MUD or MUDY- Mom Uf Da Year

So, I've obviously have been awful about not taking pictures of my own kids, but I had to write this down because I don't want to forget it.  It has been pouring cats and dogs the past two days. When I went to pick up Luca from school at 2:30 it was down pouring.   On our way to piano lessons the sun started shining and BAM it was a beautiful spring day.  Their lessons don't start until 3:30 so I had a snack for them to eat in the car to waste 45 minutes before our lesson.  The kids lessons is at a community rec center so there is a HUGE playground.  They asked me if they could play on it since the sun was out and I told them no because it was wet and muddy.  They told me they promised wouldn't go down the slide and they would play on all the other parts of the playground. Since we had a lot of time I said fine.  About 15 minutes later, guess who is going down the slide?  Olivia was walking down the slide and Luca was behind her.  Then they realized there was a HUGE mud puddle right under the slide and Luca pushed Olivia and she was COVERED in mud!  Face and everything.  The only thing I could do was laugh and I even got out my phone to take a picture.  She was clearly upset, and WOULD NOT let me take a pic. Every time I would try she would turn her head.  She was wearing her Puma outfit and it was drenched in mud.  I had no back up outfits other than this super fancy tea party dress I just bought for O to wear at my nieces Birthday Party that I needed to return b/c it was too small. Luckily, I  had a clean towel in my car that I put in there for when I go to the car wash and I have to dry my own car b/c they never dry it completely.  I took her in the bathroom and washed her up.  I was able to get the mud off her sleeves of her shirt but her pants, shoes and socks were full of mud and soaked from me trying to wash it all off.  I didn't want her to skip out on her lessons and I didn't want her to wear her brand new dress b/c I needed to return it.  So, the Mom of the Year Award goes to me for taking Olivia to piano lessons with no shoes and socks and a towel around her waist and her half muddy shirt.  Good thing Piano is only 30 minutes long!

Luca's Progress Report

Luca had another progress report and it was great again!  Once again he's exceeding the standards, and demonstrated in-depth knowledge, independent application of the standards in Math - Counting and Cardinality, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Reading Literature, Informational text, foundational skills, and language standards.  He also got a + this time in "development of the Christian person."  Which we believe that means he's a good kid.  :)

The teachers comments was this "Luca is very attentive with his work.  He contributes in class discussions and does wonderful work."  We are so proud of him. 

Olivia started her Spring Break on Friday and she said she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese so I took her and some of her classmates joined us.  Well, sometimes I have to tell her not to bring it up to Luca because he will get upset that he didn't get to go because he was in school.  Olivia usually does pretty well with this.  When I picked up Luca from school he saw the Chuck E Cheese cup and started balling "You went to Chuck E Cheese without me? That's not fair!"  I always feel so bad, and I told him that since he got such a good report that I would take him over the weekend (which I dislike going on weekends b/c it's always crazy busy with Birthday parties).  It was crazy busy. Normally when we go to CEC we have friends that go with us and they just play with their friends but this time I played with them and had so much fun playing some of the games with them.  It was a fun time even if it was crazy busy and we had to wait 15 minutes to just get into the place!!!

My Social and Sweet Butterfly

On Friday, I went to pick Olivia up at Pre-School and they were still outside for recess playing on the playground.  I walked over to get her and just watched her interact with her friends.  It was so cute.  You can just tell she is well liked by the other kids.  Even this little boy, Jack, came up to me and said "Can I have a playdate with Olivia on Sunday?"  How sweet.  I told Olivia we had to get going and the way she said good bye to all of her girlfriends was she gave them a hug and a cheek to cheek kiss.  It was so stinking adorable. 

She is also very thoughtful.  Whenever Corey and I have to drive separately with the kids Luca will always say  "I want to go in Papa's car."  I think Olivia likes to go with him too, because they are always in my car for the most part.  Olivia said she'd go with me.  On the ride home, she said "Do you know why I wanted to go in your car?  I asked why and she said "Because I don' want you to be alone."  She does some of the most sweetest things.  I love her! 

I also volunteered for Luca's school, too.  I just love to watch him at school that I don't really focus on my task which was to help the kids paint an earth.  His little girlfriend, Ava, fell down and hurt her back.  The teacher told her that she could go to the nurses office to get some ice and she told her to pick a person to go with her.  She of course picked Luca.  Luca told me that the nurse wasn't in her office so he ended up going to the front office and got her ice.  I then saw him later ask Ava, are you ok?  Does your back feel better?  Such a sweet boy!

