Time sure flies!!

We can't believe it's been over a year since Mommy has updated our blog! What is going on with that lady?!? Just because:

1) Mommy had surgery in January 2015
2) Our house flooded and we moved out for 3 weeks February-March (in which we went through 2 rounds of a stomach bug)
3) Emmy had surgery in March
4) Daddy interviewed in April for a promotion in IN and got it.
5) Celebrated Gianna's bday at Pump it Up,  then Daddy and Mommy flew to IN the next day to house hunt at the end of April.
6) Daddy and Mommy came home for less than 12 hrs then flew to Kauai for their 10yr anniversary in May.
7) Daddy started working in IN in May while Mommy started to get ready to move.
8) Gianna graduated from Preschool end of May.
9) We, ( 4 adults and 6 kids), flew to Indiana end of June (and survived with only 2 meltdowns, both of which were on the landings!!)
10) We went to the splash pad A LOT in July with Grandma and Grandpa so Mommy could unpack!
11) We celebrated Mommy's birthday in August and Gianna started Kindergarten
12) We celebrated our 3rd birthday with a few of our new friends in September
13) December still acclimating and organizing house. Also lost her power cord for her laptop during the move so wasn't able to write (type).

it doesn't mean that she can just drop the blog for a WHOLE year, right? WE finally had to learn how to type to help her out cause she is STILL recovering from a whirlwind year. Here are some pics to show you how much we've grown in the last year and our 3yr stats! Hard to believe we are 3 already.....AND potty trained!! We took our time with all the transitions that went on this past year. Once we moved to IN, Mommy was able to knock it out by the end of summer.
Ok, now that we are caught up (phew!), enjoy the pics (we had to squeeze in a year's worth....sorry!)

From Left: Addy, Riley, Emmy, Gabby, Cooper, and Gianna

Our house flooded Feb.13. Stayed at Embassy Suites for a few days until they got us into temporary housing.

Brotherly love =)

Thug sisters for life! (Emmy and Gabby)

Hanging out at the Fullerton Arboretum (Left: Cooper, Emmy, Gianna, Riley, Gabby, and Addy).

We ditched our table for boosters at the kitchen table!

Addy is so excited to be at a normal table!!

Easter
(John, Cooper, Gabby, Gianna, Addy, Emmy, Meryl, and Riley)

We celebrated Gianna's 5th birthday at home and at  Pump It Up!

            

Daddy and Mommy celebrated our 10yr anniversary by going to  Kuaui. It was a great way to get some R&R in before the whirlwind new job and move to Indiana.

We went zip lining on a drizzly day. Needless to say, we were the only ones on the tour which made it

even more fun to get one-on-one attention =)

Mommy celebrated her 10yrs of service with St. Jude Medical Center at a dinner held at the Nixon Library. 

We tried to squeeze in as many trips to the beach as we could before moving =)
(Top left: Riley, Gabby
Bottom left: Gianna, Addy)

We had our last hurrah at Ruby's on the pier in Huntington Beach.

Gianna's graduation from Preschool!

Gabby and Addy playing "choo-choo train" going down the slide.

Mommy's last day at work =(

She'll miss working with the staff at St. Jude's OPSC!

YAY! Another beach day! Ms. Robin joined us this trip.
Gabby, Cooper, Addy, Emmy, and Riley

Went to one of our favorite stompin' grounds, the carousel ride at SouthCoast Plaza with Ms. Alex and her sister Ms. Felicia. Cooper and Addy had to sit on the bench the first round cause they were afraid of the horses.

Super Man doesn't need no stinkin' horse!

Emmy- This is kinda fun!

Riley- I think I'm ready to get off now.

Gabby- I agree with Riley!

Riding the train at the Irvine Park with Ms. Robin.

The gang looking at the miniature ponies.

Future olympic equestrian =)

Yet another beach day! Mr. Don and Ms. Alex joined in on the fun that day.

We were invited to the opening of Billy Beez . Cooper pretending to be a chef.

They had a 6-person rainbow slide that was challenging to get all the kids in the pic at the same time!

Gianna got to meet Elsa (Disney Character) at her friend's birthday party.

           

We are off to Indiana!! (Riley and Gabby in their plane seats)

First time for the quints to go to a movie- Inside Out (our house was having it's carpets cleaned that day)

Splash pad down the street from our house on July 4th.We spent a lot of time there with our grandparents over the summer while Mommy unpacked the house and Daddy worked. 

Riley

Gabby getting doused by the multiple water sprays.

Addy

Emmy

Cooper

BEFORE

AFTER
First buzz cut for both boys

First day of Kindergarten for Gianna!

One of many group hugs at the bus stop.

   

                                                   

The "scooter gang" of the 317....lol

Play date with our neighbors Bralynn and Ellie (identical twins).

