It All Started with a Little Skittle...

I thought we would give you a glimpse of some of the silly things Mr. Elfis (our Elf) did Christmas Eve before returning to Santa Claus.  We went to Dallas on Monday and luckily our elf (who Gabby named Snowball, then Snowball Snow Flake, but whose name is really Mr. Elfis) hopped in a car seat so he could make the journey safely to Grandma and Grandpa's and meet Ralphie, Emma and Brody's Elf. Here are the shenanigans they got into while waiting for Santa to arrive and while we were all asleep: Proof that the elves took these photos all by themselves.  If you look closely between the first two photos you can see Mr. Elfis' hand move pushing the button.   Snacking on the kid's gingerbread houses. Drinking Gabby's milk hanging upside down. What were they thinking?! Soaring with the eagles (Gabby's favorite bird). Ralphie riding a horse. Ralphie sneaking in a stocking. Mr. Elfis sliding down the banister ...

Easter Eve Easter weekend was a spectacular time for Gabby.  Saturday we went to a crawfish boil at my parents house.  Michael set up the bouncy house in the back yard and Katie and Carley (Gabby's second cousins) jumped with Gabby all afternoon.  After a while, Aiden and Addison also came over to visit and play.  While I was eating crawfish Gabby came over to inspect them.  She was appalled and scared of the cooked crawfish, but very curious about them.  I was wearing gloves (that way I could get to Gabby if there was an emergency), so finally I convinced Gabby to touch a crawfish by putting gloves on her hands.  Catie, Carley and Gabby were the only kids who was brave enough to touch the crawfish (I guess it was the Cajun in them!). Aiden and Addison were highly concerned about the "monsters".  Gabby picked one up and said "bite you."  She is a little comedian. Easter Day Okay so Easter was more like Christmas in the Monties' house....

Good Friday Michael, Gabby and I dyed Easter eggs.  This was a very exciting experience for Gabby.  She wanted to dye them the moment I mentioned dying eggs. I guess she knew it would be exciting because I described it to her that it's like painting. So then the entire time Michael and I were setting up: laying newspaper on the table, putting the tablets in the cups to make the dye, and waiting (forever!) for the eggs to cool enough for her to dye them.  Gabby dyed eggs at first by putting the egg inside a whisk and dipping the egg in the cups, but that wasn't fun for her.  She decided the only way to dye eggs was by picking up an egg and dropping it up from very high and splashing it into a cup of dye. Surprisingly most of the eggs survived their dive into the cups. Once Gabby was bored with dying eggs, she literally ate three entire eggs yolks and all! When Gabby was finished dying eggs she was very concerned about her hands, which were this terrible dark orange/br...

The Friday after Christmas we celebrated our "second" Christmas of the year with Michael's family. It was a wonderful intimate affair.  We woke up and while we were still in our pajamas we went to the Christmas tree, Emma passed out the gifts, (for the viewing pleasure of Grandma, Grandpa, Mommy, & Daddy), and then Gabby began opening her gifts with the assistance of Emma.  The celebration went wonderfully.  Since Gabby practiced opening gifts, she was a professional at it.  It was adorable, Emma would start ripping the paper for her and the she would go after it like opening gifts was the most fun she'd ever had in her entire life.  Gabby seemed to comprehend what each gift was and once it was all over she screamed for Daddy to assemble her mini-coupe. After an hour of rebuilding the new coupe it was finally done and Gabby took it for a test spin.  Daddy pushed her and helped her drift around corners and do doughnuts. She LOVES her mini-coupe and it's ...

Christmas morning was fun.  We left Gabby in our room watching Peppa Pig while we made cinnamon rolls and she drank her morning milk.  Then, we called Michael's parents, Grandma and Grandpa, but they didn't answer.  After our second attempt to call so they could watch  Gabby via Skype, we decided to just allow her to see Santa's gifts. Gabby walked into the living room (Michael and I were very excited to see her reaction), walked directly to the kitchen Santa left, and began cooking.  No squeals, no excitement, nothing.  It was as if there had always been a toy kitchen in the middle of our living room.  We explained to her that that along with the food, pots and pans, and shopping cart were from Santa.  Still no reaction, instead there was the passing out of delicious "apple" meals to Michael and I.   Although she didn't really have a reaction to the surprises left in the living room it was apparent Santa made good choices. After ...

Since December has begun Gabby is ecstatic every time she sees Christmas lights. Today (Christmas Eve) on our way back from Grandma and Papa's house Gabby saw Christmas lights with a Santa Claus in the front yard and she exclaimed, "Ho, ho, ho!"  Michael and I were surprised she said it on her own.  While at Grandma and Papa's she was allowed to open one gift, her Christmas pajamas.  We were concerned that she would be disappointed after the 5 minutes of meticulously unwrapping the gift, but instead she seemed excited with the gift and made us put the pajamas on over her actual clothes.  Before we left they allowed her to open a fun bubble bath toy, because it's too hard to not let such a magical time be drawn out as much as possible.  When we arrived home, we allowed Gabby to choose one gift to open.  She chose Uncle Mark and Aunt Danielle's gift.  She opened it with very little help and then we all sat on the floor and had a lovely tea party with...

