Yeah, November!

Just look at how Carla watches Anna :) and check out Carla's funky outfit! ...but pay no mind to the messiness that surrounds them...

Happy Halloween!

The first collage is of the deer we saw in the back yard on Halloween before even dusk! Cousins and Zia, Uncle Bob, and both grandmas came for the fun too! Elizabeth, sweet Elizabeth, Anna and Carla's babysitter, trick-or-treated with Anna and my Gramma M, the whole night! Fun times!

Halloween Party

The girls had fun at the Halloween celebration at the Children's Museum: playing, enjoying the abracadabra exhibit, watching spooky science experiments, playing wih green slime, and eating yummy chocolate spiders! Then we got a pizza from Mama Santa's in Little Italy and found a secret little alley to enjoy our picnic pizza :)

Geneva Trick-or-Treat!

Grandma M took the girls to Geneva to trick-or-treat so I could stay home and keep Mike company :) Thanks Mom!

Creamy-Faced Carla

Carla just loves her plain yogurt, especially when she eats it all by herself!

Anna's first race and Colleen's first 19! Very Exciting!

PS- Dancing video to come!

Bubble girl

Carla doesn't mind water, shampoo, soap, etc, anywhere on her, even her eyes, and Anna takes full advantage of this. The rule is that if she cries Anna has to stop, but Carla mostly just takes it,...Anna is going to get it someday!

Anna made a pasta necklace

She even painted the noodles! Her innocent pose...

Carla's first painting -- a masterpiece!

Action shot!

Dimple (sometimes two)

Carla's first pair of headphones!

Note Carla's headphones (upside down barbie)! I think she is listening to Dave Matthews :) They just love being together, so cute!



PS- Check back for a cute video of Anna (delay due to technical difficulties)!

The panty snatcher!

Anna always takes off all of her bottoms when she goes potty. Carla is always hanging around, and she is also always grabbing Anna's panties (hence the name "Panty Snatcher"). Today, Carla decided they would make a nice hat! Anyway, I quickly took a few pics, and then couldn't pick a fav, so I made this. Enjoy!

PS- A month later, Carla began wearing big girl panties of her own, and guess what?! No more panty snatching...maybe she was trying to tell us something!

Happy Engagement Erin and Anthony!

Anna had so much fun playing with your ring bearers and she is so excited to be your flower girl!

Nutty, then nappin'

Anna was having a ROUGH afternoon and then she suddenly fell FAST asleep! Ah, peace.

Happy little birthday elves!

Many birthdays! Giuseppe, Grandma J, AND Daddy!

The big day!

It was a great day for a race! The rain held out (mostly, the downpour anyway) until after the race! Jenny and I got to run the Akron Marathon race together! A dream come true! I was excited to qualify finally for Boston and Jenny had an AMAZING marathon debut!

Notice the middle-of-the-night lighting in the first few photos! Today was one of the first times Anna and Carla were holding hands, so cute! Also, note Carla coloring! She's getting so big! Anna and Carla had a ball with Jenny's whole cheering squad who wore awesome "RUN JEN RUN" t-shirts! Thanks for the support gang! AND thank you Jenny for an amazing summer/fall of training with you! Thanks too for the photos of us -- I can't believe I didn't get one! Thank goodness you did!

Dinner together was fun and hot tub recovery felt pretty amazing (also missing photos)! What a great day!

Bill Rodgers and Writing!

Yeah! It was SO awesome to see Jenny after all of our long-distance, long-distance training! Here at the Akron Marathon Expo, we (Jenny, Emma, Luke, me, and Anna) got to talk with the legendary Bill Rodgers (repeat winner of the Boston and NY marathons, and record holder of the American marathon in the 70s). Very inspiring!

In other news: Anna wrote her first note, sentence, card! it was to Anna Fiscus:) Very exciting!
(see upper right corner of photo)

Snuggly baby girl

Lying around together :)

NYC here we come!

Can you believe we flew to NYC on September 11th? Surprisingly the flight was full! Mom and I got to see Michael, Dr. Oz, and the Big Apple! Dr. Oz is my favorite show -- he is the greatest! And it was so fun that Michael got to come to the show too! It was a perfect show for BOTh Michael and I -- Dr Oz talked about breathing, practicing yoga, and eating avocados!

Here we are in Times Square! Many fun adventures and memories!
Thanks Mom! I love you!

Carla...

Running away with toilet paper, dancing on the steps, and walking down the steps, so cute.

Our Monkey

Loves to climb AND loves BANANAS!

Carla's favorite things

1. Playgrounds

It's becoming clearer as I go through photos, and it makes sense because at home she climbs ...anything she can: a table, book shelf, toilet, big rocking horse, the stairs (on the outside of the railing)...you name it! So yeah, playgrounds are a great place for our little monkey!

Sea Shell Creation

Saint Raphael Parish Family Picnic

Pile of girls and some fun with photo effects:)

Fun at the playground :)...no PT for Mike, since he didn't get injured until September 1st...I really must do this blog more currently! Sorry Mike!

Have a happy day!

Blanket Ride!

Ice cream finale!

More end-of-summer sandy beach fun with an ice cream finale!

Funny Carla :)

Fast Riders!

Then we had fun playing with cousins and eating pizza that Zio Alessandro made - Yum!

Crazy Kindermusik girl!

Anna was so good during Carla's Kindermusik class at the library, but by the time the time for her class came around (there was another half hour or so between them), she was going wild! Here is a glimpse!

Then this afternoon we had some bubble-fun with Aunt Sara!

Then! We went to see Elizabeth tough it out through a THREE hour tennis match!

Nice work Elizabeth!

Playing in the sand

There were some teenagers there catching fish with those huge nets (there's one photo in there); don't think they caught any though. We came with Gramma M and ran into Grandpa Nardi -- he loves to walk at Huntington Beach! It was a really fun day!

Road trip to Cincinatti to visit the Hill Family!

Here is a slide show! Mostly it's Carla enjoying the play ground, but the whole weekend was great! Notice Mike's car hit 100,000 miles!

Our first ride ever on a camel!

Memphis Kity Park and Big Creek Reservation

Riding rides and hiking on a beautiful day -- had to get lots of fun in before Gramma goes back to school...
Note our color coordinated outfits!

Anna's nature art:

Run, Moms, Run!

Yeah Jenny! Great job! We sure look happy even though our legs weren't quite so elated at the time!

Drake Well Half Marathon in Titusville, PA

Go Tribe!

They actually won!

Grumpus-umpus

"Mommy, is she ..... am I grumpy?"


Fun at Lake Farm Park with Maddie!...even though she isn't looking too happy in the photo, we had a ball! How about the stylish hair!?

Busy day...
Next we were off to see Mary Poppins with Gramma and Elizabeth! Awesome show!
Before, and after:

Happy, happy 40th AnnMarie!

What a bash!

Pre-Ballet -- so cute

And a video...

Homemade Slime!

Snuggly Sleeping Beauty

Posing with Papa