MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE SILVERIO'S

Caroline and Santa
In Awh of Santa

She loved Santa

Caroline opening gifts

Caroline & her new Barbie Jeep from Grandpa

We will never get her out of this thing

Caroline & Kansas Christmas morning with her new baby and stroller

Well, it is Christmas day and we finally have the house cleaned up. We had 17 people over last night for dinner and gifts. It was a great time but pretty hectic. We are finally back in one piece.

We had a special appearance from Santa last night and Caroline loved him. Not enough to sit with him but she blew him a ton of kisses and couldn't take her eyes off of him. When he was leaving she kept waving and saying "bye" until he was all the way out the door. She was sad when he left.

Caroline got a Barbie jeep from her grandpa and it was a big hit. The problem is she opened that last around 8pm which is bedtime so getting her back inside away from it was brutal. She screamed and screamed. She calls all cars "go, go's" so she kept going back to the garage door crying "go, go". Her daddy took her out in it today for a little spin but it is cold and rainy so that didn't last long. I have a feeling we will be finding her in the garage sitting in her Jeep!

Though times are tough for so many including us right now we are so thankful for our growing family and the love we have. I was admitted into the hospital last Sunday night for 24 hours but we are back on track. I have been having pretty high blood sugars so they wanted to monitor me and the baby overnight and make sure all was okay. The baby is doing fine and I have made some adjustments to my insulin and since checking out of the hospital on Monday my blood sugars have been great again. Needless to say I didn't get to enjoy all the wonderful holidays goodies but it is well worth the sacrafice.

Junior hopes that with the holidays soon over and the new year approaching that he will have luck in finding a new job that is steady. We continue to pray for that but know that there are so many other people looking too. The right thing will come along.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Love,

The Silverio's

3 WEEK UPDATE

I can't figure out how to rotate this but I love this picture
She loves the Christmas tree- she is very gentle with it

She loved the carousel

Riding the carousel with Grandpa at Zoo Lights

Sleeping Beauty

Sorry I haven't posted since the wedding. We've been busy getting ready for the holidays so here is a catch up on the last several weeks.

We are all doing great - Junior is job hunting and that is pretty stressful but hopefully after the holidays he will find something. We keep our faith and know that it will happen.

Caroline is growing and becoming funnier every day. She is saying more and more words and is great at copying anything that we are doing.

The baby is growing and we are both healthy. I'm into my 6th month now which is amazing - it has gone so fast. It's hard to imagine that in 3 months we will have another little girl. Junior has been working on the nursery, painted, put together furniture, hung a chandlier and will soon be putting up crown molding. The bedding for Gabriella's crib is on order. Once the room is all put together I will post pictures.

We love married life and are thankful for eachother and our families this time of year. Though times are tough we are very blessed.

Love and kisses to all and Happy Holidays.

I'll post after Christmas - I'm sure Caroline will get into it this year. She has plenty of presents under the tree and more coming from Santa since she is such a good girl.

MR. & MRS. SILVERIO

Gretchen and her new family (Junior's mom, 2 sisters, and 5 nieces)
Wedding and Reception site - Hotel Phillips

Mosiac Lounge - after party

Signing the marriage license - it's official

Caroline enjoying her fruit snacks at the reception

Caroline & Nana

Caroline & Mommy

Sweet Caroline

My new mother in law (Junior's mom Carmen)

Bride & Mother of the Bride

Best Man and Maid of Honor toast

My bouquet

The sistes and their husbands (this makes my mom so happy - all her girls are married)

Introducing The Silverio's

Junior and his best man Carl

Ceremony

Ceremony

Ceremony

Ceremony

My dad walking me down the aisle

Best Man and Mother of the Bride

The 2 combined families (love this pic)

Junior getting a little help from my dad before the big event

Junior with his mom and sisters Ingrid and Grace

Practice makes perfect

The soon to be Silverio's at the rehersal dinner

Caroline & Aunt Amy

Brian and the sisters

Well, I am a happily married woman. WOW, I can't believe I am saying that. I didn't think it would feel any different considering our history but it does and I love it. I feel very proud to be Mrs. Silverio. I have a wonderful husband and our family is rapidly growing - dreams do come true!

