October

Well, the cat is out of the bag.  I am pregnant!  That, and a new school year, are just 2 of the many reasons I have neglected blogging.  Here are some October Highlights:

Elia's first field trip to the pumpkin farm tuckered her out!

Alumni weekend- we spent Sat morning at UD
Cap Bar

Trail from West side to the art village

Swing by the fish bowl

My parents came to visit for a long weekend!
So did Grandma Rowles, but I took no pics.  :(

 

We explored Grapevine with my parents

Obligatory Pumpkin Patch photo

My awesome room mom threw me a party the week I revealed to my class I was pregnant.  She also had a baby blanket made- gender neutral, that says "Jesus loves Baby Rowles, and so does 3rd grade!"

Halloween- a zebra and a kitty cat

Bittersweet- probably our last Halloween in Carrollton!

Pregnancy details to come...

March Madness

Sweet G earned the kindness award in March!

Open House- they had been learning all about farms!

Spring Break- went to Grandma's house who had a little bit of snow left.

Grandpa's specialty- pancakes!!

His other specialty- the ipad.

Can you guess how old this stud turned?

A quick playdate with the McBrides!

Back in Dallas, we ditched the STP parade and went to the Arboreteum instead.

Cousin's Bday party- 1 of 5 G was invited to in March!!!

My sweet girls.  Yes, Elia insisted on wearing a Christmas shirt in March.

St. Louis: Hanging with the Family

Right before we left.  I hid away some of theirbday presents, plus new packs of crayons etc. for the car ride. 
They were so excited to get in the car.  However, they weren't so excited by the 5th hour.  Or the 9th.

We got in late Friday night so this is the first time they hung out with the cousins-
helping grandpa make banana split pancakes!

Hello Kitty Bingo, of course.

Blanket fort.

Colin taught G how to make rainbows.  

Sweet Baby Anna!
 I was totally reminded of Elia, as she wore a lot of her old
clothes and has the same coloring and cute chubby cheeks!

Ryan graduated from SLUH!  Looking good there Ry.

Deep conversation while they took Elmo out.

Grandpa reading

Filling the bird feeder

Happy Birthday Ice Cream at Oberweiss

Always always helping!  This was right before G accidentally swung
the hose right overElia's head and got water all over Elia!

Top 6 of Our StL Trip

I could probably make this into 3 or 4 posts, but I just don't have the time! Enjoy my top 6 of the wonderful trip we had!!

1. The Arch and the Zoo. I opted out of the arch field trip. Been there, done that. It is soooo claustrophobic. In fact, a few days after they went, one of the elevators got stuck in there for a few hours and there is NO A/C! Someone had a panic attack while they were stuck in there. But I'm glad Chris took Gianna with Megan and Craig. Afterwards, they met us at the zoo. Elia was hilarious. Everytime she saw a new animal, she would point to herself and say he wike me!! (as in, he likes me!)

"He wike me!!!!"

Grandparent love:

2. Cousin Love. Our visit overlapped with Megan and Craig for 4 days, so it was great seeing them again!

Always, always eating!

3. Hanging out with the marrieds. I don't have any pictures of the adults together, but I'll just say it was really fun to hang out with everyone. Ryan was away at camp, so it was the 4 couples together for a night at the bars, then after Megan and Craig left, the 3 couples went out to dinner sans kiddos, and then once Chris left, there was lots of me and ColleenandBobbyandTomandShannon time. So fun.

4. Road Trip to Milwaukee. My mom and I last minute decided to drive the 6 hours up there. My grandparents are in assisted living and I haven't seen them for 2 years, so it was absolutely wonderful to go up there and see them. Gianna and Elia were such a hit there, all of my grandparents friends just ogled and ogled.

We stopped at a McDs and took some random pics. The girl were obsessed with the double pay phone!

We met some of my cousins at my grandparents home. Here we all are!

On our way back, we randomly stopped because Elia was screaming "Crackers!! I want crackers!" over and over and we couldnt get her to stop screaming! We were 50 miles outside of StL and I wish we could have just kept going, but we didnt. We pulled up to a random hotel (that had a bar! with crackers!!!) and my mom freaked out because this was the same hotel she had stopped at 4 years ago on her way home from seeing her parents. She pulled over because I had called her that morning to tell her I was in labor and she wanted to check on me. So this was the hotel she had stopped at to hear the wonderful news that her first grand daughter was born!! Full circle, I tell you.

This was the only pic taken at the hotel courtyard.

5. Sleepover at Aunt Shanny's. Its always fun to hang out with Shan. But its even more fun when we get to sleep over and have pizza and cupcakes!

We went to Jilly's first to get the cupcakes.

And had lots of Elmo time:

We ended the night with Kung Fu Panda. This pic was hilariously posed!

6. Hanging out at my childhood home. Kirkwood, MO is seriously the best place to raise a family. We went to parks and the pool and hung out at my house for the rest of the week. My dad and Gianna filled up the bird feeder and bonded over the bird book. It was really sweet!

See ya'll next time! xoxo