we are all still alive!....construction day 28...

i know it has honestly been forever since i blogged...20 days to be exact, and i deeply apologize, but life around here has been way to busy.
my cousin sarah got married on 8/8/08 and my whole week was planned with her, and it was awesome. on tuesday, 8/5 we had her wine tasting tour bachelorette party up at niagara on the lake, canada...in a limo!! it was awesome...then we had her rehersal dinner on the 7th and the wedding the 8th. the wedding was gorgeous. it was such a fun girl week, i was able to spend some time finding myself again!! pics will be sent out through snapfish in a week or so....if you arent on that mailing list then add your email in a comment! i'd be happy to share...
the wedding week was quickly followed up by a girls weekend, saturday the 9th, my bff kelly drove down from syracuse to spend the weekend. our day was very full of excitement. we hung out with the kids at the house for a while, then drove out to my parents so she could see the house and so my aunt and uncle from california could meet the twins. then we headed to supercuts so my mom could see kelly pregnant!! and we had a "for old time sake" lunch at louies - slime dogs (hotdogs with texas sauce on them) and fries, a buffalo tradition!! then we headed back to the house to highlight and trim her hair and we spend the remainer of the evening finishing up her baby shower invites (i made them, they are amazing!) and going through all my baby stuff. i sent her on her way sunday, after a shopping adventure at the waterloo outlets, with a truck overflowing with baby stuff...a swing, a papysan bouncy seat, tons of clothes - she better have a boy!!
thats it for tonight though...im off to bed...i promise there will be many more updates to come - tuscan/taenato tift...tuscan and vincenzo tift...(there seems to be a trend here - tuscan!) and on a happy note, our vacation, we leave saturday morning 5am (i hope) and we wont be back for a week!! so talk to you then!!

crazy days of summer...construction day 8

there isnt really any picture updates of the house for the week, without a before and after shot, the things that have been done wouldnt look very significant. but there is now a new roof over the foyer and front half of the living room...so no more water in our living room!! yeah! they have also framed in the new ceiling in the livingroom.
frank and i went yesterday to buy our tile and an outside light and a light for the foyer, we were very excited to be making such important long term purchases for our house, which is becoming more and more our home everyday!!

yesterday was our 4 year anniversary and i can honestly say, it was a perfect day. i worked in the morning and did a little running around, grocery shopping, etc.. but then we spent our day together with the kids, we ran to lowes to get the stuff for the house and then came home and had an amazing dinner together! frank cooked of course, not me!! but we had steak, that was cooked to total perfection, stuffed hot peppers which were just hot enough and loaded with a homemade cheese mixture, fresh beets and mashed potatoes! it was very comparable to eating in a resturant, only it cost us about a third of the price!! once dinner was over we bathed all the kids and packed everyone up for a sunset walk along the river and some ice cream at cousin vinny's doghouse! we all shared a bowl of perry's canolli ice cream and it was to die for!! tuscan of course loved all of the miniture chocolate chips, but just to see him walking along the river path was so awesome. the river walk and ice cream was something i remember doing with my parents when i was a little girl, so to now be instilling that summer tradition on my son, it just solidified one of the many reasons why i am so happy with where my life is at right now. it was a simple, yet very amazing way to spend such a special day in our life! we truly are more blessed than i would have ever imagined...

today was also a pretty good day...everyone was very well behaved all day - the atmosphere in the house was pretty calm and relaxed, dispite the banging and hammering happening out on the roof. well, that was until bed time - the babies are currently approaching an hour of screaming, i have been up there multiple times to rock them, burp them, hold them, sing to them...they are so beyond tired right now, they just cant seem to figure out how to calm down and go to sleep, they are screaming with their eyes closed!! and now my nerves are shot. i hate when there isnt anything i can do to make my babies feel better...and with two of them its even harder. sure i could go up there and rock one of them until he falls asleep but then the other one lays there screaming even harder because he can see me! its a horrible vicious cycle that no mother should ever have to endure...its the kind of anxiety that makes me wonder why God chose me to become the mother of twins, sometimes i feel like i just wasnt cut out for this job because there are just days when i cant seem to figure it out....
on a happy note today though, tuscan woke up from his nap today and peed on the potty right away, and then he put a pull up on for the first time!! he wore it all through dinner and kept dry, peed on his potty before his shower...but then wet the pull up when Nonna got here with new pez for his pez dispenser. apparently the excitement made him pee!! i say all the time that kids and puppies are one in the same! that was my justification!!
with the weekend approaching, the to do list is getting longer. my cousins wedding is a week from today, we have a wedding the weekend after that and then the following weekend we are heading to the beach for a week!! yeah!!!!!!!!!! i cant wait...its the one week this year that i have been counting down until. and its finally almost here!

