Summer Time!

Goodbye house, we will miss you!

Happy 5th to Elia!

Happy 7th to Gianna!

Uncle Bobby and Aunt Colleen came to visit!

Baptism Weekend

Baptism with Godparents and kiddos

Lots of peeps were in town!

Danny's Wedding in CA- Elia was super proud of being the flower girl.

More to come...

December

It has been so long!  A year ago, if I had taken a peek into my current life, I wouldn't have believed I could do it.  Chris and I both have new jobs, a long commute for me, brand new curriculum, cooking a baby, and to top it off, putting our house up for sale!  Its all going to be worth it though.  We found out in December that we will be welcoming a baby boy into our family.  We are going to name him Charles but are unsure of the middle name.

After we found out it was a boy, we went across
the street and picked out some gifts for our boy.

For Christmas, we spent a little over a week in Napa.  It was so fun, as usual.  I even got to see some college friends.  

We went to my favorite winery.  I mostly talked, and of course drove.  :)

It was a very Frozen Christmas.  We saw the movie with all the girls- cousins and aunties.  There were a lot of Frozen themed toys at Christmas as well.  

Chris and I were spoiled too, so much that we had to send 2 boxes home because all of our loot wouldn't fit in our suitcases!  Since almost all of the grown kids were back home, Grandma rented an RV, and the boys all slept in there.  They set it up with a tv and video games, and it was a very popular spot to visit from the 4 little girls.  

Phoebe kept calling it the IV.  So cute!

We came home to Dallas late Saturday night to a tree with lots of present underneath it!  It was a wonderful Christmas.

A Week without the Girls

After our fun filled camping trip in Colorado, Grandma took Gianna and Elia back to California with them for a week so that I could get work done to prepare for this upcoming school year.  Chris and I drove 17 hours back to Dallas from Grand Junction, CO on Sunday.  Then, while I went to boring trainings and made my classroom look awesome here in Dallas...
 

Leveling and categorizing my library took me all day Saturday!

The girls had a blast hanging out with the Rowles!  I got an iphone (finally!) and so we were able to share pics and of course facetime every day!

Aunties and cousins

Gianna is channeling her inner Gabby Douglas

Crafty stuff

I wasn't at school every waking minute while they were gone, so I managed to surprise them with some crate chairs for the playroom.  Of course I found it on pinterest, and it was surprisingly easy.  Chris and I managed to get out for a few dates too!

Bedtime story.  Elia conked out while I was reading a Care Bears book.  So happy to have them back!

Gianna and Gabby

Gianna told me the other day that she wants to be a mom when she grows up.  After getting her *blood drawn, she was pretty set on never having babies because that would mean she would have to get her blood drawn a lot.  So when she told me she wanted to be a mommy, I asked her what changed her mind.  And she said one word: Gabby.
I'm not so sure how Gabby felt about Gianna's constant, nagging, sweet attention, but Gianna sure is crazy about Gabby!

Trying to swipe a kiss

Walking

Always walking!

Oh that G and her sweet cuz Gabbers.

*Gianna tested negative for Celiacs!  Yay!

Elia and the dogs

Every morning in California, the first thing Elia would go do is find all the dogs and say hello to each one.  The one who was probably most receptive to her is Bella.  Sometimes Elia would accidentally call her Koda.  They kind of look alike.



A few days after we got back from Cali, Gianna told Elia how much she missed California.  Elia said me too!  I miss the dogs.  Elia is helping Chris wear me down more and more to get one!

California: A Wedding

Chris' cousin got married Saturday night.  The groom's brother is one of Chris' good friends from Napa.  Chris is excited that this is the closest he will become to being related to his friend Rob.

My girls!

Dad, Son, Grandpa

Classic Daddy daughter dancing

This pic cracks me up.  Chris and Vince are trying to get Elia to dance and she just wan't into them!

California: Family Pictures

Early Saturday morning we came back to Andretti Winery armed with M&Ms and a good camera.  The results, after taking over 300 pictures, were truly amazing.  Chris put a lot of them up on facebook, but here are a few for you to ogle!

Rowles and family

Mary and Chuck and kids

Just kids



I'm going to frame this one!

And this one!

Grandparents and grandkids

Just grandkids!

California: Wine Tasting

Friday we went wine tasting! Before we had kids, we would go wine tasting at least 2 or 3 times per visit. Now we are lucky if we squeeze it in at all! Since Sarah was here for the first time we made a day of it.  Uncle Brian drove us in his 15 passenger.  We went to 4 wineries.
Our first stop was Andretti Winery. The famous race car driver Mario Andretti owns this winery. It is so beautiful! Chris and I have been here before and brought home a really good dessert wine last visit from there. This time we bought a bottle of red. We also decided this would be a great place to take our family pictures the next day. You can see why:

Awwww- siblings!

I'm sure we were talking about something really deep here over our wine.

Sister in laws!

Why wouldn't we get our pictures taken here?  Breathtaking!

Our next stop was Hegafen. This was just as beautiful, and felt more mom and pop. They touted the fact that all their wine is kosher. We bought a yummy bottle of Rose here.

The outside was gorgeous!

The inside was cute too.

Next we went to Daurioush. This is quite the winery! Everything is very polished, including the people who work there. They all looked like super models. (and ahem, were a little stuffy) Chris and I went there last visit and brought home 3 bottles but we opted out this visit.  

The whole crew!

Lastly we went to  ZD.  By then we were all sort of tired and ready to go eat, so no one bought anything here.  Don't have any pictures worth putting up- no one is looking at the camera.  Afterwards we went to Silverado Brewing Company for lunch.  It was a fantastic day!