Gina's Wedding Shower, Frietas Visit, 18 month check up

Yet another busy week/weekend!

No pics, but I went to the Mud Mill to have a last minute date with Bre before she starts school, I'm sad all my teacher friends are back to school, but glad my mom doesn't have to go!

I also donated blood this week. I have gone about 4 times and always got rejected, low iron, been out of the country etc. It wasn't bad and I look forward to doing it again!

Mid-week the Freitas clan came to visit us on the way to Shasta! What a fun night it was, lots of kids running around. Giada loved playing with Jacob and Taylor, and touching baby Chloe's head and eyes all night. It may make me reconsider the thought of having 4 kids :) - Not that Mike was on board with that idea anyway.

Mike's sister Gina is getting married in October - so the wedding festivities began this weekend with her bridal shower. She received so many nice gifts and we had a great time visiting with family and friends.

Homemade biscotti!

Gift from the hostesses - Gina's table setting!

Decor!

Some of the hostesses! Kerry where are you?

Mother of the bride

Guests

In- laws

Hilder- are you related to this lady? You two look nothing alike!!

No family resemblance here!

Gift time- the best one of all- thanks Aunt Patsy!

Caught in the act, attacking presents!

And attacking the camera too!

Gina and MOH Tiffany

Lodi Girls

Bridesmaids

The new bouquet!

The flower girl

And after the shower we went to Rosewood and Ollies.....and it all went downhill from there. Although a super fun night out. I had the worst hangover of my life on Sunday. Yikes- glad we are onto Monday! Im blaming this on being 30! I've never had this problem before! :)

The boys met up with us for a cocktail

And before we blinked an eye, Giada is 18months old!

-Shots, this time I felt so bad, she knew they were coming and started crying right before they put them in. Luckily she gets over it quickly!

-Sleeping so well! Im happy we are over that hump!

-Still has a big head - 93 percentile

-And tall too, 33 3/4 inches - 96 percentile

-26.6 lbs - 79 percentile

-Lately LOVES saying dada, and continues saying it until Mike responds to her its so cute.

-Loves her baths, and playing in water in general. Rolls over to her stomach in the bath and starts kicking around, we have to drag her out of there.

- Good eater, loves fruit and popsicles! (Thanks a lot pops!)

-Loves dancing to any music, its more like jumping but so funny. Grabs all her stuffed animals to dance with her too. Monkeys are still the favorites.

Weekly Update

Hello once again. This week was a hot one with many days over 100! We tried to stay inside and as cool as we could. We also had some oil events this week. One night oil bottling, one day in Paso Robles for an oil tasting. It was a cool 107 there and Mike and I were dressed well for the outdoor event- jeans and a black shirt! Needless to say we did not know it was an outdoor event, but it was a good time - we even fit in a delicious dinner at Harris Ranch- Yummy (Sorry Jamie!) We were at the event because we won Best of Class at the Mid State Fair Oil Competition- so no complaining there! They gave us a small table but at least we had the shade tree! (And Kristen they provided the table cloths :)

Giada had fun at Nana and Pops in her new sand bucket the night we were bottling.

So, I made my first Craig's List purchase and it was a success! We were having photos done at Stephanie Moe's studio and she had this Bus Activity Center- Giada loved it so I was on a mission to find one. The exchange went well and it's a big hit.

Not the best photos- but you get the idea!

And here are a couple pics from Stephanie Moe Photography. She was doing an

Up Close and Personal Session! We Like!

My dad had some neck surgery about a week ago. He is getting better everyday and resting at home. But Giada wasn't allowed in the hospital so my mom would watch her while I visited and we would wave to Giada out the window. She seemed a bit confused but had fun playing with the trash cans to occupy her time....Peek a Boo!

Not the best pic, but the patient and the best nurse!

And ...maybe its just me, but this hug looks a little too tight.

Play date with Peyton! We had fun over the summer with Bre and Peyton and are sad they are going back to school. :(

Last but not least, we had a little get together a few weeks back since cousin Emily was in town. The Christopherson side of the family.(Mike's Mom)

Great visit, fun to catch up with everyone!

