July and Mic's birthday

Well, if I can remember way back to July, I could recount for you what we did. I know we spent the 4th at Cate's house and then the girls went out in the desert and watched the fireworks. Great show! Especially for RC. Giulia really enjoyed it and I was glad we weren't at the fairgrounds because G thought the fireworks were loud enough out where we were. The stupid part was the idiot boys near us who thought it was smart to light off fireworks in the middle of the tumbleweeds. We didn't hang around to see what trouble they got into. Once the show was done, we headed out.
The hard part of the night was coming home, everyone was gone and all the lights were out. Beth and Mike had already given notice that they were moving out of their apartment 16 steps away, and while I was (and still am) very happy for them, that was the first night that it hit me how lonely it would feel coming home to this complex without Beth right across the way. We have three empty apartments now, so just pray that we get some great neighbors in the complex. I get to choose one of my new neighbors at least. :D

July 08

Let's see, we had some good rain this month. Cricket laughs because even though our two storms flooded Ridgecrest, it was still under 2 inches of rain. The kids had fun playing in it and I just loved the smell. We're paying the price now though, with the increase in flies and mosquito's. Yuck! It reminds me of all the good things about the desert. With humidity and water comes more bugs.

The highlight of the month was the purchase of Giulia's new trike. She loves it and can pedal very well. It has a handy handle on it so that I can steer too, which comes in handy when we walk/trike to swim class. It means she can't steer into the street. :D I'm still in control, yeah. Rachel liked it so much that Beth had to go out and get her one too. She's learning to pedal, but feels like such a big girl on her trike.

August started out with Mic's birthday. We headed up to Mammoth to deliver some bikes but also hoping that Mic could get in a good bike ride. We spent the night in Big Pine at a hotel and were woken up early on Mic's birthday by the air raid sirens that apparently the local volunteer fire department uses all the time. Not a very pleasant way to wake up. Giulia woke up by the third blast not looking very happy and asking what the noise was. I told her it was happy birthday horns for Daddy and that brought a smile to her face. She had been waiting for days for her Daddy's birthday, so she hopped out of bed and ran over to her Daddy to tell him Happy birthday too. Then she insisted we get him his present then and there. As any two year old, she had already told him that she had gotten him a present and, of course, what it was. It was very cute. They broke out the blocks and played with them right there in the hotel room. We enjoyed strawberry waffles at the local diner and then headed the rest of the way up to Mammoth. Mic never got his bike ride in, choosing instead to just hang out with us. Who can blame him, we're cute! Lots of playing outside and just good ol' family time. Perfect! We headed home, stopping in Lone Pine for a milk shake and park time. On the way into town, Mom and Dad invited us to stop for dinner. Thanks for the BBQ chicken.

Mic's birthday 08

Church on Sunday and then over to spend the day with Donna and Angelo. They took us to the new Sushi place in town, Miso sushi, which was a lot of fun. Everyone enjoyed trying new things and I checked the menu out for when I'm not pregnant and can enjoy my favorite spider rolls again. :D I had to settle for chicken which was still good, but not the same. The best part of the evening was the laughter that was shared by all. Giulia had the most contagious joy (she has this hiccup-y giggle when she is REALLY enjoying herself that just captures our hearts), I hope you can see it in the pictures, especially the "pass the chopstick" game. We finished the night at home with a jello cup and candle for Daddy. Giulia finally got to sing him happy birthday. 32 years and Mic is a very happy, dedicated family man and I don't think he could be happier. We'll see about next year, when he has two rug rats running around.

We love you all, God Bless!
Sum

May and June have come and gone....

Oh, life has been flying by...and I have been unable to document a good portion of it because our Camera died. Thankfully Donna, in desperate need to get her calendar this Christmas, offered to buy us a new camera as our baby gift. I got it right before Giulia's first dance performance. Whew, just in time!

