Love, Love, Love

"Let Love and Faithfulness never leave you..." Proverbs 3:3

Well, February is upon us. I can hardly believe that January has passed but we are going into February full swing. And "Love" is the theme of the month, right? So, Jordan has 3 projects that are to be done within the next few weeks. So we got them ALL done today. She was very excited and enjoys crafts so these projects were right up her alley! The first was her Valentine's box. We went to the store today and picked up some supplies and the following picture is the final product. She is so excited to take it to school tomorrow.

(Yes, that is a feather boa that is wrapped around the edges, her favorite part!)

The second was a Valentine for her class. Her class gets to decorate the hallway with a large homemade valentine from home and ours is officially done! I love the joy in her face in this next picture!

(It is stickers upon stickers upon stickers and it is all hers. There was no parent involvement on this one!)

And the final project is the 100th day project. February 9th is the 100th day of school and again she wanted to go with the Valentine's theme. We glued 100 candy hearts in the shape of a heart. She has to wait until it dries to take it to school so it will be a couple of days before she can take it in. You kind of have to use your imagination to see the heart shape but after she cuts it out it will look more like a heart (HOPEFULLY!!!)

So, Love is the theme of the month and the theme of our home. I like to think that "Love" is always the theme of our home but sometimes things get crazy and it is easy to let Love get pushed back. And then I remember that the ultimate gift of Love was given to us from Jesus on a cross. So, for this month may we remember to Love, Love, Love!!! (And receive the Love, Love, Love that is all around us!)

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

A weekend in Columbus

We ventured out this past weekend and headed south to Columbus. Yes, the capitol of Ohio, the home of "THE Ohio State University," and the home of COSI. COSI is a children's science center with lots of thing to offer to a family like ours. We were looking for some place to go and just have a good time and that is what we found. Following are a LOT of pictures of the weekend so sit down and I hope you enjoy!

Sydney playing in a pretend house.

And now pouring water. She kept trying to drink the water and that made me a little nervous!
Wind blowing through her hair!

Sydney and I looking like aliens!

Alien Isaac and Alien Jordan

Goofing around!

Still goofing around!

Here is a group shot of me with the kids. And yes, Isaac is in the stroller and Sydney is trying to push it! And I am pretty sure he is picking his nose also!

And here is a shot of me with the kids as we are learning how sound vibrations can flow through a hanger, string, and your fingers and finally we hear it in your ears.

There was a section of the science center called "Progress." It starts with horse drawn carriages and butter churns and goes into an era of bicycles and diners. It was a pretty interesting set-up. Here is a close-up of Jordan and Isaac in a phone booth!

And Patrick riding a bike with the kids in the phone booth behind him.

Patrick in the horse drawn carriage with Sydney and Isaac while Jordan is in the background churning butter.

A picture of the girls in the covered carriage.

Patrick and the kids making the pistons in a giant engine move.

And here is Sydney playing with the buckle of her stroller. Yes, all these cool science things to play with and she is loving the stroller!

Jordan being crazy!

Sydney learning about pulleys.

Jordan and Isaac in a pretend submarine.

I think this is one of my favorite shots of the whole weekend. This shot was taken while Patrick and the kids were inside a real submarine. I couldn't believe they all fit! The kids thought it was pretty cool also.

Isaac hanging on and learning about levers!

Jordan hanging on and learning a little also. At the other end of this lever was an old car so that made it even more fun for the kids! When the car went down they went up!

Overall, we had a great weekend. It was fun to get out of town for a few days and just play. So, I think we have decided that we need to make a few more of these unexpected trips just for fun! This is how memories are made.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

New Recipe!!!

I recently found a new recipe for brownies/cookies and it was definitely a success. You are supposed to put these in a 9X13 pan and cut them up but I tweaked it a little and put it in a cupcake holder hoping the wouldn't be so messy. The official name for these are "Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies covered with Ganache!" Can you say delicious and NOT nutritious! Well that is exactly what they were.

So here are pictures of the kids enjoying these new masterpieces.

Jordan enjoying hers.
Sydney, I think she really liked the ganache. (Along with her forehead!)
And Isaac with his. You can see the two layers in this picture. (He hadn't quite devoured it yet like the girls had.)

And this is what the cupcake looked like originally.

I didn't get any pictures of Patrick and I eating these but believe me, we ate plenty ourselves!

Yum Yum, I have a feeling we will be making these again and soon!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Happy Birthday Damon!!!

Today is my brother's birthday. So, the Gallegos children sang him a heartfelt and joyful version of "Happy Birthday." (That last sentence is said with total sarcasm!) And if you take a close look at Sydney you may notice the mark on her forehead. (She looked like a unicorn on Tuesday, so it looks great now!) And yes Jordan is wearing a princess dress with wings and Isaac is in his dragon costume. And unfortunately Isaac really did fall asleep during dinner.

