Our Italian Thanksgiving

Thanks to Sarah and Jeff for hosting a fabulous pre-Thanksgiving get-together on Saturday! Two days later, I'm still stuffed from Jeff's amazing bread, and Sarah's unreal lasagna! I think the pictures I snagged from the kids' table prove that the kids approved of the menu, too! (Well, cousin Tommy may have liked the company more than the food, but he still had a ball!)

Tim captured a grandparent/ grandchild shot on his cell phone... right before the numbers rise from 4 to 5 in December!


Joey and I made turkey sugar cookies before heading to the party -- this is the closest I'll get to a 13-week "belly shot"!

She's Gone Country, Look at them Boots!

These boots are made for walking...



...two-stepping...



and strutting (where oh where does she get that walk??)...

Renaissance Man

Yesterday, Joey responded to the news that school was closed for Veterans' Day with a shouted "YES!!!!" and a victorious fist pump in the air. Can a three year-old already harbor such passionate feelings about school? Apparently! We would be worried about having a future truant on our hands if he wasn't so excited about learning at home -- especially letters, shapes and all forms of art.

His art easel is his favorite place to be these days, as well as the kitchen table for painting, and flat on his belly on the floor for pencil and pen drawing and tongue-out-of-the-mouth practice with letters.

In the tradition of all our greatest artists, he's not shying away from showcasing all body parts. Eek. Maybe this is my cue to start dressing and undressing behind closed doors!

Memo for Memorial Day Weekend 2010

If we haven't seen you lately, the months of September and October have been a blur of exhaustion, frumpiness and bloat, and we've enrolled both Joey and Clara in a promising course called Mother's Helper 101: Yes, You Can Change Diapers Even if You're Barely Out of Them Yourself.

Yes, we're pregnant again! We're thrilled and blessed to report that we're 12 weeks along with a very healthy baby. His or her main goal in life is to get Mommy to sleep more soundly and for even longer stretches than she's already inclined to. He or she also loves to give high fives and receive tickles from Joey (through the belly button, of course). We'll likely find out the gender of this little one the last week of December, and will meet him or her in person around May 28, 2010.

In the meantime, some debut pictures for the blog!

In the Market for a Cat

It would be a brief stay. Just long enough to complete a job that our two 100-pound dogs are apparently too squeamish or pampered to execute...

Daily sweeping, vacuuming, and cleaning up after said canines -- not to mention two small children -- have made me almost immune to most messes. But finding evidence that a mouse has been on top of our kitchen table is beyond the pale.

Let us know if you know of a qualified applicant! Other fast-acting, immediate solutions will also be considered!

Rockin' the Pony

These photos are over two weeks old, but mark an important milestone in the life of any young lady. Here's Clara sporting a ponytail for the first time, thanks to an overnight stay at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Tim and I attended a wedding in Sacramento. I'm not sure I'm ready to give up her signature pigtails, but I love her her new 'do!

On a completely unrelated and narcissistic note, I also love that more and more people are saying that she looks like me!

Diapered Duo

I couldn't resist sharing these pictures of Clara and cousin Marco rolling around in their identical Pampers.

Trick-or-Treating 2009

For the second year in a row, Mop flew into town in time to trick-or-treat with five little ladies and one little man!


She also hand-delivered a special costume for Joey that was supposed to have been made by me, but somehow fell by the wayside in the craziness of our month. Here's Joey as Peter Pan, with the talented seamstress.

He was so enamored with his hat (and himself in the hat), he was happy to take picture after picture. We rolled with it, since this is a rare treat!

It turns out TinkerBell is making one significant departure from her mantra of copying my personality to a T... she's a candy and chocolate fiend! Here she is helping herself to her seventh handful of candy at a neighbor's house.

She's a natural at trick-or-treating!

The only decent picture of our Peter Pan and TinkerBell pair:

The "big kids" amped from their candy heist... Happy Halloween!

Halloween Hoopla

Our Halloween festivities started on Friday night, with a birthday dinner for Tim, and an opportunity for the Cecchin cousins to try on their costumes before the big day! In our corner, we had Tinker Bell and a swashbuckling pirate (who made a costume change to SuperMan midway through the night), while cousin Tommy was Diego -- complete with backpack and animal rescuer vest -- and cousin Marco showed up as a boxer. He even gave his own mommy a shiner for the night! ;)



The best of the bunch from Grandma and Grandpa's photo shoot with all kids!

For the third birthday in a row, Tim blew out his candles with a little help.



Happy Birthday, Tim!

Nine Years (and Four Days!)

I'm not sure we were really thinking clearly when we set our wedding date in early 2000... what were we thinking plunking our anniversary in the middle of a week that already included Tim's birthday and Halloween?? Clearly we weren't parents yet ;) And we definitely couldn't have forseen the demands of being a preschool parent... at least when you sign up to be the Halloween Festival coordinator!

Needless to say, our anniversary was a bit of an afterthought this week, what with a crazy week of work for Tim, three days of Halloween Fest nuttiness for me, a birthday dinner for Tim, and Halloween night itself! But I did get some beautiful roses, and walking by them every day brings me back to this day... I can't believe it's been nine years!





How young do we look in these pictures?? We were babies!!