Merry Christmas!!!

Weekend in Lancaster

We had planned to head out to DC last weekend, but a nasty ice storm (which wound up being just a small snowstorm) changed those plans. Instead we headed about an hour away to Lancaster, PA, and had a great time!

We stayed in a hotel that was shaped like a steamship. It was super cute, and we had a room near the indoor pool, which Dominic was thrilled about!

While we were there we checked out the Christmas Museum. It was full of lots of wonderful displays with Santas from around the world, train tables, and nativity scenes. As we were leaving, one of the docents asked Dominic what his favorite part was. After thinking for a moment he replied, "I saw Jesus." Awwwww!

We also visited the Hands On Museum which, while a bit small, was nevertheless entertaining for the boys, who had been a bit frustrated with the previous museum where they couldn't touch anything! They loved being able to manipulate the various activities, build things, and dress up.

The following weekend we also visited Byer's Choice, which is practically in our backyard. We had no idea this wonderful exhibit was so close to us! We went to see La Befana, but were enthralled by the Victorian town and all the displays. Even the boys said they wanted to come back again soon!

So, despite the fact that it's FREAKING COLD here, we're managing to stay busy. :)

Adoption Ornaments and Personalized Ornaments

I had fun making this one!! I hope it's a big seller!

Available here:

http://www.cafepress.com/forthischild/4248671

Snow already?

Thank goodness I've been working away at purchasing sweaters, snowsuits, and snow boots, because the white stuff is here!!

We woke up on December 1st to find everything covered in a white blanket of snow. It wasn't much, but enough for snow angels and snow ball fun.

Then today it started snowing again. There have been flurries for the past few days, but nothing sticks. Well, today it's sticking! The boys are beyond thrilled. They've been asking about snow ever since we moved here, and now their wish has been granted. All I have to do now is buy a sled!

Christmas is around the corner!!!!!

I have been working away at this adoption fundraiser project for awhile, and the site is finally up. I will be tweaking it and possiblyadding more products, but please bookmark the site and post it onevery single board you can think of! E-mail it to all your friends,too!

http://www.cafepress.com/forthischild

To give you some background, the project began forming when I fell for a little boy in Armenia named Davit, who is waiting to beadopted. Not being able to adopt him at this time, I wanted to dosomething, anything, to help him find his forever family. Thus theonline shop. 100% of profits will go to Hopscotch Adoptions to formgrants to assist in the adoption of Davit and other special needschildren. I absolutely trust Hopscotch because the executivedirector, Robin Sizemore, was an integral part of our own adoption.

To learn more about Hopscotch, Davit, or other special needs orphanswaiting for their forever families, visit

http://www.hopscotchadoptions.org/ and

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/otherangels.htm

Thank you for your support and helping to spread the word!!!!

Happy Halloween!

Dominic was Spiderman, Christian was a knight, and Andy & I didn't feel like dressing up this year so we went as ourselves. :) We all had a great time!!

Christian is THREE today!

I can't believe how quickly he's growing up!

I woke up this morning to a little boy with his arms full of gifts saying "look what I got!!" He had woken up early and, rather than waking me up, went downstairs and opened all the gifts I had waiting for him. LOL! He was so excited and was telling me about all his presents.

We asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday, and he wants to eat hot dogs, have a white cake, and cook marshmallows. Works for me! So we're preparing for a cook out tonight. Thankfully, the weather has been gorgeous!

I will post pics as soon as I upload them tonight!

The training wheels are off!

Dominic has been begging us to take his training wheels off for some time now, and we finally got around to it. It didn't take him long to get the hang of it, and now he can make the circle in front of our home all by himself. Way to go, Dominic!

I went to a mosque for the first time one Monday. It was a VERY interesting cultural experience, and pleasant, too.

I have been teaching my class about Ramadan, which has been fascinating to me, to see how similar some Islamic beliefs are with Christianity. Monday was "Interfaith Fast for Peace" Day and the local mosque invited the community to fast and then come by at 6:30 to pray and break the fast with a communal meal. One of my student's parents invited me, so I gladly went.

As I approached the building I could see all the men in neat rows standing in prayer. I approached the door and a young man directed me to a different set of doors at the rear of the building. Duh! Forgot how men & women are separated in mosques, so I went to the back. Removed my shoes at the entrance and entered a scene of chaos compared to the men's room. Women were trying to pray as children chased each other around the room, laughing and playing. It was hilarious. The kids were having such a great time. I took Christian with me and he kept telling me "This church is fun!" LOL! Compared the our Catholic mass, I could see how he thought this was more fun!

I couldn't hear the prayers (poor speaker system combined with the children's chaos), which I was disappointed about . At the end of the service a man (the leader, I guess) spoke some very nice words about peace, and the meaning of Ramadan and fasting. He then invited anyone who wanted to speak to say a few words. As the room was divided by a partition, we couldn't see any of the men but could hear them. They then asked if any women wanted to speak, and two did (both non-Muslim guests) and the microphone was passed through a curtain to us. It still seems so odd to me how divided we were...even in as simple a task as passing a mic, no faces were seen...just a hand through a curtain. We didn't even eat together...the men ate in their room and the women & children in ours.

The food was INCREDIBLE! I don't know exactly what I ate but I loved it. I'll have to find out what it was so I can try it again.

So, I just wanted to share that experience. I'm pretty ignorant about Islam, so it's been very enlightening to learn more about the Muslim faith and culture, and see the similarities that exist (ie. the women with covered heads reminded me of Catholic nuns; Ramadan serves to remind Muslims to be peaceful, helpful, patient, and thankful, much like we are taught as Christians). I think if we (both Christians & Muslims) could see the similarities in our beliefs we might find some common ground to begin building peace with.

