Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Say Cheese!

just a couple of outtakes from our Christmas card photo shoot and some Santa ones too!




Santa made an appearance at a party we had for our employee's children where i work, and although roman wasn't able to make it, gianna enjoyed meeting the man in red and even warmed up enough to give him a hug!




since roman missed out, we headed down to savannah because we knew that santa was making a trip back to the south before his big night.  gianna kept her distance this time...


Tuesday, December 15, 2015

We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!

as roman would say..."we are really in the spirit! we even put lights on the very top of the house and we made a gingerbread village, not just a house!" 

clark, audrey and rusty up on the roof getting the lights juuuuuust right.
of course, we have to have the kids' trees up asap...



our elf, shoshee, made her debut the day after thanksgiving, and we were prepared!  we bought her a new hat, scarf and socks to keep her warm during all her trips back up to the north pole.
this twinkly light snow is about the closest thing to the white stuff that we will see down here in SC!

this is the 3rd year with my favorite fluffy wreath and i actually was brave enough to put it outside this year.  i don't want it to get dirty and ruined, but it looks so purty outside on the black door.
one night, santa rode through the neighborhood on the back of the fire truck.  we love it when he visits!
and look at our little friend for guido... he's the snowy version of our four legged friend.
peekaboo!  we love our inflatable friends. 
time for hot cocoa and decorating the tree!
the kids loved getting up on the stepladder to place their favorite ornaments up high. 
and once it was all decorated, i couldn't wait to have my cocoa and curl up with my buddy to enjoy the glow...
the boys decorated the golf cart so that they could be in the parade with roman's soccer team. isn't it festive?

once they were finished the route, roman got to come hang with his cousins and watch the rest of the parade.
this year, we decided to make our gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and leftover halloween candy.  we had enough crackers to make a little village and the kids enjoyed making trees out of ice cream cones too.  so fun! 
i hope you are in the spirit too!

Saturday, December 12, 2015

Greenville

A few weeks ago, we headed to Greenville, SC for a soccer tournament. It was chilly and the boys had to get all bundled up.  
Gianna and her friend, Clare, had a great time playing on the hill behind the field. 

And we went to dinner with them that night too.  We brought some girly crafts to keep them busy. 

The next morning we watched the boys warm up.  We were warmed up too...in the car...haha
Before we headed back to Bluffton, we went downtown to the falls and walked around a little bit.  It sure was beautiful!




Tuesday, December 1, 2015

BFF Birthday Buddies

gianna and her bff, emma have birthdays 1 day apart!  and emma didn't have a big birthday party this year (she had one last year), so she invited gianna to go on a birthday date to chickfila and to get a mani/pedi with her!  so cute.  (also cute:  gianna had NO idea what a mani/pedi was...she thought it was something you buy at the store...haha)

these two are a trip!

when emma's mom and i were in line ordering, we looked over and couldn't see the girls.  then, all of a sudden, their little heads popped up like this.  they were hiding.  so funny!

and of course, silliness!

a little play time in the playground

and WAY up high in the cow car!

the girls ordering their own ice cream!  i mean, they are 4 now!

aggressive ice cream face?

then it was on to the mani/pedis.  emma was nervous, so gianna went first.
and then stood by her bff when she was getting her toes done.

time to dry those nails!

we had so much fun on our bff birthday date!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Four is Fantastic!

can you believe our gianna is four!?  i can't.  it was just yesterday that she came into our lives and brought us so much light and love...right?

a colella kiddo tradition is that they have balloons in their room on their birthday, so here was her room as she slept...
in the morning, she woke up and came to my side of the bed and whispered..."thank you for the balloons, momma".  so sweet! 
her very first present she opened on her birthday was from roman. he picked out zuma from paw patrol for her and as you can see, she was thrilled!
we were able to fit in a couple more presents before we had to get ready for school. 
a box full of new dresses!  she was so excited.
"momma, can you take my picture with all of my balloons?"
her birthday also happened to be picture day for her, so we got her all dolled up in a new dress.  doesn't she look so old?  ack!
later that evening, after we got home from school, we headed upstairs to open some more presents.  she was super excited to open some new paw patrol underpants.  and since she had been staying dry overnight for a couple of weeks, she was allowed to wear big girl underpants to bed that night!!
snuggles for sherriff callie and her trusty steed, sparky
and then, back downstairs for some more presents from our family up north.  

gg sent her this beautiful angel, which she calls a fairy.  *side note* this angel is called the angel of gratefulness, which is so appropriate right now since we are working on gratitude.  normally, gianna is very thankful, but there have been some instances where she doesn't quite show it and we are trying to get better at that, so i'm super happy to have this angel of gratefulness watching over her.  thanks gg!


 nana sent this fishing pole and other goodies, but that fishing pole was a favorite! thanks nana!
mommom sent this new suitcase, which she promptly filled with all her new treasures and has taken with her all over the house and even in the car a few times.  thanks mommom!
since she had her paw patrol cake at her party, i didn't make another one for her birthday.  but, toby bought her a little one shaped like a flower, so pretty. 

and, if you know our princess at all, you know that she LOVES vanilla ice cream cones.  so, that was her special birthday treat. 
we head to the doctor tomorrow for her 4 year checkup, so i'll check back in with her stats!  my guess is that she's grown 3-4 inches this year...she's sprouting right up!