This year we went to Dallas for Thanksgiving and I am happy to report it is probably the best Thanksgiving(s) I've had in a really long time!  Our first Thanksgiving was on Wednesday at Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Donna's house.  We found out exciting news about some of Michael's family members, we got to catch up with relatives we rarely see, and Gabby showed her true personality to everyone rather than becoming overwhelmed like she usually does. Since Michael and I took a few vacation days we were lucky enough to have an opportunity to take Gabby and Emma to do something fun to celebrate Emma's birthday.  We decided to take them to a bouncy house place. Their favorite was a huge slide that they would take turns sliding down.  The girls had a blast and the coolest part is, now every time Gabby sees a picture of Emma she points and says, "Emma." Our visit with the family was wonderful! Traveling with Gabby would have been perfect since we left at night and she ...

On November 9th a momentous occasion occurred for the McIlroy family.  We officially became homeowners yet again! We bought a foreclosed home that needed hardly any work (new exterior locks, paint and two light fixtures). Michael and I painted and cleaned the house with help from my parents (thanks a million!) from the day we bought it until that Saturday when Michael, my dad and two amazing friends helped move all of our stuff in!  Surprisingly we moved in smoothly, but it is taking us a lot longer to unpack than I expected, because we moved from a 5 bedroom house to a 3 bedroom house.  We love that we live in a one story rather than a two story house and we are excited that Gabby will go to a good school now.  Our main concern with moving was Gabby's reaction because it took her a long time to settle in at my parents' house, but to our pleasant surprise Gabby instantly knew it was home!  She has slept through the night since the second day and she has been v...

So we are going to have some out of order blogs, basically because that describes our lives over the last three months! Our world is disorderly, turned upside down, and pure chaos. Gabby, Michael, and I moved out of our house on September 12th and officially sold our house on September 16th. It was a week of long days, with me packing and cleaning, Michael constantly moving, and Aunt Ellen helping us by watching Miss Gabrielle. When Gabby was at the house “helping” us pack she could unpack two boxes as fast as I packed one! Needless to say moving took us literally the entire four days we had (and we had been packing boxes and moving items to storage two weeks prior to the official week designated for “the move”). While being “homeless” we stayed at my parents’ house. Gabby loves going to Grandma and Papa’s but apparently is not interested in living there. The first 4 days we were there, Grandma and Papa were in Las Vegas, which was nice so Gabby could get used to living there. T...

Halloween morning Gabby was exceptionally picky about her breakfast choices.  I tried the usual: eggs, a bagel, cereal, banana, yogurt, but these were all unacceptable options...what did my little pumpkin desire? Mandarin oranges and a slice of American cheese.  She refused to eat anything but orange foods for the first half of the day, a coincidence....I think so, but still it's pretty funny.  After an orange lunch of macaroni and cheese and sweet peas (she picked out all of the sweet peas) she finally got over her "orange" binge, but only because she found desirable red candy !  She found a bag of Mars candy bars and littered the floor with her treasures. After about 45 minutes of working diligently to open a Kit Kat candy wrapper she finally was rewarded with the sweet chocolaty crunch that a Kit Kat bar indulges us with.  Gabby ate about half of it with no reservations and then enjoyed her sugar rush.  The rest of the day was uneventful (except ...

About a month before we moved out of our house, I decided to have a Girl's Night In party for Gabby and all of the sweet girls in her life.  I thought the moms would enjoy the little memories and I thought it would be a fun way for Gabby to learn how to socialize with other children in a comfortable atmosphere.  All of the girl's ranged in age from 1 year to 11 years, which made me worry that all of the girls wouldn't have fun.  Luckily the older girls entertained the younger girls and everyone ended up having a lot of fun! They danced, ate chicken nuggets and ice cream sundaes, and played a game of hide and seek (which consisted of a lot of running, squealing, and giggling girls). Ice cream cones! Yummy party favors fit for a princess....Ring Pops! Sundae toppings: Dinosaur sprinkles, chocolate chips, homemade whipped cream, and the biggest hit: maraschino cherries. Gabby having her first ever box of popcorn.  She was so proud of herself wat...

Today is Michael and my 6th wedding anniversary.  We've had a great day!  Michael and I are officially Texan's season ticket holders and Gabby is in a wonderful mood (even though she woke up at 5:00 a.m.). We went out to eat for dinner and Gabby was a little ham.  She waved at the people in the other booths and adopted a few new grandparents.  Gabby had an entire table of elderly people talking to her as she blew kisses to them.  Then she played peek-a-boo with the man at the booth behind her and had the attention of the young guys at the table next to us.  Michael and I don't think we could have had a better day.  Gabby gave us the best gift ever, being an angel.  We had the best day ever! We don't plan on doing anything too exciting today, but having a day to relax and celebrate the family we've created sounds good to me! Happy Anniversary Husband! I love you! P.S. Thank you for being patient and agreeing to take pic...

