Mark's 3rd birthday

Mark had a great birthday. Grandma and Grandpa were already in town for Thanksgiving, so they took him out to lunch (one of his favorite activities) and added to his already too large pile of gifts. But he loved every single one of them.
 

 

 

Mark's three year stats are: 37.5 pounds and ? inches. All I remember is they were both the 90th percentile. Ever the big boy!

On their birthdays, I want to try and write something about what the kids are like so I guess I'll start now. Mark, at 3, you are sweet and charming most of the time. You love to make people laugh and to laugh yourself. In fact, your silliness gets you in trouble sometimes because you can't turn it off! You love super heroes, horses, nights, weapons, and football. You can throw a ball, sing some songs, and you never have pee-pee accidents. We love your smile, your laugh, and your energy!

Baker-man

Based on my photos, it looks like Mark spent a lot of time in the kitchen in November. I have to say, he is actually helpful and has much more patience for it than most other things. Doug and I are already hoping he'll go to culinary school :)
 

The tasting is, of course, his favorite part.

 

My boys making pasta!

 

Wild weather

As with everyone in the northeast, the end of October and early November brought some crazy weather. It started, of course, with Hurricane Sandy. We were extremely lucky to have suffered no damage and only lost power for 2 days. It was a long two days, but after we realized what others went through, we saw it as a blessing. This time also made us realize what truly wonderful neighbors we have and how lucky we ar to live here. Our next door neighbors saved us both nights during the dreaded hours from darkness to bedtime...especially before the kids went to bed! The only good candles we had were our advent candles, so we set up the "wreath" and put it next to our jack-o-lantern.


Of course, actual halloween was postponed. So Gianna dressed up in a costume, a ballerina, for school after her week off. And wore her real costume on the day of trick-or-treating. My princess and night were super cute, if I do say so myself.

 

 

And just after "Halloween" we had our first snowfall. Hopefully we'll have one more good one for the kids to play in this year, but at least they got this little bit of playtime in it. I had to drag them in the house, I think they would have stayed out there till dark they were having so much fun!

 

 

Luke's baptism

At the end of October, our nephew Luke was baptized. I was so glad we could be there. He is such a doll. Being with him makes me very excited about our new baby!
 

Isn't this adorable? The kids with Pop-pop watching Luke get baptized. My kids just adore him. So cute!

 

News that's not really news

At the beginning of October, Doug and I went to one of his cousin Giordi's wedding. It was a nice overnight trip away (thanks Grandma and Grandpa for staying home with the kids)! It was a beautiful and fun wedding...all my pictures of the fun are too blurry to post!

We chose this weekend to share the news that we are expecting Baby #3 in April. We are very excited, especially big brother and big sister! So far, I'm feeling pretty good and have found a group of midwives to take care of me like the Germans did almost 3 years ago. I'm in love with them and hope the birth goes as smoothly as Mark's did!

In other news, at the end of the month we got a mini van to accomodate our growing family. It. Is. Awesome. I don't even have the words to describe how awesome it is. I might be too excited, but I can't wait to be able to see out the windows of it at Christmas time (because it won't be packed to the gills) and I can't wait to take other people for rides and to fit groceries and strollers in the trunk at the same time. Also, the doors open with the push of a button!So I can push the kids out the door and tell 'em to get in!
 

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!