Friday, June 26, 2009
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.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Storm Damage on 6-10-09
You might have heard about the storm that blew through Dallas Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Lewisville was hit really bad on the first day. The storm landed almost half of our neighbor's tree in our yard. Fortunately for us it fell at the angle it did or it would have hit our house.
We had the news on and saw that it was about to hit Lewisville. Within minutes I heard incredibly loud crackling noises coming from outside, the wind rattled our front door, and our power flickered on and off. I could tell the boys were getting a little scared. Just as the sirens started going off outside we all headed for the closet under the stairs. It was at this time that Carmine decided he had to nurse and fill his pants (and why not?) Ethan kept asking if we were going to die. Poor guy. We stayed under the stairs for about 15 minutes just to be sure. The rain was coming down pretty hard still but the news showed that the worst had passed. We looked outside and saw that the neighbors tree was nearly split in half.
We had the news on and saw that it was about to hit Lewisville. Within minutes I heard incredibly loud crackling noises coming from outside, the wind rattled our front door, and our power flickered on and off. I could tell the boys were getting a little scared. Just as the sirens started going off outside we all headed for the closet under the stairs. It was at this time that Carmine decided he had to nurse and fill his pants (and why not?) Ethan kept asking if we were going to die. Poor guy. We stayed under the stairs for about 15 minutes just to be sure. The rain was coming down pretty hard still but the news showed that the worst had passed. We looked outside and saw that the neighbors tree was nearly split in half.
And today it's 96 degrees and humid as hell.
Monday, June 08, 2009
The Big Ragu!
As most of you know by now, Carmine was born on May 13, at 6:38 pm, weighing 7 lbs. 3 oz. The boys are adjusting perfectly to the new addition and mommy and daddy are once again getting used to broken sleep and sore backs. He's sleeping through the night except to eat (we didn't get that lucky!) and his awake times are during the day. What else can you ask for from a newborn?
Dominic is taking on the roll of the protective big brother already when yesterday he told me sweetly "If anyone tried to hurt Carmine, he thinks he would want punch their face."
Monday, April 27, 2009
Dominic turns 8!
Dominic had his 8th birthday party at Kids Kastle in Highland Village this past Saturday. Besides the humidity, and the fact that the pavillion we rented was double booked, everything went great! We ended up finding other picnic tables close to the playground area with a tree or two for shade.
Sunday morning, his actual birthday, he got to decide what we ate for breakfast which of course was donuts and sausage rolls. Nobody complained too much about that. I guess good taste runs in the family! After breakfast we decided to let him open his presents. Traditionally this is an after dinner event, but since he was getting a DS from mom and dad we knew he would want all day to play with it. When time came to open our present he was not surprised at all with what he received. I guess that can happen when you've been asking for the same thing since Halloween.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter morning 2009
This year the Easter bunny put a little twist on things. After the boys found their eggs, he sent them on a treasure hunt to find their baskets. It all started at the breakfast table. On top of the Easter donuts was a note that said "Happy Easter Dominic and Ethan... Do you know what would go with these donuts? Some milk..." So then Dominic ran to the refrigerator. The hunt continued...
Monday, March 09, 2009
Daddy's Dream Come True
On Saturday Ethan decided he wanted to help Daddy with the blower. Even Mommy doesn't like to use the blower because it's pretty heavy, and vibrates like crazy! But Ethan was determined. He would pick it up, blow, put it down and shake his hands out, pick it up, blow, put it down and shake his hands out. All the while there was a gleam in Daddy's eye... finally lawn help...
Monday, March 02, 2009
Ethan's 1st Grade Musical Program
Ethan had his very first stage performance last week at Degan Elementry. There were 4 1st grade classes total. They started off the show with the title song "Shine! Shine! Shine!" then Ethan's class ended the program with "Just Can't Get Enough" (Ahem, by Depeche Mode). It was comical. First of all, they are first graders. Second of all, Ethan did know the words and all the moves but he was clearly embarassed with us watching him. Once he saw us in the audience suddenly his face changed and he would sing with his mouth wide open and looking to the side. It was like he was singing the lyrics to his buddy next to him. It was so cute.
By the end of "Just Can't Get Enough", I'm sure you will have gotten enough. It's a bit repetitive but regardless, they practiced hard and all did really great. Towards the end the little boy in the foreground started really feelin' the music and I couldn't resist filming him a bit too (with Ethan in the background of course).
Ethan's class is the group with the white bandanas on their heads, only I don't know why, Ethan was the only one without one. He said they ran out.
By the end of "Just Can't Get Enough", I'm sure you will have gotten enough. It's a bit repetitive but regardless, they practiced hard and all did really great. Towards the end the little boy in the foreground started really feelin' the music and I couldn't resist filming him a bit too (with Ethan in the background of course).
