Family Pictures

Patrick's parents were in town last week and we took the opportunity to take them out to the Cuyahoga Valley. While we were there we decided to take some pictures as a family. And well, that actually is harder than a person might think.

So, the following is what we got. (You never know, one of these may end up being our Christmas card picture!)

For the most part everyone was looking at the camera in this one. (Jordan has the funny face in this one!)

Our families version of a straight line!

What is Patrick doing to Jordan???

AHHH, A true family portrait for the Gallegos Family!

4 out of 5 of us looking at the camera is about as good as we can get!

As a side note, I cut my hair off about a week ago. I donated 11 inches to "Locks of Love." Lets hope they can make a crazy cool wig out of all that hair!!! :)

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Our first Harvest

Well, all of our hard work has paid off. We harvested our first strawberries yesterday. Yes, we are already harvesting food from our garden. (A small side note: The word "Harvest" is used very loosely in the previous sentences!)

I checked out the garden and noticed that some of the strawberries were ready. So I quickly picked them before the birds got to them.

So, here is what we got!!!

Yes, 2 strawberries. Roughly the size of a penny. They were so small and there were only two of them. (That is why I used the word "Harvest" so loosely.)

However the kids were very excited.

Here they are eating up their dinner so they can eat the strawberries I picked from the garden. They didn't know that I only got two and that whey were the size of a penny but they would soon find that part out!

So, here is a picture of Jordan with the strawberries.
And Isaac was super excited also.

And Sydney, well, she was excited but just wanted to eat them. It was kind of tough taking the picture without her shoving them in her mouth.

So, when every one's dinner was done I divided them up and handed them out to the kids. The really funny part about all of it was that the strawberries were kind of tart and the kids did not like them at all. Their faces were priceless!!! Well, we hope to have much more harvesting in the future and look forward to sharing.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Gardening Fun!!!

This one is for you Mom and Dad!!! :) So while my parents were here in April I talked them into helping us make a small gardening area. And I have to say, it did turn out really nice. We made an 8 ft by 8 ft area that is fenced in so that no deer can get in and eat all of our goods. The kids and I planted some stuff a couple of weeks ago and my parents have been asking for pictures every since I told them that stuff was starting to grow. I do have to add in here that I am in NO WAY a gardener. I DO NOT have a green thumb and I am surprised that we actually have green plants growing in the garden right now. So, here are a few pictures of our new little garden and some of the other things we have been growing around the Gallegos house!

Our Garden

The other side of the Garden. (The corn is on the right and it isn't all coming up like I thought it would. The corn was the one thing Jordan wanted to grow so I hope we at least get a few good rows of it.)

And we have 7 strawberry plants. Here is a little strawberry that is not quite red yet!

And last fall I decided to plant some garlic. So far it is looking great. Garlic is supposed to keep the deer away also but I don't know if that is really true.

And in this area we have watermelon and pumpkins. Isaac wanted to plant these so let's hope we get a few of both! This area is very good at growing weeds so I don't see why watermelon and pumpkins shouldn't grow! And as I was taking these pictures I noticed a few watermelon plants coming up!!! :)

So, Mom and Dad, here is what we have planted so far. I know that the garden (aka Jungle - nicknamed that because I am pretty sure I planted everything way to close) has been a lot of fun for the kids and thank you so much for helping me get it built. I will post pictures again as things get bigger so you can see the fruits of your hard work. (No pun intended, but that was actually pretty funny.)

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G,

Memorial Day

Like many towns, ours had a Memorial Day Parade and you better believe that the Gallegos family never misses a good parade! :) Jordan actually participated in the parade and she had a great time. As for Isaac, Sydney and I, we sat on the sidelines and cheered and waved at all of the floats. Sydney and Isaac really enjoyed seeing all of the floats and were even more excited when they saw Jordan walking by!

