Gabriella Grace Plaster

Santa and all of Gabby’s relatives donated a huge haul to the Plaster household this year. I’m afraid that the bar has been set really high, and we need to dial it back next year before she can do math! Cole already believes that Gabby received more gifts than he did. Her biggest gift was American Girl bitty twins with accessories that Santa brought. She hasn’t shown much interest in them yet, although I think Gigi was finally able to get Gabby to name them. Their names are Jane and Jill. Gabby still has an unopened present from Grandma Wendy - beds for the twins. I’ve decided she can open it when she actually starts playing with the dolls!

Since I knew they were going to receive so many presents, Gabby got to open one on the morning of December 24. Watch the video of her receiving her first Barbie. She’s wearing princess pajamas that Jenica gave her.

Gigi came over that night to catch a ride to Vintner Grill for Christmas dinner.

Gigi gave Gabby a princess doll set where she can change their outfits. Jillian gave her something similar. She loves them both.

While opening presents at Grandma Wendy’s, Gabby took a picture with Uncle Ian. She decided to act shy for the picture, which we all know she ISN’T!

Watch a video of Coleman and Gabby opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Grandma Wendy gave her pink slippers. Brian gave me pink slippers too, so we match!

We celebrated Christmas Day at our house. Gabby is checking out her loot from Santa.  (Note the improved quality of the picture. Brian got me a Canon Rebel T3 for Christmas.)

Gabby plays with her princess dress up set.

Gabby pretends to ski. She could still fit in the dress from last year, so I said “What the heck?” This is only one area I can brag about not being wasteful!

I gave Gabby a big pink coat and a cake. Since she loves pink and she loves cake, I think she was pretty happy with this present.

Two nights after Christmas, we had another family meal at Wendy and Richard’s house. This time, the Berman family joined us. Alan really enjoys playing with Cole and Gabby, which tells you how sweet this kid is.

A picture of the whole crew -Brian, Coleman, Izella, Alan, Gabby, Brianna and Jillian.

Gabby is having a great holiday season because we are taking her OUT! She has gone to lots of birthday parties with Cole, and she has been on several outings with me. Currently, Gabby’s favorite thing is drawing and coloring. She particularly likes drawing babies. She also likes playing with babies. She has become quite the nurturer to dolls.

Gabby enjoyed spending time with Eva over Thanksgiving. The necklace is from Grandpa Richard.

She also enjoyed spending time with Uncle Paul. I just asked her what she thinks about Uncle Paul, and she said “He’s good.” Then she said “I love Uncle Paul,” but I think Brian told her to say that.

Our neighbor and good friend Jaime brought her cousin over to play. Gabby made quick friends with her and was very sad when she had to go home. The lesson for me was that Gabby needs more friends than just Dulce and Coleman.

Gabby loved the Yo Gabba Gabba show. She was absolutely perfect and didn’t misbehave at all.

She was very excited when I pulled out Christmas decorations.

While Uncle Paul was visiting, he asked me when I was going to cut Gabby’s hair. I figured if Paul thought it was messy, then I should probably get it cut. Her new cut is very cute. (Bohemian dress courtesy of Grandma Wendy. Black eye courtesy of Coleman.)

Gabby loved the cake at Alex Saltman’s third birthday party. She’s not afraid of blue icing.

This is the face she makes when I say “Show me happy!”

This is the face she makes when I say “Show me mad!” The resemblance to Brian is uncanny.

Gabby poses with Terry Fator’s stoner and gay puppets.

She loved the merry go round at Opportunity Village’s Magical Forest.

She also loved the spinning dinosaur ride as did Coleman.

Can she get any cuter?

Last Saturday, Gabby sang some songs. Check out this video. Note the flushing toilet in the background. I really need to teach Coleman to gently put the toilet seat down!

Last weekend we all took a walk around the neighborhood. Gabby loved walking Lucy. She walked over a mile and had no problem doing it.

We went to a birthday party at the Las Vegas Mini Grand Prix. Gabby’s favorite ride was the gigantic slide. We probably went down that thing 10 times.

She also enjoyed hanging out under the table playing with toys while everyone ate their pizza.

Gabby had a great Halloween in her super glittery Belle costume. Her shoes lit up when she walked, which received lots of compliments from fellow trick or treaters. While she didn’t always remember to say “trick or treat,” she was diligent about saying thank you. Yes, a princess is polite!

