Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks to preschool, Gianna was super prepared for Thanksgiving. She kept asking when our feast was. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa arrived Wednesday morning, so the festivities could begin a little early.

Gianna was excited about the Macy's parade. Okay, maybe I was more excited. But hey, Doug is not exactly a parade enthusiast, so I was looking forward to sharing it with someone who would appreciate it. And she did! She was a little lukewarm about it first, but eventually she really got into it, lots of dancing and singing along.

We had a delicious meal with way too much food. But Doug's turkey was so awesome that we didn't mind eating leftovers and definitely didn't let it all go to waste. Not surprisingly, Gianna ate virtually none of the Thanksgiving fare and Mark loved every dish! We tried to make Thanksgiving in Germany last year, but it was fun to do it up right this year!

The day after Thanksgiving, Doug and I took Gianna to her very first movie in a movie theater, Tangled. She LOVED the popcorn and tolerated the movie, so when the popcorn ran out she said, "Mommy, I'm not really enjoying this. I want to go home." Fortunately, a quick trip with Doug to get some M&Ms revived her interest and she made it to the end. She did like it, but I think she'll appreciate it more once we can watch it at home and really talk it out. The girl likes to talk it out. She definitely enjoyed her special time with Mommy and Daddy. We're so glad Grandma and Grandpa could stay home with The Shark.

We also tried to take some potential Christmas card pictures. There was no crying, but there wasn't much cooperating either, so maybe we'll try again sometime!

On Saturday, Grandma and Grandpa left and Nonna and Pop-pop stopped by on their way back home. It was nice to spend a few hours with them and they even helped us get our Christmas tree.

We got it completely decorated on Sunday and Gianna had a fun time looking at all of our ornaments and helping put them on the tree. Mark was intrigued by the tree and learned quickly that he is not to touch it or the ornaments, but the ones that are ball-shaped were just TOO tempting for him. So now that they're out of his reach he's doing great. And we're loving our great tree. We haven't had a real one since 2005!

Dear Christmas Season, we missed you last year! Bring it on!

Happy Birthday, Mark!

On November 20, Mark turned one. It is still, even a week later, hard for me to believe. In so many ways, it feels like we were just in Germany waiting for him to arrive and then getting ready to bring him home. (I still can't believe he was born in Germany, either!) He's just the happiest little guy. He's very sociable and friendly, totally different from Gianna. Last Sunday at church, we went back the vestibule where other people with restless children were sitting and standing around. And Mark went around and shook all of their hands and smiled and waved at everyone.

He had a nice first birthday. Just a little cake and a present on the day and then he got presents from his grandparents later in the week. He wasn't too excited about the cake, but he did eat and wear some of it. And he LOVED the helicopter we got for him.

Last but not least, here are the big boy's stats.

Weight: 25 lbs, 3 oz (90th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (95 percentile)

Some fun videos

I could bore you with the details of how we are all transitioning to Gianna not taking a nap any more (let's just say Gianna's a bit cranky and Mommy is even more so!), but instead, I thought I'd post a couple of cute videos of the kids playing.

Mark freaking loves this blanket! And when Gianna is in it, on it, or holding it he loves it even more. And when this doesn't annoy Gianna, it makes for some pretty cute and hilarious playtime.

And apparently they both love leaves. They had such a great time playing outside today. If the landscaping crews could just be a little less attentive to the fallen leaves, we could do this every day!

Silly kids

Mark likes to put things (everything) in his mouth and then not hold onto them. Beverages are no exception. ("Look Ma, no hands!")

This is "Cinderella" in her carriage looking at "Prince Charming" and then talking to him (me) on the phone. Could she look more like a teenager?

Halloween and other October cuteness

So Halloween was lots of fun around here. We went to a Halloween party at a friend's in PA on Saturday. Doug and I even dressed up (Prince Philip and Sleeping Beauty), but I'm sparing the world and my pride those embarrassing photos. There were lots of cute kids and cute costumes at the party, not to mention the great food and pleasant adult conversation! A good time was had by all.

And of course, Sunday meant trick-or-treating. Gianna (Alice) was READY! She was excited to say her lines and do all the things she was supposed to do. And Mark tolerated the festivities, if not the shark hood!

