Trick or Treat at Homestead Park

Today Aunt Mary aka Zia and Nanny Mary and Uncle Chris were in town for the Halloween Party we're having on Saturday. We also got to watch Evie and we took the kids to Homestead Park for a Trick or Treat event. It's such a beautiful park and it was a gorgeous day out. I couldn't believe that it went up to 81 degrees! The kids had a lot of fun.

Here's Dr. Luca driving the car. He loves cars!




He picked up Evie and is taking her for a ride.


Evie and Olivia. BFFs!


Evie was such a good girl and LOVED the swing...can you tell? She didn't want to get off.

Trick Or Treat!

Here in Columbus, we typically Treat or Treat a couple of days before Halloween. We hope to have our kids Trick Or Treat with their cousins and make it a little tradition. I'm so glad that Luca and Olivia have a cousin close by and close in age plus another one in March! They will be getting another cousin/s from Ukraine sometime in February. We are very excited to welcome him/her/them into our family.

Here they are....the 3 Musketeers! Dr. Luca, Monkey Olivia and Pumpkin Evie.



We were very smart in purchasing this wagon. It made trick or treating much more pleasant and I think both Luca and Evie enjoyed the ride and playing with the candy.


Here is my little Pea Pod. (We borrowed Evie's costume from last year)



The doctor and the pumpkin are making their trick or treat plans.


Cute little Evie in her pumpkin costume.

Bedtime

Corey typically gives Luca a bath and I'll give Olivia her bath at night. Then we put them together and will read a story. Luca is getting really good if I ask him to point to things in a book like a drill, hammer, car, train, plane, flower, bed, chair, table, and the list goes on and on. He's getting a larger vocabulary but he definitely understands more than he can say. He's also very good with doing what we ask like go get a book, put the book away, get your toothbrush, etc.

Today Luca was FULL of energy and literally was jogging laps around our kitchen island. We are excited for the MnM Halloween Party tomorrow. We get to dress up the kids and there will be 50 moms and everyone will be bringing some food so it will be packed but Luca will have a great time, I'm sure!


Luca giving his sister a good night kiss. I can't explain how good of a big brother he is. He really loves her so much. There are so many times where I will just catch him giving Olivia a kiss for no reason at all. He also likes to try to carry her now. He can't pick her up yet but he tries.


This shot is with Olivia smiling. They are in their new PJ's that Jes & Ante (Olivia's Godparents) bought them for Halloween. They are too sweet!


Luca is smiling in this pic. It's so hard to get them both to smile at the same time.

Eat, PLAY, Sleep

Now that Olivia is 4 months old we took Luca's old excersaucer out of the basement for her to start playing with. She loves it! She'll play with it for a good 30 to 45 minutes. We still have a few missing pieces that we need to find but she's lovin' it for now!



Olivia had her 4 month check up and she's right on track developmentally. She weighed 15 pounds exactly, she was 25"long, and her head circumference was 16 1/2". She was in the 75th Percentile across the board in weight, height and head. The doc said we can start giving her rice cereal if we want but said it's ok if we wait especially since we have enough to do with Luca. I think I'll wait. I did feed Luca rice cereal at 4months but waited until he was 6 months to give him baby food which was a good idea, especially since I made all of his baby food which I'll do again for Olivia.

Last night Grammy watched Olivia and Luca so Corey and I could go to Brian Miller's MBA dinner at Buca Di Beppo. We had a great time and of course didn't take any pics. Olivia apparantly was chatting with Grammy til 9pm which was great b/c when we got home at around 11pm she woke up and we fed her and she and Luca slept in until 9:45am. We haven't slept in this late in LONG time so it was awesome! Corey and I both needed the sleep since he's narcaleptic and I have sleep apnea!

Hallowen Playdate!

Luca dressed as a Monkey for Halloween in 2008!


Today I took the kids to a Halloween/Going away party playdate. One of our friends from the MNM group is moving back to Idaho. We threw a surprise going away playdate for them and we dressed up the kids in their costume. It went up to 70 degrees today so I didn't dress Olivia in her pea pod costume but she did wear her Halloween shirt which is covered up by her bib. Here she is next to her playmate Spencer. She will have many more playmates soon since many of the moms are preggars or either trying to get preggars!



We tried to get a group photo and this was the best shot.


Here is Luca sitting next to Croy, Filippo, and Thea. Luca calls Fillipo "Po-Po". It's so funny!

Olivia at 4 Months Old

Ms. Olivia at 4 months old. Ok - so this pic was taken today. I have been really sick I think with the flu. I went to Michigan this weekend with Olivia to visit Zia (Aunt Mary) and when I arrived I started to feel like I was getting a soar throat. I took some medicine that night and woke up feeling sick. Yesterday I felt worse b/c I kept getting the chills and felt very weak and Corey took the day off work so I wouldn't spread it to the kids plus I just didn't have the energy. Today I feel much better and the kids seem ok so far. I just don't understand how I got sick especially since I hardly left the house last week because everyone was getting sick.

Olivia is definitely growing! I'm not sure her weight but I can just tell she's gained some pounds - my arms are getting soar from carrying her and Luca up & down the stairs! Her hair is growing incredibly fast! She has her 4 month check up on Friday and I'm looking forward to seeing how much she's grown.


Here's Luca in his Big Bro shirt. He had some nice bonding time with Corey while I was visiting my sister. You could tell he missed both Olivia and I. When we got back he gave me a big hug & kept kissing me and asked for baby. Then he was feeding me his goldfish. He also kept trying to feed Olivia - he put one in her mouth, thankfully I caught it but I think he just missed her and was trying to share.



