Last Day of Turkey Vacay

Sunday morning after Thanksgiving, not a creature was stirring EXCEPT all of the animals at the zoo!!!! We arrived right at 9:00 a.m. and it was perfect. Nobody was there! We had the whole place to ourselves. All of the animals were out and eating breakfast. Plus the weather was cool and comfortable and in SA, that is a big, big bonus!!

Did you know that the SA zoo is rated #6 in the country?? After yesterday, I believe it!! We had the best time!!

Here's the gang ready to go!

and Rocco too!!

We saw monkeys!! This trip to the zoo has probably traumatized Jillian for life. We are all standing at the viewing area to the monkeys when a monkey jumps right at the glass (spread eagle). All of us screamed and then started laughing. Well, all except Jillian who was hysterically crying and took 10 minutes to calm down.

This monkey was carrying a little baby around her tummy.

This is the pride of the SA zoo....two black leopards. They are beautiful!!

Jillian loves this gigantic toad. She talks about him all of the time.

I love the hippo exhibit!! Where else can you get this close to a hippo??

After being traumatized by the monkey, and then we had another traumatic event with a bird landing on Mommy's shoulder and freaking out which caused Jillian to freak out, Jillian was not in the mood to deal with the goats.

Finally everybody started to get tired. BUT this was definitely the best trip to the zoo EVER!!! So tips to moms out there, go to the zoo on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. No crowds, good weather, happy animals, the works!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We got the tree up early this year and the kids are loving it!! Posing with our new holiday t-shirts!!

(Doesn't Jillian look like she could use that move in the WWE?? Ha ha)

Looking like such a big girl!!

I can't keep the drool off of his shirts!! It is like a sprinkler system with no off switch!

Thanksgiving Day was a success!! What makes it a success? Well, all the right food of course. We ate my favorites - turkey, green bean casserole, stuffing, potato salad, zucchini bread, jello salad, broccoli salad (made so good by my Aunt Sherry) and then desert!!! It was all so yummy!!

We started the day at Uncle Bill-Bill and Masure's house! We had my Grandma, Mike, Mom and Dad, Aunt Sherry, Shannon, Justin, our fam, and Bill's fam!

That's Gavin upside-down on the swings!!



Jillian was a little nervous around Roy's turtle.

Then later we went to the P household....

Bryan's cousin, Kristi made turkey cupcakes that were awesome!

The Cowboys were on so everyone is focused around the TV.

Finally, we tucked the kids into bed that night wearing their new Santa Claus pjs. The next month is my favorite of the year. Jillian is finally old enough to start understanding what Christmas is all about and it is so much fun to see it through young, innocent eyes!!

LOVE this picture. Wha-Bam! Right in the eye.....with that grin that says it all!!


Jillian surveying her work!!

And finally trouble is brewing....those beads are supposed to be on the tree Rocco!!!

Turkey Vacation - Day 2

We were supposed to go to the zoo today but the wind is still blowing like crazy and the kids already have snotty noses so we opted for a little indoor fun.

We went with Grammie, Aunt Masure, Uncle Bill-Bill, Roy, Gavin and Katie for an indoor playland.

The gang did the rock wall....with a little help from Bill-Bill.

They LOVED the bounce house with slide.

(Sorry for the chopped off heads! It is hard to time the pics on a bounce house slide!)

Poor Rocco had to sit the bounce house out but he didn't seem to mind!

Jillian rode with Big Bird.

Jillian got to ride the cars. That's her in the purple car!

Rocco wanted to ride but he was too little.

Riding the slide with his cousins.

Peek-a-boo!!!! (best shot of the day!!!!)

p.s. This morning, he took 5 little steps from the breakfast table to the dishwasher (it had the door down). It won't be long now!!!!

Turkey Vacation - Day 1

Did I mention that I am off for NINE days?? Isn't it GREAT??? Gotta love the Pilgrims!!!



Yesterday, I packed everyone into the stroller and walked to our neighborhood park. It was really windy but we still had fun!!



Do we have our snacks??

First was the swings!!





Jillian loved pushing (err, pulling?) Rocco in the swings.





Then, of course, we have to do the slides!!!





But this time, Rocco got to join in. He loved it just like big sis!!





They went down so fast Mommy almost missed it!!

P.S. Notice Jillian's outfit?? I got so many compliments on it!!!! One lady asked me, "where did you get such a cute top?" I said, "it's vintage." (I have ALWAYS wanted to say that!) No really, circa 1980. It used to be mine!!! Thanks Mom for taking such good care of my clothes!!

Not my usual kind of post!!

Howwwwwwwl!!!! Can you say yummy??

This summer, I started a mission. My mission was to read the Twilight saga that so many of my friends had recommended to me. It was a mission for me because I no longer am the tenacious, enthusiastic reader I once was. It was a mission for me because I have two children age 2 and under. It was a mission for me because I take care of 18 children during the day and I am exhausted when I get home at night. HOWEVER, even with all of my obstacles, I am proud to announce that I am done!! It took me 4 months to read all four novels….not too shabby considering the final novel is over 800 pages long.

In honor of the NM opening and to humor my friend Daon who is on bed rest, I will give my funny opinions about Twilight in general. (Spoiler Alert…I will talk about the end of the books for those that still want a surprise!)

Twilight – Novel 1

Twilight definitely catches your attention. Every day I wanted to get the kids tucked into bed so that I could read the next chapter. That is always a great feeling. Twilight is a great big love story. However, Twilight is very smaltzy (is that a real word?). How many ways can an author tell us that Edward and Bella love each other? They really, really love each other. They are soul mates. It is destiny. Blah, blah, blah. (and this coming from a girl who likes romance novels!) I think my biggest problem with the whole series is the basic premise…..would an average American girl really fall in love with a vampire?? I mean really?? I don’t care how hot he is, he still drinks blood for breakfast!! And the only way their relationship will work is if she becomes a vampire (b/c he doesn’t age)?? And she is die-hard about becoming a vampire!! Really? You want to drink blood too? (This is just very hard for me to accept.)

New Moon – Novel 2

New Moon is much better. In NM, Edward leaves Bella (for most of the book, Edward is MIA). For chapters and chapters, Bella is close to death with devastation of losing Edward. Sounds boring, but we get to know Jacob, Bella’s werewolf friend. His character is charming, fun and of course, he falls in love with Bella too. In this book, we learn about the Vulturri. The Vulturri is vampire royalty (with an evil twist). In the end, Bella travels to Italy to save Edward from the Vulturri and they are reunited in their love for each other. Poor Jacob!!! (Can you tell which team I am on??)

Eclipse – Novel 3

Eclipse is basically the fight of Edward and Jacob over Bella. There is some vampire danger thrown in some chapters too but it is all about Ed vs. J. Bella pretends to be torn over her feelings for both Ed and J but really, is there really a question? We know who she is going to pick b/c all she talks about is wanting to become a vampire. She is obsessed with becoming a vampire.

Breaking Dawn – Novel 4

This is by far, the best of the four novels. How does SM come up with all of these characters and plot twists??? Her imagination really is incredible. At the beginning, Ed and Bella marry and freak of all freaky, she becomes pregnant. The baby is “killing” her so as she delivers this baby, Ed turns her into a vampire to “save” her. Bell survives and they become a happy vampire threesome. Not quite!!! There is some major vampire danger thrown in from the Vulturri. There is some realllllllly weird stuff thrown in like Jacob falling in love with the baby. Evidently, they are destined to be together when she grows up?? Very hard to digest.

Bottom line is this……I really enjoyed all 4 books. I love the final message. Through the first 3 novels, Bella is portrayed as the damsel in distress. She doesn’t believe in herself, she doesn’t see herself as beautiful but clumsy and average and boring. In the finale of the fourth novel, she uses her gifts and strengths to save everybody. She becomes the heroine. I enjoyed that aspect immensely. Also for most of the characters, there is a happily ever after and I like that.

If you have made it this far, I am impressed!! Today is my LAST day of work for NINE days!!! Yay!!!

