Lets see, what has been going on this week? Well Sunday we went to my Dad's for a visit. It was nice. The kids played and the adults talked. We cooked on the grill. Dad gave me a camping stove, double burner, never been used. Sweet! I am excited to use it on our vacation. Speaking of vacation, it is supposed to be next week. Camping in Missouri. Guess what??? The weather is calling for rain all week! DAMN IT!! Rain Rain go away!

Gas prices! DOUBLE DAMN IT! This is freakin ridiculous. We are seriously going to have to get cracking on a grease car or whatever. I mean, it was $3.36 here last night. I hear it is going up for the weekend. OH JOY! This is the main reason we aren't going to Colorado right now. But they also say Corn prices are going up because of all the E-85 being sold. I think that is great. I feel like calling my Stepdad and saying PLANT CORN! ha ha! Now i just need a car that runs on it.

Gioia is having a great time with her new found computer skills. She plays for a while each day. She has a couple websites she can do now. Dominic is talking a mile a minute. He repeats any and all words. Luckly no bad words yet. :)

I am back to using my 35mm Camera because my digital is toast. We got it working after the kids got it wet, but the pictures it takes are all crappy and grainy. :( So anyway, hopefully I will post new pictures after our vacation.

Oh my head...

So Blues Traveler kicked ass last night. But I drank too much. So did my friend. We had to leave early because of it, so we didn't get to see the entire show. But oh well, it was still fun. My mom was here and helped me with the kids this morning. Then we she got ready to leave, my daughter wanted to go with Grandma. We ended up letting her go and she will meet us tomorrow afternoon to give her back. It is always fun at Grandmas house! I was supposed to babysit for a friend this afternoon, but they canceled because of not feeling well. That actually worked to my advantage. I am reminded that I am too old and it hurts to drink too much. Ugh!

Anyway, DH mowed and weedeat the lawn today. Looks really nice. I mustered up the energy to make a Quiche for my friends and some pumpkin muffins for them and us as well. They made it home with their new baby Keegan and they are just the cutest new family. Baby is beautiful!

Blues Traveler

I am really excited. My hubby and I get to go see Blues Traveler in concert tonight. I have always wanted to see them. Our friend got us free tickets! How cool is that?! Here is one of my favorite songs of theirs. http://youtube.com/watch?v=iO5GNbx918k I love it when he rocks on the harmonica. Sweet! My mom is coming to stay all night and watch the kids. So that will be really nice. My friend and her new boyfriend are coming with us. We haven't met him yet, but I have been told he is awesome. ;)

Here is another song for your listening pleasure. Along with a funny story. http://youtube.com/watch?v=sHzdoxlNvNQ
When I was in college, we had a friend nicknamed House (because he was big as a house). He would do a rockin' John Popper impression. He would wail and sing during the rap part of this song. It was totally awesome and I will ALWAYS remember that when this song comes on.

Graduation! Congrats Colt!

My brother Colt graduated from High School yesterday. He is the last of us. My moms baby, her fourth child. Come august her and my dad will be home alone! AHHH! Ha ha! I think they are ready for it in a way. I am not sure what my mom will do. She has always been active in our sporting events, school plays, MOB squad, and any other parenting duty under the sun. Anyway, colt got over $5000 a semester in scholarships and loans. He graduated in the honor society, A+ programs, and several other awards. He also already has 17 hours of college credit. That is a whole semester already complete. That is awesome. He is going Pre-med and is on the football team at Mo Western in St. Joseph Mo. He is also rooming with a friend from high school who is also on the football team. He is off to a great start and we are all SUPER proud of him.

Will post picture later. My camera is toast. :(

Learning new things

Well Dominic has learned to sleep in his own bed. It is really great. We are all enjoying more sleep and more bed space. He is also talking up a storm. Repeats everything we say to him. Gioia had a new learning experience yesterday. She learning how to use the mouse pad on the computer. So now she can play her word games online. She loves this website. www.starfall.com It is learning letter sounds and how to read. She still works on the letter sounds. I might let her try the reading stuff soon. I was really amazed that she could figure out the mouse and do it so well. Now she can play letter games when I need her to do something quiet during rest time or when i am making dinner, etc.

I am gearing up for our big camping trip to Colorado. We are so excited. I am going to a camping store today hopefully. They have surplus camping things from Coleman and I am getting new sleeping bags and hand and feet warmer things. Maybe a camp heater if they have one for a great price.

