Remember

This amazing link was viewable on a friend's blog. I lifted it to share with all of you!!!

Enjoy.http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

Memorial Day

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY EVERYONE!!!
Here are some pictures of our family BBQ yesterday.

Gabriella and Grandma Rose hanging out and sharing iced tea.

My little swimmers!!!
Gabby wanting to be on the pool side :-(

Daddy and Gabby!!

Fathers Day on Mothers Day

I know Fathers Day is a month away but a true Fathers Day moment happened on Mothers Day.
Nicholas woke up that Sunday morning and wanted gummy worms for breakfast. I told him that he could have them "later, after lunch." He was satisfied with this answer until 2 hours later (10:00) when he asked, "Is it later yet?" Yes, technically it was later but he still had to wait until "after lunch." Satisfied again! One hour later while I was letting Isabella and Gabby play in the bath, he asked if he could go in the kitchen and make sandwiches for lunch. (Apparently he wanted the gummy bears badly!!!) GREAT!!! One less thing I had to do. WELL...
Jeffrey came in the house while the girls were getting dried and dressed and said...
"Did you put Nicholas up to this?"
"Up to what?"
"He made me a sandwich for lunch."
"He said he was making lunch for everyone. (Proud Mom on Mothers Day) I'm glad he did it!!!"
"Well, did you LOOK at it?"
"No."
THEN CAME THE BURST OF LAUGHTER!!!!

He had made pecan and mustard sandwiches for him and his Dad. Nicholas was very proud of himself and ate his. Daddy (who, by the way, HATES mustard)?? He took two bites and said he was full. What a good Dad!!!
Yes, Nicholas, now you can have your gummy worms!! :-)

Water Baby

The little girl playing in the bath. Instead of filling the tub, she likes to just let the water run. Drink up!!!

Are you looking at me???

( I couldn't resist!!!) :-)

Nicholas Ali???

Nicholas has been watching boxing with daddy lately and loves it. Jeff bought Nicholas his very own boxing gloves for Christmas and they spend a great deal of time boxing each other. Well, Jeff just started graveyard shift and Nicholas loves the little bit of time he gets with Dad at night. He desperately wanted to box the other night but dinner and other things had to be done first. Before we knew it, Nicholas "The Great" Butticci was out for the count and not a single punch was thrown. That's my kind of boxing!!!!

CANNONBALL!!!!

Saturday Afternoon was our first day in the pool and Nicholas and Isabella loved it. They even set up their own "diving board." WAY FUN!!!!

90 minute pet

Jeffrey calls as I am picking up the children. "Hurry home. I have something to show you!!!" I arrive five minutes later to find our new "pet" in a garbage can. After I scream, regain my composure, (I am dreadfully afraid of snakes), I call animal control and they come and save me from a mess of bad dreams. Our pet was here for 90 minutes, not even long enough to be given a name.
BYE BYE !!! ADIOS!!! SEE YOU LATER!!!! PEACE OUT!!!!

Gabby

The weather was beautiful and Gabby spent a lot of time in the sand. Getting to really enjoy herself. GOT SAND????

Isabella

Two of her favorite things are...
Being naked (or close to it), and
having her picture taken.
See where this is going?? Someone call Hef!!!

Nicholas

We took the kids to Pismo Beach this weekend where they love to ride their quads. Nicholas tried to help his buddy Carter get his quad unstuck. They tried and tried but needed a little adult intervention. CLASSIC!!!!!!!!

Updates..

Jeff has already headed to the beach with the children for the weekend and before I left, I wanted to update a couple questions that have been asked.

1. Jeffrey's sister Jennifer found out that she was pregnant but the number was up in the air as far as how many. Well, she has been blessed with one embryo that is growing and I'll keep you posted on the sex.

2. My brother Jeff found out that he and his girlfriend are having twins but the sexes were yet to be determined. Their appointment revealed that they are lucky enough to have one of each. Logan Marie will be the girl and Andrew (hopefully Thomas) will be the boy.

3. As most of you know, I started my exercise program in Jan and as of last week, I am down 19 and 1/4 inches and almost 14 lbs. As long as the inches and weight go down, I'm going in the right direction. :-) Sure makes those 5 am gym mornings worth it!!!!

Well, I'm heading to get packed for the beach. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

HAPPY EASTER 2007

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.....from all of us to all of you!!!!

GABRIELLA....

NICHOLAS...

AND ISABELLA...

Hollywood

This is how we go to school Hollywood Style...

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

Pictures from Glamis 2007

Jeffrey at the top of a dune. The dunes went for miles.


DUNES, DUNES, DUNES..

The only picture of Jeff and I.

Jeffrey climbing Competition Hill.

Vacation???

Well, about one month ago, Jeff and I did the unexpected and went on vacation without the children. A little nerve wracking for me but I knew that I needed to do it. It isn't often that I ever leave my children (let alone for a week). ANYWAY, we were gearing up for the trip of a lifetime.

We celebrated our 10 year anniversary in Jan and we always said we would go to Hawaii. We both kind of felt that was too far in case something happened with the children. So, we headed for Glamis, CA!!! WAY south and NOTHING but sand. It is actually where they filmed a lot of the early Star Wars movies. So after months of hype, we were ready to go!!! FABULOUS TRIP!!! NOT!!!

Before we even leave, Jeff busts out the rear windshield in the truck trying to hook up the fifth wheel. This should have been a premonition. Here's the rest....

