its time...

i have been feeling so antsy lately, like i need to do something BIG!  and i have been trying...

~ i've highlighted my hair and decided to grow it out a bit - but that doesnt seem just right.

~ i've been working from home more, making more money to pour into our debts, that feels nice, but just isn't doing the trick.

~ frank and i are taking the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, its changing our lives and we have never been so blessed and while its been an extreme and positive change it still isnt what im itching for right now!

~ i've started the spring cleaning - productive for sure, but still not what i'm craving.

~ i've started working out on a semi daily basis - love it, jillian michael's kicks my butt, but of course the results are not seen as fast as you can feel your muscles hurting

~ i completed a 35+ page scrapbooking project!  loved every second of that!!

But, im still left feeling discontent - other than truly believing that i am just ready for SPRING!!  i want to be outside.  i want to know that my final credit card is paid off so in the afternoons i can be outside playing with my boys, knowing i was able to get all my housework done while they were napping, because i wasnt stuck at my desk, slaving away to make more money!  i know that day is nearing - i can feel it right around the corner, but instead of the knowing bringing me peace, its making me more anxious!  i just want it NOW!!  enough with the cold weather, enough with the slippers and hot cups of tea...enough with the movie nights.

Lets go outside and blow bubbles and take a walk and get our shoes muddy!! Lets dig in the dirt and watch the spring flowers peek up out of the ground.  I want to rake the lawn and spread the mulch...i cant wait to plant our vegetable garden!! 

This spring is going to be a time of change for me. the start to a simpler life, taking the time to enjoy the most precious things - my boys...i want to know them better than i ever have, i want to play with them, to laugh with them. they are reaching that age that they will soon do things that they will remember for a lifetime.  some of my earliest memories were from when i was about 3 and i want to make sure that my boys have some pretty great ones of doing nothing more than simply enjoying our life!

Our door is open everyday to anyone who might be interested in joining us!  the more the merrier, always!

stay tuned...the best is yet to come!

With God by my side...

all things truly are possible!!

even frosting 4 batches of christmas cutouts with 3 little boys!!  i have been putting it off all week, but with the cookie bake off creeping up next weekend, i knew i had to get these cookies frosted!  and i am so glad i did.  what i thought might turn into something dreadful, actually ended up being a lot of fun.  the boys never faught over who's turn it was to help with the sprinkles, no one tried to steal any cookies, no one fell off the kitchen chairs and the house and kids were actually pretty 'mess free' when we were done!  i was impressed!

tuscan is such a great helper in the kitchen, in all aspects!  frank is already teaching him many of the ins and outs... tuscan told me one day that he is going to be frank's sous chef!

  * for more pictures, check out my facebok page, there is a whole album of them!!

the magic...

i dont know that i could ever pin point exactly what it is about the holidays, but there is something that makes this early portion of the winter season so magical and i love it!  whether it be the smell of fresh baked cookies, the twinkle of the christmas lights, the kids rosey cheeks...or it could be the prospect of misletoe around the next corner, toasting warm eggnog with your love and the warmth of fleece blankets.  its all so magical!  and when the snow starts falling (unlike here) it makes it all ten times better!  what would christmas be without snow, i have always wondered?  i have never envied those that live down south during the month of december...by early february, yes, but never this time of year!  the sparkle of the snow only adds to the magic.  the excitement on the kids faces that first morning with a fresh coat covering the front lawn...priceless!  but whats even more priceless is getting that first 5 inches of the year, followed by a 45 degree day and pulling in your driveway to be greeted by....

FROSTY!!

maybe if our snowman can find 'magic in that old bills cap they found' we could lend it to our home team next year and maybe find ourselves in a winning season! but i wont hold my breath, because poor Frosty only lasted one day before he turned into a puddle and two branches on the driveway!

just thought i'd share...these are the fun things Frank does with the boys while i'm at work!  its so good for them that they at least have one fun parent!  although, they did "help" make the cutout dough with me tonight for bakefest 2009 at our parents house tomorrow - on the menu this year...cinnamon chip biscotti, lemon pudding cookies, cream cheese cutouts, peanut butter cup cookies, m&m cookies, oatmeal toffee cookies, snowballs, seed cookies, peanut butter bars...just to name a few!

