Gianna's 5th Birthday!

I can't believe my little girl turned 5 on September 29th! She's the best!
The day was super busy and I think she loved every minute of it! We started with soccer in the morning and we were in charge of bringing the snack, which was very exciting for some reason.

Then we came home and I flew into party prep mode! I was pretty proud of my non-crafty, non-creative self for coming up with (stealing from the internet) ideas for an activity-filled, fairy themed party. Skip ahead if you're not interested in a party description. I just want to document this in case I'm never crafy again...a distinct possibility.  I made cupcakes with cute toppers. Then we had an activity for each type of fairy. Like light fairies, the girls made rainbows first.


Then we went outside (thank God, for the nice day!) for some messier activities. First, like water fairies, they made bubbles. Then we played pin the spot on the ladybug, like animal fairies. And finally, like garden fairies, we planted flowers in mini flower pots. Then it was back inside to be tinker fairies and "fix" broken necklaces (aka, string cereal on yarn).

 

Then it was time for cake. I think this was the first year Gianna was able to blow out her candles, that's right, it only took 5 years. Phew.

We ended the party with some bouncing. I repeat, thank God for the nice day!

Her presents from Mommy and Daddy were a big hit!

 

Day with the cousins

At the end of September, Doug had a fun weekend away at Notre Dame for a football game (which they won!). So to keep busy, I took the kids on a day trip to visit Doug's brother's family. It was a long drive home in a monsoon, in the dark, but the fun we had was well worth it. I was, as usual, terrible about taking pictures. So all of these are from the last hour we were there, when Nonna and Pop-pop stopped by on their way home from a trip.

Here's Jack and Gianna enjoying a snack.



Mark and his beloved Uncle Nick

All the grandchildren and their Nonna and Pop-pop. Apparently, everyone was in on this joke except for Jack and Luke.

The Pop-pop tickle monster.

The 4 big kids.

And I could leave sweet Luke out for one last picture. I got lots of time to hold Luke, which was awesome. With Bella and Jack I always had my own baby to worry about!

 

Soccer!

And so we begin organized sports. I think every kid in our town plays soccer so it's quite a sight to behold. But so far, Gianna seems to like it. And all the little 5-year-olds sure are cute. Maybe they're not the best athletes yet, but if they all follow the ball around in a herd long enough, I'm sure they'll all get better. It's going to be a fun season!
 

Gianna and her best friend in action.

God bless the youth soccer coaches of the world!

 

First day of Kindergarten

I can't believe it, but Gianna started kindergarten 2 weeks ago. She was so excited and looked so cute...I almost included every single picture I took that day. Those are unicorns on her dress, she loved it! And she loves school. I figured she would, but it's still a relief and she's already learning so much. We're so proud of her!



With all her gear.

Walking to the bus stop.

With her new best friend. Seriously, this is the day they met and they were best friends probably by the time they got to school!

Luckily the best friend has a little brother for Mark to hang out with at the bus stop.

Getting on the bus.

I didn't take any pictures of her return, but she's pretty much jumping up and down every day when I pick her up because she can't wait to tell me about her day. Love it and love her!

End of summer

As summer came to an end, we had a ball for the prince and princess. Apparently the prince didn't know it was formal dress.



I think there were some Sleeping Beauty re-enactments too.

Gianna holding one of our prized tomatoes.

Gianna and this year's caterpillar friend, Olivia.

Our harvest on display. Doug did good work in the garden this summer. And now we're eating the rewards in the form of pasta sauce. Delish!

 

August weekends

Is it a nice weekend? Is it summer near the shore? Let's go to family day at the race track. That's right we took our kids to the races and they (Gianna) learned all about placing bets. Too bad she didn't learn about winning money. We had so much fun, but money would have been a nice bonus!



They had pony rides for the kids. Have I mentioned that Mark loves horses? He does. This day might have been heaven for him. The blue horse in every race was "his" and he always wanted to know if "his horse" won. Turns out, we should have bet on blue every time because I think the blue horse won at least 2 races.

Add blue slushies and they're really in heaven.

On the upper decks keeping cool in the shade.

Gianna took this one. Not bad, kid.


Another weekend we went to see an outdoor children's production of Cinderella. By children's production I mean it was put on by children, so not my favorite, but Gianna loved it and Mark was intrigued.

The play was followed by a nice picnic in the park.

 

Finally, we met Doug's high school buddy, Brandon in Jersey City for an afternoon. We were afraid the kids would be bored, but it was a gorgeous day and they loved running around this area. It was great to see Brandon and have a yummy Taco Truck lunch.

 

 

More days of summer

On hot days we made forts inside.


On nice days we went to the beach. Mark finally got okay with the sand and surf. The water was still a little intimidating, but he loved playing in the shallow waves; and Grandma and Grandpa made it extra fun.

We went to kids music events with friends. Gianna's first dance with a boy she's not related to. They were so cute!

Mark, on the other hand, did this. Apparently he has some sort of public music phobia. At home he dances like crazy, by dance I mean convulse until he falls on the floor. But once there are other kids and a musician involved he wants no part of it.

We spent a weekend in Virginia and got to relax in Aunt Jenny's pool.

And eat corn.

And go to a little water park.

 

 

And even visit the Hirschorn art museum in DC.