Ballets, Birthdays, and just plain FUN!

Bethany is usually the one who does all of the posting on this blog, but I (Andy) have decided to give it a go! I am only going to post some pictures and a video clip of Gabby's very first Ballet Performance. I hope that all of you enjoy!

This performance was short and sweet, but it was priceless

Fun day on the Beach in Langkawi with all of the cousins. This place never gets old, it only keeps getting better. We need to keep testing this theory though, so we are required at some point to go back again!

Behold!! The Glorious cake that my bride meticulously worked on for Eli's birthday! Not only does this cake have the look, but it also tasted great.

Step aside Uncle Ed! There is a new sheriff in town...actually if you can look close enough to read the font on the motorcycle, it says "Police Emergence" I think it is French, not sure how long its going to last...but we remain hopeful!

Suit UP! This is little man and I enjoying the monkey masks that Nana Benezette sent! We don't just wear them for the parties either...generally they make heads turn when worn around the community. Is that the Genetic Monkey?!?!?!? But of course.

A Photo Shoot in the Playroom

Eli giving me the "OK Mom, enough pictures" look =+)
Little man has the cutest grin . . . in this picture he is actually sitting in the toy bin . . . I guess this makes all the toys a bit more accessible.
Buddies through and through.
I told them both to smile, and this is what I got from Eli . . . he is always the overachiever =+)
Gabby wanted to pose for me . . . this is her newest picture pose . . . what a goof!
Silly face!
A sweet smile on a sweet girl!
It looks like Gabby is trying to explain something to Eli and he is a little unimpressed =+)
Standing in the toy bin . . . he is really thinning out and getting taller, turning into a toddler instead of my baby! Thanks for checking out the blog yet again . . . sorry that there are fewer pics this time around, I haven't had the camera out much lately for some reason.

Miscellaneous Things We Do =+)

Eli being the stud that we all know he is! He is not my little baby anymore. . . he is turning into our little man, such personality!!

I love it that Gabby and Eli are learning how to play together so well . . . they keep each other busy for hours!
Gabby posing for me in her braids . . . a family of five stayed with us while Andy was in Thailand for business, and the Mom of the three kiddos was really good at braids. Gabby had a ball looking like a little princess with her braided hair! I need to learn better how to French Braid!!
Eli . . . way to stay hydrated buddy!
This is the youngest of the three kids (of the family that stayed with us) his name is Ben . . . and he and Eli got along really well.
Here is a picture of Andy and I . . . before we left on a triple-date with Dave and Bethany and some other friends of ours here . . . we went and saw Prince Caspian!! Which I cried after . . . mostly because of all the the memories of my Dad reading Narnia to us when we were kids . . . I miss you Dad and Mom!!
Well . . . we knew that it was just a matter of time before we could afford a dish washer . . . it is 3 foot 1 inch tall with a load capacity of about one plate at a time =+) . . . the Gabster Machine '08!!
Hard at work . . . she actually was having such a blast and has since been begging to do the dishes. =+) . . . we better take advantage of her willing services!!Wash, Rinse, Repeat!
The older version of the the dish washer . . . showing the newer model how to function well =+)!


Eli . . . looking a little like he is up to no good!
Thanks for visiting the blog! Hugs to all!

Gabby's AccidentWell, for those of you who have yet to hear of Gabby's fall . . . here is the damage done. This pic above was taken yesterday when we went in for a bandage change, she is closing here eyes because the light is so bright! Here is HER story of what happened (Andy was doing dishes and I was in the shower, so neither of us saw it): Gabby says that she was throwing a ball up in the air and trying catch it herself, she slipped and fell onto our not-so-forgiving marble floor and well . . . you can see for yourself, she gashed open her chin. Oh, and by the way, this all happened on Mother's Day =+)!!

It took a plastic surgeon and a total of 10 stitches (3 under the skin to sew the muscle back together and 7 on top of the skin) and our girl was back together again. There was oh so much blood, and a bit of a scare for all of us. Since I was in the shower, all I heard was Andy yelling "Bethany, get out here, we have to go to the hospital!!" I ran out, got dressed and gave Gabs some liquid ibuprofen to ease the pain a bit. We jumped in the car and were at the hospital in minutes. When the E.R. Dr. got to us and checked her out, he said that it would be best if a plastic surgeon did the job, because there was muscle to be reattached. So, we of course gave him the go-ahead to call in the on call plastic surgeon. The plastic surgeon was there within about 40 minutes, put an IV in Gabby (which she wasn't fond of, but was such a trooper) and then put some sedative into Gabby girl to keep her calm and still for the surgery. Andy held her arms to her sides and a nurse held Gabby's head still. Gabs was actually pretty funny during the surgery, she kept giggling (due to the drugs in her system) and telling me to look at the purple and green on the ceiling (which was not there=+)). God knew that I needed a bit of a laugh, I was a bit stressed to say the least.

She gets the stitches out on Sunday, please be thinking of the wound, that it wouldn't get infected and that it would heal quickly with minimal scaring (she's a girl after all, and we don't like those nasty scars!!) Thanks for checking out the blog . . . we miss and love you all as usual!!

