Adding one more to the Mix!!!

We are excited to announce that Baby Gallegos #4 will be joining the family some time in mid-March. Yes, we are adding one more to the mix. We are currently about 23 weeks and we found out last week that it is a little boy. We are all very excited but I do have to say that I think Isaac was the most excited out of all of us. He just can't wait for his little brother to get here. It is hard to imagine that there will be one more added to the picture below, but we do feel truly blessed to be able to welcome this little boy into our crazy family!Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Hocking Hills

Patrick's parents came up to see us at the end of October and we thought it would be a great idea to take them on a little trip. For us it was like a mini-vacation. I don't know if they consider traveling in a suburban for 3 hours with 3 kids and a sick daughter-in-in-law much of a vacation but I think they had a great time also. We decided to head down to Hocking Hills. It is just about an hour south of Columbus. So not too far in our book. So, here are a few pictures from our trip.

Sydney watching everyone do the rope course and zip lines.

Jordan on the rope course.

Isaac and Patrick on the rope course. Gene also did the rope course and zip line with the kids. It was fun to watch all of them maneuvering through everything.

Gene and Sydney after one of our hikes.

Isaac in front of one of the caves we found.

A family shot caught by a random teenager who we threw our camera at!

A true family picture! The adult is smiling. One kid is upside down. One kid is not looking and the other is actually smiling and doing what I am asking. We got a lot of these shots while we were there.

And another family shot. Our faces are a little larger in this picture and easier to make out.

And this is a picture of the cabin we stayed in. It was really nice. This is how Julia and I like to go camping. :)

And one final group shot. Magically, Gene managed to get everyone to look at him at the same time. I think by the end of the week we were using the word "Candy" to get everyone to look at the camera and smile.

Overall, the weather was really nice. A little cool but not too bad. We had a blast on the trip. We got to hike into a couple of big caves and see the trees as they were all turning . I would highly recommend Hocking Hills to anyone who has never gone. It was so beautiful and was a great place for the kids to play and run.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Akron Marathon

Yesterday was the Akron Marathon and 4 out of the 5 people in our family ran in some way. Patrick and I thought it would be fun for the kids to run their own race. So we signed them up for the "Kids Fun Run." And boy did they have fun. It was a 1k race and they did very well. Here is a picture I caught of the two of them as we were waiting at the starting line. (Yes the over sized t-shirts really look comfortable for a run don't they!)I was nervous to just leave them and go to the finish line so I decided to run behind them so I was sure that they didn't get lost at the finish. Unfortunately in doing this I was unable to catch a picture of them finishing. (This also meant that I was a participant in the "Kids Fun run!") However, this is what they looked like after they crossed the finish line and were heading to get their medals. (I think this is a really cute one myself.)
So, after the kid's Fun Run was over we headed over to catch the 1/2 marathoners and marathoners come in. And wouldn't you know it, after a little while, here came Patrick. Here he is at mile 26. That means there was only 2 tenths of a mile left to go. And he had a huge smile on his face. ( I don't blame him. After 26 miles, I would be very excited to only have 2 tenths of a mile left.)

And what else did he do but grab Jordan and Isaac and say "Come on kids, finish the race with me!" And so they did. He some how managed to get them all the way into the stadium and on to the finish line. And the following is a picture I caught from the top of the stadium as they were all making their BIG finish.

Patrick did a great job and we all couldn't have been more excited for him. Here is a picture of his friend Tony who ran the last 3 miles with him. He said this was a great encouragement to have a friend help you get your mind off of running and somehow help you keep your pace after already running 23 miles. So Tony, "Thank You" for everything from all of us.

And here is our friend Michael that came over from Toledo and also went to cheer on everyone in the race.

I even managed to get a picture of Patrick and I after his run. :)

So you may be asking "Where was Sydney???" Well, to make things easier for me we left Sydney with a babysitter. And trust me, it would have be a whole lot tougher with one extra kid in downtown Akron yesterday morning. So, she gets to wear Patrick's medal while the other kids wear theirs.

What a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Good Bye

So, here is a picture of Patrick and his truck. I don't know if any of you know Patrick's history with this truck but it is the same truck that he has had since high school. It has been around for a long time and honestly it is going to be hard not having it around. Today we sold Patrick's truck.

Here is a picture of Patrick and Isaac taking it for one last drive.

And a close-up of Patrick and Isaac as they are about to drive off. I think the hardest part about getting rid of this truck is that the kids just love it so much. Isaac actually started crying when we got back in the house after a young man named Pete came and picked it up.

So tonight there is a very excited 16 year old driving this really cool Toyota truck around and having the time of his life. So, Pete, we hope you enjoy your new truck and just be safe.

So, here's to all of the Toyota memories that we have. And Patrick told Isaac tonight that we might just have to buy a newer version of his old truck some time soon. :) (But not too soon I don't think.)

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara

New Pets

This weekend Sydney's best friend Ella had her birthday party. And Ella loves Ariel ,the mermaid, so the theme of the party was ocean/under water/Ariel/fish/anything else that her mom could think of that went along with the ocean. I have to say, it was a great party. The kids searched in a sea of balloons for ocean creatures (which was a very creative idea if you ask me. They filled the dinning room with about 500 balloons and placed little sea creatures on the ground for the kids to search for.) There was cake, ice cream, and a good old fashioned fish story by Dr Seuss. Sounds like a great party doesn't it. That is .......................Yes, just wait until you hear this next part. My very good friend (Ella's mom) passed out the goody bags. Or should I say goody TANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, the goody bag/goody tank was GOLD FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Please see pictures below while I try to catch my breath!)

