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!

Party at the Bounce House!

this year, gianna requested a party at the bounce house.  and, i'm happy to oblige.  this place might be where we spend 75% of the birthday parties around here, but, they have it down to a science.  you basically reserve the room, pick the number of kids that are attending, and all you have to do is bring a cake.  they get everyone signed in, order pizzas, have water and juice boxes and goody bags all ready for you.  it's so nice!  plus, i don't have to clean my house to prepare for guests...win win! 

gianna is pretty obsessed with paw patrol right now.  that is a cartoon show that has a few little dogs that rescue people & pets in need of some help.  she really likes the girl dogs, skye and everest.  so, her t-shirt and socks (from mimi) are skye and everest, but the balloons and party plates have all the dogs.  her cake is in the shape of a bone and we put some of her toy dogs on it.  easy peasy!
her friend emma was sick all week with strep throat, so we sure were happy when she was able to come!  pardon the picture of the phone pic, but getting them to stand still is a major accomplishment, so i took the chance when i had it!
these kids have so much energy...they were bouncing and climbing all over the place!
 
when it was time for pizza and cake, gianna got to bang the drum so that everyone knew to head to the party room.  this is a favorite thing to do, so she was nice enough to let other friends have a turn too. 
yum!
these girls are super silly.  lucy makes the funniest faces!
time to sing!  i love how she "fixes" skye halfway through the song...

i love these goofy girls!
gianna was so excited when macee finally got there!
and rylee played with her for the rest of the party...what a sweet cousin!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Gianna's first time at the dentist

for a number of reasons, none of which are really good excuses, we had not yet taken gianna to the dentist.  and as we approached her 4th birthday, i thought that we really needed to get her there and get started on a good path to dental hygiene.  

personally, i'm completely petrified of the dentist.  i've had a couple of experiences as a young adult that have given me quite a bit of fear.  and really, i did not have good dental habits.  this is something that i do not want to pass on to my kids.  i don't want them to be fearful and i want them start really great habits now.  roman is doing wonderfully with flossing every night and he even has an electric toothbrush that does a great job of getting those teeth clean!  

so, we found a children's dentist close to our house and toby took her.  he sent me these pics from the office.  it's hard to see, but the welcome board behind her has children's names on it and hers is the pink one on the corner. 
this picture cracks me up.  the crossed legs, the mouth wide open, watching a movie on the ceiling.  i mean, maybe if my dentist had a tv on the ceiling, maybe i wouldn't be such a scaredy cat! 
good news!  no cavities...woohoo!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Halloween 2015

halloween was on a saturday this year, which was nice, because that meant we weren't rushing home from work, shoving dinner in the kids to try and get out trick-or-treating.  it also meant that the church held their trunk-or-treat event on friday night and this was the first year we were able to go. 

my little ninja and ariel

gianna's friend gracie was a super cute sherriff callie, but please don't ask ariel to put her chocolate down for a picture...it ain't happenin'
gianna was obsessed with the big pumpkin inflatables on the school lawn.
after a slightly terrifying experience with the red hairspray in the bathtub the previous night, we decided to switch it up and become elsa for ballet class on halloween morning.  her friend, emma, was an alabama cheerleader.
and, as we approach emmy awards show costume change status, she decided to trick or treat in a purple fairy princess getup.  don't ask....we just went with it...
it got dark pretty quick and so this is really the best picture i have of them trick or treating together.  it's my favorite because as they rang the doorbell these dogs came to greet them.  and the one dog looks just like duke.  so stinkin' cute. 
we met up with mady and ella on the opposite side of the neighborhood and they ran around for another hour getting all the candy they could.  then we headed back home to hang out with the girls like we've done for a few years now.  however, we forgot to get a picture of all the kids together...womp womp!

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Saint Valentine

for all you non-catholics out there *ahem, my family*, all saints day is a big deal!  and at roman's school, the second grade class gets to dress as a saint and speak at the all saints mass about their chosen saint.  this year, they prayed about it and drew the names out of a hat.  i really think that the prayer went from roman's lips to God's ears because he drew Saint Valentine, the patron saint of love.  i mean, i think it was meant for him.  when we went to raleigh in the beginning of october, nana helped roman find everything he would need for his costume and we whipped it up together at home.  admittedly, we both loved this part.  i love being crafty and he loves dressing up and in particular, he loves when he looks so "authentic".  

here he is, arriving at mass.  




 he said that he was nervous, but i couldn't tell.  he totally rocked it! 



he spoke slowly and clearly and i was SO proud of my little saint valentine!

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Down on the Farm

i really don't get to do many school events/parties with roman, so when i do, i really enjoy it.  his school is about 35 minutes away from my work, so to get there and back within a lunch hour isn't feasible.  when i noticed that he had a field trip scheduled for a day i had already taken off for gianna's daycare being closed, i was hopeful that i would be able to go.  toby made some changes in his schedule so he could keep gianna, and yay...i could go!  

we went to Dempsey's Farm, which is a real working farm on St. Helena Island a little north of Beaufort.  

this is roman's class...poor things had to look into the sun for the picture, so it was heads down, eyes closed until the count of 3!


we cuddled up close to miss sherri and archer on the hayride! again...with the sun in their eyes.  i'm not a total meanie, i actually gave him my sunglasses after this.   those sensitive baby blues!
 
farmer dempsey would stop the hayride and give a little lesson on what was planted in his fields and how they were pollinated and why some had black plastic, some had white...the kids sure learned a lot!  when we got to the section where the watermelon was planted, he got out his pocket knife and cracked some open for the kids.  they loved it!  of course, my picky little man and me didn't want any...but everyone else said it was super sweet!
picnic lunches are the best!
this is the only farm i know of where they actually grow their own pumpkins.  the kids had fun running up and down the rows, searching for the perfect one. 
the only rule was that you have to be able to carry your pumpkin!
lucky for him, he's got some pretty big muscles!