Once Upon A Dream

Our cup runneth over......
A sincere thank you to everyone who had a hand in our warm send-off!
xoxoxoxo

We are extremely busy doing lots of fun things...mostly everyday things, but why can't that be fun! Here are some of the highlights of the week so far....
Dance class and yogurt on Monday....

The girls played at Gianna's house on Tuesday. The older girls played a really fun Wizard of Oz game....and Gillian decided that she liked Gianna's toddler bed. Gianna stayed at our house for a little while tonight. The girls had a fun bubble bath, and then watched a Christmas special with popcorn. This was Gillian eating her first popcorn! yeah....

Play time at the Pizzolo house today! Justin and Alyssa stopped over, and Gillian adopted Justin as a big brother. She was really following him around like a little puppy. Gabby and Justin have been in the nursery at church together since they were born...(Justin is a little older).

Our annual breakfast....It was so cute to see all the babies with Santa....and guess what...Nobody cried! Even Grammy treated everyone to a ride on the train. The girls were all waving and yelling, "Bye".....like they were boarding the Polar Express! We were going to stay and get our official pictures with Santa, but the line was way too long. I guess we will have to go back during the week.

Here are our two cuties from this morning. xoxo

Things are starting to be put into boxes.....mostly little girls. They think that all this packing is one big game! Dave put Gillian into the drawer...notice she put one of Gabby's shoes on her foot.

Gabby had one of her last days of gymnastics at Nesho's with Ms. Kina. She has loved the time that she has spent there. Here are some action shots of her during class.

The girls got two surprises today....
1. Christmas cards from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Cathy with stickers....They put the stickers to good use immediately. Gabby decorated herself, and Gillian decorated all the wrapped presents under the tree.
2. We got surprises from Meghan, Frank, Sophia, and Michael Varrati in Pittsburgh....Lots of fun crafts....xoxoxo! Thanks guys!

We took a family trip into the city last night to see the Rockefeller tree and visit the Penny Harvest display. The tree looked gorgeous....and was covered with red, blue, and green lights. the pictures don't do it justice. Then we saw the Penny Harvest display. It was amazing. The Penny Harvest is an oganization that was started a few years ago. The children in NYC schools collect and donate penny's. This year, the pennies were displayed near the tree. There were 100 Million pennies in this display, and it took up 1 city block! It was amazing! Gabby collected pennies from home, Aunt Lena, Uncle Tony, Isabella, Grammy, Grampy, Aunt Mandy, and Uncle Steve. She loved the display and wanted to jump into it. We also stopped at the Disney Store on 5th Ave, and there is a picture of the babies singing Christmas carols on the way home...

You can see better pictures of the penny harvest at www.commoncents.org

We got together at Grammy's house last night. We were celebrating my 33rd bday....(it is really on Tuesday). The girls were all in crazy moods. They were running around dancing on the piano....and they didn't want to take a group picture. They were silly all night.

Ally came over to play today. The girls exchanged gifts, and Ally gave Gabby a stationary set with photo album/diary/notecards...etc. They are planning to be Pen Pals. They would have been in kindergarten together next year at PS 41. They have been in dance class together for 3 years. Gabby cried when Ally had to go home today. I think the move is finally starting to sink in.....

Gabby had her last dance class at Dance Xpress last night. She is going to miss all of her teachers...especially Miss Alli (who she has been with for 3 years). We have had so many good times at Dance Xpress and made so many wonderful friends.

Miss Alli and Ceil (Miss Alli's mom) - xoxoxoxoxo

Miss Linda and Miss Heather

We had more packages arrive from afar today! Granddaddy and Nana Karen sent American Girl Dolls....Gillian put hers in her new shopping cart (from Gianna) and pushed the baby around all day! One picture shows the girls kissing the dolls! They love them!

They also got a couple of boxes full of goodies and presents from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Cathy! There were so many gifts inside that we cannot possibly list them all. Here are some highlights! The girls were busy playing with all these new toys all day! Gillian really loved the baby bottles to go with her dolls, and Gabby loved the Jasmine barbie doll and stickers with her name on them!

I didn't cut these heads perfectly, but this is so funny.

Grammy and Santa showed up to do a little jingle with the girls....

Aunt Mandy and Uncle Steve gave Gabby and Gillian their presents today....and they were a big hit! Thanks so much!

The children at our church did a Christmas presentation this past weekend. The babies, including Gillian, dressed like angels and gave candy canes to all the people. Gabby took part in a short play. She had a few lines to say along with everyone else, and they sang about 5 Christmas carols. It was cute, and she did great! She took a picture with our worship leader, Nick, at the end of the service. Nick is a great musician....and a great guy! Check out one of his old videos from the 60's....peace!

Here is a re-cap of how we spent Christmas Eve. Dave had to work from 7am until 5pm. We had Grammy, Grampy, Grandma Wiggins, Lena, Tony, and Isabella over for a big meal at lunch time. It was so much fun! The girls just had fun playing together and eating....lots...of cookies, etc. Instead of place settings, we made little angels (completely edible) that looked like each girl. Gabby's is featured...with pigtails. When it was time for Isabella to go home, we went outside and sprinkled the reindeer dust that MeMe sent to us. We came in and waited for Dave to get home. The girls were excited for Christmas to be here. They picked out a special treat for Santa/reindeer and wrote some letters to him. Then we sat around the Christmas tree and read "The night before Christmas" and then Luke (chapter 2). We let the girls light candles because they missed out on this at our candlelight service. It went over so well that I think we will make it a Christmas Eve tradition.

Today was spent at Grammy and Grampy's house....Here are some pictures from the day...
Don't miss the three cookie monsters at the bottom!

We have been so busy the last couple days...packing and partying! The following are a few funny highlights...
1) The Horse/Zebra/Bike Race
2) Chelsea Playground with Ally and Andrew
3) First Wishbone (from a cornish hen....so tiny) - Gabby won!
4) Sweaters from Aunt Pat - thanks! xoxo

We took a very fast trip to St. Marys for our family Christmas celebration. We opened a lot more presents and had a lot more fun! The party started at Meme and Papa's and then moved to Aunt Nicole's house. We are posting a video tomorrow with a lot of pictures from Aunt Nic's house. Gillian had her first hair cut (from Melinda of course). She needed the back of her hair to be evened out because she was starting to get one long curly tail in the back. Later that night we had a surprise visit from Uncle Chris (from Ohio) who was staying with Uncle Tim. There will also be a picture of Uncle Chris and Gabby in the video tomorrow!