So, May brought Cricket, Anthony and Riley out for two weeks to visit, bringing the news that they are also pregnant again. They are due on January 9, which was Giulia's original due date. We're exactly two months apart, so we'll have another set of close cousins. We had some fun playing games with string and needles trying to find out if we're having boys or girls. I think we decided Cricket is having a girl and I'm having a boy. We'll see this winter. :D

we had lots of fun seeing Riley and Giulia together and watching all the new sneaking ways they've developed for getting each other in trouble. Actually, just Riley was sneaky, Giulia as always was very obvious in her hair pulling and toe biting. When you leave teeth marks, it's very hard to pretend you're sneaky. But still, they seem to like each other very much and enjoyed each other immensely.

May 2008

Giulia also had her first dance recital at the end of May, luckily, we had our camera by then....because we got lots of pictures of that. Aunt Cate put on four Hans Christian Anderson shows. The little mermaid, The ugly duckling, Thumbelina and the Nightingale. Giulia was an egg in Duckling and a bumblebee in Thumbelina. The egg dance was a follow the leader where all the eggs were supposed to follow the mama duck and do what she did. It was adorable! The bumblebee was a free dance where they could dance however they liked and G stole the show Friday night. She was dancing across the front of the stage and everyone laughed, so she did it again in the other direction. Cute! The entire show was amazing! Cate has such vision and I am always amazed at how well her shows turn out. Nightingale was like a small cirque du soleil. Her intermediate dancers were trees and garden flowers and were on stage almost the entire time. It added such great visual effects! Cate's advanced dancers were amazing. It's nice to see them show to show and watch their growth.

June....we've gotten to see baby #2 quite a few times. At our 12 week like usual, but when we had our 4mos, the Dr. asked us if we were going to do the genetic testing and we said the only thing we cared about was spina bifida because that is the only one you treat differently in utero. He told us there was no need to worry about that because that was easiest to tell on the ultrasound, so we went and looked at the baby. Then, our 20 week appointment which is when you normally find out the sex, we got to see the baby again, but we avoided the bottom region so we still don't know what our little darling is and that's fine. It's moving around fine and smiles at us, points it's fingers and gave us some good pics. It has a totally differently chin than Giulia did, so this one might have my jawline instead of Mic's. I have a scanner now, so once it's hooked up I'll scan one of the ultrasound pics in to share too. That should only take another two months or so. :D

We have gone camping several times and have made some trips up to Mammoth mountain. One with Giulia and one without. Giulia loves being out doors and climbing rocks. We have to be careful of rattle snakes out here, but so far we haven't found any. I hope it stays that way. Giulia and Mic have been swimming out in Grandmama's pool and we've spent lots of time with family. The end of the month was the best thought, because Annie, Taylor, Vivian, Ray and all his clan came out for a week. We knew Ray was going to make it, but we didn't think we'd see Heather and the kids till Nov when they'll come out for a month uncle Ray is on Cruise. All of my sibs were here again and it was great. 8 Grand kids 10 and under, mine will be #9 on our side, were busy swimming and bringing out all of Grandmama's fisher price people and houses. Giulia didn't skip a beat and jumped right in. She and Therese are 8 mos apart and really enjoyed each other. She and Rachel are 9 mos apart the other way and I believe they think they are sisters not cousins.

June 2008

We had lots of get togethers and reasons to celebrate. A BBQ at our house where Mike blessed us all by making his fabulous ribs, Colum's bday, a huge bike ride for the boys, a surprise baby shower for me (thank you very much!) and our monthly tea party on Sunday. The pictures will tell it best, but it was all wonderful! I wish our family could be together like this more often. Kids grow so quickly and I of course now enjoy my siblings and their spouses and actually want to hang out with them.

Marshall visit, June 2008

Remember, family is the greatest blessing. don't take it for granted because you won't always be together.

God Bless and take care!

PS- if you haven't already figure it out, you can download full albums or just individual photos off of our blog and web albums. Enjoy them, because I sure do!

Busy, busy April!

