the christmas week wordle...

christmas in the Buff....

BUFFALO that is!! you silly readers!

as many of you know, people in buffalo dont mess around when it comes to the things we are known for! when it comes to food, we have the best - wings, pizza, italian, anything mom and pop...we know how to cook. football games, we start tailgating the night before even if we dont have a winning record! sabres games, the arena is always packed! in addition, when it snows, it snows...it started on friday morning and didnt stop until early today! i think all in all we probably have close to 3 feet in some areas. the schools all started christmas break a little early, the roads have been horrible (until late this morning) and its gorgeous outside!! i have always loved the sight of the first major snowfall, when the pinetrees are covered and the snow is all pure and white. (i tried to take some pictures but there is just so much snow that the camera could not do the sight justice...everything is so white its hard to tell how much there really is!)

i had to venture out this morning to go to work for a few hours. fortunately the roads were free of other drivers because there was barely anything plowed at 430am! the shift who was supposed to open the store today got stuck at the end of her driveway and was about 2 hours late so our manager had to drive in to open the store. jess and i sat in the parking lot for about an hour waiting for someone to show up to let us work! it sucked because we could have still been sleeping, but at least we'll get paid for it. of course it was not at all a busy day, although who am i to say, i was only there until 930...

so im just going to lay low the rest of the day, try and get a few things done around the house to get ready for christmas and pray that the babies are feeling better before it all begins. they both have runny noses and teo's belly is hurting (from the lack of stinky diapers, poor guy). tomorrow will be spent getting everything finalized for the days ahead!!

merry christmas to all and ill be back in a few days!

christmas has begun...

today we celebrated christmas with my mom's side of the family at the fox valley country club in lancaster. my grandparents treated us all to a delicious sunday brunch, its the 3rd year we have been able to get the family together there and each year its been a little bit different and just as nice!

the kids all got personalized animals from build a bear, which were all embraced by instant love. tuscan got a dog dressed in sabre's clothes and the twins each got bears, one a little bit darker than the other, both wearing camo boxers. they are so cute and the kids were all so excited about them! i can only imagine though what my grandparents looked like walking out of build a bear with 8 animals in boxes!! we just have to take the kids back to the mall to register their animals and get their birth certificates!

cenzo with my uncle les....two goof balls!!

we decided to give my mom her "big" gift a few days early (she'll be here on christmas morning with us) but i had made her an album from snapfish full of pictures from this past year with a letter at the end explaining why the album was from november 2007-november 2008. it wasnt because it was the twins first year, but because it was the first full year that she had really been back in our lives. there were many tears between the two of us by the time she was done looking at it and tuscan had been very excited to give it to her and show her all the pictures of himself! he's so vain! but we decided to give it to her a few days early so she would have a chance to show her family and some of her regular customers that would be coming in for their christmas haircuts. my mom doesnt have a computer so she doesnt have the chance to see all the pictures that i send out to everyone. so who knows, maybe this will become the new christmas tradition for us, an album a year!

tuscan wanted to help his great grandpa les open his present to!

tuscan hanging out with the girls, what a surprise!! (my cousins, his 2nd cousins, madison and julia)

on our way back from the country club we ventured out a little further in the horrible snow storm to church, my mom joined us. it is always so magical being at church during the christmas season, singing the christmas songs. our church has a christmas tradition of forming a giant circle, all in attendance, around the room to sing by candlelight, silent night. it was such a blessing to be able to share that with my mom. because of the weather, service was pretty quick, we were in and out in an hour, but thankfully because it took us just as long to drop my mom off and get home in the near white out conditions!

overall, it was an amazing way to start our week of celebrating and we are so looking forward to the next few days ahead. God bless you all this holiday season and remember, jesus is the reason we are celebrating. its not about the presents or the cookies, but about spending time together and being grateful for all that we are blessed with. my love to all!

good job taylor swift!!

this could possibly be my new favorite christmas song. taylor swift's music has always been pretty impressive to me, i give a lot of credit to any musician who can write and sing their own music and i think she really hit the nail on the head with this one so i just wanted to share. its a great way to remind people what the true reason for christmas is. and remember - its not "happy holidays" its "merry christmas!!" this holiday was not created entirely to exchange gifts and eat lots of food and talk about santa, etc. this holiday only exsists because jesus was born, our savior, our Lord. so praise him and and think of him on christmas day the way you would want others to think of and celebrate you on your birthday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCwbeiBiOAk

be sure to listen until the last verse, its the best part!!

my dream came true!!

