Following Traditions

Although Hannah had her big shin-dig a week before her birthday, we still followed birthday traditions on her special day.  We started Thursday, Oct 27 by waking up super early to sing "Happy Birthday."  As Gabe, my mom & I sang, I remembered how I looked forward to be serenaded on my birthday by my family.  No matter how old I was getting and how "cool" I thought I was in high school I pretended to be asleep while I heard my mom shove tissue paper in a birthday bag and my grandma whispering (she doesn't know how to whisper- she would still talk in her normal voice) "are we ready to go in?"  As soon as I heard my grandma's voice I would quickly put the blanket over my head to block off the bright light (my birthday is after day light savings, so it's always dark outside). I would try so hard not to laugh as they were singing their heart out and everyone rubbing their eyes and squinting because of the bright ceiling light!

The wake up serenade on my birthday was and still is the highlight of my day.  The most memorable birthday singing was when I was little. My dad sang the loudest with his heavy accent starting it off with Haaaapy Birrrrrrrthday to jou.....and then my grandma sang it in Spanglish and my mom, sister and cousins sang it in perfect English, lol!

The first year I got married I sang happy birthday early in the morning to Gabe and I felt pretty darn stupid- I didn't have any back up singers and he just didn't really understand why I was making a big deal out of his birthday and more importantly why I was waking him up!  He always said, birthdays & holidays are over-rated- "it's just an ordinary day for me"!  I thought to myself, well, not for me, so you better make it a special day for me & serenate me!!! A couple of years later, I had to explain how important my family tradition was to me and it's not about the gifts, it's about the serenade and feeling special, darn it!  Is singing to me too much to ask??!!

Even though Hannah thought her birthday celebration ended last weekend she was pleasantly surprised to the early morning singing and presents to open on her birthday :0)  That evening, a small town near us had a Halloween festival and trick or treating.  She was thrilled to do that on her birthday and we had cake and ice cream at Chili's!

Hannah, always trying to scare Lulu!

At Boo-da Halloween

Cute matching outfits ;)

Both outfits glow in the dark- the black and white photo shows the glowing skeletons!

Family pict!!!!  Lovin on my birthday girl.

Cake looks good, but she wasn't looking at that.  She was looking at the the group of 6 Chili's staff singing to her.

Doesn't know what to think.....

Happy!  She told us later that was LOUD!

Miss Smiley now that we are at home.

Hannah's birthday bash!!

Candyland birthday party it was!  I had a blast planning this party, it was just what I always wanted, lol!  Gabe always says I am re-living my childhood through my girls.  Its so true- I get just as excited for birthday parties and presents as Hannah =) 

This cool idea all started two months ago when I asked her if she's having another princess birthday party.  When she paused and started looking at the ceiling I thought.....bam this is my moment to put out different ideas!!  So, I suggested board games she liked to play & tv shows.  It was so neat to see her face light up and say- MOM, how about a canyland party like the game board!!!  That night, I became Martha Stewart and started working away in my craft room making each invitation, lollipops, centerpieces and cupcake cut outs for the kids to decorate!  I saved a ton of money making everything myself & most of all I had a blast doing it.  Hannah did a lot of the undercover work- she painted each lollipop with the red base and glued a lot of the foam lollipops and worked with tape and scissors (what kid doesn't like cutting things and taping it up??!!)

TIME FOR THE FIRST VIDEO:

Then next couple of photos are of the centerpieces I made.  My sister in law made Hannah's cake & it came out exactly how I wanted it & best of all it tasted so good.  We barely had left overs, lol!

Another poster my employee made.

The center lollipops have gumdrops glued to it.  Next to the lollipops are the cupcakes for the kids to decorate

Cake Time!!

Look at Hannah's face......

That's a gigantic doll house that she spotted!  Over 4 feet tall- totally surprised and excited :)  This grand present is from both set of grandparents & Gabe & I. 

She filled it up with furniture and started playing with that night!  Ok, I'll admit that I jumped in and played too ;)
I was so bummed because I didn't capture a picture of Hannah & lulu wearing matching skirts & shirts.  Hannah's shirt has an ice cream cone that says Sweetie and Lulu's shirt is a cupcake.  Here is a good shot of Lulu's:

I had to add this photo of my baby....don't you just want to squeeze these chubby cheeks!!!  This was taken at the end of the night right before bed. 