The wedding week was wonderful. We were in KC all week getting things done and spending a lot of time with Junior's family. His birthday fell on Wednesday the 12th so we were able to celebrate that with family and friends that were there for the wedding and ready to celebrate.

The wedding itself is a blur - I think every bride says that but I know that it was perfect. The hotel was lovely and everyone had a great time. Caroline was funny during the ceremony. Grandpa missed most of the ceremony because he was chasing her around and took her out of the room. She managed to squeeze the doors open and peek her little head and and kept yelling "mommy". At one point when Junior and I were holding hands she ran up and pushed our hands apart and said "no, no" which she says to everything. It was funny, sounded like she was objecting but we know that is not the case - she loves her daddy. Then once the pastor announced us as Mr & Mrs Silverio she busted through the doors and ran up to both of us - it was perfect!

After the ceremony we had a 2 hour cocktail / appetizer reception at the hotel - everyone had fun. We then changed clothes and loaded up on a party bus and headed to Mosiac Lounge downtown in the Power & Light District. Junior's good friend is the GM there so had tables reserved for us - it was so much fun.

Here are some pics from the weekend, more to come. I'm waiting on more pics from family and friends. Though I'm a little bigger than normal thanks to the pregnancy I will still say that I was a VERY happy bride. The day is one that I will cherish forever.

Thank you to all for taking part and being there to celebrate. We will be celebrating with many of our Phoenix friends this coming weekend as Amy and Brian are hosting a reception party for us on Saturday night.

Love,

Junior, Gretchen, Caroline & Gabriella Silverio

P.S. It will be special to let both of our daughters know one day that they were there for our wedding.

5 DAYS TO THE BIG DAY

We leave today for Kansas City for the wedding preparation and festivities this week. 5 days until we get hitched! It's been a very long time coming - a little over 9 years. He is worth the wait, believe me.

Details and pictures to follow once we get back home and settled.

Love,
Gretchen, Junior and Caroline

INTRODUCING GABRIELLA SILVERIO

Introducing Gabriella Silverio
Sweet Baby

It's A Girl!

Nice Legs!

Spine

Beautiful profile

Little hands - 10 fingers

We had our 20 week (5 month) ultrasound yesterday and confirmed that it is in fact a girl. Introducing Gabriella Silverio - she is perfect. Well, looks a little scary on these pictures but the doctor and ultrasound tech said she looks perfect. She is about 6 1/2 inches long right now - about the size of a small banana. My due date is now March 24, 2009 which is one day after Grandma's birthday. Maybe my mom and Gabby will share a birthday.

I'm still feeling good though really showing the pregnant belly. I'm glad for that - I don't just feel fat now, I actually feel pregnant and I love it.

The countdown to the wedding is 9 days - we are so very happy with all going on right now.

This blog will eventually become the Silverio Girls blog as the baby arrives and I post pictures of both girls. These little girls will bring us so much love and joy. Thank God for miracles!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Trick or Treat
The caterpillar, witch and mommy

The caterpillar and the witch

The caterpillar and daddy

Little Miss Caterpillar

Carving pumpkins with daddy

Neighborhood Fall Festival

Caroline wore her caterpillar costume from last year again this year, well kinda, she would not keep the hat on which really makes the costume. Oh well - she was still darling. We sat out in the driveway and handed out candy and made our way to about 10 houses. She loved it. She knew just what to do - she would put out her treat bag and then immediately look to see what was dropped in the bag. Just like her Aunt Amy DOTS are her favorite - she ate about 4 boxes. Loves them. We tried to get some dinner in her too but that didn't work - oh well, it was Halloween, what kid actually eats anything besides candy for dinner on Halloween.

We head to KC one week from tomorrow to start the wedding week festivities. Can't believe it. We are so excited. I found the most beautiful dress for Caroline - it is black velvet on the top and a beautiful purple on the bottom (purple is the main color for the wedding, I am wearing purple shoes and Amy is wearing a purple dress). Pictures to come after the big event!

Baby Silverio is doing great - we have an ultrasound on Tuesday - I will be 20 weeks. Though we are sure it is a girl we will have it confirmed on Tuesday. I can't believe how fast it is going. I'm half way there. I'm feeling good. I have my wedding dress fitting in an hour - hopefully after the alterations are done I can not get any bigger in the week or so so that I can fit in the dress for the big day.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

XOXO