AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

that is about how i have felt since somewhere around 330 today, shortly after i got the bright idea to take a nap. how stupid i can be sometimes. it wasn't like i was overly exhausted...just moderately exhausted. i haven't opened in about a week, and i did today so i thought maybe a nap would be a good idea. well that idea exploded and turned into my own version of "shannon's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!" or how ever that book title goes.

i'll spare you all the gruesome details of my misery and jump to the part of the day that actually made me laugh through my frustration. i gave all the boys their bath and while taking them out one at a time, placing them each in the twins bedroom to get diapered and dressed...Cenzo was the first one out tonight. by the time i had Teo out of the tub, Cenzo had gotten himself unwrapped from his towel, off the toddler bed and walked over to where Tarzan was sleeping in the corner of the room.

"whats that noise?" i thought to myself..."the fan? no...oh my goodness, Cenzo NO!!!" to late, he was already peeing on the poor dog!

they say that payback is a (fill in the blank), so i guess that was tarzan's payback for all of his horrible days as a puppy!

and somehow at the end of the day, when they are all sound asleep - dogs included - i find a small space in my heart that still managed to hold on to some love for them. thankfully my heart seems to forget about days like today easier than my mind does because i have full confidence that i will start over tomorrow with my boys consuming 99% of my heart, only to slowly, or quickly, see how they can make it diminish!

thank goodness we apparently dont remember the bad times as the kids grow up, we somehow only seem to remember the good...at least thats what the "im so grateful to be past that stage" moms tell me!

a bit of randomness...

no pictures from today...just a few random thoughts

1. i am sick of changing three sets of size 5 diapers. my 3 year old needs to stop saving his poops for naptime/bedtime when he has either a pull up or diaper on. its getting really old really quick and i think he may need to start changing himself if he doesnt want to change his ways!

2. i made a fabulous dinner tonight, it was very healthy and it used up some of the things that were leftover in the fridge...amazing! oh and the kids ate it...even better!

3. took the boys for a walk tonight to kone king...nonna gave them money for ice cream because they did such a good job eating their dinner while i cut her hair. wish she could be here with that bribe every night - the ice cream was really good and the walk to get there, while pulling the wagon, was pretty nice too! but apparently a kiddie cup and a small arent enough for me and my 3 sons...next time they each get their own kiddie cup! (partly so i dont have to share my sprinkles!!)

4. i think i am developing an "addiction" to geotrax...yes the kid trainset toys that fisher price makes. the boys have quite the growing collection of them and i just discovered so many new ones that we have never seen on ebay! i want to buy them all...anyone want to offer me a 3rd part-time job to pay for this?? dont worry i havent started bidding yet...but i want to!

5. i hate unloading the top shelf of the dishwasher, along with the silverware tray...there is to much little stuff and i just hate it.

6. i get irritated when anyone other than me folds the kids clothes. outfits should be folded together...the twins matching/coordinating clothes should be piled together so they wear them at the same time, just make it easy to put away when you fold it and put it in the basket the right way. duh! makes sense to me...otherwise put it away yourself!

7. i wont go in my basement after dark, particularly if i am home with the kids by myself. ya never know what/who might be waiting down there in the dark corners...could be a spider, could be a killer...i'd rather never find out!

8. im sick of this allergy season. my nose hurts inside and out...my throat has been to scratchy and i just dont want it anymore!

9. i am super excited to celebrate the fact that frank and i have paid off nearly $5000 in debt so far this year...not counting what has been paid off with our regular monthly car payments! thanks dave ramsey...your program really works! our debt snowball is really rolling! and we still have 6 months before the year is over!

10. i love my husband, my boys and my life so much lately. i am finally starting to feel very secure with where we are at and i owe 100% of it to God, not only for answering my prayers personally, but for putting other people in my life who care enough about me and my family to also pray for us. He is amazing when you find a way to put all your faith in Him. if you haven't tried it, you should!

have a good night...i think i might too!

my super hero...

after working a less than desirable shift today (130-815pm) i have to say, i was NOT disappointed to come home and find that my three amazing little boys were still awake! they were all in their beds, but awake....so i was able to sneak into their rooms and smother them with kisses, listen to their giggles and say good night!

