took this shot as we were heading back into our house to show his "grumpy" face. I wish we could have had at least ONE SMILE! But, nope....maybe next time!

MY BFF'S

Last night I was having a hard time falling asleep. My mind kept going from topic to topic thinking of the most random things, then thinking about something completely insignificant that it made me even more frustrated for being awake thinking about it! But then, as usual, my mind wandered to Gabe. I thought about his life thus far and how great it has been. His giggle when we come into the room. His new expression of delight he does when he is happy. The way he kicks his legs so hard when he doesn't want you do to something...and then I started to think about his future.

"How will he be when he grows up?"

"What kind of person will he be?"

"Will he play sports?"

or other things like

"I wonder who he will become friends with"

and then it happened.

My mind was suddenly filled with a million memories of my childhood. Memories of 4 friends doing one crazy idea after the other. Times where we played "prince and princesses " and since we only had one boy friend, he was our captor and kidnapped us from our happy palace but then he suddenly transformed into the prince and saved us from the evil dungeons. Or there were the times where we rolled pennies down the drive way for hours seeing who's penny could roll the furthest. Or other times when we borrowed a wheel barrow from a neighbor and we squealed with delight as one of us would push the others down the hill. Another time we would ride our bikes to the local grocery store and buy airheads and warheads. Or, if we were really lucky, we bought a King Kong Kone and we raced to see who can eat theirs the fastest. We ran through sprinklers, jumped on the tramp, made up crazy dances to fun music thinking we were the most amazing dancers in the world. We laughed, we cried, we hugged (and even 2 of my friends kissed!) But we were together and that is how it stayed, even now.

Then after thinking about my childhood, I just smiled. Of course gabe will find amazing friends like I have. I know that he will get to have even more adventures then I did, come up with even crazier things to do and have even more fun memories with is friends and that made me happy.

I still have these best friends today. And as cheesy as we get when we are together and as cheesy as it sounds to hear, I will have these best friends forever.

And that thought helped me fall into a deep, restful sleep.

MISCHIEF...

All I can say is

"PICTURES SPEAK A THOUSAND WORDS!"

He has discovered the drawers....BUMMER!

Gabe's little "innocent" face after I saw him kissing the dinosaur!

oh yes, this little stinker is a VERY messy eater

"Please, sir I want some more"

I came in the other day and the whole entire roll of toilet paper was on the floor,

you can't really tell by this picture, but you can see the rest of it in the bottom right corner

Hum, I don't think that is how its supposed to be played with,

but maybe that's just me!

Gabe LOVES his tunnel, back and forth, back and forth

I have to admit it is exhausting for me just to watch it!

P.S. Sorry for the low quality pictures, they were all taken from my phone!