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

Elia's "Fishing" Lessons

The 2 weeks before we left for StL, Elia took swim lessons. But she called them fishing lessons. She has a funny obsession with the word fish- if something is broken or not working (I think she is actually trying to say fix it), she says it is fishing, if she is thirsty she says fishy, swimsuit is fish suit, and then when she actually sees a fish, she calls it shoe. How hilarious is that?

Anyways, she was amazing in the water. She had 8 lessons total, and the first 7 lessons I was not allowed to be there with her, since there would be too much mama-drama, as her teacher explained to me. So the big day was that 8th lesson, when we got to watch all her hard work. That girl brought me to tears, I tell you! She is amazing in the water. Check it out!

Monkey crawling:

Swimming with just a noodle!

She learned to put her head underwater by grabbing for a pool weight:

I had a great little video of her swimming but can't upload it right now- darn you blogger!

We're Back!

We rolled into Dallas last night around 8:30pm. Details of the StL trip will come soon! BUt in the meantime, this is what we are up to:

Potty Training!! I put the portable DVD player in the bathroom cabinet and made Elia drink and drink and drink and in the last hour she has gone 2 times on the potty! She thinks she is pretty cool in her sweet new Minnie Mouse panties. I'll keep you all updated!

Doctor Visits!

Today the girls had their 2 and 4 year old doctor appointments. Gianna is at the highest weight percentile of her short life- 27%. Elia is still hanging in there at the top at the 93% for weight and 97% for height. G weighs 1 pound more than Elia! Makes me giggle.

The doctor appointment went swimmingly, until the shots came out. Poor Gianna had to get 4! I have teared up almost every time one of my kiddos gets shots, but this time I actually shed quite a few tears. Before the nurse came into the room, Gianna was being ridiculously sweet, reading quietly and including her sister. When I put her up on the table, she still didn't know what was happening and she was chatting with the nurse and telling her that she might get to go swimming later. Then the nurse told her she was about to get some shots and her whole body tensed up and I felt like I had lied to her as she was screaming "mommy, nooooooo." And the fact that it was 4 shots was just horrible, it seemed to go on forever.

Then it was Elia's turn, who had sort of sat quietly in a chair holding her baby doll while her sister was tortured on the other side of the room. She was laughing as I laid her down and had no idea what was about to happen, but thank goodness it was just one shot. Gianna kept telling her things like Elia, its just going to hurt a little bit, its ok, I love you, etc. Elia didn't cry during the shot itself but whined about it for a few minutes after that.

We all went to McDonald's after that and all the torture was forgotten. Phew.

Monday Gianna had her first dentist appointment. She was drama about getting into the chair, so the dentist had me get in the chair and hold her on my lap. That was fun with a 2 year old running free. But eventually Gianna got over her fear and sat in the chair herself. She did great! Her adult teeth are really coming in, and the doc says within the next year she might be losing her bottom teeth. I can't believe that might be happening!

Getting ready for an xray as Boom looks on.

Opening wide for the dentist. She wouldn't unclench the first 5 minutes, but was so good toward the end!

Another Visit with Grandma

Ahhh grandma! She gives the BEST presents. Elia's newest sentence is "I go 'side pay sand peez?"

We finally got her to ourselves on Memorial Day. We spent the day hanging out at IKEA and reading books. See you in July!

Rowles Birthday Bonanza

So the party came and went, and it was a HUGE success. Chris and I did a lot to prepare for everyone to come over. I think we had about 30 people come and go, and I was so happy to see everyone!

The morning of, Uncle Craig and Chris laid down a ton of mulch so our backyard looked amazing. I hung pompoms everywhere, and put up other random decorations.

This was taken 2 days after the party. I am so mad at myself for not taking more before guests arrived!

The kiddos splashed around in the pool for a while, and Elia was probably the wateriest baby of the day. This was the first time since March that she had played in a pool, and she just didnt want to get out! She only came out to sneak a few snacks and pull the pinata.

Splashing around:

Pinata fun:

Distributing the pull strings:

Pulling:

This pic of G cracks me up. She has the string over her shoulder and is pulling as hard as she can!

The Loot:

Then we sang happy birthday and had cupcakes:

Elia sang to her cupcake before she ate it!

What a wonderful night. Did I mention the margarita machine? Yeah. Awesome.

Party Decorations

Here are some of the decorations I made for the party:

Pompoms:

I got this sign at Celebrate Express:

It says Happy Birthday Gianna and Elia!

Then, there was the "crowning" achievement, the Minnie Mouse Ears. I still have blisters from the hot glue! I followed this tutorial online, and they turned out super cute.

Here is the balloon room. We (chris) basically filled our playroom up with tons of balloons. It was a freaking blast.

So those are all the extras I did for the party!