Well everyone we love, we had a busy April. We made it out to Colorado for Christy's baby shower on the 5th. Giulia and I got to spend an entire week out there with friends and then Mic joined us half way through. We got to share our exciting news with those of you we saw. For those who weren't in Colorado that week, We are pregnant with #2. We are due in early Nov and we are all very excited! Giulia understands that there is a baby in my belly. It really helped that she got to see Christy's 9 mos belly, because that helped her see how my belly would grow. She liked to look at Christy and my belly and say hi to the babies.

She is being a great big sister and making lots of cute statements. She says it's not a baby it's a Power Ranger and that if it's a girl she wants to name it Mermaid. She can't decided if it's a boy or a girl. If Daddy's around, it's always a boy, but if Grandmama is around, it's a girl. We're going to annoy everyone again by not finding out the sex. We really enjoyed the surprise with Giulia and we're doing it again.

We spent the week in Colorado sharing our joyous news and seeing friends. We took Giulia to the Zoo for her first time. She loved it! So many animals and even some peacocks she could chase. I spent time at Christy's helping her get ready for her baby which arrived April 27, 2008. Welcome Isabella Anne! Giulia's favorite part was the airplane ride. On the way home we got to travel with Mic on the plane. It was a very relaxing trip with the parents out numbering the children.

Co 2008

We came home for a week and then headed out with Grandmama to Alabama to visit Uncle Ray and family. We took a red eye, which went as well as a red eye can. We arrived a little tired, but Mom still had the energy to head to the Montgomery Zoo with the kids, including Giulia, while I took a nap. Heather is a great planner and this weekend was no exception. We went for Joella's First Communion and after that went to a Tea house. We got to wear hats and it was quite fun, even the little kids enjoyed it and nothing broke! Success! We had a birthday party for Mom with an Asian theme. Yummy Green Tea Muffins. Sunday we went to a baseball game to celebrate Joella's birthday. We got to see the Montgomery Biscuits lose to the opposing team, whoever they were. As you can tell I didn't really pay attention. The kids loved it because they have a child area with blow up slides and bouncy rooms. It was kid day, so they had owls, snakes and a hedgehog from the zoo, a coloring/craft room and a balloon guy who made whatever kids wanted. He was quite impressive. Giulia got a bouquet of flowers but we saw Tinkerbell(actually all the Disney princesses), monkeys, Bugs bunny and many other animals that he just created from memory.

alabama08

We arrived home in time for our first Dr. appointment for the baby. Mic and I went together and we met baby number 2. It's little, but moving and it's little heart is beating away. Mic says his favorite part is always the heart beat. He asked if I had a "feeling" toward the sex and I said no. I just got the feeling that it's not as high energy as Giulia. There, I said it and you can all laugh at me when it comes out running circles around me. It just wasn't moving like Giulia did at her first ultra sound. We could always start a bet on the sex. Most days I feel like it's a girl. I've been sick again and I just feel that it has to be a girl because it's already competing for control with Mom.

The rest of April passed quickly and now we are onto May. We went camping this weekend, but you'll have to check back for those pictures.

We hope everyone is doing well and we'd love to hear from you. Write comments, or just give us a call.

lagbs

April Fool's Day

Can you believe it? No one played a single April fools joke on anyone I knew today. Kind of sad. Donna gave Giulia a Christmas card with stickers, but that was as close as we came to a joke. I couldn't even think of a good one to put up on the blog. Sad, no imagination!

Well, I can always just catch up with pics of Giulia. We've been busy I guess doing what Mommies and babies do best. Playing and crying, climbing (on everything, even me)and jumping, putting together puzzles very well and then dumping them once she's done and they're all put back together, reading books and then ripping books apart, being good and then oh, so rotten! She is TWO and I'm scared! The other morning their wasn't a minute that she wasn't getting into something and really getting into trouble. From emptying her drawers, in a minute flat, to carving with pencil into my coffee table to finding the biggest, heaviest toy we have to smash into Rachel's face. And yes, I saw her pass over a small toy to pick up the big one, I just didn't realize what she wanted to do with it. Ah, and that was all this week.

