Home again!

We spent a wonderful 3 weeks in GA celebrating the holidays with my family!

Today we flew back home. Here is what I arrived home to see...

Here is the snow covering Dany's car. He hasn't tried to dig it out since he returned home 5 days ago, and I don't blame him!

I haven't measured the snow with a ruler, but I think it's around 6" and it's still falling outside as I post this! The Southerner in me will always be amazed that I live in a place where it snows regularly!!

Time to get back to work now that we're all home. I've got to go to the store, organize the house, and get ready to start school again next week! Oh, and I'd like to post at least a few more photos from our trip to GA! And, I promised some baby photos of Cati, I think :)

Happy 7th Birthday, Cati!!

Yesterday was Cati's 7th birthday!! I can't believe she's 7!!

Somewhat unfortunate for her, she, Dany, and Maria spent 12 hours in the car yesterday driving back to Pennsylvania. So, we celebrated her birthday on Dec. 31 instead.



Aunt Ginny brought her a new hat that she knitted :)



She's ready to start opening those presents...you can see that she wasn't too disappointed to get to open them a day early :)



Ginny also gave her some new clothes.


We gave her a Jesus doll.


Aunt Pamela (her godmother) gave her some new American Girl books.


The Atlanta side of the family gave her a new birthday Barbie doll.



Grandma & Pipa gave her a couple of nice activity books...


...and, Kaya, her new American Girl doll! She drew a picture of this doll months ago and taped it on the wall next to her bed. Now, she's very happy to have the real thing!



Time for cake!!




And, some singing!





Happy birthday, sweet girl!! We love you!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I usually like to post some baby pics of the kids on their birthdays, but I don't have access to them here in GA. I'll try to remember to do this sometime after the little ones and I return to the snowy, arctic North!

Merry Christmas!

Here are the Christmas pictures a few days late :) It's ok. Christmas is a season that lasts more than one day!

Here are the kids ready to tear into their presents...

...and ready to dive into their stockings!

Here are pictures of a few of the gifts...

Chiara got this princess headband and gloves in her stocking...

...and she didn't take them off for a while :)

Cati said that her favorite gifts were her new St. Catherine of Siena doll (below) and new journal (not pictured).

Matteo was happy to get a dress-up costume for boys!! We have lots of princess dresses at home, but nothing for boys until now.

This is a new dress for Cati's American Girl doll. Maria got one for her doll, too.

Maria was very happy about her new slippers.

Everyone has enjoyed Matteo's new Star Wars figurines. He got all the major characters from Episodes 4-6.

He said Han Solo is his favorite!

Matteo and Chiara got a lot of audiobooks for Christmas that I know they will use a lot once we're back home.

Here is Elena in one of the many new outfits that she got for Christmas. She is sitting with Aunt Ginny who is always there to celebrate on Christmas morning with us. She's the seamstress-extraordinaire who makes the girls' dresses. Many thanks to her most recently for their Christmas dresses (see the Christmas Eve blog post).

We had a wonderful Christmas day, and we hope that all of you did also!!!!

Christmas Eve 2009

Here's a look at our Christmas Eve.

We went to Mass in late afternoon. The kids wore their new Christmas clothes from Aunt Ginny. Here is a picture that we took after Mass.




Then, we went to my grandmother's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Here is a picture of my grandmother and the kids at her house.

They all changed into more comfortable clothes and we enjoyed a delicious dinner!

After dinner, my grandmother opened her Christmas presnts.

Elena enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper.

The older kids turned the used wrapping paper into light sabers and re-enacted some Star Wars scenes.

Then, we went back to my parents' house and put the kids in the bed to get a good night of sleep before Christmas morning!

Christmas day pictures to come soon!!!

Beginning our Vacation in GA

The three little ones and I flew to GA on Tuesday. It's always fun to fly with little ones because the get so excited about flying. Here are Chiara and Matteo preparing for take-off. Chiara is figuring out her seatbelt.


Elena slept for the first half of the flight.



The other two kids colored pictures and played with stickers.




And they enjoyed the drinks and snacks that they stewards brought us. There weren't any messes!



We were all happy to arrive at my parents' house. My brother is visiting for a few days. This is his first time to meet Elena.



Playing with Pipa.


...and Grandma.

Last night we visited my Grandmother for a little while. She and Chiara enjoyed playing the piano together.



And, my Grandmother enjoyed meeting her newest Great-granddaughter!


Unfortunately, little Elena has had a rough time through all of this. On Monday, the day before we left, I had to bring her to the doctor. She had a double ear infection and bronchialitis. She was put on antibiotics and breathing treatments (as seen in the below picture). We had to bring her back to the doctor today because she had a reaction to her antibiotic. So, she has a new one now. Hopefully, this will agree with her and help her feel a lot better!




Now, we're waiting for Dany and the older girls to arrive sometime this evening. They're having a longer drive that normal because of the terrible weather in the East today. May the holy Angels guide and protect them!