Water fun at the Indianapolis Children's Museum

We celebrated our 3rd birthday with a few of our new neighbor friends! Daddy and Mommy rented a bounce house for us.
We wanted to take our afternoon nap in there!

Fall fun at Stuckey Farms.

Emmy

Waiting at top of hill to go down a 100ft slide.

Addy and Gabby trying out their winter beanies.

Petting the animals at Connor Prairie

Mommy came through on her promise that everyone would go trick-or-treating this year!
Left: Addy-My Little Pony, Cooper- Superman, Gabby- Tinkerbell, Gianna- Hello Kitty
Emmy- Sofia the First, Riley- Superman

Addy in the ER after falling backwards down the staircase. She ended up with a neck sprain, although
you wouldn't be able to tell by that smile!

Our 3yr well check back in November!
Gabby: 27% wt, 30% ht/ Riley: 80% wt, 90% ht
Addy: 24% wt, 55% ht/ Cooper: 68% wt, 69% ht
            Last but not least.....little miss Emmy: 5% wt, 16% ht                   

Look what I got!

Cooper giving a group hug to Addy and Emmy. Riley trying to get in but too late.

Cooper trying to figure out how long it will take for Addy to fall asleep!

Addy hiding behind Emmy

Family pic at church

Addy

Emmy

Cooper

We didn't do anything!

We had so much fun spending time with our Uncle Arvin and Auntie Stephanie from Missouri =)

CHEEEEEEEEZE!

As we end this update, we wanna just say how disappointed we were that we didn't have a white Christmas our first Christmas in Indy. It's supposed to snow in a few days, so we'll see if we can start using our sleds!! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2016!!

Love,
GracePlusOne  =)

Our 2 yr check up!

We can't believe it's December already! Mommy can't believe it's been two months since she has updated everyone! Before we get down to our recent stats from our doctor's visit, let's go down memory lane from October.

We go to the park almost every day. Here is a pic of us eating our snack. Daddy took us to the park because Mommy was working that day and Gianna was at school.

Cooper, Emmy, Addy, Gabby, and Riley

Halloween was pretty uneventful for us. Mommy didn't want to keep us up past our bedtime to go trick-or-treating. But she promised we could go next year so we are holding her to it!! Gianna had a Harvest Parade at her preschool and dressed up as Belle. She has a blast walking around the courtyard to different classrooms to get goodies and treats! It was Gabby's turn to go out, so mommy brought her in a Halloween Hello Kitty shirt, but mommy forgot to get a picture of her  :(.

 Gianna also had a blast playing soccer this past fall for the first time. Daddy was confused as to why Gianna kept encouraging everyone to take their turn with the soccer ball instead of trying to get it in the goal herself. But by the end of the season, she got her goal in the last game. Mommy and Cooper cheered her on as she dribbled it from mid-field all the way to the goal and finished strong! As promised, if she had made a goal, we went for ice cream after the game  =) Way to go Team Turbo!!

Cooper with his SUPER beanie

Riley

 As the days started to
get cooler, Riley and Cooper started asking to wear their winter hats around the house. Here are a couple of pics of these two little cuties!

Against Mommy's wishes, we decided that WE wanted to start potty training! We don't know why Mommy is having a hard time with this concept. She helped Lola (our Mom's mom) potty train Gianna when she was on strict bedrest with us. So what's the big deal? Why can't we ALL use the potty at the same time? It's really hard for us when someone beats us to the potty and we have to wait til one frees up. We usually have already "gone" by the time we sit down. HOWEVER, Mommy is very proud that we all have gone on the potty at least a few times. Not consistently, but we make it to the potty every once in awhile. We think it's mostly because there are Skittles involved if we go "pee pee in the potty". We think we should be rewarded just for trying and give Mommy a REALLY hard time if we try and there is no candy.

Emmy- A girl's gotta wear her rainboots when trying to pee pee on the potty.

We finally went to see our Dr for our 2yr check up earlier this month. Mommy made our 3yr check up for Sept next year so that we are back on track! Gianna came with us for moral support (and her flu shot.)  Mommy gave us all lollipops prior to getting into the exam room so that we'd take our annual picture without crying. Addy didn't want to be there even with a lollipop and therefore let everyone know how she really felt about the outing.

Gabby, Riley, Gianna, Addy, Cooper, and Emmy

So without further a due, here are our stats! The percentage is us ranked with our peers (not adjusted age).

Gabby- Ht: 2 ft 9.75 ins. (33%)  Wt: 24 lbs 12 oz (16%) 

Likes: Mommy, mommy, mommy, and being hornery. Has a sweet side with siblings, but still likes to hang solo. Hates getting her hair fixed. Also loves sucking her thumb.

 

Riley- Ht: 3ft 1.50 ins. (97%) Wt: 29 lbs (53%)

Likes: Jumping from sofa to bean bag, playing with balls and Duplo blocks, and running down hills.

