These Crazy Kids!

I meant to post this sooner, but the whole tragic fish incident post-poned these pictures. Last week Joel went to Dallas for a couple days on a business trip. So Gianluca slept with me... well lets not kids ourselves, he ALWAYS sleeps in our room. We have a permanent mattress on the floor for him because of all of his night mares and sleep terrors. Anyways, he has really been into transformers lately and thought that they should sleep on the floor next to us to protect us. He thought he should put a blanket on them so they wouldn't get cold. It was adorable! He is all about Transformers. He has the books, the video games, the action figures, the pajamas, the t-shirt and shoes, the movie, what's next? Well he says when he grows up and has lots of money that he is going to buy Joel and I a real transformer boat and car just like Bumblebee. Too cute!





For Miss Allegra, I just had to add some pictures of her nude shopping experience. She just loves to feel free I guess. After her bath, she always is running away from us when we try to put her p.j.'s on. So here she is pushing her shopping cart around with her "me me" (Binky) and blankey all in the cart. It was so funny. She just has these long chicken legs, a little bum, and big round belly! I love this age!







Just a cheesey picture of Daddy and his little girl. They are saying "cheeeeese".

Farewell Our Beloved Little Ones, Farewell!!!!

Well, we have some sad news tonight and somewhat traumatic for Joel and I. Tonight we had some friends over for dinner and noticed that all of our fish were swimming at the top of the tank, as they often do when they are hungry. I thought it was odd as it wasn't time for them to eat. I asked Joel what was going on and he wasn't quite sure. It seamed as if they need more oxygen. Sure enough, little by little our sweet fish began to go... belly up! Joel desperately was putting together an air pump to get some oxygen in the tank. And then three more died! So we quickly got the living fish out of the tank and put them into another bowl. Joel was running tests to see what was wrong and apparently the nitrate levels were too high, and the oxygen levels were low (he just changed out the tank water yesterday). The total death count was 6; four tetras, 1 neon, and 1 zebra. We are devastated. As I was pulling out the last dead fish, I think Joel was hoping it was still alive and said "Sid, maybe it's still alive, put it under the air flow to see if we can revive it!" So sad! These fish are a part of our family. We've always loved having a fish tank ever since we were first married. We've never had many die. Poor Joel just ran off to Wal-Mart to get a solution to get the nitrate levels down. Amazingly our gigantic algae-eaters have been fine through this whole process and we haven't had to get them out of the tank (thank goodness, because they gross me out!) Thankfully we have 11 survivors and two shrimp!!! So here are some pictures of this horrible event!


Some of the Survivors


Poor fish, I dumped them in the toilet before I realized that Gianluca's pee was still in there. I know, an improper funeral. We should have done something more like what Bill Cosby did when Rudy's fish died. Poor guys! You will be missed!


Poor Joel, trying to revive the fishes!!!

Happy Birthday Fuba!

I just wanted to give a birthday shout out to my sister Kim (who got nicknamed Fuba, but I can't remember why...) So here it goes...

Things I LOVE about Kim:

1) She is a blast!!! Always fun to be around.
2) She is comfortable with herself. She's a no-BS type of gal, what you see is what you get, you either love me or hate me and she is totally fine with that. I really LOVE that about you!
3) She is real, there is no fakeness going on here.
4) She has an amazing cackle! A laugh that is extremely contagious.
5) And she is able to laugh about life and herself. She doesn't take herself too seriously.
6) She has firey streak and yet a sensitive side too.
7) She is tough enough to handle 5 kids!!!! I can barely handle two.
8) She is strong through her trials and very supportive and loyal to her family.
9) She gives great advice.
10) She is fun to have girl's outings with.
11) I've always looked up to her ever since I was a little girl. I've always thought she was incredibly beautiful and popular. I wanted to be like her when I grew up.
12) I'm not sure I love this about her, but definitely feel shafted that her and Darci got the good boobs and I got jack!!!
13) Fun-loving mom.
14) Great cook! Yummy bread pudding!!!
15) Always there to help out and not afraid to get in and work.
16) Very kind and sensitive to the elderly. It really touched me how affected she was to see our grandma who is very ill. She has a real soft side to her.
17) And last but not least... AMAZING HAIR!!!

Well Kim, I love you. I wish we were closer. You have always been someone I really looked up to. I loved it when you got me ready for proms and even my wedding day. I loved taking that medical terminology class with you. You are a wonderful person and I love you and your amazing family!!! Happy Birthday!

Happy Valentines Day!