Here's the big bro. His shirt is a little big but he will soon grow into it. He saying more and more words everyday. He is very close to saying I luv you. He's very friendly, everytime we are at the grocery store he has to say hi to everyone we pass. Then they'll say hi back and he'll say hi a few more times.

My Pumpkins

Here are my adorable Pumpkins. I thank GOD everyday for these 2 precious gifts I have.


I remember winning this stuffed animal ghost when I used to be in a Monthly Euchre club with my girlfrends. I remember saying to myself "What am I going to do with this thing?" Well, now I can use it to take Halloween pics with my kids and they seem to love this soft, cuddly, friendly-looking ghost.



Here we are at the Dublin Spooktacular! What a fun event for the kids. It was very organized. They had a haunted trail, trick or treating station, a hay maze that Luca loved and all other kinds of fun activities. I think Luca was confused at all the costumes. We're trying to work on him saying Trick or Treat.

We decided to dress Olivia in Luca's monkey costume from last year and wanted to put her in the Baby Bjorn. We wouldn't have been able to put her in the Baby Bjorn with her Pea Pod costume. Luca kept pointing to her saying "Monkey? Baby?" he was so confused.



Look at these kids! Arent' they they cutest? :)

Paging Dr. Andres to Surgery

Here is Luca in his Halloween costume. He totally looks like a doctor...it's so cute!



Today we are taking him to the Dublin Halloween Spooktacular. It's basically a Halloween event for the kids. I didn't get to take Luca last year plus he was too little to probably enjoy it. This year it should be fun!



Olivia is getting stronger and stronger everyday. ONN was here yesterday to do a news story on Green plumbing. Unfortunately Luca was napping but Olivia might be famous! I'll have to post the story once it comes out.


This is my favorite onesie that my old neighbor Andrea bought. She has her own little Baby Botique in California called J. Nicholbees and sells super cute items like this! Maybe Olivia could be her model. Wink Wink! ;)

Olivia Giggling

Olivia has been starting to laugh and loves when I play peek-a-boo with her. It was a little hard to play peek-a-boo while taking video but this is the best that I've got. I love her! I really like this age because they start to show their personality and you can take them anywhere with you!

Zip It!

Today Luca did the funniest thing! He was being really loud and since Ms. Olivia is a very LIGHT sleeper Corey told him to "zip it" and Luca was looking for a zipper on his shirt which he didn't have and pretended to zip his shirt! I have been looking forward to these kinds of stories when my kids will take things literally. It was so cute! He also took Olivia's bow off her hair and put it in his hair which is in the below pic. I know this pic is awful but someone told me the other day that I was very calm. It surprised me that they told me this because I would never describe myself as calm but when I saw this pic, I thought, maybe they were right?

Night Night!

My little cupcake getting ready for bedtime.


Cuddle time and story time before bed.






That's Luca holding Olivia up trying to teach her how to stand up.

Mini Punky Brewster!

I remember watching Punky Brewster every Sunday as a kid. I loved her! As I was dressing Olivia in this outfit she looked just like Punky! She totally doesn't match but she's still super cute! She's getting so big.

Miller Light Obsession

Hmmmm do you notice the re-occurring theme here? For some reason, Luca is fascinated with Miller Light bottles or cans? Corey had left his empty bottle in the office and Luca had to take it with him EVERYWHERE around the house!



This pic was taken at his cousin, Evie's, 1st Bday party. He basically stood by the cooler the entire party and played with the beer cans and ice. He's got 20 more years until he can taste this stuff!

Happyp Birthday Mariangela!

Here is Luca using Corey's butt as a pillow. I just had to snap a shot.



Today was my friend, Mariangela's Birthday. I met her through MnM and she's become a very good friend. She is from Pescara, Italy and met her husband, Marc in the states. She's lived here just a few years and her English is wonderful. I want to hang around her more often so I can brush up on my Italian and teach it to my kids. Her son, Filippo is Luca's age.



I made a ton of food! Mini Cheesecakes, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Tiramisu, Bruschetta, Tomato, Basil & Mozzerella kabobs, Hummus & Veggies, stuffed mushrooms, spinach & artichoke dip and cheese & crackers. The ladies brought the wine and we went through a lot of it! It was such a fun night!


I threw her a Birthday party and invited most of our close MnM friends. We had a great time and Maria enjoyed herself.



I forgot to buy candles so this is all I had. Corey turned 32 last year so I told her she was 23 today....she's really 36 but it made her day that we told her she was going to be 23!

Luca being a good big bro

I just had to post this even though Olivia is crying Luca is so good with her he was even able to get her to stop crying. LOL

19 Months!

Luca turned 19 months old today. He's such a good big brother to Olivia. He's finally starting to put two words together. Yesterday he said "more please". He also learned how to sign the word please. He also knows how to sign more, eat, and milk. He's saying so many more words and associates sounds. When he hears a plane he'll say "PANE" and when he hears a train he'll say "choo choo".


Here's the shirt I bought him yesterday. It says "Daddy's got my back" and it has two monkeys on it. I just HAD to get it AND it was on sale. :)



Here's Luca and Olivia sitting together.


Ms. Olivia happy as can be. She loves it when I play peek a boo with her. She is starting to laugh but I haven't been able to catch it on video yet. She's also rolled twice now. I wasn't able to load the video of her rolling b/c it was too long.



Luca patting Olivia's head.