New Photos of Our Family

Last month we had Gabriella's 3 year old photos, Adriana's 6 months photos as well as family pictures taken by a very talented photographer Jen Salmans. She did a wonderful job! Below is just a small sample of the several images she captured. You will also notice new photos of the girls and our family on the right column of our blog.

Mother's Day and other fun happenings

Happy Mother's Day! It's so nice to have a day set aside to enjoy my children and family. Each year I find that I appreciate my own mom even more than I did the year before.

This year was extra special because it was my first Mother's Day with Adriana. Now that I have two little ones, life has definitely become more fulfilling (and hectic ), but I wouldn't want it any other way. I feel my purpose in life has now become more apparent than ever. Motherhood has and continues to change my life everyday and I am forever grateful.

I had a relaxing and fun day with my family - the perfect way to celebrate!

This is Gabriella's beautiful Mother's Day gift for me that she made at preschool. We were asked to bring in a pair of Gabby's baby shoes or booties about a month ago but that's all we knew about the Mother's Day surprise. The gift includes a plant in a pot decorated by Gabby along with her baby shoes bronzed. The flower petals on the card were made with her fingerprints and inside is a touching message and Gabriella's signature (with the help of her teacher). The gift also included her footprint. This just melts my heart and reminds me just how quickly she has grown up. This is such a special Mother's Day gift.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Nonna & G-Pa's to celebrate Mother's Day and Uncle Tommy's birthday. His actual birthday is tomorrow (May 10th). Today Gabby and Adriana wore their ladybug dresses and Converse ladybug shoes that N & G got them for Easter. At this particular moment, Gabby is sporting a new pair of dress-up shoes Uncle Tommy and Aunt Danielle surprised her with today.

For the past 4 years, we have taken a picture of three generations on Mother's Day. This year we had a new addition - ADRIANA!

Close-up of the darling Converse shoes!

Happy Birthday Uncle Tommy! (aka Unc!)

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On Saturday, we went over to the nearby high school's stadium and track facility to play and run. We walked and ran with the girls around the track and afterward Gabby kicked around the soccer ball on the field with Daddy. She is really interested in soccer and is pretty good at dribbling.

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On Friday we met our friends The Wrights at Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead in Overland Park. We had a great time! Despite the chilly temperatures (it felt like a fall day), Jaxon and Gabby enjoyed themselves and our picnic afterward.

Watching the cows.

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On Tuesday Nana came to town to visit with us for the day. She enjoyed playing with the girls both inside the house and outside (it was a beautiful day).

Nana opening her Mother's Day and birthday presents (with Gabby's help). Happy Birthday, Nana! (Her actual birthday is May 14th.)

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Below are some photos of the girls from last weekend. Adriana has started to feed herself some foods and now enjoys teething biscuits. Her first tooth finally broke through her gums and others are on their way! Adriana turned seven months on May 2nd.

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Gabby loves playing with blocks!

Our Visit to Pennsylvania

We had a wonderful trip this passed weekend to Western Pennsylvania to visit Samantha's extended family. Even though we had different travel schedules, Nonna, G-Pa, Uncle Tommy and Aunt Danielle visited, too, so it was nice to have everyone together. We arrived on Thursday morning. The girls did great on the plane both on the way there and back to Kansas City. We had a 3 hour delay so we didn't get into KC until about 1 a.m. early Monday morning. Even though they were exhausted, the girls were very well behaved. We received many compliments from other travelers. We were proud parents!

We had an opportunity to visit with several family members during our visit. We stayed with Samantha's cousin, Marlynn, and her husband, Jason and their two sons, Jason and Andy. The kids really enjoy hanging out with each other. On Friday, the weather was great for an outdoor activity so we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo. It was a good time!

A tiger staring at the zoo visitors.

Adriana enjoyed herself, too. She mostly stayed in her stroller but interacted with us from time to time.

A beautiful lion. Very cool to see him up close.

Marlynn and Andy. Love this kid! He's so funny!

Elephants. Didn't smell very good in here but the elephants were really neat to see.

Entering the rainforest.

Orangutan hanging out.

Jason, Gabby and Andy in front of the Aquarium.

Pittsburgh loves their Penguins!

Polar bear!

After the Zoo, we went to the Strip District in Pittsburgh to eat at the original Primanti Brothers. Yummy sandwiches!! One of a kind!