Gabby always loves being with Aunt Mari as you can tell by her princess smile.

One of the houses giving out candy had a human jack-o-lantern. Cole and Gabby weren’t at all scared to take a picture with him!

Gabby’s bucket busted toward the end of the night, so we had to resort to a plastic bag.

Gabby with an ice cream cup that was way too big for her. My bad!

Later we had sushi. She ate her fair share of raw fish.

Then we stopped by the ballet, and she was given a tutu. The dancers were on break in the hallway and thought she was so cute. Gabby actually acted shy from all of the attention.

She enjoyed a nice orange cupcake at my office party.

Gabby and Cole love to play hide and seek. Here she is in Lenny’s dog house. Mari gave her this nightgown, and it’s one of her favorites.

Doing a puzzle with Cole.

We were at Crystals Mall to eat at Todd English P.U.B. Gabby feel asleep on the way, and then slept through the entire one-hour lunch. When we left the restaurant, we gave her some time to run around the mall in her hot pink tutu.

At our new favorite playground. This dress is courtesy of Grandma Wendy.

It’s a race down the slide!

Yesterday we went to the Vegas Valley Book Festival with free face painting. Gabby’s flower was so beautiful that is was a shame to wash off.

Brian took them to the store after the book festival, and they were wild! Snow cones can have that effect on young children.

We visited the recently opened Nevada State Museum today. This mastodon was one of the more impressive exhibits there. I can’t wait to go back without the kids so I can read about what’s there rather than chase after my kids.

Then we checked out the Springs Preserve playground where Gabby pretended to drive the train.

Video of Gabby playing on the playground.

This is her trying to make a sad face. Pretty darn cute!

Grandma Wendy was the first to hear Gabby talk about woman power. She’s been watching a lot of super hero stuff lately because Coleman is really into it, and I guess she just made up the notion of woman power. I told her to add in an extended arm with a fist to really emphasize power. When we were deciding on a Halloween costume, she vacillated between Belle from Beauty and the Beast and Woman Power (I would have chosen a Super Girl costume if this had been her choice). She promised that she wanted to be Belle, and I ordered the costume and all of the accessories. Guess what? Now she tells me she wants to be Woman Power. I knew that would happen! Check out this video.

Coleman loves Color Me Mine, a pottery painting store that Grandma Wendy has taken him to. Since he’d been several times, I thought it was only fair that I take Gabby. Her piece ended up looking pretty good (thanks, Dulce!), but she did not like following instructions about not watering down the paint. I can’t wait to see how she’s going to fare at the Meadows because she’ll have to do what the teachers say!

Can I just say one more time, thank goodness for Dulce? I actually painted my own piece and let Dulce deal with Gabby. Probably not going to win the parent of the year award!

Gabby enjoyed Jaime’s pool for the final swim of the summer.

I forget to take pictures of Gabby with her grandparents. Here’s a rare one with Gigi.

Gabby, show me “mad!”

Looking like an angel in the back yard.

Jenica met us at Coleman’s third soccer game and spent the majority of the time chasing down Gabby. It takes a village!

You can’t tell from this picture, but Gabby adores Matt Pynch, who will teach her how to ski this winter. Gabby often goes through the list of people she knows - Where’s Jillian? Where’s Ian? etc etc. Matt Pynch and Morgan always make it into the list.

Gabby takes a load off at Coleman’s fifth soccer game. She didn’t sit in this chair for long. Darn the bright sun on the iPad!

This picture (one of the best, in my opinion) was taken after we saw the Lion King and were waiting for our car. While we were in the show, I began to understand why Cirque requires their attendees to be 5 and older. Gabby made it through the 2 and 1/2 hour show, but it was difficult. She would have run up on stage if we’d let her!

Although Gabby hasn’t taken any formal dance lessons yet, she loves to dance. I am really looking forward to dance recitals.

Video: Gabby Makes Up a Song and Dance (For the record, Cole hates it when she sings her own songs. It hurts his ears.)

Video: Gabby Makes Up a Dance

We took Gabby and Cole on our first kid vacation, a vacation that we planned solely for the kids. We stayed at Paradise Point on San Diego’s Mission Bay, a family friendly resort. In fact, I felt kind of sorry for the people there who didn’t have kids. The resort had four or five pools, three restaurants, bike and jet ski rentals, beaches, miniature golf, smores pits and night movies at the pool. The kids had a great time, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back.

