Six Years Old!

This is my happy six yr old boy, waiting for his friends to arrive to his birthday party! He was so excited yesterday! I, however, was just looking at him all day wondering where the past six yrs have gone. He's such a fun kid! He has the nicest personality! I am so glad he had such a wonderful birthday!

He had a Transformer's cake. That was his choice! Then we had a party with his school friends at the bowling alley. He had a lot of fun. The kids were all so nice and so well behaved. It was just a wonderful time!

When we got home, we celebrated again with his favorite for dinner.....CHINESE! He always gets the same old thing....chicken with broccoli, white rice and an extra side of plain lo mein. He ate like a little piggie! Then we opened up presents from Nanny and Pop Pop, Mommy and Daddy and the brothers and sisters! He was so happy with everything and he shared everything with Gabriella so she was thrilled because it was like a birthday for her too!

Today we are heading to John's Mom's house and he will have another little cake there. What a great end to a fantastic birthday weekend! He had a great day in school on Friday. He came out wearing a birthday crown, he had a blue ribbon about his birthday, he came home with birthday certificates and pencils, he was thrilled to hand out his juice and donut holes! It has just been an awesome few days for Nikolas! Now to wait a whole other year, but from my experience these days, I will be posting about birthday #7 before we know it! Time sure is flying!

Amy

Promises, Promises

Promises, promises! I know! I have been a horrible blogger lately! I do have all good intentions of getting on here and writing things down and it just doesn't seem to happen. Ok, updates!

Well picture to the left shows us having fun outside on our last snow day from school. That was last week. I was king of hoping we would have another today because we had so much fun out there that day, but nothing! It's snowing lightly and there is a dusting on the ground but the roads are just wet. Before we know it winter should be over and hopefully then we will be on our way to a nice warm, sunny spring! I can't wait til summer time! I am looking forward to opening the pool and playing in the yard with the kids. I am sure it will be chaotic, but fun chaotic! This is the last summer that Dominic will be home before preparing for college. I thought about this time for years now and next yr it will be finally sinking in that he is REALLY growing up!

Speaking of growing up, Victoria has been bugging for highlights for a while now. I was very iffy on getting them for her because my fear was that she would look 18 and not 13 and I didn't want that to happen. Well I finally decided to go along with it and let her do it and I am happy with the outcome. It's pretty, subtle and she's very happy! I look at her though and I can't believe this is my little girl! Sorry for the sideways picture but I have to figure out how to put them the right way up!?

What else? Alex has the stomach bug last week. It was horrible while it lasted but luckily was over in about 12 hours. Nobody else got it yet and I am keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way!

I guess that is about it for now. I am really going to try to get better about posting on here soon!

Hellooooo Out Thereeeeee!

Yeah, it's been a while again! Things have been ok, a few little sicknesses, another scare with Victoria but things seem to be OK now.

Oh, I am mother to the kissing bandit! I would rather not elaborate at this time as it is a frustrating subject for me! :)

This week is midterms and everyone must be doing well, they are all happy....except Mom who has to drive back and forth to the school numerous times each day! Tomorrow is the last day....although I have to admit, I am really loving having at least one more home with me at all times. I really do miss them when they go to school but please don't tell them that, it will go straight to their heads!

I am laughing here. This house is nuts! John is sitting on the couch next to Alex who is playing Call of Duty, Shaina yells in from the other room she's going to take a shower and John yells to Alex "get out of there, you are going to die!" Shaina is like what!? Of course John can't hear her yell back but I can from where I am sitting. So Shaina yells, what are you saying!? John yells, "Get out of there, that place is toxic!" So now Shaina is confused but still she doesn't come...she just yells "WHAT!?" I am like Shaina...just take your shower already, your father is talking to Alex....um, DUH! LOL

We got a package in the mail today! If you read back in my posts, you will see that Nikolas has a very special blanket! A good friend made this blanket for him from across the miles. His blanket came home from the hospital with him! It has been with him through sickness and in health, good times and bad....it has been to multiple states! He loves his blankie and there is no substitute (God knows I tried to find one as he's getting bigger and it's really not covering him any longer). I feel bad at night when I would go in, cover him over but he throws that blanket right off and only blankie is still there. So we decided to ask him if we had the SAME person make one, would that be acceptable. He was very receptive and patiently waited and it came today! Thank you Ellyn! You are a very special blankie maker! There is no substitute! His picture is above with it! He was so excited when he walked through the door, saw the box and found out it was a new blankie....although he did say, "I can sleep with both, right Mom?" I said sure...I mean you can't take away someone's best friend! That certainly would not get me "Mother of the Year"! So above is a picture. He loves it. She chose the pattern and it couldn't have been more perfect, he is so happy with it! :) She is such a sweet person and so talented! Thank you so much Ellyn for taking the time to make a bigger blankie! My Mom and I were talking today! The next order will probably come in for a queen sized when he gets married! :) I hope you are going to be up for the task!

