Gianna's Birthday

Lucky for G, her birthday landed on a built in bad weather day, so the 3 of us had the day off!  We did birthday pancakes, and then I took the girls to the splash park.  It was our first water adventure of the season, so they were delighted!  We ended the day with a trip to Zinga with Daddy and Uncle Patrick.

Day before her birthday at school- she brought in leftover MLP cookies!

Happy Birthday pancakes!

Splash Park!

Love this action shot!

Zinga Froyo

January

It was a busy month!

 

Playing with Christmas presents

Dentist Appointments

I used to wear this coat and muff!  Elia and mom went to Milwaukee for my dear Grandpa's funeral.

Sister-Cousin Pic

Played as much as we could on MLK day.

 

First Week of School

A whole week has come and gone!  Dropping Gianna off in her calssrooom Monday morning was so sad!  Its cliche to say, but I can't believe that sweet baby G is a kindergartner.



Gianna's classroom theme is the ocean- her name is on the octopus in the top right corner.

Her little seat.

 

 

 

First Day Pics:

I want to be a gymnast.  (Gabby Douglas, duh.)

Elia hamming it up.

The hardest part has been watching Elia go off to daycare.  Since I went back to work 18 months ago she hasn't really had separation anxiety and I think part of that is due to the fact that she was always with Big Sis.  Now, I am dropping her off all alone and she knows Gianna goes with me and that I get to see her all day long.

Which is actually pretty great.  My break is right around the time G has lunch, so I always get to give her a quick squeeze and that holds me over until I see her again right after school.

Its all an adjustment, I know, so Elia will get through it.  When she tells me about school, it sounds super fun!  Play- dough, coloring, playing on the dinosaur playground etc.

When we get home, the girls play really hard together.  I think they are making up for lost time together because as soon as their feet hit the inside of the house they are running off to find the next imaginary adventure by dressing up, jumping on the couch, or playing outside.



Friday we came home and went straight to the park for a picnic.

And of course, a movie night to end the first week!

Sickies

Last week everyone but me got sick!  Early early Tuesday morning Elia woke up 4 times to puke and was completely recovered by 8am.  Gianna was feverish Monday and Tuesday so I took her to the doctor where she tested positive for strep.  So Gianna missed school for the rest of the week.  Then Thursday Chris came home early from work sick with whatever Elia had.  I was waiting and waiting for one or both sicknesses to hit me, but alas, I remain unscathed.  Must be that awesome immune system I've developed while teaching.

Lots of artsy crafty stuff since we couldn't hangwith friends.

Love this one of Elia- I used to always wear my hair like this.

G also learned how to milk her sickness- Elia was her little servant fetching pillows for her and drinks of water etc.

By Friday everyone was completely healthy so we got out to the park for lunch.

Another awesome one of Elia- a month ago she couldn't climb this at the park without my help, and now she is a pro!

Today was G's first day back and she got her book order.  She was so excited to read to Elia.

Spring Break: The Park

I had REALLY good intentions to go to a different park each day this spring break.  And we did pretty good- we went to 2 parks on Monday, 2 on Tuesday, 1 on Wednesday, skipped Thursday and went to the park Friday.  I was going to be a good little blogger and take a picture of them at each different park, but I kept forgetting we were just having so much fun!  Here is the only decent one that I took on Monday at the Dragon Park.  Love these 2.

It was fantastic that we were able to get outside so much this week.  When I think about how hot its going to be in a few months I get grumpy.  Gotta savor the nice weather we are having now!

Low Key Weekend

We did absolutely NOTHING this weekend, and it was great.  We only got out of the house to go to church, the park and of coure to ride bikes.  We went to the dragon park, which both girls have been wanting to go to, but besides the cool dragon head there, the actual park was pretty lame.  And almost as soon as we got there Elia had to go potty.  Le sigh.



Picture found here.

This was Elia's first successful pedal pushing bike ride!

Columbus Day

While I was at work all day doing parent teacher conferences, Chris stayed home with the girls and played stay at home dad.  I came home to happy girls, laundry done, a clean house, and dinner being made!  As soon as I came home I took the girls off his hands to the park so he could finish dinner.  I seriously wouldn't mind if Chris had a 3 day weekend every week!  (He probably wouldn't either!)
Anyway, its been a while since I took pictures of them so here are a few for you to see!

Love her in these jeans- she looks so grown up!!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was so great!  We went to the pool (for the last time this season!  :/), the park, and had friends over to bbq.  The weather was amazing on Monday especially- the girls were cold playing outside!!

G rode her bike to the park- she hasn't gotten on that thing since June!  Too hot to take it outside.  She was pretty unsire of herself on the way to the park, but did awesome on the way home.

 Haven't been on swings at the park lately either because of the heat!!  They could have stayed on them for hours.

  

 

  

  Monday we were literally outside the entire day- for dinner too.  I made some pink lemonade pie- which the girls gobbled.  Every weekend should be 3 days long!

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