First Week of School, Chris in Manila

We love our new school!  Both girls love their new teachers, and I am falling in place with the rest of the faculty and my students too.
A few weeks ago, Chris got an amazing promotion, that makes him director of the call center at his company.  They were in the process of opening a call center in Manila, Phillipines, and asked him to go over there for a week.  Which just happened to be the first week of school.  So it was a tough week, and I have a new found respect for single moms and military moms etc!  The girls did ok without him, but now, exactly 2 weeks after he dropped them off in Joplin, they are really ready to see him tonight!  Maybe I didn't feel the need to come home as quick since I knew he wouldn't be there, but we got home late every night.  So that made the time we had at home very rushed with homework and bath and lunches etc in time for bed.  I'm excited for him to get home too!

This is the only pic I remembered to take on the first day of school!

These pictures with the signs are the 2nd day of school.  I ran out of time on day 1!

Loving the uniforms.  G told me earlier this week that she loves wearing uniforms because then she doesn't have to be stressed about what to wear each morning.  Took the words right out of my mouth!

I asked them to show me a tooth smile!

Chris sent me flowers for my first week back.  Love that guy.

Here are last years pictures!

Happy Birthday Giannna!

I can't believe I have a 4 year old. Chris and I are constantly asking ourselves where she comes up with all of her sayings and ideas. Its been raining a lot lately and every time it does, she puts out bowls and cups all over the house in case the ceiling leaks. She absolutely loves Elia, but sometimes too much. Last week while at the grocery store, I caught her trying to give Elia an Indian Burn (ya know, when you grab an arm with both hands and twist). I asked her why she was doing that to her sister and she said mom, I just wanted to squeeze all the softness out of her. Sigh.

But back to the big day! We started her birthday out with a pancake party, to carry on the tradition of last year. I changed it up a bit by having different colored pancakes. The girls helped prepare the batter the night before.

Then she opened a few presents and we went about our day. Princess boots that light up when you walk:

She looks so old here!

I called her birthday girl all day and she thought that was the coolest. Once dad got home we opened more presents, went out to dinner to her fave, Fuzzys, and hid in the closet from tornadoes for a while. Her best present I think was her new bike.

We are going to put the training wheels on tomorrow and hopefully get out and ride! She was a very happy girl, and she is getting so excited for the party this weekend!

Here are some pics from the year. You can see the previous 3 years here.

Just turned 3!

Eating Stromboli at her cooking class. 3 yrs, 3 mos.

Licking the batter for our xmas cookies! 3 yrs, 6 mos

Building a snow man after the freak snow storm in Feb. 3 yrs, 9 mos.

4 years old!

Happy Birthday to my sweetie!

Elia's Birthday

My baby is 2! I just can't believe it. She is sleeping in a big girl bed now and her sentences are really coming together. My current favorite is I sityourwap which means can I sit in your lap? Love it. Right now she is obsessed with puzzles and gets really excited when one of us does it with her. Her hair is getting so long and she gets really cute little curls in the back.

We made cupcakes the night before her birthday so she could bring some to daycare. I made cupcake picks out of some Minnie stickers Aunt Col sent. Thanks Col!

For her birthday she got some good stuff!

She opened some when we got home from work (my last day! yippee!) and then we headed out to dinner. The restaurant we went to is right across a tiny airport, and as we were leaving there was a plane taxi-ing. That was really cool to see.

Then we headed over to Petsmart to get the best present ever- fish.

They were so stinking excited. The fish are now in a little bowl at home. Gianna named hers Sienna and Elia named hers Fishy. More birthday updates are coming up- big plans for G on Tuesday and our big bash next weekend! Take a peek at my timeline from last year. Here are a few more from this year!

Just turned 1 year!

15 months. Killer ponytail.

18 months. Waiting on Christmas cookies.

21 months: obsessed with drawing! She calls it jaw.

The Birthday girl!

Happy birthday sweetie!

Lone Star Park

Today we ventured out to Lone Star Park with Uncle Patrick to take advantage of $1 days. That means $1 hot dogs, beer, soda, popcorn, and even bets. We didn't bet at all, we just ate and drank a lot and watched the horses. The look on Elia's face when she saw the horses coming around the track for the first time was complete horror. I don't know if she was worried that they were gonna run her down or what, but she did not like it! Once they ran past her she waved bye to them, and then all races after that she got excited about them.

Professional kid-wrangler:

Elia's feet are off the ground in this pic! Gianna was interested in the sno-cones the most.

Check out my post from when we went last year.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We started the evening out with some homemade mini pizzas. Second year in a row, and I hope to keep the tradition up! Its fun for the girls to pick their toppings.

We opened presents from family members, and something tells me that this is going to be a very Elmo Christmas for Boom. We set out treats for Santa and of course, the carrot is for the reindeer!

What a difference a year makes:

Once the girls were snug in their beds, we took the stocking advent calendar down and put their stockings up. We put out the Nativity scene with Jesus in it, and put all the presents under the tree.

Can't wait to see their reactions! See that Elmo bag Santa left? Elia is going to go ga-ga over it!

Merry Christmas to all!

July 4ths

Just thought I would share these sweet pictures of Gianna. Elia slept through the fireworks this year and last, but Gianna has always loved them. She has never been scared of them. I hope to document her excitement every year, hopefully adding Elia's reactions too. Here is Chris' post of her first fireworks. If only we had taken Elia this year, maybe she would have learned to say 'wow' like G did.

14 months old

2 years old

3 years old

Another Birthday Girl

Sorry for the length of this post...

Gianna turned 3 today! We did another pancake party this morning, and Cousins Colin and Austin were here to celebrate. Here is a trip down memory lane for all...

May 24, 2007. A day that forever changed Chris' and my life together.

3 months old, personality already taking shape.

6 months old

9 months old

1 year old, and gorgeous.

15 months old. Elia couldn't wear this outfit after 6 months! G was always our little baby.

18 months. On her way to becoming a big sister!

21 months old. Just a little bit of baby-ness left!

May 20, 2009. Just 4 days before her 2nd birthday. This day changed G's life forever!

2 yrs, 3 months. Knows how to pose for the camera!

2 yrs, 6 months. Loves to bake for her mama!

2 yrs, 9 months. We had a freak snow storm in February, and she loved to play in the snow!

Last picture I took before the camera broke. About a month shy of turning 3!

On Saturday we had a big birthday bash for Gianna and Elia. It was dino-themed and SO much fun. The girls were both spoiled senseless. We had so much fun playing in the water and catching up with friends. I took lots of pictures, and as soon as I get my film developed (I know, old school, right?) I will post them!