Here’s a video of Gabby dancing to Michael Jackson’s PYT.  She has a variety of dance moves. I can’t wait to get her in a real dance class.

Aunt Mari brought Gabby a kimono recently. Red is a great color on Gabby. Thank you, Mari!

Gabby enjoys a PB&J.

Gabby can hold a crayon with her right foot. Wow!!!!

Even more impressing, Gabby can count in both English and Spanish. Check out this video.

I bought this costume for Gabby at Nordstrom, and she didn’t like it at first, which was a shocker since she really likes to dress up. I’m pretty sure she’s going to love dance recitals!

It’s not often that Gabby passes out on the couch.

Gabby has been letting Dulce put her hair up lately. It’s amazing that she finally has some hair to work with!

Gabby really enjoyed staying at TJ and Blake’s house in San Diego.

She was pretty relaxed about Brian biking her around. I was worried that she was going to insist on biking like the rest of us.

She’s always a fan of playing in sand.

We had a nice Mexican lunch before checking into Paradise Point.

Later that afternoon, we spent some time walking around Paradise Point. On the beach:

And picking pretty flowers.

We can always get a good hug from Gabby by saying “DON’T give me a hug.”

I remember to get a picture of me with Gabby.

Gabby is really fond of Morgan. She is always asking where he is, and then when she is in his presence, she’ll say his name over and over. It’s pretty cute.

On our last day in San Diego, Brian went off with Cole, and I had Gabby to myself. I enjoyed following her around the property because I could focus on her and what she found interesting. Here she is at the top of the observation tower.

Watching fish in one of the canals.

Gabby wore this dress from Grandma one last time. She actually wore this same dress on her first birthday. It’s amazing that it still fits! A perfect dress for eating watermelon.

Gabby’s new favorite thing to say when she wants attention or when she’s mad about something is “you’re mean.” She often likes to say “mean” three times for emphasis. Cole was freely using “idiot” at this age, so “mean” really isn’t that bad.

Our neighbor and friend, Jaime Martin, lets us come swimming any time we want. She has an awesome pool!

Gabby can now swim from one side to the other by herself. She hasn’t yet learned how to take a breath. She usually swims by kicking only. Check out this video, a rare case of her using her arms.

Yes, she can do two thing at once - drive a car and drink milk.

Gabby liked hiking in Mount Charleston. Really, she did.

We spent the Fourth of July at the Las Vegas Country Club. They had a bunch of bounce houses, and Gabby loved it. You can tell she jumped a lot because her face is all red!

It was great seeing Azurde. It had been too long. What was also great for Gabby were the cupcakes! Before having kids, I never knew how awesome it’d be to watch them eat sugar.

Gabby enjoyed the band. Watch this video of her dancing to Michael Jackson. Flags make great dancing props!

She loved the fireworks too. They were loud, but she wasn’t scared at all.

And more sugar. This time it was Daddy’s fault. When they were at Cardenas, he couldn’t resist buying her an Elmo cupcake.

Gabby and Coleman have been showing a lot of interest in playing with Lenny and Lucy. They especially love getting Lenny’s toy and having him chase them around the house.

I was going to title this post “Mississippi,” but I instead have to tell this story. Coleman has been throwing articles of clothing into the air lately. He has especially enjoyed doing it in his closet where he can climb up shelves to retrieve the item. Tonight I turned on the hallway chandelier. Ten minutes later, I smelled gas. I got Brian to help me look for the source. He thought it was burnt garlic (dinner), and I thought one of the kids had turned on a burner or the fireplace or that we accidentally had the heat on. Luckily, Brian looked at the chandelier and saw a pair of Gabby’s lavender sunglasses printed panties on smoking one of the lights. He quickly removed it, and one spot was completely black. We have sprinklers!!!!! The inside of our house could have gotten a bath tonight! Is it a bad sign that my daughter’s panties are already smokin’ and she’s only 2?

We recently returned from Gabby’s fourth trip to Mississippi. She had a blast and especially loved swimming. She actually thinks she can swim and will jump in the pool even when no one is there to catch her. The kid is dangerous.

Gabby loved jumping off of the board to Pop. When she jumped to me, I’d let her hang out under water for 5 to 7 seconds, and she was totally cool with it.

Gabby’s bikini is courtesy of Grandma Wendy. Gabby’s belly would get bigger and tighter the more she swam. We figured it was either from swallowing water or air.

Gabby loves her some PB&J and Cheetos! She hasn’t yet grasped the concept of “healthy.”

