Stop and smell the flowers!

Smile!

I thought I found a fix to her hair problem but these headbands won't stay on her head long and she also figured out how to take it off, too.

I took Olivia and Luca outside to play and they were more interested in the flowers so I grabbed my camera.

Luca loves that we have a fire hydrant in our front yard. He's so smart that he's asked for a wrench to turn the water on.

Olivia tagging a long with her brother.

Luca was smelling the flowers.

But then Olivia decided to pick the flowers.

There were butterflies everywhere. Here Olivia is watching one. Do you see the little white speckle behind the chair? That's the butterfly she was watching. It flew right by her head.

1st Football Game

We took the kids to their 1st High School Football game at Corey's school. They had a "tailgating" party for the family in the field house (gym). The kids got to eat pizza and the Ambassador students played games with the kids. They had so much fun.

What's funny is someone had commented on how well all the kids listened and they said "these kids are obviously teacher kids." After that comment Luca got up and bolted. It was funny. Although, you can tell our kids were definitely the youngest ones - most of the other kids were three and up.

Olivia loved the band.

Here is O's crazy hair after her nap. Everyone comments how beautiful her curls are. I always have it pulled up out of her face but now she's figured out how to take the bows out of her hair. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can tame this crazy hair? I've never had curly hair like this so I don't know what to do.

Michigan Weekend

We went to Michigan this weekend to help my family can tomatoes. Corey took all the pics on his new phone so once he gets a chance to upload them I'll post the tomato extravaganza. My poor dad and brother in law, Chris, hand picked 10 1/2 bushels of tomatoes and we canned nearly 200 jars of tomato sauce.

I was able to spend some time with my niece Gabri. She's gotten so big from the last time I saw her and she's so cute.

Olivia loves giving kisses to her cousin which she calls "Baby."

Nonna and her granddaughters.

Me and Gabri.

Zia holding her 2 favorite girls!

I love this pic of all three of them!

Luca loves to run in my parents backyard. That tree behind Luca is my dads pear/apple tree. my dad was able to make it grow two types of fruits on one tree. He calls himself the "tree doctor."

Olivia eating a pear. I've always taken for granted all the fresh fruits and veggies my parents always grew in their garden. Now that I'm into organic foods I never realized we always grew up eating organic and rarely ate any processed foods. My mom even used to bake her own bread once a month. She'd make enough bread to eat every day and would freeze it.

Happy Birthday James!

Our friend James turned two today. James used to be in our playgroup but his mom, Michelle, went back to work so the last time we saw them was at Luca's Bday in March . Michelle took the day off today for his Bday party. The kids had a blast.


I couldn't believe Olivia was going down the slide all by herself. She's such a little daredevil.

Luca and his buddy Didi (Spencer).

Where's Waldo...I mean Luca?

Olivia was having a rough day today. I think she missed her Papa since he went back to work today.

Summer Lovin'

Another trip to the zoo! This time we went with the entire family. Corey goes back to work this Friday so we had a family day today. It was fun AND the kids have been both napping at the same time. I think we've finally transitioned Olivia to take one nap now. The trick is to keep her busy all morning and then she's out by noonish.

The last time we were here the tiger was taking a nap. Luca loved seeing the tiger so close-up.

She no longer walks, she runs! I love how she runs with her hands behind her back like she's superwoman or something. She can say lots of words now. She's definitely far ahead with her vocabulary than Luca was at her age. I've always heard that girls learn faster than boys.

I love this sweet face!

And this sweet face, too!

He's getting so big! I'm so proud of him. He's "officially"potty trained in my book. Knock on wood...but we haven't had any accidents in a few days and he now tells us when he needs to go. He's such a sweet little boy. He's always sharing and feeding his sister. He can count to 10 - but not if you ask him if you just listen to him playing. He's also close to knowing his ABC's.

Cooling off in the pool.

Uncle Nay Nay's Visit

Uncle Nay Nay is back from Japan visiting. Here's the pic of him and the kids before he left when we lived in our apartment.


Luca was close to Olivia's age and now look how big they got in one year!



Corey's Aunt Jo & Uncle Steve & cousin Lucian were in town from NY.

Luca loved Lucian - he wanted to be just like him. He wore his keys on his belt, his cell phone, hat & even put on glasses like Lucian.


What's even funnier is that Luca was wrestling around with Lucian & Steve and then out of no where Luca slapped Steve in the face. Only my son slaps his celebrity uncle in the face! I made him apologize but we were all laughing including Steve.

Evie showing off her dance moves on the firetruck.

Even though this looks bad, they were actually helping me put all the beer in the ice and being good helpers. I had to snap a pic b/c I'm sure when they are of legal age they will be drinking beers together.

Luca and Olivia were doing the cutest thing together. Olivia's new thing lately is screaming. Luca would stay "No scream Ovivia." Then he would start screaming and then they would hug each other. It was really cute, well, except for the screaming part. I even took video of it. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload it.

Luca is doing fabulous with the potty training. He now tells us when he needs to go potty. Luca also realized today that girls have different body parts than boys.

Zoo Trip

I took the kids to the zoo today they had so much fun and were both well behaved the entire time.

Luca was so excited to see the monkeys but they were all sleeping!

The kids LOVED the polar bears.




Olivia rarely takes naps in the car but she was exhausted after seeing all those animals.