the ball is rolling...

my debt snowball that is...here is my jingle of the day - hope you can pick the tune up in your head... "bye bye loans, bye bye credit cards...hello mortgage payments? i think im gonna cry..." good tears though. paying off our debt in exchange for finally owning a house again. thats a trade im willing to make! our federal return made its welcomed appearance in our bank account today and i am happy to report that payment is posted for monday to pay off two credit cards and two student loans! road to financial freedom, here we come!

i also spoke with the mortgage guy at the bank today...this sounds like an almost-done-deal. he was able to work it all out in a very "specific" way but in a way that will be (tight) do-able for us. so i really think with in the next few months i will be the proud owner of a house that still need quite a bit of work! anyone want to help?? we wont be able to afford to pay you, but i know someone that will cook you a really good meal when your done working!!

but for now we just wait and see how things pan out. frank and i have a little more of our tax return that we need to make wise decisions with to help this new financial opportunity as much as possible...so to the praying board we go in hopes that God will show us the way and give us the answers, cause im not totally sure what the best thing to do is right now. so say a prayer that it all works out because owning the house could really make life so much easier, for all parties involved! not to mention the affect it could have on our getting a decent tax return next year!

have a great weekend, my love to all...

pasta, paperwork and prayers...

all i can say is thank goodness my kids are italian because they can never complain to me that we eat pasta to often...its the one thing i can creatively cook with confidence!! i made another Kraft recipe tonight and once again my kids loved it!! it really does make cooking much less a chore when i know someone is appreciating what i am cooking!

i had my "every 6 months" review at work today. it was awesome. totally confirmed all these positive feelings i have been having about my life lately. my boss and i dont get to work together all that often so we dont really have much time for conversation. it was so nice today to have her undivided attention for about 45 minutes, we were able to touch base on so much and i felt great when our chat was over! it so wonderful to work for a company of thousands of people but still have the feeling of importance. im not just a number in corporate america, i am shannon, a very valued barista! when i started at starbucks i never would have imagined it to turn into such an important part of my life. i tell everyone, it was my "get me through college" job...well i will have been with the company for 7 years this august...i only went to college for 2 and one of those years i was working at supercuts! i dont know if there could ever be enough words to describe what starbucks has done for me and how it has helped to make my life what it is. when we lived in CO, my fellow partners and my customers were my family away from home. i loved them all dearly and have been fortunate enough to keep in touch with many friends from the powers and constitution group. through starbucks i found one of my most treasured friends, kellie - she and i have more starbucks stories that we could tell, most of which i can assure you would rather not hear!! oh the crazy nights...chai and vanilla vodka on a friday night...we would never! at least not while we were working!!

anyway....i also got online tonight to see about getting preapproved for a mortgage, it looks like we might actually have a chance at buying the house this year. obviously we would need to actually sit down with someone and get some "real" numbers, but i think it may be closer in reach than i would have guessed. there are just a lot of details that need to be looked at, closing costs, etc... so hopefully in a few months this will be something that i am posting about in a much more serious way. right now i think i need to keep the focus on paying off the rest of the small debts because im not sure the bank would be happy with our debt to income ratio right now!! that had posed a small problem when frank and i tried to get our mortgage in CO and that was before we had kids! so we'll see, summertime may have more than just a fun trip in store for us!

speaking of the trip, i pulled out my list of zoo's that are covered by our family membership...there are 7 zoo's in KS that we could potentially visit, one of which is right in the city that kellie and randy will be living in! so hopefully we will be able to pick a few of them to entertain our days with the kids while we are there. there is only one zoo in CO that is covered by the membership, down in pueblo...but we have never been to that one so maybe it will be worth checking out, an early morning trip to the zoo followed by a picnic lunch at royal gorge!?! i cant wait...it is so exciting to know that we are heading back to CO for a few days this summer. it is definitely a place that we want our kids to be familiar with because it is the place that frank and i started our life together. so much of who we are as a couple is because of the life we lived in CO and i think we could both honestly admit that if the time was right and a good opportunity came about, we would move back there are some point while our kids are school age just to share the experience with them. there is something different about CO that you just dont get here...be it the mountains, the fresher air, the non-stop sunshine or the people...i think over the last few years frank and i have become more 'home-sick' from CO than we ever were from buffalo!! we missed family while we were gone, and good pizza...but there is so much more that we miss about CO. who ever knows where life will lead us, but i can say, we we're led to God in CO so something tells me that He will lead us back there again someday!

tonight i also want to say a prayer for all my closest friends. (you know who you are and what your personal struggles are right now)
Lord, i ask that you watch over my girlfriends and their families as their lives are being faced with some changes and new challenges. be with them to guide them in the right directions, answer their prayers as you see fit and help them to see what your plan may be for them in the coming days, weeks and months. help to ease them through their transitions, be it what they are and lay a hand of peace over them as they become settled in their new routines. they are all such amazing women Lord and my life is so much richer because of the relationships i share with them and i pray for nothing but the best for them Lord. in your sons holy name, jesus christ, amen.

i love you ladies and i truly hope that this year brings as much peace to your home and your heart as it seems to be bringing to me! keep your heads up, your hearts open and keep up the good (God) work!

i've been upgraded...

so i think since this year started i have slowly been upgraded. and i have to say i am completely loving it. i have recently started taking more time during most days for myself, whether it be blogging or scrapping or just taking a nap, i am doing more for me. through that i have started to find myself as shannon again and not just mom, and as a result i am becoming much better at all the rolls i play and much happier while doing it too!

my attitude at work feels better and i am so much more motivated to get things done and just keep working! i hate the down time because it makes time move to slowly...