She also really enjoyed playing in the fountain at Pop and Madi’s lake house. It was almost as good as the iPad. How refreshing that something as simple as a fountain can keep her attention for longer than 10 minutes!

After a healthy PB&J, Gabby had cake! Cake is actually her favorite word. I can bribe her to do just about anything with the promise of cake.

Gabby helped Pop pick out some fish for his koi pond and then assisted him in dumping them in.

We are fortunate that we can get Gabby to wear swimsuits.  She loves being naked and doesn’t see much difference in a swimsuit and nudity.

Gabby’s favorite item of clothing is this nightgown. She has two and throws a fit when they are both dirty, and she has to wear something else to bed.

Thank you Pop and Madi for a great trip. Thanks especially to Madi for taking lots of pictures and going to the trouble of e-mailing them to me.

On Father’s Day/Brian’s and my 7th anniversary, we had Gigi, Richard, Wendy, Jillian and Ian over for dinner. I took rare photos of Richard and Wendy with Gabby.

The next day, Brian was horsing around with Cole and Gabby. Or rather they were horsing around with him. It’s difficult to tell anymore.

Gabby is really starting to talk. The first major sentence that both Brian and I completely understood happened a few weeks ago. We were walking down the stairs, and she emphatically said “I can do it myself!” I can’t remember what prompted it, but I definitely remember giving Brian a surprised, raised eyebrows look. She is very independent.

We all went to Payard’s a few weekends ago. This is Gabby’s “I love chocolate waffles” look. Gabby truly takes after Gigi and Mommy because she LOVES chocolate.

Yo Gabba Gabba is still Gabby’s number one favorite show. Unfortunately, Cole has decided to not like it, so she doesn’t see it that much. Check out the video of her going through the Yo Gabba Gabba characters’ names.

Gabby loves being silly. Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 2. I think Cole learned how to do this face week 1 at the Meadows, and he came home and promptly taught it to Gabby. She’s still doing it!

I took a quick pic of Gabby at the back of Aunt Jillian’s store. I figured I needed to capture the moment since we don’t see Jillian much anymore due to The Dog House store at Tivoli.

Check out a video of her getting dunked at a party that one of Cole’s school friends threw over Memorial Day weekend. She loves being in the water.

Gabby took two weeks of swimming lessons recently. She kind of freaked out when she was first placed on the stand to receive her swimming ribbon. I think the guy giving out the ribbon scared her. It didn’t take her long to figure out what was going on and ham it up for the camera.

To say Gabby is a handful is an understatement. Not that she can’t be the most adorable, loving, sweet little girl imaginable. She can. However, she also enjoys being bad. If you ask her not to do something, she’ll relish doing it. She loves fake crying when she isn’t getting her way, and her whine is super annoying. Lately, she’s become quite a tattle tale telling anyone who’ll listen “Cole hit.” Of if she has a “boo boo” and is asked how she got it, she will always say “Lenny.” Even Dulce, who has more patience with them than anyone, has to occasionally take five minutes to calm down.

We traveled to LA recently. I think we won’t go back for a while because it’s more fun to stay at home (with the kids). They have more to do, more room to run, and it’s a lot less exhausting for Brian and me. This was the first trip where Gabby would actually wear headphones in the car. She was very entertained, so at least I can say the car ride there and back was enjoyable.

We visited many parks and playgrounds while we were there. Gabby would either run up to kids and say “Hi!” or she’d run up and scream “No!” One mother saw her behavior and said “She has an older brother, doesn’t she?” How perceptive! At least Gabby has an excuse.

Gabby and Cole ran around the condo so much that the tenant below us had the concierge pay us a visit on our second day there. All I could say was “Tell him to be patient. We’ll be gone in a day!” At least Cole understood that we got “in trouble.” Thank you, Meadows! This picture was taken after a run around session.

We went to the Getty Villa in Malibu right when it opened at 10:00 am on a Saturday. We lasted about an hour. Brian let me go see a photo exhibit on Jerusalem. I was gone about 10 minutes, and when I was at the top of the stairs to get into this courtyard, I could hear Gabby crying. The echo off of the marble was LOUD. Brian looked totally frazzled, so we took off saying “We can’t take you guys anywhere!”

We took them to Best Buy because I think they splashed water on Grandma Wendy’s DVD player. She needed a new one, and we all went just to get out of the condo. Anywhere with a shopping cart is good for Gabby. See how excited she is?!

