In loving memory.....

Seven years ago today, my mom passed away. This post is to remember and honor her. She is buried in St Petersburg so I wasn't able to go visit her today, but I thought of her often.

My mom, Kristy and me

Here we are again

Bad quality pic, but this is my mom and Avery when she was sick.

As most of you already know, my mom passed away from ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. This disease took her life at the age of 49. It was really diffcult to see the strong person I knew grow weak before my eyes and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. No one knows how you get the disease and there is no cure...and it is terminal. This disease is progressive and kills the muscles in your body slowly, eventually leading to full paralysis. My mom lost her ability to talk, swallow, eat, walk, and move any part of her body. ALS took everything, but not her spirit. Even though she was physically weak, she kept hope and showed more strength than I've ever seen anyone portray. Today, I want to honor her. She will always be my inspiration and I miss her so much. I love you mom.

Ethan...Happy Birthday big boy!!

I can't believe Ethan is 6!!! Above are some of my favorite pics of him throughout the years. Ty looks so similar to him don't you think? From birth, Ethan has always been a really easy going, caring child. He has a sweet spirit and kind heart and I couldn't be prouder. Below are some of his b-day pics. He had a little party at his school with cupcakes and candles and then got his presents from us at home. He got a fish that he named"rock" and a telescope. We had his favorite dinner (spaghetti and meatballs) and then made "everything but the kitchen sink" sundaes.

Happy Birthday to our very special boy.....Thanks for being you and bringing us so much joy. We love you very, very much sweetie!!!

Happy Birthday to Ty Ty!!!!

What happened?!?!?! Where did my baby go?!

Here he is enjoying some birthday cake!

Ty, we love you sooo much! Happy Birthday to our very special, cuddly, funny, sweet and adorable Ty Ty!!

At the Haircutters....again

So I documented Ty's 1st haircut, and now I'm doing it for Julianna. This time around at the haircutter's, Ty didn't have fun...at all. In fact, he hated the whole experience and cried the entire time (as you can see). Julianna on the other hand, was treated like a queen. She ate lollipop after lollipop, watched a movie, and made demands to the non-english speaking hairdresser the whole time ("I want another lollipop", "I want the pink balloon", "I want orange rubber bands"...) Thankfully, the girl was nice and tried to accomodate Jules as best as she could. And yes, stupidly I went back and spent another chunk of money we don't have. I really am just too scared to cut their hair! At least it turned out cute.

Our Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was really fun this year. Growing up, my mom always would celebrate each holiday with a little gift basket (that always included a stuffed animal) for Kristy and me. I want to keep that tradition alive for my kids. They were really excited to get their baskets and played with them all morning. Ty did get a stuffed animal...next year he'll get a basket don't worry! We had a pancake breakfast and then went to their favorite park in Surfside. I wanted to do something special for Avery so I decided to have a romantic dinner on the patio after the kids went to bed. So after a lot of thought, I came up with a special menu. The 1st course was lamb chops because we both LOVE them. I asked Avery to grill them for a couple minutes on each side. He looked at me weird and was like "Are you SURE you want me to grill them?" I said, "Yeah it will be fine" ....here's the thing; we have an "illegal" grill on our patio that I snuck up last Father's Day and I swear this thing knows it's not supposed to be on our property because basically every time we grill on it, it burns the food. So as I was finishing up making our main course, Avery rushes in with a plate of charred (and I mean charred) lamb chops and says the grill was flaming up so high he was seriously getting nervous. Oh well...we got a couple good bites in. The main course was seriously good though. You all know I love to cook and I was proud of this one. I made spaghetti and clam sauce. Real clams in the shells and all. I made garlic bread smothered in smashed garlic, herbs, and a stick of butter too. Growing up, my grandfather and I used to both love spaghetti and clams. We would go to a little hole-in-the wall, Italian kitchen to get it. Anyways, Avery loved it. For dessert, I made chocolate mousse. We ate with rose pedals and little candles all around. It was an awesome dinner.