NYC!

Ugh! Why do I keep forgetting to uncheck my darn logo box on my pics. Grr! Anyway, I am so behind with my personal photos and I just don't feel like going back again and fixing it. Here are some photos from NY. I really wish I would've taken my camera at the wedding reception because it was GORGEOuS! I knew if I left the camera at the table to dance or something I didn't want it to get stolen and so I didn't take it. SO that's why I don't have any reception pics. It was definitely one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. The weddings in NYC don't compare to any other weddings I've been to in Ohio/Michigan. It's unreal how much food, drinks etc. there was. When we entered the reception they were handing out champagne with raspberries in them. Then when we went into the cocktail hour room they handed out cosmopolitans. There was so much food for the cocktail hour which started at 6pm Corey said "Is this the dinner?" I said "No, this is just appetizers!" That's how much food there was. We didn't have our main course until 11pm which was filet mignon. It was so late because we had 6 course meal! Olivia ended up falling asleep since we were at the reception until about 1am. Luca stayed up and was a party animal dancing all night. Then he thought he was cool when Corey gave him cranberry juice and they put it in a wine glass for him, he was telling me he was drinking wine. Silly boy! ;) 

Anyway, here's a pic of the cousins ready to go on the plane all in their Puma gear.  

I LOVE this pic, I just wished I would've taken it with a different backdrop, all the people behind them are distracting me from their beautiful faces.

I bought this dress last year on my girls weekend Chicago trip at Nordstroms.  I tried it on just a few days before leaving for NYC realizing that a year ago I was a few pounds lighter so it was a little tight.  Oh well!

I love how this pic turned out with Bella and Matthew.  The kids got along so great with them.

Family photo. 

Gabri and Olivia. 

Luca's 6th Birthday Party

Luca had his 6th Birthday Party this weekend! Now that he's 6 he was VERY specific in all the details of everything he wanted for the party. Starting with the Minion theme.He told me he just wanted a party with all of his cousins and that he REALLY wanted a Pinata.  He has so many friend from his playgroup, pre-school and Kindergarten that he just didn't want to have a big party.  This was hard for me because I just like to throw them a special party full of friends and family, but he just wanted his cousins and I went with his request.

Here is his creative way to show me he's six now.  So sad that he has to use two hands to show me how old he is now. :(

I saw a super cute cake on Pinterest but I asked my cake lady way last  minute so luckily Giant Eagle had some cute options.  Luca loved it and the cake was delish!

Corey's parents got the kids these t-shirts for Vday and they both agreed they wanted to wear them for the Birthday party.  Grammy got Luca and Olivia started with the Minion game on their Ipad/Kindles.  They are addicted to playing that game.  It's a great way to bribe them for stuff.

Gabriella came from Michigan to celebrate Luca's Birthday.

So this was weird seeing all the 6's I felt like it was bad luck when I baked three 6's in a row so I made sure to add one more to each row b/c I thought I'd burn them or something with the bad luck. 

Not sure why this pic turned out a little green (see on Luca's face).  I think the flash hit something green and I'm not able to edit it out.

More of my green faced Luca.

He makes his wishes out loud and said "I wish to have a good day."

The Pinata.

Luca was soo excited and said this was his favorite part of the party.

Evie hitting the pinata.  Not sure why I stopped editing the photos at this point but I will have to work on the rest of the pics.  This was definitely one of the easiest birthday parties I have ever prepped for my kids. Maybe I will have to do small parties more often. :)

Luca

I had to write this down before I forget, but today Luca was very emotional with us.  He said that his heart was broken because he loves us so much.  He also said that he felt like crying because he loves us so much.  Then when he went to bed he told Corey to tell me that I am a good Mom and he is a good Dad and that he loves us so much. 

Luca is 6!

I can't believe my baby boy is SIX years old. SIX!!! Wow that went by fast. I of course had to give him a 6 year old session and here are the pics....

Since we traveled on his birthday I told him we could celebrate the day before so he asked us to have lunch with him at school.  We brought him his favorite, Chipotle.  It was fun to watch him interacting with his friends at the table and even his "girlfriend" Ava wanted to sit by him.  They didn't even talk the entire time, though.

