Good times!

Luca LOVES apples. I think because Nonno has an apple tree and this summer he would drive Luca on his mini tractor to the apple tree and they would pick apples together. My dad even grafted the apple tree to make both red and green apples on the SAME tree. Here's Luca eating an entire apple.

Black Friday Experience...

When we arrived back in Ohio from Michigan, I decided I wanted to experience Black Friday for the 1st time. I used to think people who shopped on Black Friday were crazy, but now I am one of those people. They just had so many great deals! I was not one of the crazy people that waited in lines for hours. I basically got up at 4:45 am and showed up at Target right at 5am when they opened the doors. I did have to get in a line to get in but it was less than 5 minutes. I got everything I wanted so I was very happy with my 1st experience. The only part I didn't like was the electronics department was crazy busy! So I stayed away from that area but was still able to get a digital pic frame for only $29. I also went to Kohls afterward. The lines to check out was wrapped around the entire store but I guess it was worth it with the deals that I got. When I came back home I told Corey how there were a lot of 40" TV's left at Target. He decided he wanted to go to Home Depot hoping to get a $20 wet vac that was worth over $100 but they were all gone. Instead, he came back home with the 40" TV for our bonus room! He thought since I told him about the TV's that meant I wanted one? Hmmm... not sure about that one? LOL

We were practicing taking some Xmas shots. I want to get professional pics taken for them for Xmas but I am nervous about both of them co-operating at the same time.

Olivia kept sliding off her butt since this is on the hardwood floors. Good thing the Boppy caught her fall!

Christmas Time!!

Olivia is soo excited about Xmas she wants to do the splits!


She's very excited about Xmas and loves looking at all the Xmas lights.


Christmas Tree #1


Christmas Tree #2


And finally...Xmas tree #3. This is our new purchase. I bought this from Crystal's mom who didn't use hers anymore. Now, I understand why! This thing took forever to put up! Plus it seemed like we had a ton of ornaments but the tree still looks like it needs more.

Thanksgiving

It's amazing that this time last year I was about 12 weeks pregnant with Olivia and was able to share the news with my family and friends! Last year, Luca was able to eat the Thanksgiving meal...I just put it in a food processor since he wasn't able to chew on foods yet...he was only 8 months old. Olivia didn't really get to try any Thanksgiving food...next month she will get to try some veggies!

Traveling with 2 kids is definitely difficult. We went to Zia's and Uncle Chris' house for Thanksgiving this year. We planned on staying there from Wednesday until Friday. The car was jam packed for a 2 day/night trip with Pack N' Plays, toys, excersaucer, diapers, you name it, we brought it! We planned on taking the kids during their nap time hoping they would sleep in the car. We even took Luca to Graeters before we left so he could play for 2 hours and hoped it would wear him out. He fell asleep right as we crossed the Michigan border. Ten minutes later, we arrived and he woke up. Fortunately, Olivia slept but when Luca started screaming she would just stare at him. She was a little angel and took 3 naps throughout the trip.







Luca was so interested in Zia's dog, Bear (which confuses him because now he calls all dogs "Bear"). He also loved playing with their mean cat Mossimo (Luca calls him "MO") who doesn't like anyone and actually growls instead of hisses. Luca thought it was funny when Mossimo would swat at him and growl.

Dinner was great, Mary and Chris did a wonderful job making all the food...we made the apple pie, it's starting to be a tradition that we make this pie...3 years in a row. Immediately after eating we decided to go straight home. I was exhausted chasing Luca around and nervous that one of the animals was going to eat him. Plus, Luca doesn't sleep well in his pack n play and wouldn't take any naps so I was ready to go home. Once again, I didn't take any pics because I was chasing Luca and telling him "NO MO". Zia & Uncle Chris took pics and I'll post as soon as they send them to me. They actually took some great ones of Luca hugging Bear...I really think he misses Bianca. One of his first words was "Ba Ba" for Bianca. Sometimes, I miss her too but Luca can definitely breath a lot better without her here.

She's Gonna Get You!

Here's a short video of Olivia chasing Luca around our kitchen island. For some reason any clips over a minute will never upload so I have to do the short clip. Enjoy!

5 Months and 4 Days Old...

Okay, so Corey read the blog and fixed the printer so I could print Olivia's 5 month old sign. :) She's 5 months and 4 days old here but at least she'll know how many months she was when I put her album together.

Here she is...Ms. Olivia!


