Happy Halloween

We went to a costume party for our friend Brooke's 5th party a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I'd share a few shots of our sweet digs.

Gigi was a li'l leopard kitty!

I was a Mullets baseball player and David was an umpire (doubt it, Blue!!).

Confession

I am totally addicted to the world of BLOGS!! I love looking at friends' (and friends of friends', thanks to links!)) cute pictures, stories, thoughts, etc!
I love using it as a time to wind down when Gigi's napping or playing with Daddy, and catch up on people's lives, some of whom were just passing friendships in college or high school, but nonetheless I love seeing what they are up to, at whatever stage of live they're in.
So just an encouragement to you all out there- keep it coming!! And I hope you enjoy reading ours as much as we enjoy making it.
And for my readers who don't have their own yet, you should really consider starting one, if nothing else for my entertainment! heehee. :)

Fire and Ice

While wildfires are raging in Southern California, our Colorado weather has been quite chilly (29 degrees this morning!).
Please pray for the firefighters and residents in SoCal (specifically please pray for my Dad and his department!) as the fires continue with no end in sight yet- it's really scary.

But on a happier note, we enjoyed our first snow (on Sunday)- except when it made our satellite TV signal go out (but at least it came back on for Game 7). Here are a few pictures.Our house in a blanket of snow!

Driving in to our neighborhood after church.

The beautiful view out our living room window.

Our pretty, snowy tree!

Quick Gianna update: Gigi has been exploring the orange veggies this past weekend! She loves carrots mixed with rice cereal (see her "I want more" expression below) and also tried sweet potatoes today, and liked them pretty well too! She is sitting up better each day and scooting/rolling around like she really wants to crawl. So we're officially in the market for baby gates.
Oh, and as much as I like Dice-K and the Red Sox, I've got to cheer for the hometown- so Go Rockies! It's Rocktober in Denver!!!

Scriptures to Remember

This came from a book I'm reading in a moms' Bible study, Having a Mary Spirit, by Joanna Weaver. I'm encouraged to memorize more scripture when I think about how powerful it can be in everyday life!

"What I Know, Not What I Feel"

What I feel afraid...
"The Lord is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).

When I feel overwhelmed...
"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).

When I feel like running away...
"And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand" (Romans 14:4).

When I feel threatened...
"O Lord my God, I take refuge in You; save and deliver me from all who pursue me: (Psalm 71:1).

When I feel betrayed...
"Be strong and courageous... For the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave nor forsake you" (Deut. 31: 6).

When I feel confused...
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5).

When I feel angry...
"Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" (James 1:19-20).

When I feel depressed...
"He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along" (Psalm 40:2).

When I feel unloved...
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt" (Jeremiah 31:3-4).

God's word is awesome!

Fun with Grammar

If you are curious in knowing what my grammatical pet peeve is, click HERE.

And because I realize that English is sometimes a ridiculously complex language and we almost all make errors daily, here's my most commonly made mistakes that I often knowingly make:

Me and Rena are going to the movies. (no, she's not mean).
I'm voting for the Dodgers. (I suppose I'm actually rooting for them, but I tend to prefer vote for some weird reason).

I know, I know, and I call David a nerd!!

Mommy's new blog!

In order to keep myself involved in the field that I dedicated so many hours to studying, I decided to start a new blog called "Diversión escrita" where I will be posting all things related to Spanish, ie articles, teaching resources, etc.
I love being a stay-at-home mom, but I also plan to go back to teaching at some point in the future, so this will be a tool that I can use in the meantime to locate & organize anything I think relates to Spanish and the teaching of it.
It will also be a sort of platform for me to start doing more translation and possibly tutoring. If you or anyone you know needs translation, I would love to start doing more. I have really enjoyed doing the little that I have. Please visit my new blog, and/or contact me for rates.
To my former colegas and other friends who have studied or are interested in Spanish, please leave me input and email me anything you think I should post/link to!! Gracias!
www.nicolespanol.blogspot.com

Sitting Up

I mentioned in the last post that Gigi is almost sitting up, well, she's getting even better at it! She has been sitting with the boppy or a blanket behind her as a "just-in-case"- and last night she sat up on her own on the couch while Daddy was serenading her! Here's the photo proof:

5 months

It's hard to believe that Gianna is 5 months old already! She's almost sitting up by herself these days and she really wants to crawl, although right now she's only able to "swim" on her tummy. Here are a few recent pictures of our sweet little girl.

Young & In Love

Gigi's Yaya (my mom) has occasionally asked me whether Gigi has "found her feet yet." Well, I'm here to report that not only has she found them, she is in love with them. She is almost always grabbing them, with socks or not- she doesn't care, and occasionally sucking on her right big toe (I once even caught her sucking on a sock, which seemed a little gross). It's pretty funny. But as I was explaining to our little friend Brooke today, it's not as if her feet are dirty, since she doesn't walk, so hey, go ahead, Gigi, suck away on that big toe while you can, before the inflexibility that you're bound to genetically acquire develops!

P.S. On a totally unrelated note, Gianna went to her 6th MLB game on Monday night (with friends Tom & Dominick from David's work), to see an amazing 1-game playoff between the Rockies and Padres. It was such an exciting game and it was fun to see the hometown team win as everyone was going crazy!! (Sorry to my SD peeps.)