OLD BLOG

OH NO!!

You've reached the OLD Volini Family blog. Our new one can be found at:

http://www.threeboyjoy.wordpress.com/

It's purrrrdy.

All the old posts, video, and comments have been exported.

**Sniff! Sniff!** Bye Blogger. :(``

My Webelo Goes to Resident Camp

I went 4 days without my camera. As crappy as that camera is, I really missed the hunk of junk. I felt naked without it. Like when you're used to wearing a watch every day, then suddenly you forget to put it on for the first time in 4 years. All day I was, "Oh how cute, let me go grab the cam-... nevermind." Or "Wait! Don't move. I have to get the-... grrrrr!" But now the camera is back and I can stop shaking.

Dominic and Brad had a very busy, exhausting, sweaty time at resident camp. 4 hours into the trip Dominic sliced his foot open on a rock in the river. The med staff on site did not have the necessary equipment on hand that day to help him so they sent him to the hospital. The nearest was 1 hour away. It was hard on Dom because he had to endure 4 shots of numbing stuff so they could clean the wound and seal him up with dermabond. "No swimming for 48 hours" the doctor said. Not what anyone wants to hear when they are at camp and it's super humid. But Brad said he was a real trooper hobbling around and hardly complained at all. Awww.

They did a whole lot more. Archery. BB shooting. Flag stuff. Fire stuff. And from what I understand the eatin' was surprisingly awesome. But really it was all about the trip to the ER for Dom. All the other stuff was mere filler. Brad was Super Husband for taking tons of pictures for me to obsess over. Unfortunately 75% of them were blurry. Hey, it's the thought people. And like I said before... it's a hunk of junk that camera.

I loved Dominic's comment when he walked through the door when he got home. "Aaah... I can't wait to have myself a nice big bowl of fresh cereal..." It's nice to know that the one thing that saw him through his sweaty campout was the idea that we had Fruity Pebbles stocked in the pantry. Nothing like a big bowl of rice, sugar, hydrogenated vegetable oil, red 40, yellow 6 & blue 2 at the end of the day. That's my boy.

Den 4 Wolverine Patrol

Fire stuff and Flag stuff.

Look! It's Dominic cleaning! (*Fist pump*)

"I am The Dom" Click, click, blow! ........... Archery was tough but he got it eventually.

I want to add that apparently the boys did a fab job on their tie-dye shirts. Brad said they got a lot of positive comments on them. Thanks Ms. Dawn!

For the 4 days that Dom and Brad were gone, it was just me and Ethan and Carmine. The house was strangely quiet. You'd think with two boys still in the house you would't notice so much. That wasn't the case. "What do you want to do now, mom?" Ethan asked after we dropped off Dom and Brad. It was our special time. Shall we do a puzzle? Draw? Movie maybe? First we did a puzzle. Next we went to the rental place and picked up Batman Begins. We watched that while Carmine napped. Next we gave each other temporary tatoos on our biceps (hello, camera?) For dinner we had porkchops and baked potatoes. After baths we did the puzzle again, much faster this time, then after putting Carmine to bed we seal up the night by coloring with markers. I told myself that whenever Ethan asked me if I wanted to do something with him, my answer would always be 'yes'. Every time. And I did. And it was so worth it. He sent an Email to his 2nd grade teacher that said 6 words: "I'm having a good day today." Aaah... that's what it's all about. Right there.

OK, I Like My City

I was a pretty cool mom yesterday, I must admit. Even though the employee at Tom Thumb had to tell my boys to "Please stop playing kickball in the store", I wanted to treat them with a surprise trip to the city waterpark. So while they played Lego Batman on Wii for the 37th time this week, I quietly made 4 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stuffed them into our cooler along with various other snacks. Then, stealthily packed another bag with towels, bathing suits, sunblock, etc. With the swift covert action that only a ninja mom, like myself, can deliver, I got all the goods in the back of the van without the kickballers having a clue. Wuh huh huh!!

