Her First Steps

So Gwyn has finally taken a few steps here and there.  I am going to use the same excuse that my mom says, "It must be hard to walk on such little feet."  Seriously she has tiny feet.  She is still in 0-3 month size shoes, plus none of our other girls were early walkers.

We did our best to try to capture it on film.  She wasn't being the most cooperative this particular evening, but hey at least we got it.

I took these the other day too.  I just think she looks like such a big girl in these photos.

Bristol's lost tooth

August

So once August came we had just gotten back from our vacation to my parents, Nate was still working in Indianapolis, we had doctors appointments, back to school nights, all sorts of things that kept us busy. But in the crazyness I was able to only take a few photos. So here is how our August went...

Bristol lost her first tooth. She would wiggle at it and would constantly be working at it. Then one morning she went and pulled it out herself. Nate was home the day before and he pulled on it a little bit, she had wanted me to pull it out but I told her she would have to wait for a week before Daddy came home, because Mommy doesn't pull teeth. For some reason it gives me the major heeby jeebies. So I guess she didn't want to wait that long because she went in and pulled it herself. (I have a video I will post later, oh and can you tell she just woke up?)

Bristol started first grade! This is her first day of school, she was so excited to go to school and have lunch at school. She picked her outfit out herself and told me how she wanted me to do her hair. It was so cute.

Gwyn has found her new favorite thing to do, pull things out of the cupboards and then proceed to climb into them for better access to things.

We decided to plant a plant. Another one of Gwyn's obsessions: she loves dirt! She was in heaven using a shovel and digging in the loose dirt.

Here is Gwyn again, in the cupboard. She probably does this atleast once a day. Since she is so small she can fit right in no problem.

We also filled our time with trying to go to the pool as much as we can before the weather gets colder and before the pool closes.

Washington Trip

So these pictures are in no particular order.  I am too lazy to put them in chronological order, so enjoy the randomness.

 Luckily my sister was willing to put up with my uncooperative children and take some pictures of our family.

 Here is our new Gianatasio family photo.

At the Portland Zoo

Then on Thursday it was Nate's 33rd birthday and we also had an unbirthday party for all of the kids since none of us live by each other to celebrate them through the year.  We even had the kids pick each others names and go to the dollar store to pick out a birthday present.  They loved it and had so much fun.

Sorry this is the zoo again.  We took a train ride to the rose gardens.

 Making animal footprints in the sand.

 Mmmm... lunch time.

 More train ride.

 Gwyn loved looking out the window of the train and to feel the wind on her face.  It was so cute.

One day we hiked around to see some waterfalls.  We climbed over rocks and saw some beautiful landscapes.

 The water was freezing.

Going for a walk at my parents house, headed down the driveway.

 My kids loved my parents house and being able to run around the yard.  They also loved going into the huge garden that my mom has.  Also one of the highlights was checking for eggs each day that the chickens possibly laid.

 My parents' house and their land around.  It was very beautiful.

Berry Picking

We went berry picking and picked some blueberries and raspberries.  We came home and made jam.  I was able to bring home 6 jars of homemade jam.  However, I did find out that when bringing home jam in your suitcase when flying you have to split it up between many different ones because of the weight.  Also you better believe that they open up and check each suitcase for the contents of what you may be hiding.  I am just glad that the TSA didn't decide to keep it for themselves.

I have some more pictures, but I will probably post them another day.  I don't want to overwhelm you all at once.

Family Vacation

So I have just spent three weeks at my parents new house in Washougal, WA.   I have tons of pictures of our adventures.  I will post lots of them later, but I had a great time seeing family and was sad to say goodbye.  I am ready to jump back into life, but at the same time not excited that Nate is still working in Indiana for another month.  This month should be a big a busy one as we squeeze the rest out of summer in the next couple of weeks before Bristol starts first grade.  Kali will also be going to Preschool this year and is so excited.  More to come later.

Nicole

Happy 1st Birthday Gwyn

Gwyn is one today!  We are so blessed to have this little sunshine in our family.  I can't believe a whole year has already gone by.  We had to celebrate her birthday on Sunday along with Father's Day because of Nate's work schedule and he left yesterday for Boston.  Since he will be gone until Sunday we thought we would celebrate with our family before he left.  Happy Birthday Gwyn, we all love you so much!

 I didn't know if Nate was taking a picture or a video.  That is why I look so unhappy.

 One of her presents, she loves banging on the drum.

 Her Aunt Michelle is here visiting and gave her this chair.  She absolutely loves sitting in it, she just has to fight her sisters off of it first.

 I used a cake pan my mom gave me from when my sisters and I were little.  So I had to decorate it the way my mom used to make our cakes.  However, I took an easier way and didn't do a layer of frosting first so you can kind of see in between the stars, but hey I still think it turned out cute.

 She wasn't too into the cake and especially didn't like the frosting.  Instead of making a huge mess and scarfing it down she started to hand me the pieces of cake she didn't want.  I guess she is not a cake person (well not yet at least).