Happy Thanksgiving 2009

Gabriella celebrated her second Thanksgiving home today. She was feeling under the weather with Bronchiolitis, so she was not too interested in eating, but her sickness didn't stop her from having a blast with her cousins! One thing I did learn today is that she LOVES eggnog! Cousin Isabella's birthday is tomorrow, so we celebrated it today with a cake and gifts. Gabriella and I gave Isabella this dollhouse and the kids loved playing with it. Gabriella could play with a dollhouse for hours. I talked to Santa Claus and his Elves are working on the same dollhouse for Gabriella for Christmas!Happy Thanksgiving!

Mayra Receives a Blanket

Mayra, one of the children I sponsor through Mayan Families, and her family did not have enough blankets. Following is a photo of the blanket she received from a donation I made to Mayan Families.

2010 Guatadopt Calendar

Gabriella's photo made it onto the back cover of the 2010 Guatadopt.com calendar (top right corner, orange shirt with white ghost on it). You can order a copy of the calendar through Monday (11/30/09) at http://www.do-good-stuff.com. There are so many beautiful Guatemalan children in the calendar and it is a wonderful tribute to these beautiful faces of Guatemalan adoption.

2009 Christmas Portraits

Every year since my oldest dog, Riley, was a puppy, it has been my annual tradition to get my dog's photos taken for Christmas cards. Last year was Gabriella's first Christmas home, so last year was the first year for photos of Gabriella with the dogs. As you can probably imagine, it is no easy task getting three dogs and a toddler ready, to the portrait studio, and set-up for some good shots! Thank goodness for Tita Candace's help! Luckily, we were able to capture a few cute pictures. We, unfortunately, did not get any photos of Gabriella alone, though, like I had hoped, because Gabriella had a meltdown at the end of the photo shoot! These are my favorite shots!:

Latin American Festival and Edaville Railroad

Today was a busy, eventful, fun-filled day. We started off the day by going to a Latin American Family Festival in Belmont, MA hosted by Wide Horizons for Children. We went with Grammy, Grampy, and Tita. The festival was an event for families through adoption of children from Latin American countries. These events are always so much fun because we get to see so many beautiful children and the families whose lives have been blessed by adoption. I like to bring Gabriella to these events so that she can see that there are so many other families like our own.

Walking into the event venue with Tita:

Gabriella was wearing her cute Guatemala flag shirt which was a gift from another adoptive family. She was also wearing one Guatemalan flag barrette and one American flag barrette.

Gabriella made friends with Alex, a handsome little boy also from Guatemala:

Gabriella was chasing Alex around the venue!:

There were a few very nice vendors selling adoption-related and Latin American-related items. Grammy bought Gabriella a couple of adoption themed books. Grammy began reading one of the books to Gabriella. Grammy didn't get very far through the book before Gabriella was up and exploring again!:

A local Latin American performance group, called La Pinata, performed and entertained the attendees.:

After lunch at the Guatemalan restaurant, Mi Tierra; a long ride home and nap in the car; and a brief visit home, we were off again to see the Christmas lights and Christmas decorations at Edaville Railroad in Carver, MA. We went with Grammy, Grampy, Stephanie, Jimmy, Andrew, and Bella.

The kids got to see Santa Clause for the first time this Christmas season. Andrew and Bella got their pictures taken with Santa but Gabriella didn't want to be anywhere near him! I tried to sit Gabriella on Santa's stool, but Gabriella held me with a death grip and wanted no part of it!

Gabriella did, though, enjoy the candy cane that Santa Clause gave her!:

Gabriella loves trains and we took a train ride around the park on the train. Gabriella was really engaged with seeing all of the Christmas lights that we passed during the train ride.

Before the end of the evening the kids got to ride a few of the park's rides.

Once we got in the car, it wasn't long before Gabriella was sound asleep!:

It was a very busy day, but an extremely enjoyable one, spent with family and filled with lots of entertainment.

Photos from Today's Dance Class

Gabriella attended her dance class this morning. She did not participate in class as much as she had last week, but she still had a fun time.

Waiting patiently for her next turn to do twirls:

Gabriella and cousin Bella in their matching leotards!:

Zoning out rather than participating!:

Playdate at the Playhouse

Gabriella, Bella, and Ava had a playdate today at the Playhouse and had an excellent time together!