CHRISTMAS 2011

We had another great Christmas. Xmas Eve at Papa and Nana's with a very special appearance from Santa. Xmas morning at home opening all the wonderful gifts left by Santa inside our front door. Later in the day to the Helm farm for fun with the animals and dinner. Though it has been a tough year we are thankful for spending Christmas with our wonderful family.

We look forward to a successful year in 2012!

MOTHERHOOD

Focus on the years when your children are little, when you feel so necessary and purposeful, a battery all charged up with love. Used up every day, and every night it is miraculously replenished. Nothing is ever as good as that.

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY CAROLINE - 4 WONDERFUL YEARS

4 years ago today God blessed us with our beautiful Caroline. The trip to Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan was an adventure to say the least but the beautiful child that came home with me changed my life. My dreams of becoming a mother came true that day and you have blessed me beyond those dreams.

We are so thankful to be your parents and everyone in this family loves you so very much.

Happy Gotcha Day my Sweet Caroline - so many more years to come my beautiful daughter.

XOXO,

Mommy & Daddy

THE PRINCESS AND HER PRINCE

All dressed up in one of her Princess costumes last night Gabriella sat down with Daddy (her Prince) on the couch and stayed there for an hour watching Toy Story. It was so cute - she never sits still that long and Daddy rarely gets that much lovin' from her, she is way too busy. He loved every minute of it and in his relaxed state fell fast asleep on the couch with his baby beside him.

Love moments like these. He is a wonderful father!

A Few Updates

Oops, I'm behind on the blog. I guess with Facebook I forget to update the blog but it is important to me because I want to the girls to be able to read it all some day. Acutally, this blogspot thing is pretty cool - they can create "blog books" for you which include all your posts. I will probably at some point stop the blog and get each of the girls a blog book but not quite yet so keep checking periodically for posts.

We are good - ready for the AZ heat to be gone though unfortunately we still have a couple more months. It is so hard for me to accept the heat once football season starts. Which you can see by the pick has happened - Chiefs first pre-season game was last Friday, unforunately they got killed but we at least were cheering them on all day. The girls were all decked out and ready for some football. I've got to find some cute Chiefs cheerleader costumes for them.

We also got a new puppy over the weekend. With the loss of Kansas we have really missed having two dogs and wanted a little companion for Irie. As she gets older, 12 years this November, I want to keep her feeling yound and fiesty. Lucy Silverio is doing just that. She is a Maltese Yorkis (Morkie) mix, 8 weeks old, about 2.5 pounds (she will get to about 7 pounds). She is absolultely darling and full of puppy energy. The girls are nuts about her. They picked her out. She is really a sweet little thing - sitting under my feet right now while I work at my computer. Poor Junior, another female in the house but neither of us wanted a male dog.

We have Julie and the boys coming in late September and are really looking forward to that - can't wait for the cousins to play. Looks like Junior's sister Grace and her 4 girls are going to come out for Thanksgiving so that will be a blast having a house full of 6 girls. We hope to go to Florida in December to visit Junior's best friend Carl and family - they just recently moved there from Kansas City.

Caroline will start preschool 3 days a week on September 6th and Gabriella starts dance up again on September 7th. Ready to have them in those activities again. Can't believe a year from now Caroline will be in kindergarten. Where has the time gone - these girls are growing up so fast. They are wonderful girls and we are so very proud of them.

Hugs and kisses from The Silverios'.

4th of July

My little firecrackers
Caroline cooling off

Gabriella & Magnus crash on the slip n slide

Gabby on the Slip n Slide

Caroline having so much fun

We had a nice 4th of July spent with family and friends. The only thing missing was Daddy - he is still in Missouri working for another month or so :( Everyone came to our new house for great food, and fun water time for the kids. Keeping it old school Kelleen and Adam brought a Slip n Slide which my little chunky monkey ended up popping (Oops)!

It is hot in AZ and we do what we can to stay cool. We are already looking forward to cooler weather which is a long ways away.

The girls and I miss Junior so much but are doing well. Abeula also went back to Kansas City last weekend so it is just girl time around the Silverio house.

Happy Summer!

