Kaboom Town & more.....

For the 2nd year we headed down to Addison for their "Kaboom Town" on July 3rd-this year though we stayed at the Holiday Inn right next to the park instead of 2 blocks away! This was the best as we were only a few minutes away from the action and close enough to go back to our room to cool off, etc. This year the weather was better and I think gas prices kept a lot of people from traveling and the result was that the place was packed!

Here's Natalia getting ready to head over to the park:





















The first thing she wanted to do once we got there was the Batman bounce house and even though the line was really long she waited patiently:

Then she decided she wanted to wait in line for an airbrush tattoo:

But then after walking around and looking at the military vehicles on display, the war planes flying overhead and some italian ice cream she decided she was tired so we walked back to our hotel room to cool off and rest. Then when it was time for the fireworks we went out to the parking lot and watched from the back of the Tahoe:

The finale was amazing-Natalia kept saying it was her favorite-it was even more amazing to be able to lock up the Tahoe and walk a few feet to the back door of our hotel and be in our room a few minutes later!!!! We'll be making our reservations for next year as soon as they let us!

The next morning we woke up, got dressed, had some breakfast and headed home-we however took a slight detour to the Frisco mall so Natalia could get her ears pierced!!! She's been pretending to put on her pretend earrings for a few days and so we asked her if she wanted to get her ears pierced and she said "yes!" so we headed to Libby Lu-we've been there so much this past week with her birthday party and going back to spend some of her birthday $$$ that they know her by name!!!!

She was so excited:




















But then they started to mark her ears and she wasn't so sure:

The girls were so patient with her-everytime they got close to her with the "guns" she'd freak out and after many attempts and lots of tears and asking if she really wanted to do it or not and changing from daddy's lap to mommy's lap she had a brave moment and let them get the "guns" in place AND stayed still:

And it was done! No tears-she just said "ouch!" and that was it!!!

They painted her finger nails for being such a big girl and that of course made everything so much better and the little multi-colored flower earrings she picked are so cute!!!!
We hope everyone had a very Happy 4th of July and please keep our service men and women in your prayers as they continue to keep America the home of the free!!!!

Natalia's Hannah Montana Party...

Natalia chose to have a Hannah Montana birthday party at Libby Lu and what could be more crazy and fun than 5 five year old girls (plus one older sister) getting their nails and hair done at Libby Lu and singing and dancing???? Check it out for yourself:

A big thank you to Auntie JoJo and Nana for helping with the setup and clean up!!

Well we made it thru another birthday party and it's hard to believe that Natalia another year older-here' to a great 5th year!!!

Eat your Veggies-giveaway!

Check out Eat your Veggies! for a giveaway for Pop'rs-here's my reason:

"My 5 y/o dd will only eat fruits and keeps telling me she'll like veggies when she "gets older!"-lol!! I'm thinking the cheddar and taco would be the best bet to help her eat more veggies!!!"

We'll see what happens!

Fireproof....

Win a bounce house!

The great gals over at The Secret is in the Sauce are having some great summer give aways-first up is a bounce house! Wahooo-would Natalia love this-she's been asking for a trampoline for her 5th birthday in a few weeks and the nurse in me is still a little nervous to go there so this bounce house would be perfect!! Anyway-check it out either by clicking the link in this post or on their button on my side bar-roll call (leave a comment) on why you want to win and that you heard about it here-grab their button for your blog and let's win this thing!!!

UPDATE!!! My neighbor and Friend, Sidney, actually won this thing!! Congrats Sidney!! Natalia can't wait till ya'll receive it and she can come bounce too!!

Super Cute Hair-Do!

I took Natalia into "Sharkey's" (a hair salon for kiddos) today for a much needed bang trim-she didn't want any cut off the back since she loves her "ponies". As we were waiting our turn a girl about her age was cutting her hair cut in a cute short bob and I said "oh Natalia look how cute her hair is!" to which she replied "I want my hair like that!" In shock I said "you do????!! But that would mean no pony tails" and she asked "could I wear it down?" I replied "heck yeah!" (Now let me explain-Natalia has lots of thick hair like mine which she likes to wear down BUT does not like for me to comb in the mornings even when it doesn't have any knots in it-I'm talking knock down, drag out fights EVERY morning! So I usually insist on putting it up somehow and only leave it down for special occassions) Anyway back to today-so when it was her turn she chose to sit in the big girl chair-not the pink barbie jeep-another big step-and played a video game while the girl proceeded to chop and I mean CHOP 5 inches-yes FIVE inches off of her hair! The result?? The cutest haircut ever!

