Celebrating Anniversaries

My parents celebrated their 34rd anniversary this past Sunday but we were all in Orlando visiting family and weren't really able to celebrate. I decided to have them over for dinner and surprise them with a homemade cake last night to make up for not doing anything for them on their actual anniversary. I think they were pleasantly surprised.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM & DAD!

Five years ago today, Russ and I exchanged vows... My life changed in ways I could have never even dreamed of! Happy Anniversary to my one and only!

random gifts from nana

we were at target the other day and nana was telling me about how she used to play with pop-beads as a child. i thought i knew what she was talking about but i didn't know them by name. so as i was walking down one of the toy aisles, i happened to spot them! i wasn't even looking for them so it was a really strange coincidence that i found them on the shelf. i grabbed them to show eileen and when she saw them she said she "just HAD to get them for natalie." ever since then, my house has turned into a pop-beads frenzy! we are ALL having fun playing with them :)


So, you know how my domesticated son likes to wear his "apron" when he cooks in his kitchen, right? well, that apron has some lace on the front pocket and seemed kind of girly. remembering how we mentioned that, nana found a more "boyish" apron set for russell while out shopping yesterday. russell could not be any cuter in this get-up!

WHO DOESN'T LOVE RANDOM GIFTS???

THANK YOU NANA!!!

xoxo

for those of you who know me...

...know that i am NOT a spontaneous person by nature. so what i'm about to tell you might shock you. on sunday we took a NON-PLANNED trip to orlando! I KNOW, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??? my cousin who lives in the orlando area was throwing a huge birthday bash for her hubby and she had family flying in from new york to attend. my parents, my sister and my brother were all driving down for the party too. i had other plans that i couldn't break on that saturday but i was thinking that maybe we could drive down on sunday and stay for the night. after thinking about it for awhile, we decided it was just too much to do and not really worth it. well, on sunday morning, i called my parents to wish them a happy anniversary and she said she really thought we should come down there. soooo, we spent the next 15 minutes packing up bags and at the same time getting ready for church. we decided we would leave right after mass. i still don't know how we did it, and as we were driving down to orlando, i kept thinking of obligations that i had on my calendar for monday. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? i had to make a few phone calls but everything got worked out. in the end, we had a fabulous one day visit with the family at our timeshare. it's always good to get away, especially when you're with family. and it's always good to be spontaneous, every once in a blue moon ;)

pictures from our trip still to come...

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile!

Last Thursday I took Natalie to see Annie at the Alhambra theater. It was "girls only night" and Nana, Grandma and Titi Celena also came with us. Natalie was the princess of the night, getting all of the attention and loving every minute of it. We had seats on the floor, right in front of the center of the stage, so Natalie had a great view. The show started at 8:00, which as many of you know, is Natalie's bed time, but she hung in there and kept her eyes open the entire time. We all enjoyed the show and the special time together. I was so glad Natalie was able to experience the theater for her first time, with a show she was familiar with since we have the movie. Once again, I see things come full circle with my children. Annie was a movie that my sister and I used to LOVE when we were kids. We even had the movie on a record and would listen to it over and over again. It means so much to me that Natalie is able to share some of the same things that I loved as a kid, and I am grateful for that.

follow up:

since starting her antibiotics for the UTI, natalie didn't seem to be healing quickly enough. I was worried that there was something else wrong, so i made a follow up appointment with her pediatrician, dr. arango, last week. as it turns out, the medicine was working fine and her infection was almost gone, but all of the symptoms she was experiencing were related to something completely different. natalie was severly constipated. the dr. told us we needed to do a fleet enema with her, which i will spare you the details and just mention that that might be one of the worst things you have to do to your own child. she did well, despite the circumstances and we're glad that is out of the way. the reason for this post is not to gross you out or anything, but to show you how big my natalie is getting. the dr. said no more baths for natalie (to prevent future infections) and on to the shower! here she is, taking her first shower by herself:

more pool fun

pictures from last week. this time we had a beautiful sunny day, more time for fun!

