Weather

The weather has been crazy here lately. It seems like it has been raining for months and the warnings of flooding and possible tornadoes is just unreal to me this year. We have been very lucky here, but the people in Georgia, and especially Alabama have been hit so hard this past week. From what I have read and seen online towns are gone, right now the death toll is over 300 and it is rising everyday. Looking at the pictures it makes me want to cry....

Hug your families a little tighter and pray for those who have lost their lives to this terrible stormy season. I just hope these towns and families can come together to pick up the pieces and have faith that there is help on the way.

Georgetown Cupcakes!!!!!

The best cupcakes we have ever eaten!!!!

Our first trip we only waited in line for less than a half an hour!!!

My first bites of heaven, Cherry Blossom & Red Velvet!

Sophie from the TLC Show was there!!!

April & her cupcakes, Cherry Blossom & Lemon!!!

Our Second Trip.....

yes we waited 2 hours and yes the line was a block or more long!!!

We were so excited....that I got off the plane, put my luggage in her car, and we were off to find Georgetown Cupcakes!!!! We couldn't wait to have our first delicious bite, but since my plane landed at 7:30AM and they didn't open until 10AM we headed to the Metro and got our passes for the weekend and started our way to Georgetown in DC. It was funny because we had to ride a public bus from the Metro, and I was very skeptical.......I told April, "we don't ride public buses here", but April assured me it would be OK and we were off for our first adventure of Girl's Weekend!!!! Since we were still early, we walked around Georgetown and got acclimated to the area and before we knew it, it was time to get in line! Luckily since it was Friday there were only about 6 people in line, but as we waited our 15 mins or so it filled up QUICKLY!!!!! Once the girl at the door let us in we were amazed by the smells and sounds of the shop, and truly how fluid they ran their operation. We ordered our amazing cupcakes and had a seat to see Sophie sitting by the window in the back!!! It was a wonderful experience, one of many that April and I will never forget!

It was everything I imagined it to be and more, and to experience it with April who started out as a penpal, but turned into an amazing friend for life!!!

Until our next "cupcake" adventure.....

Mr. Mailman,

Thank you for delivering my pre-ordered copy of this book I have been patiently waiting for and you delivered it before it was released to book stores!!!

Sincerely,

Crazy Lady...AKA Nico's Mom

**picture taken from here**

Until my next "reading, crying" adventure....

It's Almost Here!!!!!!

BIRTHDAY FUN!

Wheee!!

Cotton Candy Face!

Let's try head first...crazy kid!

Birthday Fun with Friends!!!

A fun day was had by all with slides, jumpy things, good food, cake and so much more! It's hard to believe our kids are growing up so fast!

Happy Birthday Olivia & Rocco!

Until our next "birthday" adventure......

Fun Day at Amazone!!!

My little Monkey!

Look at me Mommy!

Cutie Pie!

Nico and I went with our friends, Vicky & Dash to a fun place in Medina called Amazone! It was a Jungle (literally) Gym where the kids could run around, slide, hang from stuff and just be kids. It was really crowded and I followed Nico all around the Gym so of course I was exhausted, but at the end of the day it was all FUN! We can't wait for another fun day very soon!

Until our next "jungle" adventure....

DEAR SPRING,

WHERE ARE YOU?!?!??!

We miss shorts, flip flops, no coats and riding bikes!!!

Please come soon, we need warmer weather!!!

Thank you,
Nico

Flashback

Happy Birthday Athena!!!

The pretty princess she is

Eating Birthday Cake!

I can't believe Athena was 11 years old in January and in April she has been part of our family since I was 21......that was so many years ago, it's hard to remember! We went looking for a lab puppy and ended up with a Rottweiler/Chow Mix, but she has been the best dog...now if she'll only live forever :)

Until our next "birthday" adventure.....

Girls Weekend

Before I fell in love with Facebook there was a website for Mommy's called Cafe Mom that I cam across which had groups you could join. I found one called Pen Pals, and I thought this should be interesting as I had a Pen Pal from France in High School and loved writing back and forth. So I thought what the heck.....and that's where I met my now good friend, April who lives near DC.

We started writing back and forth through email and then while in Washington DC for our 2009 vacation we met. Don't think I meet friends all the time online, I really don't but April is different we have a lot in common and she keeps me sane even though it's through email and texting. She is very special to me, and I am so glad I took the leap and decided to write her and she decided to write me back!

So last year we decided we were going to have Girl's Weekend and met in Somerset, PA....which is the where the site for the Flight 93 Memorial is located....and as we found is the only exciting thing in Somerset!!! Even though it was only a 2 day trip we had a blast and decided this was something we were definitely going to do again....which brings me to this year's trip.

Since April lives 30 minutes from Washington DC and I LOVE DC, I decided to book a flight and we are having our 2011 Girls Weekend in DC!!!!!!!!!

Since I am a Food Network Junkie, one place we have to go is Georgetown Cupcakes and if you have ever watched DC Cupcakes you know what I am talking about. Who wouldn't want one or two or a dozen of these delicious cupcakes......my mouth is watering just thinking about it.....

**picture taken from here**

I can't wait!!! Since we saw the Flight 93 Memorial, and are in DC this year we are going to try to find the Pentagon Memorial and the Cherry Blossom's are hopefully still in bloom...something April says is awesome to see. Plus all the other fun stuff do eat and do in DC!!!!!

So the countdown has begun....and now it's just counting down the days until.....

Girl's Weekend!!!!

Until our next "girl's weekend" adventure......

Flashback

February Fun!!!

