kids santa party

as most of you know, i am in fact employed (in addition to being a full-time mommy - heehee).

when i had natalie, i quit my job at the law firm i had been with for over a year, but i was lucky when shortly after russell was born, my job called me and asked if i would be able to help out with some work -- from home. "are you kidding? - OF COURSE!!!!!" i said (ok so not in those exact words...) but i was thrilled to have that luxury of working from home even if it was only on an "as-needed" basis and even if i only average about 8-10 hours every 2 wks... but hey it's extra money and i'll take it! plus, its a great company and i'm glad to still be with them after all these years.

every year the company holds a huge christmas dinner along with a separate kids' santa party. today we went to the santa party (russ couldn't come so it was just me and the kiddos) and the kids had a blast. natalie and even russell (which surprised me) both had their faces painted by the clowns, and natalie also had a balloon heart made for her. they BOTH got to sit with santa and tell him what they wanted for christmas (natalie did awesome, unlike the prior years, and russell did a lot better than i expected), they received presents from santa, munched on lots of goodies, and watched a magic show. today was a lot of fun!

mommy thought russell would look cute as batman:

natalie asked to be a heart princess:

natalie got a ballerina barbie from santa:

and russell got some hotwheels!:

my little hobo princess:

i remember dressing up like this when i was a little girl, mismatched and all... but hopefully she'll learn to coordinate her outfits eventually :)

happy birthday dad! *55 years young*

our weekend has been non-stop, definitely one of the craziest ones yet. we weren't able to celebrate on my dad's actual birthday yesterday, but we went over for some hamburgers and hotdogs after church today.

hope you had a good one dad - we love you!

natalie's card to grandpa - she forgot to write "birthday" and i love how she scribbled out her mistake

can you believe that all three of us got dad the SAME EXACT card!?!?!? i bought mine at hallmark, celena got hers at walgreens, and alex bought his at winn dixie.

i guess this card was just really meant for my dad!!!

(celena wasn't able to join us today - she had dinner with them last night)

russell trying to walk in uncle alex's shoes

Disney's Hollywood Sudios (formerly MGM)

we purchased three day park tickets back in june when we went to animal kingdom with the diggs' family, and we had one day to use up before they expired on december 13, so we decided to go this past friday. it was surprisingly very crowded when we arrived and i immediately thought: oh no, what did we get ourselves into!!! but also surprisingly, the family with no luck, ended up having good luck all day long:

- where it looked like we were standing in a long line and wouldn't make the next show, we got in! more than once
- when natalie turned grumpy within the first 15 minutes of being there, and i thought the rest of the day was history, she snapped out of it!
- when i thought i would go crazy because i couldn't read that stupid park map, russ somehow made sense of it
- when i became worried that we wouldn't get to experience the new toy story ride, we got there just in time to get the fast pass for the 5:50 pm slot (this was at 10:30 am, mind you)
- the weather could not have been more perfect - a gorgeous sunny day
- and then to top it all off, natalie was chosen to be the *princess* in the beauty and the beast live on stage show, where she would meet belle and receive a rose!

pretty much everything went our way that day - and despite our hectic weekend--and also despite the fact that we just got back from all that driving the weekend prior--i'm so glad we ended up going!

oh yeah - christmas in disney is AMAZING!

here's a little video to give you an idea of how incredible all the lights were on "streets of america". the lights were dancing to christmas music:

O Christmas Tree

I finally finished decorating my Christmas tree! Going out of town for Thanksgiving really threw me off schedule with all Christmas things related... After some drama with our tree decorations being left up in the attic, and then the lights not working as I'm putting them on... Natalie was finally able to help me decorate the tree. I had forgotten that last year I took advantage of the after Christmas sales and bought all new tree decorations because I was just plain tired of my tree looking almost exactly the same for the last few years, so when I opened the box of decorations, I was pleasantly surprised! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a topper I liked, or a treeskirt that I could afford, so I'll just have to wait another year I suppose. Nevertheless, I really love how my tree turned out!

*also on my "after-christmas-sale" wish list: a new PRE-LIT christmas tree!!!