monday, monday

today at russell's weekly speech therapy session, we found out that his speech therapist, "Miss Kimmie", was leaving us. she received a promotion and would be transferring to a new location. my heart sank. we LOVE her and she has done so much for russell's progression. little russell has a special relationship with her too. he is such a shy kid by nature and once he got used to her, he treated her like family. i know he will miss her. unfortunately today was her last day with us. we had to skip last week's class because russell had a cough and she was going to break the news to us then, which would have given us 2 more sessions together, but instead we just had today. we met miss kimmie's replacement, who seems super sweet, and i just hope that russell takes to her quickly so we don't lose any valuable time with his progression.

when one door closes, another door opens...
after russell's speech class we headed to the park to meet up with one of natalie's new classmates! the pre-school that she will be attending has set up a "mentoring" program for new kids (like natalie) to pair up with a family who has older kids who are already students. natalie's classmate, lucy, was really cute and they seemed to get along fine. school friends -- what a big step for all of us!!!

tonight we ate dinner with nana & papa, grandma & uncle alex at one of our new favorite places, the red elephant in support of a 5K race coming up called Run for Their Lives. 15% of our order went towards the event as a donation. finally, a Pro-Life race! russ can't wait to run it on Sept. 5th, and we will be their to support.

birthdays!

cousins ryan and cheryl both share the month of july with their birthdays and this past sunday we went to their grandmother's neighborhood pool to celebrate. FUN FUN FUN!

ryan turned 13, and cheryl is 6:

what's a birthday without cupcakes!

better than nothing...

our weekend was little busy and the only time we had to FINALLY try out the new pool was after russ got home from work on saturday afternoon. my mom and sister came over and we set up the pool and threw some hot dogs on the grill for a quick dinner. we were out there for barely 45 minutes when it started to rain, forcing us back inside the house.

even though the kids didn't have much time to spend with their new pool, i think these pictures say it all:

pool #5: success!

natalie

Natalie was diagnosed with a UTI on Friday. signs symptoms of it appeared here and there early on in the week, but unfortunately mommy didn't put two-and-two together until it was too late. when we called the doctor's office on friday to get her looked at, we were told he was completely booked. so i figured i would wait until monday but as we started piecing everything together and realizing that if she did in fact have this infection since the beginning of the week, it could quickly lead to a serious kidney infection and with kids, that is nothing to play around with. so i called the on-call nurse with our pediatrician's office and she strongly suggested that we take her to an urgent care center that night. unfortunately, all of those places were closed, so we ended up at the ER. luckily, they were very quick to see Natalie and everyone there were very pleasant to deal with. it was way past her bed time, not to mention we were interrupting her night at grandma's house but natalie was in good spirits the entire time. in fact, she was keeping us (and everyone else around) entertained chatting away and laughing loudly as we watched america's funniest home videos.

the highlights of natalie's trip to the ER included:
- getting her oxygen checked with the thing they put on her finger -- when she realized it didn't hurt she couldn't stop talking about it!;
- having Dr. Andrew check her heart beat with the stethoscope;
- drinking her medicine (they supplied her first dose of antibiotics);
- lying on the hospital bed like she was a princess, especially when the nurse brought her one of those warm toasty blankets, when natalie said she was cold;
- the grape popsicle that the discharge nurse gave her for being so good; and
- being the center of attention the entire time!

natalie said so herself that she DID NOT want to go home! but then she realized that we were taking her back to grandma's house to finish out their night together, and she quickly changed her mind :)

natalie seems to be doing much better today and hopefully we won't need to call her doctor for a follow up appointment.

on another note:

when grandma told her that mommy and daddy were picking her up to take her to the hospital, natalie, looking puzzled, said: "am i having a baby???"

(she was referring to the last time she went to the hospital to see new baby Lauren and Heather)

another random statement from natalie:

the other day, when asked if she liked mommy's new hair cut, she replied: "yes, you look like the jetsons!" (i'm guessing she was referring to jane jetson's short hair)

here's a picture that natalie herself took of me with my new hair:

natalie... she is something else!