We had a very nice Easter. Bethany and I decided to have all the Grandparents over to our complex to have a brunch and an Egg hunt. It worked out great. We enjoyed Heather's Dad's french toast bake, deviled eggs and Bethany's famous spiral Ham. YUUMMMMYYYYY!! The egg hunt was a blast. The girls kept up with Michael very well. They enjoyed a few treats, but mostly toys and stickers and balloons inside the eggs. After the Grandparents went home we pulled out their brand new water table, complete with water guns, and began getting wet. See the pics, they had fun!

Easter 08

A little update on the Keysville Race....it went great. We had 5 or so riders there and they were all on the podium. We had two 1st places in the overall stage race and lots of first, second, thirds throughout. It was an exciting weekend and we were really happy so many great guys came out to help.

We will be heading out to Colorado next week for my friend Christy's baby shower. It's a good excuse to finally make it out there. Giulia and I will be there for a week and Mic is coming out in the middle sometime for 4 days. I can't wait to see all of our friends and catch up with everyone. Plus, it'll be nice to be back in some cold weather before we really start our summer here.

April is looking busy for us. We get back Sat the 12th and I turn back around to go down to LA with Bethany and her class to see "Wicked." I"m excited, it's one of the few musicals that I really want to see. The next weekend, Mom, Giulia and I are headed to Alabama to visit Ray and Family for Joella's first Communion. Come home and it's Dr. appointments and bday's galore. May might hold a European trip for us, but we'll see. At the end of May is Giulia' first dance show. She'll be an egg in the Ugly duckling and a Bumble bee in the Nightingale. It's a Hans Christian Anderson theme. Cate is also doing the Little Mermaid and Thumbalina. Cate is amazing with what she comes up with for these shows. I'll try to help more when I'm back Cate!

Love to you all and have a wonderful spring!

Summer

Princess Dremel says Hi

Well, March has flown by already! Half way over and I feel like we haven't done anything. This weekend we are going camping up in Keysville. Mic is already up there and Giulia and I will follow tonight or tomorrow. Mic will be working since Bionicon will be the title sponsor, there will be plenty to do and lots of bikes for Giulia to look at.

We've kept busy this month by joining a playgroup now that we have Rachel during the week. It's warming up so we have been outside a lot! Parks, walks, riding with Daddy, hikes and all that fun stuff. We have to enjoy it before it gets too hot. Another summer in HOT Ridgecrest. I'm actually not that bummed about it. I've learned that this town really isn't all that bad. Funny, how your brain gets stuck in a time and doesn't realize that all things change with time, not just the things that surround you.

March 08

This will be short, but I've got to pack for camping. Yeah!!!!

lagbs

Las Vegas and fun, fun fun...

The funny thing is, we went to Vegas and didn't take many pictures. Hmmm, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. No one has any proof of what we did. :D Most of it was pretty PG. We went to the M&M store for Giulia, played in an arcade without spending a single quarter (Giulia is still pretty easy to please). Mic and I had a date afternoon and went to the Bodies exibit at the Tropicana, which was amazing! It is truely a work of art to see the human body like that. It shows the amazing things that God can do. Things that we will never be able to figure out, no matter how hard we try. The baby room was a little hard. I found myself praying that all the babies were natural deaths as the sign said. It said the bodies were donated, but it is so easy to smear the line espcially when fetuses are concerned. We study the human body to learn more, I just hope we can find ways to do it while still respecting the gift that life is.

