Construction Has Started at Our House!!

Daddy & Nico pulling up the carpet and old wood floors.

Guarding the Material.

Supervisor Roles...a little to the right Daddy!

Gosh, this job is tough!!!

No more wood!!!

Here comes the new wood floors!!

The Princess worked so hard she had to take a break!!!

Until our next "wood flooring" adventures......

Nico's Swimming Debut......

For those who follow, but don't know Nico has been taking Swimming Lessons at the YMCA since he was 6 months old (off and on). He is now a Pike, and is on his 3rd round of being a Pike and loves it! The teacher, who he has had for all three rounds, and he really seems to like finally got Nico to jump in the pool by himself! Which if you have been watching the last two sessions like I have, this is a huge accomplishment in our house! He has turned into quite the fish, and really enjoys swimming and even though all his friends moved up to Eels I have no doubt he will follow before to long.....I guess that's what happens when you are the youngest kid in your class, but now with the new bunches of kids he is the Star!!

Until our next swimming adventure....

We are going to see...........

We went last year and Nico had a blast, so we decided this year to take Nico and Chay!! Not sure Daddy is as excited as we are, but he will be once he get there!!!!

Until our next adventure with Elmo.....

Wordless Wednesday

Seriously, is it Spring yet?!?!?!

Until our next adventure...

Lots of changes going around.......

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring in our house....you see every Spring we do a project to update our house.....which is funny when you buy a brand new house you think that you shouldn't have to do that...but I regress...........

This year's "big" project is wood floors in the playroom/dining room and foyer. Who knew that pulling up wood floors and carpet would be so much work......I am sure Daddy is thinking so much work for who?? Pictures to follow of the progress...

Still working with potty training, but things are getting better in the sense that Nico can hold it all night if he wants too.....

We are planning a big vacation with my family in January 2011, a Carnival Cruise we are just hoping Daddy will be able to get off to be able to go.

We are also hoping to take a week in April to go to Ocean Isle, NC and stay in a condo there for this years vacation.

And also a few weekend vacations in Washington, D.C. and Columbus.....so many things to plan and do, so little time.

Daddy is also disappointed because starting in April, he will be back to 8 hour shifts which means no more Saturday/Sundays off, but in the long run it'll be better I guess....

So many things going on, my head hurts......oh I guess in my case that's not funny.....my head is spinning :)

Stay tuned pictures to follow.....

Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

Until next time......

Waving my White Flag.....

I give up, I have tried everything to get Nico to poo in the potty and he is fighting me tooth and nail....for what reason I can't figure it out. So we'll do it Daddy's way, by him telling us when he is ready but until then I wave my white flag in defeat............

One day he'll go, right???

Until our next adventure......

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

In honor Valentine's Day this weekend, I thought I would blog about Bryan and I history of our love.

See Bryan and I met at a certain fast food restaurant that we both worked at and crossed paths when they needed him to fill in at my store. My first impressions, was that he was a jerk and I couldn't stand him but then he began to grow on me.....and we became friends, and the funny thing I can remember the day he told me that he was joining the Marine Corps, it was the day I got my license. Story be told from my eyes, he asked me out in May 3, 1996 for our first date....he'll tell you my cousin Jake paid him too....funny how people see things two different ways :) We hit it off and before you know it, we went to my Senior Prom and he was off for Boot Camp. Although I don't think either one of us had any idea if this was going to last, it did and we kept in touch through snail mail...I know now it's hard to believe and when he returned and moved to North Carolina our relationship was stronger than ever!

In December 1997, Bryan came home on leave for Christmas and proposed. Now girls that know Bryan I know it's hard to believe but he proposed and then was off to go out with the guys...I mean there is only so much time to drink beer after you propose, right......a girls dream proposal :) Then the wedding plans started and before we knew it when he was on leave again from his time at Camp David to back to the fleet, we got married on a very snowy/icy January day.

A couple of weeks before Valentine's Day in 2006, we found out we were going to have our only child, Nico who has been the highlight of our lives and has shown me what a wonderful husband and Daddy, Bryan has become. Both of them show me everyday, not just on Valentine's Day why I love and adore them so much......they are the highlight of my life and I can't wait to see what the future holds for us and the excitement of showing our love not just on Valentine's Day but everyday.

So this Valentine's Day, my blogging friends I wonder what your Valentine's Day or relationship memories are. I love you my favorite boys in the whole wide world, more than anything.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

XOXOXOXO
Mommy aka Kelli

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Until our next adventure......

This is what we have been up too.....how about you???

Making Valentine's.....

Playing with our puppy.........

Trying to walk through a snowstorm.......

Or shoveling our way out.......

