Happy Halloween!

This year was tons of fun! Both the boys picked out their costumes: Gio wanted to be Peter Pan and Vinnie chose to be Nemo (I had shown him all the costumes @ the Disney store and he was REALLY excited about this one). They were adorable! Gio participated in his first school Halloween parade as they included the pre-school with the regular kids. On Halloween day, we attended the party at Churh in the afternoon and trick-or-treated in the neighborhood with some kids from the street. Gio decided to ride his bike as he trick-or-treated and was so excited he forgot to wait for most of the candy. He'd ride up, shout "Trick or treat!" then ride away. It was hilarious!

Moving on....

The boys & I are doing good. I know, I haven't done much on here in FOREVER. No promises that I'll keep this up as I'm pretty darn busy, but just a quick update:

Gio's in preschool now and LOVING it. I know, I shouldn't be surprised. He's made new friends as no one from Tot Lot is in his class but being as social as he is that's not really a problem. He does miss his Tot Lot friends a great deal, though (as do I). We had a great reunion party with a few of them at our favorite Chic-Fil-A a couple weeks ago - good times!

Vinnie's growing like a weed. I'm pretty sure he's almost tripled in size since birth. He's crawling like a speed demon and already pulling himself to standing. I've even seen him let go a few times to test out standing on his own. The boys love each other very much and are grateful to have one another.

I am back in school, completing pre-requisites to enter nursing school and also complete my bachelor's degree in Health Science. Life is crazy, but what can you do? Thank you to everyone for your love and support. It's been a pretty tough year with many changes. Some were drastic and others more subtle but the Lord has blessed us greatly and for that I am eternally grateful.

The Mind of My Gio....

As I opened the front door for us to head the the car for school this morning, Gio ran out to the porch, spread his arms up wide and shouted, "Good Morning World!!!" He is SO my son :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIO!!!!

So, I know I've been horrible at keeping this thing updated, and I promise to do some back-blogging soon, but today was just too important to forget: Gio turned FOUR!!! I can't believe my sweet boy is four. He had a party week and a half ago with his BFF, Spencer, who turned four on the 9th. The theme was Nemo and it was tons of fun. The kids made cute Nemo bags to collect candy from the Nemo pinata, played a ping-pong toss game and enjoyed Nemo jello cups. Personally, my favorite part of the Nemo party was the water balloons and how all the 3 & 4 years olds chose to lean into the big box, grab a water balloon, turn around and throw it right into the ground. In addition to many of our friends from church, Gio's best girl friend from Tot Lot also attended. He was thrilled!





Today, my mom & I took Gio & Vinnie to Disneyland to celebrate on his actual birthday. Gio chose to wear his Woody costume. Since we have annual passes, Gio got a gift card in the amount of a one day, one park pass. No surprise, he chose a Disney Railroad Train Set. He's been wanting one of those FOREVER. He was so excited he really just wanted to buy the set and go right home. We talked him into riding a few rides (his choice): "Buzz" (Astroblasters); "Xbox" (Star Tours); and "That Train" (Monorail). Unfortunately, Gio went to bed with a fever and did not get a chance to put together his new toy, but I'm sure he'll ask for it first thing in the morning.

Toddler Language

While eating his Mickey Mouse pancake this morning, Giovanni informed me that he wanted to wear his "Charlie Brown shirt and smaller pants." It took me a minute, but when I returned from digging through his dresser with his Charlie Brown shirt from Halloween and khaki shorts, he happily exclaimed, "Yeah!"

Many Happy Returns

Hooray! Thanks to a generous donation from Ryan's mom (thanks Robyn!), I've renewed my Disneyland Annual Pass & Gio finally has his very own!

My mom also renewed with us (Yay! Thanks, Mom, for joining us!). :)It's great to be back. Vinnie was ecstatic, as you can tell from his picture, and ate up every moment. HA HA.


Gio was delighted to see Minnie Mouse on Main Street and even rode his first big boy ride: Star Tours (he calls it Xbox).

Funny Guy....

Typically, Gio begins our nightly prayers and insists I repeat after him. But, somehow, I end up taking the lead, usually after Gio expresses his gratitude for Legos and blesses the whole gang from Spongebob Squarepants. I could not contain my laughter this evening when I attempted to guide him with, "Please bless us with good dreams," and he responded, "And.....Giovanni's not going to say it."