Busy Busy Weekend

The Rowles had a great weekend, very busy! Saturday was spent raking the back yard with the girls watching.




G in her coat and Elia bundled up in 2 coats and lots of blankets/pillows surrounding her to stay warm.


Doesn't her hat say it all?

We put our tree up and got lights on it as well. Then Sunday was the usual starting with church. Then Uncle Tim and his gf Ashley (pronounced by G as Actually) came over and helped entertain G until naptime. She is obsessed with them, can you tell?



Uncle Tim and Ashley reading before her nap.

BTW Tim, if you are reading this, Ashley is awesome, do whatever you can to keep her! So then Uncles Matt and Patrick came over and all 3 boys helped Chris rake the front yard and put up lights. The front looks great! Meanwhile G and I decorated the Christmas tree with our ornaments. This is what it looks like.
Just kidding, I wish. Maybe when my kids are older and I have gobs of money.



Right now I am plenty happy with what we have- multicolored lights with homemade and mismatched ornaments. Its funny the many memories I have of different ornaments from my own childhood. There were certain ones that were the favorites, that we would fight over. One such ornament was one that as kids we sent in 2 proofs of purchase plus S & H from a box of cereal called Sugar Puffs. Anyone out there remember Sugar Bear? The ornament was a stuffed Sugar Bear with a santa hat and if you squeezed it it played Christmas music- I'm sure it drove my mom crazy. The ornament, probably at least 15 years old by now, still makes music and is still a favorite of our family :). I think Gianna already has a favorite of her own- one that Grandma Rowles gave Chris 2 years ago that, of course, makes noise. Chris' mom has a WONDERFUL tradition- she gives each of her children an ornament as a Christmas present each year. She would write the name of each kid and the year she gave it to them on the back of the ornament. So the Christmas after Chris and I were married, we actually had ornaments to put on our first, tiny tree. And its really fun to see the ornaments he has recieved through the years. We continued the tradition here at the Rowles house, so no matter what our decorations will never match! Here are some more of the girls and their boys! Thanks for coming over to play!

PS. Two cute things about the girls- Gianna loves to play with our nativity scene, and today she was showing the Baby Jesus to her uncles. "Isn't he a cute little baby?" and "Baby Jesus is Elia's little brother" were just 2 of the many cute things she has said about Jesus!

Elia cut another tooth sometime today! Her upper right tooth is just below the surface of her gums, and still not wanting to eat baby food!