Gianna's First Dance Recital

Gianna had her first dance recital this past weekend. It was three long nights, Thurs, Fri and Sat. I didn't know what to expect because Gianna tends to panic and be defiant, but she surprised us all, and was awesome! Here are a few pictures from the recital. Her song she danced to was "I Want Candy".

Apparently, I have a lot to learn about being a "dance recital" mom because the first night I was very unprepared. I couldn't figure out how to get the lipstick to stay on, I didn't know we are supposed to douse them in glitter, or use a full can of extra stiff hair spray. (And thanks to my sister-in-law Kristie, we were prepared with a full set of heat rollers). The second night, I finally got the lipstick on, but she smeared it all over, and the curl completely fell out of her hair (not enough hair spray? Perhaps 2 cans?) By the third night, I was doing great....got her lipstick to stay on and explained that you may only smack your lips together once, and I didn't brush her hair out after taking the curlers out, so that by the time she got on stage, the curl fell out just enough to make it the perfect curl, AND I remembered the body glitter.....however....

I was putting on Gianna's make up and got distracted talking to another mom and Gianna took the brush, stuck it into the loose blush and dumped it all down the front of her costume. Needless to say, I (probably overreacted) dragged her into the bathroom and got most of it off. But, seriously, I wanted to kill her! Not to mention that she had dark pink blush caked ten inches thick on her face! Her costume is now at the dry cleaners because I wanted to take her to get dance pictures taken since we missed the photos when Gianna had impetigo blisters on her face.

Beauty comes at a price.....

A very short video of Gianna's recital.

Videos

We have a case of "monkey see, monkey do" in our house. Here's a video of Gianna attempting to show me her dance from dance class, while being upstaged by a certain little person.

Here's a video of Gianna's impersonation of Hannah Montana - thanks to Aunt Marie for the Hannah Montana guitar!

Gianna's 4th Birthday!

Gianna just turned 4 years old - I can't believe I have survived 4 years of motherhood!! We had a few friends celebrate her birthday at the Children's Museum in the Shore Mall, and then we had a party for her at Grandma and Grandpa's Dairy Queen!

YES, I made this cake!! It took 10 weeks of cake decorating class and 12 hours of baking and decorating. If anyone needs a cake, let me know....I want to make more, but I don't have any more occassions coming up. I'm serious. (Oh, and tinkerbell is missing her eyelashes...I took the picture before I added them).

Gianna's birthday present from Mom and Dad. She wanted to take the training wheels off the first day....that's my overachiever!

Bet you didn't know Dairy Queen had roller-service....thanks to Gianna's birthday present from Grammy and Pop Pop.

More birthday pictures...Click if you need to enlarge them.

Easter Pictures

The girl's Easter pictures





Here are some additional Easter pictures...Click if you need to enlarge.

Swimming lessons

Gianna and Ainsley are continuing their swimming lessons at Miss Cate's Swim School. Gianna was swimming so good, and then when we got to Disney, she was afraid to go into the water without a life jacket, and she acted like she forgot how to swim. I talked to the instructor and thought that maybe Gianna was only comfortable in Miss Cate's pool and only with her. So the instructor had Gianna just swim back and forth almost the entire lesson to build confidence. I can tell a big difference now and she doesn't look to the instructor to be right by her side.

Ainsley is also taking lessons. She can "swim" underwater and come up without coughing. This is because the instructor has taught her to anticipate that she is going to go under the water and she takes a deep breath, then she blows bubbles underwater. When she comes up, she takes another deep breath. Its amazing that a baby can learn that. The instructor also teaches her to "fall" into the water by playing Humpty Dumpty and also try to roll onto her back. Ainsley is doing so good with it.

Here are a few videos...

Disney Vacation

Kevin and I decided to take the kids on a spontaneous trip to Disney after receiving a really good Disney deal and being able to find cheap airfare on a few weeks notice. We were just there in November, and the kids were both sick with ear infections, so this was going to be our "do-over" trip....well, it ended up being even worse: stomach virus!!!

Gianna's school called me on Friday 3/6 and told me she was throwing up. Since we were leaving on Sunday 3/8, I was not happy. She seemed fine the rest of Friday, until the evening hit and she spiked a fever over 104 degrees!! Sunday came and she seemed to be over it. We left for the airport at 8:00am and on the way there, Ainsley started puking. I think I had a panic attack just then. She continued to throw up all through security, and the officers gave us a hard time about taking the plastic bag full of puke through the metal detectors. So, luckily, Ainsley seemed to be acting better after puking in security. Then about half way through the flight - Gianna throws up. Then on the bus to the hotel, Ainsley throws up....and then Ainsley continued to throw up for the rest of our 6 day vacation!! (And I didn't even touch on the diarrhea in this posting - or the fact that Kevin and I were both out of commission for an entire day with stomach pain and diarrhea).

