Visiting "California Morges"

After the Christmas Day, the "Dan Morge Family" from California came to Peoria to visit for a week. Daddy, Gabriella, and I went to Morge Parents' to visit them. We enjoyed to see our Niece Emily and Nephew Daniel who had grown bigger than the last time we saw them at Gabriella's Baptism. In addition, they announced that they are going to have third baby, due in July. CONGRATULATIONS to them!!

Christmas With Families

On Christmas Eve, Kevin, Gabriella, and I spent time with Dynda Parents. I helped mom prepare foods and set plates/silverwares/glasses on the table to get ready for a Christmas Eve Dinner. Grandpa Walter came home from work and played with Gabriella for awhile. He put Gabriella in the washer, and she was like.. why am I in this thing but she smiled. We had a delicious dinner. Afterwards, we opened the gifts. Gabriella didn't understand about opening gifts. All she wanted was to play with ribbon, so I opened the gifts for her. We all had a wonderful time and received wonderful gifts. After a long day, we relaxed while Dad and Kevin set up the Wii games that Dad got for Christmas gift. Once the set was done, they played. Dad loved to play bowling and golfing. At late night, we went to church for Christmas Eve Mass.

The next day on Christmas Day, my parents left for Springfield in the morning to be with other Dynda family. Kevin and I played Wii, and then got ready to leave to Grandma Ruth's in Aurora with other Morge Family. We had a good time with all delicious foods and gifts. It was wonderful seeing everybody. Afterwards, we went back to home in Peoria and relaxed. We were exhausted, but had a wonderful time with everybody for Christmas.

Here, below, is a video of our Christmas times with families:

Hilarious Sledding

On December 20th on a very cold, snowy, and icy day outside, when Kevin and I got home from his eye check-up appointment, we saw Grandma Anna holding Gabriella standing by the window, looking out into the backyard. I joined them and wondered what was out there. We enjoyed watching Grandpa Walter and Tomasz sledding on the big hill in our backyard on the right side. I took a few videos of them, and it was hilarious!!

Lasik

Kevin and I had been discussing about Lasik eye surgery that Kevin should take. My brother-in-law, Charlie, had Lasik a year ago or so. Charlie's eyes are doing well and have had no problems since his Lasik surgery. So, I kept talking to Kevin about it, because his glasses were irritating and uncomfortable in some positions. Kevin decided to go ahead and made an appointment for Lasik at the Illinois Eye Center in Peoria. In early December, we went to take eye exams to see if his eyes were qualified for Lasik. GREAT NEWS...his eyes were qualified and were planning to have Lasik surgery in a week. We were very excited but at the same time nervous!! After his Lasik surgery, it went great. Kevin's eyes were very dry and he had to wear sunglasses to block bright/light everywhere. The eye doctor gave Kevin the eyes drops that he needed to take care for eyes. At first, it was blurry and very dry which was normal. After a few days, he was able to see everything clearly though they continued to be dry as usual. It was awesome! A week later, Kevin and I went back to his eye doctor for check up to make sure his eyes were all good. Right now, Kevin's eyes are doing excellent. He still uses eye drops when his eyes get dry. At the most, he did once a day. It gets better and better everyday. Daddy didn't have to worry about having Gabriella pull down his glasses or grab them.

Chilling Out at Dynda's

After staying at Morge's for first few weeks, it was time for us to stay with Parents Dynda's in the middle of December for the last few weeks before went back home to Seattle. Grandpa Walter and Grandma Anna were excited to see Gabriella and spent time playing with her. Cousins Tomasz & Gabriella kept themselves busy playing together, and they enjoyed it everyday.

During our stay at Dynda's, we were busy with unpacking and organizing our stuff in the guest room. Also, I was busy wrapping the Christmas gifts for Dynda family who didn't want to wrap them. Wrapping gifts is one of my hobbies. I enjoy wrapping gifts and have been doing it for many years. Gabriella and Tomasz watched me wrapping. Gabriella loved to grab the wrapping paper and ribbons to play with them. What a mess!! Grandpa Walter tried to make a hat with wrapping paper, and he forgot how to do it. It was funny.

What a silly girl!!

Gabriella wore Tomasz out, so he took a nap.

