dear God...

i dont really have anything to blog today because all that i needed to say i handed over to the Lord, kneeling before Him at my kitchen sink. if that doesnt sum up my emotional overload day in a nutshell nothing ever will.

the day started with 4 hours at the "car place" when i took the grand am in for an inspection, which only passed after i put $280 into it. it wasnt completely a surprise, we knew we needed some new tires, but the finances didnt appreciate it very much. i on the other hand, didnt so much mind the 4 hour wait because i am in the midst of reading a very good book, at first sight, by nicholas sparks...its so good and i dont really ever get time to read at home!! and the ladies, who are twin sisters, that work at the car place (one is the owners wife) they are regulars at starbucks and i have gotten to know them pretty well over the last few years in the drivethru...it was nice to spend some time chatting with them too!

when i got home i was feeling overly motivated, so i packed up all the christmas stuff, the tree and everything. got the livingroom put back together, rearranged some things to try it out a different way for a while. i also rearranged the familyroom so tuscan had somewhere to set up his geotracks now that he has almost the complete set!

i have a pile to drop off at goodwill, i have a pile to drop off at the consignment shop...anything i could do to try and max out the end of the year. im starting the new year on a new leaf...handing more over to God than i ever imagined i would and already i am starting to feel better (i think) the unknown is always a scary thing, but i just have to keep reminding myself, He has always provided, we have never gone without, everything happens for a reason and its all in His time. God is good and may He bless us all in the coming year.

this weeks wordle...

obviously the highlight of last week was going to be christmas morning...i was happy to see that wordle picked up on that too!!

christmas day...

christmas morning with 3 kids...thats a lot of wrapping paper!! cenzo was the first to wake up, around 745, my mom showed up a few minutes later all dressed in her red jammies and santa hat (i so regret to say that i dont have a picture of that) but she woke tuscan up a little after 8 and matteo followed shortly behind while taenato wagged his tail eagerly outside the room that danny and lindsay were sleeping in! it took almost 2 hours to get through round 1 of presents. tuscan refused to open anything that had the potential of being clothes but was sure to point out which boxes were puzzles before he even had them opened! the twins seemed a little overwhelmed by the whole concept. with their birthday only having been a month ago they havent had much practice at opening presents!

once presents were done we sat down for a delicious breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, cinnamon apple belgian waffles, bacon and sausage. no sooner did we finish breakfast when my dad and beth walked in to start round 2 of presents...although the twins had to wait, it was nap time for them!

cenzo, snuggling up in the new blankies!

tuscan helping poppa open his presents!

yeah - the geotracks airplane!!

tar was trying to help tuscan open his presents!

later in the afternoon my dads side of the family came over for the first annual family gift exchange and to indulge in some delicious finger foods. we dont do traditional meals on either side anymore, its to much work and we all end up to full!!

frank wasnt feeling well all day, he spent most of the day snuggled up under a blanket with flu symptoms but overall we had a very nice holiday. we are truly blessed everyone and everything around us and we are so grateful for the life the Lord has given us.

what more could we ask for!

christmas day and everyone is actually playing together nicely!

silly matteo....

the aftermath...tuscan is in daze on the couch...

me and my silly boy...he's so fun!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!! AND MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

christmas eve...

matteo and nonna, eating cookies!

Nani

frank's great grandma

(the kids great great grandma)

me and cenzo!

lindsay (danny's gf) and cenzo

danny (love the mowhawk!)

innocent cenzo (do u see the halo?)

christmas eve was spent at our parents house. frank had to work so he was unable to join us and the worst part about that was the fact that christmas eve is with his side of the family. but me and the kids had a good time none the less. matteo spent a lot of time sitting on his great great nani's lap eating seed cookies and was very content with her! something i will always remember but wish frank could have seen. the night was very mellow as most of the family had to spend it with their "other sides" but it was a good way to start the celebration!

does that face spell trouble or what!

my attempt at getting a nice picture of my 3 boys. not so much!

the christmas week wordle...

christmas in the Buff....

BUFFALO that is!! you silly readers!

as many of you know, people in buffalo dont mess around when it comes to the things we are known for! when it comes to food, we have the best - wings, pizza, italian, anything mom and pop...we know how to cook. football games, we start tailgating the night before even if we dont have a winning record! sabres games, the arena is always packed! in addition, when it snows, it snows...it started on friday morning and didnt stop until early today! i think all in all we probably have close to 3 feet in some areas. the schools all started christmas break a little early, the roads have been horrible (until late this morning) and its gorgeous outside!! i have always loved the sight of the first major snowfall, when the pinetrees are covered and the snow is all pure and white. (i tried to take some pictures but there is just so much snow that the camera could not do the sight justice...everything is so white its hard to tell how much there really is!)

