Our Fist Christmas

Our Christmas started with Scott dressing up like Santa, this was a surprise for me as well. I think he scared me and the dogs more than Gabre. She will let almost anyone hold her and Santa was no different.
After Scott removed the Santa costume, and the dogs finally calmed down, Gabre and the dogs opened gifts. Just as we thought, Gabre opened her gifts and was on her way to other things.

After Presents

After presents we went to the Barton Creek Spa and Resort for a breakfast buffet. Gabre loved the gingerbread pancakes. We took lost of picture, about 60, and just a few turned out. Gabre was not in the mood for family pictures. I would say her favorite part of Christmas was walking back and forth in this huge hallway at the hotel, as you can see from the Big smile on her face in the first picture. Overall Gabre had a Wonderful 1st Christmas with her Mommy and Daddy!

Merry Christmas!

Ethiopia Girl!

Merry Christmas Eve! We had planned to stay at a nice resort tonight for Gabre's 1st Christmas, but we have dogs and no sitter with short notice.
We plan to go for a big breakfast buffet at a very nice resort tomorrow for Christmas morning. When we finish Gabre and the dogs will open presents.
The Ethiopian dress Gabre has on in this picture was given to her by her BFF Lidya, who was at Hope for the Abandoned with Gabre. It came from a great organization called, Ethiopian Orphan Relief. If you have not checked it out you should here

Baby Gap!

This is one of Gabre's Christmas pictures. Doesn't she looks like an add for Baby Gap?
We are staying home for Christmas. We think she is going to enjoy opening gifts, although she will like the bows and paper better than the gifts this year.
Gabre is finally walking, but still goes back to crawling when she wants to get somewhere fast. She loves to go go go.

Hope

Yesterday was a huge step for America. Our Country's original Constitution did not give African Americans ANY rights, to a Country that just elected their first African American President. It does not matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, we should all be proud that our Country has come so far. I hope this is a sign that our daughter's future in America will be that much better.

Fuzzy Wuzzy Wuz a Bear

I have been tagged

Two soon to be Ethiopia adoption mamas, Erin and Chistina, tagged me.
1)I have been a vegetarian since middle school.
2)I went to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.
3)I prefer a landscape of Sky scrapers to Mountains. My favorite is NYC, of course.
4)My husband's nickname for me is Pumpkin.
5)I adopted my first dog from the CCAA in NYC and she was half bald, but I loved her anyway, my Madison.
6)Currently I only watch CNN.
7)My red hair is real!

I tag.........
Lisa
Lory
Shawn
Kelly
Steph
Chantelle
Mindy

Our Journey to Ethiopia

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Fun in Denver

Gabre and I went to Denver a few weekends ago. Gabre got to meet her cousin Maci for the first time and see some of her Ethiopian buddies. The pictures say it all.


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Party Girl!!!!

Saturday was Gabre's Birthday party. Who knew a 1 year old's Birthday party could be so much work. It took my mom and I three days to pull off this party. We had catered Ethiopian food, PB&J for the kids, a candy buffet, elephant and giraffe cupcakes. I will say we had a few laughs Friday night trying to make the cupcakes actually look like elephants and giraffes. It took us all night with a late night run to the grocery store by Scott.
I also made a Happy Birthday sign in Amharic. It was so windy at the park that the sign lasted about 5 minutes. As you will see it took Scott getting on top of the car to hang the sign for that 5 minutes.
We had a petting zoo come for the last hour. Gabre and all the kids loved the baby animals.....so cute. It was a Birthday to remember.

Our 1 Year Old!

Wow, we had quite a week. Tuesday was Gabre's Birthday and we had lots of fun. First we picked up Gabre's Noni at the airport. Then headed to Ester's for some good Ethiopian food and on to the Austin zoo, which is really a sanctuary for rescued animals. It's not a big traditional zoo, but perfect for small children. We got to feed goats and sheep, while chickens and peacocks followed us around. Gabre really loves animals!
The top picture on this post is the REAL Gabre. We somehow captured her personality it that one shot!