moments later, i was sitting at the kitchen table enjoying a delicious extra foamy, non-fat, no h20 chai and a warm apple fritter with my husband, when i noticed a little boy poking his head around the corner. only to my surprise, it was no ordinary little boy....it was Super Tuscan! to darn cute he is too, so cute that its hard to be mad at him when he gets out of bed to do silly things like this!! so i thought i would share my joy for the night....

and i am also happy to say, we started our day off with a 4 mile walk today...something we havent done since last summer but something i hope to continue whenever time is on our side! it was awesome, the boys were all in strollers, but seemed to love every minute of it. our destination today was beth's office, the boys surprised her with flowers from our yard and in return she and the ladies filled them up with candy! they loved it, the boys and all the ladies!

now im off for another round of rummy and a movie with my husband...i kicked his butt at 500 the other night...so lets see if i can do it again!

introducing...

now 3 days old...baby boy conorozzo has a name!! it was announced early this morning and i would like to share it with all that have been wondering! Nico Richard...an amazing, stong and unique name for a boy i know will live up to it! he is gorgeous...i cant wait till i have a few more pictures to post.

but until then...there is more exciting baby news to share (no we are not expecting!) but Kellie and Randy are! i am so excited for them. i have known since about an hour after she found out, but per her request had to keep it a secret, for reasons that i completely understand and respect. but now that they have seen the heartbeat, had very positive blood test results and have made it almost to the end of the first trimester...the word is out and i can share my excitement with everyone i know!

they are tenatively due Dec. 31st. a baby shower is being planned for the weekend that we take our roadtrip out to KS/CO to visit them, i am totally excited that i will have a chance to be a part of it, especially since Kellie was here to be a part of mine 3 years ago! and hopefully, if we get lucky, ill be able to fly out to see her after the baby is born for a few days! she never met any of my kids till they were 10mos (tuscan) and a year (the twins). so hopefully with this round of visits we will be able to squeeze in some baby time sooner than that...and if we are really lucky, her and randy might be able to make a trip out here sometime next summer so we can show them, as a family...what nice WNY weather can be like. they were here the week we got married, in July, but it was such a busy week that we werent really able to share "home" with them. and kellie has come out in March (my baby shower) and November (the twins bday) neither of which had very nice weather!

but anyway, we are saying our prayers that God's plan falls into the same path as our wishes. and celebrating so many lives this week! what an amazing way to enter the most beautiful, fun filled season of the year...let the summer begin!

(oh and i colored my hair today - red low lights, blonde high lights...wanted to be a hot momma for summer! and since my hairstylist - aka my mom - has dissappeared out of my life again, im back to doing it myself...and it turned out awesome, ill take a pic tomorrow after i get ready for work so i can share it with all of you!! im so proud!)

simple sunday...

went to church...what a wonderful sermon it was, explaining the biblical view on alcohol - did you know, drunkenness is a great sin, but the consumption of wine - in moderation is considered a gift from God? good to know!

went to work, nothing to report there - sundays at starbucks are never fun, partly because i hate working on sunday (aka - family day in our house) and mostly because it just isnt busy. i am so used to the early morning rushes so to work anything else is almost excruciatingly boring.

came home and just when i thought i had nothing much to report for the day, i read something that i want to share with all of you, especially my mom/mom to be friends, this is something we all need to remember....

i am borrowing a book, from a great friend, called His Princess, love letters from your King by Sheri Rose Shepherd. they are just little one page readings that are so amazing, you feel like you just read a wonderful book! this was my reading today...

my princess, run to win... you, my princess, are destined to win. i know how tired you often become, just by trying to do and say all the right things. take that pressure off yourself, because i did not put you there. the world may judge you by what they see and hear, but i look within your heart, my child. i see your desire to please Me, and i see your struggle to please others. if you want to win this endurance race, you must let go of your need for the approval of others and seek My will and My pleasures. simplify your life, and let go o f the burdens that weigh you down. you'll find that My grace will lighten your step and My favor will even draw others to join you. yes, at time you will stumble and fall. but dont worry. i am here to help you back up again - as often as it takes. make it your daily passion to run with Me, and i will carry you over the finish line of your faith. together we will win!

love, your King and your Champion

so tonight i share this with all the amazing women in my life who on a daily basis put way to much pressure on themselves to get the "job" done right. i know we are guilty of it and this is such a perfect reminder that we dont have to be perfect, we dont have to be super fast, we just have to do it side by side with our Lord. what a breath of relief that is, isnt it??

