just some pics...

the twins have really grown up these last few weeks, not only are they getting around like crazy now (crawling-if thats what u want to call it!) but cenzo has also started sitting himself up when he is playing on the floor, he is holding his own bottle now and i think if he has it his way he will be walking before the summer is over! so here are some really great pics that have been taken in the last few days...




sleeping baby, nothing sweeter..(cenzo)

what a big boy vincenzo!

silly tuscan, showing me how he swims, but covering up the parts that should remain unseen on the internet!!

matteo - hanging out in the buff...(plus a diaper) in agreeance that it is way to hot and humid for clothes!

friday, july 18th MY 25TH BIRTHDAY!!!

so i have to be honest in saying, this whole week leading up to today had been kind of depressing for me because i really didnt have anything to do today and i was sad thinking that it was going to be just another day. im 25 today and to me thats a really big deal!! its my quarter of a century! but frank has to work..all day...my dad and beth are in vermont on a motorcycle trip, my mom is working all weekend and leaving for FL on sunday and kelly, kellie and mandy are all to far away, but there is my BFF that lives here in the same area code as me...jess!! jess had me and the kids over for lunch today and that is what started a pretty special 25th for me. she made some very delicious turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and spinach on very fresh bread, fresh brewed iced ginger tea (and not the tea bag kind, she actually seeped fresh ginger! it was amazing) and we had mini chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting after she and tuscan sang happy birthday to me! she also made me a really cute card, bought me a flower (just incase no one else did - which no one else did!) and a tin of scrapbookers mints - what can i say, she knows me to well! after lunch we took the kids for a walk to the park, the twins in the ghetto three wheeled double stroller (more info this coming monday!) and tuscan in his. we looked like trashy lesbos taking our kids to the park in the ghetto stroller with our short jean shorts and black tank tops on...yes we matched, unplanned...thats just the kind of things that best friends do!! and living in cheektowaga she could only imagine and laugh about what the neighbors would be saying! if u want to see pics from the event either check me out on facebook.com or add your address as a comment if you do not already receive my frequent snapfish updates. there are some really cute pics!
then i headed home to get everyone down for a nap. to my surprise frank had stopped home on his break, thats something that never happens, but he wanted to surprise me since he couldnt be there to spend the day with me...it was brief but very sweet! my other birthday surprise was from kelly (syracuse), she im-ed me and told me to pick out anything i wanted from the lia sophia web catelog because she had such a successful jewelry party and she wanted to share the wealth with me as a little extra birthday present! i was so excited...my day just kept getting better and better!
i spent some time working on kelly's baby shower invitations (pics of those once they are finished), ate some dinner with the boys and had the most amazing night ever with the twins. tuscan was a very good boy as well, but i was able to share the kind of moment with the twins that i always wish there was more time for. tuscan went to bed earlier than them so i just hung out on the couch with them for a while, cenzo was sitting on my lap looking at me and teo was laying across my lap behind him...they were both being such sweethearts, laughing and smiling, i was tickling them and they were totally cracking up!! it was so awesome...a perfect ending to a great day!
happy birthday me and thank you to all the people who contributed to making today extra special...whether it be cards in the mail, messages on facebook/myspace or just a phone call...it all meant so much! i truly am blessed with some amazing people in my life!

the most amazing part of any day is the amount of love i share with these 3 crazy, yet adorable little boys, they are my life and i love them more than anything!

