Here Comes Santa Claus!

We are excited about celebrating Christmas with Sadie especially since she is a little older. We put the tree up this week and she gets so excited when she sees it. A friend of mine told me to teach her to, “touch with one finger.” It seems to work really well because she can’t really hurt much with one finger, but she still gets to touch the tree. It’s really cute to watch her touch the different ornaments. I’m glad we got the decorations up and will get to enjoy them for a couple weeks. More to come of our holiday celebrations!

Sadie is so excited about the tree! She points to it and says, "Da! Da!"

Here she is touching with one finger!

The stockings were hung...

Here it is- The Gillespie Christmas tree-2008

Thanksgiving 2008

For Thanksgiving every year we go to Ruidoso, NM with the Riley’s and the Rhoades. This is our 6th year to go. We always have a good time and do a lot of relaxing. We cooked a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. We also played Dan’s Wii. (I think that’s how you spell it. Not really sure.) It was a lot of fun. It was more fun to watch people than to play at times. Gabe was really funny on the ski jump. Sadie had a good time with the ducks on the lake and running around on the golf course. There were also deer that would come right up to the condos. Every year we also do a run. Big surprise, I know. Rusty picks the course every year and we have a lot of fun. Sadie got sick part of the way through so we had a fussy baby that wasn’t sleeping good towards the end. I got pretty stressed and we were exhausted by the time we got home, but we had a good time and made some memories. Everyone was so patient and loving with Sadie and we again were so blessed to be with some of our favorite people.

Sadie's waiting patiently for dinner.

Getting a look at the deer

Ready to run!

We always eat lunch at Cafe Rio on Friday afternoon. It's a great local pizza place.

Everyone watching and playing the Wii

Gabe on the ski jump. He really got into it!

Her's a picture of our feast.

Shopping in Ruidoso. This is one of our favorite stores. We call it the pink house. They have lots of hot drinks and snacks that are great to taste and get you in the mood for the holidays.

Sadie LOVED the ducks. She would sit and watch them for a long time. She learned to throw the bread by the end. It didn't go very far, but she would get really excited.

Our annual 10 miles!

We are a running family and when we had Sadie we decided she would just come along with us. We have a great jogging stroller and she loves to be outside. Every year, a friend of ours puts together a fun 10 mile run where we all get together and she how far we can go. We haven’t been running any long distances lately so it was a little difficult, but we made it. This was the 19th year for Doug to organize this. It is different people every year and a lot of fun. Doug brings some of his old T-shirts and has old trophies that he hands out to the winning male and female. If you win, you have to give the trophy back at the race the next year. It was a great time!

I realized that once again most of the pictures are of Sadie. I’m really trying to take some pictures of other people too!

Sadie was the cutest water girl ever!

Hanging out at the finish line, learning to drive with Daddy!

Some of the brave runners. Don't they look great. Doug, our race director, is in yellow.

Me and Sadie at the starting line!

Les and Sadie in their running gear!

Guess who's walking?

Sadie is walking! Just a quick video of her new talent. She is all over the place now and is very fast. We can just look up and she’s off!

Weeeeeeee!

I just wanted to post these fun pictures of Sadie at the park. We went looking for swings and found this slide instead that she loved. She really likes being outside and loves watching birds! She points and them and squeals. We think she might have said "Birdie" a couple of times, but it's not real clear yet.

Halloween

For Halloween we went to a Trunk or Treat. Sadie was a pumpkin. I thought she was super cute. We went with Rachel, Kris, and Lincoln and had a great time. Sadie and Lincoln enjoyed being in the wagon. Lincoln loved taking the candy out of one bag and putting it into the other. He would also try to give the candy from his bag to the people instead of taking it from them. What a sweet boy! Sadie had fun too. She hung on to her M&M’s and didn‘t want to let go. The Trunk or Treat was a great way for us to enjoy Halloween, but it wasn’t too much. Enjoy our pictures.

Happy Halloween!

Tarzan and the Pumpkin! Too cute!

Here's Sadie. Enjoying the ride.



Sadie and Lincoln. "Trick or Treat!"

Daddy with the Pumpkin, starting to get tired.

One pooped pumpkin!

Birthday Weekend #2

So last weekend was another birthday celebration. Gabe's parents, Nana and Big Daddy, came to visit. We also had a party with some friends on Sunday afternoon. My friend, Jenny, helped me make some cute rubber duckie cakes that I have to say turned out better than I expected. Thanks Jenny for all your help!!! The party turned out to be very nice. We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends here that are family to us. I do not know how I would have made it through the past year without the encouragement and help from everyone. We also just feel so blessed that Sadie is able to have such wonderful examples of loving, caring Christian people.

Now a little about Sadie. I just have to say that she has been such a blessing to our lives. She is just a joy to be around and her smile makes me smile no matter what I feel like. She is saying Mama and Dada. She also can sign, "All Done" and she just started "Please." She also will say "All Done," but it is more like "AAAHHH DAAAA." She will say "Hi" when she is waving too! The whole year has been amazing and I love seeing her grow and change. I try everyday to make sure she knows that we love her and that she is a special little girl. I look forward to the future and to being able to share more memories with her. I pray that God will continue to guide us and help me as I try to nuture her and lead her to Him.

I can't say enough how amazed I have been at how God works and the way that he continues to work in me and increase my faith. Since we decided to start trying to have children it has been a journey and I sure did not know what I was in for at the beginning, but I wouldn't go back for anything. I always had those fears of not knowing what to do with a baby and I was remembering being in the hospital when Sadie was born. I remember that she was crying one morning and I just looked at Gabe. He said, "Just sing to her." I told him that I didn't know what to sing and he said that it didn't matter becasue I was her Mama. After a few tears, I remember making a conscience choice at that time to do something that didn't come "natural" to me, but that I knew was what I needed to do. I just started singing. As I was rocking Sadie this week before she went to bed and making up some silly song about her, I just smiled in amazement at not just how much Sadie has changed in the past year, but how much I have changed too. (Also, how thankful I am for Gabe and the truth that he has to speak to me quite often!) I use to hear people say all the time that God is good and I would agree, but I really belive that I needed some more experiences in my life to learn and know more what that means. Having Sadie has shown me over and over that I am so not in control and that I can not do things on my own, but if I will ask, Wow! Amazing things can happen! I love you sweet girl and Happy Birthday!!!!

I think Sadie liked the tissue paper more than the presents.

She loved her first birthday cake!

Sadie, Daddy, and Mama blowing out the candle.

I thought the cakes turned out pretty cute. The party was a rubber duckie theme, just in case you couldn't tell.

Here we are, all ready to party!

Sadie and Linclon. Just hangin out.