Making Valentine Cut-Out Cookies with Gma Beth

Opening Nico's Valentine Gift

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Daddy & Nico's Snowman!

It's been a crazy weather month in February and although Nico loves the snow, Mommy is over it!!! We are ready for no coats, shorts and playing outside until dark with friends!!!!!

Until our next "cold weather" adventure....

Liar, Liar

No one told me being Mommy was going to be the hardest, but most rewarding job in the world. Yesterday and today was one of those moments when you think....where did I go wrong?

Let's go back.....since we got back from our Vacation and Nico spent an entire 9 days with us by sleeping, eating and enjoying every minute but we were together all the time. It was a great 9 days, one that will never be forgotten but it has caused him to have problems when we leave him somewhere or he has to go to bed. The transition of our normal routine was about a week, he fought it but we thought everything was back to normal....or so we thought.

The last couple of weeks, Nico has not wanted to go to Pre-School he would make every excuse in the book from "I don't feel good" to "I am too tired" but we just told him he had to go and that we were not negotiating. My favorite line to him is "when you are 32, you can stay up or not go to school but since you are 4, Mommy and Daddy get to tell you what to do." Which ends up with him looking at me strange and walking away....probably thinking I am a crazy person!

The end of last week he didn't have to go to school because of snow days but as we talked about school again he started with the excuses....but what caught me off guard was when he said "Mommy I am scared to go to school, Matthew (name changed) hits me", and my first thought was Nico do you tell the teacher, why is hitting you, really he is hitting you? All those things go through a Mother's head and I said "Nico, Matthew is hitting you? Did you tell your teacher?" And he looked at me and said "No Mommy" and so we had that discussion of why he didn't tell her and if he is really hitting you, it's OK to tell her. This broke my heart to think that my child is being hit at school at the age of 4, but I was very cautious to think that he is being hurt and no one noticed.

So Daddy and I discussed it and we decided to talk to the teacher to see what was going on and explained to Nico that we were going to talk to his teacher. So today on the way to school Nico says, "Daddy, don't talk to my teacher, Matthew doesn't hit me." Now I am thinking, seriously Nico how could you lie about something like that after last week we had the discussion about lying when we asked you a question we knew the answer too. I know he is only four years old but he knows the difference between right and wrong, and we just had this conversation about lying.....how could you lie about someone hitting you Nico????

So here I am mortified that we were going to even put the thought in Nico's teacher head that that child was hitting our son, when in all reality all he was trying to do was get out of school. I don't understand and I don't want to dwell on it, but how do you deal with a child who is only four years old and starting to lie about another child hitting them???

This is not one of my better Mommy moments and I feel like I have failed somehow and how do you sit down with a 4 year old and explain lying? We are honest people and we like to think we don't lie but I don't know where he could possibly have come up with such a big lie? His teacher stated that kids just go through these phases and I am sure they do but this is something that I want to nip now before it gets out of control.....

Any ideas on how to explain lying to a 4 year old?

The snow is never ending.....

Until our next "snow storm" adventure....

It's a sad day for the Law Enforcement Community, Capt. Dan Stiles of the Uniontown Police Department was killed today in the line of duty. He was struck by a car while directing traffic at an intersection and passed away at the hospital. He left behind a wife and 3 children.

Please take a moment and say a prayer for Capt. Stiles and his family.

Look at what my Valentine sent me!!!

I am so lucky!!!

Hope everyone remembers to say "I love you" to all the important people in their lives today because as the quote by Virgil says:

"LOVE CONQUERS ALL"

Guess who get to go and see Elmo again?!?!

Until our next "Elmo" adventure....

HE DID IT!!!!!!!

LOOK.....

We are so proud of Nico, he finally wrote his name all by himself!!!!!

Slinky the Dog is in your near future Little Man!!!

Until our next "Proud Mommy" moment....

The Fun Continues

We had a fun day out at sea, when we woke up on Sunday it was really windy but the air was warm so we relaxed, kept eating until we couldn't eat anymore, explored the ship and hung out with Family. Daddy and Nico decided it would be fun to try out the pool....but what Daddy found out is that salt water from Tampa isn't very warm. We finished our evening with another Fantastic dinner, and ended our night with a drink with everyone in one of the many lounges.

See Daddy, it's not that cold!!!

Making a Build-A-Dog

We continued on to Grand Cayman Island where we had to take a small boat from our ship to the island. Of course the first thing you see is all the shops and restaurants. We walked around for a while and then took a bus to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL, the sun was shining and the breeze was perfect, and we could see our feet in the WATER!!!!

Yes, we are typical tourists!

Mommy, can't I take this home too?!?!

Our final Port was Cozumel, Mexico and it was just as beautiful as the Grand Cayman's. Although this time we got to watch the ship park at Port, it was amazing how they can get the HUGE ship into such a small area. We spent the day holding Iguana's and playing at the beach, which was just as beautiful as the day before. Daddy snorkeled and had a great time, while Nico and Mommy played in the water and sand. It was another great day that ended with another fantastic dinner!

Look Mommy, I am holding him all by myself!!!

Daddy & Nico playing in the crystal clear water.

The final days at sea we had beautiful weather. It rained once in the morning but it was short lived and the sun came out shining bright! Our last day out at sea, we played in the Water Park that was on board. Nico loved the small slide, where Daddy braved the big water slide that looked like something out of a water park back home.

Weeeeeee, look at me!!!

Although we were sad to leave the ship, it was a great time spent with family and definitely something none of us will ever forget. Nico's already asking when we can go on the big ship again!!!!

Until our next "Cruising" adventure....