Addy-2 ft 11.50 ins. (78%) Wt: 24lbs 7 oz (13%)

Likes: Rough-housing with brothers and sisters, climbing up the gate, and "trying" to take care of Gabby and Emmy. Will tolerate getting her hair fixed occasionally.

Cooper- Ht: 3ft 0.50 ins. (87%)  Wt: 29lbs 4oz (56%)

Likes: Being a "big helper", watching "Thomas the Train", going in the car, and running down hills. Wants his hair fixed when girls get theirs done.

Emerson- Ht: 2ft 9 ins (17%) Wt: 22lbs 8oz (2%)

Likes: Playing with Gianna, climbing the outside of staircase, laughing like a "monster", and mommy, mommy, mommy. Loves getting her hair fixed.

We all got to go to Gianna's Christmas program. She did a great job with her speaking part and songs that she sang with her Duck class!

Gianna and Emmy went on a special lunch date with Mommy, Ms. Sheila, and her husband Mr. Mike.

We had a great time!

This is what has been going on lately with GRACE plus One =) We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Happy 2nd birthday Gabrielle, Riley, Addison, Cooper, and Emerson!

 It's been a busy few months for us! Mommy apologizes for not updating everyone for awhile!!

 So before we go into the details and pictures of our birthday, we will recap some of the highlights and one lowlight of August and September.

Gianna loves to go "camping"! So Daddy tries to take her camping in the backyard a few times a year. Here is one of those times =)

"I love CAMPING!"

Camping by the fire!

So here is the "lowlight"...Emerson has bilateral strabismus. In layman terms, lazy eye muscles in both eyes. Her eyes tend to drift when she isn't concentrating on anything or when she is tired. The pictures  were taken at our 1st visit to the pediatric ophthalmalogist back in August. She surprisingly did well for the initial 2 1/2 hr appt.

However, it progressed so fast in her left eye that we had to go back in September to get it checked out again. It's at the point where her left eye wanders even if she is focusing on something.

Our next visit is coming up in October to get accurate measurements for correction of the eye muscles in both eyes. Once we get those done (if she cooperates), we will book her surgery and hopefully have it done some time in November.

"This place isn't too bad...(as long as I have my sippy cup and lovie!)"

"Hmmm...what's behind that desk?"

"I think I'm going to take a little break before the Dr comes in".

Gianna started her first day of Pre-K at Mother's Day Out at our church preschool the 2nd week of August. She was super excited to go back this year and be in the Duck class! Can't believe it's her last year here!!

We went on vacation again at the end of August! We hadn't gone as a family since January. We had a blast and wanted to give a shout out to all the people that came down to spend some time with us in the pool! Thank you to Dadu (grandpa) and Lola (grandma) Baroi, Mr. Dick and Ms. Marianne Werschke, Ms. Kati and Chase Mitchell. We really appreciate you playing with us in the pool! Gianna was super excited because she was tall enough to ride the waterslide this year!

Daddy feeding us breakfast. Clockwise: Gianna, Cooper, Gabby, Emmy, Addy, and Riley

             

Pool time! Left: Gabby, John, Riley, Addy, Meryl
Front: Gianna, Cooper, and Emmy

First time ever we got to eat as a family! Clockwise: John, Emmy, Gabby,  Meryl (taking pic),  Addy, Gianna, Cooper, and Riley 

Big sis Gianna has been pretty active this summer as well! When she wasn't off to her ballet/tap dance class or playing soccer, she was designing "outfits" to wear and entertain us!

"Who is ready for Halloween, New Year's, or Mardi Gras?".....This girl is!!

Gianna's end of summer dance demonstration. They did a tap number. She is in middle.

Team Turbo warming up before a game!

 We took the kids to Disneyland for their 2nd birthday! It seemed like a HUGE undertaking, but Daddy and Mommy were pleasantly surprised how well it went and how much we enjoyed it (after crying the first minute of every ride). We got to wear our birthday buttons on our hats and hearing everyone wish us "Happy Birthday!" from ride to ride was pretty cool!!

Some of the rides we went on were Dumbo, Carousel, Small World, Jungle Cruise, and Winnie-the-Pooh. Not bad for only being there for 4hrs! But we ate the last hour so we got in 5 rides in 3 hours!! Daddy and Mommy brought us home and bathed us and put us to bed. Then they went back to the park with Gianna and rode the big people rides. We would like to give a GINORMOUS THANK YOU to everyone who made this day possible!! Grandpa and Grandma Ferraro, Mr. Javier and Ms. Arlene Lizarraga, Ms.Vicki Johns and granddaughter Lindsey, Mr. Steve and Ms. Karen Eckberg. Thank you so much for helping our Daddy and Mommy make this day such a fun one for us!