Goodnight everyone.  Now it's time to plan another party ;)

Learn Anything?

Soooo, Gabe's been asking me if Hannah is learning anything at dance or are we just paying for her to play around?  I couldn't really give him an honest answer b/c I never had the chance to watch her.  Lulu tends to be little loud with her baby sounds & we were kindly asked to step out while dance class is in session!  I didn't mind- in fact it gives me an hour to go to Walmart, which is about a 1/2 block away from Hananh's class to get some shopping done.  last week, my mom offered to take care of Lulu and I had a chance to watch her dance!  It was cute....

Practicing already for the Christmas recital!

                                          All in all, she has a blast and learning some dance moves =)

LULU!!!!!

Little Miss. Madeline Quinn "Lulu" Hallett is TOOOO much for me, lol! 
She is not quite 9 months and wants to WALK!  I try to discourage this, but she wants to do what she wants to do despite her hard falls.  This week, she started to let go of the furniture with both hands and try to balance and quickly falls to the ground with a minor injury to the head, mouth or cheek =(  Every day she has some kind small bump or bruise.  A few days ago she lost her balance and fell on her face and I think her two bottom teeth cut her gum and she bled for a bit!  There is no stopping this child.  I really, really hope she doesn't get a good balance for walking- just walk when you turn one years old....please! 



This is at the Libarary-she insisted on chewing this...EWWWW.  I would sit her down on the far corner of this room and she quickly would crawl to this thing with bright colors!!!  Then a nosey lady told me, "you shouldn't let him chew on that, it's dirty."  First of all, I know it's dirty and SHE is too quick for me & how on heaven's earth do  you mistake a purple outfit with cupcakes for a boy?!  I didn't take this photo b/c she was chewing on this.  I was checking my email right after I had placed her on the opposite side of this room and in no time she crawled back to this thing with this HUGE smile- like saying "Ha, ha, ha, I'm back to this thing that you insist on keeping me away from!!!"  So, by the time my phone/camera took the picture of her cute big smile- it snapped her with her mouth on this thing!  Ugh!

 

Must keep her on the swings or else she'll put everything in her mouth- like bark, rocks & leaves!

The only time she is still- chilling in her high chair with one leg up while drinking her bottle! 

Seasons

FALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love this time of the year.  I love the changing colors on the trees and seeing pumpkins everywhere.  Fall is so refreshing in Texas b/c it's not cold- it's perfect!  Humidity is low and sometimes non existant, but most of all no more triple digits! Since the first of October I have been on the look our for a pumpkin patch.  I couldn't wait to buy pumpkins and put them all over our front porch.  Today was the perfect day to visit one!  Unfortunately, Lulu fell asleep in the car and I couldn't snap a photo of her and Hannah with all the pumpkins. 

After the pumpkin patch we walked to a park nearby.  I was relieved to see swings!

Ready to go down the tall/windy slide...at the same time!

Videos of the kids!

I had my youtube account public, but that made me a little nervous that random people can see my videos.  So I made them private and from now on, I will put them on my blog.  The first two short video were taken early summer- June 2011.

Lulu's fist time on the Trampoline.  She was 5 moths in this video.  Gotta love a baby's laugh!

Hannah getting really good at swimming.  To bad by the end of summer she forgot some of her skills =(

My first attempt to make a family video of many photos from our summer.  This took me forever to do b/c I wanted a certain song, but it had a had a bad word that I couldn't edit out.   All in all, I ended up liking my song choice =)

First time

I have always wanted to blog, but about what? Well, it's always good to gather your thoughts and to record your kids milestones, right?  Well, as I sit back and recollect my thoughts, I feel extremely blessed and a tad bit overwhelmed.  2011 will officially be remembered by lots and lots of tears.  Tears of joy, tears of frustration, tears of fear , and tears of grief.  

