Thanksgiving and Christmas Decorations

Papa Tomas and Gia getting ready to read, " 'Twas the Night Before Christmas". Tuesday, 11/30/2010

Snowman Giardino out on the lawn...the girls love him!

This is Valentina on the way home from Torreon. She insisted on wearing her red Thanksgiving dress over her clothes :)

On Sunday we went to buy the girls the Snowman. Gia likes it because her and Papa made a snowman in the snow on Thanksgiving day. We were fortunate enough to be up in Show Low for the first snow fall...so beautiful!

All Bundled Up!

We spent Thanksgiving Day with Tomas' family. We really had a good time. This picture was taken on the golf course.

The front of the cabin where Gia was checking out the snow!

Thanksgiving day was a lot of fun and we had a lot to be thankful for. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.

Gia at Preschool

Gia using water colors at school!

Off to school! She looks so grown up!

End of Summer Fun

Gia and Alexis on their playdate!! We had Alexis over to play with Gia as one of Gia's prizes for behaving during bath time. For every three stickers she was receiving a prize and when I asked her what her next prize should be she replied, "play with Lexi". She had a fun time and thankfully after 12 days we didn't need to do stickers or prizes anymore....so happy it worked!

This weekend was fun. Saturday morning was spent in the pool and after dinner we took the girls to a local playground. Fun in the sun really tired them out!

Bathing Beauty Valentina (see Snoop in the background on the right!!! Ha ha!)

Love this pic of Valentina...she's getting big and looks so much like Tomas!

Awwww, I can't believe how much older Gia looks!!




OMG...don't know why the video turned out so small....sorry!

Uncle Ernesto, Aunt Tierrah, Racquel and baby Joseph gave Gia a computer keyboard for her birthday. She loves to be on the computer and is learning new things!

Giavanna is Turning 3

Picture of Gia in HB on 7/11/10. This was her second time there, but we had taken her when she was only five months so I'm sure she had no recollection! She loved it and giggled everytime the water hit her feet.
This past Sunday I caught this awesome moment on camera. Gia and Valentina were actually leaning in for a hug!!

My favorite picture to date!!

Gia at Disneyland with Ariel.

Gia at Pixie Hollow waiting to meet Tinker Bell.

Take a close look at Gia's little sad face. She was sad because I told her we had to leave the beach. Poor girl!

Where Did These Past Five Months Go!!!??

So this is a picture of Valentina from five months ago and I had to blog about her because she is turning 18 months on the 8th of this month! Wow, a year and a half old. She is so sweet and such a good girl. I guess I have been busy with normal everyday life and taking care of these girls as I haven't had the time to post anything new! So this is a small update from February and March and I promised myself to get back into posting pics so next week I will have pictures up from April and onward. Until then, continue having fun this summer and always be safe in everything you do!

Finally...it had taken Tomas two months to have the time to put together this Little Mermaid three wheeler. It was a gift from Gia's Godmother, Anjelica, for Christmas. Gia still loves riding it and seems to do well pushing down on the pedals to move forward, but of course, her legs are a little too short!!

Tomas and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on the 6th of March and went out to dinner at J&G Steakhouse at the Phoenician. The view was awesome and the dinner was fantastic. We loved it! Tomas' mom took this picture of us before we headed out to dinner. Gia looks so little in the picture, but then again Tomas and I appear really really short in the photo! How funny!

Valentina is sauced out! Applesauce is one of her favorites!

Gia and Valentina grew these for Valentine's Day, Forget-Me-Nots and Burning Love...looks like we planted more seeds in Valentina's then Gia's.

Giavanna and I made heart shaped Rice Krispie treats for Valentine's Day and decorated them with icing.

Racquel, our niece, came to play with the girls one afternoon. We had a lot of fun that day and made awesome brownie icecream treats!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

My Dad love's Valentine's Day. It really brought back some great childhood memories (receiving heart shaped boxes of chocolates and "conversational" hearts) when he came to visit and brought over some cute Gerber Daisy flowers (one of my favorites) for me and cards and candy for the girls. Gia and Valentina even received cute "Transformer" valentines from her cousins in the mail and received some valentines from a little girl she met at the park yesterday. Can't wait until school starts...Valentine's Day was one of my favorite days in school...do you remember receiving and giving out valentines made out of doilies?? I actually hunted for these at Target the other day and they didn't even have any!!!
Valentina with her big smile!!!

Gia reading a "Critter" book..."It's Just Not Fair!". This girl really does love her books! Hope everyone has a fantastic Valentine's Day!! Can't wait!

Valentina's First Steps!

I'm so proud of Valentina...around 7 pm she took six steps toward the telephone that I was holding and then plopped on the floor. She really wanted that phone, so I decided to use it for motivation. After Gia went to bed I tried to video tape some more steps, but Valentina was so tired and cranky and needed to be put to bed herself. Hopefully in the next few days I can capture some steps on video and post it. I'm so happy! She is just a little over two weeks from her first birthday and really is a "toddler" now...I just realized I don't have a baby anymore!