every year i always hope and pray that we will have snow for christmas. the season just isnt the same without the white wonderland!! and this year my dream came true yet again...and its coming at a pretty rapid pace. i drove to work this morning without a snowflake in the sky - they had been calling for the storm to roll in at about 8am...at 802 i looked out the window and there it was, white wet snow, blowing in from every direction! by the time i left work, 90 minutes later, the streets were covered and horrible for driving. i had to floor it to get the car up the driveway and i think its safe to say the snow is coming at a rate of about an inch per hour! its beautiful. i just wish frank was home safely enjoying it with me instead of at work. but schools were closed before the snow even started falling so maybe ill get lucky and the resturant will close early too! nothing is more romantic than being stuck at home with the love of your life during a snow storm. a christmas snow storm is what brought frank and i back together after he left for college and in the midst of our crazy life, we have been in love ever since!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

thursday ritual...

jess came over today for our usual thursday shan and jess thing...i colored her hair - it looks amazing. i wanted to take a picture but she didnt have any makeup on and it just wasnt the same. so as soon as she emails me one ill be sure to post it so you can all see my work of art!

but the kids loved the fact that she was here and were showing off as usual, so that we were able to get a few pics of!

danny and lindsay also stopped over to show us what danny got her for christmas...a little black kitty cat!! tuscan was so excited, tarzan was completely terrified and the twins were already in bed. for tuscan it was love at first sight and he was extremely willing to share his blankie with Boo Boo....

quick and delicious dinner...

just thought i would share with you the dinner i made last night. its easy, delicious, my kids loved it (as leftovers today) and its warm and filling...

spaghetti pizza

pasta (preferably whole wheat angel hair!!)

spaghetti sauce (homemade??)

2-4 eggs (depending on how much pasta you're making)

mozz. cheese

any or all of these - pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, peppers

cook pasta, pour into 13x9 (6-8 big servings) lasagna pan or 8x8 (4 big servings). wisk eggs and pour over pasta, stir together to spread evenly.

pour sauce over pasta, top with cheese and other "pizza" toppings and bake.

350 degrees for about a half hour or until cheese is melted.

serve with a nice salad and some garlic bread (preferably tuscan garlic bread from the wegman's bakery!!)

and if you want to get really fancy, have a nice glass of wine and enjoy!!

today hasnt been anything special of a day. frank went to his dr. appt this morning, waited about 40 minutes to see the doctor just to be told he needs to schedule an ultrasound on his foot and then make another appt to see the doc. $35 and an hour later he was on his way home with no more information than he left the house with. gotta love the medical world! anything to make a buck...

everyone is down for a nap right now though, so i think i am actually going to sneak "away" and scrapbook a page or two! wish me luck...

wordle of the week

its monday again...already!! here is last week in a nutshell -



how appropriate..."just time" its the perfect title for my upcoming week!

sunday school for big boys!

tuscan made his first adventure out of the house and to church with a pull-up on today!! and he did soooo good. as soon as we got to church he used the potty successfully and once again right before we left! during the hour and a half that he was in sunday school he had dampened his pull up a tiny bit, but not even enough that he needed to be changed before we headed home! so today was a very successful potty training day to say the least!

i worked for a few hours this afternoon, which was nice - i think i really missed it yesterday! and i finally splurged and bought myself this tumbler that i have been eyeing for the last 2 weeks...everything was 20% off at starbucks this week and i got my 30% discount on top of it, so it really didnt cost me much at all, and when compared to the joy it brought me as i carried it home filled with an eggnog chai...it was worth every penny!

the simple joys in life!

after work i ran to pick up a few groceries and came home to make a wonderful dinner, which i was fortunate enough to share with my honey and tuscan over an hour of rudolph! it was perfect! the twins went to bed without a problem, which gave us our time with just tuscan and he went to bed shortly after so that frank and i could enjoy a movie together. it was just the kind of night i needed....we talked, we laughed, i had tears a few times just because i was so happy to have that kind of time together.

but tomorrow is the start of another week...the chaos begins all over again!

saturday part 2...

and just to prove my point to myself, that my life truly is amazing...i just had to deal with a crying matteo - he was the one that got hit in the head with the train, by tuscan who was also crying because i spanked his bottom and made him sit on the couch until he was ready to listen. once matteo stopped crying i went in to have a talk with tuscan about hitting. when all was said and done he showed me what i really needed to see today - i am a good mom, i am teaching my kids well and they really do love me...i ended my little "play nice" speech and without any prompting on my part he threw his arms around me, gave me the biggest hug and said "love u too mama" he then went back into the playroom, kissed matteo on the head and is now teaching them how to put the train track together, so im going to help...

thank you Lord for reading my blog and answering my prayers tonight. i am so blessed and need to just keep reminding myself to come to you first in a time of need, no matter what it may be, i need to put my relationship with you first so the rest can fall into place!