Delivery day

I got two packages today. One, Gioia's new carseat! She likes it, I love it. Now we get to test it out this weekend when we go to Grandma's house. It is about a 2 hour drive. I think it will go fine. Second package was my video camera. FINALLY it is fixed. I am so excited to video tape all the things Dominic has been doing. I have missed a lot of things since it has been broken for about 6 months. Well anyway. It was cool to get all my deliveries today. Fed ex came to my house twice. Doesn't seem very well organized to have 2 separate trucks have to come to my house. Whatever! That is why they charge so much i guess. Geez!

Also had to order 2 new tires for our Durango today. Upon further research we found out, guess what? Our current tires are crap and people have lots of bad reviews for them. DH has patched tons of punctures and leaks in them, and now one is got a slipped belt. So we are getting some Michelin tires that are rated 5 stars by customer reviews and Costco carries them and puts them on for free. Free lifetime rotation and balance and stem replacement, etc...
Hopefully they will last a really long time.

Sucess!

Last night (second night) He only woke up once! He slept through until 2 or 3? I am not sure exact time. He cried very briefly. I could hear DH talking to him. Then he went back to sleep. When DH got up for work at 5:15am, D woke up again. I went in and laid with him. He snuggled and went back to sleep till 6am. Then we got up.

YEAH!!! I am so excited!!! (yes, I know you *told me so* Mom)

I shouldn't be awake yet! :(

AHHH! I shouldn't even be awake yet, but I am. It is 6am, but I have been up since 5am. :( Last night we took the plunge and moved Dominic to his own bed. DH slept in there since it was the first night and I didn't want him to wake up and be scared. It didn't go so well, but was about what I expected. Baby was pissed and he screamed for me. DH sang to him, and did his best to comfort him. Gioia was on the top bunk and amazingly slept through most of the screaming. He kept asking for his nursing, but we keep telling him that nursing is night-night and we can have nursing in the morning. Poor little thing cried so hard he made himself hoarse. So when DH had to get up to go to work at 5:15am I had to take over and of course the little guy was all awake then, so we came down for breakfast. After we ate THEN we had some nursing. I am expecting him to nap about 10am or so today.

Week in Review

So last weekend we did the farm and camping thing. THen we turned around Monday morning and headed to St. Louis. We were there for 3 days, came home Thursday morning. We went to the St. Louis zoo. It is really nice. They have a penguin house that you can get super close to them and I even got splashed by one swimming. Then Wed. we went to the City Musuem. It was SOO cool. It was a little scary for the kids, but Gioia got used to it after a bit. The whole second floor is an elaborate tree house, tunnels and mazes to climb in. The kids did pretty good in the car. We all felt a little sick while we were there, but still had a good time! I have no pictures because Dominic got my camera wet and I think it is ruined. :(

Yesterday we had a baby shower for my good friends. They are having their first, a boy. He is due in about 4 weeks. Fun!! Today we are having our Attachment Parenting Spring party.

Camping trip and Shatto Milk Company

This weekend we went on a camping trip with our friends. It was a blast. We are exhausted, but it was great. Friday night my family camped by ourselves, then Sat. was the Shatto Milk Company tour, then Sat. night 5 families camped with us. It was great. Here are some photos.

Another week

Another week has practically flown by. We did our usual routine. Gioia had her last day of dance class this week. We will start her back in the fall. She had a great time. This summer we will do soccer and swim lessons. We go camping with our friends this weekend. Hopefully it will be sunny and warm. Today is the third week I have had my friends son for the day. OH MY! It is crazy having two 3 year olds in the house. I think when we are done having him for the school year, we will be finished with watching other kids. He is a great kid, but having 3 to chase under the age of 4 is insane. Think we will be waiting a while for our own #3.

Mystery shopping

Today I did my first Mystery Shopping at Whole Foods. I love whole foods, they carry everything Organic under the sun and awesome products. I had to shop in the bakery and produce sections and ask the team members a question about their section and stuff. All in secret. It was fun. I have to turn my stuff in this evening and i get reimbursed $10 worth of groceries plus 7. 75 for my time. Fun!

We watched my friends little boys last night. It was pretty fun. We ate dinner, played outside then started a movie. All the kids got along great. I said "See we can handle four." He said, "Anyone can say that on a good day. " I think he is right. :)

BUZZ!!!

We have been fighting the cradle cap, flakey scalp stuff on Dominic since he was born. At 12 months or so I used TTO (Tea Tree Oil) on it and it went away after one application. Well now it is back and his hair is too long and thick for me to treat it efficiently. SOOO>>>>>> DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!! Baby's first buzzcut!



















Gioia said "Is that our brother?" HA HA!! He does look different. Scroll down to see the pictures of him from the other day (with hair).

Horsey ride.