The outfit she is wearing was a Baby Shower gift when I was pregnant with Luca and we didn't know he was a boy. Corey came across it in Luca's clothes bin and he thought it would be cute on her. I finally was able to put her blue bow in her hair. Thanks Matt and Crystal for the outfit. It has gotten some good use! :)

I had to post this pic of Luca b/c it's hard to get him smiling now. He's more interested in seeing himself on the camera whenever I try to snap a pic of him. He will smile if you ask him to but just not for the camera. Grammy brought over a Xmas book and he can point out and say Santa.


We are sooo excited for Xmas this year! Can you tell by the new blog background? We are going to Mary's house (Zia's) for Thanksgiving and which we are very excited about. When we get back we are going to put up all of our Xmas decorations and we have 3 Christmas trees! Can't wait...I love Xmas and I think Corey is starting to like it now that we have kids. He's even going to put lights outside of the house for the 1st time. The kids will love it. :)

Olivia is so excited that she needs to dance.....




Nate, I saw your request for more Luca vidoes. I will try to get some tomorrow - it's really hard to get him to co-operate b/c he wants to see himself on camera so I'll have to try it when he's in his high chair and hopefully I'll get a good clip. ;)

Turkey Tales!

Today I took just Luca to the library for storytime. The theme was Thanksgiving and they read 3 books about Thanksgiving and at the end they let the kids make a craft...a Turkey! This is Luca's very 1st craft. He made the body of the turkey out of the outline of his shoe and the feathers are from his hands. He had a lot of fun.



He was so excited to show his Papa when he got home. Papa was spending some quality time with Olivia and when we went home he was feeding the baby and Luca got a little jealous and started crying. He doesn't do that much but this was the 2nd time he's ever showed us a little jealously and both time with his dad.

When we came home I noticed Olivia was dressed in a different outfit. Corey thought the outfit I put on her were PJ's but I know that he just wanted her to wear Buckeye colors for the game. But she looked very cute in her little OSU onesie and Xmas pants. He even changed the color of her bow on her hair! :)

Happy 5 Months Olivia!

Olivia is 5 months old! Our computer crashed about a month ago and now I can't print her little 5 month old sign. Oh well! I figured I'd dress her up since she really never wore this dress. It's size 0-3 months and still fits her but I'm sure it won't soon so why not take her 5 month picture in it, right?



My sister and I made this headband in her hair. I saw a little baby that had something like this and couldn't find it at any baby stores so my sister said let's just make it. It doesn't really fit on her head because Luca liked putting it on his head and he stretched it out!


Don't mind the slobber on her dress! She kept flashing me in her dress then she would put the dress in her mouth! I'll post a video!

I love the face she makes after I ask her "can you tell everyone how old you are today?" She gives me this look like "are you kidding me? I can't talk yet, mom!"

Sitting Pretty!

I can't believe that my baby is starting to sit up already! She even started a day before she turns 5 months old! I remember Luca sitting up at 5 months and I think Olivia is a little competitive and was trying to beat him. She can sit up when she has her little spinning toy in front of her and I put the boppy behind her b/c she will lose her balance and tip over or back. It's great that she hit this milestone so early but I'm also so sad b/c she's just growing up WAY too fast. The next milestone is crawling....I'm not looking forward to two mobile babies!


Here she is on belly time. She enjoys it for about 5 minutes then wants nothing to do with it.

I'm Gonna Getcha!

Luca's very first sentence he's ever said was this weekend! Luca loves to be chased. As Corey and I were chasing him around the house we would say "I'm going to get you!" and he would try to say it back "I gonna getcha" is somewhat like it sounded. It was so adorable! I also asked him what he wanted for Xmas this year and he said "Baby" and Corey and I both denied his 1st Xmas request. He obviously had no idea what I was asking him at the time. I am just trying to get him prepped for his visit to Santa.


Today I took Luca to the Annie Jam Band today with the MNM's. He loved it. He was the only one that was dancing to her beats!

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He was so intrigued by these ribbons that you are supposed to flap like a bird with. He kept tangling himself.



Here he is being teachers pet. He sat right next to the music teacher. I think she liked him because he was so good. Everytime she would say put your musical instrument back in the box he would do it. He takes instructions very well. I'm so proud of him!

Cousin Evie

Today cousin Evie was over for the day. The kids had so much fun. Actually, so much fun that Evie & Olivia are napping as we speak. Luca is enjoying some non-girl time so he's keeping himself busy. In March, there will be another little girl cousin sitting next to Olivia. They will all be so close in age, I love it.

It looks like Olivia is posing in this picture....she's such a ham!

So precious! Evie will be a good big sister in March.

Evie loved to hold on to Olivia's paci. She would take it everywhere with her. There is a picture of Aunt Ju Ju's wedding behind Olivia and Evie kept saying "Mamma, Da Da".


