walks with grammy, pe-paw, aunt sara, and gingy

we love meeting pete's parents+sis+pooch for walks!  i'm snap-happy with jack as my subject:

costanzo family christmas!

picture heavy - sorry!

 cuddling baby dino :)

 present time!

  with the 2nd cousins:

 paper fight!!!

christmas eve, eve!

sunset

we spent a lovely day hanging out today!  jack and gran made cookies, pete and i spent some time organizing christmas stuffs, we made some hand-dipped apricots and a christmas craft for grammy and pi-paw, and watched some christmas shows.  it was so nice and relaxing!  i am SUPER excited for tomorrow and christmas morning!  tomorrow we'll spend the day with grammy, pi-paw, aunt sara, and ginger, taking a nice winter walk, eating crab, and sharing the spirit.  when we get home we need to make santa's cookies and we'll enjoy a fire (to warm up the chimney!) and read 'twas the night before christmas.  we'll open our 'christmas eve' presents (standard pjs!) and snuggle for the night.  the excitement is building 'round here, with the elf on the shelf, christmas carols, christmas books and decor, jack is getting PUMPED for santa to come!  looking forward to the weekend and wishing everyone a very merry christmas!!

pj day at preschool!

the last day before vacation was pj day at jack's preschool - the kids looked so cute in their pjs and were even more adorable singing christmas carols at the end of their day!

i SO need a zoom lens.
if i stepped any closer, jack would've stopped singing!

candy cane lane.

we love driving through this neighborhood in vacaville each year!

excited jack in his pjs

most of the houses have at least this many lights

jack liked the stables

pregnancy update!

we're 36 weeks and three days along!!!  it's unbelievable how fast this pregnancy has flown by!

we got to see our precious bundle yesterday and it was so exciting :).  with jack, the only ultrasounds i had were up to the 20 week one because we didn't want to know the sex. until now, it's been the same with this little one.  other mommies get to see their babies a lot more than we do, usually, but i still think the suprise is well worth it the suspense!  let me tell you, this babe is CUTE!  i know everyone says that, but really, he/she's so adorable.  looking just like little jack, with maybe more my lips.  dr. le offered up the sex, and even though we wanted to know SO.BAD, we didn't find out, pete kept his eyes closed (he has a knack for reading ultrasounds) and i stared intently at the screen to no avail (i'm horrible at reading ultrasounds!).  i need the inspo to try and get through labor in a month or less.

so excited over here!!

totally awkward belly pic:

christmas, check!

i think this is the first year EVER that i've been done for christmas before christmas eve!!  i actually finished everything, including wrapping, on the 7th.  that's because dr. le informed me on the 6th that if i go into labor (not likely, but still), they woudn't stop it and we'd have our new baby!  so exciting, but it really kicked me into gear on the christmas thing!  i immediately ran to purchase the remaining items on my list, picked up the final crafting things, and grabbed some baking stuffs.  home i went where i finished diy gifts and wrapped EVERYTHING.  and i am SO proud of my thoughtful gift-giving this year!  i can't WAIT until christmas morning 'round here!!

 now on to 'the list'.  i want to cook some food, clean the house, create a chore chart, and organize for visitors/helpers/guests for when the baby arrives.... and i still need to tackle a few things on that ever-growing, not-necessarily-baby-related, home to-do list!

but first, i think i'll bake some brownies ;).

happy 1st of december!

we have a LOT of advent-y stuff going on this year (three traditional candy-window ones, the tree on our mantel, a jar filled with activities, and an elf on the shelf!).  more about our daily happenings as the month goes on, for now, a little holiday decor (inside):

jack and i made these glittery branches in the vase.
it was so fun!  via.

he also helped with the waterless sno-globe!  via. 

he glittered the sign (behind all the chaos), 'merry & bright'

our dinning room is glittery red + gold
(with a few specks of green)

i picked up these carolers for $10 last year

and our mantel!
i absolutely love having a mantel!

our watch dog.

most people think of this when they think of a watch dog:

i will EAT you.

 buuuuuuut, we've got this:

"back it up, girlfriend, we don't do cats, squirrels, humans, or other dogs here.
mmmm, kay?  thaaaaank yoooooooou." -bailey

bailey (aka Ooooodle the Pooooodle) takes her job very seriously.  so seriously, i'm thinking of a way to block out the lower windows in the front of our house so she can't see the intruders (mainly cats, but she'll also bark at ANY person or dog walking by).  and then we have this one:

"what is that DOG doing?!?!  give it up, bailey!" - pepper
she thinks she's human.

pepper and bailey (despite the barking) are the very best dogs!  they are the sweetest dogs, cuddling with us and protecting us.  they deal with jack chasing them or trying to ride them.  as annoying as the security alerts are at times, we absolutely love these four-legged kids!

spending some time with baby dino.

our nephew/jack's cousin baby dino (real name anthony!), is so stinkin' cute!!  we spent a few hours yesterday holding, rocking, and staring at him - you know how you do that to a little one?  just in awe of laura and eric's little man!

jack is the BEST big cousin.  i'm pretty sure he's going to be the VERY BEST big bro.  he was so gentle and cuddly and interested -- he kissed, held, talked to, and pet baby dino.  i can't wait for our baby to get here - only 6 1/2 weeks!!!!

here are some pics from our morning - though you know there would've been more if i wasn't hogging all the holding :)!

jack was very proud of himself.  except the next picture i tried to take, he asked me to please leave them alone.  i guess the boys are already plotting some crazy boy antics :).  i think we're heading to see santa tomorrow - so, so fun!!

mallory and reese turn one!

what polka-dot, bounce-house, cake-bite fun!  mallory and reese turned one and had a big bash to celebrate!

jack + marley bee-lining for the bounce house

decorations and desserts:

i made the banner.

shannon spent FOREVER making 300 cake-bites!
they were delish and gorgeous!

shannon also spent some serious time on these dum-dum topiaries
i made the garland and poms.

cake time!

birthday princesses!
mallory (aka baby jimmy) and reese

proud parents shannon and jimmy giving the girls a hand

oblivious to the cakes, a flinestones foot race was going on:

marley

shoeless jackson

the kids partied hard!  it was impossible to get a picture of all of them...

riley, jack, marley
ava is back there somewhere

 mommy shannon partied a little harder (she really didn't, but she did gulp a bit after the long day!):

love this!