Wishes...

It seems as though the theme for the Christmas season in the retail world this year is "12 days of wishing" and today i have been blessed enough to say that all the things i could have wished for this year, actually came true!

Frank and I closed on our house today!!  its a process we have been pursuing since march of this year and now just in time for christmas, we are once again proud homeowners!  the whole process was so smooth - although not stress free, but it all worked out better than we could have imagined and i give all thanks to God and to those who have been praying for us along the way.  Many of you know of the snags we had been coming up against the last few months and by the grace of God, the way was paved and we have reached the new starting point!

I can't say that this is something i put much thought into from my own heart, 3 years ago when we decided to stay in the house and buy it from Beth, but today - now that we have closed on it, i am feeling something special about the idea of raising my boys in the house their dad grew up in! How awesome, really... and in all truth, this house is perfect for us!  we would have never found this perfect of a situation if we had looked elsewhere, so i believe it to be just one more confirmation that God always has a plan and although we may not understand it right from the start, we have to trust in Him and just go with it.  He knows what He is doing way better than i ever do!

i would love to try and pretend/promise that i could bring you all up to date since my last posting, or even to say that i will still go back and finish the posts from our vacation - but lets be real - i dont think i can even remember what i did last week...so i will try to become more consistant again. a new year is coming and i really would love to keep up my blog again, so that i do have something to look back at when i get to a time in my life when i have the time to remember where the years went! i make no promises, but i can say...the more that hold me accountable to daily blog postings the better your chances are to getting one!  i love a challange, but sometimes i need a reminder!

I hope each and everyone of you is enjoying the beginnings of this holiday season and i hope you are all feeling as wonderfully blessed as we are this year!  God is good and with him, life is amazing!

my preschooler!!

Not only was today our first day back to reality, but it was also tuscan's preschool orientation day! I cannot believe my baby boy is starting preschool already! its so surreal.

it was kind of sunny, but he was a good sport about me taking a few pics anyway!

we were running a few minutes behind this morning because i had to drop the twins off at Nonna Beth's office (much thanks!) but as soon as we walked into his classroom, he went right with his teacher to hang up his backpack, told her he had to go "pee pee" and i went on my way to the orientation room! when the moms were released we were all standing outside the classroom door waiting with smiles while our kids sang their farewell for the day song! it was awesome. im so proud of him!!

now to play catch up and try to get back on track...say a prayer for me!

all amazing things must come to an end...

coming soon...

Farewell, for now...(day 9)

coming soon....

The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo...(day 8)

coming soon....

Our Favorite Place...and a Baby Party!! (day 7)

Garden of the Gods....there are really no words to describe the wonder of this beautiful place.  its so breath-taking its almost hard to believe its real...and not only that its real but its not MAN made!  when i see places as gorgeous as the landscape that surrounded us for nearly 4 years and once again this weekend, it makes me feel God so strongly in my heart.  i cannot imagine any other way that something so amazing could be created!  maybe thats why living in CO seemed to have filled such a huge gap in my life.  not only did i find my true relationship with Christ there, but the area we were living in just surrounded me with his majesty.  in CO the air is different, cleaner, purer, fresher...the water is clearer, sparkling...the scenery is breathtaking...people arent kidding when they say "CO is God's Country".

this used to be the "entrance to my backyard"

as im sure you can imagine, it was wonderful being there today.  it was so amazing to be able to share such a special place with our 3 boys!  the only thing missing was our dogs, it was their favorite place to go hiking, leash free (when we went off path), so we brought them each back a big stick!  it will be fun to see if they remember and react to the scent!

after a decent hike around garden of the gods, and plenty of photo op for kellie, i think we may have gotten a pretty decent family shot!  so we packed up back to the house to drop off all the boys and kellie and i headed over to her Granny's for her baby shower!! 