i had to venture out this morning to go to work for a few hours. fortunately the roads were free of other drivers because there was barely anything plowed at 430am! the shift who was supposed to open the store today got stuck at the end of her driveway and was about 2 hours late so our manager had to drive in to open the store. jess and i sat in the parking lot for about an hour waiting for someone to show up to let us work! it sucked because we could have still been sleeping, but at least we'll get paid for it. of course it was not at all a busy day, although who am i to say, i was only there until 930...

so im just going to lay low the rest of the day, try and get a few things done around the house to get ready for christmas and pray that the babies are feeling better before it all begins. they both have runny noses and teo's belly is hurting (from the lack of stinky diapers, poor guy). tomorrow will be spent getting everything finalized for the days ahead!!

merry christmas to all and ill be back in a few days!

christmas has begun...

today we celebrated christmas with my mom's side of the family at the fox valley country club in lancaster. my grandparents treated us all to a delicious sunday brunch, its the 3rd year we have been able to get the family together there and each year its been a little bit different and just as nice!

the kids all got personalized animals from build a bear, which were all embraced by instant love. tuscan got a dog dressed in sabre's clothes and the twins each got bears, one a little bit darker than the other, both wearing camo boxers. they are so cute and the kids were all so excited about them! i can only imagine though what my grandparents looked like walking out of build a bear with 8 animals in boxes!! we just have to take the kids back to the mall to register their animals and get their birth certificates!

cenzo with my uncle les....two goof balls!!

we decided to give my mom her "big" gift a few days early (she'll be here on christmas morning with us) but i had made her an album from snapfish full of pictures from this past year with a letter at the end explaining why the album was from november 2007-november 2008. it wasnt because it was the twins first year, but because it was the first full year that she had really been back in our lives. there were many tears between the two of us by the time she was done looking at it and tuscan had been very excited to give it to her and show her all the pictures of himself! he's so vain! but we decided to give it to her a few days early so she would have a chance to show her family and some of her regular customers that would be coming in for their christmas haircuts. my mom doesnt have a computer so she doesnt have the chance to see all the pictures that i send out to everyone. so who knows, maybe this will become the new christmas tradition for us, an album a year!

tuscan wanted to help his great grandpa les open his present to!

tuscan hanging out with the girls, what a surprise!! (my cousins, his 2nd cousins, madison and julia)

on our way back from the country club we ventured out a little further in the horrible snow storm to church, my mom joined us. it is always so magical being at church during the christmas season, singing the christmas songs. our church has a christmas tradition of forming a giant circle, all in attendance, around the room to sing by candlelight, silent night. it was such a blessing to be able to share that with my mom. because of the weather, service was pretty quick, we were in and out in an hour, but thankfully because it took us just as long to drop my mom off and get home in the near white out conditions!

overall, it was an amazing way to start our week of celebrating and we are so looking forward to the next few days ahead. God bless you all this holiday season and remember, jesus is the reason we are celebrating. its not about the presents or the cookies, but about spending time together and being grateful for all that we are blessed with. my love to all!

good job taylor swift!!

this could possibly be my new favorite christmas song. taylor swift's music has always been pretty impressive to me, i give a lot of credit to any musician who can write and sing their own music and i think she really hit the nail on the head with this one so i just wanted to share. its a great way to remind people what the true reason for christmas is. and remember - its not "happy holidays" its "merry christmas!!" this holiday was not created entirely to exchange gifts and eat lots of food and talk about santa, etc. this holiday only exsists because jesus was born, our savior, our Lord. so praise him and and think of him on christmas day the way you would want others to think of and celebrate you on your birthday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCwbeiBiOAk

be sure to listen until the last verse, its the best part!!

my dream came true!!

every year i always hope and pray that we will have snow for christmas. the season just isnt the same without the white wonderland!! and this year my dream came true yet again...and its coming at a pretty rapid pace. i drove to work this morning without a snowflake in the sky - they had been calling for the storm to roll in at about 8am...at 802 i looked out the window and there it was, white wet snow, blowing in from every direction! by the time i left work, 90 minutes later, the streets were covered and horrible for driving. i had to floor it to get the car up the driveway and i think its safe to say the snow is coming at a rate of about an inch per hour! its beautiful. i just wish frank was home safely enjoying it with me instead of at work. but schools were closed before the snow even started falling so maybe ill get lucky and the resturant will close early too! nothing is more romantic than being stuck at home with the love of your life during a snow storm. a christmas snow storm is what brought frank and i back together after he left for college and in the midst of our crazy life, we have been in love ever since!

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

thursday ritual...

jess came over today for our usual thursday shan and jess thing...i colored her hair - it looks amazing. i wanted to take a picture but she didnt have any makeup on and it just wasnt the same. so as soon as she emails me one ill be sure to post it so you can all see my work of art!

but the kids loved the fact that she was here and were showing off as usual, so that we were able to get a few pics of!

danny and lindsay also stopped over to show us what danny got her for christmas...a little black kitty cat!! tuscan was so excited, tarzan was completely terrified and the twins were already in bed. for tuscan it was love at first sight and he was extremely willing to share his blankie with Boo Boo....