So here is my third attempt to write this blog, which continues to be erased one time or another...so I am going to give you the abridged version! I was showing my mom pictures taken of Gabby over the 4th of July weekend and she made a comment that the 4th of July must be my favorite holiday. This comment resulted in making me reflect on our fun Independence Day celebration. I can positively say that Independence Day isn't my favorite holiday, but we did make it the most fun for Gabby possible because it is possible her favorite holiday. For about the last three months Gabby has been carrying around a miniature American flag waving it proudly as she walks from room to room. Since Gabby has this infatuation with the American flag her Nanny gave her for the previous 4th of July. Because of her adorable patriotism I vowed we would have a bash for the 4th and I followed through with that promise!! The Sunday before Independence Day we had a barbeque with Gabby’s friends and...

UNCLE Patrick and Aunt Lacey are officially their own nuclear family now!! The moment Gabby saw Nanny she excitedly ran to her squatted down and exclaimed, "OH Wow wee!" She loved Lacey's dress and all of the beautiful details, especially the flowers. Gabby carefully examined the flowers while delicately touching them while jabbering away. Lacey laughed while Gabby told her nanny what she thought about her dress. When we arrived at the venue I said a quick little prayer asking that the wedding go smoothly and that Gabby would make it down the aisle without any incidences. Once the bridal party lined up and were ready to walk I started singing her favorite kid songs, doing the motions, jumping up and down in my 4 inch heels to make sure the two youngest flower girls were in a great mood as they walked down the aisle. And....apparently all of the stares and snickers from the non-parent bridal party members were worth it because Gabby made it down the quarter mile walk wit...

Today Aunt Lacey AKA Nanny is Mrs. McBride!! Gabby, Mommy, and Daddy get to get all dressed up and be part of the festivities.  Gabby will NOT steal the show but definitely will encourage people to be excited for Aunt Lacey as she lays flower petals to guide Aunt Lacey to the alter to (officially) meet Uncle Patrick.  Gabby has been practicing throwing flower petals, but typically unsuccessfully. There are a few scenarios that could play out: Gabby could sit down in the middle of the aisle and start taking the flowers out of her basket and delicately lay each petal on the floor She could have a tantrum and scream and cry because she wants the other flower basket as well so she can transfer her flowers to the other basket and then back again               OR She could actually throw the flower petals (which has yet to happen) Now those are only a few things that could happen not to mention our concerns with h...

 Gabby and Daddy checking out the Lake  Hanging out with the deer  Showing off her beautiful flower Getting into trouble GiGi rented an amazing house on Lake Travis to celebrate her 90th birthday.  Everyone came: GiGi, her friend, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Lee, Emma, Brody, Great Aunt Carolyn, Leslie, Michael, Megan, Great Aunt Donna, and Great Uncle Kenneth.  We all had a wonderful time. We ate delicious meals, played a tournament of ping pong, pool, and Foosball, swam, played outside, and I think the kids favorite was watching the deer.  Gabby and Emma sat outside with Cheerios in the evening with the 3 bravest deer who first arrived.  They would try to be quiet and would throw Cheerios at the deer.  Within minutes we would have 13 deer around us.  Surprisingly even with Gabby being her noisy self, Emma fed a deer out of her hand! On Saturday we had a party to celebrate GiGi's 90th birthday.  We had d...

Friday we enjoyed a feast of crabs, Gabby even seemed to enjoy a few tiny bites of it; however, I believe she was more interested in the crabs ALIVE! She reached for one and thought it was hilarious how the crab raised it's claws when she reached for it.  Gabby enjoyed being the center of attention on Good Friday while the family sat around outside and watched Gabby play with Jade and bubbles.  Jade is about 10 years old and Gabby treats her like an adult, which just cracks me up.  She whines and pulls herself up Jade's legs insisting Jade hold her (when Gabby probably weighs half of what Jade weighs!). I think something special happened on this Good Friday, I think a true bond was formed between Gabby and Jade, it was fun to watch it grow.  Saturday we enjoyed buckets and buckets of crayfish while Gabby played with her cousins beginning to learn the skill of sharing, then Michael got sick and we quickly went home. Easter Sunday was a nice small(is...

Gabby enjoying her own airplane seat Gabby checking out the clouds The view from 30,000 feet Gabby checking out her honorary wings Gabby and Mommy went on their first airplane ride together when Gabby was 10 months old.  She was an angel on the way there and back (although she wore Mommy out!).  On the way there the plane was half empty (that is the optimistic view!) and Gabby didn't seem to care that or even realize we were flying, she was having too much fun playing on the floor almost the entire flight.  On the way back the flight was FULL, not an empty seat on the plane! Gabby was an angel and hardly made a peep the entire flight even though she was required to stay still and sit on my lap for two hours.  She stayed busy playing with a napkin with the 12- year-old girl sitting next to us, eating a whole banana, and feeding herself Goldfish.  We landed with no incidents, but Mommy was ready to kiss the ground!  Gabby was an amazing...