We stayed at the MGM and spent lots of great time with Giulia in front of the Lion habitat which is inside the MGM, she also really enjoyed the animated alligator by the Rain Forest cafe. As any good Las Vegas tourist we spent and evening walking the strip. We saw the Bellagio water show and Giulia loved all the lights, but I think her favorite was "the big treats." Yes, that would be the giant M&M's.

end of Feb 08

Christy and I got a girls night out and had a great dinner with lots of girly chit chat about babies, husbands, teaching and life in RC. Anthony joined us after to see Zummanity, the sensual side of Cirque du Soleil. I was ready for sexy dancing and knew their would be some nudity, but it was different than I thought. shjhjej (from Giulia) They had a commedy act that came in and split up the dances and it was a little crass, funny sometimes, but crass. I was amazed at the acrobatic feats and the dancing. The african tribal dance was amazing! The rope tricks were also a fav of mine. I would love to swing from the ceiling like that! I did enjoy the show and would love to go see another Cirque.

Since Vegas, we have been busy at home. My Dad spent a week in a wheel chair for some lock up in his lower back that prevented him from walking. My mother had to go down to the CCD congress by herself which got cut short because my brother in law Mike ended up in the hospital due to an absess tooth. He's on the mend and might be home today. It's been up and down and all over lately and I think all of us would just like a normal couple of weeks before Easter.

I am watching my neice Rachel now M-F and it's been great. She is such and easy going kid. She and Giulia get along great! Giulia enjoys acting like an older sibling which make me think she's needs one of her own soon. Now we just need Mic to stay home long enough to convince him. :D

Yes, he is off on another Bionicon road trip. Might be three days this week. In two weeks Bionicon is title sponsoring the Keysville Classic so he's pretty busy promoting it and getting his name into shops. I am a Bionicon widow for the next two weeks I fear. At least I get to keep busy cleaning our house to get ready for company and Easter.

Well, the girls are beggin me to take them to the park, so off we go. Love to you all and have a wonderful March!

lagb, Sum

Snow!

It finally snowed down to 3,000 feet, so Mic, Giulia and I headed to the mountains. We went to Chimney Peak which is on the way to Lake Isabella. It was lovely up there and Giulia had a blast! She didn't want to go back to the car and she lead the way, which in the spirit of her Daddy, was always uphill. The pictures were accidentally attached to Jan's post, so look again to see G in the snow.

FEB 2008

We have been busy for this first half of Feb, and by we, I mean Mic. He is traveling at least two days a week and working 30 hr days the rest. Giulia and I just try to have the house clean and meals ready whenever he can come home. It's been a little hard on me since I had him here for most of Dec and Jan. It was a nice break for us to be together as a family, but we never got a real vacation. We didn't make it to Colorado, although we are still trying, but it's getting busier and busier. We have lots planned for the spring, bike stuff(of course) but friends coming in and a trip to Alabama in April. We're supposed to try and make it to Italy in May too. This spring should fly by!

This weekend we are heading to Las Vegas to spend the weekend with Christy and Anthony, friends from CO. Christy and I get a girls night where we'll go see Cirque du Soleil's "O" at the Bellagio. It's a water show and I am really looking forward to it. Part of me has always dreamed of being a synchronized swimmer. I'm sure Mic and Anthony will have some time to go and gamble. I've been looking online for some fun things for Giulia too.

We have been reading a lot with Giulia and working on her ABC's. She is talking very well. The other morning, she said a 13 word sentence about a movie with an apple on the cover. Amazing what has happened in two years! She notices things that astound me. Driving the other day, she notice a mickey mouse antenna ball on the car next to us. WOW!

It's warming up, so we play outside a lot with Michael and Rachel and go for walks. Her ballet class is every Tues and she really looks forward to it. She talks about it all week. You can't mention "tuesday" without her adding that she has dance class. We cook dinner for Mic's parents once a week and I still have lunch with my mother every Thursday. It's great to be here. I am even getting to help Mic's sister, Cate, with her show. In May, her dance show will be Hans Christian Andersons' The Little Mermaid, The Nightengale, Thumbelina and the Ugly Duckling, in which Giulia will be an egg. :D

We'll post again after our trip when we have more pictures.
God Bless,
Summer