Christmas Lights

In downtown San Jose, they have Christmas Lights every year. They close off a few streets and set up small carnival rides sometimes. In the park there are sponsored trees and huge displays. Girl scout and cub scout troops and other organizations decorate Christmas trees which then line the sidewalks. In between the groups of trees, there are large... what are they called? displays: animatronic scenes of Santa and his reindeer or ice skating bears. It's fun. Here are a few pictures of our evening out. Gabriel loved looking at the lights, but was especially interested in his surrounding when we held him instead of leaving him in his stroller.

Christmas

We enjoyed a nice fire before driving around to our families for Christmas.

Gabriel, our sleeping angel.

We received so many wonderful toys for Gabriel this year for Christmas. We are so thankful for them all and love that they will last us all year long as he matures. Here is Gabriel trying out his Jump'n'Go doorway jumper. More pictures will appear with Gabriel's new treasures as the weeks pass.

Toes!

Back, by popular demand... heeeere's Gabriel! He recently found his feet and just managed to get his toes into his mouth. This trick is sometimes his first step from rolling from his back to his tummy, which he does all the time now. Of course, he's forgotten how to roll back over from his tummy to his back, so he gets frustrated after a little while.

Oh Christmas Tree

I'm certainly not a great photographer, but here's our Christmas tree made out of Construx. It was such a fun family project. I just put lights and a few ornaments on it and I think it looks great!! The best part is that the "branches" can hold the really heavy ornaments, unlike a typical tree.

First Solids

Gabriel has been fussy while drinking the last third of his bottle lately. We're not sure what the reason is. So yesterday (Monday), two days before his 5 month birthday, we decided to try something new to console him. We mixed the rest of the formula with a tiny bit of rice cereal. His first "solid" food! He loved it. He smiled the whole time and kept opening his mouth for more. So tonight, when he refused to finish his bottle again, we made him some more cereal. Again, all smiles. These pictures don't show how messy things got, but the majority of the food got in his mouth and was swallowed.

Construx

Here's a cute picture of Gabriel helping Paul build a roller coaster out of Construx for a tennis ball. A Christmas tree is next, pics soon.