WHITE CHRISTMAS

May your days be merry and bright... And may all your Christmas' be white.

Wow. A white Christmas in Lewisville. Carmine's first Christmas was the first in North D/FW history with recordable snow. What a surprise treat. Usually when we get snow it comes down for an hour or two then stops and is gone in 24 hours. But on Christmas Eve this year it snowed all day. Nearly. And on December 26, today, we still have snow in our front yard. There are still snowmen on our street.

The first clip I attempted to narrate, but the wind was blowing so hard that you couldn't hear me most of the time. It was cold.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Grandma Jean came up from Midlothian. She made it just in time. If she would've left any later the roads would have been too icy and she wouldn't have made it. After the boys opened presents from Grandma Jean, it was time to make a plate of cookies for Santa and go to bed. I wish getting to boys to bed every night was as easy as getting them to bed on Christmas Eve. For Christmas dinner we went to Uncle James and Aunt Heidi's for turkey, ham and everything else.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I know that this Christmas will be one that we will always remember.

The Soldier Crawl

He's on the move. For weeks now I've been putting Carmine on the floor on his bottom in the middle of a donut of toys. He's pretty content and I LOVE this stage of babyhood. He's even holding his arms up when he wants me to hold him. I LOVE IT. However, as quickly as this stage has arrived, the next stage is sadly on it's way in. The dreaded crawling stage. Crawling is cute. Sure. But that means my floors have to stay extra clean. Sugar is a long haired cat and her hairballs are everywhere. I can vacuum and 20 minutes later more hairballs. I just can't have a cat and a baby spitting up hairballs. Besides getting rid of Sugar (which we've considered for this reason alone) there is just no getting around it except vacuuming every morning. Awesome. So lately I've been finding Carmine under the tree batting at the low hanging ornaments. It's really cute. But now I'm freaking out that he's going to be putting Christmas tree needles in his mouth. (Yes, we are one of an endangered species, the real tree people.) This is a 4 minute video of Carmine doing the soldier crawl.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Taking Carmine to See Santa

Waiting in line to see the man in red. This was the first year that the big boys actually didn't want to sit on Santa's lap (wiping tears from my eyes as I type this). I didnt' make a big deal out of it, but I was secretly crushed, like most moms would be I suppose. Dominic and Ethan just wanted to get it over with because if they were good, I was going to let them look around at GameStop. Stupid video games are turning my little boys into.... well, little boys.

See, I think they were kind of excited about the whole thing. Even though they are getting big and just too cool to have their picture taken with him, they did remind me a few times that they did send him a letter anyway, so it didn't matter if they told them in person what they wanted.

Cake Auction

The boys slam-dunked the cake auction this year. Or, I should say, Brad slam-dunked the cake auction this year. Why does he continue to put the pressure on himself? It will be hard to beat the "campfire" cake he made this year. The boys and I are so proud of his work. The detail is amazing. I definitely don't think I have the patience to pull off a cake like Brad's-I mean, Dominic's and Ethan's. Allthough, my "cookie" cake was nothing to sneeze at.

The auction was a lot of fun. They boys discussed ahead of time that they would agree on a cake they both wanted, all the while keeping in mind the personal bidding allowance we set for them. Then Ethan would represent the both of them when it comes to the bidding. This was to prevent them from bidding against each other like they did last year. The cake they both agreed to bid on was, of course, the Lego cake. Their second choice cake was (get ready for it) the SpongeBob cake. They were not allowed to bid on the campfire cake, or mom's cookie cake.

Half way through the auction the cub master annouced the winners of the different categories. The boys won the "Best All-Around Cake" award. No doubt, due to all the blood, sweat, and tears (I think Ethan's cheek grazed Brad's elbow once) they surely deserve it. When the Cub Master called them up for their certificate only Dominic could bask in the glory because Ethan was... where? Where else. In the bathroom doing what Ethan does best.

At the end of the night, Brad's "Campfire" cake brought in $26 dollars and my "Cookie" cake brought in, what? $31. Yes, my cookie cake was the dark horse. (Go me!) Since the video I made was all about the beautiful "Camfire" cake I thought I'd pop in a picture of my beauty...



Here's a few pics of Brad's masterpeice. We are so proud of him. He really put a lot of time and effort into this cake and it was a little hard to let it go when the Wolf paid for it and walked away. I think I saw Brad get a little misty-eyed. Sigh. Good-bye lucious pound cake topped with chocolatey goodness. Hello Lego cake (Ethan ended up getting the highest bid on the crowd pleaser. $16.)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Other honorable mentions that we liked...

This one was my favorite. Van Gogh's Starry, Starry Night. It won "best works of art".

The French Fry cake

The Lego cake

Very creative. Won "best scouting theme".

