Pinterest

I love pinterest! I was able to download these letters to help the kids practice writing their letters. I've tried so many recipes and have gotten so many great ideas for parties and now I'm loving using pinterest to do stuff for the kids, too!

Olivia practicing her O's.

Luca actually has very good handwriting for a 4 year old.  He can pretty much write any letter and even spell some 3 letter words on his own!

Olivia is still working on how to write a lot of letters.  She can almost write her name, but I have to remember she is 15 months younger than Luca which is really a huge difference.  But she's really trying, can you tell?

Luca's 1st time getting turned down. :(

I went to pick up Olivia from school today and Luca and I usually are 15 minutes early so we can pick up her craft in the other room and then watch her in the 2 way mirror.  There is a little girl in O's class named Lucy and she has an older sister (she's 5) named Emma who is adorable and she also comes to pick up her sister.  Luca and Emma usually play together and have become friends.  Today, Emma was playing with her leapster and Luca asked her if he could play.  At first she said no, but then she kindly shared it and showed Luca how to play with it.  When we were about to leave, Luca thanked Emma for sharing her toy and then asked her "Do you want to come over my house and play?"  Emma said "I'm sorry, I can't."  Luca was a little sad and maybe a little heartbroken. :(  It was so cute, though!

Gabriella's 2nd Birthday Party!

These are not in any order of Gabri's party! My sister is an amazing party planner and all of this took months of preparation to do. It looks like a professional did of this. I took the pics but most of the pics I took were on her SD card so I didn't even get a shot of all the food she made. Gabriella loves watching Olivia the pig and she loved her party!

Olivia is probably thinking..."I'm not feeling so well." :(  Poor girl got sick in the car on the way home.  I felt so bad for her and Corey.  It all started with Luca getting sick on Monday.  I made his favorite chicken and edamame which he loves and was excited about, but then he said his belly hurt and he asked us if he could lay on the couch.  After laying on the couch with Corey, he noticed that Luca was about to get sick.  He took Luca to the bathroom and Luca didn't know that when you puke it's supposed to go in the toilet.  Instead he aimed for the wall!  Then during the party on Saturday, Corey started to feel sick and threw up during the party.  Then it hit Olivia on the way home.  I'm the only one that didn't get it!  What's ironic is that almost exactly a year ago we celebrated my parents anniversary and we had red velvet cake.  On the drive home Olivia got sick.  So we're wondering if she might also be allergic to the red food dye or if it was a virus?  Either way, Olivia is not eating Red Velvet cake again! 

Today as I was getting Luca out of his car seat, he said "I'm proud of Nonno and Nonna for making you."  It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.  I wonder where do they get this kind of stuff that they say?  But, I love it!

Croy and Carson's Bday!

Corey went to Toledo this past weekend to play alumni Lax and I decided to just stay at home since we are heading to Monroe next weekend for my niece, Gabriella's, 2nd Birthday! We actually got to celebrate Croy and Carson's Bday. We arrived an hour early to the party so I took some pics of the kids while we waited!

My baby is not a baby anymore, but a beautiful little girl!

The Birthday Boys!  No, they are not twins, they just did a combined Bday party since their Bdays are a week apart.

She just LOVES cupcakes.  I think a Pinkalicous Bday theme would be perfect for her, especially since Pinkalicious and Olivia have 2 main things in common...they love PINK and CUPCAKES!

Luca and his friend Filippo, he used to be in our playgroup, but his Mom now works and the kids rarely get to see eachother anymore.

BEST BUDS!  I'm so lucky to be in such a great playgroup, all these kids are so close as am I with their Mommas!

Johnsonville Italian Inspiration House Party!

I was chosen to host my 2nd House Party! This one was a Johnsonville House Party so they gave me coupons for free sauasage to have a party. I made these yummy chocolate cupcakes with my favorite peanut butter/cream cheese frosting. They are just as good as they look! I was happy with my 1st food photography, not a bad pic, right?

We were having so much fun at the party that I only took one pic, unfortunately!  As a House party host I'm supposed to take lots of pics then post them on FB and blogs, basically to give them advertising for the free stuff but I drank a little too much on the job!  But I hope they pick me for other parties b/c it's always a good time and I love free stuff!  The sausages were pretty good, I made Hanky Pankies which were sausage, onions and velveeta cheese on toasted rye bread.  I also made a sausage queso dip, and sausage with marinara sauce and green peppers.  I also made a delish salad and strawberries dipped in chocolate! 