day 2...

so the guys were here working again today...more walls are partially gone and so is part of the ceiling...the current condition of everything is really bad...the worst of the worries we were anticipating, so the guys definitely have their work cut out for them!! tomorrow is a day off for them and for us...we are heading to pittsburgh for the day with the kids and our parents, to celebrate our anniversary!! 4 years on thursday!! so we are heading to chipotle chipotle.com for lunch (yeeaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) im super excited about that...they we are going to the pittsburgh zoo and the national avairy and we will finish the day with dinner at fatheads fatheads.com, our favorite hole in the wall-amazing resturant!

but here are the pics of what got done today...

the front hall, looking into it from the dinning room... no more door, for now!

the living room, looking in from the side of the foyer, there will be a wall back in that spot eventually...

the pile of garbage where the stone platform used to be...

the kids and i headed out to the east aurora farmers market to pick up some fresh stuff today...beth met us there and then we headed back to my parents house for some hot dogs! its always so nice and relaxing out there...sitting out on the deck breathing in the fresh country air!

say a prayer that we make it down to pittsburgh without any major issues...ie - crying babies for 3 hours!

under construction...day 1

yes, my house is under construction...today was the start of a few very long weeks, but weeks that will be worth every minute in the end.

we have been having some problems with water leaking in our living room ceiling the last several months and today was the day to start correcting those issues. as it turns out, the front of our livingroom and our foyer, used to be a front porch. the previous owners (previous before our parents 25 years ago) apparently decided to enclose the front porch, make a foyer and make the livingroom bigger for a wood burning stove. well we had taken the stove out a few years ago, the week before the october storm - go figure! but we never took out the stone platform that it was on or the brick wall that was behind it. its out now though!!

franks cousin rich and stepdad mel are doing the work on the house and todays accomplishments were:

- rip out the wall between the foyer and livingroom.

- take down the brick wall

- tear out the stone platform

there is dust everywhere!! but today was just the beginning of some pretty amazing changes. ill post pics as the weeks go on so you can see where we began and where we end up. i think you will be pretty amazed in the end. we are changing the floor plans around a little and its going to be amazing! we also will end up residing the front part of the house that is being repaired...and we're changing the color! unfortunately we can afford to reside the whole house this year, but its a start...and who cares if its a different color for a little while...a good friend once told me (bridget) "it will just be your accent wall!" and hey, who ever said the accent wall had to be on the inside of the house!

today was the day...

to get my other tattoo that is! and it turned out totally amazing! its not completely the idea i orginally had, but in its own way i think its a lot better...i really really wanted the twins names to be on it somehow, how could i have tuscan's name and not the twins...but in all honesty, their names are really long and to fit it on my foot with the tattoo itself would have been way to much...i do think i want to at least add their initials to it, but we'll wait and see how it heals first. the whole tattoo ended up just being totally symbolic and representative of the twins instead of spelling it out.

(pic to be posted once my computer wants to load it properly! - and more details of my day to come...it was an awesome day, totally what i needed, but what i need most right now is to plop on the couch with my honey and enjoy some alone time with him...priorities!!)

well for whatever reason the picture doesnt want to load in the right direction, but here it is anyway... just lay across your computer desk and u will be able to see it the right way!

and to conclude a great day, not only did i get to work with jess this morning, but she also joined me to "hold my hand" while i got my tattoo...she is no longer a tattoo witnessing virgin! but then she also came over for dinner with me, frank and the kids (she's husbandless this week!) and she also joined me at my first meeting with my new girls group from church. it was so awesome to have a whole day devoted to not only being me, but being me with a bunch of other girls!!

frank was home with the kids by himself pretty much all day and he did amazing...everyone was in bed when i got home! it was so nice to have a day where we switched rolls more or less! i look forward to the next tuesday that i have a chance to get together with all the girls. we're trying to make it an every other tuesday thing, but the next week they are getting together is my cousin sarah's bachelorette day - an amazingly fun day with the girls...just different girls!!

i will find my innerself once again, if its the last thing i do this year!

im in love....

with my new double stroller that is!!