So, we hope Uncle Damon has a great birthday and we wish we were there to sing this to you in person. Love Ya and God Bless, Tara, Patrick, Jordan, Isaac and Sydney

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Snow Day!!!!

Friday was a snow day. We got 10 inches of snow during the night but they expected even more during the day. So, luckily for all the kids in Hudson, that meant NO SCHOOL!!! So, for the first snow day of 2010 we decided to do some painting. Painting ceramic figures that is! And luckily I had the camera close by. And this is how the story goes!

All three kids got one of these fancy plastic trash bag shirts!Isaac painted dinosaurs figures!

Jordan painted Ice cream/dessert figures!

And Sydney painted one of Jordan's ice creams and one of Isaac's dinosaurs!

So, everyone had something to paint and they were ready to go! Jordan was very excited to mix red and white resulting in PINK!!! And then later she figures out that purple and orange make brown. I guess we all learned something new on this day.

And Isaac intently painting!

And the final products. WOW what talent. They must get it from their Father!

And one last picture of the kids finishing up their projects. Actually, Isaac is already done. He just decided to paint his hand since he ran out of dinosaurs. Go figure!

O' what fun snow days can bring. I have to say it is nice to have an unexpected long weekend, for all of us! We hope everyone else is enjoying this cool January weather.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

An old, broken and dirty Car!!!

Early this morning Isaac woke up because his ear was hurting. Unfortunately that only means one thing when you are 3 years old, ear infection. So, when the doctor's office opened I made the call and got I-Man an appointment. So as we were heading out the door he asks if he can bring a toy and I said sure so he grabbed one of his favorite cars. See picture below (this is the car he grabbed.)It is one of his very favorite. He has had this car for a little over a year and when he got it, it didn't look like it does now. As you can see it is now a convertible. (That means that when it first arrived it did have a roof over the cab.) It is missing a couple of tires and the muffler has fallen off. There are a few other things that have broken off but I think you get the idea so far. Needless to say this little car has been played with by a very rambunctious 3 year old and PARTS of it have lasted while some parts have not. It has also been filled with baby powder a couple of times so that is what gives the inside a whitish look.

The following picture is one I took of Isaac as he is explaining his favorite parts of this car. He likes the fact that the doors open (aka. wings which give it the ability to fly) and the hood also comes up (which allows this car to talk.) This is where this car gets interesting.

So this morning after we were headed home from the doctor's visit Isaac told me that his car wanted to say a prayer and asked if I could turn down the radio so that he could hear his car clearly. I agreed and also wanted to hear who his car was praying for and what it had to say. So his car started by praying for Daddy, Mommy, Jordan, Sydney and Isaac. He prayed for Isaac's ear and that it would heal soon followed with a loud "AMEN." O' to hear Isaac's sweet little voice pretending to be a car who was praying. It was priceless!
And then I start to think. This is a toy that I always laugh at when Isaac grabs. It is missing a lot of it's parts and doesn't work the way I would think it should. But then I realize that Isaac loves this toy because it is just how he wants it. "Perfect in His eyes!" It is just how he made it to be. When I asked why he took the roof off his reply was that he couldn't see the seats with the roof on it. When I asked why he tore off the muffler he replied that it didn't roll very good with that "thing" underneath it and the reason for taking off two of the tires (keep in mind the rims are still attached) was to make sure Sydney didn't eat them. (At this point I wonder if he thinks she won't eat the other two but I decide not to go there.)
So when I look at this car I see an old toy that is broken, has missing parts and is all dirty. But, when I hear my son speaking as a little, broken, dirty car and praying for our family, I see a perfect little car that was created just as God had intended. This afternoon I saw Isaac playing with this car and to him it was perfect. It has doors that allow it to fly through the sky and a hood that allows it to pray. What more can a mother want in a toy for her son.

I also know that I thought this car is imperfect in so many ways. In so many ways that I have almost thrown it away many times. While driving home I was so glad that I never threw it away. I now realize that to Isaac this car is perfect. He loves this car with no roof, missing tires and residual powder dust. To him it is perfect. In the same way that I am loved by the Lord. I am perfect in the eye's of our Lord. In the same way that YOU are loved by the Lord. You are perfect in the eye's of the Lord. The love that we are given through Christ is immeasurable. The love that was given and began with the birth of that baby in a manger. This is what Christmas is all about. I hope all of you had a great Christmas holiday. May you always know the love of the Lord in 2010. Wow, thank you Isaac for keeping me on track and thank you for a great morning.
Love Ya'll and God Bless, Tara G.