Christmas 2010....Gianna's 1st Christmas

We had a good Christmas holiday this year.  It was nice not to have to travel with the 2 kids, but we sure did miss our Illinois family!  We had a very relaxing day today.  We started by opening Santa's presents at home.  Then we went to Gammy and Gampy's house for dinner and some more gift giving.  On Christmas Eve, we had Gammy and Gampy and cousin Natalie over to our house for dinner.  It was nice to be able to spend time together.

Isabella had a great Christmas!  She is still not quite old enough to understand the concept of Santa and that he brings presents while we are asleep and only if we are good and obey our parents.  But, she loves seeing Santa at the mall, on TV, around town, etc.  Next year will be even more exciting to watch how she reacts to Christmas. 

Gianna had a good 1st Christmas too!  She slept in a bit this morning before we helped her open her gifts.  She doesn't know to be too excited to get up early to see what is underneath the tree!  I can't wait until she is old enough to understand and get excited along with her big sister!

We are just so thankful for the birth of Jesus and feel so blessed with the love shown from our families and friends.  We keep those that are less fortunate in our thoughts and prayers during this time of joy.

Enjoy our photos below....





Puzzle from Santa

Gianna so excited for her 1st Christmas  ;)

Happy sisters!

Enjoying Christmas!

A successful Santa visit without tears!

My gift from Anthony....for our Anniversary next year!

A Meeting, Wedding & Family Time

Last weekend we all made a trip back to Peoria for a long weekend.  My good friend Carlene got married and I was a bridesmaid in the wedding.  It was a beautiful wedding with snow falling most of the day!  Congrats to Carlene and Nathan!! 

It was also a time for Grandpa H. to meet Gianna and see Isabella again.  Of course, Grandpa got a big smile on his face when he saw Gianna and Isabella standing in front of him.  He also got a chance to hold Gianna a couple of times.  I think he really enjoyed that.  There was even a time when Isabella was sitting on my lap and she decided to slide off to get down and Grandpa saw that out of the corner of his eye, and he reacted pretty quickly, thinking she was falling.  It was amazing to see his reflex to help and react so quickly!  I know he loves his little baby granddaughters. 

We had a great time spending those days with Grandma H. and seeing the rest of the family!  Grandma did a lot of babysitting, but I know she loved every minute of it!!  She even witnessed Gianna rolling from her back to stomach for the first time!!  Anthony and I missed it, as we were at the wedding.  Oh well, I'm glad she got to see it first.  I hope that Isabella and Gianna always remember their trips to Peoria.  Spending time with their aunts, uncles, and many cousins.  We are glad we got a chance to visit, even during this hectic time of year! 



Gianna and Grandpa Hohulin




Me with Carlene, the beautiful bride



Grandma Hohulin & Gianna

Grandma and her last 2 grandchildren

Pasta Night & Happy Thanksgiving!

Last Sunday was pasta making day at the Martini's!  Grandpa Martini, who is 90 years old, is here visiting and so that means we get homemade pasta!  It takes a lot of muscle to make the spaghetti and gnocchi, so everyone pitches in to help.  We also wanted to take notes and learn as much as we could so in years to come, we can carry on the pasta making tradition with our kids and grand kids. Grandpa likes making pasta here in Colorado because it drys so quickly.  In Michigan, with the humidity, it might take a couple of days to dry.  Once again, we had a very tasty meal the next day with homemade sauce too!!  Thank you Grandpa Martini!!

Just starting to roll the dough

3 Generations of Martini's

Ron taking his turn

Jill learning the secret to rolling

Dried spaghetti waiting to be cooked.

Dried gnocchi waiting to be cooked!

Grandpa holding Gianna....his great-granddaughter

Yesterday was Thanksgiving....again at the Martini house!  We had a wonderful dinner with family and new friends.  We are so thankful for a loving family, great friends, good health and beautiful, healthy daughters.  We are also very thankful for having food to fill our stomachs and a roof over our heads keeping us safe and warm each night.  We hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Our best attempt at a family photo.

Heads Up

Gianna is 3 months old today and today I also captured her lifting her head up while on her tummy!  That is a huge deal ya know!  She is getting stronger each day.  I can't believe that in the near future, she will be crawling, then walking....and then we will look back and think....where did our little baby go?  It doesn't seem real, sometimes, that Isabella is an almost 2 1/2 year old.  I still look at her like she is a baby sometimes. That is until she opens her mouth to talk. :)

Look at me!!

I have also attached a little video of Isabella singing a little song she learned in music class.  I'll give you the words first, so you can tell what she is trying to sing.  Some of it is a little hard to understand.