we have been having issues with the double stroller that we had for a while now (it was $40 at a yard sale, bought before we knew we were having twins...thought it would be great for tuscan and a baby.. but then there were two) so recenly we have been talking more seriously about investing in a better one...one that offered more support in the seats, one with more reclining options in the front and back and right now, very importantly, something that had a 5 point harness in the front and back. the one we currently have the back seat could either be straight up or flat down...there was no in between option and the front seat barely reclined at all...not enough for a baby to comfortably take a nap. and it didnt have 5 point harnesses...a must have for our babies at their current age...my daredevil vincenzo has recently decided that he really likes to ride in the stroller, hanging over the edge so he can watch the ground go by...it scares me to death!


so after showing up at jess's friday with only 3 wheels on my stroller, i decided it was time to move forward. i spent the weekend comparing prices and model and decided on one at babies r us. i got a great deal, as i had a 20% off coupon for there and i got the exact stroller that i wanted, all the way down to the color combo i wanted!! and i love it, maybe even more so than the kids did!! it folds nicely, its easy to open, its so much safer, its sturdier...its basically amazing!! so heres some pics of tuscan and matteo trying it out, inside - it was raining when i got it home!

and matteo decided to play with tar tonight...i love seeing tarzan with the kids...its something i used to dream about when i first got him 8 years ago...and its amazing to see it really happening, he is sooooo good with them, so patient, never snippy...the can crawl on him, drool on him, pull on him...he doesnt care!

a summertime tradition...7/20/08

so today was a fun filled, action packed day...for some reason two of our favorite summer festivals decided to finish up on the same weekend - the canal fest and the italian fest. and come on, who can choose between those?? canal fest = craft show, italian fest = great food! so we didnt choose, we went to both!


our sunday started, as every sunday should, by going to church and i can honestly say, church has been so much more enjoyable lately since tuscan has made the decision that he would rather go to kids church than sit with us! so he goes and does his thing and we hang out with the twins during the worship and sermon...we're almost ready to start sending the twins to the nursery too though so that we can truly regain focus on the things we actually go to church for - no interruptions, i can barely imagine that in any aspect of our life!


from church we headed out to the canal fest and no sooner do we find a place to park, its starts pouring rain! fortunately we were able to kill time in the van feeding the twins lunch and letting tuscan watch a movie because once the rain cleared up we had a pretty good time. it was just nice to be out and about, walking! we didnt get anything for ourselves, but we did get nonna's request taken care of... all three of the boys handprints in clay that will be turned into a gorgeous ceramic piece to hang on the wall.. beth has done it the last two years with just tuscan and this year she needed all 3! ill post a pic when it gets here.


then we headed over to the italian fest, it rained the whole drive over there, but was fine once we parked...matt, bridget and chase met us there and we were able to share a summertime favorite with some of the favorite people in our life. FYI - they are friends of ours from church, chase is a few months younger than tuscan but they are pretty much best friends! we ate all of our favs...stuffed peppers, stuffed artichokes, gelato, pastry hearts, giant pizza! it was awesome, we had a really good time. tuscan and chase ended the night with a few games of "i got it" and then we all headed home. we got our babies to bed quickly and quietly and started a new movie...hopefully we will finish it before the week is over!

it was bright out, we're all squinty! but we sure do all look italian!

oh, and the twins were there, i promise!!

tuscan really enjoyed that pizza and finished his night off with a giant smiley face cookie...it was as big as his face!

just some pics...

the twins have really grown up these last few weeks, not only are they getting around like crazy now (crawling-if thats what u want to call it!) but cenzo has also started sitting himself up when he is playing on the floor, he is holding his own bottle now and i think if he has it his way he will be walking before the summer is over! so here are some really great pics that have been taken in the last few days...




sleeping baby, nothing sweeter..(cenzo)

what a big boy vincenzo!

silly tuscan, showing me how he swims, but covering up the parts that should remain unseen on the internet!!

matteo - hanging out in the buff...(plus a diaper) in agreeance that it is way to hot and humid for clothes!

friday, july 18th MY 25TH BIRTHDAY!!!

