A Fest-ivus for the rest of us

Apparently, every organization in NJ was having some kind of fest this weekend. And we tried our best to enjoy them all. Our little town had a small fair for local businesses which was great for getting coupons and free bubbles and balloons for Gianna. Then Doug and his parents braved the freak fest, I mean Renaissance festival, while Gianna and I napped. Whew, I'm sorry I missed that one (note the sarcasm). Though, I guess the turkey legs were delicious. (Hope I haven't caused too much offense about renaissance festivals, they're just NOT my thing.) But the highlight for us all was the food and music fest that was the Greek festival at a local church. The food was delicious and plentiful and Gianna had the time of her life dancing to the Greek music. And we all had a great time watching her. Hope you enjoy it too!

We had a great weekend with Nonna and Pop-pop. Here are a few pictures of Gianna with them that also feature her gift from them, the DVD (DBDB as Gianna calls it) of Disney's Jungle Book. She can't stop talking about it and loves the DVD cover almost as much as the movie! She loves to name the characters and to discuss the elephants. I hope we can avoid watching it daily, but it will be hard to ignore her adorable requests!

Finally, on a silly note, Gianna loves to wear goggles as an accessory, usually like a necklace. But yesterday she wanted to wear them for real. This was the most ridiculous picture, by far, which makes it totally blog-worthy.

Bah-ston, well Cambridge anyway

Last week Gianna and I braved the long-ish drive and took a trip to visit some old friends in the Boston area. We stayed with the Tammy, Jason, and little Will for a couple of days in Cambridge and managed to see some other friends as well. It was great to catch up and to see all our "baby friends" as big boys and girls! We had a lovely visit and can't thank all our friends enough, especially Tammy for her generosity!

Joey posing

Ella and her cupcake

Meghan finishing her cookie

Gianna and Will playing

Mother's Day

On Saturday, my parents came for a visit. It was really nice to have them here. Gianna calls them Grandma and Paca. She refuses to say Grandpa thought we're sure she can do it. We'll say, "Say grand" and she'll say it. Then we'll say, "Say pa" and she'll say it. Finally we'll say, "Say Grandpa" and she'll say, "No Way!" and laugh like crazy. It's hilarious.

We had a really nice Mother's Day on Sunday. We went to the local Azalea Festival, which was just beautiful. There were crafts and music and food. Gianna especially loved the saxophone players and the funnel cakes. Here are a few of the best pics we took that day.

Ultrasound

On Friday we had an ultrasound of baby #2. It was really cool to see the little one moving all around in there. We only really had one ultrasound of Gianna and it was much later, so there wasn't as much room for her to move around and she hardly moved at all. So it was neat to see the little arms and legs flailing about. They said everything looks good, so we are glad to hear that. I have another ultrasound on June 26, where hopefully we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl. We'll let you know!

Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, I couldn't scan them, so I took pictures of the pictures with my camera (and I did so very poorly!). So the quality is not so good. But anyway, in the second one you can kind of see its little hand above its head.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!

We are excited to announce that we are expecting another baby due November 15th! After getting over the initial shock of realizing that this baby will be born in Europe and come home with us at just 6 weeks old, we are elated! We know that Gianna will be the best big sister ever! And we'll be sure to post a blog entry when we know if it's a boy or a girl.

Last weekend we had a great time with ALL the DeAngelo's in NC for Doug's uncle's 25th anniversary of being a priest. It was a lovely and moving mass. And the lunch and dinner celebrations were so much fun. We loved seeing everyone! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures...not sure why. But my sister-in-law Elizabeth took some great ones, and put them on her blog www.edeangelo.blogspot.com. (Thanks E! I hope you don't mind me pointing people in your direction!)

It was wonderful to see everyone, but sad to know we will not see Elizabeth and Isabella until after we return from Europe at Christmas time...and by then we'll both have new babies. Crazy! Hopefully between phone calls and video chats these new cousins won't be strangers at all!

On a lighter note, here is a video from yesterday of Gianna doing some spontaneous crazy dancing. I asked if she wanted to listen to music and she said yes...apparently she wanted it more than anything in life!

Week in review...and it's only Tuesday

Sunday we went to a small local dairy to have some ice cream. Doug proclaimed it his new favorite in the area and Gianna clearly agreed.

On Monday, we found a bunny in the back yard. Gianna loved chasing it and saying "hi bunny" but unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture with both Gianna and the bunny in it.

And, on a home furnishings note, we finally have some. Here are a few pics. Any ideas about what to do with the huge blank wall? I have one picture, but that's clearly not going to do the job! We're so excited to have more and better seating options!

And just so I close with the cutest part of our lives, here are some pigtail pictures. She'll let me put them in, but it never lasts very long. Which is too bad...because look how cute!!

Easter and a friendly visit

I'm a little late, but after a nasty cold I'm finally ready to post about our Easter! Gianna and I visited with my parents (Grandma and Grandpa) during the week and then Doug came down to VA for Easter weekend which we spent mostly at his parents' (Nonna and Pop-pop) with Nick, Elizabeth and Isabella. Nonna and Pop-pop were kind enough to watch the girls while the four of us went out for drinks Friday night and for a nice dinner Saturday. It was a great treat for us and the girls! Easter was not the best day of Gianna's life, but she did enjoy the egg hunt...or at least eating the treats inside the eggs. And we had a lovely brunch that Grandma and Grandpa were invited to, so it was great to see everyone together before we left.

Isabella loved playing with the bubbles...though you can't see them here. She's such a happy smiley girl! We miss her!

Gianna's favorite part of the day (aside from taking her Easter dress off) was eating Fun Dip (remember that stuff?) courtesy of Aunt Elizabeth. (Thanks, Bizabay!)

This week, our friends Meghan and Riley from HBS came to visit us. They live in NYC so we picked them up at the Trenton train station and spent the day together. We really didn't do a whole lot between Riley and Gianna's nap schedules, but it was great to spend time together. And Gianna was sad to see them go the next morning. The girls played pretty well together. Gianna does have a hard time sharing her toys for more than a few hours. Here are a few pictures of their visit.

Friendly Riley was more than happy to climb in my lap for a book and jealous Gianna was appeased by sitting on Riley's lap. So cute!

The girls liked to play "sleep" and "night-night" together on this little blanket.

The girls did puzzles together, but the best pic is this one just of Riley. Love the curls! Visit any time girls!