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: