what my camera captured...

i guess it would only be appropriate to follow that extremely long post with some pictures of my week.

the face of a sleeping angel (vincenzo)

matteo, all snuggled up with his blankie - he is my snuggly boy!

with big boy hair cuts, its only appropriate to eat your meal with a fork!

vincenzo

matteo, at least the fork was in his hand!

its like chosing between a fork and chop sticks,

you use what will get the food in faster!

and with all those pics being taken of his brothers,

there was a very quick "mom, me too, me too!" coming from tuscan's mouth.

an update is in order...

i have been meaning to post for quite a few days now, just havent had the chance...(wonder why??) but lots has happened and it should be posted!!

last saturday beth picked tuscan up in the morning and took him to the preschool open house at their church (i was working)...she was so impressed with the price, the time slots and all that they offer that she signed him right up! he was so excited! i told him the day before that nonna was going to be picking him up and taking him to school and it was all he could talk about, reminding me that he needed to wear pants and shoes and a shirt and a coat...he then spent the night over at our parents house and had a very successful day on the potty, never once having an accident!! yeah tuscan - but wait, it gets even better - he even woke up the following morning with a dry diaper! amazing!! that was a first and so far hasnt happened again, but it was a huge step in the right direction. there are only a few diapers left in his drawer, when they are gone it will be pull ups at bed time as well as nap time. but even at that, we are down to 1-2 diapers a day with him, only when he's sleeping. and now with school in the future as an additional motivation he is really staying focused!

cenzo has really started walking this week. he stands himself up and starts moving and then gets so excited that he's actually doing it and he ends up falling down a few steps later. but he really is walking, all by himself, and with such pride. ill try to catch it on camera sometime this weekend so you can see the look on his face!

matteo is trying to follow in his footsteps, literally, but as usual is a few steps behind. its been said since they wore born - matteo may be 5 minutes older but cenzo always has to be the bigger one!

the twins have both gained a set of top molars this month, so they are eating even better than before. there are nights when i have to just say "enough is enough" because i sware at a year old they could already eat me out of house and home. is it a bad thing that my one year olds (individually) eat twice as much as my two year old?? the twins also got their first clipper cut this week. during my amazing afternoon as just a mom of twins on saturday i decided it was time to lose the stray baby hairs and i shaved the sides and back and gave them real little boy haircuts!! they look way to cute and we're really good about it. fortunately i have quite a few years with the haircutting thing under my belt cuz i can get a kids cut done in under 10 minutes and with one watching the other - i may have actually had both their cuts done in about that time frame. then i took on the task of bathing them both at the same time by myself. the kids usually take their baths together, but when we are both home to do it! it was just a great day saturday - spending time with just the twins, getting a chance to see them in action without the disturbance of their big bullying brother! its hard sometimes to see the personalities of each child when they are all meshed together everday. i do look forward to the twins being a little older and having interest of their own, like tuscan does now. and us being able to have a chance to take them places by themselves. we are so blessed with our boys but sometimes i feel like i just need more of the good time with them!

sunday our parents watched the kids for us for most of the day so that frank and i were able to attend week one of our 6 session bible study, fireproof your marriage, based on the movie fireproof...if you havent seen it, i recommend it - watch it with your significant other, especially this weekend while love is in the air!! its not a #1 movie for its acting or special effects, but the message that it delivers is something that could never be topped! but we are really excited to finally be a part of a church group again. its something we have been searching for since we left our group in CO.

wednesday night frank and i had our third date night in 3 months!! AMAZING! we had dinner at our usual spot, mangia!! cant pass up a free meal and bottle of wine - not on our budget! and then we headed to the UB center for the arts for the wyrk all acoustic concert with jack ingram, jason michael carroll and randy houser. it was such an awesome show. it really made us wish that more artists would play acoustic in smaller venues like that. its so personal and they are so much more personable. frank had never experienced an accoustic show before, i had seen lonestar at UB several years ago. it was so enjoyable, although we would have enjoyed it more if we hadnt both been fighting a headcold that left us both with pounding headaches. but it was so nice to be in each other company and have a chance to celebrate valentines day a few days early. as of right now the resturant has 410 reservations for tomorrow, so that blows any chance of my seeing frank at all before sunday morning!!