Other December Celebrations

Since all the Morge Family were in town for the weekend, we went to the Weaver Ridge Restaurant for brunch on Sunday to celebrate birthdays and anniversary. It was Kevin and Meghan's birthdays, and parents' 41 -year Anniversary. Afterwards, we went to Morge's house for dessert with delicious cake. We all had a good time even though a few of us were sick. Gabriella cannot get over with the beer she loved to lick and taste the tip of the beer bottle. Daddy tried to get it away from her, but Gabby held it tightly. It was hilarious!

Here below showing the pictures in a video:

7 Months Old

On December 6th, Gabriella turned 7 months old. Kevin and I didn't beleive how much she had changed! When she listened to any music, she danced. There was a toy penguin that played dance music that Gabriella loved to listen to, a "hip hop"-like version of the Christmas carol "Jingle Bells": she danced with it every time. She was so funny and so cute to watch! She babbled a lot and didn't say any words especially said "mama" and "dada".

At grandparents Morge's, they have one stair between living room and kitchen. We don't have stairs at our apartment, so we had to watch Gabriella and taught her how to walk up it. At first, she was not able to climb up the stair from living room to kitchen. She struggled with her legs to go over and pulled herself up to it. She figured it out until she finally did it. Oh boy.. she did it repeatedly. I tried to teach her how to get down to the one step of stair. She didn't understand that feet go down first, not head down first.

Here are two videos of Gabriella dancing with her beloved penguin:

Morge Christmas Portrait 2008

On Friday, December 5th, Daddy, Gabriella, and I went to the Portrait Innovations studio to get a family picture for Christmas. We had fun to getting pictures of us and enjoyed watching Gabriella and how the photographer shot pictures of her. She had fun with all of things around her even though she had a bad cold. She was so adorable!

There were many good pictures, so I chose several of them to post here so you can see what they are. Here they are below:

Kevin's 38th Birthday

On the night of Thursday, December 4th, Parents Morge, Dad (Walter), Danuta, Tomasz, Gabriella, Kevin, and I went to Alexander's Steakhouse to celebrate Kevin's 38th birthday. The men went to the grill area to grill steaks and other foods for us. Gabriella demanded to chew on something and decided to chew on the table. She had teeth pain, but nothing came out yet. Again, Gabriella was sick with cold. We had a good time chatting, and the food was so good! After we ate dinner, we except Danuta and Tomasz, went to Parents Morge's house for dessert. Gabriella was so exhausted, so I put her in crib. She missed being with dad to sing "Happy Birthday". The dessert was Turtle-flavored Cheesecake, and it was so delicious!! We sang the "Happy Birthday" song to Kevin. He got a lot of wonderful gifts! Thanks to you all who came to celebrate Kevin's birthday.

Here is the video of Kevin's birthday:

First Snow

Grandparents Morge, Grandparents Dynda, Kevin, Gabriella, and I went out for brunch at Weaver Ridge Restaurant after church. Gabriella was sleeping for awhile and had a cold. However, we had a good time and enjoyed eating brunch at that place. It was snowy outside. After we got home to Morge's, we wanted to take picture of Gabriella with the view of snow. It was Gabriella's first snow!

Santa/Riding Train

At the end of November, Cousins Annabelle, Michael Aaron, Gabriella, and Madison (shown, picture on left) were excited and were getting ready to go to the Northwoods Mall with Grandma Trish, Grandpa Mike, Elizabeth, Luke, Kevin, and me to sit on Santa Claus's lap and ride the train. Once we got there, we all went to Santa Claus to sit on his lap and take pictures. Gabriella sat on Santa's lap for the first time. At first, she was looking at him and was unsure about him. A little later, she started to cry and didn't want sit on Santa's lap. Luckily, we got a good picture with Santa before Gabriella wanted to get away from him.

After we finished sitting on Santa's lap, we all went to the train area for kids to ride in a circle. Annabelle, Madison, and I with Gabriella on my lap went into the boxcar to ride the train. We all enjoyed it.

Chilling Out at Morge's

After the Thanksgivings were over, we all were relaxing and were lazy at Morge's. Gabriella was sick with a bad cold, and I was sick with a sore throat, cold, and cough. Also, Kevin was sick with a sore throat and little cold, and of course had to work remotely during the weekdays. It was not fun for us to have these sicknesses. Gabriella's two cousins, Madison and Michael Aaron, stayed at Grandparents Morge where we stayed for a day or two while their mother went to Iowa to work and dad went to home to remodel their house. We enjoyed having them with us. Gabriella and Madison enjoyed being together to play.