so i have to be honest in saying, this whole week leading up to today had been kind of depressing for me because i really didnt have anything to do today and i was sad thinking that it was going to be just another day. im 25 today and to me thats a really big deal!! its my quarter of a century! but frank has to work..all day...my dad and beth are in vermont on a motorcycle trip, my mom is working all weekend and leaving for FL on sunday and kelly, kellie and mandy are all to far away, but there is my BFF that lives here in the same area code as me...jess!! jess had me and the kids over for lunch today and that is what started a pretty special 25th for me. she made some very delicious turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and spinach on very fresh bread, fresh brewed iced ginger tea (and not the tea bag kind, she actually seeped fresh ginger! it was amazing) and we had mini chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting after she and tuscan sang happy birthday to me! she also made me a really cute card, bought me a flower (just incase no one else did - which no one else did!) and a tin of scrapbookers mints - what can i say, she knows me to well! after lunch we took the kids for a walk to the park, the twins in the ghetto three wheeled double stroller (more info this coming monday!) and tuscan in his. we looked like trashy lesbos taking our kids to the park in the ghetto stroller with our short jean shorts and black tank tops on...yes we matched, unplanned...thats just the kind of things that best friends do!! and living in cheektowaga she could only imagine and laugh about what the neighbors would be saying! if u want to see pics from the event either check me out on facebook.com or add your address as a comment if you do not already receive my frequent snapfish updates. there are some really cute pics!
then i headed home to get everyone down for a nap. to my surprise frank had stopped home on his break, thats something that never happens, but he wanted to surprise me since he couldnt be there to spend the day with me...it was brief but very sweet! my other birthday surprise was from kelly (syracuse), she im-ed me and told me to pick out anything i wanted from the lia sophia web catelog because she had such a successful jewelry party and she wanted to share the wealth with me as a little extra birthday present! i was so excited...my day just kept getting better and better!
i spent some time working on kelly's baby shower invitations (pics of those once they are finished), ate some dinner with the boys and had the most amazing night ever with the twins. tuscan was a very good boy as well, but i was able to share the kind of moment with the twins that i always wish there was more time for. tuscan went to bed earlier than them so i just hung out on the couch with them for a while, cenzo was sitting on my lap looking at me and teo was laying across my lap behind him...they were both being such sweethearts, laughing and smiling, i was tickling them and they were totally cracking up!! it was so awesome...a perfect ending to a great day!
happy birthday me and thank you to all the people who contributed to making today extra special...whether it be cards in the mail, messages on facebook/myspace or just a phone call...it all meant so much! i truly am blessed with some amazing people in my life!

the most amazing part of any day is the amount of love i share with these 3 crazy, yet adorable little boys, they are my life and i love them more than anything!

tuesday, july 15

what a great day...
it started with work, which besides getting up so early, is always a nice break for me. i really love my job and its nice to get out of the house and just be "me" once in a while. if work is the place that i need to go to accomplish that then so be it...thankfully i love my job and even most of the people i work with!
it continued with some yard work. this whole summer has consisted of transplanting plants, not only because they have become so over grown in their current locations, but also as a way of personalizing our yard and making it our own. we have added, modified, etc... to the landscaping that my dad had been maintaining for the last several years. and so far we are enjoying our improvements, we just don't seem to have enough time to keep all the weeds out!! they grow much faster than our time allotment allows for! but its getting there and for the time being i just have to be content in knowing that the weeds are part of nature too!
but it was tuesday evening that was really the greatest part of the day....
frank and i actually went out on a date! its something we havent done since well before the twins were born (they are 8 months old now!) - other than jess & jakes wedding. our dear friend bridget and her son zach (age-10) came over around 530 and took on the task of our three boys! i must say, getting in the car all by ourselves is a very strange thing to do and we have now done it two tuesdays in a row!! but we headed out to franks resturant where we enjoyed an amazing dinner and bottle of wine, and wait it gets better...it was on the house! a major perk to frank's current place of employment. his boss has offered for the 3 kitchen guys to come in for a date night every once in a while on their night off for dinner and a bottle of wine...so we took him up on the offer! the wine was amazing, the food even better, but the best part was actually spending time together.
all in all it was a very simple night, after dinner we headed to the other side of town to grab cheesecake from the cheesecake factory...reese peanut butter for frank, snickers for me and oreo for bridget and zach...then we made a few stops while we were in the area (bedbathandbeyond and joanns) and we headed home to enjoy our cheesecake and watch a movie all snuggled up on our couch.
according to bridget, the kids were amazing and not only did she write us the sweetest letter to tell us how the night went, but she also volunteered to do it again for us whenever we want!! of course it has to be after she and her kids get back from 3 weeks in Guam...but it certainly is an offer worth waiting for and one that we are more than willing to take her up on! hopefully we can work out an alternating month kind of deal, she watches our kids one month and we watch theirs the next...every couple deserves a night out and what better way to make sure it happens for both of us!
we truly are blessed with some amazing friends!