View From an Abby

So Abby got a hold of the camera this weekend and took lots of pictures. Some weren't that bad, at least from an artists' point of view (meaning they love the abstract right?) So here's what we got...

Sister Tessa (a perfect picture of Tessa's 4 teeth, if only it were a little more centered...)

Uncle Scott...nice Abby's idea of art - a pile of shoes
Daddy in the middle of a nap
Uncle John with Chloe

Cousin Matt who was trying to sleep
Mom - this was her first picture on the cameraAunt Nevla
Nevla's friend, StephanieThe newspaper, with a little Abby finger
Troy Aikman and Joe Buck (don't ask me, Abby took the pictures remember) Cousin Chloe
Dora and BootsGrandma Black
And here's a self-portrait. The cameragirl caught in the act.

Well done Abby. You have a bright and rewarding future ahead of you!

The results are in....

So I was planning on changing my blog background to all BLUE after our ultrasound this week, but as you can see, it's still pretty in PINK. So that means....we're having another girl!!! We were a little surprised (I was ready to see "something" on that ultrasound), but we're very excited that we're going to have another healthy baby girl. Abby has been announcing for us that she's having another baby sister. The ultrasound technician even gave Abby her very own ultrasound picture which Abby shows to everyone. It's really cute. We have no ideas on names for girls, so that will take some time. But at least we don't have to fork over any more money on a new wardrobe. We're definitely ready in this house for another girl. So, in case you hadn't heard yet, that's our latest news.

Welcome to the family Baby Girl Gibbons #3!! :)

Gibbons Eye Care is Now Open!!

We are proud to announce that we made it through our first day of our new business! Our only issue consisted of our new printer/fax/copier messing up in the middle of the day so we couldn't print anything or make copies, but since we just purchased it last week, we took it back and got a new one after the day was done.

The girls were in the office with me and they did pretty well considering the lack of space and toys.

We got a delivery of a plant from my parents congratulating Tyler on his first day, which was very sweet, but we had no where to put it. (The space is really small). But we appreciated it nonetheless. We found a spot for it near the front desk, but it was low enough for the girls to reach the leaves, so we'll see how it holds up with time.

All in all, it was a successful day and I'm looking forward to our bright and rewarding future!

For anyone interested, here is our office phone number: 972-548-2633. And if you call in the next couple weeks, you'll very much likely get the most popular optometric receptionist out there....ME!!! :) If you have any other questions regarding our business, you can email us at gibbonseyecare@att.net. Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks for all your warm wishes and support. We appreciate it all!

Gibbons' Family Reunion - Survivor Style

So we had an awesome time vacationing in Utah and Idaho over Labor Day weekend. Tyler's family does a reunion each Labor Day and this year we spent the weekend outside of Yellowstone camping and having fun. The theme was Survivor so each Gibbons family had a different color bandana--which helped finding the right family when little ones would run off (like Tessa!) And we made family flags. Tyler's dad did the artistic work for our family flag, "The Gibbons Bunch." It also says, "We're Grape!" :)We had competitions that tested the different families physically and mentally. It was a lot of fun. One of the mental competitions included drinking a shake containing random ingredients and Tyler participated for our family. His "shake" consisted of Oreo cookies, peanut butter, V8 juice, and Tobasco sauce. His was probably the least gross of all the combinations, but he was the only smart one who didn't drink. The reward of cookies was not worth the drinking of that. Nasty!


This next picture was the result of the physical competition - putting clothespins on your body until you couldn't take it anymore. Some of the littler kids didn't like this game too much.

The bubbles were a huge hit with all the kids. And I love these pictures because it shows a lot of 2nd cousins playing together with all the different colored bandanas.

We spent one day in Yellowstone National Park and saw lots of cool animals including bison, wolves, a bald eagle, and lots of elk. Some the elk we saw had babies with them and they were letting people get pretty close for pictures. Here's one with us in the foreground.

We also were able to enjoy Old Faithful, twice. Abby was a little nervous at first and even covered her ears while waiting for the geyser to go off because she thought it would be loud, but she really enjoyed it once it started.

Isn't this the cutest picture you've ever seen?

One of our last stops included the Gibbon Falls. Of course, we had to stop here. It was beautiful, but hard to get a picture of someone with the falls in the background. Here's our attempt. You can only see a small portion of the falls, but they're actually way larger.

We were able to spend a few extra days before and after Labor day weekend seeing our immediate families. We spent two days in Vernal with Tyler's parents where Abby loved checking grandpa's chicken coop for eggs and grandma's garden for vegetables.