(now if i could just get russ to help me with decorating my mantle...)

please enjoy the music!

i'm happy to report that it is officially CHRISTMAS SEASON (just in case you didn't know)! while my house isn't exactly as decorated as i hoped it would be (maybe i'll get around to doing that some time tomorrow...), christmas is definitely in the air and i am absolutely loving it! one of my favorite things about christmas is the music! so, for your enjoyment (and mine), i've created a new music playlist featuring some of my favorite christmas music. i have it set up to randomly play songs on the list each time you open up my web page, but feel free to click on whatever you wish to hear.

my favorite song is o holy night, the jewel rendition, but i could not find it (apparently not EVERYTHING is available on the web). let me know what your favorite christmas songs are; i'd be happy to add more to my playlist!

thanksgiving in virginia

we're back!!!

before i share pictures, i'll give you a little recap of how our thanksgiving vacation unfolded...

we decided to leave on tuesday, the day before the busiest travelling day of the year, which proved to be a good move because traffic was smooth and luckily the weather was pleasant. russ got home from work early that day and we packed up the car and pulled out of the driveway at 4:20pm. the kids were well behaved, and after one [unexpectedly long] dinner stop, two gas/bathroom pit stops, including one nasty pull-up "explosion", and four disney movies later, the kids finally fell asleep around 11pm. natalie was fighting sleep so hard, she said: "oh no, something's wrong with my eyes - they're closing!" we couldn't stop laughing...

we got to susan's house at 3:30; 11 hours was longer than we had hoped to spend on the road, but it wasn't terribly bad. immediately natalie took to her *aunt susie* and uncle steve and slept with them that night.

we slept in the next day, waited for the cousins to get out of school (they had a half day), then went to eat a late lunch at the infamous mexican restaurant we visited the last time we were in VA. good food, good times.

on thanksgiving day, we walked [one mile each way] to their gorgeous neighborhood park to let the kids play... ok, us too :) after we got home we watched two holiday classics: Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and Christmas Vacation while we waited to eat dinner. those are the funniest movies... oh yeah, dinner was DELICIOUS! that is why thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday of the year.

on friday, we ate lunch at Fuddruckers (jacksonville should definitely get one of these soon!) and afterwards visited the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center. that night we had some good laughs looking at old pictures and talking.

saturday was spent in williamsburg ("virginia's colonial capital") which is such a beautiful little town. after visiting the largest Yankee Candle store i've ever seen, we ate dinner at olive garden, and had dessert at The Peanut Shoppe (the candy store that lets you sample all their goodies before you buy!). it got dark pretty quick and we enjoyed the christmas lights everywhere and the whole small-town feeling that was all around us. santa claus just happened to stroll by us and natalie was delighted that she was able to chat with him, since we didn't get to wait in the long line to see him at the yankee candle store earlier.

on sunday morning we hit the road at 7am and boy were we in for a treat! apparently we were driving on the SECOND busiest travelling day of the year. 14 LOOOOOONG hours later, after 2 meal stops, countless bathroom and gas pit stops, being stuck in SC for almost 5 hours, bumper-to-bumper under 10 mph driving, numerous (maybe 10) disney movies (which for some reason, didn't seem to do their *magic*), and an ugly RAINY day, we finally made it back home. the kids weren't necessarily "misbehaved", but they were just as restless as we were in that car, so it wasn't fun...at all!

HOME SWEET HOME! there's nothing like a trip out of town to make you appreciate the normalcy of being home. but i must say, this was one of the best trips we've taken in a long time. we all had such a blast, just goofing off and spending time with each other. russell's sister susan sure knows how to take care of her guests and she treated us like royalty! we already miss her and everybody else. natalie and her aunt susie were like BFFs - wherever susan went, natalie was right by her side. it was the cutest thing, although it did make me feel slightly jealous at times...but it also gave me plenty of much-needed free time!

thank you so much to the Kozlowski Family for taking good care of us while we were in virginia! love you guys!

now, on to the pictures:

*classic* christmas toys

so, a friend of mine just posted something on her blog about how christmas toys keep getting fancier and fancier as the years go by, and in turn, a lot more expensive than what they used to be. she asked everyone to post their own blog with their CLASSIC christmas toy picks. You know, those *simple* toys that you can play with for hours and hours and they never get old...the ones that make you reminisce about playing with your sister/brother back in the day...the ones that you want your kids to grow up playing with...or the ones you already bought your kids and love to play with them to this day!.