i still cannot believe that Kellie is pregnant.  we have been talking about the fact for a few months now but even being here, with her next to me, i still cannot believe it!  i am beyond excited for her and randy.  i know the two of them will be an amazing parenting team together and their baby will be so blessed to have such a wonderful family.  great kids are a product of great parents!  it was wonderful to catch up with some old friends at the shower and to put a face to the name of many of the people who have been a part of kellie's life for, well, forever!  (pics from the shower were all on kellie's camera!)

after the shower, frank and i took the boys for a long promised trip to the playground where we met up with another of my CO girlfriends...Kelli - yes another kelly with another different spelling!  Kelli was pregnant with now 4 year old daughter Eva when we left in '05 and now also has a little boy Dante, who is about 2 months older than the twins...so it was super fun for her and i to get caught up a bit but even more so to finally meet each others kids in person and watch them play together!  aside from a little tift between Mr. Macho Tuscan and Eva, they all got a long really well!

the night was ended with a good old fashioned George-in-the-kitchen family dinner.  it was awesome!  he was insistant on "cooking italian for the italians".  and i must say, he did a great job!  the best part of the dinner though was without a doubt MommaRita's homemade chocolate ice cream!  i have never in my life had homemade ice cream and now that i have i think it might be the next kitchenaid mixer attachment we have to invest in, because it was amazing!

this whole week has been a little crazy, not many naps, lots of being in the car, tons of things that are just out of the ordinary as far as our routine goes...but as i sit here typing the details of our day i am so grateful for every second that hasnt been wasted.  this is a once in a great while opportunity for us and i dont want to miss a thing!  i cannot believe we only have one day left here...3 days is not nearly enough to get even close to all of it in!

Catching up...(day 6)

Today started with great intentions..."lets take the boys out to lunch and get some shopping in!" right...what were we thinking?? we took them out to lunch, kellie, mommarita and I...but it was more work than it was worth because we were nearing nap time. i did at least get in another round of Chik-fil-a while i still could but then we headed back to the house.

The guys were heading to the shooting range (frank, randy and george) to sneak in some very overdo "man time" so us girls just wanted to take advantage of equal opportunity! but instead of us all going out to run errands, the twins went down for their nap. Tuscan of course didn't want to lay down for fear he might miss something so Kellie and i decided to take him out and about to run our errands with us, with much hope he would fall asleep in the car. and he sure did, within minutes!! Kellie and i spent a few hours playing musical car seats. i would run into a store to get what i needed, then she would run into the store that she needed. it worked out nicely, we got everything done that we had set out to do! and tuscan woke up just in time for us to run into Starbucks for some much needed Chai's!

while in Starbucks we were able to chat with one of the barista's who is the sister in law to a girl that we used to work with - that was pretty cool. and while we were getting updates on some of our favorite regulars, two of them walked through the door! a mom/daughter duo that used to come in everyday...and still do! it was nice to see a familiar face, if only there had been a few more there this afternoon!

then tonight frank and i and the boys headed over to hang out with some of our old friends, kirsten and brandon and their two girls. we were so fortunate to get in touch with them via facebook this summer and it was so exciting to actually be able to see them tonight! before we moved they had found out they were expecting their second baby, their first was about a year old. they are now expecting their third! they have built an amazingly gorgeous house, they got the dog they had always dreamed of...whom i unofficially named!

years ago, right after we got taenato...Kirsten and Brandon had complimented his name and said that someday they wanted to get an all white Akita, if they did, what name would i suggest? my response - avalanche!! what else would you name an all while dog living in CO?? and they sure did name him avalanche! he is gorgeous...but not nearly as gorgeous as their two girls!

we enjoyed some take out from texas roadhouse with them at their house. this pregnancy has Kirsten pretty sick and with all the out and about we have been doing it made the night perfect to just hang out at their house and let the kids play so we could get caught up a little bit.

you don't realize how much you actually miss someone until you are surrounded by their presence again. we sure missed those guys and cannot wait until we see them again! it was wonderful to see how well our kids got along, especially for a first time play date! some friends are forever friends and kirsten and brandon definitely fall into that category!

i have to say, i wish more than anything i would have gotten more pics from tonight...at least a group shot of all the kids and maybe one of the 4 of us...but i guess its just all the more reason to get back out here again soon!