Ethan's class is the group with the white bandanas on their heads, only I don't know why, Ethan was the only one without one. He said they ran out.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
The Pinewood Derby
Today was the BSA (Boy Scouts of America) Pinewood Derby. This was quite an event for all the boys and their families. If you were a boyscout, lived with a boyscout, or have a boyscout, you will understand the time and effort that goes into the making of these little chunks of pine on wheels. All you want in the end is for your car (I mean, your boy's car) to make it pass the finish line. If it goes fast, well, that's only a plus. Brad worked diligently on these bad boys (the cars). You wouldn't beleive all the work that is necessary for a functioning fast car. Let alone TWO cars for your TWO boys. Cutting the shape, sanding it down, sanding some more, filing the axels (nails), polishing the axels, buffing the tires, adding weight, taking off weight, polish the axels some more, several coats of paint, and please dear God do not forget the pounds of graphite. For extra lubrication Brad actually ran the cars on our treadmill after drowning them in even more graphite.
The cars had to be finished by last night. We had to get them "registered" with the cub master. They had to weigh 5 oz or less and fall between a certain length and width. Ethan's was fine, but Dom's ended up being .05 oz. over the max. So the cub master had to dremel out some of the wood on the bottom of his car on site. After one last finally weigh in the cars were complete and we had to leave them there and wait until the morning races to see if they even ran on the track.
There were 51 cars to race. Each car had 8 heats. Dominic came in first in his races except 3 which he came in a very close 2nd (once to his brother). Ethan came in 1st in all his heats.
I wish that everyone could have been there to see the races. It was a lot of fun. Brad was admired by most of the dads and got a lot of "Atta boy, dad!" after the races. 2 cars in the top 4 out of 51 cars is pretty outstanding. They even teased that he will be hosting the workshop for the boys next year. Brad's already thinking can't we just reuse our cars from this year?
The cars had to be finished by last night. We had to get them "registered" with the cub master. They had to weigh 5 oz or less and fall between a certain length and width. Ethan's was fine, but Dom's ended up being .05 oz. over the max. So the cub master had to dremel out some of the wood on the bottom of his car on site. After one last finally weigh in the cars were complete and we had to leave them there and wait until the morning races to see if they even ran on the track.
There were 51 cars to race. Each car had 8 heats. Dominic came in first in his races except 3 which he came in a very close 2nd (once to his brother). Ethan came in 1st in all his heats.
I wish that everyone could have been there to see the races. It was a lot of fun. Brad was admired by most of the dads and got a lot of "Atta boy, dad!" after the races. 2 cars in the top 4 out of 51 cars is pretty outstanding. They even teased that he will be hosting the workshop for the boys next year. Brad's already thinking can't we just reuse our cars from this year?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Ethan Lost A Tooth
His tooth had been loose forever!! The last few days Brad wrestled with Ethan to let him pull it, but there's just something about that first tooth that they get so freaked out over.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Colorado Christmas 2008
For Christmas this year it was off to Colorado for a cold, snowy, good time. We were fortunate enough to experience a few snow flurries during our stay at Grandma and Papa's, but it was not quite deep enough to sled locally. We went a bit further up the mountain (around 10,000 feet elevation) to sled. It was COLD!
Overall, we all had a wonderful time. Our Christmas' in Colorado are always special and full of fun. Each of us had a great Christmas and Santa was very generous to the boys giving them what they wanted, iPods. Blue for Dominic and green for Ethan. He even loaded music on them. Alvin and The Chipmunks and Madagascar 2. Isn't Santa thoughtful?
Overall, we all had a wonderful time. Our Christmas' in Colorado are always special and full of fun. Each of us had a great Christmas and Santa was very generous to the boys giving them what they wanted, iPods. Blue for Dominic and green for Ethan. He even loaded music on them. Alvin and The Chipmunks and Madagascar 2. Isn't Santa thoughtful?
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Roller Skating With The Boys
Friday night the Cub Scouts had a skating party. It was hilarious to watch the boys try to scoot around for the first time. They started off in the mini-rink in the back, it had rails around the outside so they had something to hold on to. Eventually we made it to the big rink. They still wanted to hold our hands but we tried to get them to do it independently, they stayed up longer that way anyway. Saturday morning they woke us up asking to go skating again and Dominic said he wants to have his birthday party there.
For Brad and I, roller skating isn't exactly like riding a bike, it doesn't "all come back to you". But by the end of the night we were doing pretty good. It's hard to keep two boys on their feet and still keep yourself up. It's Sunday and our feet still hurt.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
A visit with Grandma and Papa Colorado
This week Grandma and Papa Colorado came out for a visit. We had a really nice time. We all went to the Pumpklin Patch together to play and picked out a few pumpkins. The next night Al made an awesome scallop and shrimp Alfredo dish. We were so full it was hard to move. Every night we stayed up late playing a domino game called Mexican Train. Before Halloween we managed to carve 6 pumpkins! We miss them already really look forward to going out to Colorado for Christmas.
