It's the Most Wonderful time of the Year!

Christmas Time at the Gibbons House

It's that time again, where I just crave a little colder weather, and some Starbucks hot chocolate at noon. The time where staying in with the kids and watching ELF sounds like the most amazing plan ever! This year has been full of blessings, and I cannot tell you how thankful  I am! This year is also bittersweet, as we only have about 6 months left before we pack our little house and move to Denver. I love this house. I really do. It will be super hard to sell it, but I know that it will make a great home for another little family. 

This house is full of warmth, and really makes you feel loved. It's not too big, or small, it's got a great little yard, awesome schools, and the best fireplace ever. I will miss this home, our first home. 

From the moment we moved in, I made it my mission to create a magical place for the Holidays. We bought this tree 4 years ago, and I went and got it on Black Friday, as my Birthday/Christmas gift, because I wanted a big tree for first little house. I loved the tree! I wanted a Narnia tree so bad! With fake snow, and twinkling lights. 

This is the last year for this tree. We may have to give it to someone else, as we are going to travel light to Denver, but before we gave him up, I decorated it with love, and nicer ornaments. You see, we where strapped for cash a few years back, so all the ornaments where handmade or from the dollar store, but I know this tree, needed some nicer things, so this year, I upgraded a few pieces to hang.

I got this cute camping ornament with the little tree on top. I got it, because I really want a vintage camper one day, and because we love camping! And by WE, I mean Steve and the kids.

I also got these little dogs. Because, I wanted some ornaments to represent our fur baby Riley.

A snowman in a mason jar, was cute, and Texan to me.

This year, I also got to display my dog nativity! My cousin Dulce gave it tome after finding in a catalog, and since I have a slight attachment to all things dogs, she thought it would be a good gift. It is, and I love it! 

This is Riley looking at me, change the ornaments on the tree. This Dog is tired of me decking the halls! 

We also have a Charlie Brown tree. This may be our Christmas tree in Denver!

The kids love their new Reindeer Jingle! They have really taken him in, and loved on him. Our Elf Buddy is still one of our favorite Christmas traditions. 

I made the kids pose with their stockings the other day, while they were caught shaking their Christmas gifts! They were guessing what we bought them! Naughty!

Did I mention this house has the best mantle?! It does! I love to decorate it for every season!

This year has shown big changes in Riley! He has really matured! He has not messed with the tree or the gifts! He's been really NICE this year!

I hope your Holiday Season is going well for you! I started so early this year, because I knew that I wanted to really enjoy the season. I always feel like I'm rushing, so this year, I wrapped, bought, and sent our Christmas cards on time. I hope to make cookies, play, and spend time with my family. 

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Jazmin

Canine Cake!

Yesterday was Riley's birthday, and because he is just as part as our family as is me, I decided to get him a Birthday Cake! Last year we just got him ice cream, but this year, we wanted to try that doggy bakery in McKinney, called 'Canine Cookie Company', and it was delicious! 

At least, it looked like it!

See Riley eat cake!

Canine Cake from Jazmin Gibbons on Vimeo.

Jazmin

It's a Puppy Party!

Un Cumpleanos muy Perro!

So, we finally threw Olivia her birthday party, and this years theme was puppies! She and I LOVE our Riley Bear (our dog) and we just wanted to have a celebration that allowed us to celebrate all the canines in the world! We honored them with the decor and details. 

Here are some pictures of her party. And can I just mention, that I didn't even think of taking pictures of the table all set and pretty because I was STRESSED?! Yeah, even days before the shindig, I was really questioning why I was even throwing her a party. I stopped throwing Matthew a party and instead we do a fun activity just for him. Last year we went to the Perot Museum, and it was super fun and most importantly, EASY! This may be the last party I throw at home. But to make things fair, she loved it so much and declared it to be the BEST PARTY she has ever had! 

So, it was worth it!

Here are some poor lit pictures of her party. 

Puppies everyone! I bought a ballon set for $15 dollars at party city and I cut up a ton of tissue paper, and a plastic table cover to create the fringe garland and tassels. I didn't really want to spend money because it adds up quick, so I did as much as I could from what I had on hand. 

Party City had this puppy theme, and I ran with it. 

With some of my craft supplies, we created "puppy id tags" for everyone! They just stamped their name on some round tags and tied them like a necklace with twine. 

The food was easy. I got water bottles and labeled them "puppy bowl water" and served "pup-corn", "fetch sticks (pretzel rods with chocolate and sprinkles) "papples" (apples), and "pupperoni pizza" 

The cake was a cheap cake from target, and we just put dollar store dogs on top. I bought the bigger dog at michaels since Olivia wanted to keep a nice one as a memory.

Another thing I found, were these dollar dog ear headbands. I got those at Oriental Trading, and Olivia loves them! She has always liked dressing up as animals way more than a princess dress!

I love that a lot of her school friends and church friends made it! She was sooo happy!

Olivia got some awesome presents, but the stuff she loves the most, is handwritten cards and pictures that her friends give her. She puts them in a 'treasure box' that she keeps in her room. :) 

She got a lot of nail polish! We will need to have a pedicure night!

Ok, Ok. The party was worth it. Even Riley had fun eating food off the floor. Maybe we will have a little something again next year. And maybe I should start planning it now, to avoid sleepless nights again!

Jazmin

Riley Bear.

Riley: Year 1

We adopted Riley Bear about 1 year ago this week, and we have loved this furry guy from the moment we laid eyes on him.