We were able to spend a day in Provo with my brother John touring BYU again (man seeing current college students makes us feel old-they just look so young!) and getting my annual fix of Cafe Rio.

Finally, I have to finish with a few cute pictures of our Tessa. She is always our entertainment. Here she is on our airplane trip in her favorite spot - on the floor under Abby's seat.

In our cabin, Grandma had a drawer in the kitchen full of candy called Granny's cupboard so all the kids were always going in there to find a treat, even after Grandma hid the drawer. This didn't keep Tessa out. She decided to make her own treat drawer--the Tessa treat drawer.

The kids also loved taking a ride on Great Grandma Gibbons' scooter. Here's Tessa getting a ride with Grandpa. It didn't take her long to find out how to honk the horn and she just kept doing it over and over and over...

And finally, how can you have a trip with kids without someone having a messy ice cream face? Tessa really liked the soft serve chocolate ice cream cone she got after walking around Old Faithful.

So, that's our trip in a long nutshell. And besides the minor injuries of a busted lip and bloody nose by Tessa who tripped on a door jam, and a smashed thumbnail in the car door by me, we had a fun week spending time with the entire Gibbons' family. These kind of trips always go by way too quickly, but the time we spent together will never be forgotten.

He's finally FREE!!!!

Well, we are pleased and overjoyed to announce that Tyler is no longer working for the Boothe Laser Eye Center. After 70 hour weeks and hardly ever seeing his family, he's made a break and is moving on!!! :) Today was his first day at home and I took advantage by going shopping without the girls - what fun! He's staying busy preparing for his next job opportunity though so the free time is limited. We're actually taking a real vacation - heading to Utah/Idaho for a Gibbons' family reunion and then Tyler will start his new job at the Sam's Club in McKinney as their Optometrist. It will be like his own practice while leasing the space and equipment from Sam's, so we're very excited about that change of pace. He sets his own hours and is back to doing regular eye exams/checkups, so if anyone's in the Dallas area of Texas, look him up and schedule your appointment! :) He starts doing exams September 9th and we'll add more detailed contact information in the near future, so don't you worry. Let Tyler take care of all your eye care needs! :) The girls and I are excited to have our husband and daddy back especially when he's having a four-day work week to begin with!

Yeah for Dr. Gibbons!!

Congratulations and good luck!!!

Tessa and Abby's new Cousin

My brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Nevla, just had their first baby yesterday! Her name is Chloe Faith DeeAnn. She's adorable. Born 12:52 am and weighing in at 5 lbs 15 1/2 oz. She has lots of dark black hair. Mommy Nevla is doing well considering she pretty much did both deliveries. She got to a 7 in regular labor, but Chloe decided that was it, so they ended up having to do a C-section. Poor mommy, but Nevla and Chloe are both doing and looking great! Here are a few pictures we got when we got to go see her in the hospital.

Here's Chloe with her proud papa:

Here she is with her cousin Abby and her Uncle Tyler:

Congratulations to Scott and Nevla!!!

Abby, Abby and more Abby

Is my kid one-of-a-kind? She's always been very color-coordinated. When she was less than 2, she would gather all different kinds of toys based on their color. As she got older and started helping pick out her own clothes, they had to match and all accessories must also match, not specifically match; just as long as it was same color as the outfit. These days the color combinations now include food. When we go for a snow cone, she must get one that matches the color of her outfit. Same as when she picks a sucker at the doctor's office. Same with frozen popsicles. Here's our proof:

Blue tongue from the blue popsicle to match the blue dress and the blue hair clip.

Abby got a new dress-up dress. We promised her a new one if she let us cut her hair. So after a couple days to convince her, she finally let me cut her hair, and this is the barbie wedding dress-up she picked out. Because it was on clearance, she got new dress up shoes too!

Abby has always been our trouble sleeper. She never wants to go to bed. One night after her bath and jammies, we said it was almost time for bed. She said she was not tired and wanted to stay up with us downstairs. Within the next five minutes from that statement, this is what we found:It must have been too bright for her with the lights on, so she crawled under her princess chair and found a "comfortable" place to sleep.

Finally, we have decided to start Abby in dance classes. She starts this week, so we spent the last couple days finding all the dance paraphernalia that we need. Her class will include ballet, tap, and tumbling. Here she is in her ballet outfit. What a cutie! She's very excited about it.

Maybe all three-year-old girls are into these sames things, but sometimes I wonder if my Abby is just one-in-a-million. I think so! She's more fun than we know what to do with at times, but what a boring life we'd have without her. We love our Abby!