Isabella's Half Birthday song!

So Nick thought I should post this video here since some of you who read the blog don't do Facebook so here it is. Isabella loves to bake and cook so she begged me to make a cake this day. I had some mix and icing in the pantry so we went to it. We made a tray of cupcakes and then a small cake. Isabella was saying happy birthday over and over to herself during the baking process so when the cake was done we decided to celebrate her half birthday since she will be 2 1/2 on January 16 (so we celebrated a little early). Here she sings Happy Birthday...the fact that she sang the whole song was a surprise to me because she normally would sing just the first two lines over and over again, which is why I try to help. I was also surprised at the high note ending! She keeps us laughing every day.

Holiday fun!!

We had a great holiday! The kids and I started a bit early and had Nick bring us up to VA in early December so we wouldn't have to drive by ourselves and then Nick flew back. It was a lot of fun and I think Nonna and Pop-pop loved having the kids around for so long.

Aunt Jenn and Jack
Isabella loves to bake so she was a good helper for Nonna with all the Christmas baking.
Then we took a couple days and went up to Harrisburg, PA to visit Chris, Cristina, and David. That was a short trip because we wanted to get back to greet Katie, Doug, Gianna and Mark when they returned from Germany. We surprised them since we had told them we would not be in town. It was so great to see them after being away so long, but honestly using Skype on the computer really did help keep us connected. Thank goodness for the internet and technology!!

Nonna and Mark
Jack and his cousin Mark meeting for the first time. I think they were really excited!
Gianna and Isabella making silly faces.
I got these cute shirts for the kids that said "Naughty" and "Nice" on them. Of course, Isabella got the "Naughty" shirt. :)

Then the big snow storm hit VA. I let Isabella stay up late that night in hopes that we would catch the start of the snowfall. I am a sucker for moments like this. She had her pjs on under her coat.
Pop-pop and Nonna with the girls on Christmas Eve
Isabella and Gianna
Then on the Sunday after Christmas we were so blessed to be able to share the baptism of our son Jack with Katie and Doug's son Mark (just as we were able to do a double baptism for the girls). It was performed by Father Jude De Angelo who came up for the occasion. It was a beautiful mass that was held in the De Angelo home and then we went to "Nonna's church" as Isabella calls it for the baptism itself. What a wondeful occasion and we were so happy to be able to share it with Doug and Katie again!

Mark being baptized. Doug is holding Mark and I am the godmother. Doug is godfather to Jack so it got confusing at times. :)The girls had beautiful matching dresses that I found at Carter's. They looked so cute!

Shortly after Christmas we headed up to Binghamton, NY to introduce Jack to his great grandparents on Nick's side. Here Jack is with Great Grandpa Ray.
and here with Isabella
We were also happy to visit Great Grandma De Angelo in the nursing home.
And Great Grandma Betty.

Then when we returned from Binghamton we got a bonus snowstorm on New Year's Eve day. Isabella loved sledding with Nonna and Daddy.

Nick is about to push Nonna and Isabella down the hill. Brave Nonna!
We also were able to build a snowman this time since the snow was more packable than the first time it snowed.


For New Year's Eve Mom and Dad got live lobsters and Isabella really enjoyed playing with them...seriously, she got her guys out and played with the lobsters. Then when we sat down to eat them she said "Don't eat my lobsters" not because she was sad that we had cooked them but that she could no longer play with them. I must say it was harder to eat them after my daughter had played with them. It was a great end to a great year! We were blessed with a sweet boy in Jack. We are having so much fun with our little family of four, but we hope the coming years bring us more baby blessings! We are looking forward to the surprises and fun that 2010 has to offer us! With these two kids I am sure we will have a lot of both!! Happy New Year everyone!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at my Grandpa Penny's house. We had a great time with him and my parents and my brother and his family. Jack slept through the actual Thanksgiving dinner, but I was fine with that, since it gave me more time to stuff my belly with delicious food. :)
Jack is really getting big. He is starting to talk so much to me now. He smiles a lot and coos. He doesn't laugh very much yet. I remember Isabella really laughing a lot at this age, but he isn't quite there yet. Occasionally I can get a giggle from him, but I really have to work for it.

Here is a picture of Jack and Isabella laying on the floor together.
And another...

And here is a family photo. It was really tough to get everyone to cooperate. So this was the best we could do.
Isabella loved playing with this toy drum that was at my Grandpa's house.
Chris, David and Cristina were also able to come up to my Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving.
Isabella loved her Great Grandpa and had fun playing with him in her own way. She brought such joy to him. I think she has such life in her and really lights up a room. She certainly did that for him and I was so happy we could be there.

Here is Isabella in her new hat and gloves.Here is a cute picture of Isabella and Jack. This was only the 3rd time she has ever asked to hold him. It is such a rare occasion that I had to snap a picture.So things are going well for us. We are looking forward to Christmas and Jack's baptism. I am so excited that we get to share that with Katie and Doug again as they baptize Mark at the same time. I also can't wait to meet my new nephew...they should be home in less than 2 weeks. Hopefully I will get some time to post pictures again soon and it won't be so long in between posts.

My Kiddos are cute! :)

Well I have to say I think my kiddos are pretty adorable! Jack is growing so fast and he is showing more and more personality every day. I feel like we are really getting to know each other. He is becoming more predictable to me every day and I can tell he is growing pretty attached to me. He is definitely starting to show a preference. He is a pretty good baby. I wouldn't call him easy, but he is definitely not difficult either.

Isabella is talking more and more each day. It is so funny to hear the things she says. I think my favorite part of the day is when she wakes up from either the night or her nap. It is fun to hear the first words out of her mouth. It is interesting to see what is on her mind. Yesterday the first thing she said was "Mommy, ride on elliptical machine" We have moved the machine into my bedroom and Isabella is fascinated. I won't let her play on it, but I will hold her and do it. She loves it...a little too much. I hope she loses interest soon. Here are some cute pictures of the kids. I hope you enjoy!

We are really looking forward to Thanksgiving right now. We are heading to OH to my grandpa's house. It is going to be so nice to see him and everyone else...then it isn't long until Christmas!!

October Update

It has been a few weeks since I updated the blog, so I want to include some pictures of Jack that I took when he turned 2 months old and just some other cute pics of Jack. I have started to understand why my baby book was so much smaller than my older sister's. Jack definitely doesn't have as many pictures as Isabella did. Here are some of my favorites of Jack.





This was Jack's first Halloween and Isabella's third. I really enjoyed this one the most since having kids. It was so special since it was Jack's first and I absolutely loved watching Isabella's face light up when she said "Trick or Treat" and was given a treat for it. She really enjoyed herself.

We went to NC for the weekend and her Nonna and Pop-pop came down to visit. Grandma and Grandpa Reintjes also came in for a quick visit. It was so great to see everyone! We were fortunate to get to ride on a hayride for our Trick or Treating. A friend and neighbor of Nick's Aunt and Uncle hitches up a hayride to his truck and takes kids around town. It was really fun, especially since hayrides have been Isabella's favorite part of the season




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