6 Year Anniversary

Its been 6 years!  Chris took a half day, which is always great, and we went out to dinner and then watched fireworks with the family.  We went to Cane Rosso, which was featured on Diners, Drive ins and Dives.

This restaurant was awesome!  Best fire oven, italian pizza I have ever had in the states!

Classic margherita pizza.  Buffalo mozzarella.

Elia was making Chris laugh.  Love this pic of him.

dessert- smores calzone!

Right before we left to go to the fireworks.

Goofing off while we waited (and waited) for the fireworks.

Elia's swim lessons

Too cool for school



Off the diving board

Swimming on her own in the deep!

With her instructor.

Grandma Rowles Visit

Watching Avatar

Grandma came to visit for Uncle Matt's wedding.  It was really fun for the girls to have their grandma all to themselves.  A rare, fun occurence!
 We went and saw Brave together and she cooked awesome food for us too!  She will be back at the end of July for work, yay!

Matt and Sarah's Wedding

Just Married!

Reception

My New Job!

Since March, I have had 6 interviews at 5 different schools- 3 catholic and 2 public.  I interviewed at Spears (a public school in Frisco) the day Aunt Shanny came to visit with Baby Brendan.  The following Monday the principal called me to offer me the job!  I will be teaching 3rd grade, which I am super comfortable with and excited about. 
Also, probably the best part is I get to bring Gianna with me to this school as a Kindergartner!  I'm glad I'll have that extra eye on her.  I found a cute little Christian preschool/daycare for Elia that is a mile away from Spears. 
It took Frisco almost 4 weeks to get me into one of their new hire orientations to sign all the paperwork, which I did Thursday afternoon.  On Wednesday, right before we picked up Daria, I got to have a peek into my classroom and drop my stuff off.  The teacher who was in my room last year hasn't finished moving all her stuff out, but I can see so much potential already!

I'm so excited I have a window!  I didn't have one at my last full time teaching job.

See all those blue boxes on the table?  That is all mine.  The rest of the stuff is the other teachers. 
I am starting out pretty fresh!

Daria

Well, we came up with a name, Daria. CaMo was a close second because it was a mix of the 2 state's abbreviations Chris and I are from.  There is a song named Daria by Cake, one of Chris and I's fave bands.  And it kind of goes with our whole kids whose names end in -a theme.  We brought her home Wednesday evening and she was pretty drugged up from her Spay surgery.

I have been reading some Cesar Millan books and have learned so much about how to interact with a dog and train them well.  We have had a very calm environmnet so that she can be calm and submissive.  So far, so good, but she is still recovering and on pain meds.  The vet thinks she is a year old, which is much older than the shelter believed- they thought she was 6-8 months.  I guess that means she won't grow too much more, which I am perfectly fine with. But we do need to get her to fill out- she is super skinny!

See those ribs?

Elia, as usual.

Doctor Appointments

They thought is was great fun to put on the paper smocks and dance around.  Clean bill of health for both of them, praise the Lord!  Elia officially weighs more than G.

37 lbs

36 lbs

Good Weekend

We spent the better part of Sunday cooking.

Elia and G helped Daddy...

...make thisdog pen!  (the right section is going to be the gate and is not secured here- it is just leaning right now)

And got this off Craigslist.

We are hoping to pick her up from the vet Wednesday evening.  Names in the running are: Daria, ElDara, MoCa, CaMo, and Elia has suggested Chips.

Our New Dog!

I finally caved.  Chris has wanted a dog since we've been married, and I always had an excuse.  My excuses have always been no, we have kids in diapers and then once Elia was potty trained, I said not until I have a full time job.  Now that I can't use that excuse (oh, I haven't mentioned I got a full time job?  Yep!  Its not official until I sign a contract, but I got hired in Frisco- woo hoo) we took a little trip to the Animal Shelter in Carrollton and met Alice today.  We don't really like the name Alice so we are considering other names.

We think she is a mix of Gernam Shepherd, Belgian Malinois, and something else. 

G was not scared at all!

And of course Elia is in love.  We left the center with her literally in hysterics that we couldn't bring her home right away.

Adoption papers in hand!  Its official!

So she will go to a vet on Monday and as soon as she is checked and gets the all-clear, we can bring her home.  Excited and nervous for sure.  We will spend the weekend getting ready for her!  Any name suggestions out there?  It has to mean something.  We have thought about Jager, it means hunter in german.  Also, Peaches was my old camp name.  So we will see.

Lake Lewisville

After driving all day Friday in the car and doing laundry, unpacking etc. all day Saturday, we decided to get the family out together on Sunday. Chris came back to Dallas a few days before I came back so these girls really missed their dad!  It was a hot day but they didn't notice one bit. The beach wasn't much to talk about, but they would have stayed all day if we had let them!

I love this of G.  She is about to get in and is excited and nervous!

Elia called this little hole in the rock her bathtub.