Going backwards a bit, Gianna's class at school did a little Halloween "performance" for the parents. They started by surprising us from behind there pumpkin masks and then sang several songs. It was very cute and Gianna was super into it.

And here's some Mark cuteness from the rest of the month, including a video to show how good he's walking. That middle picture is just to highlight 1) how cute overalls are and 2) how curly his hair is. He's such a happy little guy.

Happy Birthday to me!

October 8 was my 31st birthday. I had a fun day with the kids. Gianna enjoys any opportunity to have cake and sing, so she loved our small cake on Friday evening. But the main event for my birthday was yet to come. After 3 years of mediocre birthday-celebrating, we decided (I wanted) to go all out this year. Nonna and Pop-pop came up for the weekend so that Doug and I could go to Philadelphia for the day on Saturday. Our plan was mainly to eat our way through the city. And let me tell you, Philadelphia is delicious. (Yeah, yeah, it's historic too, but we didn't really focus on that part.)

So we started by walking through the Italian markets and got ourselves a slice of pizza from a bakery. It was fabulous! Then, approximately 1 hour after our pizza "breakfast" we shared a cheesesteak. It was my first genuine Philly cheesesteak and it did not disappoint! Then we walked back up through the market and got some dessert at a pastry shop. Delicious cookies! At this point we finally took a break from all the eating and did a ton of walking through the historic area. We didn't have time or a plan to really see anything, but it was a gorgeous day, so it was nice to walk around. By the time we were done, it was time to see the Jersey Boys matinee. What a fantastic show! After the show we had dinner at Morimoto. I'm a huge fan of Food Network, but never had that much of an interest in Chef Morimoto, but since the restaurant is here, why not give it a try? It was certainly a unique experience. I can't even really tell you what I ate because there were so many bizarre things, but it was all delicious! All in all, we had a marvelous time!

The kids had a good time too. Nonna and Pop-pop are so much fun! They took them to the farm for pumpkin picking and just general fun. Nonna took some great pictures. Maybe I'll get a chance to post some here sometime. But here's Gianna making and hanging a bird-feeder with Nonna, an activity she truly loved! And here's Mark trying on Nonna's glasses, much to everyone's amusement.

Unfortunately, Mark gave them a bit of a hard time in the evening when he decided he missed his mommy to much to eat anything. He's been very clingy since then. Hopefully it will be a short mommy-obsessed phase. Maybe he's just emotionally fragile since his physical world has changed dramatically. Just after Nonna and Pop-pop left, he has really taken off walking. He can really get anywhere either by using his bizarro crawl (see video) or, as of this week, by walking. This is very difficult for Gianna. It's way too easy for him to mess up her stuff. And he is always SUPER interested in what she is doing. Hope she adjusts fast!

Italian Festival and party

Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a miniature Trevi Fountain at our local Italian festival. This totally cracked us up, but this festival was amazing. It was mostly a chance to eat a whole bunch, but it was SO good.

Gianna rode this stawberry ride.
And these two pictures do not convey how dirty these kids were. I think Gianna was wearing more of her fried pizza dough than eating it. And it was a windy day, so Mark was wearing the sugar too. Not to mention all the spinning around in the dirt he was doing!

And the next day, Gianna had a birthday party to go to. She had a great time with her little friends. We can already see how school is helping her socialize with other kids. She ran right over to be a part of this picture and a month ago, I'm pretty sure she would have refused! It was a great party!

Happy Birthday, Gianna!

September 29th was Gianna's 3rd birthday! We can still hardly believe it. She got to celebrate at school the day before her birthday by wearing the birthday crown she made at school, bringing in cookies we made together, and being the "child of the day." She was so excited! Her acutal birthday was pretty low-key. We had a donut breakfast, which totally made her day and a nugget store dinner. After dinner we came home for cupcakes and presents. She loves the easel we got for her. She's quite the budding artist (I hope, because this would be so different from both her parents!) and loves to draw ALL the time!

The following weekend we went to Virginia for a bigger celebration with both sets of grandparents. She loved all the attention and presents!

And Mark was there too. Looking cute as always.