Random

This post is a little bit random . . . a bit of April activity =+)
The first one is a sunset out our living room window . . . we have seen some really beautiful ones in the last year and half that we have lived in this apartment. The next one is Gabby in the tub . . . around the Benezette household, as far as the kiddos are concerned, bath time is the best part of the day!

All smiles!

Here is Gabby and Eli on the Island of Langkawi . . . we went there to have some business meetings with Dave and Bethany . . . and we decided to spend one of the days just having fun together. So here is Gabby chillin' at the beach with her floaties from her Uncle Steve and Aunt Jen . . . she loves them! Then Eli looks like he wants to give someone a Hi 5!

Here we are at a Starbucks party . . . we have a lot of close friends that work at Starbucks here, and so we are always invited to the parties . . . this one was for the start of summer. It was a lot of fun, we played games and had free food and drinks provided by Starbucks . . it doesn't get much better!! Some of the people in the photo are good friends of ours, and others we had never met before, they were just other patrons of Starbucks that got invited.
One of the games that we played was that we as teams (Andy and I were one team, and My brother and his wife were another team) had to choose 4 things out of a box, then decorate one of the members of our team with those items to make them look like "summer". It was really hard . . . seeing as we went near the end, and most of the good stuff was already taken, and the items we were left with were very odd . . . but here are Andy and our sister in law Bethany . . . dressed up like Summer Time =+) . . . we were laughing so hard!
Here is My bro and his wife and I . . . Andy was picture happy that night . . . one of the first times in a while that I was not behind the camera.
Here we are again at bath time, or as we call it, tubby time . . . not sure what Eli is doing with his hand . . . that is the letter T in sign language, probably not what he is going for though =+) . . . he is growing up so fast and getting cuter by the day!!
Sweet smiles from a very sweet boy . . . we had rough start with this little man . . he cried SO much as a infant, but he is sure making up the time now . . he is a JOY to be around!!
Our little gems . . . Gabrielle and Eli . . . they have become close friends, they play together all the time now, keeping each other busy for hours!
Thanks again for checking out the blog, we miss you all so much . . . come visit us!!

Happy 4th Birthday Gabby!

Our little girl is already 4 years old, it is really amazing how fast time flies! Here are some photos of her birthday party.

Opening presents . . . she was so loved with all the gifts she got . . . Thanks Papa and Grandma Jackson, Papa and Nana Benezette, Uncle Steve and Aunt Jen, Uncle Ben and Aunt Drea, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Meredith, Uncle Boyd and Aunt LaDonna and Uncle Tim and Aunt Shana =+) . . . . she is so thrilled with all her gifts!!
Here she is concentrating hard to open this present from her Uncle Dave and Aunt Bethany (she is even sticking her tongue out to get it just right) =+)!
Here she is with her cupcakes and candles . . . she didn't want me to stick the candles in her Barbie cake and "ruin it" =+) . . . so cute!

Gabby and two of her friends, they came to her 3rd Birthday party too . . . they are two of the sons of one of our language helpers . . . they had blast playing together.
Here Gabby is, coloring a really fun card that she got from Nana "up the hill" (a.k.a. my mom's mom . . . Rosemary Etherton) . . . Gabby says "thanks Nana up the hill =+)" (we call her Nana up the hill because Gabby calls Andy's mom Nana also . . . so to tell them apart for her, we call my mom's mom "Nana up the hill" because she lives up the hill from my parents (got all that?? because I am not sure that I do =+))
This is the strawberry flavored Barbie cake that I made for Gabby, she was very specific this year with the type of cake she wanted. I want to tell my mom thanks, because I had no idea what I put her through when I asked her to make me a Barbie cake for my 8th birthday!! It was quite a challenge to make!!
Here is Gabby with Eli and her Daddy on her big day . . . we are so blessed to have Gabby as our little girl! Thanks for checking out the blog! We love you all and are so glad that we can call you all friends!!

Our Time With My Mom and Dad =+)

This first one is of Eli making a very important call I am sure . . . or is it just my way of keeping him still and quiet when he is really over tired =+) . . . you'll never know!

Here is my Mom and the kids playing in their play room, it looks like a good game of Dora Memory . . . I wonder who is winning? The kids had such a good time reconnecting with their grandparents . . . and we had a great time watching them =+) Oh . . . and we had a great time with my parents too =+)
Here is my Mom learning how to wear a sarong (the name of the cloth wrapped around her) in a traditional Malay women's way. My Mom and Dad are always good about trying new things!


Here is one of our friends teaching my Mom how to wear the sarong.
My Dad's turn at learning to wear the same thing in the traditional Malay man's way (on a man it is called a sampin)
My brother gave him a hand at learning how to do it (my brother and Andy like to wear these sampins around the house now . . . they say that they are very comfortable, I tell them that they are turning Malaysian=+))
Snuggles from Papa . . .
And a few tickles . . . =+)
So much fun!
Gabby and Grandma snuggling . . . and making memories that will last forever!!
Just hanging out at the house watching Gabby's new cartoons and drinking coffee . . . life does not get much better than that!!
Papa brought over the computer game called "Just Me and My Grandpa" . . . Gabby and Papa had a blast playing it together. She kept asking him if they could play it again.
Thanks for checking out the blog . . . we miss and love you all and can't wait to be back in the US again to hang out and catch up . . . when that time comes =+).