And So It Begins...Giada's Nursery

Christmas is over and the New Year is amongst us. I kept telling myself as soon as Christmas is over I will begin the nursery. So here I sit, eager, anxious, overwhelmed and confused. I know what I like, I know what I want but somehow I can still go so many different ways. I have spent numerous hours on my ipad searching and sifting through images of nurseries, blogs featuring nurseries, etsy, pottery barn, you name it. With each website I visit I fall in love with something else, my mind is stirring like crazy! I just want to start! So we did. Yesterday we headed to Pleasanton to do some damage at Pottery Barn Kids and a little shopping for us of course! We spent the majority of the time in Pottery Barn Kids registering and purchasing. I am pleased to announce Giada has her first pieces of furniture; her crib, dresser, and changing tray...and oh is it sweet! I can hardly wait until it is delivered and set up, it so so girly and feminine with antique detailing, exactly what I had in mind! I fell in love with bedding, lamps, dolls, you name it so of course we left the store with some goodies in hand too! My wonderfull in-laws joined us and we had a wonderful day shopping and eating. I will keep updating as I go along, it will be a process and will consume our time (when not at baseball games) until she is here! This afternoon we are hitting Home Goods for some one of a kind of finds and Lowes to purchase the paint for the walls! Stay tuned...let the madness begin!
Hugs, Annie and Jason

A Joyful Christmas

As always my Christmas was wonderful. This is our 4th Christmas together and we are starting to get in the swing of things, keeping up with old traditions while adding some of our own. I can only imagine what next year will bring when Giada joins us! We did our traditional Christmas Eve at Grandma Papi's. Ken dressed up in his Santa suit and entertained the kids (maybe the adults more). Ann put together a Christmas show for the girls and they entertained us with their renditions of "Jingle Bells,""Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," and even threw in a little Taylor Swift. The boys jumped in the show too, until they realized all eyes were on them, then Luke would just stand and stare...so cute! We filled up on sandwiches, chicken, salads and yummy desserts, opened presents and laughed the night away. Christmas morning was at our house with my mom, Don, Emily and Derek. We opened presents and ate a wonderful Christmas breakfast. It was a moring shared with laughter and joy. We talked a lot about what Christmas will be like next year, this was my favorite part. I love thinking about Giada being here, establishing new traditions; doing the things I did with my mom and dad during the holidays. After we finished breakfast we headed over to Michelle's house to open gifts with Ken, Peg and Michelle, the laughter followed us there. We stretched our gift opening out into hours because we were having so much fun talking, listening to Christmas music and laughing. We rushed from there to Stan and Margo's to meet back up with all the Papi's and my sister. Dinner was incredible, prime rib and salmon, cooked to perfecion as always. The kids played "Just Dance 3" on the Wii and we sat around chatting for hours. Katie and Travis shared the exciting news that they are expecting their 3rd bundle of joy in July! So happy for them and excited that Giada will have a cousin so close to her in age. Can't wait to find out if it is a boy or girl! It was the perfect end to a perfect two days celebrating CHRISTmas together. So much joy is felt amongst those we love and care about the most. Jason and I were so blessed this Christmas; with our number one blessing being LOVE, from family, friends, and above all Christ. We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas Eve Show! Logan
Hannah

Our Entertainers

Hannah wanted her mommy to join the show too!

This was Luke's immediate reaction to Santa walking in the door...

Santa Clause (aka Ken Papi)

Santa giving the kids love

My In-Laws, Mr. and Mrs. Clause

Lincoln modeling his new Raider gear

Hannah modeling her new pink jacket...she's a natural!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Morning at our house

My sissy and mom

Derek!

My mom and Don

Merry Christmas

My only picture from Christmas night, too busy chatting! Luke playing Just Dance 3! His shirt says "Big Brother"

Love, Annie and J

Our Christmas Card

I didn't order enough Christmas cards this year so I wanted to share it with everyone anyway. Please accept my apology if you didn't get one this year, I just went down the list and when I ran out, I ran out. I will make it up to you next year! I didn't do it on the computer so I couldn't upload it, I had to go the ghetto way and take a picture of the card. It will do. Merry Christmas to all of you. Enjoy this time with your loved ones, the holidays go so quick! We are looking forward to next Christmas when those pink Toms will be filled with our precious package, Miss Giada Rose! Love to you all!

Cindy Lane

On Monday we walked Cindy Lane with the Costa's. We met at Round Table for some pizza and then headed over to enjoy the christmas lights! Heather and Jamie brought the wagon for the kids to ride in and we all bundled up for some Christmas festivities! It was such a fun night laughing with friends and seeing the lights through the kids eyes. This is a new holiday tradition! Until next year (with Giada!)...