Friday evening we went over to Uncle Sammy's and Aunt Connie's house to visit. Cousin Kylee was there and spent some time with Gabby. She put make up on her and did her hair. Gabriella was stylin'!

Saturday evening, we went over to Uncle Matt and Aunt Julie's house to visit. Gabby always has a good time playing with her cousins Markie (red shirt) and Melina (gray shirt).

Adriana with cousin Shirley. Look at that ponytail!

On Sunday before we left, we had lunch with the Fiorantes. This is a darling photo of the girls with Great-Grandma Madeline and Great-Grandpa Sam.

We had a great time! Thank you everyone for the wonderful visit!

It's Spring!

We had a great weekend enjoying the spring weather. We spent a lot of time outdoors. The girls got their professional photos taken outside Saturday morning and then we caught a K-State baseball game in Manhattan in the afternoon. (We forgot our camera so I don't have any photos of Gabby and Adriana hanging out with Colten and Aubrey.) We all had a really good time.

On April 2nd, Adriana turned six months old. Last Tuesday, she had her 6 month well-baby check and she is doing great! She now weights 15 lb, 6 oz (30th percentile) and is 25 1/4 inches long (35th percentile). She is loving her cereal, veggies and fruit, too. She also enjoys sitting up unassisted. She is getting so big!

Some photos of the big girl:

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She has a great smile!

Gabby and Daddy played around in our front yard with the soccer ball and kickball on Sunday. It was a beautiful spring day!

Run Gabby!

Daddy showing Gabby how to kick the ball far.

Happy Easter!

He is Risen! He is Risen! That's definitely something to celebrate! We participated in a lot of Easter traditions this weekend and the girls had a lot of fun! We had fabulous weather, too!

This morning the girls discovered the gifts the Easter Bunny left for them. The Bunny hid everyone's baskets in the house. We were on a wild goose chase this morning trying to find all four of them.

In the last few weeks, Gabby's favorite hangout has been underneath the dining room table. Coincidentally, that's where the Easter Bunny left her baskets!

She loved it!

Gabby helped Adriana find her baskets under her jumperoo.

Enjoying all of the candy and gifts. The girls received candy and teething food respectively, as well as books, matching swimsuits and some toys.

Look at that mug! Adriana turned 6 months on Friday! So what is she up to these days? She is loving her veggies and cereal. She is sitting up on her own for 10-15 seconds. She loves playing on the floor and rolling around. She is also very vocal and loves to talk to us and sing! She is also teething. We go to the doctor this week for her check-up and we will know then her height, weight and all that good stuff.

Both chewing - Gabriella is enjoying a Tootsie Roll and Adriana is chewing her finger. Teething is hard work!

The Easter Bunny brought Gabby a matching ballerina outfit for her American Girl Bitty Baby. Of course, Gabby ran up to her room and put on her outfit and then dressed her baby so they would match.

The girls before Mass.

Our family.

Some cute shots of the girls in our front yard.

Sporting their Easter dresses.

Later in the afternoon we went over to Nonna and G-Pa's for Easter dinner. The Easter Bunny left the girls some goodies there, too. They got candy, gifts and matching personalized bags. What a nice Easter Bunny!

Nonna hid a dozen eggs in their bag yard and like every year we had an Easter egg hunt. Gabby loved it!

Like usual, Adriana enjoyed watching Gabby run around the backyard and hunt for eggs.

On Saturday, we went to an Easter Extravaganza at South Park. There was an Easter Egg Hunt, inflatable toys, face painting, balloon artists and a chance to visit with the Easter Bunny!

On our way there - Gabriella sporting her new sunglasses.

Adriana hanging on in the stroller while we walked around the park.

With the Easter Bunny.

Gabby getting her ladybug wrist balloon from the ballon artist. It was so neat!

She is so much fun!

After our visit to the park, we went back to N&G's and helped Nonna make Easter bread. Gabby was really good at cracking the eggs.

On Friday, we had Uncle Tommy, Aunt Danielle, Nonna & G-Pa over to our house for dinner. It was a nice time to spent together as a family.

Gabriella knows how to use an iPhone and and iPod Touch. We don't own either but the other members of our family do. Here she is playing one of her favorite games on Uncle Tommy's phone. She loves the touch screen.

Nonna & Adriana.

Gabby and G-Pa.

We hope you all had a blessed and special Easter!