so happy valetines to everyone! and this weekend i ask that you keep the family members of those lost on fligh 3407 in your prayers. another devistation in our country...i just keep praying that somehow some way, more people will start to see the truth.

oh and my opinion to obama's speech monday night - you want to start to see a change in our economy, you want people to start "trusting" the banks again - trust was his word of the night - try printing our money the way it always had been and make it clear to the people that there is no other way. "in god we trust" should be big, bold and beautiful! bringing God back - then maybe we will start to see a change...

kelly and riley's visit...

riley...just hanging out with me!


cenzo thought it was too cool having a baby in the house!



that was his face of approval!




matteo, mr. serious, of course was a little more cautious!



"whatchya doin aunt kelly??" both the twins loved rocking her in her chair! it was so cute...lets just hope they will be as accepting of another baby when we decide to have our last!

tuscan also had a blast with her. it was so cute to see him "prepare" for her arrival and how eager he was to share his beloved blankie and his favorite stuffed animals. he was just in his glory!

it was a very nice, laid back visit, just us and our kids, hanging out being moms. i told kelly at one point, it didnt even feel like she lived far away, i felt like she just came over for the day to hang out, like she lived 20 minutes away or something! it was so nice and so much unlike our visits B.K. (before kids!) we always had "plans" places we needed to go...but not this time, other than riley's photoshoot at olan mills!! and yes, we took all 4 kids with us! what can i say, a bag of m&m's and my boys are angels!!

as for me and my house...

we certainly serve the Lord. just when i think i am lacking in my relationship with God, i get a swift reminder from my 2 year old that He is around us always. before bed tonight tuscan was pointing out all the characters in my willow tree nativity (that i keep out all year) he has a new found fascination with babies and keeps trying to tell me that there is one in his belly *sidenote later in this post. but he loves to point out baby jesus. so tonight when i put him to bed he prayed with me and repeated everything i said and added a little bit of his own requests. it was amazing, i have tears in my eyes as i type about it. his favorite part was saying amen at the end. we had been holding hands as we prayed and as he said amen he spread his arms out wide as if opening his heart to all the Lord was willing to give him. that child amazes me more and more everyday! how did i ever get so lucky?

*the baby fascination - last weekend franks older brother and his wife were in town for the funeral, they are expecting a baby in june and tuscan was very excited to see aunt enna and "the baby" but when he saw her and noticed that her belly wasnt all big and round like mine had been, he seemed a little confused....tried lifting up her shirt to search, looked underneath her on the floor...he was stumbled but we kept insisting that the baby was in there and he finally gave in to it. so much so that when they came over for lunch the next day, he insisted that we all "shhh...baby seepin" and since then he keeps telling us that there is a baby in his belly and in his head and his knees...theres babies growing all over him apparently, 23 to be exact. and yesterday i was able to share the exciting news that his BFF chase is going to be a big brother to a baby girl and tuscan proudly said "me to mom, baby..." as he lifted up his shirt and pointed to his belly! not sure if i should try to explain this one in to much depth just yet...he understands very clearly now that im the mom because i have the boobs, but apparently he hasnt figured out that only the moms can have the babies! it will be interesting to see how he handles bridget (chase's mom) at church in the morning...if its anything exciting ill be sure to do a follow up post!

have a wonderful weekend...and to my buffalo readers, enjoy the "heat wave" on sunday!!

my matteo...

i think there is a certain point in everyday that i feel something a little extra special towards one of my kids...with 3 of them to chose from there is usually one that stands out above the rest. today it was matteo. tuscan and vincenzo had both finished their dinners (tuscan having eaten very well and cenzo having decided he just didnt want to eat) but tonight matteo sat in his highchair extra long and super quiet while eating his dinner at his own, uninterrupted slower pace. i was emptying the dishwasher and his brothers were running around being loud boys and he just sat there. it was a moment that i just needed to capture on "film" not only because it totally depicts him as a little italian boy surrounded by pasta, but also because it was a perfect reminder as to why i was picked for this job as a mom of 3 boys! although there may always be moments of mass chaos around me, somewhere there is a quiet moment of peace and that is the moment i need to remember at the end of the day, that is the moment that will give me the strength to get up and do it all over again tomorrow!