Getting a dog has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. Of course, life circumstances prevented me from having a dog, but in some ways I think we had to wait until we could meet Riley Bear.

Forgive this sappy post, but while I always thought that having a dog would be a fun experience, I realized that not only is it fun, it is rewarding and I have seen the kids learn a great deal of empathy from owning a pet.

Something, I didn't really plan on.

Sure, you think of kids learning responsibility, and enjoyment from a pet, but Riley has taught us much more.

He has taught us (count myself in this) to be unselfish. The kids know that we can go out and have fun, only after we exercise and play with our dog. At first this was hard. They thought that having a dog was like having a toy. You can put it away, when going somewhere! Well, they quickly found out that's not the case. The dog needs love, food, exercise, attention etc. Fast fw to 1 year, and now, they don't seem to mind! They know that doing this for their pet, not only makes him healthy, but it also brings happiness to him, which they understand to be as important as their own happiness.

Riley has taught us empathy... This is something you see in Parenting books; how to teach your kids empathy. And to be honest, if you want a kid to be empathetic, take him to volunteer at the dog shelter. The kids learned so much just from the visit we took when adopting Riley. They know that Riley was abandoned, and that he was alone at an early age. This knowledge, has taught them to not only be thankful for what they have, but also to understand and be sensitive to others and their situations. They love Riley, and are patient with him. They love on Riley and help him when he can't figure things out (like getting a ball that gets stuck under the couch) which brings me to the next lesson..

He has taught us to be patient.. I needed to be reminded of this. Riley is stubborn. He likes what he likes, and lets you know, with no problems. When we brought Riley home we needed to be patient. Between the potty training, the chewing, the whining.... yeah... I remember having a 'moment' with him one night, after he kept whining at night, when I just took him out to to potty (and I had an attitude about it), and after he was done, I scooped the little booger up, and he looked up at me, and with his paw held my hand. It was weird, but it reminded me of when my kids were babies. That look of helplessness, and full trust in me. It reminded me of the love I had for my family, and now for him. I re-grouped, and decided to slow down, and continue to be patient. That those special moments of (babies and puppies) go by WAY too fast, and are fleeting. I learned to take it and just go with it, and here we are 1 year later.. doing a photoshoot!

Riley Bear, is not only a dog, he is our family dog.  

And we love him.

Jazmin

xoxo

Meet Riley.

All About Riley.

 



 

Wanted to stop by to update you all on our newest family addition! This is Riley Bear Gibbons, our new baby!

 

If you are friends with me on FB, then you have been up to date with all things Riley but I wanted to post our experience adopting from a shelter! 

 

Three weeks ago, Steve had a rare day off and we decided to stop by one of our local pet shelters, just to look and see if they had new puppies (we had been looking for a dog online for sometime, but nothing that stood out)We got dressed to go swimming, and decided to stop by the shelter before going to the pool. For awhile now, we wanted to adopt or buy a dog, but for one reason or another it never happened. We got used to things falling through, like contacting breeders and them telling us that the dog I wanted had been sold, and things like that, so I figured a shelter would be better way to go.

 

We walked into Operation Kindness and filled an application, waited for them to take us back to the puppy area and as soon as we walked in to see all the baby puppies we locked eyes with our sweet Riley. They told us that if we wanted to play with a dog we were interested in, we needed to get his name and take it to the front desk, so they can get the family and the dog in a room. 

 

We immediately knew Riley was our dog!

 

He was so sweet, and had the sweetest disposition!  

 

He was in on the very top, with a burgundy collar and the sweetest face!

 

I ran up to him, took his name and went to the front desk!

 

We went into a room, Matthew & Olivia were so excited! We got to play with him for a bit, and he was hyper, but not overly hyper. He was playfully sweet and adorable. I looked at Steve and he was just as excited as I was, as his only 'dog request' was to get a dog that would grow medium to large for running. Afraid that something would happen and we wouldn't be able to take him home, I shyly asked the woman what we needed to do to secure him.

 

To my surprise she replied: "Just pay our adoption fee, and take him home!"

 

I was soooo happy! Seriously! that's it? No, 'let me check your shoe size, to make sure he's a good fit?' Honestly, breeders we dealt with made it super hard just to schedule a visit with a dog!

 

Our baby Riley (originally named Paulie) was neutered, with 2 rounds of shots and with one free month of vet care to go home with!

 

OH, and $25 dollars off at the pet store for supplies!

 

We paid for him, signed all the documents and took our first family photo!

 

We then made it to the pet store and purchased all our stuff!

 

He was a little nervous in the car.. (I have scratches as proof)!

 

We got home and started our little life with him!

 

And we have not looked back since.

 

Here are a few facts about baby boy:

 

Riley's original name was 'Paulie'

 

He was 8 weeks when he came home with us.

 

The shelter labeled him as a collie/shepard mix but our vet thinks he is a collie/lab mix.

 

He will grow to be 60-80 lbs!

 

We named him 'Riley' because that is our street name, and we wanted a way to remember the street in which we got our first real job, our first home, and now our first dog.

 

He is a bitter! And has Olivia a little scared! But we have plans for puppy preschool to help with that!

 

After 3 weeks he is sleeping almost through the night (only wakes up once for a potty break) and then sleeps until about 7am.

 

He eats like a COW!

 

Doing really well with potty training! He has accidents now and again, but only if he is really distraced. For the most part he rings a little bell on the door, and waits for me to open the door.

 

WE are all IN LOVE WITH HIM. We honestly feel like our family is totally compleate! and we feel very blessed!

 

xoxo,

 

Jazmin