Sadly...

SADLY, we weren't able to test out the new pool this weekend. In fact, we weren't able to do much of anything. Natalie picked up a cold on Friday and was coughing and congested. The congestion was making her throw up all Saturday morning but after she got it all out she began to feel better. as luck should have it, Russell picked up what she had and his congestion was even worse. He has had this horrible cough since Saturday which has prevented us from doing anything fun, let alone get out of the house much. (Thanks Nana and Papa for watching the kids so Russ and I could make it to church today!) We were planning to play in the pool on Saturday, and having a picnic at the beach today, but SADLY none of that really worked out.

We made the best of our weekend and went to grandma and grandpa's house tonight for a farewell dinner to my dad, who leaves for NY on Tuesday. the life of a retired man! ;)

dad's "ringer" in a game with Russ

my goofy husband

it's finally here!

Pool #5, that is!

too bad it's been raining ALL WEEK!!!
i mean seriously, why is it that when it rains here, it can't just rain for a day or two, it has to be the WHOLE WEEK? how on earth is my husband supposed to make a living like this?!

as you can see, the kids were excited that our order finally arrived. the reason it took so long was because wal-mart.com "lost" our product in the middle of shipping, blah, blah, blah... the GOOD thing about all this is that their customer service (not at the store, of course) was super helpful and they processed another order for us with expedited shipping straight to our house for free and gave us a discount on the pool. NICE!

hopefully we'll be able to try it out this weekend. i think the kids are going to love it!

*phases*

we all go through phases in our life, kids especially. it amuses me to think back at the stuff my kids liked [or didn't like] throughout the years of their young lives. these are some phases they are currently going through:

Natalie:

- who onced LOVED ketchup and syrup, now does not even want it on her plate. she eats her fries, waffles, pancakes, etc. PLAIN!

- started saying this cute little phrase when she wants something: "I really wish... [INSERT DESIRE HERE]. for example, this morning she told me: "I really wish i could spend the night at grandma's house today..." yeah, she thinks she's slick.

Russell:

- decided he doesn't like to go poopoo in the potty unless he has someone to accompany him throughout the entire time. and he's had two accidents in his underwear too. this is the same kid who just one week ago was going poopoo EVERY SINGLE TIME he went PEEPEE in the potty. i mean, i envied his bowel movements! (TMI, i know)

- turned into a little chef! every time i go into the kitchen to cook, he throws on his apron and chef's hat and runs to his little kitchen (that they've had for almost 3 years now, but for some reason is getting more attention these days) and will start "cooking" his own dish. orange juice (consisting of an orange dropped inside of a cup), and a hamburger (fresh out of the "oven", topped with cheese, lettuce and tomato) are a couple of his specialties.

my domesticated child:

calasione beach day

Last sunday, the Calascione's I, II and III (Russ's parents, brother & his family, and our family) all got together for a trip to South Ponte Vedra Beach. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the water with their cousins. While there we walked along the shore searching for that perfect seashell. My kids are all about the shells when we go to the beach these days!

{shelby and russell}

independence day, the calascione way

we had a fabulous day spent at my mom and dad's house with my family along with russell's parents too. the kids were surrounded by their favorite people in the whole wide world -- their grandparents! Dad cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill and we enjoyed an All-American feast on a perfectly hot summer holiday. grandma and grandpa surprised the kids with a kiddy pool out back and it the kids had a blast playing in the water! (by the way, we are STILL waiting on pool #5 to arrive...that's another story)

the hosts:

sistas, playing legos, like old times:

my two beautiful moms: dad and russ playing a game of horseshoes:

dad's magical fireworks show!

***

July 4th - the day our country became independent! John Adams wrote this to his wife about this historical date:

"The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more."

Isn't that a beautiful quote? The Declaration was actually first signed on July 2nd, but it was debated by Congress and finally approved two days later. I also discovered that both signors of the Declaration, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, died, ironically, on July 4, 1831, which was our country's 50th anniversary!

Hope you all had a fun, safe and exciting 4th of July!

LET FREEDOM RING