Hi everyone! It's been a while so I want to fill you in on the latest. We have been pretty busy lately. Julianna is officially pooping in the potty and flushes it down to poopy world. Pretty funny right?! She is showing a lot more interest in letters and finds letters around the house and says "Here is a 'd' for daddy!" She knows o,t,s,e,a,x,m,j, and d. She has names for her babies and calls the big baby the "daddy" baby, and the has a couple of "medium" babies. Ethan is doing well. He is thriving in school and is reading books at a 2nd grade level now. I am trying to work on my schedule so I can help out in his classroom once a week. He LOVES school and it makes me very happy. His 100th day of school is approaching and he is very excited. Ty ty is great. My little lover. He loves snuggling up to me and I am just eating it up. He loves cell phones and remotes and gets really mad when they are taken. Every single solitary thing he comes across goes in his mouth, so as you can imagine it's been a little busy in our house. It's fun to see how things are coming together in his brain. Today he saw something under the couch and wanted it so he layed down on the carpet and stuck his arm as far under the couch as he could while he had his neck cocked to the side. It was so cute how he figured out how to get the toy. Soon he will be in a helmet to correct his crooked head shape. I wish I had known how important tummy time really was (you think I would by my 3rd kid!). He will be going to physical therapy once a week to help his neck mobility. At least these problems can be resolved now you know? I anticipate a great year for us. Some of my goals are to do more science and cooking with the kids, less tv (thanks Liz for the NO TV DAY idea; I'm going to implement that in my house once a week), and I want to volunteer at the Broward Children's Hospital once a month. They are in desperate need of help for people who will do kid's activities. Last year I was going to volunteer and it never happened...this year I don't want the opportunity to pass me by. I'm also thinking of starting a "Playgroup in the Park". I want to lead different educational, thematic based lessons that incorporate reading, play, science, math, music, and gross motor activities for the toddler/preschool age children. I would charge a small fee for an hour. The parents/nannies would have to be present, but could get a break for an hour. Who knows? I'm working on seeing if this would be feasible. Once again I had this idea last year and didn't follow through. It looks like that is something I need to work on! I could make a little extra money for the fam too! Avery is doing great! His schedule for the past month has been 5-about 10/11/or 12 and he is usually home by lunch. Can you believe it ?!?! It has been the best rotation BY FAR. He has also gotten to "get back in the gym" a little (our small condo workout facility :) but still he is physically feeling better. He has been amazing with helping with the kids too. Thanks Hun! You definitely deserve it!!!! Hope you enjoyed the update!

Merry Christmas!!

On x-mas eve we spent the afternoon with my grandma and grandpa and uncle bill and in the evening with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandma. We had our traditional cuban dinner with the pig roasted in the pit, black beans and rice, yucca, and plantains. Christmas day, we opened presents, made cookies, and had a traditional italian meal with meatballs and stuffed shells with Kristy and Paul. Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family!! Hope you had a great day. Enjoy our pics!!

Our family vacation

We had a bunch of fun on our 4 day vacation to Orlando. The 1st day we went to the Magic Kingdom, 2nd day Animal Kingdom, 3rd day back to the Magic Kingdom with the Goths, and 4th day to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Ethan had absolutely NO fear and rode Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, the Mt Everest ride, and Spiderman. He wanted to go on the Hulk sooo bad but wasn't tall enough. He watched Daddy go instead. The weather was great and it really was a "magical" time to go. We got to see a x-mas show and cool parades. Islands of Adventure was so cool. They had a Dr. Suess area that was awesome!!! I also got to ride the Dueling Dragons roller coaster. I could go on and on, but we really did have a fun time.

Tyler's 1st haircut

Yeah, I got ripped off....$19.90 for a stinking baby's haircut, but it was worth it to see him in the little race car chair with the cape on. He LOVED it!!