Sunday Snippets

A catch-up of the last month or so.

• March 8-9, 2013
  Mr. Giovannoni took the kids to our wards second annual camp out at Bear Creek Park.  I came along for the dinner and evening entertainment, but left with Abrielle to go home to sleep.  The kids had a good time and I'm so glad that Derik put aside his disdain for camping and let Dylan, Alivia and Isaac stay the night with him in our 2 man tent! 
  
  
  
  
  
• March 10-13, 2013
  My sister and her kids came out from Albuquerque for a couple of days during Spring Break.
  It was so much fun having her.  The kids all got along so well and my kids were devastated to have to say goodbye.   Unfortunately my sister was always behind the camera snapping photos for me so I don't have one of her to share.  I'm so glad she came out, and I'm so glad she shared her time and talents with me.  Her older daughters were awesome little helpers with Abrielle and I fell in love with Miss JJ's little personality. 
  It nearly broke my heart to have to say goodbye to my sister and her kids, it made my kids and I realize (all over again) that we really miss and love our extended family, and that being a thousand or so miles away from loved ones stinks!
  
  
  

• March 21, 2013
  Isaac celebrated his third birthday.   We sure are glad he is a part of our family.  He's our funny man.  Right now I have days where I'd like to tape him to a wall rather than clean up another disaster he's made, but I guess that's all part of having a three year old boy, right?
  
  
  
  Speaking of Isaac...I promised myself I'd potty train him after my sister left.  So I stuck to my word.  He's been using the potty on and off for a couple of months so I knew he was ready, and he was ready.  It took getting him a treat jar to pick something out of to get him motivated enough to use the toilet every time he needed to go, but he is now diaper and for the most part accident free.  In fact he doesn't have "accidents", but I do catch him running outside to pee in my garden just about everyday, little rascal, I have no idea where he got that idea from!?!
  
•  March 23, 2013
  Our ward held an Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids had a great time running wild with their friends.
  If you look closely in the bottom left picture (it almost blends in with the dirt) you can actually see the Easter Bunny Dylan stumbled across. 
  
  
  
  
  
• March 28, 2013
  Dylan had the opportunity to once again race a car in this years Pinewood Derby.
  I made him search up a design he liked and then I made him design a template for it on paper.  Since all we have is a jig saw, I did the cutting.  It was pretty darn scary, I was positive I was going to saw some part of my body off.  Thankfully I didn't cause any bodily damage to myself.  Dylan then sanded and painted his car. 
  Unfortunately the car was the SLOWEST thing ever.  It lost every race!  Dylan was so heartbroken, so I tried my best to teach him to be a good sport about it and help him see that we tried and it didn't work out like we hoped, but we could try again next year and that we had an opportunity to learn from our experience.  By the end of the evening he was okay with having the slowest car because they gave him an award for having the most uniquely designed car.
  
  
  
  
  
  • Mr. Giovannoni and a friend took on the massive project of trying to fix our old Honda Accord.  They pretty much disassembled the thing and replaced a lot of parts.  The good news is it's running again.  The bad news is it is leaking something from somewhere so we aren't driving it yet, until that can get resolved. 
    
  • April 2, 2013
    Miss Abrielle had her 2 month birthday.  How I love that little squirt.  She is determined and stubborn I tell you!  When she's in a good mood she'll flash a smile that lights up the whole world.  She is dead set on sucking her thumb, no matter how hard I try to convince her a binky is better.  She gets so mad at herself when she can't maneuver her thumb in her mouth, but in the last week or so shes finally figured out how to get everything just where it needs to be.
     
    
    
    She coo's and talks to me and I LOVE her smile.  Her two month stats are:
    Her noggin measured 15.98"  which lands her in the 88th percentile
    She weighed in at 13lb 13oz, which puts her in the 97th percentile.
    Her length was 22 inches long, which is in the 32nd percentile.
    Short, chubby and a big noggin, can anyone ask for anything better?
    
  • This past week has been a rough one for just about everyone in our family.
    Dylan had a small accident with some microwave popcorn and Miss Abrielle wound up with a couple of burn spots on her nose from hot popcorn kernels. 
    Isaac had a collision with our wood stair banister and split his head open.  The picture below is pretty graphic, you've been warned.
    
    After a lot of screaming and fighting and seven stitches later, he's back to his rambuncous self.
    I caught the stomach flu.  I was so weak and miserable, it took all I had to sit up to nurse the baby.  I'm so thankful to be feeling bettter again! 
    
  •  Home depot had a sale on mulch this week so I bought a bunch and got the yard looking pretty darn nice.  My garden is coming along beautifully, as soon as I get my dirt in the other flower beds I'll get some picture posted. 
    
    
    

Picture-Palooza Part IV

Spring Break 2013

Galveston Island State Park 

Galveston may not be  a tropical paradise, but we have thoroughly enjoyed every trip we've made out there.  The water is usually warm and the kids have a ball doing whatever they please.

The beach was almost empty and the sun was shining brightly, if we could have taken the freezing breeze that was blowing around away it might have been a perfect trip. 

The kids had a lot of fun hunting for hermit crabs.

When the hermit crabs got boring there was a lot of fun to be had teasing the local sea birds.

All the kids had to do was rattle an empty bag and instantly they would be surrounded by a hoard of hungry, noisy birds.

 

There was a pod of dolphins that showed up and swam along the coast line.

