Meet Leonard!

In May we attended the Lloyd Family Reunion where Gabe was introduced to the idea of lizards as pets by  Byron's cousin Rhonda and her husband, Tim. They had brought thier chameleon and Chinese Water Dragon with them and both Gabe and Selah loved holding them and watching them. Since that moment, Gabe has wanted a lizard for his very own. It actually makes a lot of sense for him....they are probably the only pet that he can hold that he is not crazy allergic to.....other than snakes - and Byron wouldn't go for that at all!

Back in October, while we were in Central Texas for Brittany's wedding, Gabriel caught a house gecko at Papa Serna's house. He put him in a jar, named him Turtwig, and brought him home to our apartment. No one thought he would live very long at all, but Gabe loved that gecko!

Sadly, on December 22nd, Gabe went into his room to check on his beloved pet. Turtwig looked up at Gabe and then rolled over and breathed his last breath. Gabe was mortified at losing his sweet gecko. We buried him under a stone and said our good-byes.

The kids were given some Christmas money from Papa Serna and Memaw and Papaw and Gabe had also been saving money from doing chores and finally had enough to buy a proper terrarium and his very own pet lizard from a pet store. Byron and I were so impressed with how well he took care of Turtwig, we decided to let him buy a lizard. Gabriel read everything he could about which lizards make the best pets and which ones he had enough money to buy. So, this weekend we brought home a new pet!!

Meet Leonard the Leopard Gecko!

Gabe decided that Leopard Geckos would be the perfect pet for him.  Leonard is about 5 inches long from head to tail right now, but will grow to about twice that length. He is about 3 months old, but Gabe tells us that they can live for up to 10 years! Leopard Geckos are relatively easy to care for. They are friendly and always have a smile on thier face. 

I hope Leonard likes his new home. I know Gabriel will enjoy his new pet!

Christmas Day 2011

On Christmas Day we headed from Dad Serna's house in Moody to my sister, Rachel's house in Georgetown. We had a fun "Stepanov" style Christmas. The kids were spoiled with gifts, we ate yummy food and played a rousing game of White Elephant gift exchange!  

This was the triplet's first Christmas and first time to have a house full of guests, and they did awesome! Such sweeties!



Memaw and Papaw with 6 of thier 7 great-grandchildren.



Byron - leave the big bows to Selah. You look cute, but she pulls it off better!

Beautiful Charli Kate

Sweet love and cuddle between Granny and Gabe



Adrik is trying to learn to walk to catch up with those big cousins!

We had a wonderful and blessed Christmas!!

Christmas Eve 2011

Santa visited our house a day early this year, so that he could leave our presents at our apartment. We spent Christmas Eve at Papa Serna's house. So on Christmas Eve morning, the kids woke up bright and early and found:

A letter from Santa:

Stockings filled to the brim:

Mig had Goldfish in his stocking and thought it was pretty cool to have Goldfish for breakfast!

Super cool toys for each kid:

Then we headed down the interstate to spend the rest of Christmas Eve with the Serna family! Just look at Papa Serna's good-looking grandkids!

Christmas Lights

The week before Christmas was super crazy for us. We were Christmas shopping, doing last minute crafts, school work, packing and making last minute moving preparations. One night, on our way back to the apartment from doing a walk-thru of the house in Denton we drove through downtown Fort Worth to see the Christmas lights. They were beautiful and a much needed break from our busy life.

So busy!!

I have just a minute to update the blog here. Boy! We have been crazy busy! The day after Christmas we came home to our cozy apartment and finished packing it up. The Tuesday and Wednesday after Christmas we moved stuff to our new house. On Wednesday our gas (which is our source of heat) wasn't turned on, so we stayed the night in a hotel. Thursday Byron went to Belton to get the two littlest who were staying with GiGi and PopPop during the move, and that night we all stayed in our house for the first time. We are still unpacking boxes and getting settled in here, but are enjoying our new place so far. The kids are loving having their own rooms and a backyard.

Today we started school back up. It was nice to get back into our routine - and really nice that we have moved from a Homeschool closet to a real Homeschool room!!!

For our art project today the kids made drawings of our new house on a map of our new town. They turned out beautifully!

Gabriel's art:

Selah's art (with a little help from Mommy):

Once I get a little more unpacked and uncluttered here and have a bit more time, I will post pictures of our Christmas celebrations and some pictures of the inside of our new house.