tuesday, july 15

what a great day...
it started with work, which besides getting up so early, is always a nice break for me. i really love my job and its nice to get out of the house and just be "me" once in a while. if work is the place that i need to go to accomplish that then so be it...thankfully i love my job and even most of the people i work with!
it continued with some yard work. this whole summer has consisted of transplanting plants, not only because they have become so over grown in their current locations, but also as a way of personalizing our yard and making it our own. we have added, modified, etc... to the landscaping that my dad had been maintaining for the last several years. and so far we are enjoying our improvements, we just don't seem to have enough time to keep all the weeds out!! they grow much faster than our time allotment allows for! but its getting there and for the time being i just have to be content in knowing that the weeds are part of nature too!
but it was tuesday evening that was really the greatest part of the day....
frank and i actually went out on a date! its something we havent done since well before the twins were born (they are 8 months old now!) - other than jess & jakes wedding. our dear friend bridget and her son zach (age-10) came over around 530 and took on the task of our three boys! i must say, getting in the car all by ourselves is a very strange thing to do and we have now done it two tuesdays in a row!! but we headed out to franks resturant where we enjoyed an amazing dinner and bottle of wine, and wait it gets better...it was on the house! a major perk to frank's current place of employment. his boss has offered for the 3 kitchen guys to come in for a date night every once in a while on their night off for dinner and a bottle of wine...so we took him up on the offer! the wine was amazing, the food even better, but the best part was actually spending time together.
all in all it was a very simple night, after dinner we headed to the other side of town to grab cheesecake from the cheesecake factory...reese peanut butter for frank, snickers for me and oreo for bridget and zach...then we made a few stops while we were in the area (bedbathandbeyond and joanns) and we headed home to enjoy our cheesecake and watch a movie all snuggled up on our couch.
according to bridget, the kids were amazing and not only did she write us the sweetest letter to tell us how the night went, but she also volunteered to do it again for us whenever we want!! of course it has to be after she and her kids get back from 3 weeks in Guam...but it certainly is an offer worth waiting for and one that we are more than willing to take her up on! hopefully we can work out an alternating month kind of deal, she watches our kids one month and we watch theirs the next...every couple deserves a night out and what better way to make sure it happens for both of us!
we truly are blessed with some amazing friends!

potty progress!

today has been a very exciting day for us as a family! for two reasons...

first and most exciting, tuscan peed on the potty 4 times today! and all 4 times was out of his own encouragement. he was taking his diapers off by himself and walking into the bathroom and trying to sit on the big potty by the time we got in there to help him! we are so very proud of him...our original goal has been to have him potty trained before we go to virginia beach at the end of august and for a while that seemed like a goal that would be hard to reach, but all of a sudden he has a huge interest in going on the potty and an even bigger lack of interest in wearing diapers...im sort of thinking the huge box of size 5's i just bought at BJ's yesterday may get put aside for when the twins are wearing that size because at this rate tuscan will be wearing pull ups before the end of the month!!

secondly, frank did his first official catering job today! he has done a few big parties on his own before, but they have always been for us, i.e. beths bridal shower, tuscan's birthday parties...a dinner at dr.lewis's. but this party he was hired to do by a woman that beth works with at the hospital, it was her sons college graduation party and frank was cooking for about 75 people. most of the cooking he was able to get done here at our house...some of it he waited until he got on site. it was hosted at one of the local churches. he made 2 salads, homemade red sauce with sausage and homemade meatballs, mach lasagne, pasta carbonara, a cheese platter, a fruit platter, italian roasted chicken...there was bread...it was awesome!! i am so proud of him for receiving and accepting this opportunity to provide even more for his family. aside from some of his "little quirks" in the past, frank has always been a hard worker and i appreciate all that he does to try and provide for us and the kids. he had a stack of "business cards" sitting out on the table and when he left the stack was quite a bit smaller and the compliments were pouring into the kitchen! so who knows, maybe this will turn into a little side job for him! between the extra money he could be making doing that and the money we could be saving if tuscan stops wearing diapers, we might be living large by the end of the year!! lol - hey i can dream can't i?!?!

but then our night ended with dinner at red robin, had to get my free birthday club burger! and we all shared some ice cream from cold stone creamery. it was kind of cool, it reminded us of being back in colorado springs, that was the place we had our first red robin and cold stone experiences and we were so excited when we found out both places were making their way into the buffalo market, now if only we would get a chipotle! i think frank and i would probably keep them in business ourselves! now im off to start a movie, one that will probably take us all week to watch, but oh well, what are ya gonna do, im just grateful to have the opportunity to watch a movie with my babe, whenever we get a few extra minutes!

in a funk (wednesday)