Pack 233 Family Campout
Last weekend it was time for the Fall BSOA family campout. The weather was pretty cold at night, but perfect during the day. They boys have such a blast. They hiked all day and ran around and played in the dirt. Kool Aid was available all day so it seemed like every boy had stained red lips all weekend.
Tie Day
It was Red Ribbon Week at school this past week. Every day of the week they were supposed to wear something or a certain color to show everyone that they are Saying No. Thursday was tie day.
Nanny turns 98!!
In the middle of October we headed to Lubbock for Nanny's 98th birthday party. The boys are getting better in the car during long drives. We managed to borrow another DVD player from a coworker of Brad's, which always makes the drive easier on everyone. Jean drove with us and she is a great help during the drive, managing the DVD player especially.
The party was fun and the boys got reunited with the cousins again. They played a lot with Kesley and Kinsley, which are Jean's siter's great-grandchildren. We did take a lot of pictures of Nanny at the hotel but unfortunately something happened (or someone got a hold of) the digital camera and they are now floating somewhere in space I guess. She (Nanny) was so happy to see the boys. Can you believe that Dominic is almost as tall as her now?
The boys love staying at hotels. They think that because they are not home that they can act crazy, jump on the beds, throw pillows, and bounce off the walls. We totally let them. The morning we left we had a big breakfast downstairs with all the great/aunts, great/uncles, cousins, nanny, etc. It was a tearful goodbye for everyone. 
Sunday, October 05, 2008
A morning with LFD
The Cub Scouts had a "Go See It" (field trip) this weekend at the Lewisville Fire Department. It was very cool. Tons of kids came from all over. They had lots of activities and things for kids to do and see. They had a station set up where every child got a free I.D. card with their picture and fingerprint. All the engines, ambulances, and boats (yes, we have a lake) were out so the kids could climb on them and take pictures. Also, all the free hotdogs, chips, popcorn and soda you want. That was Dominic's favorite part :). Life Fleet landed their helicopter on site which was awesome. So loud. The crowd loved it! Brad's favorite part was the "Jaws of Life Demo" which he missed most of because he had to take someone to the bathroom. Aah.. the joys.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Testing time again!
Yesterday the boys tested for their yellow/orange belts. They did SO great! The new studio has better lighting for pictures so you can see them a little bit better this time. We got some really great shots of Ethan because he was close to us. Unfortunately Dom was on the far side for the test.
The order of belt rankings for the boys age goes as follows:
White
White/Yellow
Yellow
Yellow/Orange
Orange
Orange/Green
Green
Green/Purple
Purple/Blue
Red
Jr. Black
Every 4 classes they attend they gain one stripe on their belt. After 4 stripes you qualify for testing. They only test once a month. However, just because you have 4 stripes doesn't mean you automatically get to test. In fact, most often they make you skip a month. They don't like to hand out belts just because you've come to class. It's been 3 months since the boys last test (this is partly because the studio moved and they made everyone skip a month). They were REALLY ready to be orange/yellow belts.
By the time they are ready to test for their orange belts it will most likely be around Thanksgiving. As they get older and move up into the older division, you have to attend 10 classes to earn a stripe, that's 40 classes before you qualify to test. So it can be several months between belts. It's a LONG process!!
Enjoy the video...
Monday, September 15, 2008
We told the boys
We finally told the boys last week that there will be an addition. We told Ethan that in May he will be a big brother. His response was, "But I won't have a birthday yet." A little confused, but that's okay. Then Brad said "Your mother's pregnant." No comment from the boys. Then I said, "There's a baby in my tummy." Ethan's eyes popped out and his mouth his the floor. Dominic jumped out of his chair and clapped his hands and said "You have a baby in your tummy?!?!" Ethan wanted to know how I knew. I told him that we took a test. That wasn't much help. I told him I had to pee on the test. A little humor to confuse them is always fun. They looked disgusted. After I assured him that the pee is no longer on the test, we just pee on a stick to find out the results, then we clean off the stick. And how my pee contains certain homones that are read on the test. This made no sense to them, but it was no less the truth. Later we finally got around to showing them sticks and how to read it. They agreed, I did have a baby in my belly. Then they ran off to go play legos.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
"Volini, party of 5! Volini, party of 5!"
We took 3 tests because we couldn't believe it either.
Baby Volini #3 due May 2009.
P.S. To all our friends who borrowed baby stuff: we might need that back now (if it's still available).
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