I give thanks to God every single day for my girls.  Lulu was born almost 9 months ago, which is my little miracle baby.  She has brought tears of joy for sure!!!!  When I gave up hope in having another child, God came through, but on HIS timing.  I got pregnant the month Gabe's company approved our relocation back to Austin.  Despite the economy and mass lay offs in the high tech industry, Gabe's company gave us the same relocation package they gave to us 4 years ago (when times where good in the high tech industry) to move back.  When I was trying to get pregnant 3 years ago, I had no intentions of going back to Austin.  I had already prepared my mind about having a baby in Utah and knew I would be able to handle it.  There is scripture verse in 1st Corinthians 10:13- that basically says, if we belong to Him, God will not allow any difficulty to come into our lives that we are not capable of bearing.  So, I interpret my miscarriages and infertility treatment failure as in not God's timing to have another baby.  He knew I wouldn't have been able to handle a newborn and a toddler alone, with no help.  Reflecting back, I don't know how I would have packed a house (partially), moved a total of 6 times, and remodeled a home with two kids and two big dogs!!!!  So, have faith in God, HE knows what He is doing!!!

Reflecting back to year from now, Oct 1, 2010- I can't help but laugh!  By October Gabe, Hannah, my dogs & my pregnant self had already moved 3 times.  We finally settled in Room 318, the 3rd floor of Homewood Suites in Austin.  Everyday we enjoyed the mix reactions on the elevators- some people were frightened and upset that they had to share an elevator with 2 big dogs.  Others were nice and dog friendly and the my favorite were the ones who walked in the elevator with the newspaper in their face or texting and realized later they were standing next to Taz who was sniffing them, lol!  One particular incident that Hannah and I will never forget was when the fire alarm went off.  It was getting late and I had Hannah in the bath.  The next minute, the fire alarm went off and it was piercing LOUD.  My dogs couldnt' handle the noise and were pacing the room and barking.  I had no clue what to do- I freaked out and couldn't move.  I tried to call the front desk to check if it was a false alarm, but the phone line didn't work.  I panicked and grabbed Hannah out of the tub and wrapped a towel around her.  I couldn't decide weather to let my dogs loose or put a leash on them, but I worried that if there was a fire they wouldn't find a safe way out.  So, I had Hannah in my arms and a combo of 175 lbs (the dogs weight) pulling me down the stairs.  I was cursing Gabe for still being at work and praying to God that I wouldn't fall (I was 6 months pregnant) down the stairs.   We made it outside safely minus the fact that Hannah had no clothes and my eardrums!  So was it a false alarm?  Someone burnt popcorn! 

So what are the tears of frustration?  Well, by the end of Oct, corporate housing was coming to an end, which meant we had to find a place for our dogs since we decided to move in with our parents (not dog friendly parents =/).  Our friends with a big heart opened their home to our dogs.  Unfortunately, a few weeks later, both dogs get sick.  Confusion and the thought of neglect from us gave them all sort of health issues.  Vet bills accumulated along with paying the storage unit out of pocket stressed us all out.  I was on a mission to find a rental home since the property we wanted to buy didn't pan out.  During that time, my doctor gave me the red flag to take it easy at work because my cervix was softening and feared that I would go into labor before 28 weeks.  Bring on the tears!!!!

Tears of pain and grief are the most recent emotions I have been dealing with.  Between the passing of my father and the sudden death of my 32 year old cousin- I could have filled up a small pond from my tears.  Even though we all knew my dad didn't have a ton of time left, nothing prepares you for death.  It still hurts.  I wish I had more time with him, I wish I was filthy rich so that I could have taken him to a beautiful destination to literaly take his last breath, and I wish he was still around to enjoy his kids and grandkids. 

This week, when I was getting Hannah ready for school my mom calls me to tell me that my cousin died in a motorcycle accident.  I had no words for my uncle and aunt when I called them that afternoon.  As a mother, I didn't even want to think about what my aunt was going through.  Tragic, I know.  We grew up together, as he was only 2 years older than me.  He was always so nice and smiley.  Here one day, gone the next.  Never thought that would happen to one of my family members- dying with out saying good bye.  Rest in peace my dear cousin Stewart.....

I love this photo!! I had just walked into my dad's house and this was his first time meeting Lulu.  She was only 2 1/2 months when my siblings and I traveled to Antioch, CA to lift my dad's spirits. 

This is what I thank God for everyday.  Definitely not taking life for granted.