When we pulled into the parking lot and they realized where we were, Ethan asks "Why did we go here?" I explained to them that everything we needed was behind their seats. They were stunned into silence for a whole 4 seconds! Then Dominic kept repeating "Well this is surprising!" "This is really surprising!" "Mom, your surprising us!". They immediately became gentlemen. Dominic even offered to carry a bag! Dominic!!

Besides the fact that my kids had a great time at the Lewisville Old Town Waterpark yesterday, I have to say that I'm very impressed with the amount of awesomeness that my city offers for such a small amount of cash. For only $6 (Ragu was free) I was able to take my boys to the waterpark and have a really great time. And it was super clean. With lots of shade. And I got a chair!

One of the highlights was when one of the kids pooped in the pool. Everyone had to exit the water until they got all the poop out. Then I'm sure there was some code they had to abide by for cleaning poop reminants and making sure all the poop germs were gone. We had to wait for at least 20-30 minutes. I didn't care. It wasn't one of my boys who pooped in the pool. They might have poop on their underwear but at least they go in a toilet. Well, 2 out of 3 anyway.

Besides the 2 awesome waterparks that my city, Lewisville, has for it's citizens, look at this...

EEEEEK! Isn't that cool? Hey, we're no sleepy town. Check out the names on that poster. Excuse me! Led Zeppelin? B.B. King? Janis? Santana? Incredible String Band? (OK, I don't really know who the Incredible String Band is. But they sound incredible, right?) I just wanted to let everyone know that just 2 weeks after Woodstock all these performers were in Lewisville (then a raging population of a little over 9,000) performing at the Texas International Pop Festival (Yeeee-haw ya'll!) Because when I think international pop festival, Lewisville is the first place I think of. Totally.

Another cool thing about my city is that back in 1934 The First National Bank was robbed by The Barrow Gang. That's Bonnie & Clyde people. OK, so Bonnie and Clyde weren't actually at the robbery itself, but they were here earlier that year scoping it out. My point is... I'm not real sure. But we're pretty darn special. I tip my hat to you Lewisville.

Happy Baby Daddy Day!

For Father's Day I decided to make Brad what we last saw Adam Richman mac down on the season premiere of Man V. Food. Two huge pancakes with bacon or sausage cooked inside the pancake itself. Pour some real maple syrup over cakes. Then last, two over easy eggs placed on top. It's a breakfast lovers heaven. Spare no fat or cholesterol on Father's Day.

Oh happy day indeed.

Carmine is Steppin'

Last Thursday night Carmine decided he liked to be on his feet. Well sometimes. He still prefers to crawl because it's a lot more efficient. But every so often we'll catch him on his feet.

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Ethan Looses Another Tooth

I love the jack-o-lantern look that Ethan has now. Believe it or not, his second top middle tooth is very loose also. I cannot wait for it to pop out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it comes out before the other top one grows in. He sounds so cute right now with his lisp.

Cool zombie mouth .......................................... Cute crooked smile ......................

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Ethan in A Hamster Ball

We were invited to Lizzy and Walter's school block party. It was a free party that their elementary school was having for the kids and their families. There was food (that was not free), a book fair, a puppet show, karaoke, games, and two gigantic hamster balls for the kids to try. Even Christian got inside one. Ethan loved it so much he did it twice.

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Carmine's 1 Year Pictures

Our Baby is 1

No way. Yes way!! It doesn't seem possible, but it's true, Carmine has turned 1. It's freaky to Brad and I how fast this year has flown by. Carmine has been such a blessing to our family. No matter how hard the day is going, Carmine always has a big smile on his face for all of us. When the boys come home from school they always run over to their little brother to give him hugs. And when Brad comes home from a brutal day at work, Carmine's hugs and sloppy kisses even make his daddy forget about all his stress. We love our little Ragu.

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We had an early birthday celebration the weekend before Carmine's birthday. It was Mother's Day and we figured we could have two celebrations in one at Grandma's house. Currently his favorite thing is Elmo (big surprise), so Grandma picked him up a luscious cake with Elmo, Dorothy, and Mr. Noodle on it. When it came time to smash the cake he really got into it. Unfortunately it was late and Carmine was super tired. By the time he was done he looked like one of the guys from Blue Man Group, or Avatar, or Sleepy Smurf.