Sydney with her little fish! This picture was taken this evening. That means that this fish has stayed alive for over 24 hours in our house. (With Sydney keeping a good watch on it!)

And here are Isaac and Sydney with their fish. Isaac is posing with some sort of dinosaur that loves to eat fish.

And a solo shot of Isaac with his fish.

The names of these fish change every couple of hours so when we settle on a single/individual name for each of them I will let everyone know. (Let's be honest, they will probably die before that happens!) But for now, we have two more members of the Gallegos family and Isaac and Sydney couldn't be happier. :) Overall it really was a fun birthday party and after actually getting two fish home, in fish tanks, without spilling them all over my suburban, I am happy that the kids have them. Thanks Laura!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara

Happy GrandParent's Day

So, Today is "Grandparent's Day" and we just wanted to say ............................... (see picture below)

So to Nana, Pape, Grandma and Papa, we hope all of you had a wonderful Grandparent's day. We sure do miss seeing ya'll but hope that this will make up for the distance for now. We love ya'll and can't wait to see you soon. Thank you for being such wonderful grandparents.

And of course I couldn't say Happy Grandparent's Day without including my grandparents. The following is a picture we caught of the kids with them this summer while we were in Texas. I think this may be one of my favorite pictures taken while we were there.

O' to see my kids having so much fun with the same grandparents that I grew up having so much fun with. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for everything you have done for my family and I. I feel so blessed to be your granddaughter. And I know the kids love being your great-grandkids!!!

And to everyone else out there, I hope all of you had a great day also.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

First Day of School 2010

Well, the school year has started and as of today we are in full swing. Jordan started school in mid August and she seems to be having a great year. And Isaac, well he started today. So here are a few pictures from our first day(s) of school.

This is our bus stop. There are three kids that actually get on the bus but with moms and siblings added, there seems to be a large group of us. And here are Jordan and Patrick before we headed out to the bus.


And here are the 3 bus riders on the first day of school. They were all very excited.

And then today was Isaac's day. This picture was taken in the car as we were waiting in the drop off line. (Yes, he still rides in a car seat but we were just waiting in front of the school and he unbuckled.)

And here he is sticking his head out of the sunroof of the suburban. He was very excited needless to say.

So overall, everyone had a great first day at school. Even if they were all on different days. Today Sydney and I went to Target and had a blue Slurpee and bag of Oreo's all to ourselves. It was fun for ALL of us.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Grape Jelly!!!

My parents have 4 grapevines and, needless to say, one of the vines was ready while we were there. So, my mom and I decided to make grape jelly. (With the kids help of course!) The kids helped pick and squash the grapes. I don't know if many of you know the process for making jelly but this is how grape jelly is done Dryden/Gallegos style. Enjoy!!!

#1 - You start to pick the grapes. Or in Sydney's case, just move them from bowl to bowl. Hey, it kept her busy so I didn't complain.#2 - Continue picking the grapes until only one of your children is left helping and that child is just making a mess on the ground below you because the bowls are too full.

#3 - While taking a break from picking try posing with all of your children. And then you remember that there is no way you can get all three kids to look at the camera at the same time so you give up and finish filling the bowls with grapes.

#4 - Now you have 3 full bowls of freshly picked grapes. Take them inside, wash and remove the stems. The kids were totally plugged in to the TV at this point. :) So this step goes pretty fast.

#5 - Now you have to squish the grapes. My mom has this handy grape squisher. (I don't know what else to call it, so that is going to be it's official name "Grape Squisher" for this post) So we turned off the TV and had the kids help us with this next step. You place the grapes in the "Grape Squisher" and roll the wooden pin around it, the grapes are squished and the juice falls into the bowl below. Sounds easy enough, right! The girls had fun with it. Isaac tried it a couple of times and then he was done. However, the excitement wore out quickly and my mom and I were left to do the rest of the squishing.

Another shot of the girls squishing grapes together.

And by this point Sydney was done and Jordan and Grandma got some time together squishing grapes together.

#6 - You take the juice, mix it with sugar and a bunch of other stuff and boil it for a few minutes. And when I say sugar I mean a lot of sugar. We used a total of 7 cups of sugar for every 5 jars of jelly that we made. WOW, that's a lot of sugar!!!

#7 - And finally, pour the boiling mixture into jars, set on the counter and then take a picture to prove that you really do no how to make jelly!!! We made a total of 30 jars that afternoon with 3 large bowls of grapes. And here is the picture for proof.

Okay, so there were a few other steps in there that I probably left out, but let's be honest, those steps just are not as interesting. We were lucky enough to bring back 15 jars so needless to say we should have enough jelly for the year. So, next time any of you come over to our house, don't be surprised if you get something with jelly on top!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Time in Texas

We spent 3 weeks in Texas and now we are back in Ohio, trying to get back to some sort of routine. We all had a great time and we took a lot of pictures to prove it. So, sit back and enjoy some of the pictures we took at my parents house just outside of Canyon, Texas.

The kids playing on the swing set.

(I don't know what kind of face Isaac is making???)

Isaac and Jordan holding a baby chicken.

Isaac and Sydney playing in the mud. I think mud was one of Sydney's favorite things in Texas.

Jordan with the baby chicken. She held it the most out of everyone.

Sydney hiding in the corn patch.

Isaac hiding also.

Sydney and Jordan playing in the blow-up pool.

Another group picture on the swing set.

A group shot INSIDE the swing set.

I thought this was a cute one of Isaac.

We had a great time and needless to say we got a lot of pictures. I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our visit.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.