Climbing Mountains of Snow.......

Making Snow Angels........

Shoveling more snow....is winter ever gonna end?!?!?!

Until our next "wintry" adventure......

Organizing Mood

In the spirit of my new camera, which by the way I haven't taken a picture since the weekend I got but I have decided before I started taking more I was going to organize the one's I have....only to realize that it isn't that simple. In my little mind, I guess when I started taking pictures of our beautiful baby boy in 2006 that I would organize files in months which is great for scrapbooking, but saving the same files 3 times and 3 different ways makes it difficult to see what photos I have or don't. So now the "fun" begins as I get to go through each file and picture to see what I have on 25 discs or more and figure out what I can pitch and what I need to keep.

So now comes the task of trying to organize and compile one set of discs for Nico's life and also any other digital photo I have taken. I am thinking I am way over my head, but know that it will be totally worth it in the end.....hopefully!!! I guess it could be worse he could be 10 and I am trying to organize 10 years of photos, right??

Wish me luck, and hopefully this will inspire me to start/finish his 3rd year scrapbook since we are approaching his 4th year already!!!! Time sure flies, doesn't it??

Until our next "organizing" adventure.....

Wordless Wednesday!!!

Can anyone remember Nico being this small?

I sure can't!!!

Until our next adventure....

The Countdown has begun!!!!

My good friend April, who lives in VA and I are meeting half way for a Girl's Weekend in Somerset, PA! We are going to eat, watch too much TV/Movies, visit the town and do whatever our little hearts desire!!!! No real plans, just having fun and doing girlie stuff.

Hopefully the weather will be nice, the Flight 93 Memorial is close by so we are hoping that the weather holds out and who knows what other fun will come our way!!!

Until our next adventure.....

It's that time again, time to show our "perfect" ways and all the "not me's" I couldn't have possible done these past months when I haven't posted. If you would like to read about more "perfect" people like me, head over to MckMama's Blog and even post to your blog so that we can see how "perfect" we all are!

I certainly did not eat a bag of popcorn for dinner because I was way too lazy to eat what I cooked for my darling husband and pigged out for lunch on not one, but two bowls of queso!!!

I never could of purchased a new camera, blogged about how great it is, surfed the web for the perfect strap and then not taken a picture since the weekend I got it...no not me!!

Certainly, I could of NEVER let my child down from the dinner table after he so politely asked to be excused without touching his dinner, and then 10 minutes later was giving in to his baby blues asking for a treat.

I surely didn't skip the Gym all weekend even though I was childless and instead eat out and sit at home....no not me, I always take these opportunities to work out!

I surely didn't want until the last possible second to get gas in my car because it's been 4 degrees with a windchill of -9 degrees...no not me I always make sure my gas tank is full!

So there it is, my imperfect moments that certainly could of not happened to me.....

Until our next adventure....

Introducing my Newest Purchase!!!

I have been wanting a new camera since Nico's Christmas Program and none of my pictures came out on my old Sony Digital Camera, so we decided to splurge and get a decent camera. Which is funny because when we bought our first digital camera back 9 or 10 years ago, it was 3 times the size, twice the price and had a floppy disk for the memory. It's amazing how the technology has changed!!!! Now I just have to figure out to use it, and hopefully the class the camera shop offers will allow me to be able to turn it on....LOL! Seriously turning it on and taking blurry pictures is my specialty!!!!

I will definitely leave the professional photography to my friend, Jennifer, and I will continue to take my thousands of snapshots of our lives. So wish me luck and figuring out which buttons and settings to put it on....maybe I am way over my head!!!!!

Now just time to decide which strap I have to have!!! I found the cutest one's here. Here are my favorites, but so many cute one's it's to hard to decide....which one do you like better or a different one if you feel like cruising the site???

Until our next "picture" adventure......

OUR 300TH POST!!!

From our first moments......

To our 300th Post!!!!

Thank you for following our family through the years. Hopefully you have had as much fun reading our stories as we have had living them! So keep coming back often, to hear our "funny" stories of raising a Toddler, and being the best Nico's Mom I can be.

Until our next “Nico” adventure and more…….

Happy 10th Birthday, Athena!!!!!

April 2000

First day we got her we took her Onslow Beach, NC

The beginning of hating water!!!!

July 2000

Her first "professional" picture!

May 2000

Right before we moved back to OH

Caught ya!!!!

Lazy girl...hiding in our bedroom from the wrath of Nico!!!

Who can believe that we've had this adorable puppy for almost 10 years and today is her 10th birthday?? She has been a wonderful dog, and even though Nico tortures her she is definitely a good sport!

Happy Birthday, Athena!!! We hope to share many more memories to come!!!