He had fun getting his pictures taken and he did all of these poses himself.  I just let him do what he wanted for most of the pics.

Luca sleeps in this position all the time even from the time he was a baby.  He would have his hands not behind his head but right next to his head.

This picture reminds me of my brother, he looks just like him here.

On his birthday he asked us if we could go to Krispy Kreme for breakfast. Then we had to drive all the way to Michigan to catch our direct flight to NYC.  We arrived in New York a little after 6pm and headed to my cousins rehearsal dinner.  They had bought him a cake for his birthday which was VERY sweet of them.

I wish I would've brought my camera because his face when everyone was singing to him at the rehearsal was so cute.  He was so happy!

Just like he looks so proud to be six in this picture.

He was not mad at me here, he said this is my spy face.

ugh, I just love love love this picture.  No wonder he's already getting love notes from the girls in school.  Look how handsome he is!

This one also melts my heart with the little smirk on his face.  Happy Birthday to my baby boy!!!

Lent

Over dinner yesterday, Luca told me that his teacher said that tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and they are going to get ashes on their forehead at church and that he should give up something for lent.  Olivia said "I'm going to give up my butt b/c I don't like to poop."  She cracks me up!

"Mommy, I have a girlfriend...."

I picked up Luca from school today and saw him holding hands with his classmate, Ava.  When he saw me he just let go of her hand and didn't say goodbye or anything to her.  When we got in the car he said to me "Mommy, I have a girlfriend."  I said "You do!?  How did that happen?" He said "First we were in love and then she asked me if we wanted to be girlfriend/boyfriend and I said fine."  Corey was out of town for work but when Luca called him I told him to tell him what he told me but he said he wanted to tell him in person and not over the phone.  Then when I tucked him into bed he said "Mommy, I really don't have a girlfriend.  I just told  her that I would be her boyfriend so she wouldn't cry."  He's so sweet.

Girls Night Out

I just had to write this down before I forget so I can put this in her yearly book.

Olivia came home from school today and said that she got to play outside for recess today and she asked all of her girlfriends if they wanted to do a girls night out! She cracks me up!!!

1st Grade Reading!

I know I sound like a broken record, but Luca is doing great with reading!  He just brought home a 1st Grade book to read and he read it this weekend and it was 64 pages.  It was a great story and Luca not only read it but he comprehended it very well.  There were a couple of words that were tough for him like "arithmetic" and some others, but he did great!!! So proud of him. He told me that there were only 3 other kids in his class that is reading that book and there are 25 kids in his class.  Makes me so proud!!

Great Uncles and Great Aunts...

Shoot! All my pics have my darn watermark on them, I forgot to un-click the watermark button and I don't feel like re-doing these.... Corey's Aunt and Uncle from NY were in town visiting and they stopped by our house to visit and brought us dinner! Olivia looks like a hot mess because she probably did about 1 million cartwheels and Uncle Steve pictured below was entertaining them all night, too!

This is Corey's Aunt Jo.

Luca is in this one.  Not by best photography work here.

It was also Uncle Kevin's Birthday the following day so we celebrated.  Luca "Wow, those are a lot of candles!" He turned 39 and will be the big 4-0 next year.

He asked Luca and Evie to help him with all the candles.

Uncle Steve is so great with kids.  It also probably helps that he was a comedian and is a GREAT actor...for real!  The kids were eating crackers and cheese and he was saying how the crackers were his friends and when they would eat the crackers he would say "You ate my friend!" He would then act very dramatic about it....the kids were busting out laughing. 

 I don't think my kids realize that he's also the voice in Monsters Inc.- Randall Boggs.

Corey's Aunt Dayna and Uncle Steve the one with my logo blocking his face(Yes, there are two Uncle Steve's in the pic) live here in Cbus.  They actually live really close to us but we rarely see them.  They just purchased a retirement home in Belize. We hope to visiting them in the near future!  We will also be seeing Aunt Jo and Uncle Steve in a couple of weeks when we head to NYC!!! 

Backseat Conversations....

Our neighbor, Ashlin, is in the same class as Olivia.  Ashlin has 3 brothers so her Mom is always lugging around her brothers for pick up and drop off so I offered to pick her on every mornings so her Mom didn't have to rush dressing two other little ones, etc. Today was the first day I picked up Ashlin and even though Pre-School is less than a 5 minute drive their conversation was SOO cute!! 