The Californian in me loved this one. Take a close look. The beach towels are strips of gum. I love it!

Thanksgiving 2009

Another successful Thanksgiving has come and gone. Good turkey (thanks to Brad) and a hectic scramble for time with Grandma and Papa. Too bad Keller and Lewisville are 40 minutes apart... But regardless, we were all able to spend a lot of time together and overall things went pretty smooth and we had a great time. It was especially nice this year because Alicia was able to come out for her first visit to Texas. She ended up spening most nights over at Uncle James and Aunt Heidi's (more girl friendly I'm thinking). Alicia was here for her 12th birthday and we had a party for her with pizza and an awesome birthday cake (which ended up having her favorite color around the trim - green. I didn't realize how good I was :D).

If I could sum up the Thanksgiving holiday in 5 words, they would be: Cooking, eating, shopping, driving... and slingshots.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carmine Takes His First Bite

Carmine turned 6 months old on Friday, which means it's time to start solids. We knew he was ready. A sure sign was him trying to grab food out of our hands or off of our dinner plates. His first bite of real food isn't what most would call appealing. But it is common for most babies - rice cereal, of course. Now with some real food in you belly, Carmine, will you sleep for Mommy?

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carmine Figures Out The Buttons

Carmine recently figured out how to press the squeaky buttons on his saucer. He continued to slam his little palm on them for a good 15 minutes. He was so pleased with himself.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween 2009

Every year Brad spends more time in the yard getting it ready to freak out the trick or treaters. This year was even spookier than last year. He added a few graves and a zombie coming out of the ground. He also purchased a timer for our smog machine and ghoul for our front door. It looks cheesy but it made awesome sound effects! The boys continue to be scared of all the decor. They especially don't like the zombie head coming out of the ground (I don't blame them). In fact, they are so terrified of Drake, our pirate, that when Brad got him out of the box the day before Halloween we had to put a blanket over his head because they boys would't go near it. When Halloween came and we put him outside the front door, the boys wouldn't use that door. They left the house through the garage or the back door only.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch 2009

We almost didn't make it to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch this year. But I knew later that I would be kicking myself for not taking Carmine there for his very first Halloween. He just had to have his picture taken in that little pot (see pic). We went with some neighbors. The boys had a blast and PLAYED HARD. Needless to say, they will sleep well tonight. I noticed this year for the first time that Dominic and Ethan are almost the older annoying kids. You know the kids I'm talking about. The boys which all the moms glare at. The ones who are constantly being reminded by the employees that they need to slow down. That you aren't supposed to climb up the slide. I can't take my eyes off of them because I'm afraid they are not going to see the sweet little 3 year old Tinkerbell below them as they topple down the slide rolling and flopping around obvivious to their surroundings. I'm sorry mommies. But soon it will be your turn. A few years ago I was the skiddish mom giving the evil eye to the kids who I thought were too old to be in the jumphouses bonking into my precious babies (in which Dom is still 8 and technically still old enough to jump in them). So there!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Eager

Last week we started noticing that Carmine would reach out for our cups when we took drinks. So Daddy thought what the heck, and tested Carmine to see if he could drink from the cup. He did pretty good. Messy of course, but better than we thought. So I made a trip to Babies R Us to pick him up a beginning sippy cup. He gets so excited to drink out of it. He sees it coming and squeals. It's a riot. He still has a ways to go before he can drink all by himself. But it's so darn cute.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Yay! Carmine cut a tooth!

Make that two teeth.

I"ll Have What He's Having

Carmine's New Trick

About a week ago, when he turned 5 months old, Carmine started to sit up. He does what is called the "tripod sit" which means he uses his two hands like legs on a tripod to support himself and keep him from falling over. After a minute of the tripod he eventualy tips over (see bottom picture). It's funny, it's like he doesn't even notice when he starts to topple. He sort of does a slo-mo fall and lands on his side still in tripod mode.

And, timberrrr...

Yes that is another drool drop on his chin. He hasn't cut a tooth yet!

A Weekend With Grandma

This weekend Grandma came up to spend the night with us. It's been a while since she has seen Carmine and she couldn't wait to see how much he had grown. Within minutes of arriving Dominic and Ethan had her cornered and they were off to Wal-Mart to get their rewards for good report cards. Dominic picked out a Star Wars blaster to add to his toy gun collection. Ethan picked out a Star Wars Lego set (big shocker!) It was nice for Carmine to have some real bonding time with Grandma. She read him stories while he sucked on the pages.

The big hit was the set of finely crafted fake teeth that the boys couldn't wait to show their friends. Dominic's set looks almost too real. Scary.

Los Tres Amigos!