Wednesday, 3/11 Kevin took Ainsley to the emergency room because we feared that after 4 days of vomiting and diarrhea that she may be dehydrated. Luckily she wasn't, and the doctors there gave us a prescription to stop the vomiting.

We did get to enjoy some of the vacation. On Monday we went to the Magic Kingdom, and even though Ainsley threw up during the parade, she seemed fine enough to stay for the fireworks. On Tuesday we attempted the Magic Kingdom again, but Ainsley threw up all over her stroller so we had to leave about 20 minutes after we arrived. Wednesday Ainsley went to the emergency room, they gave her some anti-vomiting medication and we spent the rest of the day in the Animal Kingdom. Thursday we made it a full day without vomit in Hollywood Studios and then another full day in the Magic Kingdom on Friday. Here are some pictures that we took from our eventful vacation....



Gianna got picked from the parade crowd to dance. Here's a video.

Ainsley Feeding Her Daddy

Our First Snowday

Here are pictures from The Blizzard of 09' Cape May County Style. That means slightly more than a dusting of snow, but not quite an inch. You may be able to make a snowman, but it will be half snow, half dirt, with leaves sticking out of it and take up all the snow in your yard. If you live in Avalon, you won't even know it snowed unless you are special enough to have a front lawn or a blacktop driveway. Otherwise, it blends in with the pavement. Two or more inches of snow in Cape May County usually results in missed days of school and pandemonium.


Gianna is catching snowflakes on her tongue!



Daddy pulling Gianna and Ainsley on their new $2 sleds from Acme with Grandpa's extension cord.


Writing in the snow.



Ainsley sliding off the sled.


Our girls on the sled.

Gianna's version of The theme song to Hannah Montana! (Of course, if Miley Cyrus struck this pose, she'd end up in the headlines again..)

And...Gianna's practicing for a future in talk TV.

Happy Holidays!

Wow! Its been over a month since I last posted. That is a record for me...seems I've been spending all my time on Facebook. (For those of you on Facebook, you know what I mean...)

On December 16th, Gianna had surgery to place tubes in her ears. She has had ear infections constantly for the past 3 years and we are optimistic that this is the answer. The very next day she came down with a really bad cold and did not get an ear infection, which is a miracle. Ainsley, on the other hand, has had 5 ear infections since June...2 in November and 2 in December. The ENT is reluctant to put tubes in so soon, and wants to give her two more months to see if the fluid clears up.

Christmas was great. We spent Christmas Eve in Saddle Brook with family, and Christmas Day traveling between Carman and Lois and Rick and Lois. It was a hectic day, but fun! At one point it seemed that the presents were never going to end. The after-Christmas clean up is not going so well.

Gianna's big gift this year was her Geotrax Air Set. Unfortunately, Santa was at the firehouse at 2am looking for AAA batteries, while Mrs Claus frantically searched all the electronics in the house. Luckily, handheld solitaire and handheld sudoku required the same amount of AAA as Geotrax. Her other gifts included an electronic globe (for her facination with Earth), a ton of High School Musical items, which she loved, a Play-doh ice cream shoppe, Leap Frog Tag system, and games for her leapster...oh, and an mp3 player so I can have mine back (yes! she is only 3).

Ainsley got a train, a ride on pony that interacts with the TV, a musical zoo that she loves, a shopping cart, and a waterslide bath toy that is really neat.

I got a really nice digital picture frame from Kevin, and I got the same frame from my mom. I traded the frame for my most favorite gift of all - the new Keurig One Cup coffee maker (for dummies). It uses the little cup of coffee so you can't screw it up. Even Gianna made me a cup of coffee this morning! Kevin got a charger valet to contain all of his electronics, and an atomic timekeeping watch. I get him that every year because they don't seem to last very long.

Unfortunately, Santa forgot to fill Snickers stocking this year, but I don't think she was upset about it.

Here are a few highlights of our holiday, and as always, a slideshow of pictures. I always enjoy reading the comments and guest book, so don't forget to sign it!

Gianna's Christmas Play at Happy Day Nursery School.

Santa visited our house on a Firetruck!!

Gianna checks her stocking on Christmas morning.