wednesday was a rough day...i woke up, much later than usual, which was very nice! and there was a gray sky, tons of clouds and it was pouring rain...not a great thing to wake up to on a day that already has a reason to suck! knowing that mandy and fam were getting on a plane at 4 made it really hard to get through the day...seems kind of silly, since i obviously knew she wasnt going to be able to stay forever...but i guess it was just because we really had such a great time together...it just makes it hard to think i probably wont see her again for almost a year, and it makes me sadder to think that our kids wont see each other for that long either!
i dont have very many mom friends around here, so for tuscan to have kids his age to play with, it was awesome! and today is just a sad reminder that 3 of my greatest friends live way to far away from me... kelly in syracuse, kellie in OK and mandy in FL. they are the three people that i have shared the most with thus far in my life and it makes me sad that they cant be around more often to share these new experiences with - like my kids!
but i do have to say, i have been blessed with the start of some amazing friendships here within the past year or so - jess, my best friend in this zipcode and bridget, my best mom friend in this zipcode! and i am finally getting involved with a group of girls from church, we're going to meet every other tuesday and i can already tell that god has put these new women in my life for a reason and i am so looking forward to it!
i have to say though, there is one nice thing about having amazing friend that live in other places...it gives you a reason to go on vacation or even just get away for a day! a drive to syarcuse to spend a day with kelly is always well worth it and my visit to OK last year was amazing, something i would have probably never done if kellie wasnt living there and soon i will have her as my main reason to head out to CO for a much over due visit (to catch up with even more great friends) and there is now very serious talk about a close in the future trip to FL...by close in the future i mean like march 2009....but its way closer than saying "one of these days" frank and i have recently been discussing the idea that if we ever want to do things and go places with our kids, we have to just do it and stop just talking about it. we need to just look at the calendar and pick dates and stick with them. it always comes down to money, but if the date is set then the money will be saved for when the time comes, we cant keep thinking that the money will come first! it doesnt happen that way. so thats what we're going to do, we are going to set dates, save the money and enjoy life, see things, go places...make our dreams realities and stop wasting the time we have here on earth. life is to short to wait for the good things to happen, sometimes you need to just make them happen yourself (with god by your side anything can happen and he has already answered more prayers than we could have ever dreamed of!) we are so blessed...and even though i may have been having a bad day, i love my life and wouldnt trade it for anything! and to all my friends, near and far - i love you too and i think about you all everyday!

tuesday...what an amazing day...

great food, great friends,great weather (although a little too hot) - making new memories, reminiscing about old ones, laughing, crying, watching the kids play, just taking the time to spend it together...all the things in life that we tend to take for granted until they are no longer readily available...
tuesday was such a great day (unfortunately it was mandy's last day in town).

but it started with a trip to the zoo...me, frank, tuscan, matteo, vincenzo, mandy, anthony, kolby, lucia, sofia, mandi, donna, brynn and brylee all packed up and headed to the zoo for a few hours. just to clarify - all those names equals 5 adults and 9 kids at the zoo together! we had 5 strollers between us and we were slightly out numbered by kids, ranging from ages 8 years to just a few weeks. and everyone was surprisingly good! we only ended up making it through half the zoo, partly because we wasted to much time waiting for the sea lion show, but mostly because that many kids is enough to exhaust anyone!
miss sofia

matteo, brynn and vincenzo tuscan and lucia
then we all headed back to our house for an amazing dinner and great company. for dinner it was just a few more people...me, frank (who did all the cooking), tuscan, matteo, vincenzo, mandy, anthony, lucia, sofia, phil (mandy's brother), jen (his gf), mandi (his daughter), donna, keith, brynn and brylee (forever friends of mandy's and their kids) and terri and dave (mandy and phil's parents) why were all these people here you ask...because this is just the way it is...mandy and i have been friends for about 12 years now and her family is my family...my summers used to consist of festivals and fairs with the massino's, bbq's in their backyard ("shannon, go in that drawer..." "terri, i dont think im gonna fit!"), tarzan falling in their pool when he was just a pup!baking cookies at christmas time, going to the fall craft shows together, halloween parties, renting horrible 80's horror flix and returning them to blockbuster complaining they were defective so we could get something else instead (remember the one when they put the poodle in the microwave to dry it after a bath and it exploded!! "pookums?") there were nights at the drive in, carnivals...you name it and we were there. they introduced me to the idea of big family dinners (even if it was just fried bologna - it was always amazing!) there were crazy parties, phil cutting his toe-almost off- with a broken bottle while shooting off bottle rockets, bonfires and smores...so many times that we will never forget! so in answer to the question, why were all these people here for dinner...they were here because i finally had a way to say thank you for all that you have done for me over the years. all those times we were out and about places, never once did i have to pay for anything. i was always included as one of the family and that has meant so much to me over the years. it was something i missed terribly when i was in Colorado and its something that i miss even more now, now that you are all in FL.