Lately I realized that I barely have any pictures of all 3 boys together. So after a healthy dinner of chili dogs and goldfish crackers, I mananged to get them all together for a mini photo shoot. You can still see some chili on Ethan's face. You can also get a good idea of how much Carmine is drooling these days. Uncle Tom knows. He always has a drop of saliva barely hanging on the bottom of his chin. This is why he is wearing bibs in every picture (thank goodness for all those bibs I got at my shower, they are really coming in handy these past few months). I cannot wait for him to cut some darn teeth!

Daddy and Carmine

No resemblance whatsoever.

Somebody Stop Me

More of mom talking like a baby to a cute & smiling Carmine.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ear Candy

I realize that what I've downloaded for everyone to "watch" is ridiculous because it's nothing but darkness. It was early when I took the video and our bedroom was still dark. This morning Carmine was laying in bed, his usual routine, while Brad and I got the boys out the door for school. He does this most mornings. He is so happy. Fully rested, full tummy, clean diaper. After the boys are on the bus Brad and I usually lay on the bed staring down on him with big grins on our faces. "How did we get such cute kids?" we ask. This morning I thought I better capture the moment because right now he doesn't want me out of his sight, and next week he'll be going to college and ripping my heart out.

If you look carefully you can sort of see his greyish colored outline in the dark. I wanted to get closer, and one time I did, but when he sees me he immediately stops and just stares at the camera. So this is actually taken from the doorway of our bedroom. So excuse the grain.

I have no idea who he's talking to. God? Doesn't matter. It's like candy for my ears.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Holy Grasshoppers Batman!

Wow. During lunch today Ethan cried out, "look at that bug!!" Over Dominic's left shoulder on the screen was a pretty darn big grasshopper. I mean, I know they say things are bigger in Texas, but now everyone can see for themselves that they aren't lying. This bad boy had at least a 6 inch wing span.

Carmine's very own bed!

Thank you Grandma & Papa Colorado for Carmine's new bed! We slapped on the boys' old bedding and it looks gorgeous!

For the past two weekends Brad has been working diligently in the garage making room for the guestroom furniture so we could fit Carmine's crib in his new guestroom/nursery. Now the big question is, when will he start sleeping in it? Until he starts sleeping through the night I'm not near ready for the 2AM trek upstairs... so until he gives us more nights with more sleep, the crib will ber used for his short-lived, few and far between naps.

A Developmental Milestone for the Ragu

Today Carmine started reaching for things that interest him. It was so sweet looking at the determined look on his face.

It's hard to believe that it's already going by so fast.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carmine's First Chuckle

Monsters Shmonsters! Cookie Monster got the first giggle out of Carmine... Or was it Uncle Daryl's funny face?? Who knows. The point is everyone loves to hear a baby laugh so watch the video and smile.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our annual trip to California was really special this year because Uncle Jerry was getting married to Aunt Melody. Let's get our party on people!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Halloween Warm Up

The boys are anxious for Halloween this year. Especially since they've discovered Batman. Suddenly, thanks to Lego Batman DS, they know more about the caped cruisader than I ever thought I'd know. One day they decided they wanted to make their own costumes and role play. Dom = Joker, Ethan = Scarecrow.

Too bad they want to be Boba Fett and Jango Fett for Halloween. Go figure.

Good times. Guess you had to be there!

A film by the Volini Bros.

George Lucas, look out!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ethan is 7!!

Ethan turned 7 last week. We had an Indiana Jones party at the park. It was a sweltering 100 that day. The first day of the year for 3 digits. I was so thankful to the parents that actually brought their kids. It's a good thing that Ethan's friends were a bit more resilant than their parents in these situations. We had to freeze the cupcakes before the party that way they would last until we sang Happy Birthday (last year his cake melted in the sun after only 5 minutes).

On Ethan's birthday Grandma Jean came over so we could all go out to eat at the restaraunt of Ethan's choice (CiCi's all you can eat pizza buffet) and cake and ice cream (or rainbow sherbert).

One of Ethan's favorite gifts were these Mario Kart toys that Daddy found on the internet. Half of them are missing wheels and heads now, but, boy were they fun for the next day or two!!

Ethan no longer has to wait in the wings and watch over his brother's shoulder as he played his DS. He FINALLY has one of his own. I don't think we heard a peep out of the boys for 2 days after this photo.

Our Visitors

We had a lot of guests come to visit and meet Carmine. Grandma and Papa from California were here first, then Auntie Julie with Christian, a week after they left Auntie Samantha came out with Jeremy. The day that they left Grandma and Papa from Colorado drove up and Auntie Dawn made it in the next day. We had such a great time with our friends and family. And even though our house was filled with people and things were crazy, we were sad to see everyone leave, and believe it or not the house felt empty and quiet with everyone gone and it was just the five of us.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com