Gabriella's First Reconciliation and St. Nicholas Day

It's hard to believe Gabriella is old enough to receive her First Reconciliation. We celebrated this big step in her faith on Saturday.  I feel like she was just in pre-school and now we are heading into a huge milestone this spring when she will receive her First Holy Communion.

Our church and her school keep it pretty laid back for their first penance. The first confessors and their families meet in the church, and then the families wait in the sanctuary until their child returns from the confessional. After she completed her penance and prayer, we headed into the church's hall for cookies and treats. Grandpa and Aunt Bridget came down for the weekend to share in this special event.

We are so proud of Gabby. She took this very seriously and put careful thought into what she was going to share with the priest and ask for forgiveness for. Here are a couple photos from the afternoon.

Fresh out of the confessional.

Celebrating with her classmates. 

She opened gifts before we headed to dinner. We got her this rosary and a prayer box (in her lap) to honor this memorable day from David and me. 

With our big girl. 

With Grandpa.

With Aunt Bridget.

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Saturday was also the feast of St. Nicholas. So in the morning the girls had some treats and gifts waiting for them in their shoes. Our girls love this tradition. It's a great way to start the Christmas season.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Thanksgiving 2014

Last Monday, Christina's preschool had a Thanksgiving Feast. It was adorable! This is such a fun age. Here are a few photos from the celebration:

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On Wednesday, we drove to Ames to spend the holiday weekend with the Manginos. We had a really great time. It snowed as we arrived in town and was pretty cold most of the time we were there, but the wintry weather was a fun way to start the holiday season.

The girls got to spend a lot of time with Vinny, which made for some great memories. Such sweet cousins! Wednesday night they made peanut butter cup Christmas trees with Nonna. 

Thanksgiving morning the girls watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. 

On Saturday, the Cyclones played West Virginia. It was in the 50s, which was nice. All four kids behaved so well at the game. Christina took a snooze in Nonnie's arms. 

Unfortunately, ISU lost but the kids still had a good time hanging out with each other. 

After the game, the kids were "writing up plays" (aka their names) on G-Pa's office board. 

After the game, we all hung out at Nonnie & G-Pa's house. It was really nice to spend time together as a family and watch the kids have fun together. Here they are in a fort they built in the basement. Cousins are gift for sure! 

We had a fun and blessed Thanksgiving and hope you all did, too! Christmas season is underway and we are all so excited!

Decorating our Home for Christmas

Tonight we had take out pizza and we decorated our two Christmas trees and our house for Christmas. Since we will be gone most of next week and for Thanksgiving, we thought it would be nice to come home to a decorated house next Sunday.

Christina is really into it this year. She loved taking out the decorations. She especially loves Frosty the Snowman. :)

Jingle Bells!

Placing decorations on our family tree in the living room that holds all of our special memories and sentimental ornaments.

They can't wait for Mr. Elf to arrive. He usually makes his appearance on or around December 1st. 

Our own little Elf. 

Last touch is the angel on the tree. Adriana placed it on top. 

Christina adjusted it a little.

Gabriella getting it just right. 

Our tree in our dining room. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! 

Author Book Signing & Nana's visit

We attended Philip C. Stead's author talk and book signing on Friday evening. The Tulsa Public Library each year invites an author to be part of the Books to Treasure program. The Library gives each second grader in the city a free copy of one of his/her books. Gabby brought her book, A Home For Bird, and she had it signed. We also purchased his award winning book, A Sick Day for Amos McGee, and had him sign it as well. It was a really neat event.

Nana arrived in town Friday evening so she attended with us. We also spent the weekend keeping busy with activities. One of which was icing turkey sugar cookies. (See photos below.)

Getting creative.

Christina enjoyed eating more than icing. :)

Start of Basketball Season & the End of Soccer Season

Well, yesterday was a wild one! We attended 3 sporting events between Gabriella & Adriana. It started with Gabby's first basketball game of the season at 8 a.m. Her team won and she made her first basket! Last year she couldn't quite get the ball up to the hoop but this year she is making a lot of baskets during practice and now one that counted!

Gabby playing defense (#99). She loves to get her arms up and really gets aggressive. 

Taking a shot under the hoop.

Love the look on her face as she waits to take the ball in.

She took the ball in from under the hoop and dribbled to the basket. She actually took a shot and made it right after this but I missed the moment with my camera. :(

Then on to Adriana's last soccer game at 9:30 a.m. She is so fun to watch. She is in the thick of things every time she is on the field. Love her tenacity and drive to get to the ball.

She is always looking to make a play (#7).

The Marquette Maniacs. It was fun to see David coach Adriana and her friends/teammates.

With her trophy. They don't keep score at her level, but I think her team won every game with an exception of a tie a few weeks ago. Pretty great group of girls and coaches.

Then at 3:15 p.m., we headed to Gabby's team, The Lightning Strikers, finally game of the season. 

She had a really good break-a-way and got the ball down the field. 

A great group of girls (and parents) have made up this team the last 2 years. 

After the game, the team and families went out for pizza. Here is Gabby with her trophy while having a great time with friends! 

Halloween 2014!

Happy Halloween! We soaked up the holiday with a visit to the Aquarium's HallowMarine, class parties, costume parades and a Halloween party with friends that included trick-or-treating on Halloween Night!

Posing with the Pirate at the Aquarium.

The coolest part -- when the Pirate & Mermaid take a dive in the tank.

Our keepsake from the night at HallowMarine.
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We had a busy day on Halloween. It started with Adriana's Pre-school's costume parade and party.

They parade through the "Big School" across the street so Gabby got to see all of us pass through. So fun!

Decorating and eating a sugar cookie.

Our pumpkin decorating submission - "A Caramel & Chocolate Apple" Pumpkin!

Next stop was Christina's Pre-School's costume parade. As soon as she saw me she ran up to me so I only got a few pictures. Still so cute.

In the late afternoon I attended Gabby's class' Halloween party where they played Halloween Bingo and ate treats. She is growing up so fast.

Catwoman on Halloween Night!

A Beautiful Peacock on Halloween Night!

A Cute Piggy on Halloween Night!

Trick-or-Treating!

We hope you had a safe and fun Halloween!