Amy

Over Too Fast

Why do the holidays take forever to prepare for and then they are over so fast?

Either way it was another great holiday! Kids had a great Christmas and everyone was happy with what they got. I hit the big stuff under the tree (big in $$, small in size) to see how they would act and they were all very content and happy with what they already got, so when I brought them out they were super surprised and very excited.

Dominic got DJ Hero and we have all been having a lot of fun with that. I was worried in recent days as to if he would really like it or not. He wouldn't really tell us what he wanted but the guy at Best Buy said that it was popular and a lot of fun! I am so glad I went with it, he's enjoying it so much!

Victoria got a camera. She is really liking that. Me, eh, not so much! Just kidding! She seems to be having fun with it but she's taking pictures of all of us at the worst time! The pictures are quite interesting to say the least! :)

Shaina and Alex both got Ipod touches. They are really enjoying them. I know I really like mine. When I first got mine I wondered what I would do with it but I have to honestly say it's one of those things I use EVERY day! Not a day goes by without me using it for music or games etc....I just really enjoy it!

The two little ones got a bunch of stuff and they are very occupied! It's keeping them very busy and very happy!

So all in all it was another great Christmas! John is on vacation this week so I am looking forward to the whole week with John and the kids! Life doesn't get much better than this! OK, it might be a bit better if we were all sitting on a sunny beach right now, but hey....being together is what it's all about! :)
Amy

Where's Waldo/Amy?

Oh gosh, it's been a while, hasn't it? I don't mean to do this intentionally. Sometimes I am really good about getting on here and other times, well not so good.
Where do I start?

Kids and Illness---Well, the kids have been sick on and off (Dominic and Alex excluded). We have had sinus infections, ear infections, eye infections and just plain old viruses. It stinks. I am getting frustrated yet I deep down knew it was going to be like this. Still no hospitalization and for that I am very thankful.

Thanksgiving---Thanksgiving was very nice. We had lots of good food (even though the grocery store screwed up my turkey order and didn't have one for me, we got a different kind and although I didn't like it quite as much, it was a turkey----plus what is the important thing about Thanksgiving!? It's being together as a family...it wouldn't matter if we had duck or chicken or whatever!) and lots of good company! It was just a great day! I got out a little Black Friday but didn't really buy much of anything. I also didn't get up super early like other yrs. I think next yr I might just skip it all together!

Christmas shopping----well I am pretty much done! I do want to pick up another thing for Ella but other than that it's a few gift cards and some stocking stuffers. Soon I will be wrapping. I love it when I start but 1/2 way through my wrapping probably looks like a 5 yr old did it! Usually my Mom strolls out and helps me and it's fun because we just talk and laugh and wrap!

Christmas Decorations----Well Dominic and Victoria took it upon themselves to handle the outside decorations this yr for the house. They worked on it over Thanksgiving weekend and it took them three days. I do have to say that the house does look very pretty, very bright, but very pretty indeed! Hats off to them because they did a really good job! Much better than I could have done. Of course I have no desire to go out in the freezing cold to decorate either. We put up the inside Christmas tree last Friday. It has been decorated and "re"decorated about 20 times. Ella likes to touch the ornaments! I am getting really old because I said to John, that is something that would have bothered me when the older kids were younger....but now I think to myself..."she's not hurting anything, she's not getting hurt and most of all, she's occupied and quiet!"

Parent Teacher Conferences---Everyone loves the kids. All good comments on them. I am starting to think that they have them confused with someone else. Still John and I were so proud of them that they are well liked, well behaved and respectful. They were all very enjoyable conferences.

Nikolas and Gabriella----They have especially been keeping us entertained. Nikolas does this Steve Martin impersonation from like Season 5 of Saturday Night Live. It's one with Bill Murry where they stare off into the audience and keep saying "What the hell is that?" It's like with a hillbilly twang and he has that down perfect! He is hysterical! I think he's going to be a comedian when he grows up! He can keep me laughing. He comes out with the funniest things! Gabriella is his little side kick! It's funny but sometimes the two of them manage to really get into things! I have to say when they get into trouble, it's probably a thought from Gabriella. She's so spirited! So spirited but so much fun and just so lovable!

Well it's almost time to make dinner! I can honestly say that I am sick and tired of cooking. If I won the lottery tomorrow, one of the first things I did would be hire a chef! I promise I won't be gone for so long this time!
Amy

My Cutie Pie

Just another picture of my almost 4 yr old cutie pie!

Gabriella Mercedes

Sunday Stuff

Today we had Ella's birthday party. Still trying to figure out where the past 4 years have gone! She will actually be 4 yrs old on Tuesday. She had a Barbie cake. She really liked that! Barbie was what she asked for on her cake. She got a lot of Barbie dolls for gifts. She also got the movie Up (which I find to be a total tear jerker) and she's watching that right now. We had chicken queasadilla's and Mexicali corn for dinner. Everyone ate. It is a great day! :)

Amy