Picture-Palooza Part III

Dylan, Alivia and Isaac

I know a lot of my focus has been on Abrielle lately.  I eat, sleep and breath her right now... and rightly so, she needs me in every way. 

These three were once my sweet little baby angels too and I doted on them just as much as I do Abrielle.  I look at these pictures and marvel how time has flown by.   I marvel at how handsome and beautiful my children are to me.  I marvel that Heavenly Father let me be their parent.  I marvel that each of them has a quality, gift or talent that our family needs, that even in our roughest rockiest days we really do need each other.  

Dylan 

We lovingly tease Dylan that he is the genetic anomaly of our family.

His dark skin and Ethiopian build are not the Giovannoni/Ward norm. 

He is 100 percent me on the inside though.  He's the blessing/curse every mother wishes upon her child when she says "some day you'll have a child just like you and then you'll understand".  

I know what he is thinking, I know how he'll internalize things, I know his heart is tender and fragile, but he's the first to put it on the line.  I know I wont be alone when I'm crying to the end of a sad or happy movie.  I know that when I have those moments when he's got himself into a pickle (which is just about all the time) and I feel like he's never going to slow down and think things through, that I have to remember that finally after years of driving my parents nuts, I got it together and some day my dearest Dylan will finally get it too!

Dylan is imaginative.

He's so smart.

He is awesome at entertaining himself, whether it's reading books, building Lego's , drawing Pokemon, playing video games, or chasing bugs, It nice to have a child who doesn't have to be entertained by me 24-7. 

He loves deeply.

He's a people pleaser. 

He dreams big.

He's forgiving.

  Alivia

 We lovingly tease Alivia that there was a mix up in heaven and she should have been our first born. 

She has all the qualities and traits of a first born child.

She's responsible.

She works hard and likes to do things right the first time.

She's very motherly and she loves to be the boss.

She's smart.

She's beautiful.

She is fiercely determined.

She was born a feisty little thing and she'll die a feisty thing.

She has a flare for the dramatic.  

She's analytical far more than she is emotional. 

She loves to be girly.  Heels, make-up, jewelry, and nail polish totally delight her.

Isaac

What don't we tease this kid about?

He is our tank. 

He is the comic relief our family so desperately needs.

He's all personality.

He is a whirl wind of energy that has a knack for destruction.

He's all boy. 

I have many moments where I don't know whether to squeeze him or paddle his hind end. Even when he's destroying things he does it with a twinkle in his eye and a goofy irresistible grin, that makes being angry difficult.  

He likes food. Love might be a better word actually.

He is his daddy's best friend. 

He's as happy as a lark as long as there are siblings to tease and the food cupboard, fridge and freezer are well stoked with cereal, bologna, cheese and ice cream.

Then there is me.

   I cannot remember the last time I looked in the mirror and liked what I saw. 

  I consider myself lucky (and extra motivated) these days if I even get a shower.  

But putting my vanity and lack of pride aside, Here is one lucky women!

I struggle so much with being a good mother to my children, so I pray every night that God and my children can be forgiving of all my short comings, because I know my children are the greatest gifts I'll ever be given.  

I know they are his children, and I know they have infinite worth.  I know He gave me each one of them with their strenghths and weaknesses, because I needed them (and I hope they needed me).     

Dylan, Alivia, Isaac and Abrielle I love you!

He's Three

Happy Birthday Isaac!

Picture-Palooza Part II

Installment Two:

Abrielle's Blessing

My older sister Heidi totally came to my rescue in so many ways this past week.
I was worried that Abrielle was going to grow up and not have one decent baby picture.  I was having all sort of anxiety about how I was going to survive my children's Spring Break and how we were going to have a little fun along the way.  I was a little anxious and sad to have to bless our beautiful Abrielle without any family here to support and enjoy the special occasion.

I was more than THRILLED when my sister Heidi asked if she could come down and spend a few days with our family for Spring Break. 

Thanks Heidi for coming to my rescue and providing me with everything I wanted and needed!

We some how manage to have 9:00am church every time we have a newborn.  I struggle getting to church on time as it is but add a nursing, puking newborn and it's a recipe for never ever getting to church on time.  I had lots of help from my sister Heidi and we still walked in the door of the chapel at a minute or two after 9.  

Abrielle was as good as gold and she had a beautiful blessing.  There is only two things I want my kids to remember about me, and that is that I love them and that I love the Gospel.  My heart was so full of joy to see we had some family and friends present and to hear Abrielle be blessed by her daddy who holds the priesthood.  He blessed Abrielle that she could learn about the gospel from her parents and through their examples.  He blessed that she could learn from her brothers and sister's abilities.  He told her how glad we all are to have her come to our family.  

After church we had a few friends from church over for a nacho bar.  

We missed the opportunity to have a photo of our family together after the blessing, and while I'm disappointed about that I can be glad for the beautiful pictures Heidi captured of Abrielle in her blessing gown.

My mother made this blessing dress 24 years ago for my little sister Cozette, since then it has been the blessing dress for all of her granddaughters.  It is gorgeous!

Without further ado here are the pictures.

Picture-Palooza

Installment One, Abrielle's photo-shoot.

Photos taken and shared by my talented sister Heidi.

 

 

Picture of Perfection

Many, many more pictures coming soon!

Thank you, Thank you Heidi dear for sharing your talent and taking these beautiful pictures of Abrielle. I treasure them and my heart is full of gratitude for these precious keepsakes.