Here she is playing the hot wheels video game during the cut:

Looking good:

Here is the new Natalia-with Sharkey!

Cousins!!!!

So a few weeks ago my Aunt Jo had a few fainting spells and a few trips to the ER and still wasn't feeling well so my cousin, Nicole, flew in from NC to take care of her. She brought her oldest daughter (of 3 girls), Lillian, with her who is 8 months older than Natalia-they'll both start kindergarten this fall. These 2nd cousins hadn't seen each other in about 2 1/2 years-but when we picked them up from the airport on Saturday June 7th and Lillian got in the back of the Tahoe with Natalia you'd of never known they'd been apart so long! It was like they'd seen each other everyday-non stop talking and laughing!!! They are 2 very strong personalities-with Lillian being an oldest and Natalia being a only but they really negotiated well with each other and got along famously. We packed a lot of cousin time in the week they were visiting-here is a sampling of their activites:

Tea Parties:















Cute Cousins:




















Cookie Game:














The object is NOT to get the rotten egg cards but they thought it was hysterical when they BOTH got it!














Lillian introduced Natalia to "ABC Yoga" which was too cute to watch:














Which calmed them down enough for them to watch some tv quietly and it was interesting to see some similar habits:














They both love "Go Paints" as do Nicole and I!














We spent some time at a new restaurant/shopping area in Allen where the girls LOVED playing by the creek and the ducks:















Did someone say camera? Where???




















Natalia really enjoyed showing Lillian around at the Dallas American Girl Doll Store:




















We all enjoyed a yummy lunch at the American Girl Doll Bistro:














Swimming in the hot Texas heat was fun and refreshing:














And then the day came to take them to the airport-but first a group shot of Aunt Jo, Nicole, Natalia and Lillian:




















(It is good to be the photographer so you don't have to be in the shot-heehee! )

Now on any given day Natalia does not like to say goodbye-no hugs, etc just "bye" and she's out of there and that's with someone she knows she'll see again the next day so I had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty at the airport but I wasn't prepared for how emotional she was-just sobbing and my goodness just tears and tears! She did calm down long enough to hug Lillian good bye and we promised we'd make a trip soon to see them in NC-hopefully sooner than 2 1/2 years!





We love ya'll and miss ya!

East Texas

On Saturday, May 31st, we took a little road trip out to East Texas to visit with Todd's dad and stepmom-aka: Grammy and Grampy Stone, who were in from Orlando meeting with the builder who is working on their new house on Lake Fork. It's very beautiful and peaceful out there in the woods by the lake. We can't wait to see the house when it's done and visit them often for a break from busy DFW. We spent the night at a near by hotel which Natalia loved-especially the pool....

Here she is with Grammy:

And with Grammy & Grampy:

And swimming:

Cannon Ball!!

Best part about the pool was that after 2 years of paying for swimming lessons at Emler's-neither Todd nor myself had to get in the pool with Natalia! She was able to swim it all by herself-even in the 5' section! And she had a blast doing so-we're so proud of her!

Here she is saying good by to Grampy-we'll see them again in July when they come back again to check on the house:

Natalia's Preschool Graduation

Today was a proud day for Todd & I-our "baby" graduated from preschool! It's so hard to believe-she's been coming to this center since she was 9 weeks old!! The kids were so proud to march in with their school shirts and graduation caps on-Natalia calls it a "college hat". They sang a few songs and said the Pledge of Allegiance. Then they were called up to receive their diplomas:

Then we watched a wonderful slide show of pictures from the whole year and then her teachers were presented gifts from the whole class-the kids had fun "helping" them open everything. Natalia asked Miss Mary if she could smell some of the lotion she got and Miss Mary put some on Natalia's nose which of course she thought was so funny!!!!

Then it was time for cake and punch and playing with friends while the parents visited and exchanged contact info. Here is a picture of Natalia and her bestest friend-they have been together since they were little bitty babies!

She's ready-bring on Kindergarten!!!!!!

Which Disney Princess Are You??

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Donuts with Dad

Yesterday was the last day of school at St. Gabriel's Little Angels Preschool and they had Donuts with Dad-so it was Todd's turn!!! The kids made these cute magnetic picture frames with a picture of them "fishing":

And these shirts w/ties-inside are her answers about her dad:

Here were her answers:

My Dad is 85 years old (at least he's still older than me and looks darn good too!)

