BETTER LATE THEN NEVER!

GABRIEL'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!

So, as the title states, better late then never! The party was 3 weeks ago and I am just now posting these pictures...goodness!

Here is gabe waiting for all of his friends to arrive, he is so happy!

Gabe has finally graduated from Baby Einstein (even though he still loves it) and he is in love with Mickey Mouse Club House! So of course we had to throw a mickey party!

Unfortunately, before all of his friends arrived, he got so tired that he crashed on my bed! HE WAS OUT COLD! We finally had to wake him up half way though so he could enjoy his own party...poor little guy!

His friends were so great in giving him some fun presents! He LOVES all of them, thank you that was so sweet of everyone!

Gabe had a hard time blowing out his candle himself so he asked his friend to help him

"Hum, I think I like it!"

Ok so I had to throw this picture in! I told you he was becoming such a Ham and posing for all of these pictures! But as you can see he fully enjoyed his cake!

Thank you to all who were able to make it, we loved having you!

PROJECTS

So, already this year has been the"Year of Projects" and it is only the middle of JANUARY! I have been trying to find inexpensive ways to dress up our house without spending an arm and a leg to do it. So I have been doing this!

PROJECT #1

Cluster of Frames

*Some of the frames aren't filled in yet because I am getting them developed AND I am taking gabe's 1 year shots soon!*

(this one looks smudged by the "dare to" part, but it isn't in real life)

FINAL OUTCOME

I have a lot of bare walls in my house so I thought if I made a cluster of frames that it will help fill up the space! It was great!

PROJECT #2

PAINTING

I know it looks a little bare now, but I will add a few things here and there to it to make it complete. But we have a red wall in our living room! SUPER FUN!

THE BIG "1"

Hey all, I am finally here posting. It has sure been a great holiday and I have a million more pictures to share, but I wanted to post about this first.

As we were flying from Florida to New York, gabe fell fast asleep in my arms and I

couldn't help but just stare at him for the longest time.

"My little boy is 1 today" I kept repeating to myself. "Where did the time go?"

A year ago I was in the hospital waiting for this little boy to come into my life...

into our life. Now he is here and I am afraid the time is just flying by to quickly I have no idea where it went!

I started reflecting on the things he has done this year and the results astounded me! My cute boy has been to 8 states (some multiple times) and 4 countries before he turned the age of 1! No wonder he doesn't sleep well! He has also learned to crawl and then walk, he has 3 teeth (I know, kind of funny but also cute at the

same time!), he can say "mama" "dada" "ba-ba" "ba" (meaning ball) "hi" and "ya", he still LOVES his binkey (much to my detriment) and he has a head of curly

blonde hair that makes all of the other kids jealous! He loves his toys, cousins, friends and absolutely most of all he loves to play with my hair.

Oh how I love this boy!

Also as I was looking at my son I started to think about how he has changed physically as well. He was born with a thick head of dark hair and olive skin. He was so tiny then I truly felt like I was going to break him! Then over the months he started getting bigger and stronger that now he isn't a little boy anymore, he is a

"little man".

I felt like a total baby but I almost started to cry right there on the plane. I am just glad that he is mine and I get to see him every day!

Here are a few pictures that I love from the past year.

2 weeks

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

BROKEN OVEN, "UP" CAKE, AND A MISSING CHIMNEY

The following pictures are of the birthday party we threw for Gabe in Connecticut this past weekend. I called so many bakeries out there to see if anyone can make a Disney Pixar's "UP" cake because it is Gabe's favorite movie, but no one could. So, without having the slightest idea what I was doing I decided to make a cake!

So, as the title of this blog post states, a broken oven, "up" cake and a missing chimney. Well, funny story there. You see, Nate's family took the red eye flight the night before so everyone was in bed while I was trying to make the cake. Unbeknownst to me, their oven was broken! So 5 attempts later I finally got the cake and cupcakes to work! GOODNESS WAS I FRUSTRATED!

Then on top of that, like I said before, I had no idea what I was doing, so that was kind of fun. There here is the funniest part of all. I had this piece of cake left out to make the chimney but I ran out of frosting. So I as was coming back from getting some more, I walk into the room and there is my sweet sister in law eating the chimney! I have to admit it was funnier then it sounds and I just busted up laughing! That poor girl though, I thought it was so funny that I had to tell everyone at the party that she ate it! SORRY LILY!

So without further ado, here is my "UP" cake.

Unfortunately we didn't get a straight on picture, but you get the idea

Gabe LOVED the cake. I think more then anything though, he loved just squishing his hands in it and making a BIG mess!

OK, so not the best picture, but that was only the start of his messy hands. Goodness, such a boy!

Here is his cousin Abby helping him eat the cake

You can see the damage in the cake. I have to admit most of it was on his clothes and the floor, but it was fun!

Here is gabe with "the girls" opening his gift. He loved it!

Then I had to put this picture in so that everyone can see my cute father in law and sister in law in a party hat! It was adorable! Someone asked him why he was wearing it and he said "I am at a birthday party so of course I am wearing a birthday hat!"

THANK YOU to my sweet sister in laws and nieces who were there to support gabe on his birthday! He ABSOLUTELY loves you and LOVES the gifts you gave him. THANK YOU!

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!