Ashlin: "What did you eat for breakfast, Olivia?"
Olivia: "Rice Krispy Cereal." 
Ashlin: "I ate this pink stuff it was delicious." 

Me: Ashlin are you excited for school today?
Ashlin: Yes.
Me: What's your favorite part about school?
Ashlin: Playing with Play-Doh
Olivia: Me too!  We play with Play-Doh when the boys are playing in the kitchen, they always make a big mess.


Ashlin: Olivia look at my nails, I just got them done.
Olivia: Me, too!  Look at mine.
Then I heard "ohh yours is pretty, yours it, too! I like your sparkles.

Their two other girlfriends in class is Myla and Leighton.
Olivia:  Let's tell Myla and Leighton we drove together.  You tell Leighton and I will tell Myla, Ok?

How cute are they?  Then when I got them out of the car they held hands going into school.  Then they held hands going into class together.

Luca's Last B-Ball Game

Luca's last BBall game was on Sunday. He definitely improved from his first game. Unfortunately, he never scored any points, but on his last game I told him to try to make as many shots as he could and he did! I was proud of him. He's very good with hustling and has improved his dribbling but he wasn't confident enough to shoot so he would always pass the ball to his teammates.This game he really tried to make as many shots as he could and we were happy for him. 

This pic he's trying to rebound the ball. See his hands up? 

He's very fast and was always one of the 1st ones to run down the court.

Here he is dribbling.

This isn't the best pic b/c it's so blurry, but he was trying to make a shot!  I LOVED the referee b/c he pretty much helped coach the kids rather than be the referee. He even knew Luca's name.  He was very gentle and understanding as these were all Kindergarten and 1st graders who didn't really know what they were doing.   

P.S.  I was doing so great with my diet!  I had no Pop and I only went out to eat once for sushi.  Well, on Sunday, Corey and I both ran 6 miles.  After the run, I was EXHAUSTED and didn't feel like going home to cook.  A friend of ours texted me asking me if we wanted to meet them at McDonalds to let the kids play in the playland. At first, Corey and I didn't think it was a good idea, but then we decided we could just eat salads.  By the time we got there I was starving and a Big Mac, Fries and Coke sounded perfect and so I ordered it.  It was good.  After I had the coke it was like an addiction, I had one on Monday AND Tuesday!  Ugh.  Then I weighed myself back to 116!  Really!?!  Ugh, what a waste!  I thought maybe running 6 miles would've cancelled that out...but NOPE!  :(

Valentine's DAY!

Olivia wanted to bake some cookies for Valentines. So, we were going to drop them off Corey's work but he took off a little early so he could go to the store and make us all dinner and I got a dozen of red roses delivered.  Corey thought he was going to be OOT for work so he planned ahead and had them delivered but his trip got cancelled so we got to spend Vday with him after all!

I had the kids make Corey a card.  It's hard to read b/c it's too busy with the patterns but here is what it says....

10 Things I love about you.....love Olivia.
1.  I love your pancakes.

2. I love when you tickle me.

3.  I love when you wrestle with me. 

4. I love when you take me places.

5.  I love when you make me bracelets. 

6. Sledding with me. 

7. Hugs. 

8. Kisses.

9. Take me to school.

10. Take me to Dance.

Corey LOVED it and said it was the best card he's ever gotten.

Luca did one, too! 
10 Things I love about my Papa....love Luca

1.  He's nice to me.

2.  He does what I want to do. 

3. He let's me play with my I-Pad.

4. He let's me borrow his stuff.

5. He wrestles with me. 

6. He cares about me. 

7. He loves me. 

8. He lets me watch TV.

9.  His jokes. 

10. He fixes things.

They both came up with these all on their own.  I thought it was soo sweet!

So Corey decided to do one for the kids, too. You can read his since it's typed out!

Olivia keeps telling us that she wants to be a singer when she grows up and whenever she's in the car she can sing any song and knows almost all the words.  She told Corey recently that she didn't want to sing in front of him because she didn't want him to laugh or something.  Now she sings in front of him all the time.

I thought it was very sweet.  I was curious what they would say about me but Corey said "Luca didn't want to do one for you."  Happy Valentines to me! :(