Weekend Review

Saturday we gave Greg another work day and the kids and me headed off to get NaNa so we could see a play. A young man we know was in his Junior High's production of Busgy Malone Jr, so we took the kids to see him. The kids loved the musical. They sat so nicely and watched the whole time. NaNa and I were impressed with the set designs and the costumes for a junior high production. The acting was also very good. The singing was pretty good but the kids didn't have great projection in their voices and the mics weren't fantastic so it was hard to hear. Overall it was a great way to spend an afternoon. Then yesterday Greg and I took the kids to see Monsters vs Aliens. It was really cute, not as good as Kung Fu Panda, but still cute. Toby asked a couple of times what was going on, but that was because he didn't want to wear his 3-D glasses so the whole thing was blurry to him. I think he would've enjoyed it more had he wore the glasses. And btw, the 3-D was awesome....really cool. I had read alot of parent reviews before taking the kids, and lots were worried about the violence and some of the inappropriate references (which went right over my little ones heads). Toby did have some questions about why they were doing things, like capturing Susan, but he accepted my answers and kept watching. I didn't find it anymore violent than the Incredibles or Kung Fu Panda, both are movies that Toby loves. All in all it was an enjoyable movie with a nice plot. And now the pictures...

This was at the end of the play...loved the costumes.

My cutie patootie

My handsome boy

STUCK! I had to take a picture before saving her.

Another scene from the play

NaNa getting her turn with Liliana during intermission

Mama's boy

NaNa's getting some of Lili's sugar

NaNa took this one

Me and my sweeties

FFF: Unique

Today's theme is unique. Toby and Liliana share a bond between the two of them that none of the rest of us have with them. They fight like crazy...like a brother and sister...and I love every minute of it. Yes I know it's weird to love the fighting but you'd have to understand my relationship with my brother to get that. We fought like cats and dogs as children, but we would do anything for one another and have. Toby and Lili also love each other totally. Yes Lili drives him nuts, but I know he loves having her around....and Liliana worships the ground her brother walks on. She wants to be like and do everything that he does. It's the cutest really. Here's a few pics of them together....

Come on Lili Kate, this way

Big hugs!

Playing some hoops

Jumping around

Watch what I can do Lili!

I love it when were swingin together

For more unique pictures go HERE

A Day at the Museum

Saturday I decided to give Greg some time to get some graduate work done without us around. He really needed to work without us there so he didn't feel torn. So me and the kids picked up NaNa and went to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum. (Our original plan was to go to the zoo but there was a big chill in the air and Toby said it was too cold to go to the zoo.) The Children's Museum has 3 floors of fun. On the first floor is the set from Mister Roger's Neighborhood, The Attic room, and garage workshop, and the traveling exhibit of Trees inside and out (this one was awesome). The kids really enjoyed most of the exhibits on the first floor. And they most definately had there favorite parts. The second floor is called the nursery, although it more closely resembles a preschool room. It's meant for the younger children and Liliana had a blast here. There were less people so she let losse alittle more and did her own thing instead of following her brother. The 3rd floor is the water play floor. The kids really loved this too. NaNa had never been to the Children's Museum so she had just as much fun as the kids. Here's pics of all our fun...

FFF: Green

This week's theme is Green in honor of St. Patrick's Day. And even though I had them dressed in Green on tuesday, we didn't take any pictures. So I dipped into my recent photos to see what I hadn't posted yet and found some pics from Greg's 30th birthday a couple weeks ago. (And wouldn't you know it, Toby was wearing green.)
My sweet boy holding still for a minute so I could get his picture

Just hangin out with his Daddy

Liliana getting some lovin from her Uncle Dave

The cutest cake face EVER!

For more pictures go HERE

And I'd like to give a HUGE birthday shout out to my bestest friend.....HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY LIANNE!!!! Wish I could be there to party with you...see you in a couple of weeks...I can't wait!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

For most people this is a day of partying and drinking. But not for this Irish (enough to claim it) Girl. 8 years ago today Greg and I had our first date. We had met at a night club a couple of weeks earlier. He called me the 2 determined guy days later and we talked for hours. He wanted to see me before he left for Spring Break, but come on....it's spring break. I so was not going to do that. Plus he seemed like he could be THE guy and after past relationships that kinda scared me. So I waited until I knew he was in Mexico and couldn't answer to call him back. I told him I'd love to go out when he returned. (As a side note...he almost didn't call me back because I waited so long) He asked me to a St Patty's Day party. I told him yes as long as I could bring a friend...because let's be honest I didn't know him enough to be at a party alone with him. We had a great time, so good the next day he took me out again and we've been together ever since. The best 8 years of my life so far. I'll have to see if I can locate some pictures from the early days. We both looked quite abit different.

I LOVE YOU GREG! HAPPY ST.PATRICK'S DAY and 8 YEARS!