7 days until Black Friday!!! Let the season begin!!!!

Are you sleeping?

We've got multiple issues in the this house right now. One is mentioned in the previous post and the other is sleep or lack of sleep I should say.

What happened to my little darlings sleeping until 6:00 or 6:30 a.m.??? That is a thing of the past and a new era has dawned.

Last night, I hear a screaming child at 1:00 a.m. That would be Rocco. I nurse him and get him to go back to sleep. Then at 4:15 a.m. Bryan's alarm goes off and I feel there is something heavy laying across my legs. That would be Rocco. He has somehow scooted/crawled down to the end of the bed and is draped across my legs like a small (well, not so small) dog. Oh yea, that is comfortable for me. Then at 5:00 a.m., I hear the pitter-patter of little feet coming my way. She climbs into bed and snuggles next to me. She burrows her freezing feet into my side and goes back to sleep.

YOU KNOW WHO DOESN'T GO BACK TO SLEEP???? ME THAT'S WHO!!! This has become a regular habit that is starting to wear me down.

I tried to sneak out of bed at 6:00 to take a picture of them and show you how they were positioned. But I tripped on a toy and then I dropped my brand-new camera and woke them both up. Don't they look thrilled to be photographed at 6:00 a.m.???

Here is the other scenario......Rocco will occasionally sleep until about 6:45 a.m. BUT while I am getting dressed and ready for work. Someone (who will remain nameless) sneaks into Rocco's room, climbs into his crib, and wakes him up. Who could that be? Yea, you guessed it!!!

Then they start jumping!!

I am really trying to blame this new pattern on their noses. Both of them are so full of snot right now, they can barely breathe. They are both sneezing and coughing and it is just awful. So I am praying that if I can get them healthy soon, they will start sleeping through the night again.

If not, then I am in a heap of trouble. I will need a bigger bed.

Power Struggle

I already showed you how J and R have been fighting over the newly-discovered paci (which I have hidden away by the way).

There new fight is over the bouncy seat. You might be thinking, "What is there to fight over?" Aren't those kind of chairs meant for babies?"

Here is our "baby" showing her dominance of the P household and of Rocco's toys.

See the nanny-nanny-boo-boo face at poor Rocco??? I swear, we are really trying to work on her sweet and gentle nature.

And here's the other face. Mom, is she really sitting in my chair? What are you going to do about it? AND is she really wearing pink socks over her tights? Are you teaching her anything about fashion?

Yea, I was wondering that too, son!!!

10 months old

We have entered double digits!!! I cannot believe time is flying by so fast!!

Rocco's unbelievable weight gain and growth have finally leveled off. He is very active now and I think all of this moving around is finally burning off all of the calories he has been consuming!!!

Speaking of eating, well actually drinking, Rocco has finally decided that he will take a bottle. Actually 2 8 oz. bottles from his daycare teachers only. It only took him 10 months. Can you see the stubborness that I have to deal with???

His good eating has taken a slight detour. He no longer is really interested with the jars of baby food. He is wanting real food BUT he is not really open to trying new things. This is what he will eat....Cheerios, Cheerios, Cheerios with a small helping of Cheeze Its (guess from who? Poppy), yogurt, pancakes and noodles alfredo. What a diet!!!! We try everyday to get him to eat somethings a little more nutritional but so far, not interested. But we will keep trying.....

Otherwise, he is pulling up and standing without holding on to anything for about 5 seconds, but he has not taken any unassisted steps.

He said Da-Da weeks ago, but really doesn't say it with any regularity.

He and Jillian have really started to interact and play together. More accurately, Jillian tells him what to do and will drag him around until he does it. But it is still really fun to watch and see the potential of what they will be.

At 10 months, the photo shoot was realllllllly hard. He was like the Lord....everywhere.

Here he is standing!!

I tried to give him some cheese but that backfired as he spread it all over the floor.

Finally, I love this shot. There is something about it that is all boy. I can see the little boy that he will become and it is so darn sweet and adorable and stinkerish at the same time!!