So, the following is an action shot of Sydney waving at one of the floats going by. And here is Isaac waving at someone.??? (Now I realize that it looks like this could be a posed picture because there is no one on the road, but there was a huge gap between the (Young) high school marching band and the (Slightly Older) bagpipe band. :) If you squint your eyes you can kind of see the bagpipers at the end of the street. I PROMISE they really are there!!!)
And after about 45 minutes in the sun the Indian Princess group came strolling up. And yes, there was Jordan. Waving at everyone she made eye contact with. (She really is a social butterfly - I have no idea where she gets it!)

And after Jordan passed the other two were done!!! Here is a picture of them as they were slowly melting away from the heat. They just wanted to sit in the shade and drink water. It was actually pretty funny to see in person.

Overall we had a great weekend. After the parade we went to some friends house and celebrated Memorial Day with them and their family. We have been blessed with so many great friends. We hope all of you had a great holiday weekend and on this Memorial Day may we always remember those who have given their lives for our freedom.

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Cleveland Marathon

This morning Patrick and I ran the Cleveland Marathon. Last year we ran the 1/2 marathon and this year we ran the full. And lucky for me, Patrick ran at MY pace. I am so grateful that he is so supportive. We loaded up and were off this morning at 5:25 a.m. Yes, 5:25!!! That is very early for me and the race started at 7:00 a.m. We didn't take the camera so all of the pictures below were taken after we got back home. The kids were very excited to wake up and have the babysitter here! :) Which isn't really a bad thing.

The kids are always excited when we get home from running but this time they knew we would have metals so that was the first thing they went for. Here is Jordan sporting the metal around her neck.

And Isaac just as excited, but he is more enthused with the twisting guitar that is on the metal itself.

And last but not least, Sydney, a picture of her sporting the metal.
Overall it was really a great run. I felt pretty good, however, those last 2 mile tried to kill me! And after getting back to the house we had the babysitter take a family picture. Below is what we got! The color was starting to come back into my face.
So, I have a HUGE "Thank You" to Patrick for pushing me harder than I push myself sometimes. This was something that I didn't know if I could really do, but he always believed in me. He kept me going the entire time and for that I am so thankful. I look forward to "possibly" doing another one. (Possibly is a big word today!!!)
Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

My goal was to finish around the 4 hour mark. Our final time was 4 hours and 7 minutes. I was so glad to just be finished. I didn't care what my time was!!! :)

Happy Birthday Sydney!!!

I am just a little late, but here is how Sydney's 2nd birthday went down. Her birthday was on the 18th of April and the theme this year was "Tea Party!" She was very excited to have all the attention on her. I made a cake in the shape of a tea pot and it actually turned out really cute. Here is a picture of her and her cake on the 18th of April.And a close-up of the cake.

And we waited until the following weekend to have her party so she got to celebrate all week long. That is always fun for kids. So the following pictures were taken at her birthday party.

The whole gang!!!

Sydney and her friends with their sunglasses!

Sydney on a tricycle that her Godparents got for her.

And a close-up of Sydney with her glasses and goody bag in hand.

It is so hard to believe that Little Miss Sydney is already 2 Years old!!! And O' how she has truly blessed our family. We had a great time celebrating.

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.

Happy 4th Birthday Isaac

This weekend we celebrated Isaac's 4th birthday. It is so hard to believe that I-Man is already 4! And again this year we celebrated dinosaur style. (Yes, last year we had a dinosaur party last year also. What can I say, he really likes Dino's! If he keeps up the trend I should have the dinosaur-cake-making down perfect.) So here is Isaac with his birthday cake. He was very excited! (And we were also, for him.)

And of course no Gallegos birthday is complete without a pinata. And I have to say, the kids are getting pretty good at hitting shaped cardboard boxes full of candy. :) He was ready in this next picture.

What can I say, we all like pinatas in our house, especially Isaac.

We had a great time. Isaac invited some of his friends over and we all had a lot of fun. So, Isaac, thanks for a great 4 years and it is amazing how much you have truly blessed our family.

Love Ya Buddy, Mommy, Daddy, Jordan and Sydney