On the last day of Spring Break, Idaly and Jefa came over. Gabby loved it when Idaly pusehd her around in her baby doll’s stroller.

On Easter morning, the kids got their Easter baskets. Gabby really enjoyed eating chocolate first thing in the morning. She didn’t really care about the coloring book, crayons, toys, etc. All she wanted to do was open plastic eggs and eat gummy worms and Reese’s cups. We regretted allowing this to happen a few hours later when she and Cole went totally wild.

We first went to Grandma Wendy’s to do an Easter egg hunt. Here’s a video of Gabby in the beautiful dress that Grandma Wendy bought her.

We were invited to Phyllis and Jack Binion’s for an Easter party. Gabby enjoyed the Easter egg hunt and got lots of little toys and a new fuzzy basket.

After they napped, we took them to Bob Baskin Park. I guess that’s where a lot of people celebrate Easter because it was packed. We lasted about 10 minutes. Gabby was having a great time splashing around, but Cole was mad we didn’t bring his bike, so we left.

Video of Gabby splashing

Gabby and Cole saw their pediatrician last Friday. He mentioned that Gabby was doing things 2 years don’t normally do. I think he was referring to her climbing on the exam table, letting herself down and jumping around on both feet. Gabby took her shot like a man, and didn’t even let out a whimper. Cole, on the other hand . . .

I tried to get Gabby to smile for the camera, and this is the face she made.

Gabby is now two years old! I can honestly say that I’ve never seen her happier than on her birthday. She woke up, we sang to her, and then she got to open some presents. When Dulce came over with her Mickey Mouse cake, she was ecstatic and looked forward to eating cake all day. We had a birthday dinner (chicken, mac and cheese, asparagus and salad from the garden) that included Gigi, Wendy, Richard, Jillian, Ian, Morgan, Mari and Roy. She got tons of presents including cash from Pop and Madi, a princess tent and dolls from Wendy, a ruffled nightgown, play jewelry and a swimsuit from Gigi (Gabby loves wearing that nightgown), nightgown, slippers and a huge bunch of balloons from Mari, a cupcake set and a custom painted elephant piggy bank from Jillian, and a bunch of Disney figurines from Brian and me. Kind of a boring intro to this blog post, but Gabby will appreciate the details one day!

Here’s a video of Gabby opening her Mickey Mouse card. I hope she always breaks out into dance when she hears her favorite songs!

Here she is with some of her new Disney characters. I was thinking of buying her a fancy dollhouse, but why do that when cheap toys are just as entertaining?

Cole gives her a birthday hug. Note the look on her face. It’s not difficult to believe when asked “Gabby, are you a good girl of a bad girl?” she says “bad girl!”

You can tell why she was happy all day after seeing the cake that Dulce made.

Gabby loves balloons. Mari and Roy brought an awesome bouquet.

Gabby likes Uncle Roy. Really, she does!

She’s just not that into taking pictures. We are hoping she’ll grow out of that!

Okay, maybe she’ll take a good picture for cake (which she loves saying, by the way. “CAKE!”). A few months ago, all sweets were “cake” to Gabby.

About a month ago, we all went to the Springs Preserve. Gabby wasn’t really interested in looking at the exhibits. She prefers running around and us chasing her. The one place we could get her to sit still was on the train.

In the turtle shell at the Springs Preserve playground.

Even though Gabby still doesn’t have that much hair, we took her to get her first haircut to even it out. Everyone loves her curls!

This was the first time she had a little bow in her hair. I was always against sticking a bow on her head when she was a baby. I figured if you couldn’t tell she was a girl, it was your loss.

This Snow White dress was Gabby’s consolation prize from Grandma Wendy for not getting to go to Disneyland. She loved wearing it and left a trail of glitter all over the house.

Video of Gabby talking a bit for the camera before everyone else woke up.

This picture was taken while Gabby was sitting on a ledge, right over water at Floyd Lamb Park. She was playing chicken with me. I thought any minute she was going to fall over backwards into the lake! I had one hand on her, and one hand on my camera.

Since I couldn’t take the day off work on Gabby’s birthday, we spent some time together at Town Square the next day. We went to the book store, splash pad and Yogurtland. She had a great time and passed out in the car on the way home.

Speaking of splashing, Gabby and Coleman love to splash it up in my tub.

Last week, I pulled out my supply of tempera paints for the first time. The kids LOVED it.