Halloween and stuff

Hello Again. Things are still going well for the Roggia Fam here in VA.
Since last week, Ellie is even more 2. Seth is getting more and more
vocal and active... and more and more adorable. Adam is doing great
in school. I am having fun at home and developing my running. Life
is busy for us (well mostly for Adam), but pretty good.  

Ellie adores getting messy and causing trouble. We had
a few rainy days the last couple of weeks, which made her
as happy as can be. 

 

A quick shot of my handsome husband while the men were out working
in the yard and brush one afternoon.

Ellie helped by torturing Tucker, who is totally freaked out by brooms.
Not much gives her more pleasure than making the dogs crazy. 

He's still pretty nice to her though. He lets her "ride" him
frequently. She always talks about "ridin". The girl loves horses.
We even walked over to a neighbor's the other day to say hi
to some. They are all over our neighborhood. We love it.
I just need to get some pictures. 

The current residence. We are thankful to Grandma and Grandpa
for letting us continue to crash with them while we finish school.

Halloween! Ellie was a monkey... seemed fitting. 

She had a blast at the church Trunk or Treat and Party.
It took her NO time to learn to say "trick or treat" and get
into the groove. She LOVED the whole thing. 

Mr. Rocco got to be a cute little penguin. All the little girls at church
adored him. He's a sweet boy.

 Ellie checking out her stash. She made out pretty well.

Then we celebrated Grandma's birthday with some
yummy German Chocolate Cake... as always!
Happy Birthday Grandma. We LOVE YOU!
(And Happy Birthday to Uncle Jake, of course).

Then Ellie had to take multiple turns blowing out the candles herself
before finally realizing the cake was even more fun to eat.

The boys, in the usual, overly-relaxed positions.

The kiddos love to crash Grandpa's bed.

This girl is pure craziness. I love it.

Seth is somehow starting to look more and more like the Garner side.
His head suddenly turned square-ish, it seems.

He ADORES all attention. He will just sit and laugh and talk to you
for the longest time. He is such a cute little guy.

A girl after my own heart. She frequently chooses to watch
Calamity Jane lately. I love it. 

And just looking cute in a new coat. 

Long Time, No Blog

So yeah, it's been a while. First excuse, we moved. Second
excuse, our first attempt at getting internet service failed.
Thrid excuse, I got used to not having internet and was
less than eager to get back and catch up on things.
But, I'm back. It's taken like 3 days just to go through the
pictures and choose which ones to post, then actually get
them up. Life is always crazy.

Here is our little Seth shortly before we moved, so about a
month and a half old.

He had to cry himself to sleep one day that week while
I was stuck helping Ellie with something. But I was
relieved to walk in and find that he was smiling anyway.

Then here he is at about 9 weeks. Can't believe how quickly
they grow and change. You know it's coming, but it still
surprises you sometimes. He is such a happy boy most
of the time. We adore his laughs and smiles.

Ellie loves having more of a yard, and therefore more time
outside "bouncing". We do it multiple times a day.

Mr. Rocco trying out jacket weather.

Ellie is better at smiling for pictures on command now.

The men lounging.

Ellie fell asleep watching a movie on the laptop one week
after church. That girl wears herself out.

She also loves "ridin". On Tucker, or horses, or daddies.

She loved having cousin Izzie visit. But what were these
girls intently watching together?

Football, or course!

Ellie still does really well with Seth. She likes
to hold him and pat or tickle him. He always
smiles and tries to talk to her. They are cute together.

Ellie plays with all my old Barbies, or "pretties" as she calls
them. She loves to line them up all around the house.

The little goof boy.

Our two kiddos. Love this picture. I just
wish Seth was in focus a little better. Oh well.

For the Italian side, Ellie keeps going into the
pantry and bringing me the olive oil and a cup,
asking for a drink of "juice".

She also went potty on the toilet for the first time recently!
Far from trained, but every little success helps.

Both our kids have Adam's long, curled eyelashes... I am
way too jealous of that feature.

Our girl smiling after church last week. PS-she got
kicked out of nursery her first time this week at church.
She... uh... prefers not to listen to the leaders. Not that
it is much different than home. She is a very belligerent
2-year-old. I'm hoping she will catch on to the discipline
stuff before too long. Just trying to be patient for now.
Luckily, she is always very entertaining, and still very
cute and sweet... when she wants to be.

My men chilling again. Seth is amazingly strong. He started
rolling over from tummy to back at like 8 weeks. Crazy kid.

I had to buy Seth a winter hat already so I wouldn't feel bad
taking him out for runs in the stroller. It's a little big, but cute!

I've been running lots, not always with the stroller, but
at least a couple times a week with it. Luckily, the kiddos
do pretty well. Ellie mostly sleeps, and Seth watches me for
at least the first half before going to sleep as well. It's nice
that they enjoy it.

This is my view while I run. A cute little man, and a sleepy
redhead.

Ellie was barely awake after the run, but still wanted to
play outside in the yard.

And finish her snack, of course.

Seth is so big now. He eats like a madman
sometimes and talks more and more all the time.
He's also a pretty good sleeper... amazing compared
to how Ellie always was as a baby. What a relief.

He is 12 weeks old today... wow!

Goofing off... a regular occurrence.

Quality sleep time on Grandma.

Ellie's favorite part of moving: packing paper.

We Made It!

That's right... we made it. We survived 2 years of Ellie!

Just kidding, we ADORE our spunky little redhead. She is just
a little intense... but at the same time, amazingly fun
and sweet and smart. We had a fun birthday weekend with
her about a week ago.

She was excited when she went to the mailbox with
me one day and was told that there was mail just for her!
Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Roggia... she loves the card!

Of course, a birthday for Ellie right now means a new dress.
She looked especially cute in this one, and of course needed
to spend some time out on the trampoline... it was her day.

Homemade mac and cheese made for the perfect birthday dinner.
And, as evidenced on her face... bread with butter for an appetizer.
Dang girl loves butter. Yikes.

We were busy and lazy this year, so we let her choose a cake
at the store... not the prettiest thing ever... but it was bright...
and had balloons on it... perfect for Ellie.

We always talk about how Ellie does everything with purpose
and gusto... eating birthday cake was no exception. Thick frosting
and all... she downed her piece pretty quickly. And yes, those
are Toy Story Plates.... she LOVES Buzz Lightyear.

She got her new dresses and nightgowns (cause even night time
requires a pretty dress), an art easel from Mom and Dad, and a
pretty doll bed for her babies from Gma and Gpa Garner (but
she still seems to think it was made for her).

My men... enjoying the festivities.

Leftover cake... mmmm.

One of her pretty new nighttime dresses.

Quick shot of the Seth... I didn't take many of
his this past week... oops. I'll do better next post.

Ellie loves to hold Seth and takes care of him all the time. We
are so impressed with her big sister skills. Such a good girl. They
both had checkups this week and were big and healthy... Ellie
a strong 31 lbs, and Seth at 10 lb 7 oz already... quite a good
weight gain in his 6 weeks of life.... he eats A TON!