After Madison and Michael Aaron left for home, our days were back to normal as usual. Grandma Trish babysat granddaughter, Annabelle, while her parents were at work. I was playing with Gabriella with toys. Also, Cousins Annabelle and Gabriella enjoyed keeping each other company and playing with toys.


A few of these days, Gabriella and I went out for Christmas shopping to get it over with. All of these stores we went were crazy and crowded with these people for Christmas shopping. I was very happy that we did it early before it got worst later in December.

Thanksgiving 2008

A few days before Thanksgiving Day, my parents flew back home from Canada. They were happy to see their granddaughter, Gabriella, who they haven't seen since her Baptism last August. Grandparents spent time with Gabriella for a while before we had to leave to stay at Morge's for about a couple of weeks. However, they had a great time in Canada and enjoyed seeing their newborn son, Charles, who was born on November 17th.

For awhile before we left for Morge's, Tomasz and Gabriella continue played, crawled, and talked to each other even though Gabriella was not clearly saying words to Tomasz. She vocalized a lot even though we didn't understand her.

The day before Thanksgiving Day, Gabby and I moved to stay at Morge's from my parents for about a couple of weeks. Also, Kevin flew into Peoria from Seattle for Thanksgiving. We were very thrilled to see him and be with him! We missed him dearly! On Thanksgiving Day, Kevin, Gabriella, and I had early afternoon dinner at Morge's. It was wonderful seeing all grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who came to Morge's for dinner. We all enjoyed being with family to play baseball outside on beautiful weather, talk to catch up, and prepare for dinner. After we had dinner at Morge's, we drove to my parents' for evening dinner. We also had a wonderful time to be with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin. Gabriella and Tomasz were crazy for each other to play with. Grandparents were enjoying being with Gabriella that they hadn't seen for a while when they were in Canada for visiting.

What a day for us to have two Thanksgiving dinner at two different families! It had been crazy for us with full of delicious foods to eat at each place. Thank God that day was over so we didn't have to look at other foods to eat! After a long Thanksgiving weekend, Kevin was supposed to fly back to Seattle on Sunday for work, but the flight was cancelled due to bad weather in Peoria with terrible snow/icy until the next day. On that weekend, I was sick with flu-like symptoms with bad body ache. Kevin was sick and vomited overnight, and he had flu-like symptoms. He was supposed to leave on Monday to Seattle, but he didn't feel well. His boss let him stay in Peoria and worked at home remotely. On the first week of December, he was going to come back to Peoria from Seattle for a whole month of December, but he stayed at the end of November until Jan 3rd. We were happy to have him staying with us on that week and be with us the whole month of December. Enough with our sickness on the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here is the pictures video about our Thanksgiving Day with families:

Leaving For Peoria, Illinois

On November 15th, Gabriella and I flew to Peoria, Illinois, to be with my sister, Danuta, and her son, Tomasz, for a week while our parents flew to Canada to stay with my other sister, Marta, who had a baby boy (Charles) on November 17th, for a week. Kevin had to stay in Seattle to work. Wish he could have come with us, but he was coming for Thanksgiving, anyway. However, Gabriella and Tomasz enjoyed playing together and crawled everywhere. Danuta's friend, Deidra, came to stay, too, for a week.

Home Sweet Home

Kevin, Gabriella, and I flew back home to Seattle, WA from Peoria, Illinois last Saturday night safely. We were busy with unpacking, cleaning apartment, and errands to do. It was wonderful to be in our own home.

Over our long visit in Peoria, IL, from November-December, we had a great holidays with our relatives and friends, but we were sick with flu-like symptoms, cold, cough, and sore throats most of the time. It was not fun. Other than our sickness, we had a good time over the holidays with everybody. We want to say a big "Thank You!" to our families: we will miss you but see you again soon!

As I mentioned, I was planning to use Kevin's laptop over Thanksgiving to update blog; unfortunately, his laptop had no access to it. We didn't want to download all pictures into his laptop that he needs to use for work.

Now, I am planning to update each post with what we did over our visit in IL. We have many pictures we had over the holidays and don't want to update one post with all pictures in it together. So, please, patience with us whenever we have time to update each post what we had done over the holidays.