Sunday, December 23, 2012

St. Louis: Cousin Love

We left on Saturday to spend 5 days in St. Louis.  Gianna and Elia were so excited to see their cousins Colin and Austin, and of course the 2 babies- Brendan and Anna!
Almost to St. Louis!  I think we were in Mount Vernon, MO here.

G was the baby lover, as always.  She has little scratches all over her face from little babies grabbing at her.

It got cold!  G looks like a McHugh here!





My favorite picture!

My sweet god daughter!

No one could get enough of these 2.

Toms trains.
 
 

Friday, December 21, 2012

Holiday Hoopla

Our school's Chistmas Holiday party was awesome.  PTA put the entire thing on outside of the classrooms, and the different grade levels rotated through.  My class had a blast, and afterward we watched Narnia in my classroom since we just finished reading it.  Gianna's party was during lunch, so I went down to hang out with her on my break.
 
 
Cotton ball on your nose race.  SHe would not let me take a picture of her with it on her nose!  I promise she was cute.

Antler toss

Ski relay

I couldn't stay with her the whole time. We had a blast!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas Card Pictures

This is the first year I took less than 30 pictures to get a decent one for the Rowles' Family Christmas Card.  Here are a few gems that didn't make it onto the card.



 
 

Previous crazy card takes: 2010  2011
Elia is becoming quite the ham.  She was a star at her Christmas show for her daycare.


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Advent

 
Advent wreaths! Got the idea from here.
 



On sunday nights we burned the candles for a few minutes during dinner.
 
Tree time!

I like this pic of Elia becasue it shows how warm it was the day we got the tree.  Bare foot!

Lights Up


And done!
 
 
St. Nick's Day



Hello Kitty Jelly beans, gold coins, and christmas tree pen and paper.



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving Break: Thanksgiving Photo Dump

The best appetizer ever- club crackers with parm cheese on top, wrapped in bacon.

My first pie.  Getting fancy with the top.

Elia and G helped make name cards.

The kid's table.  Thats Martinellis.

The table all decked out.



Nutella mousse.  Yum!

Sarah and I!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Thanksgiving Break: Uncle Danny's Visit

On Tuesday, Uncle Danny flew in from Kansas where he goes to college so he could spend Thanksgiving with us!  He was so ggod with the girls, and Elia had seen him a week or 2 earlier at the funeral so she was even more excited.  Uncle Danny also really loves My Little Pony, so everyone (even Chris) bonded over that.
Chalk with the girls

All the brothers, and Elia.

He helped Chris cut down a tree.

King of the Ring

Monday, November 19, 2012

Thanksgiving Break: Ice!

Thanksgiving Break week, we joined up with my cousin Kevin and his family to go see the Ice exhibit at the Gaylord.  It was pretty cool and cold.


A christmas tree of ice!

Hot cocoa afterwards.  Elia stole the show in the rest of the pics.



We went back to Kevin and Amanda's for dinner and a quick swim in the hot tub!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Croup-tastic Marschner Visit

Chris' grandpa passed away so Chris took Elia out to Napa for the funeral.  That left G and I to fend for ourselves for 5 days.  He left on Monday night and they came back Saturday night.  Shannon, Tom, and Baby B had plans to fly in Friday night.
Friday afternoon while teaching, the school nurse called me to let me know that G was there with a fever and complaining of her throat hurting.  So I made some sub plans and left for the afternoon to take Gianna to the doctor.
She diagnosed her with Croup, which totally freaked me out for a bit.  My doctor assured me it was fine, that its going around, and prescribed a steroid.  Then I remembered that Aunt Shanny was coming with her 8 month old and I freaked out again.  Shannon and I went back and forth about what to do, but in the end we decided they all should just come.  I bought G a face mask and she had strict orders Friday night and Saturday to wear it when she was around him.  Thankfully he did not get it (nor did Elia once she got home Saturday night) and the weekend was a large success!  Tom went to the football game while the girls and Brendan and I shopped and went out to eat.





Thursday, November 8, 2012

More School Updates

Black Day.  Love this outfit.

First time buying lunch.  She was so excited!

She was "surfer of the week" this week.







Toe Knee Chest Nut