Ainsley opening a present on Christmas morning.

Apparently Christmas was too much to handle for some of us.

Gianna and Ainsley's new present from Grandma.

Here are pictures from our Disney vacation. We had a great time, despite the freezing cold weather and sick kids. Gianna had an ear infection and a cold that had not cleared up with the first round of antibiotics, so she started her second round of antibiotics the day before we left (antibiotics make her crazy, so that was fun to deal with in Disney). After about 24 hours of being in Florida, Ainsley broke out with a 102 fever and screaming ear pain. The pediatrician was kind enough to call in antibiotics without examining her and she improved within 24 hours.



The weather during the first week was in the 60s. I had to keep doing laundry since we only brought shorts and t-shirts. We even bought sweatshirts while we were in Disney. There were only 2 days at the end of our 10 day trip that were warm enough to go swimming, so Gianna was disappointed. And of course, we had to walk past the pool to get to our room.

New Video of Gianna Swimming

Gianna is making so much progress in her swimming lessons, even though she says she doesn't like it and fights me on going. Here's a video of her diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve diving rings. It's only about a 3 foot pool, but nevertheless, I was impressed. The video is grainy and blurry since I took it with my cell phone.

Halloween

Gianna had fun Trick-or-treating, but she has no idea that I threw away all the candy...well, at least everything that didn't have chocolate and peanut butter!










Take a look at some more pictures from Halloween and the Pumpkin Patch.

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from October.

Gianna and Ainsley are best friends. I find them in Gianna's room reading books and listening to CDs together. Ainsley absolutely idolizes Gianna and copies everything she does...good and bad! Here are some pictures of them from today playing dress up together.

(Love Ainsley trying to put the necklace on her foot)

Ainsley's First Steps

Ainsley definately did not beat her sister's record of walking at 10 months, but exactly 1 week after her first birthday, she takes her first steps!! Yesterday she finally took her first step ever, and today she's walking across the room. Since I've been chasing her around for months, and she's been piling up toys to build a ladder to climb up on the table, the only difference between Ainsley crawling and Ainsley walking is dirty socks instead of dirty knees!!

Here is a video of Ainsley enjoying her birthday gift from her Godmother, Tara! On the flip side of comparing my kids, Gianna did not do nearly as well with the power wheels she got for her first birthday.

Ainsley's One!

AINSLEY IS ONE!!!



Here's some more pictures from Ainsley's birthday party.

Here are Ainsley's pictures from Kiddie Kandids.

Swimming Lessons

Gianna has been enrolled in swimming lessons since May. When we first started, I thought about pulling her out because it didn't go so well (kind of like dance school last year, only in a pool). During the first few lessons she was averaging about 5 minutes in the pool and spent the rest of the time kicking and screaming....hard to believe with Gianna, I know.

Now she is nearly swimming solo. She has a new swim teacher that has been very firm with her and Gianna has been receptive. Here's a few videos from her last swimming session.

Gianna's First Day of Dance

Gianna started dance class....again. I say again because we tried this last year and it was a disaster. She lasted three or four classes and everyone one of them involved Gianna laying on the floor kicking and screaming while all the kids danced over her. Hopefully this time will be different. It's a difference dance studio that is more relaxed and less competitive than the one she attended last year.

The teacher left the door open the first class, and I think Gianna felt comfortable knowing I was right there. However, next week the door will be closed, so we will see how she does.

Here are some pictures from the first day.

After the excitement of the summer in Avalon, we decided to take a little vacation to Ocean City, MD before Gianna goes back to school to relax and get Kevin far far away from work.



Here are a few highlights of our trip.

Gianna and Ainsley's first trip across the Delaware Bay on the Cape May Lewes Ferry.



Gianna and Ainsley with Daddy on the beach. The water was really rough in the days before Tropical Storm Hanna.


The Scarpa family's first Surrey ride. If you have plans to try out a surrey, DON'T! Unless it's snowing, because you'll sweat your butt off, and it's a lot of work and a little fun. Plus, Kevin was such a bad driver.


Gianna loved the pool at the hotel. She is getting very comfortable in the water, especially with her water wings. She's taking swimming lessons and getting really good at swimming underwater.


Gianna took her first solo roller coaster ride...literally. There was nobody at the park at that time, and she got to go on her first coaster without an adult. She was a little nervous and declined a second ride.


Click here to see more photos from Ocean City, MD.

Tennis Camp

Here is a video from Gianna's tennis camp.

Ainsley takes her first steps with the assistance of her walker.