SUMMER 2011

The heat has arrived in Arizona. The past several days have been 110+ which makes it very hard to do anything fun unless it is inside. We dread this heat each year but love our weather 8 months of the year.

We are settled into our new house and LOVE it. We have so much more room, the girls have their own "playroom" and it is nice to keep all of their junk contained to one area. We have a nice backyard with grass and the girls like to play in the grass.

Junior is away again working out of town. He was in Texas for 6 weeks in April and then home for about 3 weeks and now back working throughout Missouri. We miss him terribly when he is gone but are thankful for the work.

Carmen is moving back to Kansas City on July 2nd and we will miss her. It has been great having her here for the last year and the help that she has provided has been wonderful. The girls really love their Wella and they will miss her very much. She plans to come out for a few months each winter and we will look forward to that.

Nothing big planned this summer. We hope to make a trip to Florida early fall to visit Junior's best friend Carl and his family - they are moving there in a couple of weeks from Kansas City.

The girls continue to grow and amaze us each day. I have to say that I love 4 year olds - Caroline is such a joy and has become my little buddy. I love to take her with me to do things and we have a lot of special one on one time. Gabriella at 2 is of course a nightmare to take anywhere. I'm so tired of chasing her around the mall. She tends to be left at home with Wella while Caroline and I run errands.

Here are some pics from some fun things we have done this summer. Spending time with close friends and family, AZ Puppet Theatre, outdoor concerts, etc. I'll add more pics as the summer progresses.

XO

The Silverios'

DANCING QUEEN - GABRIELLA'S FIRST DANCE RECITAL

At home before the show
On stage - not too excited

Mommy and her mini me

Daddy and Gabriella

Nose picking - at least it was before the show instead of while she was on stage

Our Dancing Queen

Tiny Dancer

Proud Big Sister Caroline

The Be Our Guest dancers

Gabriella right end

Gabriella has been enjoying her weekly ballet / tap combo dance class at Higher Grounds dance studio in Mesa, AZ. She is the youngest one in her class but boy can she shake it. She loves it! The dance studio recital was held on Friday, May 27th and Gabriella was a star. During dress rehersal that morning she screamed the whole time (probably because mommy was right there backstage). I was very nervous about the actual performance. We dropped her off backstage with her teacher 30 minutes before the show and we then anxiously awaiting the big performance. She did GREAT - no tears, just moving and shaking. We were so proud of her.

Here are some pics from the big night! Hopefully the dancing will continue though I think that it can get pretty costly - trips, costumes, etc. Oh well - she loves it and we love watching her. Maybe someday she will be on the Grammy's or something!

Enjoy.

Caroline's Last Day of Preschool

A Student
Miss Christie - Caroline's teacher

Today was Caroline's last day of preschool. She has been going on Tuesday's and Thursday's from 8:30am - 11:00am. She has absolutely loved it and has learned many new things. She is showing signs that she is going to be a very good student. She follows directions so well (wish she did this at home) and is very excited about school.

I love her classroom and her teachers. She will go again in the fall for the 4 year old Pre-K class which will be 3 days a week.

So proud of you Caroline!

CAROLINE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION

Okay, aim at the head pin Caroline Papa helping Gabby

Good bowl Caroline

Gabby loved carrying around the bowling balls

Yeah, presents

I wish daddy was here!!!!

Birthday morning

Fun in the water

Fun times

Our Sweet Caroline turned 4 yesterday April 17th. A fun time was had by all. We had a party at the neighborhool bowling alley and a lot of her friends and of course family were there. The kids had a blast bowling.

Caroline had a recent fall and has 6 stitches in her right eyelid and a banged up nose and eyes. She is recovering well and after a follow up doctor appointment this morning it was confirmed that nothing is broken - Thank God. As a result of this we had our first visit to the Emergency Room and our first round of stitches (hopefully our last through little miss wild Gabriella scares the life out of me).

Junior is away working in San Antonio, Texas and we are missing him very much. It is really hard for him to be away from his girls especially with all that went on this week with the girls and then missing Caroline's birthday. He is with us in heart.

Caroline, We all love you so very much and you are growing into such a sweet, smart little girl. We are so proud of you and are thankful each day that God chose us to be your parents. We love you!