Well, it was a fun V-Day for us. Gianluca was super excited to go to school and pass out his Ninja Turtle valentines. And of course he was excited for the CANDY CANDY CANDY!!! Allegra was in a horrible mood all day which was real fun. She through the biggest fits over every little thing. I really hope my sweet baby isn't becoming a little diva! Our afternoon was pretty laid back and then we decided to do our traditional make a yummy dinner. When Joel got home he gave the kids a really cute heart-shaped cookie decorated which they attacked immediately. He also surprized me with a beautiful saphire ring that I've been wanting to go with my wedding ring. We have to get it sized. He is a real romantic at heart and I love that about him. He does a great job when he thinks about it. I love this guy!!! I was totally shocked! Then we made shrimp linguine w/ pancetta. It was soooo yummy. But of course by the time I went to the store for the food(& had a creepy older guy hit on me, explaining that the flowers were for his "mom" and that the reason he was dirty was that he just got done with motorcross w/ his buddies...), made dinner with two wild and screaming kids, our romantic dinner was not so romantic. Joel wanted to take a picture of our masterpiece and at this point Gianluca was soooo tired that he was just being crazy. He jumped up and tried to grab the camera as it was about to take the picture and knocked it to the ground, which of course had Joel and I yelling! Then Gianluca burst into tears! We then had to calm him down and Joel still insisted on taking a family picture. Then we did our traditional "cheen, cheen" which is a toast with our sparkling cider. This is Gianluca's favorite part. He no longer wants the little wine glass, but the big one like mom and dad. So we were brave and gave Allegra the little one. I should have known that this little party animal would have made a huge mess. First she put all of her noodles in her glass. Then when she saw we were pouring a drink in there she dumped it out. Then she was super over-zealous w/ the cheen cheening and sloshed her red sparkling cider every where (not nice on the grout!) and the last time she and Gianluca cheersed each other, her glass brooke! I felt like I was in a bar or something. She is a party animal. Well, anyways now the kids are in bed and I am very grateful for that! It's one of my favorite parts of the day.... quiet time!

Too all of you who are imporatant part of my life, I love you and thank you for the memories and friendships you've given me! Happy Valentines Day!



Here's a real happy family picture!!! Poor Dude is devistated.



Just had to add a picture of the broken noodle glass!

P.S. Here is a video Joel took of the dude when they went fishing at the pond at our house. Gianluca caught 4 fish! He was so happy. He loves fishing with his dad!

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Happy 4th Birthday Little Man!!!!

Well, last Friday was Gianluca's birthday and I can't believe he is four years already! Just in the last few weeks has seemed to grow up a lot. When we go to the store, he knows that we just get what is on our list and doesn't throw a temper-tantrum for candy or toys. It is sooooo nice! We went to the store Orvis, tonight and he saw a canoe. He said to me "I really want a boat Mom, but we can't get this because it's too much money, right mom?" "That's right buddy."(me) "Well, when I grow up maybe I can buy one." "You sure can sweetie." (me) He is just so smart it kills me sometimes. Really, I am in for big trouble with him. I just can't believe some of the things that he comes up with.

We went to TGI Fridays for his birthday and when the waiters and clown, sang to him he was so happy. It was funny because I wanted the clown to come over to make some balloons for the kids. So the waiter sent him to our area. I told the Dude to tell him to comeover. He said "Mr. Clown, come here please." and the clown pretty much ignored us. He did this like three times, and he still ignored us. I was looking at Joel like, what in the heck is this guy doing? So when they came to sing Happy Birthday to the Dude, I understood. He had made like 8 different balloons and just started chucking them at us. It was pretty funny. It was also a little traumatic. He head-butted the table right before the food came and cut open his upper lip. The next day he skinned both of his knees. And on Sunday he and Joel were wrestling and he cut open another part of his lip. It was a rough week for the dude,as far as that goes. But he's pretty tough.

OnSaturday morning we had a Transformer birthday party with his little friends. It was fun. They played musical chairs and of course the Dude was a sore loser. He didn't like it when he got out. He only liked it if he won. So we had to talk to him about loosing and that we don't win at everything. So he said, "Mom, no one likes a sore loser, right mom?" "We need to let other people win some times,huh." I guess it's good to a certain extent that he wants to win. Anyways, he got a bunch of cool transformes, and he is in heaven. He loves the new Transformer cartoons and the movie. He also loves the Transformer books Tio Christian and Los Abu's got him. We read them every night.



Here is Gianluca talking to his cousins Reiley, Calvin, and Connor on his birthday. He shut the door and talked to them for about 10 minutes. It was adorable.



Musical chairs.



Transformer b-day cake. He was pretty excited.

What I love about Gianluca:
1) He is very very sweet.
2) He is so funny. The kids cracks me up.
3) He will just sit and talk to you. It's amazing what goes through his head.
4) He is very creative. He loves to make things and little contraptions.
5) He is very sweet with Allegra. They are going to be close.
6) He is smart. He catches on quickly and has great common sense (for a four-year-
old).
7) He is very social.
8)He is extremely PASSIONATE! He has quite a temper when he wants to, and he knows what he wants. When he figures out how to handle this part of him, this will be a great quality.
9) He is my little body gaurd. He always watches out for us.
10) He is so loving. He always tells us how much he loves us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUDE!!!

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