think about this as you begin a new work week tomorrow and know that i love you all!

its official!!

frank and i have become an uncle and aunt today! dave and enna are the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy, who currently does not have a name! he was born at 2:04 pm, weighed 6lb 9oz (as much as cenzo weighed at birth...and i had one more in there on top of that!) and he was 21" long. both mom and baby are doing well. and as soon as they decide on a first name i will be sure to edit this post and let you all know!

its just been a week of babies! the celebration of new life is so exciting...it gives us hope that God hasn't given up on us yet. we still have a chance to make this world a better place, to continue living to fulfill God's purpose. life is such a beautiful thing, when we embrace what we have been blessed with.

congrats to dave and enna...we cant wait to meet the little bundle of love! he is gorgeous (as if the expectation was for anything less!!) love you guys!

its all about me...

well not me in a selfish way, just me in an attitude way. i am starting to notice that my days turn out much differently based on my attitude and how i handle certain situations. on the days i feel i have lost complete control (of my children) are the days i need to take a step back and reevaluate myself and my behavior. if my kids are off the wall then im probably not at my best either...so instead of getting angry with them, i need to settle on the idea of us all taking a short time out.

life is so much easier when you arent angry all the time. but its sometimes easier said than done. i am going to try and live this month with the positive influence of one of my best friends who seems to have used this technique to turn her own life around. i am going to try and wake up everyday with a positive thought and goal for the outcome of my day. this week has been wonderful and i want more than anything for it to continue through the weekend.

i also want to end each day with a reading from my bible. i have had so many struggles in life recently, so many days where im not sure i can continue this way...but everytime i pick up my bible i read exactly what my heart needs to hear, so i guess its something i should do more often. its much easier to read things that lead to the positive in life then it is to dwell on the negative.

so wish me luck for a positive start to this new season in life...and summer of course!

have a great weekend everyone!

my boys...are crazy!!

we attempted to go to the zoo today, but with it being the end of the school year and pretty nice out the parking lot was way to packed and apparently the area was preparing for the corporate challenge, so we turned around and headed to the park instead! who knew that a playground could be way more exciting that the zoo...i honestly think tuscan was more excited about the day ahead when we told him plans had changed...the twins didnt care, they were sleeping in the backseat already!




well the silliness continued after bathtime tonight...its times like these that i truly feel like the most blessed woman ever! my boys, as rotten as they may seem sometimes, are awesome! i love them to pieces and i love little moments like tonight that remind me how amazingly lucky i am to be their mother.

even taenato wanted to be a part of the super cute boy action shots tonight...!

its june - already?!?!

so for the month of june i am going to try and post everyday...even if its just a one liner! i know its been awhile, again, since my last post. i will try and bring everyone up to speed - not that you have really missed much, which could be why i havent posted!

we spent memorial day at darien lake with matt, bridget and the kids! that was a ton of fun...considering we spent the whole day in kiddie land! but i guess at this point in our lives, its all for the kids! we started the day off in the water park. tuscan had a blast dispite the fact that the water felt like there were ice cubes floating in it! the twins on the other hand were terrified. they clung on to me and bridget like their lives depended on it, like they would melt if they got wet! i couldnt blame them though, that water was way to cold for me! tuscan was an animal though, i cant even tell you how many times he went down the water slides! then we headed over to kiddie land, the kids had a ton of fun over there...even the twins enjoyed themselves on a few rides, accompanied by yours truly of course, frank isnt so much a fan of the circular rides! we picnic'd in the parking lot with delicious pasta salad, compliments to frank and some wegmans subs! and then we were back in for a few more kids rides...the motorcycles, the kiddie bumper cars and the ladybug rollercoaster - tuscan braved it, but didnt enjoy it. he was tough, there werent any tears but he was scared and not at all interested in going on it again!

last weekend we had a yard sale. i cant exactly say it was fun, but the weather did hold out for us and we did get rid of a ton of junk! i think my profits by the end of the weekend were somewhere around $175...not bad, its more than i bring home in an average week! what we didnt sell went right into the back of my dads truck and was dropped off at the church for their annual yard sale! so i think i can proudly say my house is currently junk free! strangely it doesnt seem any more organized though - but one step at a time i guess...

