at the park with the cousins!

okay, so bear with me here... i think this might have been about two weeks ago. i swear, my memory is just HORRIBLE! (one of the reasons i started to blog was to help me remember my memories! sad, i know...)

we met up with the family at this great park, only to find that it was completely crowded with people! apparantly we weren't invited to the family reunion that was going on there... complete with hookahs on each table, and a grill going with enough food to feed a country! despite it being crowded there, the family was really nice and gave us space (my kids are all about the swings these days and there were only 4 of them!) so we managed to have a good time. got some good pictures too :)

my little stinker in time out (imagine that)

he wasn't very happy about me taking pictures of him either (hahaha)
natalie was on the hunt for some leaves and such to bring home and make a butterfly with. she found this piece of bark and claimed it as her fan:
my beautiful girl:

pictures from May

wow. i can't believe we're in the month of june already!!! may just flew right by us, with all the craziness going on! now that natalie is on summer break things have settled down and for now, i'm able to relax :)

here are some pictures from the last month:

another trip to the beach...the kids wanted to be buried in the sand again

playdate at the mall with logan and lauren:

russell helping grandpa tackle our broken icemaker. russell loves using his tools any chance he can get -- especially when he feels like he is really doing something important!

susie wins

a video of myself, natalie and susie playing the ladybug game yesterday. can you believe susie won?



i hope you all are having a fun memorial day weekend. we're looking forward to a cookout with the family at my mom and dad's house tomorrow!


lots of updates and pictures to report -- including natalie's "graduation" from pre-school! it's been a busy time of the year for us...

to be mad or NOT to be mad.

ever had someone scare the crap out of you? well, my story isn't quite so literal, but tonight russ scared the hiccups out me. i still don't know whether to be mad at him or grateful...

i get the hiccups quite frequently. and they are big, loud, embarrassing, annoying and painful. (by the way, russ never gets them). so i got them tonight and natalie was trying to help by "scaring me" (meaning she yelled out BOO! and then laughed). that didn't quite work. but as i was brushing natalie's hair in the bathroom, russ thought he'd be clever and said as serious as he could (which is not easy for him to do): "DON'T MOVE. THERE'S A SPIDER RIGHT NEXT TO YOU. if you know me, you know that all you have to do is mention the word "spider" and i'm flying 2 feet up in the air and screaming, scared out of my mind. so, that's what i did, i jumped away from the bathroom and screamed (yes, i left poor natalie there), my heart racing, thinking i would find a foot long spider on the floor staring at me with intent to kill. instead, i find russ laughing his head off, at how his silly little plan worked. (he never tricks me!) so of course, i got mad at him (or maybe just mad that i got fooled into looking like an idiot). but guess what? it worked -- my hiccups magically disappeared! um, thanks hun...

Nancy visits!

my dad's sisters, bala and nancy were here for a short visit last week. titi bala wasn't able to stay long, but titi nancy stayed for the weekend. natalie was off school on friday so we hung out with the family, and ended up going to the mall...

shoe shopping

[boys don't shop for shoes!]

treated to ice cream:

nancy, natalie & my dad

note to self, DON'T get blue ice cream. ever again.

their first ride on the train:

grandpa took them -- they were so happy

patiently waiting (for 3 hours) for grandma to finish at the salon

so good to see you nancy and bala. it's always fun when family visits! xoxo

a happy mother's day

i got to celebrate mother's day a little early... natalie's class hosted a mother's day tea party last thursday!

and believe me when i say that they thought out every detail:

when we first arrived, there were paintings hung in the main office. each child painted a picture of their mom and underneath there was a sheet that listed questions about their mom and their answers to them. we had so much fun reading them while we waited for the kids to come out and get us. the funniest question natalie answered about me was "my mom is not so got at...MAKING COFFEE." sadly, she's right!

when the kids came out to get us, each of them ran to their mom and placed a fancy [tissue paper] bouquet hat on our heads. then we went into the room and sat down at the lovely decorated tables. on them, were paper gift boxes that each held a bracelet that each child made for their mom. after i put mine on, natalie catered to me as she poured my cup of tea, then went to get our mini cake loaves that the kids had all baked in the kitchen cafeteria. she brought it back to our table on top of a silver tray with a small cup of icing for her to decorate it with. after we ate the delicious treats, we were serenaded by the kids as they sang "you are my sunshine" to us. lastly, we went outside and each mom got to hula hoop with their child. we got some major kicks out of that!

it was such a fun afternoon, one that i will always remember and i have a feeling natalie will too :)

***this thursday, the dads will have their turn as they celebrate with an early father's day lunch

last weekend:

typical friday evening at brooklyn's...

i love the expression on my mom's face here: "help!"

a grandma moment

heather's "baby" turned 1! little miss lauren is growing so fast! feels like just yesterday we went to the hospital to meet her for the first time...

i think natalie was staring at the cupcakes.

they were so beautiful, you almost didn't want to eat them...almost ;)

another trip to the beach --

i think just about everyone in jacksonville thought it was a good day for the beach last sunday, because it was ridiculously crowded.

and ridiculously windy too!

this boy loves his watermelon!

following grandpa to the water

natalie wanted to be buried in the sand:

she sat like this for quite some time. i would have been dying of claustrophobia!

fishin'

russ has been taking the kids fishing in the back yard lately. when he was younger, russ was pretty big into fishing. he would fish all the time and even had a boat. when i was dating russ and heard that he enjoyed fishing, i thought it was the weirdest thing. it's just not something that my family ever did, let alone something i imagined myself doing. for some reason i thought it was a southern thing, but of course i was wrong and can laugh about that today. but fishing was definitely in his blood, so now he enjoys passing it down to the kids. they love it. and i'm so glad they aren't afraid to touch those slimy [disgusting] fish, like i am!

they caught one!

an important message

to all my "blog" readers who only read the notification e-mails (instead of going on the blog itself), do you know that you're missing out on other updates?

please click on this link to see (because i know you will be reading this message via e-mail, haha):

http://calascione.blogspot.com/

comments welcomed :)

thanks!

and thank you for being loyal readers!

love you guys