here are a couple of my picks:

my sister and i got a mr. and mrs. potato head when we were about 10 years old or so, and i still have the original set with all the "accessories". we keep them in the kids' room along with the other extra things i bought for them and we all love to play with the potato heads together!




again, my sister and i got hooked on playing legos when we were about 6 or 7 years old, and AGAIN, i still have our box of legos from those days (although its' missing a zillion pieces ever since my little brother got a hold of them years ago...). we keep them at my mom and dad's house and one day my kids discovered the box, and well, the rest is history... i ended up buying a little set for our house and there should be more to come, come christmas day ;) for those of you who don't know this little fact about me already, LEGOS are my absolute favorite toy EVER. i can STILL sit and play with these things for hours. and when my kids hand me some pieces and say, mom, can you make me a house or mom, can you make me a car... i just light up thinking of all the possibilities!


so what's YOUR favorite classic toy? feel free to comment here or post it on your blog...

and happy classic christmas shopping this year ;)

***

on another note, we are headed to virginia tomorrow to visit russell's sister, susan and the gang for thanksgiving. this trip has been planned for quite some time and we can't believe it's finally here! we can't wait to get there - but first we have a 10 hour drive ahead of us! wish us luck and please pray for our safety and SANITY!

happy thanksgiving everyone!!!

weeeee!

having some fun in the backyard today.

(have i mentioned how much i love this cooler weather!?)

a wedding to remember

What a beautiful wedding -- and a beautiful couple.

Congratulations to our good friends Emily and Charlie!

we had so much fun drinking and dancing the night away... when all was said and done, we had spent 8 whole hours away from home that night! now THAT is what you call a good time :)

* slideshow from the parade *

happy veteran's day

heather and tara convinced me to head out to the veteran's day parade downtown this afternoon. i was very reluctant about having to handle both kids by myself at an event like that, especially since russell has been very "moody" lately, but i am so glad we went!! it was a beautiful day, the kids were great, everyone had fun, and we were able to appreciate the true meaning of this holiday. watching those veterans ride through the parade and seeing all of the other people who are still serving or supporting our country moved me deeply and i am *FOREVER GRATEFUL* to them all!

may GOD BLESS AMERICA always!

here is a video of the kids marching and dancing to the music of the parade:
(you might want to scroll down and mute the music before playing)

*** more pictures to come ***

weekend update.

it was one thing after another this past weekend -- more so than usual!

on saturday we participated in our neighborhood garage sale. no one likes to do garage sales, myself included...but i had been meaning to get rid of a lot of things and this was the perfect opportunity. our hard work (setting up the night before, waking up at the crack of dawn to set up even more, and spending half of our day talking to strangers) paid off - and we made well over $100! so i rewarded myself with a new bag i had been wanting for quite some time ;) among many other needed items...Later in the day, in between everything else, Russell washed the car and I went shopping with Natalie.

On Sunday we woke up extra early to attend 8:00 mass since we were driving 3 hours southwest to visit our old family friends, Iris and John. My mom and Iris were both pregnant (with Celena, not me) at the same time back in New York and our families have remained in touch since. Iris's daughter, Yvette, is now married with 2 kids of her own and they were visiting Florida for vacation this week so we were able meet her family for the first time. It had been about 10+ years or so since we had seen Yvette as well. We had such a wonderful time and it was certainly worth the trip! Her family is just so precious and I feel incredibly touched how we are able to share in each other's adult lives -- what a beautiful thing!

Thank you for having us over guys! xoxo

me, yve and celena posing together for the first time in YEARS!!!

This message is long overdue but it's been on my mind for quite sometime...

Congratulations on the marriages of my beautiful cousins:

Marisa & Edgar in New York

November 1, 2008

***

Matt & Emily in Austin, Texas

August 15, 2008

I know I was one of the few family members who couldn't attend, and I am so sorry I wasn't able to join in your celebration, but please know I was there in spirit.

I wish the very best for you both. Cheers to sharing the future with your best friends!

All my love,
Katrina

Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.

~Robert Heinlein

crazy kids

while russ and i were trying to survive the [election] night, the kids were having the time of their lives running (and even crawling) around the house together, laughing and screaming the entire time. i decided to grab my camera to capture these fun moments.