anyway, the kids had a blast playing together, tuscan was in his glory, surrounded by so many girls! although i realize that we need to work on his temperament when girls are around, he had a hard time controlling himself and calming himself down! i thought he was crazy on a regular basis, he was even worse with all these ladies to show off for! he clung to mandi immediately....trying to push her around and tackle her - i can only assume it was his way of showing his affection and all she could say was "oh my god, oh my god - hes crazy!" she's 5 - so apparently he not only has a thing for blondes but he also likes the idea of older women!! thank goodness lucia is older than him too - considering the fact that we already have an arranged marriage set for the two of them! even after his crazy side came out, lucia said she still wanted to marry him! so they all sat on the swing together, they ate blueberries off the bushes together, brynn picked the apples up off the ground and put them in the wheelbarrow while tuscan pushed it around...tuscan showed off his swimming abilities in his little turtle pool...and then they finally all settled down to watch cars.... mandi and tuscan mandi, lucia and tuscan

brynn, lucia, tuscan and mandy
the amazing day was topped off with a night out...something that frank and i have not done since before tuscan was born...and go figure, our last night out was with the same group of friends! phil bartends at a little hole in the wall place that their cousin owns, so we went there for a few hours and pretty much had our own private party going on...he was the only bartender working and almost everyone in there, except for some crazy drunk lady and her bf, were people that one of us knew (i think there was only like 20 people there total!) but it was so much fun...phil was mixing up crazy drinks for us, all colors of the rainbow...swore we were going to be peeing skittles by the time we left! we played a few games of darts, for old times sake - long ago, before husbands and kids it was a tuesday night ritual! and frank and i just loved being out together, without the kids - danny's "gf" lindsey babysat for us...we felt like real adults again! i think its something we need to make time for more often - time for just us, a moment to find ourselves and be just us!

me, donna and mandy - the girls, together again!

the last few days...

saturday the kids and i headed out to my parents house to spend the day hanging out on their new deck!! it was a gorgeous day to be outside and tuscan had a blast out there with all of his trucks and his art easel. we had some delicious hamburgers cooked on their new grill and some tortolini pasta salad that we had left over from the 4th. tuscan spent the night there - which of course meant not much sleep for him and beth!

sunday i worked for a few hours and halfway through my day, frank went into work for a few hours, so when beth brought tuscan home, she hung around for a little while until i got home from work...which also meant, no nap for tuscan! (never a good thing!)

monday morning was kind of crazy...i worked, only until 9 - but tuscan had his first swimming lesson at 940...and he did amazing! he had so much fun!! frank was the only dad in the group, everyone else had their mom in the pool...and i think that will make it that much more special for the two of them. we had to bribe tuscan to get him out of the pool because he was having such a good time! and now he comes home and shows us all the stuff he learns...like how to jump and how to kick his feet in the water. while we were eating dinner that night he heard our neighbor jump into his pool and he got all excited and ran to the window and started calling out for our neighbor, lee..."lee-lee" and she heard him and told her son, eric, that she thought it sounded like he wanted to come over...next thing i knew, lee was standing at the front door asking if she could bring tuscan back to her house so he could go swimming with eric! (eric is like 21) so it was super cute, the two of them in the pool together...tuscan got so upset when he had to get out of their pool too...then later that night, while i was putting vincenzo to bed, tuscan thought it would be a good idea to sneak out the front door and go knock on our neighbors door...i came downstairs and he wasnt in his tent anymore...started going from room to room and realized that the big wooden front door was open! i ran outside and heard lee say "does your mommy know u escaped?" i nearly had a heart attack...so needless to say...all three doors in the foyer area are now kept closed/locked until we can get an eyelet hook for the top of the screen door...(must love 2 year olds - thats becoming my phrase for the year!)

4th of july!

(a few days late)

frank and i took the kids to the annual parade in Lancaster and met up with our traditional 4th of july friends, mandy and her (whole) family. we had a blast!! not only was the weather perfect, but the parade was nice, the kids were very well behaved and they all got along so well. kolby was tuscan's candy buddy, he helped tuscan get the candy when it was to far away in the street, or when tuscan was to busy holding lucia's hand!

everyone was of course oohing and aahhing over the twins, but there was one girl in particular who really thought vincenzo was pretty amazing...sofia - she was so excited every time she got close to him...reaching for his face, giving him hugs and kisses and he just thought it was the greatest thing ever! at one point, while anthony was holding sofia, vincenzo reached out and grabbed anthony's bicep like he was trying to determine what kind of fight it would be if he ever tried to go on a date with his daughter!! it was so funny...