the best part is, i decided to give them their baths before dinner today, while tuscan was still napping, then we had chicken parm for dinner!! crazy i know, but it really was a pretty easy clean up! i just love that face...

disney on ice

frank and i decided about a month ago that tuscan was way over due for a mommy and daddy day, all by himself, with no little brothers to get him in trouble or distract us from him. so when we saw that advertisements for disney on ice, we knew exactly what we needed to do! frank, being the wonderfully generous daddy that he is, asked for tickets for his birthday from my dad and beth (thanks again guys!!) my brother and lindsay offered to babysit the twins for us (thanks again to you guys too!)

so we set the date, made the plans and already the day has come and gone...but what a memorable one it was.

we took tuscan out for pizza before hand and to our surprise he was a perfect child, sat in his seat the whole time and ate every morsel of pizza on his plate! the things kids will do for an opportunity to see mickey mouse!

when we got to the arena tuscan was in absolutely amazement. i dont think he blinked at all during the 3 hours we were there!! we walked all around to see all the concession stands (which were way over priced and we were grateful there wasnt anything that tuscan "had to have") we did spluge a little and got a picture taken of the 3 of us at a mickey mouse display, tuscan held his hand and could barely smile because he was in such awe! and then the show started...

this was how he sat for the whole first half...it took him over an hour to eat that sucker!

but it was amazing...he loved every minute of it and we were so happy to spend some time with just him. becoming a big brother at a year and a half to two babies was definitely alot to ask of him, but he has taken it on with such stride and is growing and developing in ways that have made us so proud. he is such a lover (most of the time) and is so smart. i cant wait to share another day like this with him in the future...actually i cant wait till the twins are old enough to charish individual mommy and daddy days too! we are so blessed with such amazing boys.

may the Lord be with her...

i am sad to say that frank's grandma lost her battle with lung cancer yesterday. after being diagnosed over two years ago we have all been grateful to have had her with us this long...but it still wasnt long enough. not even 70 years old, a mother of 3, grandmother to 6 and great grandmother to 5 with one more on the way...as much as we hated to see her go it has also placed peace in our hearts knowing that she is finally comfortable again, sitting beside the Lord in the arms of her loving husband who left us 6 years ago this month.

a death is nothing to celebrate, but a life is...so to any of you who are reading this that have known grandma barbara, take a few moments to remember her and who she was to you and how she may have touched your life. dont be sad, for she is in a better place now, but rejoice for her because she has made it to that better place, a place that we all long to be someday.

may the Lord lay a hand of peace over your hearts tonight as we all deal with the loss of someone we truly love and help us to remember the good that she has brought to our lives and the memories she has left us with.

- rest in peace grandma barbara, we love you and you sure will be missed! take care of each other up there!

getting caught up...

i know it has been way to long since my last blog entry, but it has been beyond crazy around this house. after cleaning out the basement and gaining the motivation to clean out the rest of the house, my 3 little boys decided they needed to get the flu, one kid per day for 3 days...not fun! so after many instances of carpet scrubbing, diaper changing, emergency get-the-stink-off baths everyone is feeling better and my house has been cleaned and sanitized floor to ceiling, thanks to my mom for the help with that one! tuesday night frank and i were able to go out to dinner at the resturant, just the two of us - thank you to bridget for insisting on watching the boys...cutting her kids hair in exchange for a free night of babysitting, thats a no brainer!! we had an amazing dinner together and enjoyed some very wonderful conversation. its amazing how the stress level between us has lowered itself since starting the "total money makeover" my whole take on life seems to be different since we have started the process of eliminating our debt and looking at a future of financial security! and the best part is, its only been 15 days!! i can't even imagine how great its going to feel 15 months from now when most, if not all the debt is gone!

anyway...this is what my day yesterday had inspired and after sharing it with a friend through IM i was convinced to share it with all....

top ten reasons why i love tuscan so much!!