My Dad is special to me because he loves me

My Dad makes me laugh when he tickles me

My Dad's favorite TV show is basketball

My favorite thing to do with my Dad is run errands

My Dad is working at Nortel when I'm at school

The day ended with a Luau party and ice cream-it's hard to believe that preschool is over and in a few months she'll be starting Kindergarten!!!

Can't wait to see WALL-E!

Natalia's Dance Recital 2008

Natalia's dance recital rehearsal was this past Saturday so I took pictures since they won't let you use a flash at the actual show. The theme was "Welcome to the Movies" and their ballet number was to the music from "Neverending Story" and their tap number to "Mickey Mouse March"-super cute! It's amazing to see how much they've learned since last year! Please enjoy the picture slide show below!

Mother's Day!

I know it's a day earlier but I have to work tomorrow (and I'm ok with that!) so I thought I'd write a day early. On Thursday at Natalia's Preschool (at church) they had "Muffins with Mom" for all the mothers-it was so sweet. We had to come in and find our "place" which we did by finding the jewelry box with our child's sweet face on it:

and a placemat that they had answered questions about their mom:

it's hard to see here but these were Natalia's answers:



My mom is 83 years old (and don't I look GOOD!)

My mom is special to me because she makes coffee for my dad

My mom makes me laugh when she tells me jokes

My mom's favorite TV show is Red Sox games

My favorite thing to do with my mom is camping

My mom makes my doll when I'm at school (this was a paper doll of her for school)



all true except of course number 1 which still makes me laugh!!! They sang us a song in spanish and english and then of course we enjoyed muffins and juice-very fun and very sweet.

So Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there-hope you have a special day!

and a YEAR has gone by....

Holy Smokes! I can't believe I haven't updated my blog in a year!!! Way too much has happened to update here but it has been a crazy year with highs and some lows but I am happy to report that things are now better than ever and I thank God for that!



A few weekends ago Todd & I:



took this:
plus this:



and made this:
for Natalia-which she LOVES! It took ALL weekend and we didn't even have one argument! Now we just have a hard time getting her to come inside!!

More to come later-sooner than next year hopefully!

Is it already the middle of May?!?!

Wow!! Where has the month gone?? I've spent most of the spring suffering with severe allergies or a cold and I'm sick and tired of it!
A few weeks ago I felt horrible at work and came home with a fever, chills, suffy nose, etc. To make matters worse our A/C was out so it was about 85 degrees in the house. I ended up going to the doctor and had an ear infection. After 5 days on antibiotics and decongestants I finally felt better-not good but better. Now a few weeks later it seems the head cold is back-will it never end-I just want to feel good again!!
Well, Todd has finally decided to take a full time phone job and leave the fire dept with his last day being next Saturday. He will really miss being a fire man but he's tired of the politics, promises of raises that never happened and being in debt. The new job will triple his salary and he'll be working from home and traveling-something he enjoys. So hopefully we'll be able to pay off all our bills, fix up this house and someday move into a bigger one. I may even be able to change jobs or stay home when it's time for Natalia to go to Kindergarten next year.
We've been having some gorgeous weather and a girlfriend of mine gave Natalia her kiddos playhouse so Natalia's been enjoying playing outside in it-it's hard to get her to come inside!

My Parents visit and our marriage is blessed...

My parents flew in last Tuesday from Maine to spend a week with us. Natalia was very excited to have her Mimi & Papa here and kept them busy playing and such! My Dad's 60th birthday was Friday so we took him out to dinner, along with my Aunt Jo-his sister. We left Natalia with a babysitter-it was sooooo nice to have a nice dinner with adults-I even induldged myself with an adult beverage-yum!!

Yesterday-Monday April 16th, 2007-Todd and I had our marriage blessed by the Catholic Church (also known as Convalidation). This was such a huge deal for me and something that I've been praying for-for a long time! Fr. Kelly performed the brief (Natalia wouldn't have been able to handle much longer) but wonderfully perfect ceremony in the chapel, at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in McKinney, Tx. I feel so blessed the my parents were able to be here as witnesses. Now I feel that after 7 1/2 years my marriage is finally complete and I can be fully active in my faith-Praise God!!!

After watching Natalia's dance class today my parents headed to the airport for their return flight to Maine. Natalia was very sad but we'll be visiting them this July which will be lots of fun!