at home i am getting more organized, mentally and around the house. i've been making lists of things to do so that my days are more fulfilling and i can keep my accomplishments and things to do out in the open so that they dont get forgotten.

as a mom i have finally found it to be rewarding to cook meals for the kids more nights during the week, now that the twins are eating all table food all the time it makes it so much more worth my while to cook a full meal, i actually have people to eat it with!

i am financially motivated. seeing our debts get lower and lower is making it that much easier to stop spending which has also been a huge stress reliever. we have even recently started discussing the idea of buying the house from our parents this year. there are a lot of first time home buyer incentives out there right now and because i was never on the mortgage in CO, we can probably qualify in that category. and what a huge bonus that would be come tax time next year!! and just the knowing that we dont owe someone else money to live our life. renting isnt always an easy thing to do, but its much harder to do when your landlord is someone you know, especially a family member! so we'll see what happens with that, please say a little prayer that it may all work out!

but i have to say, as a wife might be where i have seen the most improvement in myself. having found so much more happiness in all the other areas of my life has taken so much of the pressure off me as a wife. i see frank through different eyes and i love what i see. he is such an amazing father, his kids adore him. he is an amazing provider, always working hard and trying his best to make my days easier. i love him so much for all that he does and i am so proud of the man he has turned into. the life we were living just a few years ago, i never would have imagined that we would be where we are today....and i also wouldnt change it for the world.

tuscan - since mastering the use of the potty during the day, he has recently decided that using a stool to stand and pee is what big boys do nowadays...so that is what we do! and hes been awesome about it! i am so proud of him and his accomplishments recently....now if we could only master not peeing while we're sleeping! any suggestions anyone??

the twins - they are walking all over the place, with big smiles on their faces!! we video taped them last night, if i can figure out how to post it i certainly will...it was too cute though. cenzo is a little more advanced at it than matteo is, but that doesnt stop teo...the more he sees cenzo walking the more he tries to do it himself...and they are on a roll! i am so proud of them. they also have both figured out and gained the strength to pull themselves up on the couch. you want to see a face of pure pride, look at my little boys after they have plopped their butts down on the couch to drink their juice!

i got a new hair-do tonight...would love to show you all, but you have to wait for a day when i actually have make up on and my hair is "done" a posting of a picture of me right now could possible break your computer screen!! i also made a very delicious dinner and it looked just as good in real life as the picture in the cookbook...so i took a picture to share with you. it was a super easy, very quick kraft recipe and it was sooo good!

does it make you hungry??

tuscan and i also made some chocolate chip cookies today and i think they may be the best ones i have ever made!! cenzo was my taste tester...he approved!

and when all was said and done tuscan decided he wanted to help me do the dishes. so he pushed up a chair and played the part of my rinse boy...if only he would be so helpful with cleaning up his toys everyday!

baby showers and pizza parties!

sunday we had a baby shower for dave and enna at our parents house. what an amazing turn out we had and what wonderful gifts they received!! we had a little over 30 people at the house for brunch. frank and his cousin richard were busy in the kitchen preparing made to order omlettes for all the ladies and frank made his now famous fried french toast! the food was awesome, as usual! and dave and enna were truly blessed. we had asked that everyone bring a book signed with their name and everyone came through without any duplicates! they got adorable outfits and many other baby necessities. it was a ton of fun and so awesome to be able to share in this exciting adventure with them. if only they lived closer so we could spend more time with them and the lil' guy when he arrives!

monday, dave and enna, dom and dana all came over to have lunch with frank and i and the kids. the twins went down for a nap before lunch started and tuscan was a little to excited about all the visitors to eat, so lucky for me, i was able to turn the leftover pizza into a pizza party/ice cream social for the kids for dinner! and they loved it. i chopped up all the pizza into bit sized toddler pieces and added a side of strawberries and then for dessert we had ice cream sundaes with cookies and cream ice cream, cool whip and m&m's! if only dinner could be that much fun every night!

tuesday was a pretty good day too...frank and i were able to get quite a bit accomplished working together around the house most of the day, as well as spend some good quality time together as a family. he and tuscan went out into the yard to clean up a little bit. we had so many chunks of tree laying in our yard from this windy winter we have had, as well as garbage that had blown in from the neighbors and the good ol' cleaning up after the dogs!! meanwhile, matteo was still taking his nap and cenzo was helping me sort and put away my huge box of scrapbooking stuff that kellie sent me! she is amazing and now i should have more than enough paper in my suppy to finish the twins albums and more! im so excited to get scrapping with all my new stuff. many times a week i say to myself "what would i do without her" this was just another one of those times!

and on another excited note. randy will be home from iraq, back in the arms of his wife in less than two weeks, and i have been given the honor of seeing the pictures of the house that kellie picked out for them to rent while living in KS!! its a big deal to me because i will actually have a chance to see this house in person in about 6 months!! i know six months probably seems like a long time away - longer than most people would start counting down for, but if you check out the very bottom of my blog page, you will find i have added a ticker counting down for our roadtrip to KS and CO this year!

i am setting a goal to myself to get back on track with blogging...i miss it, yes i miss my own daily posts. i read everyone elses on a daily basis, even those of people i dont know, just have common interest with and i think to myself "i wonder if anyone enjoys reading my blog as much as i love reading these" so if there is anyone out there who really loves reading my blog, im sorry for not being better about it and i will try harder to keep it more up to date. i need to make it a priority because most of the time this is the only way i document the things happening in our life!

my post later today (about today) will include: twins walking and climbing up on the couch updates, tuscan's potty progress and will we become home owners again this year??

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.