17 Month Update, Random Photos & Videos, New Bookshelves

New Bookshelves

I've been wanting new shelves in Giada's room and came across these rain gutter shelves. They work great, and most important she loves them and pulls books off to read all day.

We put some in her play area too!

What- this doesn't look safe? We heard the zebra bouncing when she went into the play area, came in a few moments later to find her standing jerking around the Foosball handles! Of course we wanted to snap a pic before telling her this was a BAD idea! :)

Our garden is in full force. Giada loves cherry tomatoes as much as me.

Now she just walks into the garden and helps herself.

This week we finally made it to the Farmer's Market, and Giada rode her first horse. It took a little warming up, but then she seemed to enjoy it. She waved to Nonna, Nonno, Auntie Steph, and Mike every time we went by them. It was funny.

Of course in this heat we have been using the water table a lot.

She has started splashing like crazy and getting it all over her face, it's a crack up!

Last Christmas Zia Gina got Giada a set of cookware items.

She has really grown an interest in them lately.

I'm not sure they are currently used the way Gina had intended......but one day right?

17 Months!

I realized I never gave an update and better quickly before she is 18 months old.

- Definitely figured out how to open our door handles, so we have to watch out for that since she thinks it's a fun game to run off and hide.

-Sleeping is still going well! Goes to bed around 7 and sleeps until 6am. That is a long time, so I can't complain but if once in awhile she could throw in a morning later than 6- that would be awesome and much appreciated.

-Those molars the doctor told us were coming in January, have finally arrived. All 4 at once. The left side is in, the right side is poking through. We are super lucky she doesn't really seem too bothered by her teeth.

-Loves to tickle you and be tickled.

-Loves to go in and wake up dad in the morning with hugs and kisses.

-Loves being outside, and runs everywhere!

- When someone is sleeping, or pretending to sleep she will put her finger up to her mouth and say "shhh" then a few moments later screams to wake them up. We can't help but laugh which makes her laugh and only encourages her.

-The words are coming quickly! Bow, ball, Syd, Max, Hot, Milk, Dog, Duck, Rock, Car etc...

-You can tell sometimes she is frustrated for a moment when you don't know what she is saying and is pointing at something, but when you figure it out she gets all excited, kicking her legs and smiling. She certainly understands much more than she can say.

- Is still loving gymnastics and we started Kindermusik a couple weeks back and is enjoying that too.

-Eats a ton of fruit, will never turn down fruit. Still will eat broccoli and usually always cheese. Taste buds seem to be changing a bit, but still a good eater.

-Loves babies and wants to touch them all

4th of July in Graeagle!

This weekend we were off to Graeagle for the 4th. It's so fun to be there for the traditional celebrations they have. We headed up on Thursday with Mike's parents and were joined by the Kern's and Gramm's on Friday. We had beautiful weather! Lots of eating, drinking and relaxing. The fireworks are on Saturday so that is nice, we headed back Sunday and missed all the traffic! We didn't leave before hitting the Graeagle Firehouse Pancake breakfast, and the town parade!

There was this bear on the porch of a condo down from us- the kids loved walking over and sitting on the bear!

Dylan and Giada chilling before breakfast.

The hair is long enough for pigtails- too cute!

I tell her to show me her teeth when I want a smile and she really was hamming it up this time!

Cheese!!!! Don't I look good in dad's shades!

Giada loved spending so much time with her Nonna. It's funny she is at that age where she prefers grandparents over me if the option presents itself! (And it does almost daily! :)

Getting ready for fireworks. Glowstick necklaces and bracelets kept her occupied!

She didn't seem to love or hate them this year. She moved from nonna to us to cuddle, while they went off. She even did some resting on my shoulder, it was pretty late, and she was tired. I think she even dosed off for a moment. Who does that at fireworks??!! But she got a second wind and was up until 11:30!!

Matt and Steph were in Tahoe and came by to see the fireworks and joined us for breakfast too!

Happy 4th of July!

Giada has been making all these funny faces these days. This one is classic, cracked me up!