Luca and Evie play really well together. Luca is always trying to give her a hug then they both fall over on top of each other. They are all great kids. It will be fun as they get older they can have little slumber parties, tea parties, dress-up parties.... oh it will be so much fun!

Beautiful Fall Day

Here's my happy little girl in her "Whatever happens at Grandma's stays at Grandma's outfit". She's very excited that her Nonno and Nonna will be making a visit for Xmas this year. I am also VERY excited b/c I always get a nice break when they are here. We also found out today that Evie will be having a little SISTER in March! YAY! Olivia is super excited to have another girl cousin. Maybe Aunt Mary and Uncle Chris will adopt a boy in January so Luca can have a boy cousin. ;)


Today was a beautiful fall day in Cbus. Luca loves the outdoors and I let him play outside while we were waiting for Papa to get home from work. I love this Japanese Maple tree in our front yard, it's so pretty in the fall and we were so glad that they didn't have to tear it down when they put our driveway in, it just made it!


Luca was having fun riding in his little firetruck.

Here he is playing in our neighbors front yard in the leaves. I think he loved the noise it made when he would run across them.

When he saw his Papa drive down the street he literally hopped off his Firetruck and ran to his car! So Papa gave him a small ride to the house and he was soo happy.

Mommy's Little Helper

Monday's are typically my day to get some chores done around the house. I have a great little helper that follows me around and insists on helping. Here's the proof! :) Olivia lucked out since she takes a nap in the morning but I hope that she will be as helpful as Luca. I also hope that Luca will continue to be mommies little helper forever! :)


Luca loves to push the finished laundry back to our room.

Here he is helping me push the wet clothes into the dryer. Sometimes when he knows I'm doing laundry he'll grab his stuffed monkey from his crib and throw it in the washer so his monkey can get a bath.


He loves to vacuum! He can't quit say vacuum but calls it "back".


Helping me take his trash out - dirty diapers...yuck!

20 Months Old!

Today Luca turned 20 months! Luca loves to throw his stuffed football and jog around the house. He recently got a new outfit from our friends Dina and Ignazio who came to our Hparty. They also gave Olivia this adorable outfit she has on, too. Whenever someone buys them an outfit I try to make sure to take a pic of it and send it to them. Anyway, Luca's shirt has a football on it and absolutely loves it! He calls it Put ball.



Olivia is growing up so quickly. She is started to fake cough because she likes the sound. At first I thought she was sick but I remembered Luca doing this and she likes the sound it makes. She also rolled a few times yesterday when we were doing belly time. Luca was able to sit up at 5 months old, Olivia can sit but she is bending all the way over, she doesn't have it yet but she's working on it. Everyone always comments on how she is such a happy baby. She always seems to smile which will make people smile back.

Brotherly Love

I know I always say this but Luca is really a good big brother to Olivia. Whenever she fusses I'll tell him to go play with your sister and he will make her smile. She loves it when he plays with her, especially in her exersaucer. She'll start to fuss but once Luca comes over and plays with her she smiles. I think she has a little bit of my personality, she doesn't like to be left alone and loves company.



I like to reward Luca when he's good and he LOVES vanilla wafer cookies. We have been trying to teach him that he cannot eat on the carpet, only on the tile. He understands the rules but sometimes likes to break it. Lately he will pick up a book and sit in Olivia's rocking chair on his own while I am changing Olivia. He'll point to the pictures and say what the word is. I really need to go to the library and start getting him some more books so he'll get a better vocabulary.

My lil Sweet Pea

My lil Pea Pod on Halloween.

Trick or Treating Footage

Luca and I having conversation.

Halloween Party - Costumes III

Corey and I threw our very 1st Halloween Party. It was adult only and the kids had a slumber party at their Grammy's she even watched Evie, too which was great. Unfortunately, Olivia must have known she wasn't at home and she woke up at 2am, 4am, and 6am but all she needed was her paci and she went back to bed. I felt bad that Grammy had to wake up but she didn't want her to wake the other 2 and normally Olivia never wakes up that many times throughout the night but I think Olivia must have known she wasn't in her bed and lately she hasn't been digging her pack n play as much.

Corey and I dressed as The Biggest Loser and he was my trainer "Camille Toe". Everyone had a good laugh. Corey definitely likes getting into charachter whenever we have a costume party. He seriously almost made me pee my pants when he was doing squats in his thong outfit.


Here I am at the end of the night after Corey whipped my butt and I lost all the weight.


Pat and Diane as Army people.


Joe and Angie were our costume winners. We had everyone vote and they were 1st place and Jon and Kate were in 2nd.


Disco 70's girl - Raynbow and Sam the prisoner. Both in my mommies group.