Left: (back): Riley, Emmy
Front: Cooper, Gabby, Gianna (as Belle), and Addy 

Small World (but nothing "small" about this entourage!)
1st Row: Meryl (forehead),  Riley, and Gianna (not seen)
2nd Row: Ms. Karen, Emmy, and Mr. Steve
3rd Row: Cooper, John, Lindsey
4th Row: Ms. Vicki, Addy, Grandma
Lol....finally bringing up the rear, 5th row: Grandpa and Gabby.
Need we mention that we took up the whole boat?!?

Riding ALL those rides sure makes us hungry and thirsty for pretzels, sippy cups, and frozen lemonades!!
Left: Riley, Gabby, Addy, Cooper, Emmy, and Gianna.

 Since we couldn't celebrate at Disneyland with everyone, Daddy and Mommy had a little birthday party for us. They even splurged a little and rented us a Sesame Street bounce house! We all went in it before the party with Daddy and Mommy to get warmed up (sorry no pics!). Emmy was NOT a fan at all!! Gianna, Addy, and Cooper had the most fun. But during the party, only Gianna went back in. We just wanted to eat at our picnic table!

"Happy Birthday to You...."

Cupcake time!!
Left: Addy, Cooper, and Emmy

Riley and Gabby loving the frosting!

Riley: "Why is everyone staring at me? Is there a booger in my nose?"

Addy: "I am the neatest eater here!"

Cooper: "Hey, don't judge...you'd look like this too if you only got to eat cupcakes on your birthday!!"

Finally....Daddy and Mommy wanted to give a little tribute about each of us even though it might be a little embarassing for us later! (The colored text represents our individual colors...aka "color coding").

Happy 2nd birthday Gabby! You are very mysterious and like to just hang out and do your own thing. You are very sweet with your sisters and brothers but have a very mischievous streak in you! And for some reason the most accident prone among your siblings!  We are still amazed how you helped Mommy by keeping all your brothers and sisters in utero as long as you did. We love you so much Gabs!

Happy 2nd birthday Riley! We can't believe how BIG you are! You are the friendliest of all your siblings always saying, "Hi!" to everyone and "Bye!" I know the trash truck, street sweeper, UPS truck, and FedEx truck drivers, and mailman appreciate your waves and greetings to them! We love you so much Bubbas!

Happy 2nd birthday Addy! Your spunk and athleticism totally rocks! We appreciate when you tell us who hit who. It really melts our hearts when we hear you sing to your sisters in your room. We still can't believe how you went from smallest to tallest and heaviest girl! We love you so much Ads!

Happy 2nd birthday Cooper! It is so humbling to see how much of a servant you are to your brothers and sisters! I think you've picked up as many "lovies" and sippy cups as Mommy has for your brothers and sisters! You are such a cuddler too! It's fun to watch cooking shows with you at night when you can't sleep. We love you so much Coop Coop!

Happy 2nd birthday Emmy! You are such a jokester and have an infectious laugh! Even though you are a "lap potato", you somehow are a dare devil and love furniture acrobatics! And the fact that you like to walk on your tip toes shows that you will love ballet/tap as much as your big sister Gianna does! We love you so much Ems!

Gianna, congratulations surviving the last 2 years with Daddy and Mommy! Although it's not your birthday, we would like to include you in our tribute. You are growing into quite the young lady we are so proud of and a great role model for your siblings...(most of the time!) We wanna list a few traits that we have come to love and appreciate about you!

THOUGHTFULNESS: For a 4yr old, you think about others a lot. Your concern for people's happiness and well-being astounds us! The pep talks, you give Daddy when he's had a hard day at work, are so sweet!

PERSERVERANCE: There are times Mommy has seen you in a situation where she would've given up but you just get back up and "shake it off". Whether it's sports, trying to make friends, or life in general.

MATURITY: You were dealt a very unique hand 2 years ago. And since then, you've just taken everything in stride. You take charge of the situation when no one's around. For example, when a sibling gets hurt and Mommy isn't in the room,  your ability to assess the situation is pretty awesome! I can hear you open the freezer door, get Elmo "boo boo" out, rush to your sibling, put it on them, and hug them while saying, " you're ok!" You would make an awesome Trauma doctor or O.R nurse (no pressure...lol)!

HUMOR: The things that go on in that mind of yours is beyond funny! We feel so bad that we haven't been consistently documenting all your "sayings" and thoughts! We hope you never lose your gift to entertain and help us stay young at heart!

And lastly, the way you let your light shine for Jesus is more than we could ever hope or ask for! We pray that you will continue your walk with the Lord and grow up to be the woman He has intended for you to be! We love you so much G!

Because our 18 mos check up was 3 months late, we don't go back to the Dr for our 2yr well visit until December. So look out for our updated Ht/Wt stats then! We will definitely get on Mommy to update the blog before then so you can keep up with our rapid growth!!