Memorable Quotes...

While we were on the airplane Luca asked Corey "When does the plane get small?"

I took Olivia to get her haircut while Luca was in school.  When we picked up Luca I asked him if he liked his sisters new haircut.  He said "It's still curly, I don't like it."  Olivia responded "You're not my friend anymore!"

Whenever Olivia will color a picture, Luca will compliment her by saying "That's pretty!"

When we were at Chic Fil A there was a really cute little girl that was playing with Luca.  She would say "Come here puppy!"  And Luca followed her around like a puppy dog, too!  He told me "She's cute."

I overheard the kids talking to each other about getting married and Olivia said "I'm going to wear a really big tu tu!"  Crazy how young girls start talking about getting married because I really don't bring it up, I'm still trying to figure out where she got that from!

Hoppy Easter! :)

It was VERY chili this morning so I had to improvise on the kids outfits for the Easter Egg hunt! We put Luca's sport coat on from Xmas which was a little snug. We didn't want to put Olivia in her dressy shoes because the grass was really wet from the morning dew so we put her brand new snow boots from Lands End that she only used once this year because we had a mild winter! We also put leg warmers on her, too! So, they look a little silly but they still are so cute to me! :)

They really enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt.

Instead of having all Easter candy in the eggs, the Easter Bunny was smart and put fun things like play-doh, silly bands, balls, little slimely frogs, dollar bills and they did get some jelly beans.

Luca's basket was full!

On to coloring their Easter Eggs!

She was being silly and wouldn't look at the camera on purpose!

They LOVE jelly beans so they had a sugar high because we also had dessert which we don't have often with our meals so I put them to bed EARLY ( in normally put them to bed at 7:30pm but today it was more like 6:30!) especially since they both didn't take a nap today which is becoming a normal thing lately! One good thing is that Olivia has slept in until 8am the past couple of days so at least that helps!

Not ready to go to bed after all that sugar! I'm chopping her hair tomorrow, I hope all these beautiful curls stay!

Chic-Fil-A & McKinley's Pirate Bday Party!

I have to say that Chic-Fil-A is by far the most impressive fast-food chain out there.  I love their customer service and their Family Nights on Thursdays!  This past Thursday it was a long day and I never got around to making dinner, so I decided to take the kids to Chic-Fil-A.  It was family night and they had an artist draw pictures for the kids!  I can't believe that we paid $12 for a family meal of 4 (Kids eat free on Thursdays) and we got to take this cool picture to take home with us, and the kids also got to play in the play area!  It's my favorite place for the kids!!  

When the man was finished drawing the kids, Luca looked at the picture and said "This doesn't look like me!"  We explained to him it's supposed to look funny!

Luca's friend, McKinley had an amazing 4th Birthday Party at a gymnastics center. It was such a great party. The kids had a blast and Barbara did such a cute job with the pirate theme! It looks like Olivia is doing a yoga pose!

As you can see, there were A LOT of kids invited to this party.  Even with almost 30 kids, it was very organized and well led.

She gave out a pirate patch, sword, pirate tatoos and gold coins for all the kids. It was really cute - I wish I would've taken a picture of it!

McKinley blowing out his candles.  His cupcakes were so cute, too!  They had little pirate shapes on top of the cupcakes made out of fondant!  Such a great party!

Luca even got to spend some time with his favorite buddy from Cincinnati, Carson!

Easter Bunny Visit!

I finally took the kids to see the Easter Bunny! Olivia has been dying to wear her Easter dress and when I told her we were going to take pictures of her in her dress she ran into her closet to help me get the dress down. She loves dresses!

I was so excited when I found Luca's outfit, because they matched perfectly!

This bunny was a little creepy, but the kids didn't even notice!

I love how they would sit up on the bunny and pose like this, they both have their hands folded, it's like they've done it a thousand times they know the drill!

I'm so lucky!

So I finally learned some of the basics of Lightroom Photoshop!  I'm so excited to be able to edit pictures on my own!  It's amazing the difference when you edit pictures, they look so much more professional. This was my 1st edit, but with more practice I'll get better!

My preference is super bright pictures, some people don't like that or prefer a vintage look but I really like bright, vibrant colors!  Can't wait to do more!