1. after trying to explain to him that he doesnt need to take on the task of yelling at his brothers, he tried telling me today that he's the mom, i told him no because im the one with the boobs! he said "yeah mom"

2. he had such bad gas today...all day he kept telling me stinky coolie! then twice he "sharted" yeah for potty training!! gotta love when they have juicy farts while running around commando! motherhood is amazing...

3. we made brownies, he wanted m&m's in them but there werent many left so we agreed to put them all on top. i asked tuscan if he wanted the one with all the m&m's, he told me no, it was for daddy because its his birthday and he needs balloons too!

4. he has recently embraced this whole potty training thing with complete independence. lives his life, takes care of business and then informs me when all is said and done! he's amazing.

5. i walked through the kitchen today and kissed him on the cheek, two seconds later he is standing before me at my desk, jumps into my arms, kisses my cheek and then goes back to eating his lunch in the kitchen.

6. i said "i love you so much tuscan" he said " lah to so mah mom" who knows what language it was in, but he said it back to me with just as much love and devotion as i feel for him!

7. everytime i am sitting at my desk he crawls up on my lap and asks me to put on "dominic the donkey" for him - in tuscan language "mom, hee haw, hee haw...la la la la"

8. when he brushes his teeth at night, he is insistant that i also brush mine, always looking out for everyone else!!

9. when the babies are put in their highchairs in the morning and waiting for breakfast to be served, tuscan is quick to make sure they each get a handful of cheerio's/kix - we dont ask that of him, he just does it!

10. when i am feeling stressed out/extra tired/just cant go on with the day...tuscan walks over to me, pats my leg and says "ok momma, no biggie" (translation-dont worry mom, everything will be ok in the end, dont worry about it!)

if my other two boys grow up to be just as sweet as him, i will feel even more fortunate than i already do. i am so blessed in so many ways and so grateful for all that God has given me, even on my worst of days!!

new year, new strategies!

im taking the old phrase "out with the old and in with the new" to a whole new level for the first time this year. everyone starts the new year off setting goals, talking about desired accomplishment, big and small things they want to achieve and i was just like everyone else. since summer my "new year" list has been getting longer and longer and finally i have been jump started and my goals are becoming realities as i check them off my list.

our parents came over yesterday to help us clean out our basement. they still had a bunch of "junk" down there that no one really needs, things that they just werent sure how they wanted to get rid of it - donate, yard sale or just give it away stuff...

we cleared out anything that was in cardboard, made of cardboard or was as moisture retaining as cardboard. our pile of garbage is going to stretch across the width of our front yard this week. i have about 6 boxes of stuff for a summer yard sale and a box for goodwill and the consignment shop.

having a new mind set with money and how and where we spend it, has also given me a better insight on materialistic stuff...if im not using it and its not surving purpose to anyone in my house, do i really need it?? answer: NO!! why do people surround themselves with materialistic things? - because they are unhappy with some other area of their life. im guilty of it - shopping is a huge weakness for me, any kind of shopping - diapers and baby food, cleaning supplies, groceries, clothes - anything i think im getting a deal on is a huge weakness. i stock up when things are on sale and i have a coupon...but i do it everytime that thing is on sale and i have a coupon and then all of a sudden i have way more than i need at any given time. ENOUGH! im sick of spending my money before i really need to - it results in me spending more money than i actually have, which is why again this year i look forward to my tax return to pay off the stupid credit card. but this is the last time i will ever do that. this year the credit card is going to have a whole new purpose in our house and it will spend all its time locked up in the safe until there is a true reason to use it. (cant think of a good reason just yet, but thats probably a good thing)

anyway...the cleaning spurt was still in me this morning when i got home from work, so i tackeled to areas that have been driving me insane. one of which was baby clothes. i felt like they were sneaking out of every crevice in our house. there were boxes and boxes that needed to be put into storage bins and packed away. i had left a lot of stuff out while waiting to find out what kelly was having - be it a boy, she was getting all my hand me downs to store at her house until she needed them. (since riley is a girl, we need to set a plan to get the smallest sizes of the stash back here) but i did get all that taken care of and put away in the crawl space today.
and....

