Birthday party with Haley

Thanks to the Hart family hosted our girls' birthday party again this year...and here's some of the fun...and in case you don't remember from last year they are the friends who we met from CrossRoads church on the worship team.  Jayson sings and plays bass and his wife, Amanda, also sings.  Haley is only one day younger than Gabrielle!  

The Little Einstein's "Rocket" cake that I made with his friends June, Quincy, Leo, and Annie.

Rice crispy treats with my added decorations.

Almond bark-covered pretzels that were supposed to be "Leo's conducting batons".  Gabrielle even helped me with the sprinkles.  They were all gone before we went home...I think the adults liked them even more than the kids!

Backside view of the food table.

Waters with cute labels that Amanda made.

Gabrielle checking out all the food (while the other kids are playing around).  Good thing it's just a veggie tray, I guess!

Hmm...how about this tomato?

I like tomatoes...pretty tasty!

Cheeeeeese!

Jayson helping Haley open her gifts.

Some of the people/kids at our party.

A really unique puzzle that we got from the Levant family...it is soft and it is all one piece.  Nick had a great time figuring it out the other day, and Gabrielle had a great time taking it apart!  :)

A Little Einstein laptop...probably one of her favorite toys now.

Everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to the girls...and Maddie getting in on the action too.  She is only 6 months older than Gabrielle, and her parents are part of our church's worship team too.  Josh plays bass and Allison sings.  Amazing, it's it that we found two families who we share so much in common with, huh?  :)

Haley and Gabrielle blowing out their candles...

Check out one of my next blog posts to see the videos.

Gabrielle after the red velvet cake and red frosting...nice!

Sitting on my lap and finishing off some fresh fruit.  She ate strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and blackberries...must be my daughter!  

Haley working on her plate of food.

Some of the other younger girls at our party.

Maddie again with her mom, Allison.

Isabella getting in on the musical activities too.

Gabrielle found Haley's guitar to play with.  I think she might be trying to do some kind of Michael Jackson impression here...who knows.

Gabrielle showing off her "monkey" skills by climbing up the rock wall on Haley's new playground in their backyard.  Impressive for a 2-year old!

Happy 2nd birthday, Gabrielle!

 I can't believe that my little "baby" is already 2 years old.  I was just thinking the other day that I am sure she's going to be "all grown up" before I can even believe it.  Lately, she likes to dance to music with Nick in the evenings, and I was imagining her at her wedding...I'm sure it will be here before I really want it to be!

Gabrielle at 11 weeks.  You can barely still see her "disappearing twin" to the right of her.  I LOVED hearing the heart beat every time we went to the doctor!

First moments with mommy--after 12 hours of induced labor (yuck!) and an emergency c-section since her head was too big for my birth canal, and the cord was around her neck.  

I think we were both tired!

Naked picture in the hospital.  I forgot how weird the umbilical cord looked at first.

My daughter at her baptism...with her godparents (my sister, Katherine, and her husband, Dan).

The first picture of Gabrielle at our new home in Odessa, TX.

Enjoying the bubbles at her 1st birthday party.

Halloween 2008 with daddy.

Helping me create some treats for her birthday party--fat pretzels with almond bark and sprinkles (Leo's Conducting Batons!).

Video clips from a while back...

Just a couple of quick videos that I took one day that Haley was at our house playing over a month ago.  
Ooops...sorry for not posting them sooner!


The girls' version of playing catch together. At least they are playing together and not fighting over the toys this time... progress! :)


More time playing together...this time through the house window.


Playing the piano together...almost pounding. Who would have guessed that either one would be so musically talented? LOL!

You are invited...

Just thought I would show you what I did for Gabrielle's birthday invitation this year...It's Rocket from the Little Einsteins (made from scrapbook paper with jewels for the lights and a puffy ball for the antenna).  I had fun making these (even though there was a LOT of time with scissors involved!).  

Outside cover of the invitation.

Inside the invitation with all the information.

Birthday extravaganza

So, I thought it would be better to let Gabrielle have a few of her birthday gifts this past weekend, even though her birthday isn't until this Friday (Nick didn't like the idea much).  But, I tried to explain to him that he gets an "extravaganza" every year for his birthday, so it's only fair to let Gabrielle experience it too, right?  Plus, this way she's able to enjoy a few gifts at once instead of being inundated with all of them in one day!

Her type-A personality showing through...handing me each little piece of paper that she had ripped off (because she doesn't like making messes very much).

Enjoying the "doodle" (as she calls it) from Grandpa and Grandma Reinke on Saturday.  Since it's the travel size, it's just right for her, and it's come in handy already carrying it around and taking it to different places with us--thanks!

On Sunday she opened another gift from us...two of the Little Einstein characters that play music and say some of the things from their shows (great cartoon about music and art on the Disney channel for those of you who don't have small children).

Daddy helping her get June and Annie out of the boxes.

Fun playing with the dolls...Annie even had to go out to get the mail with us today.  Did I mention that Gabrielle told me she was "cold"...fun to see her imagination at play!  :)

If at first you don't suceed...

...try, try, again, right?  

Well, that's what we did.  We hadn't taken Gabrielle to get professional pictures taken for a while.  So we thought we'd give it another shot this weekend.  A year ago we barely got any good 1-year pictures taken (minus the one of all three of us in our KU champion shirts) because she was freaked out for some reason.  At 18 months she broke out into red splotches on her face and wouldn't stop crying before we even took ONE picture.  Luckily I was able to get a few "school" pictures from our Kid's Day Out photographers at church (through the tears) this last fall.  

 So, we were thrilled when we drove to Lubbock this past Friday and got some great pictures taken at Portrait Innovations...tear free!   We thought about buying more, but I figure that since she's not afraid anymore, perhaps we'll just go more often and take advantage of their great $9.95 package deal.

Can you believe that she's going to be 2 years old already...what a wonderful little girl she's turning into already!

And, of course, we had to get an updated family picture too...I think that this one turned out pretty good too (even though Gabrielle's not showing her "big" smile this time).

Birthday party fun

We've finally reached the age where we've been invited to a kid's birthday party.  How fun.  We enjoyed meeting other new adults, and Gabrielle had a great time playing with some of the other kids (and all their new-to-her toys too).

Gabrielle checking to make sure we were watching her play.

Jumping around and having lots of fun.

All done, but not ready to go home.

Mommy's monkey

I think that the title of this post says it all!

Gabrielle loves her daddy

...because he used every single one of the Mega blocks we have to make her this cool train.

...because he loves to play with me.

...and because he's simply just fun and crazy sometimes!

What goes in MUST come out!

Taking the very last bag of blocks out of her toy box.

"Oooo...I found one more toy!"

Cheese!!!

Toenails

Why is it that when I want to clip her nails, she throws a fit?  But, the other day she was being really quiet, and this is where I found her...sitting on the toilet pretending to clip her toenails with Nick's ginormous toenail clippers.  

She looks like she's actually clipping them.

Cheese!

Ice, ice baby

So, we've had a couple of cold days here lately, and these pictures were taken after we jogged down the street to get our mail (it's in one of those lock-boxes).  

Of course, Gabrielle's also been wanting ice to chew on lately too.  (Can't imagine why--especially since she wants to be just like her daddy!).  All bundled up, and she's eating one of the coldest things possible!

Trying to put her shoe in the cup of ice...nice!