Baptism/Atlanta trip Photo Dump

It took us 14 hours to get to AtL.  We ended up stopping at Cracker Barrel for dinner 12 hours in.

The star of the weekend: Anna

Dad and Anna

Bath-tism dresses as Elia called them.

Uncle Ryan showing off his skills.

Grandma and Anna

God-Parents and God- Child

Gettin baptized.

Love this one.  Its like a family with 2 sets if twins and a baby!

The McHugh side

Sweet Uncle Ry holding back the hair.

I made bubbles for all the kids at the Baptism reception.  A pinterest find.  Bubble solution was great but the pipe cleaner wands didn't do as well as I hoped. 

Slippered cousins

G, as usual, always helping when a baby is around!

How cute is her swim suit!

Sweet action shot.

Skyping with Aunt Shanny and Baby Brendan.  All 4 cousins were pushing and shoving to be front and center.

It was a fabulous trip!  Plans are in the works for a 2 week stay at Aunt Megan's house next summer.  It is the perfect hosue for cousin camp.  Miss those crazy boys and sweet Anna too!

Poison Oak attacks!!!

This literally could be a picture of Chris' leg.  I got it from here.

After our glorious hike on July 4th, we were noticing that we kept getting bug bites.  We thought maybe we had some chiggers or mosquitos on the hike, and in our own yard.  But then my skin started getting rashy and even more itchy and so I got an appt with my doctor.  She promptly diagnosed me with poison oak, and gave me a cortizone shot.  (I dont recommend this.  The results were not immediate, and I woke up at 3:30am and couldnt get back to sleep.  I can tell a difference for sure, the itching is considerably less, but I like my sleep!)

My doctor said I had a particularly bad reaction so that is why she gave me the shot.  She also prescribed some pills and a cream.  Chris has more of it all over his legs but the reaction was not as bad as mine.  So we are just slathering oursleves with cream and taking the pills.  Hopefully we should be good considering we are driving to AtL tmr!  eek!

oh, and the girls are mostly unscathed.  G has one spot and Elia has a few.  They start out looking like mosquito bites so sometimes you just don't know!

Gianna's Swim Lessons

Gianna can really swim. I dont mean just splash around, but she can get in water that is over her head and swim more than 5 feet! Its really amazing to watch.  

Ready for lessons

On diving board day she was one of the only little kids to jump off the board without first clinging to the lifeguard for dear life. I feel bad for those kids- the lifeguard peels them off and then drops them in the pool, crying, kicking and screaming too!

new swimsuit.  Doesnt she look like a ballerina?

Elia found a hideout by the concession stand.

Back float

passing

swimming back to the others

Gianna and Melissa

Weekend Shenanigans

Saturday started early with a garage sale at the McBrides.  She was wanting to have a sale and I had a lot of junk to get rid of so I brought all my stuff over.  I made cloud dough, a pinterest find, to help entertain children.  Chris had to work so there were only 3 adults to corral 5 kids.  The cloud dough was a hit but only lasted an hour before most of it got dumped in the grass.

We came home, rested, and then had a barbecue with the Carses, McBrides and Kiowskis.

For some reason a table full of children eating makes me so happy!

Then Sunday was as usual- cartoons, church, and lunch.  We took Daria to Lake Lewisville to meet Matt and Sarah's dog JuJu for some playtime at the lake.  Fun times!

Daria Update

Well, she is definitely part of our family now.  We have trained her pretty well- she hasn't had any accidents since her first 3 days here at home.  She knows she can't go in anyone's bedroom and she can't get on the furniture.  She is very protective but also sometomes overly friendly.  I think there is definitely some puppy left in her because everytime she sees another dog she seriously goes crazy.  We have to work on that with her too, hopefully she will get it soon!

Thank God she doesn't chew anything!

Her favorite thing to do is chase the water/

Best part of Daria is we are outside (even when horribly hot) a lot more doing things as a family!

Chris was cooking bacon and she was as close as she could be to him without getting in trouble.

Gianna likes to put her jewelry on her!

Elia reading her a good night story!

Independece Day

Chris of course had today off so we had a full day of fun! In the morning, we went on a glorious 2 and a half hour hike at the hiking park. This was probably the most fun for Daria, but a clsoe second for the girls. We found a water hole and didn't intend for the girls to get in, but one thing lead to another and Elia was pretty much fully submerged.  Showers for everyone as soon as we got home!

We headed over to the McBrides to barbecue before we went to watch fireworks.

What do you call these?  Poppers?

Yum cupcakes!

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.