First day(s) of preschool

So I don’t have any pictures from the actual first day of school for several reasons: 1) I’m kind of pretending the actual first day of school didn’t count because it wasn’t a full day, 2) since it wasn’t a full day, Gianna didn’t have her lunch box in tow, so it wouldn’t have been a complete picture, 3) I did not like the dress she insisted on wearing that day, and 4) probably the most accurate reason, I ran out of time. But I can tell you that she looked cute nonetheless and was super excited to go to school. When we got there we had this conversation in the car,

GB: Mommy, are you going to open the door to preschool for me?

Me: Yes.

GB: And then are you going to close the door and leave?

Me: (a little nervously) Yes.

GB: I CAN’T WAIT!

After that, I was pretty sure she was going to do fine! And she did. There were no tears from any of us and she had a marvelous time. She told me everything she did. And Mrs. S, her teacher, informed me that she used the potty totally independently. Mrs. S seemed to find this amusing. She was all wound up when we got home. Couldn’t stop talking about it either.

The first full day went equally well and I even managed to snap some pictures. She said her favorite part was going to the playground. I hope she continues to love it because, while I missed her, I LOVED having just one child (and a sleeping one for some of that time!) for 3 ½ hours! First Mark and I got me a pumpkin spice latte. Then we came home and played. Then while Mark took a nap I did a bunch of chores around the house and watched 2 shows. It was amazing. I can’t wait for next week!

Bye-bye summer

Well, the summer has come to an end and it has been full of milestones for our kids. We are such proud and delighted parents. This post is mostly for myself to document the stuff they’ve been up to and to catch up with posting some pictures from the summer. So the details may be a bit boring, but hope you enjoy the pictures and videos!

Gianna seems to have become a big kid over night. She is completely potty trained now. No pull-ups needed at night or naps and no assistance needed either, usually. She can dress herself, put her shoes on, and even brush her own teeth. Much to my amazement (since she’s never been the most physically adept kid), she taught herself to somersault a couple of weeks ago. She’s become more creative and more of a conversationalist (if that’s possible) every day. And we can’t wait to see what she’ll come up with next!

Decked out for the first ND game

She had to put on her new boots immediately (they arrived in the am in the mail)

Surprised by her own creation

Though Mark took his first steps in the second week of August, he has decided that it makes more sense to cruise the furniture a bit first. So he’s gotten really good at that and I expect he’ll be walking for real in the next month or so. And he’s still not crawling. I think I’ve given up on that one. He’s had lots of other milestones though. Last week he started signing “more” and “milk.” He loves to play peek-a-boo. In fact today, he’s been hiding from me behind his own arms for most of the day! He shows that he’s “so big” and he claps hands and waves hello and goodbye. And he definitely understands when we say no him. His response: stomping his feet in anger. Yikes, what are we in for!! But he is such a charming little guy. He smiles and laughs so easily that you can’t help but smile back!

We’re so excited for fall in the States. Last fall in Germany just wasn’t the same without college football, fall foliage, apple and pumpkin picking, and Starbucks Caramel Apple Ciders and Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Can’t wait!

And we're walking!

August has been a very busy month for us. Mark took his first steps a couple weeks ago. He’s been pretty shy about it sense then. He seems to have figured out that it might be smarter to cruise the furniture for a while first. But here’s video of the first steps anyway.

August 14 was our nephew’s first birthday so we went to VA to celebrate that weekend. He LOVED his cake! And we love him. Happy birthday, Jack!

After the weekend, we left the kids with my parents and went to Atlantic City for a couple days. It was AWESOME! AC was about as classy as I expected it to be, but we had some delicious meals (in peace, no less) and did some good sleeping and relaxing and even came home with $15 extra in our pockets. That was almost enough money to cover all the shopping we did too; wait, no it wasn’t. Anyway, it was great to have a little getaway but it was super fun to see the kids again. They were clearly excited to see us. And Grandma and Grandpa were happy for us to ease their burden, I think! They all did great though, kids and grandparents alike. Grandma and Grandpa even brought the kids back to NJ for us. I think they were better in the car than they usually are! And they stayed with us for an extra day so we could finally paint Gianna’s room. So now the kids rooms are both finally complete. So here are some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa and some before and after pictures of their rooms.

Before (turns out we don't have any before pics of Mark's room, oops!):

After (it's a little hard to tell, but Gianna's room and dresser drawers are pale green now.)