2...Our friends were a couple hours late but Jeff and I went to breakfast.
3...The right tire on the trailer BLOWS OUT!!!
4...Fix it but there is a HUGE bubble on the other right tire...double axle.
5..We are stranded at a Home Depot parking lot for two hours waiting for someone to find us a tire.
6..After waiting, there is NO TIRE in Southern CA....nice...we start driving!!!
7..Got to our first destination at midnight...about 6 hours later than planned.
WAKE UP ON SUNDAY
8. No tire anywhere in the area...we drive and take a chance...again.
9. We make it to Glamis, unpack the quads, and head out for a ride....Jeremy rolls his brand new-never ridded before-quad all the way down a HUGE dune.
10. Jeremy and Misty also brought a brand new-never ridden before-rhino (glorified golf cart made for the sand) and something wasn't working on it so they couldn't ride it.
11. Jeremy WAY HOT but he and Jeff fix what they can on the quad.
MONDAY!!!
12. Jeremy's back hurts and he is laid up and we don't see him for 2 days.
13. Aunt Flo decides she wants to be on vacation with me. Again, nice.
14. My kids are with Grandma and Papa and are sick the entire week. Colds, high fevers.
SEEMS LIKE NOT ENOUGH TIME GOES BY
15. Thursday night the wind picks up REAL BAD. A wind storm developed so we decided to leave early Friday afternoon and head to Palm Springs for a good night out.
16. Jeff and I run out of gas 2 miles from the gas station...really not a big deal because we had gas in the back of the truck. We just thought we would try to make it.
17. Jeremy gets back in the truck after helping pour gas in our truck...breaks serpentine belt on his truck...no AC, no power steering, and oh yes, NO BRAKES.
18. Make it to the gas station (us), side of the road (them), find a belt, go get it, try for 2 hours to fix it...break another part of the truck...now we need towed!!!
19. Can't find a big enough tow truck so Jeff takes Misty and her trailer to the casino 15 miles away, comes back and gets our trailer (me in it) and goes to the casino, mealwhile, Jeremy gets towed to a garage.
20. We are at the casino determined not to let this break our spirits so we go to dinner at 11:00 pm.
21. Jeff and Jeremy drive for an hour towards home Saturday morning to get the part for his truck, drive an hour back, wait 30 minutes until it is put on, and we head home. We finally got home around midnight.

Quite the trip but not really how any of us thought it would be. We need a vacation from our so-called vacation. We are definitely going to try to do this one over. Anyone willing to watch my children for a week????

I think I can

Isabella wanted SO BADLY to climb the rock wall like the other children but was having a difficult time because of her socks.

After trying repeatedly, she finally asked me if it was OK for her to take off her socks

Climbing like a champion.

SHE DID IT!!!!

WWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

Pee Wee bike race

A couple weekends ago, Nicholas and Isabella...and a group of their friends...participated in a Pee Wee classic race. This was the third year for Nicholas (the first without training wheels) and the second year for Isabella. The first two years I tried to walk/run alongside the children and get them on video and it didn't work out so well for me. This year I stood at the finish line and tried to capture all of them coming across the finish line but that didn't work out so well either. (Totally operator error...I thought I pushed REC but instead pushed PAUSE...bummer). The race is halfway around a city block and they did real well. Nicholas goes as fast as he can and Isabella takes her good ole time taking in the scenery as she goes. Such the Sunday driver!!!

Anyway, here is a picture of them before the start of the race. Isabella is 665, Trevor is 653, Nicholas is 666, and Carter is 654. Did I get the luck of the draw or what??? Poor Nicholas...he actually thought all of the sixes were cool since he'll be six on his next birthday. WHEW!!!!

I want to be like DAD

Every day BEFORE Jeffrey goes to work, he completes a little routine. He showers, brushes his teeth, does his hair, gets dressed, etc.

Every day AFTER Jeffrey goes to work, Nicholas completes the same routine, only modified. He will say goodbye to his Dad, go to his room, and reappear in jeans and a white tee-shirt. He walks straight to our room where he, too, will put gel in his hair, brush his hair, brush his teeth and sometimes put on Jeffrey's deodorant.

Today was a little different. He did all of the above but it took him a little longer than usual. I thought, "What is taking him so long?" but I must have said this outloud because Isabella said something about a bloody lip. "What bloody lip?" As fast as the signal went from my brain to my legs to RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN, I ran as fast as I could.

By the time I reached the bathroom, he already had a band-aid on his chin but it was full of blood and still coming out by his chin. OH MY GOSH!!! I said nothing to him except that I needed to see the cut. You see, this was the day that he took his primping routine a little further and thought he should add shaving to his regiment. After inspecting the cut, I was able to determine that as soon as the razor touched his face and cut him (I'm guessing immediately), he stopped what he was doing and tried to doctor himself up.

He was left with two small cuts on his chin and a promise to go to Target this weekend and find a child's razor.

The game is on:

Describe ME in one word.... just one single word. Send it to me and to me only. Then send this message to all your friends and see how many strange & interesting things they say about you. This is really fun.Here's how:1. Hit the reply key and send me my one word.2. Then return to this message, and forward it to your friends (including me) and see what people say about you when limited to one word !!!

The Game is On !!!

I have sent this out to some of the people in my address book and this is what I've gotten back.

April Lynn...funny
Pap...thoughtful
Grove...bubbly
Magz...sunshine
Louie...loving
Dana...amazing
Laura Jean...hysterical
Robin...compassionate

You guys sure do know how to make a girl feel loved!!!!

:-)

Kindergarten

OK...Weird Mother moment. I had to go to the local Elementary school today and sign Nicholas up for Kindergarten. I was actually doing fine with it until I realized last night that it was today. The testing and everything is April 30th but actual registration was this morning. Why was it so bizarre for me to do this? Hard to believe that my little man is growing up. I guess it only gets worse from here. :-(