Brady sipping his hot chocolate, McKenzie all bundled
Wow! We got Brady looking at the Camera!
My sweet Heather, love her!

Merry Christmas, Annie and J

Christmas Tree Lane

We hit Christmas Tree Lane on the first walk night of the year. We grabbed our Starbucks and headed over. We didn't start our walk until 9:00 which worked out perfect because the big crowd was on their way out! We had a wonderful time with Emily and Derek and put ourselves in the Christmas Spirit!

Me and EmilyDerek and Emily

Merry Christmas!

The Papi's

Thankful

This past Thanksgiving we had so much to celebrate and be thankful for. Our family, friends, jobs, home, love, and our baby on the way. We had a relaxing day watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, eating lunch at my Dad's and dinner and dessert at Stan and Margo's. Stan and Margo always do such a nice Thanksgiving dinner at their house and their is nothing better than spending time with those you love, watching the cousins play and giggle. My sister joined us which always makes my holidays complete. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving spent counting their many blessings and loving on their family!

Hannah girl being her goofy self... Love this man with my whole heart

My Beautiful Sister

Lincoln and Jason (somehow they are always color coordinated on Thanksgiving)

Hugs, Annie and Jason

Time to share the news with friends...

After revealing the news to our family we wanted to share with our friends that we hold near and dear to our heart. We had more cupcakes made, packaged individually and had a great time driving around delivering them to our friends' doorsteps. I sent them a little text to let them know they had a sweet surprise with a little revealing inside! It was so much fun and we wanted to share the news with our friends in a special way. Thank you for coming along side us on this journey and blessing us with your encouragement, advice and prayers! We love you and Giada is so lucky to have each and everyone of you in her life!

The cupcake with the pink filling!

After we delivered our cupcakes we headed to Pauletta's for dinner and Giada got her first gifts!

Hugs, Annie and Jason

Sugar and Spice and All Things NICE!

In November we found out that we are expecting a sweet baby GIRL! I could not be more excited to play dress up. I dream of big bows and tutus when I close my eyes at night! But beyond that, that which every girl dreams of, I feel incredibly lucky to be having a daughter. Growing up I cherished the time I spent with my mom, the late night talks, the shopping trips, being my nurse when I was sick, the advice, the fights, and everything in between. There are still days and times when I might break down and cry and all I can say is, "I want my mom." There is no one that can make you feel quite as good, or calm you down as much as your mom. I can't wait to share this with my daughter. AND I can't WAIT to watch Jason with his baby girl! Yes, Jason is all boy, lives for coaching baseball, loves any and all sports. BUT, those of you who have seen him with little girls know he HAD to have one and that his life as he knows it is over! She will have her daddy's heart the moment he sees her, actually she already does. I was a daddy's girl, I loved my daddy, I know our sweet Giada (yes, we already have her named) will be the same way! After we left the doctor's office we were so excited, we couldn't wait to tell so we planned our revealing party! We called our family to invite them over for some pizza and the big news! We hit Frosted to order some cupcakes with pink filling and headed home to get set. We had a wonderful night of celebrating with our family. I loved watching them all come in and mark their guess as a boy, I was dying inside! The majority thought we were having a boy! Thank you to our family who were just as excited about the news as we were, you mean the world to us and we can't wait for Giada to meet all her wonderful grandparents, aunties and uncles, and cousins! Giada Rose: We are so excited to meet you. I dream about you every day, what you will look like, what you will sound like, things you will love, things you will hate, what hobbies you will have and how much joy you will bring to our lives. We love you so much, all 9 ounces of you! (that is how big you are right now). Here are some fun pictures...

Logan wanted "pink" and she was one of the few who were right!Katie wore her blue, Logan her pinkOur first name initials, M (won't tell what it is) for a boy and G for GiadaThe votes are in and as you can see the majority thought BOY...I think 18 to 6

My sissy (who is so excited for a girl) and DerekMe, Katie and Annie (we missed you Lisa)...two amazing women Giada will have in her life!Me and my sissy, hope Giada will be as lucky as me and Jason in the siblings department!All the men whose hearts Giada will melt...All the amazing role models Giada will have...My Dad...excited for his first grandchild!My mother in law about to take her first bite to see pink or blue?Sissy, why do you look so guilty? Could it be that you cheated?! :)My mom was just a tad excited to see the pink!Here is the video of when everyone took their first bite into the cupcakes, watch my mom, it's hilarious!

Hugs, Annie and Jason