Impromptu Trip

Greg had a 3 days off over the weekend. When he came home from work Thursday night I asked him what he wanted to do and he said "Let's go to one of those indoor waterparks." So I spent a couple of hours on the internet looking to see what was close and what people had to say about them and the resorts. We ended up picking the closest one so we could spend the most time there and the drive wouldn't be hard on the kids or us. So I got everything taken care of on Friday and on Saturday we headed to Newark, OH to the CoCo Key Water Resort. After much research, we purchased 3 day passes and reserved lodging at a nearby Holiday Inn Express (our favorite place to stay due to low cost lodging and free delish breakfast). We got to the park around 1 and we were in the play areas about 30 minutes later. Toby went NON STOP. No kidding. He went from one thing to another. He played for 8 straight hours only stopping for about 40 minutes to dry off and eat dinner. Liliana was much more reserved. She wouldn't leave me, period. She had to be held, sitting on me, or holding my hand for the first two or so hours. Then we sat in one of those plastic outside type chairs and she fell asleep for two hours. Of course the only available chair was next to the more adult areas so I had very limited access to watching Greg and Toby have fun. She really didn't get into it until after dinner when the place had emptied out by about 75%. Then there weren't as many school aged kiddos jumping around or monopolizing the kiddie areas (that really weren't meant for them) She really enjoyed getting to hang out with her daddy and Toby and me got some play time where he throughly wore me out. We are definately going to go again. But we said we'dmost likely either go during an off peak time or during the evening hours. The lifeguards were great but there is only so much policing you can do. Parents needed to be alittle bit more involved with how there children were acting. All and all though it was a blast and the kids have slept better than they have in months cause they are SO worn out. I didn't get many pictures for loads of reasons but here are a few of the ones I did get.

Oh and if you get a chance go here... http://momo-fali.blogspot.com/2009/03/whats-your-feather.html I'd love to know what your feather is. :)

FFF: Then and Now

February 2008:

March 2009:
Dec 2006:

March 2009:

For more Then and Now go to SARAH'S BLOG

For Mimi....

Friday was a gorgeous day here so I loaded up the kids and I took them to a local playground to have some fun. When we got there plenty of people were already there and more came and went. We outlasted everyone by staying for two hours...can you tell we're tired of being inside. The best part was the kids never got bored or complained. Awesome! The other good part was they were mostly cooperative for pictures.

I titled the post for Mimi not because it is a special day or anything but because of what the kids are wearing in all of the photos. My grandmother knits. And not in a I'm-okay-at-it sort of way. She is excellent (I wish I lived closer so she could teach me). She has knit both of my children blankets and sweaters. The sweaters are a regular staple in the spring and fall in this house. But the sweaters in these photos are even more special. Do you recognize them Mimi? She didn't knit these for my kids, she knit them for me when I was their age. They look just as good now 28 years later. Mom kept them for me and I've been chomping at the bit for them to fit and they finally do. I wish I had a scanner so i could share some photos of me in them too. And the kids love wearing things that Mimi made them. I just wanted to let you know Mimi how much I cherish them. How much the things that you and PapPap have made for me mean to me an the memories that are attached to them. Love you guys. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Pictures....at last

Where to begin....hmmmm. Let's see we have had the MOST beautiful weather for the last four days. It's gone now, but we took full advantage of it while it was here. And I have loads of photos to post between our days of outside play, hanging at my parent's the other day, and celebrating Greg's birthday yesterday. So I'll post a few today and the rest tomorrow or wednesday, depending. The depending has alot to do with today. The kids are both suppose to have well child visits today complete with shots, but.... And isn't there always a but, even though the flu left our house alittle over a week ago, I think they may both have ear infections. Fun times. So they probably won't be getting shots today. (And for my friends and family who are wondering because my kiddos are at odd ages to get shots...both of my children are behind on their shots, it was done on purpose by me, and I'm leaving it at that) And without any further ado: PICTURES!


NaNa and PapPap's House: The other day my parents were having their hot water tank unexpectedly replaced, so the kids and I went an played while the workers were there. The kids began to get overly crazy and both got a calm down timeout. The result was this....
Toby's like "What did we do Mommy?"

And here they are both smiling at me

NaNa wearing the silly glasses that blink. I think it's a good look for her. What do you think?

Liliana's turn... my little fashionista starting a new trend.

PapPap getting in on the trend. I don't think purple is really his color.



The local playground on Thursday:

I love how they play together. They were running to the slide here.

Inspecting the holes and the rocks on the stairs

"Look Mommy! What's this?"

Hope you enjoyed the pics. See you soon.

Oh and......

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY to my WONDERFUL HUSBAND.

I hope your next 30 years are even better the the first. Love you!!!

FFF: February Favorite

This was a very hard theme for me this week since the majority of February we were sick with the flu. Not alot of pictures to choose from and my personal favs were in the last post (so check them out), so I picked from my next set of favs. I love this picture of Toby sitting on the base of his very first snowman. Hope you enjoy it too.

For more pictures go HERE

Toby-isms

Toby is at an age where what comes out of his mouth is either done on purpose or more than likely done by accident. Both are equally funny...ususally. Here are two examples:

1. At dinner each night we say the Prayer before Meals, he's getting better at it but it's not his reciting of the prayer that's funny, it's his version of the Sign of the Cross.... "In the name of the Father and the of Son and of the holy Kung Fu Panda Aye-Ya." Hysterical. I just let it go because if I do anything else he just keeps doing it.

2. I should preface this one by saying that Toby confuses My for Me (it's an important distinction especially in this case). The other night I sent him to get the last night time pullup I knew was there, but he kept coming back empty handed so i kept sending him back with suggestions as to where to check. After about the fourth time he turns the corner and says "Mommy you are driving my nuts!" I laughed my ass off and said yes I probably am driving you nuts. Too funny.