after the parade was over, we all went our seperate ways and we headed out to cowlesville for an open field party/bbq and some fireworks with the schwab's. tuscan and chase had a great time playing together, "riding" on the tractor together! but i think tuscan's favorite part was riding on the 4 wheeler with frank...he had such a huge smile on his face everytime they drove around...i think to him it was comparable to being on a motorcycle! the twins ended up falling asleep before the fireworks, which was fine with us, it had already been such a long day! and tuscan actually ended up being a little bit afraid of them...he said they were to loud and he was afraid they were going to land on him! so i got to snuggle real close to him for the whole fireworks display (which was amazing by the way, big high five to the schwab's for throwing a great party!)

why we do love 2 year olds...

well i have to admit...they really arent that bad! they have their moments, but dont we all?
frank and i may have possibly enjoyed are most amazing night together as a family last night...for sure the best we have had since becoming parents. we ate an early dinner and packed the kids up for a walk on the waterfront where we shared a dish of strawberry twist with rainbow sprinkles with the three boys. when we got home we got everyone ready for bed and put the twins down to spend the remainder of the evening on the couch, snuggling with tuscan while we watched night at the museum. we shared a bowl of popcorn and never once did tuscan try to get down to play or anything. he was so intrigued by the movie and he seemed to be completely content in our arms on the couch. it was amazing!! tuscan was up with us until 10:30 last night, never gave us a problem going to bed and frank and i went to bed with the greatest feeling in our hearts. we havent been able to spend time like that with just tuscan in so long.
today was a pretty good day too. i spent some time on the phone with my friend mandy who is up from florida...we were able to solve the great mystery as to why i wasnt ever receiving these emails she was insisting she had sent to me! and we started making some plans to get together during this week that she is home! for those of you who may not know her, or about her....we have been friends for about 11 years, she was the first of my friends to become a mom and shortly after my joining the mom club, she moved down to florida! we have an arranged marriage set up for her daughter lucia and tuscan and she also has a daughter named sofia who is only 2 months older than the twins!! so we'll see, some very gorgeous italian kids between the two of us!!
and the day was completed by a play date with tuscan's BFF chase. chase needed a haircut, which turned out adorable...bridget and i needed some girl talk time, that ended in an awkwardly funny hug that i still am laughing about (that may be our first personal joke!!) bridget is for sure becoming a very good friend of mine and it makes it even greater that our boys get along so great! and by boys i mean our husbands and our sons! so the kids played, we chatted, chase left looking like a brand new boy...tuscan tried to leave with them, plopped himself in the backseat of the car and cried when i tried to take hime out! but they are a little young for sleepovers yet! its so awesome to see tuscan play with other kids though, he has such a good time!
and those are the amazing times when we remember how much we love our two year olds!

must love 2 year olds...

there has to be a contract drawn up listing all the things you may have to experience during parenthood...most of which seems to happen during the second year of life!! not only does the attitude seem to kick in at this time...but the ideas of potty training open a whole different can of worms...or should i say bucket of poop!
today seemed like it was going to be a great day in the potty training world. tuscan took his diaper off before we got him dressed for the day and immediately sat on his potty and went pee!! in the excitement of it all, he tried to pull the bowl out of his potty, much to vigorously and sent pee aflying everywhere!! but we were all excited none the less....
when he went down for his nap today however...things did not turn out as great. he was wearing only a tshirt and his diaper..something we generally dont do. he apparently decided it was necessary to take his diaper off so that he could go poop, in his room, on his carpet and in his bed! im sure this is something that most of you would not want to know. but these are the joys of parenthood that i call my life!
i heard tuscan calling us when he woke up, i had just gotten home so i thought i would surprise him and let him see me when he opened his bedroom door. little did i know that i would be the one getting the surprise! he opened the door, i noticed he didnt have a diaper on and he looked and me and said "poop mom!" and pointed into his room!! i was appalled! but lesson learned for frank, dont put him to bed without shorts on, ever!! now that he has started potty training his is very uninterested in wearing his diapers...especially on the hotter days. so hopefully the potty training thing will take a true kick off and we can get past this phase before it gets any worse!

aside from that though, things have been ok...just busy as usual. the twins room is finally finished. we have spent the last few days flip flopping our furniture. we now have a family room and a living room! ill post pics when i have some more time. its all looking so good though. our back room is now the americana family room and i am loving it!! the living room is just there until after the remodling is finished...then it will have much more significance in our life!
tonight we are eating an early dinner, taking the kids for a walk on the new boardwalk down at the erie basin marina and heading home to watch a movie (night at the museum) on the couch with tuscan! i think he maybe just needs some devoted mommy/daddy time - hopefully that will cure him from these wild and crazy adventures!!