"I had a little frog, his name was Tiny Tim.  I put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim.  He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap, and then he burped last night from a bubble in his throat."  (hiccup, excuse me)  (hiccup, excuse me)

Picnic Lunch

Sometimes to get Isabella to eat a good meal, we have to stray away from the kitchen table. So, one day at lunch Anthony told Isabella that they could have a picnic lunch. If I remember right, she ate most of her lunch that day. Oh, and Monkey got to join them.

Isabella and Monkey waiting to eat.

Having fun at their picnic!





Trick or Treat

Last week was a busy one with Halloween parties and we also had Gianna's 2 month check up and Isabella's weight check.  Their appointments went well, they are both healthy.  Gianna weighed in at 9 pounds 13 ounces, 22 3/4 inches long.  That puts her in the 25th percentile.  Isabella is now weighing 18 pounds 11 ounces.  She gained about 1 pound in 3 months.  Of course, that morning, she chose not to eat very much for breakfast....which might have helped her a tiny bit.  :)  The doctor is done worrying about Isabella and her weight.  He knows that we are trying to feed her anything and everything....she is just a picky little eater.   Gianna is growing like a weed and will soon be catching up to Isabella. 

We also had a few Halloween parties for Isabella and Gianna.  So, they got to dress up a few times.  Isabella loved it!  This year, Isabella really enjoyed going trick or treating. She went to a few houses on our street and cousin Jackson went with her.  Now everyday she asks to go again.  She doesn't understand it is a 1 time of year thing.  You'll notice in a couple of pictures that Isabella has a piece of candy up to her nose.  For some reason she had to smell her candy after she got it.  We found it pretty funny.  She has yet to ask to eat any of it.  She just takes it in and out of her pumpkin.  Strange kid, I know.  :) 

Isabella & Jackson at the playgroup party.

Playgroup party....Isabella & friends.







Getting ready to go trick or treating.




Our attempt at getting a group kid picture.  Obviously Isabella had had enough and just wanted to smell her candy. :)



Smelling the candy!

Again....smelling the candy.

Gianna the black cat.

Smiles

Today was a dreary fall day and very windy and cold. So, we spent the day inside and that means finding things to pass the time with 2 little ones. Isabella did a lot of coloring and painting, She even "helped" clean too. The best part was playing with the girls and getting Gianna to smile for the camera. She has been smiling for us for a few weeks now, but I finally caught it on camera.

Smiling....sorry a bit blurry.

A big "cheese"!

Our little girls

"Punkin" Time

As Isabella says..."punkin patch fun"!  We went to a couple of different pumpkin patches last week.  The first one we went to, we went with cousin Jackson, Aunt Jill, Gammy and Aunt Debbie.  Isabella loved picking out pumkins to bring home.  The other one we went to had fun things for kids to do.  She went into the petting zoo and saw cows, sheep, goats, ducks, miniature pony and bunnies!  They also had a hay bale maze you could run through and we also went on a hay ride where we saw more horses!  Isabella had a great time....and I'm sure Gianna did too. ;)  I've posted some of the pictures taken from each place.  Happy Fall!!

Petting the cow

Petting the minature pony

Isabella "punkin" head

Scarecrow Anthony

Scarecrow Gianna

Hay made into a pig

Getting ready to ride on the hay ride!

Isabella was mostly interested in the slide.

Isabella

Jackson

Gianna in the pumkins

Fall Is In The Air

The weather is slowing turning cooler and the leaves are falling off the trees. I admit I'm a little sad that the season is changing. I LOVE hot summer days! I do like the fall, it's just that we all know what comes next. WINTER!! Well, to brighten my days, all I need to do is look at the joy our two little girls bring. We have been enjoying our time together and it is really fun to see how sweet Isabella is to her baby sister.


Today Gianna is 8 weeks old! It doesn't seem possible! It is so neat to see how she keeps changing. She is smiling more and more. I'm waiting, one of these times, a little laugh will come out of her. You can tell she wants to. It has been hard to get a picture of her smiling....but today I got a pretty good shot. We are still enjoying the fact that Gianna is sleeping most of the night!  I keep waiting for that full nights sleep though.  Beggers can't be choosers....


Loves her bathtime!

 Here are some pictures taken over the last couple of weeks.   



Gianna and Monkey



Having fun together after nap time.  Oh, and Gianna "gave" Isabella that monkey as a gift when she was born.  I didn't realize when I ordered it, that it is about as big as Isabella!!

Wearing her spider headband from U. Nicholas and A. Amy

I realized I didn't have any pictures of just Gianna and I.

Just a sweet picture.