Some things we've been up to lately...

Bedroom switching
We've been ready for a while now to move Melia out of our room and have been experimenting with how to sleep 3 kids in two bedrooms. Some challenges... a "light sleeper" three year old who loves to talk and a baby who still wakes up once in the early morning to eat. So putting the two girls together has not worked out. Our most recent experiment is working so far. Gabriella and Oliver are sharing his bunk beds - and they are both fine with Gabby sleeping up top - much to her delight! To curb the incessant talking, we set a timer for 5 minutes after we tuck them in and they (aka... Gabby) can talk to each other until the timer goes off. If there is talking afterward, then Gabby has to sleep back in her room and Melia will go back to ours. That promise is enough motivation for her that we have had two successful nights with the big kids sleeping in the same room... although we did find Gabriella whispering to Oliver well after he was asleep last night :) So this is the plan for now. We'll see how things progress...

Playing a before bed game of Pretty Pretty Princess with his sister

Passport photos
We are preparing to go on a cruise with my family later this year so in preparation, I have been getting everything in order to get us all passports. Matt and I both have one, but of course they are both expired so we are in need of passports for the entire family. Since we are cruising to Key West and the Bahamas, we have been able to take advantage of the Passport card for the kids, saving us a bundle of money since we don't see ourselves needing the full international passport for all 3 kids anytime soon. In another effort to save a few dollars, I read many tutorials and decided that I would take our passport photos myself... saving us $10 apiece. I'm very happy with the results and just ordered the $0.09 pictures today. Mucho money saved. Yay.
Baby food!
Melia is growing up quickly as babies are known to do. She is rolling all over the floor - I have to put up pillow barricades to keep her away from walls and out of the corner. She eats pureed vegetables and fruits like a pro! She can drink water from a sippy cup - something my other kids couldn't master until closer to a year. And she still smiles for us all of the time. What a lovable little girl she is. We are so blessed to have her as our baby doll!

Last weekend we had some family pictures made and got a bunch of Melia at 6 months! Here's a sneak peek!

Gabriella in the NEWS!

And she's so cute in PRINT! That's right, print! A few days ago I emailed a picture of Gabriella to my friend Ann Marie who works for the Dallas Morning News because she needed some pictures of last weekend's snow to run in the paper. Well, she made the cut and is in the Friday, January 14th edition of the Dallas Morning News in the Neighbors Go section in the West Plano, Plano and Frisco papers.

Look at the cover page and page 7 of the West Plano section here.

Look at the cover page and page 12 of the Plano section here.

Look at page 8 of the Frisco section here.

SNOW!

We celebrated our first snow day of the season on Sunday! Oliver enjoyed it for a few minutes. But due to the fact that he refused to wear a coat, his interest waned more quickly than Gabriella's (I wonder why...) ?

Here are some shots of our snow day!

Oliver in his non-winter attire :)

Eating snow

For more images, check out my photo album here!

Loving this life...

Record first haircut... 6 months old! But the girl can now see life without hair in front of her eyes.

Creating with brother and daddy

Jumping for the camera

In mid air!

An eventful Christmas season

We were very blessed this Christmas season to get to spend 10 days with my side of the family! We started off the celebrations at my youngest sister Emily's wedding to Basilio Rocha. We already love "Bossy" and are so happy to have him as an official part of our family. It was a beautiful ceremony, very touching, and made for a very happy, happy day! The kids performed their duties in the ceremony well for the most part... although Gabriella did have to supply a little drama by banging her legs into the stage while throwing her rose petals off of it. She had to leave for a bit but was able to join us again later :)


We got to spend some fun times with all of our extended family that was in Texas for the wedding. Many wild and crazy times were had which will not be surprising to you if you know my extended family. There were microwave fires to be put out, embarrassing games, and an uncle thrown into the frigid swimming pool!

After the wedding festivities died down we relaxed for a few days and then my parents, Megan and her family and our family drove down to Galveston to spend a few days at Moody Gardens exploring the museums, theaters, and activities there. We had a great time and the kids were so thrilled to get to stay in a hotel... one of their favorite things to do and something Oliver has been asking about since our hotel stay last year.

Megan and her family

Gabriella dancing with a gopher

Having fun!

At the aquarium

After Galveston, we went back to my parent's house to spend the rest of the Christmas holiday. We went to the Houston Galleria, the Rainforest Cafe (a special treat my parents always like to do for the kids), spent a lot of time jumping on their trampoline, relaxing in the hot tub, and playing games. We were so grateful to have so much quality time with our family that we love so much!

Pepe reading "Llama llama holiday drama!"

Christmas Eve we had fun playing some games, acting out the Christmas story, and having our traditional finger food dinner. The kids were very excited for Santa to come and to open their gifts on Christmas morning. It really is a magical time to spend with a child.

Mary, Baby Jesus, Joseph and the shepherds

Cousins in their matching Christmas jammies

Setting out cookies for Santa

Sisters in our matching Christmas jammies (Emily was on her way home from Jamaica)

Baby's first Christmas... holding her new teething giraffe. And just in time too - she's currently working on cutting her first tooth!

Wearing our matching Bucees Christmas T-shirts (Melia was napping)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Dillards

We have been enjoying our Christmas season so far... Christmas with little kids is fun. They are learning so much about what Christmas means, and we are enjoying teaching them about Christ coming into the world. They are learning about traditions, and for kids who love routine, advent calendars and finding the "hiding elf" every morning are awesome! They are enjoying listening to and learning the words to some Christmas Carols. The other day Oliver told me, "Mom, I LOVE that baby Jesus song!" (aka, Away in a Manger).

Oliver is old enough now to remember past Christmases... he remembers the plate we used to set out Santa's cookies last year, was excited to see all the stockings, and play with his beloved Christmas toys and movies. He loves turning on the Christmas Tree lights and reading the name tags on the presents and telling us who each one is for.

Gabriella is still our little performer and will gladly recite Luke 2:11 for anyone who will listen. She is showing great self-restraint in leaving the wrapped presents untouched under the tree and can't WAIT until she can finally open them. She LOVES books and she daily piles up the Christmas books we got out of the attic and asks us to read them all to her.

Melia is still our smiley baby and her favorite thing is just to sit and watch her siblings. They bring a smile to her face faster than anyone else and are always up for playing with her. We look forward to celebrating her first Christmas this year! We got her a stocking to match the other kids' stockings and feel blessed to have the number of stockings on our mantel grow.

Matt and I love days we get to spend with our family. Today was just such a day. Leisurely morning at home, an outing to play miniature golf, lots of reading time, and watching Charlie Brown's Christmas as a family with popcorn and hot chocolate before bed. We are so thankful for our family and God's blessing and provision in our lives.

Here are some pictures of our fun day together:

Lazy morning...

Sweet kiddos

Pancakes for breakfast - this girls can eat her WEIGHT in pancakes! Maybe that's why she didn't eat any lunch...

Sweet thing hanging out by the Christmas tree. Excuse the runny nose. 'Tis the season...

Posing on the bench at the mini-golf place!

"I got really close, Mom"

Staying warm with Daddy

Our little boy

We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with our extended family and remembering and being thankful for our Savior coming to earth.