Happy 2013!!!

I have a cold today, MLK day, and I am resting while my girls play with their cousins, Sophia and Amelia. (They spent the night!) For fun, I started looking at old posts on this blog and I realized it's been 2 years since I've blogged!!! I post most of my pics on facebook now, it's just so much faster. But I am sooooooooo glad I blogged from 2007-2010! I will always cherish the pics and all that I wrote those 3 years! I love seeing my girls when they were so much younger!!! I can't believe how busy we have always been, how much fun we have had, and how I have somehow managed to make my life look perfect even though it is sooooo far from the truth! I feel almost like a big liar that my life looks so charmed in my blog/pictures. But I hate to dwell on the negative and so I only post the good, the happy, the things I am grateful for! I just thought I would post an update on our family, and wish the world a "Happy 2013!" We have recently moved to Pasadena and are still home schooling. Craig still teaches in Compton. My girls are 11, 9, and 6, 6th, 4th, and 1st grade but are all about to have birthdays very soon. We are super-blessed, while still being refined by certain trials. On Saturday, I wanted to go out to tea so bad, but instead, I got some yummy things and we had a tea party here, just us girls! On Friday, we went to see a kid production of "Suessical the Musical" and it was awesome! Last week, we went to see the Endeavor Space Shuttle!!!! This last picture we took at our front door at Christmas.

Our "Christmas Card"

Dearest Friends and Family,

Merry Christmas!!

We are so grateful for the gift our Savior.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

We have had quite a year. We’ve had many trials, but more blessings. Suzy’s dad passed away which was VERY hard. But it strengthened our testimonies of the Savior and the resurrection. We know we will be with Grandpa Harold (and Grandma Olga) again thanks to the Savior. Craig was laid off, but we were blessed to have enough work to tide us over and then he was invited back by the district that laid him off, but to a different and better school. In the summer, we had a wonderful vacation to Sequioa National Park. Suzy continues to home school the older girls-- Bella, 9, and Olivia, 7. They started horseback-riding, continue with piano lessons and they love both. Cecilia, 4, took a ballet & tap class this fall which she really enjoyed. The class ended with a tap performance to "Woody's Roundup," which was adorable. We were honored to be asked to be Mary, Joseph, shepherds and an angel at our ward Christmas party. Suzy got to sing lullabies to baby Jesus. Look at Ceci sucking her thumb! Suzy got called to be the ward choir director and planned the Sunday Christmas program which was a big challenge for her (much to learn!) With divine help, the choir and program were beautiful! We are a blessed family and wish you all a very Christ-filled Christmas! Much Love, The Gallups

To those of you who send us Christmas cards: Thank you! We love them!!

"Thy gentle head shall wear a crown
For thy Father is the King
Thy tender hands so tiny now
Have blessings great to bring
Let all creation join my song
For peace and love this night are born
Lullaby, lullaby my little one
Lullaby my child so dear"

























We love and miss Grandpa!!

Life is so busy!

Well, I was trying to catch up on this blog, and life just got too busy again! I got called to be the choir director in my ward on top of all my other responsibilities. I really do plan to catch up when I can!

I plan to blog Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, some field trips, Ceci's show and more.

October

On October 4th, Ceci started a ballet/tap class! She loves it and does such a good job!












October 6 was a beautiful rainy day. The girls enjoy putting on their boots so much and splashing in puddles!




On October 7, Bella and Olivia started horseback-riding lessons. They LOVE it! They spent the first 45 minutes grooming the horses and the next 45 minutes learning to mount and ride. It's like a dream come true for them!




























October 11, we celebrated Alex's birthday!

October 15, we took a field trip to the San Gabriel Mission as we are learning about local geography and history. We learned about the Gabrielino (Tongva) Indians and about mission life. We live less than one mile from the mission! We had a great time and learned so much!!








That same night, we went to our friend Susan Lopez' wedding. I was asked to sing "Dream a Little Dream of Me" for their first dance. It was so much fun! The girls had a blast making friends and dancing all night with them! It was a beautiful reception.





















On October 22, we had our first of THREE Halloween parties. It had been pretty rainy, so we almost cancelled this one. Thank heavens we didn't because it was only misty and the party was a BLAST! We had a circle with lots of Halloween songs and verses. Each of us moms had a station with something fun to do. We did a "Dia de los Muertos" altar. Elizabeth told some awesome scary stories and Lucy brought body parts of her "friend" which were funny different food things like noodles dyed red for guts! AnnMarie had some fun games and Anne told a pirate story and gave out candy from her pirate chest. We had a delicious potluck and the kids had so much fun just playing together. The day before, I spent lots of time sewing Olivia's pirate costume. I made the skirt, sash, and vest. I sewed lace onto a blouse we (thankfully) already had. I thought she looked pretty darn cute!! I think I spent about $15 on the fabric and I copied the costume from a fancy catalog that was selling the costume for $75! I'm so glad Bella and Ceci's costumes were so easy. Notice that Ceci dressed up in four different costumes for each party-- Cinderella, a ladybug, a fairy and a cat. We have so much dress-up that she could do that! :)





















On the 23rd, we went to Underwood Family Farms for their Harvest Festival. It was so much fun! It also started out rainy, but then became sunny! We saw a flea circus, pig races, an animal show, fed lots of animals, Ceci rode a pony, we got lost in the corn maze and took a tractor pulled trailor ride. We've been going here for a few years now and we love it! We love the pumpkin patch with pumpkins of all sizes including the huge ones!!



















































We had our next Halloween Party on the 26th with our Tuesday home school group. We had a potluck and a parade! It was really sweet. We love our home school group sooooo much!





















Our next Halloween Party was at our ward on the 30th. Earlier in the day, Craig helped the girls carve their little pumpkins and then he carved our big pumpkin. We brought it to the party and he won first prize for it! At the party, we had a trick or treat in the rooms, lots of games, a parade, and even a spook alley! Some people dressed sooooo cute! I loved the Vincent's as Daphne and Scooby and then the Alvarez' dressed as the Toy Story characters! SO CUTE!






For Halloween, we stayed home and handed out candy (I was trying to sort of keep the Sabbath Day holy by not going trick or treating) I made a "Witches Brew" soup which was like a black bean chicken chili. The girls were so excited to make it because it was from a recipe we got from Trader Joes where each of the ingredients were described in a creepy way-- Like "gargoyle tears" was chicken stock, the black beans were "bat kidneys," and the corn was "Frankenstien teeth!" We all got dressed up and for fun, we made a table with a box with a hole in the bottom so that we could hand out our candy like "Thing" from the Addams family! The girls loved being under the table to hand out candy! Grandma was with us and I dressed her up like a witch! She came up to surprise the girls! We had a busy, awesome October. So busy, that that's why I can't keep up with this blog! The last picture is of the Haunted House pictures the girls made. They made doors and windows that open and drew witches, monsters, ghosts etc behind each window and door. They came out so cute!