Precious Gabriella Violet

♫Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...♫

This is my only niece Gabriella Violet.  We call her GG, which is short for Gabby Girl, G, or Gabby.  When you meet GG she will touch her heart and say, "I'm Gabby!"  Way to precious!!!  As you can tell, she is cute as a button and a bit spoiled.  Our family was blessed with this Little Angel's birth May 27th two years ago.   Immediately GG totally stole our hearts!

♫Gabriella Violet is one of my favorite things!♫

Gabby is always busy and happily tending to her "work".  GG is always a big helper.  Like her mother, Jen, GG is also super duper smart.  She knows all her colors and animals, and loves to read and sing.  Every other week during the school year GG spends the week with GrandLou and Granddad (my parents) and Papi and Oma (Jen's parents).  No doubt she is well taken care of!  One of GrandLou and Granddad's favorite things to do with Gabby is to sing.  " Bah, Bah, (insert a color here) Sheep " is the song of choice most often.  Over and over and over we sing "Bah, Bah, (insert a color here) Sheep." Especially in the car!  Gabby prefers to sing "Bah, Bah, Purple Sheep".  Interesting, because GG's middle name is Violet and her favorite color is purple. 

A couple weekends ago we celebrated GG's second birthday.  What a day full of blessing!!!  During dinner, Gabriella sang us "Happy Birthday to Gabby."   After opening presents, reading all cards, telling everyone "Thank you" and giving hugs it was time for cake.  SURPRISE!  It is a Purple Sheep!  (GrandLou made the cake.)  Gabby enjoyed poking the cake with her finger and singing  "Bah, Bah, Purple Sheep" before we all ate a piece.  Great Mother (my Grandma) gave Gabby a doll that comes with matching clothes for the doll and GG.  Super cute!

♫Purple Sheep is one of Gabby's favorite things.♫

Aunt Tiffy (that's me!) took Gabriella for her first trip to the zoo!  More about that trip in another blog post!  

♫Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes...

Gabriella Violet is one of most favorite things♫ 

The Fabulous Fergie Jane

♫ Fergie Jane is one of my favorite things ♫

Meet the fabulous Fergie Jane! She is a "ShorkiePoo." Meaning she is a mixture of yorkie, shi-tzu, and mini poodle. Her furry mother, Princess is a YorkiePoo and her furry father, Oreo is a Shorkie. This makes her half yorkie, a quarter shi-tzu and a quarter mini poodle. There were 5 pups in her litter. Fergie Jane, occasionally called FJ for short, was the first pup born. She is also the runt. When I brought her home at six weeks old, she weighed 1.4 pounds. My parents are the proud humans to FJ's only sister and one of her brothers.  Their names are Luke and Leia and are commonly referred to as "The Twins."  They are about twice Fergie's current size (9 pounds). 

Fergie Jane and I picked each other when she was 2 weeks old.  You can tell how small she was.  She is stretched out completely.  Once I held her I didn't want to let her go!  We are stuck to each other like Krazy Glue.  Almost every day after work I would stop by and spend time with her.  Now, I take her everywhere I can.  She has a booster/car seat for the car...safety first.  My husband and I have do not have any "skin kids" (a term I am borrowing from a good friend Suzanne Kenoyer); so FJ is our "furry kid" (again I am borrowing the term from Suzanne).  She has her own closet full of play clothes, dressy dresses, swimwear, winter sweaters and hoodies, pajamas, and seasonal attire.  Most of her fashion is pink, which happens to be her favorite color. What Dutchess doesn't have plenty of accessories for her fashion?  Not this one!  Hair clips and bows and an assortment of collars for any occasion.  This "Dutchess" is rarely "naked"! 

This fabulous pooch loves to swim!  ♫ One of Fergie Jane's favorite things ♫  This is important because our family loves the water and with two boats and a Bestie with a pool, it would be difficult if she didn’t enjoy the water so much. Occasionally FJ's love of swimming is a problem.  On a recent fishing trip she jumped off of the boat and into the lake after a fish!  Thank goodness I am all about safety first and she was wearing her pink life vest.  The water was still a bit chilly so getting her out of it, wasn't as difficult as it can be. 

I could go on and on about the fabulous Fergie Jane.  I will save the rest for a later post.  She truly is this woman's best friend! 

♫ Fergie Jane is one of my favorite things ♫

Welcome!

Howdy Y'all!  I am Tiffany.  I hope you enjoy the musings and postings of my first blog!  I was a bit apprehensive at first about creating it, but now I've decided I am going to do my best.  Most of my postings will reflect on a large part of my life, which is being an elementary teacher.  This has been true for the past 10 years of my life.  Teaching has always been my calling and I truly love my job.  Daily interactions with my students, shopping for supplies to utilize in the classroom, planning lessons that inspire my students are all activities that excite and motivate me.  ♫ These are a few of my favorite things ♫

Another large (but small!) bundle of joy in my life is my wonderful companion, the "Fabulous Fergie Jane".  She entered my life on December 30, 2010 and not a day has gone by without her by my side.  We are inseparable and are on each other's minds when apart.  Someday I will write a book about her called "The Furry Adventures of the Fabulous Fergie Jane".  ♫ She is one of my favorite things ♫

♫ Raindrops on roses; and whiskers on kittens. Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens... These are a few of my favorite things! ♫

Roses are red; violets are blue
I hope my blog inspires you!