i cleaned out my scrapbooking area and closet. it had been another one of those places where it was easy to hide things quickly. well they were losing their hiding ability and i couldnt take it anymore. its hard to find inspiration to be creative when you cant find anything in your workspace!!

so that was my major accomplishment today - aside from the fact that tuscan has spent the last two days running around without any pants or a diaper on - our newest attempt at potty training and i think we finally found one that will work. his potty chair goes where ever he goes...its always just a few feet away. without any pants on he is paying much more attention to when he has to go and its working. so far so good...naptime is going to be a struggle - i tried a pullup today, but it didnt work and i had to put him back to bed with a diaper on, but one step at a time i guess...i swore to myself that tuscan would be out of diapers before the end of 2008, so the best i can hope for is the end of the month!! wish me luck and say a little prayer!

happy new year to all!!

the end of our year was pretty uneventful - although frank and i were able to spend a whole day and night together without the kids on tuesday (12/30) for christmas our parents gave me a homemade gift certificate for a day and over night of babysitting, a gift certificate to hyde park steakhouse and 2 movie passes.

and what an amazing day we had!! we got up around 8, had breakfast with the kids, got them all packed up and dropped off at nonna and poppa's by 10am. headed to starbucks to grab some coffee and over to the grocery store for some necessities. then off to lunch, our complimentary lunch and bottle of wine at mangia. the mall was our next stop. frank and i have not walked hand in hand anywhere in so long, much less the mall! we spent the gift certificate that my grandparents gave us for christmas. frank got some super sexy sweatpants from aero and a really nice pair of casual/dress pants. i got my black boots that i have been on the hunt for as well as a pair of really cute, and comfy, black flats...something to wear with leggings and stuff like that. love them both!!

then we had an amazing dinner at hyde park. frank's cousin is the GM there so she brought over two lemon seared scallops, compliments of the chef. we shared a tomato and fresh mozzarella salad and a bowl of french onion soup. i indulged in the steak levy (named after marv levy!) it was a 7oz peppercorn encrusted filet with a red wine roasted garlic butter on top - amazing!! frank had the steak kelly (named after jim kelly) it was twin bacon wrapped filets with a hollendaise sauce over the top. and we shared a baked potato, which was nothing to brag about. but dessert on the other hand, chocolate lava cake...that was the best part of the whole day! it was soooooo good, i think i could have eaten two of them!

after dinner we headed to the movie theater to see marley and me...such a good movie. it was just as touching as the book, which i read last year. frank and i were both laughing out loud and by the end i was bawling my eyes out and he had a few tears running down his cheeks as well. i think it could end up being a movie we add to our collection in the future, not that i could ever watch it daily, but it was definitely a very real, easy to relate to movie and even better knowing it was all based on a true story!

new years eve was just another day here. i worked in the morning, frank worked all day and night. he was home before the new year but it wasnt anything special - he forgot it might be a good idea to wake me from my comfy spot on the couch before 12:01. anyway...then new years day morning, the car broke down as i turned the corner from our street. after a long to do, my dad ended up coming by to help frank tow the car to the dealership, me and the kids headed to my dad and beths for dinner and frank met us there with when he and my dad were done. we had an amazing meal and spent some good time with dom and dana and my brother and lindsay. the morning may not have been great but the evening was a very nice way to start off the new year!

fortunately the car issues were all covered under warrenty, so the $650+ in repairs didnt cost us a thing (strong recommendations to spend the money on extended warrenties every time you buy a new/used car!! its soooo worth it) our parents are coming over tomorrow to help us clean out the basement. they still have some junk down there that no one really needs, so time to get rid of it!! and next sunday my mom is coming over to help me clean this house, floor to ceiling - the deep cleaning that was supposed to get done at the end of summer after the construction was done! so i am happy at the prospect of starting my new year off with a really clean house. it pairs up nicely with all the other positive changes we are looking to enforce in this house this year. we have a lot of goals, many financial, some big some small...all of which will make a huge difference in the quality of our life now and in the future! we are so excited and i am very much so looking forward to sharing this years adventure with all of my readers. in some way you will all take part in holding me accountable!

God bless you all this new year and i hope everyone has as positive of a 2009 as i am looking forward to with my family!