Happy Birthday, Papa!

We celebrated Papa's birthday a couple weekends ago. He got a new thermos for work and a burr coffee bean grinder.

 I helped Nonna put the candles in Papa's cake.

 Gianna got some snuggles from KK and Josh.

 I took care of taking Papa's candles out.

Jerry Smith's Pumpkin Farm

Friday night was a beautiful night to make our first pumpkin farm visit of the season. We went to Jerry Smith's.

 The pumpkin hat Nonna made for Ava is a little big on Gianna, but we still had to have her wear it on her first visit to the pumpkin farm!

 I giggle at this picture because Ava's eyes are crossed looking at the stem.

 Everyone knows you can't go to Jerry Smith's without getting the apple cider and sugar cookie! That's always our first stop and then we walk through.

 Ava was into putting her head in all of the characters this year. She thought they were pretty funny.

 Love these little ladies!

 My heart melted when we put Gianna in the pumpkins and she started smiling and giggling.

 Ava was too busy checking out all the scenes to look for a picture. Gianna was pulling on her and trying to get her to snuggle in with her.

 Feeding the goats through the feeding tube is always a hit with Ava. Next year Gianna will be able to join.

 Ava's favorite displays were The Little Mermaid and Tinker Bell.

Pasetti Home Update

We finally hold the letter of approval from the HOA in our hands! Dealing with the developer of our subdivision who, unfortunately, is also still the HOA has been nothing short of a nightmare. Chris and I have a few nicknames for him. After submitting our packet with all color samples of the house, gutters, soffit, fascia, windows, garage doors, door stains, stone, garage lights, outdoor light post, and a landscaping plan we were DENIED approval. Due to the fact that we have a look out basement it was deemed necessary to have an exact grading plan from the foundation to the lot line. He also did not like the pitch of the roof over our garage. He claimed the village of Pleasant Prairie wants a 6/12 roof line. After Chris pinned him down and pointed out it wasn't in the covenance for the subdivision, he called the village. We learned we'd caught the developer in yet another lie! Again, Chris called him out on it and told him we were meeting code and the requests of the subdivision. His emailed response said a home has never been built to his knowledge with a 4/12 roof line so we needed to make it happen. After talking to our builder and learning that they could create a plan that way to appease him but it wasn't structurally possible for our house we contacted the village again. We will be able to put in paperwork to change the roof pitch back to the original plan once we start construction. (A drive thru of the subdivision also revealed that there are homes without the 6/12 roofline!) We submitted for permits on Tuesday and should have them in 10-14 business days. Needless to say, we are BEYOND thrilled to be done with the developer of our subdivision and are looking forward to having the HOA turned over to the people of the subdivision. We should be breaking ground before the end of the month!

Happy Birthday, Braxton!

Braxton is one of my students this year. I also had both of his older sisters. Over the years I have come to know his family more. We were excited to be able to attend Braxton's 6th birthday last weekend.

 Gianna hung out and pulled Chris's ears while Ava was busy giving her request to the balloon man.

 She chose a turtle this time!

 Ava and Braxton...can you believe there's just over 2 years of an age difference?

A Jack-o-Lantern for Grampy

A couple weeks ago my Grandpa had the final surgery to remove the remaining part of his leg and close up the amputation site. Ava wanted to make him a jack-o-lantern so he'd feel better. We took it to the hospital for him when she was done.

 

New Foods

This is the look we get when we aren't shoveling it in fast enough!

 First taste of peas...she loved them.

 Dad, give me more sweet potatoes! So far Gianna has had carrots, peas, sweet potatoes and butternut squash. She's gobbled them all right up.

Rainy Night Snuggles

Rainy nights are good nights to snuggle and "be a family in the living room." (The quote is Ava's favorite line. She always asks if we can be a family in the living room.)

Sister Love

I can't get enough pictures of these two munchkins together!

5 Months Old

HEY...Don't take my picture Mom!!!

This month was the start of the difficult to take monthly pictures! I did get quite a variety of facial expressions and dives for the blocks. Here are some things about Gianna at 5 months:

-She wears 3-6 month clothes.

- She's eating oatmeal and veggies.

-She drinks 6 oz of Neocate formula every 4 hours.

- She LOVES when you sing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.

-She loves to rock with Papa while he sings to her.

-Gianna wears a size 2 diaper.

- She blows raspberries ALL the time.

-She likes to squeal and "talk."

- She's interacting with Ava a lot more.

- She rolls back to front very easily. Front to back is not as desirable for her, but she does it when she's mad enough.

- She drools CONSTANTLY!!!

- Gianna loves reaching for hair, glasses, ears, necklaces, earrings, noses and chins.

- She grabs her toys and puts them in her mouth.

-She's starting to pull her legs under herself more when she's on her tummy.

Splash Partners

Ava decided she should hop in the tub with Gianna and show her how to use the tub toy that she got her for her Baptism. I really think that was Ava's ploy to get the toy opened so she could continue to play with it.

First Veggies

Gianna got to experience her first taste of veggies a couple weeks ago. I made carrots first, so that's what she tasted. She was a champ and LOVED the new taste. We have been very lucky with our girls so far that they eat veggies extremely well and it hasn't been a battle to get them to eat.

Fall Zoo Day

A couple weekends ago we had the PERFECT fall day for the zoo! We spent a lot of time in the monkey house (perhaps a fitting place for Ava) watching all the different monkeys. They were very active. In fact, we were standing at the glass in one of the side viewing areas and a monkey the size of Ava ran up to her window and slapped its hand on the glass right in front of her face. I think it startled her a little, but she thought it was pretty cool. We hadn't taken pictures by the baby gorilla statue in awhile and figured we better stop since Gianna was awake!

 Ava was very much into the reptiles for this zoo trip! I love that each visit this year she's been asking to see different types of animals so we always explore a different part of the zoo.

 The turtle was catching a ride on the back of the alligator.

 These snakes were a hit.

 We got some nice pictures together before our picnic lunch.

 Ava finally decided that going on an animal on the carousel is much more fun than sitting on the bench.