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!

New home

Here are some pictures of the house that we are buying in Nederland, TX (from our trip over Spring Break).

Front of the house...pretty pink flowering bush.

Front door from the inside.

Tree and landscaping in the front yard by the street.

The "front living room"

We're not sure what we are doing with this room yet...it will probably end up being one of those "catch alls" for stuff that we would have put in a basement (since we won't have a basement again!).

The master bathroom vanity.

Master bath shower...love the tile!

Master bedroom...smaller than the one we have now, but I'm hoping that our smaller furniture will make the room look a little bigger overall.

Bedroom #2...which will be Gabrielle's room since it's already painted pink.  I think that we are going to try to transition her to a "big-girl" bed when we get there, so I'm open for any suggestions that any of you might have on that topic too!

Hallway bathroom vanity...more red paint!

Hallway bathroom tub...with jets (fun!).

Bedroom #3...we're going to plan on painting this a neutral color in plans that we'll eventually need another bedroom for baby #2.  (Did I mention that we had a consultation with a fertility doctor in Beaumont--only about 20 minutes from this house?  Things look good!!!)

Hallway between the bedrooms/bathroom.

The dining room that will be transformed into an office space and a place for my piano probably too...perhaps some place to put some of Gabrielle's larger toys too--who knows!

THE KITCHEN!!!!!!

A flat-top stove again--yea!

The breakfast nook where we'll put our table and chairs.  AND, notice the cabinets in the back.  I think that my scrapbooking will end up here, along with a lot of other things.  There's a whole separate pantry, and cleaning closet, so hopefully this will be a place for "my" stuff!  :)

The windows in the breakfast nook.

A view of the kitchen from the other direction.

The livingroom/den area--I love the built-in book shelves!  

Too bad Nick's going to have to get a flat-panel TV, huh?  :)

Storage closets in the back of the den--probably for Nick's guitars and a few of "his" things.

The covered porch in the backyard.

Some of the cool plants that I'm going to have to learn how to take care of...and I don't have a very green thumb, so wish me luck!

The shed that they were in the process of redoing.  I really hope that it will be good since we've got a lot of things that probably won't fit in the house.  Otherwise, I'm sure we're going to have to do some more ebay selling.  *sigh*

Gabrielle loving their trampoline (which I'm sure won't stay...bummer)!  Guess we'll have to get a play area/swing set for Nick to build for her to play on back there!