So we were coming home from somewhere this weekend and the neighbors were having a garage sale. I scored this for $15.00. You all remember these from childhood right?



















Gioia gets stickers in the mail from her Great grandma every week. Today she did something we been wanting to do for a long time. How great is this? Is this legal to do when she gets too loud? *just kidding*..sort of...

Planning a vacation.

Lord is there anything more stressful than planning a vacation? I mean its exciting, but its stress to find the right place to stay, what are you gonna do when you are there and all that. I guess it is more so because my kids are little and I have to find things they will like to do and not TOO much. I think we are going to go to Colorado. DH loves it and I have never been. We are trying to coordinate it so my good friend and her kids can go with us.

The sun is back and it was about upper 60's I think yesterday, maybe it hit 70. Anyway, we went to Deanna Rose farm and pet the goats. We were there an hour and the kids had a great time and played hard. Today the plan is go to the park later and I might even try to mow the yard. That would be a nice surprise for my hubby.

Friday the 13th.

Wow. Long time no posts. I can't believe its been a week already. We have been busy, but not all for the good. Last weekend was Easter and it was good. Fairly uneventful. We went to church and had a nice lunch at home. Then Gioia started barfing. I guess she had the 24 hour flu. She was back to full speed by Monday morning. Tuesday I woke up nauseous. Oh, no...I was sick as a dog all day Tuesday. It was awful. Hubby can home a little early from work to save me. I went straight to bed and didn't come out except to barf. YUCK!!! Wed. I felt better. Dominic got sick one time during the night and then he was fine come Thursday morning. Thursday I had to watch my friends son during the day, cause he has speech therapy here in town. Last night I was dead tired and just want to do NOTHING today. It has been a hard week.

So today is Friday the 13th. We are gonna call it a relaxing number 13th and just hang out all day. One nice thing did happen. My mom called and talked to me on Wed. when I was recovering and asked if I was still sick. She was offering to come help watch the kids. I should have just faked it and let her come. Ha Ha! It was nice to have her offer though.

Here is what the kids been up to lately.

Purple hair.

Massimo was out of town on business this week for 3 days. SO the kids and I went to visit my sister. We had lunch with her and grandma (my mom), then I went and got my hair done. My trendy cousin cut it for me and added some color, blonde and purple. It looks great. I love it! Then we spent the night and had a great time. Last night was moms night out. We all went for dinner and ice cream. My good friend is getting divorced and her husband is being a royal ass. Now this is not uncommon for divorcing couples, but he is going above and beyond with his jerkiness. :) Is that even a word? Well its the right word, even if its made up.

Here is a picture of my new do. Sun was in my face so please ignore the scowl! :)

Happy Aprils Fools Day!

Its April 1st. It is spring and beautiful outside! 3 friends had their babies in the last two weeks. One more is due and we are anxiously waiting her baby's arrival. What fun all these new babies! 3 were born at home. 1 was born at the birth center. Yeah for natural births!! One of the births was particularly exciting because she WANTED a home birth, but because her 1st child was a c-section she had a midwife but was going to go to the hospital. Baby had another idea. He came in 2 hours and they never went to the hospital. I am so happy she got the birth she wanted!

We went looking at trees for our yard. We didn't find anything exciting, so we are just going to keep looking and thinking about what we really want. We bought a bunch of grass seed and fertilizer for the yard instead of trees.

Gioia is going to be the flower girl in my cousins wedding in October. Sarah (the bride) brought the flower girl dress today for Gioia to try on. It is beautiful. Turns out the smallest size was a 5. Gioia is wearing size 4 right now, however, the 5 fit great. I am so glad. Here is a picture of her in it. Its a little hard to see in the picture but the dress has baby blue trim and ribbon and embroidery all over the body of it. It looks great on her.

Same old same old...

Nothing much going on. Same old Same old.. :) Yesterday we planted flowers in the front yard. Today we went and got new sand for the sandbox. That is about it. Tomorrow Gioia has Dance class. Last week was spring break so she didn't have dance and she is ready to go back. My tooth has finally stopped hurting. I go Thursday to get the crown put on. I hope he doesn't have to do too much to it, so it won't hurt again.

Nice weekend.

Yesterday my mom friends and I did a Lets Dish style cooking club at my house. It went really well. In the course of about 3 hours we had drinks of wine, snacks, and made 6 meals each. Then you freeze the meals and Voila! you have dinner for 6 evenings.

Then today we went to church. Then we went to the Dog park with the dogs and kids. It was really fun. Gioia was not being a very good listener, but she finally shaped up. ;) I also found out that my friend had her baby today! He was born at home and was 11 lbs. HOLY MOLY!! I am very excited for them though.