April sans baby

I hope my next blog post is called April with baby. We had an impromptu fun-filled weekend for our last few days as a family of 4. On Saturday we headed to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and the kids were interested in everything. This netting led up to a cool tube slide. Gianna and Doug were up for the challenge. Mark was up for a sandwich.
 

 

 

 

On Sunday we headed to the minor league baseball game. It was a beautiful day and once again, the kids were amazing. We stayed a long time and all enjoyed the game, the people watching, and the mascots!

 

 

Easter Part 2, Cousin egg hunt

After mass we headed north to Doug's brother's home for the afternoon. It was so fun to do a big egg hunt for the kids outside and to see them all looking so cute! How I have no pictures of Luke, the littlest cousin, I'll never know! Thanks Nick and Elizabeth for a delicious meal and a fun time!

 

 

 

 

 

Gianna's Patriotic Show

In honor of President's Day (I think), the kindergarten classes at Gianna's school put on a musical patriotic show. The kids sang about 8 songs and each of the 50+ of them had a line (I missed recording Gianna's unfortunately). They worked so hard and Gianna was SO excited! It was just about the cutest thing ever. I have a million videos, but I'll limit your viewing pleasure to just one.
 

 

Easter Part 1

 We had our first Easter morning in our own house since Gianna was born. It was really nice and the kids loved seeing their treats and gifts and loved hunting for eggs. Then it was off to church. Gianna looked especially adorable that day, I thought. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miscellaneous February happenings

My 3 Valentines posed for a picture

We went for a weekend trip to see all the grandparents that included celebrating Grandma's birthday.

We went to the planetarium.

And Iron Man used our bathroom.

Snow!

In February we got our first and only real measurable snow. And it happened on a Saturday, which couldn't have made this pregnant mom happier! The kids got to enjoy the snow with Daddy and Grandma and Grandpa. It was pretty cold out there, but they didn't care. I thought Mark might be scared of sledding, but neither of them could get enough!
 

Making the trek back up the hill was tough for little legs! Lucky for Doug he did figure it out eventually and was super proud of himself!

 

 

 

 

Christmas!!

Christmas began with a snowy Christmas Eve visit from Santa. Mark and Bella were not shy about sitting with Santa and his elf. Although I think Mark was solely motivated by cookies.

 

 

How cute is our sweet nphew Luke with Santa? And Gianna loved making Luke giggle.

Christmas morning was very exciting.

 

Of course, the gift I almost didn't buy got a big hug and huge smiles from Gianna.


Maybe the morning was a little too exciting for some.


After presents at Grandma and Grandpa's we went to Nonna and Pop-Pop's for round 2. There is no photographic evidence of the chaos that ensued there. After church it was back to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch before heading to Washington, DC to see my aunt and my cousin and her family.

 

 

With my cousin's children. Gianna loved Leah (10) as she always does.

Mark and my aunt Ellen.

The boxes were almost as much fun as the presents, as usual!

The snow and cold made basement bike-riding the only option. It was a good start for her though. I was afraid she wouldn't even get on it!

We squeezed in lots of cousin time too.

It was a lovely Christmas and I actually felt like it was all over too soon. Though our Christmas decorations were up for over a month, it felt a little sad to take them down. I'm always happy to de-clutter though.