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.

Everyone loves a Parade

Today our neighborhood had its second annual 4th of July Parade. And we were very excited to participate. The kids decorated their bikes with red, white, and blue and they were very excited to go for a ride. The following pictures are of the kids and their bikes all decorated!!!

(Okay so technically Sydney was in the bike trailer, not her bike, but we decorated the trailer any way!!!

And the next picture is one of the 4 of us before we started the parade. The kids were full of energy and ready to go.

We rode for about a mile and then took a popsicle break. Sydney was worn out and fell fast asleep soon after we took off. She slept through the entire popsicle break and finally woke back up closer to the snow cone stop. (My kids were in heaven. Popsicles AND snow cones all in the same day!!!)

This next picture is one I caught of Sydney sleeping in the bike trailer.

And here are Jordan, Isaac and their friend Carter enjoying a popsicle.

Overall we had a great time and I am glad the kids got to participate in the parade. The weather was great and we were all very thankful for that. So, we have officially started our 4th of July weekend off successfully. I am looking forward to the rest of the weekend. We hope all of you also have a great 4th of July weekend!!!

Love Ya and God Bless, Tara G.