this past sunday our dear friends, matt and bridget (i swear they arent our only friends, just our only friends with kids that live near us!) but anyway, they were blessed by the birth of their baby girl! they have gracefully entered the family of 5 club...they have two other sons, zach 11 and chase almost 3. Ava Marie made a pretty quick enterance into our world about 40 minutes after bridget and matt got to the hospital, weighing 7lb 1oz with a full head of hair and chubby cheeks on her precious face! i was fortunate to be their first at home visitor yesterday shortly after they returned home from the hospital! and of course i was more than excited about the invitation and an opportunity to surprise them with some baby girl clothes! it was wonderful to hold such a tiny little baby again...and especially one wearing pink! she is gorgeous! they are truly blessed and we are so happy for them.

we also took a trip to the southern tier and had dessert at aunt millies - a little diner that is becoming a favorite place for us to take a nice drive to. they have the most amazing homemade desserts in the world and although this trip they were out of two of the things we wanted to get, we all still left pretty happy....but mostly Cenzo - he loved his brownie so much that he felt he needed to lick his plate clean!

i have taken up bike riding...i have not rode a bike in about 7 or so years, since before we lived in CO because i left my bike here when we moved. well believe it or not, that bike...my huffy from toys r us for my 12th birthday was still in the basement looking better than brand new! and i have started riding it around the neighborhood. i would love to think that by mid-summer i will have worked myself up to riding it to work for my later in the day shifts (not a fan of riding it in the dark at 430 am) so we'll see. i also have some goals towards losing a few pounds that i havent been able to shed since my precious babies entered the world....a year and a half ago! so wish me luck!

last night we took the kids to red robin for dinner. i had some coupons for free kids meals and free bottomless beverages (non alcoholic of course!) so for a family of 5 to have dinner and share a dessert it cost us less than $30!! awesome. but what was even more awesome was the fact that two seperate sets of people approached us at our table on their way out to tell us how adorable and well behaved our children are! commenting that they usually get so annoyed in resturants when there are little kids because the kids are usually fussing and yelling and just wanted to be sure to let us know we are doing a wonderful job and our children are very impressive! i have to say, it is so nice to hear stuff like that from complete strangers because there are certainly days when i feel like my kids are completely awful and i am doing a horrible job as a mom, i wonder what God was thinking when he chose me for these adorable little boys!

frank and i took the kids to the playground up the street today. i didnt have my camera on me because i rode my bike. but they had a ton of fun. it was the first time the twins have ever played on a playground and they just thought the slides were the greatest thing ever. they werent as excited about the swings but they'll get there!

we have recently been trying out some new recipes - healthy eating for a healthy digestive track - one of which i discovered on a favorite blog of mine...but its for these amazing pancakes! if you are interested, let me know and ill send you the link. i have also been experimenting with healthier ways to make belgian waffles. recently i added minced apples (tiny so the kids wouldnt feel them, they dont like fruit in the waffles/pancakes) cinnamon, flaxseeds and once i poured them into the pan i sprinkled oats on top! they were amazing, you should try them!

tuscan and matteo both got haircuts tonight...cenzo and frank are on the list for tomorrow! but for the first time i have finally given tuscan a real big boy haircut! a #1 fade...just like franks! he looks so grown up and handsome...and he loves it, he loves how soft the back of his head is now! it was so weird for me to because in so many ways i felt like i was cutting my little brothers hair. their hair lines are so similar, their hair texture is almost the same...even the color at this length looks pretty close! my little man...so grown up at just 3 years old...

ok, i guess maybe you have missed alot...tomorrow i wil not only post for the day but i will also post something for the first 2 days of the month that i have missed. i have a few pics that i want to share with you! (mandy one of them is going to be for lucia!)

and with that i am headed to the couch for a glass of wine and movie with my husband. be back in a day - i promise!

my sensitive boy...

as the baby of the family, i think he is trying to tell me that he would be a really good big brother! cenzo somehow managed to get one of my childhood dolls up from the basement and has been carrying her around. he loves her like she is a real baby...well except for the times he drops her to go play with something else! but its to cute and i love the way he and matteo both say "baby" in their sweetest ever voices! they are too cute!

oh and dont worry, this isnt training for anything that we have coming up...not soon anyway! but we should ever be so lucky to have a baby girl some day!