I survived the boys' birthday party, and everyone had a great time, I think. :) Since their birthdays are only 1 month apart and they have all the same friends, we had one party to celebrate Dominic's 5th and Christian's 3rd birthdays. We had a simple backyard cookout with a few of our new friends. We made it a costume party so the kids could dress up. I had a blast decorating the boys' cakes and cupcakes for the guests. I'm glad they were a big hit. It really was fun to do!

The pinata was a lot of fun, too.

The boys were so tickled when everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to them, and of course they loved all their gifts and had to play with ALL of them at once.

Here's to a fun birthday party, and hopefully many, many more to come!

Dominic is FIVE today!

Hard to believe that my baby is getting so big. I think he had a wonderful birthday. He received some wonderful gifts, like the remote control cars he has wanted for so long, birthday cards that play music and sounds, and a guinea pig, or "Skinny Pig" as Dominic calls it. He just adores his little pet and likes to snuggle him, sing him songs, and feed him spinach.

We made cupcakes last night for Dominic to take to school. He wanted a dog themed party, so I bought little plastic dogs to top each cupcake with. I heard they were a hit. We ended the day with a trip to Chuck E Cheese. It was a fun birthday...I'm glad Dominic enjoyed his special day.

Thursday, September 19th is
Talk Like A Pirate Day!

Have fun! Click here for tips on how to talk like a pirate!

Hershey & Chocolate World

I will add more pics & details ASAP! :)

Forgive me for getting all political on my mommy blog, but this story upset me so much that I had to vent somewhere, and you're my audience. It disgusts me to no end that people in our country still think it's OK to mistreat, violate, humiliate, and otherwise dehumanize a person because of their skin color. It is beyond my comprehension how ANYONE could treat another human being this way. I am absolutely disgusted. You can read the awful story here.

THIS is why I feel so strongly about the Peace School program I am teaching and helping to develop at my YMCA. If we can teach our children about love, peace, and respect, then we are laying the foundation for a better tomorrow. If you'd like to learn more about the Living Values project (and maybe encourage your local school to implement the program!) please click here.

Peace. Shalom. Pace. Paz. To you and yours.

WILDWOOD, NJ



Is there anything more fun than a day at the beach? This is my idea of heaven. I have been itching to get to the beach since we moved here and we finally made it. I haven't been to the beach since Okinawa (OK, we went to Galveston for Mardi Gras and visited the beach but I was wearing a winter coat so that doesn't count) and have really missed the sound of the waves, the gulls cries, and the sand squishing under my feet.

The boys headed straight for the water and were fearless. They loved being pushed by the waves and splashing in the surf. It's times like this that I really miss living on an island. If we were in Okinawa now the boys would have been at the beach several times a week over the summer. They would have loved it. They are both such water babies and delight in swimming and playing in the sand. We can't wait to return to the shore!

While we were there we checked out the boardwalk. Wow! I've never seen anything like that before. The crowds, the lights, the music and noise...it was overwhelming but exciting at the same time. We plan to return soon when we have more time (we only went for the day, and spent most of it on the beach) and more cash in our pockets (the boys wanted to ride the ferris wheel and play several of the arcade games). I'm sure it will become one of those things that we will miss after we have moved from this area in three years.

Blogger now has a new feature where I can add video clips to my entries, so I'm trying it out. I'm posting a clip of when we first got to the beach. If it works I'll add another clip of the boys after they've splased around a bit. Enjoy! :)

Wiggles & Cowboys...

We attended our third Wiggles concert last weekend. As always, we had a great time. Missed Greg, but Sam was great, too. We didn't get to meet any of the Wiggles this time, but Dominic held up the sign he decorated which got Sam to wave at him and prompted Anthony to say hi to him from the stage. That was exciting!

I'm also including some cowboy pics I took yesterday. My mother made these adorable little chaps which the boys had fun posing in.

This & that....

I have been so excited to read replies to my posts. I was starting to think I was all alone here. LOL! Susie, LOVE your responses. You crack me up! And yes, you are a leader. I overthink things, too. Like the fact that someone deleted their own reply. What did they write and why did they have to delete it? Who was it? Now I will be wondering about that all day. Reply deleter, whoever you are, you've really messed with my head!! LOL!

I keep forgetting to share some news here. First, for those who don't know it yet, my sister & Marc are engaged. Woo hoo! I'm thrilled for them!!! I can't wait for the pirate wedding! What will I wear?

Second piece of exciting news: there is an article about my brother's car in the CURRENT issue of High Performance Pontiac. I'm going to B&N tonight to pick up a copy for myself. Be sure to check it out when you're in the book store!!

Third bit of news: I got a job! I'll be teaching a class called "Peace Program for Preschoolers" four afternoons a week at the local YMCA. They boys will be in my class, and I'm very excited about it. The program sounds wonderful. It's all about teaching young children about respect, responsibilty, and problem solving. We'll be learning about many international cultures and hopefully fostering a sense of open mindedness in the children. In our crazy world today we can use more PEACE and UNDERSTANDING, and I'm happy that I can possibly play a small part in that process.

Now to sad news....please keep a friend of mine, Karen, in your prayers. She lost her husband and best friend yesterday to a heart attack. They have a 4 year old son, and my heart breaks that he has lost his father. Please pray for her to have strength in the difficult days ahead. And hold your loved ones close, as life is fragile. Carpe diem.

Here's what I have been "tagged" to do:1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I really like big band music, like Louie Prima and Brian Setzer, and enjoy swing dancing when I get the chance. We used to dance every week in Houston, but now that we have kids we're limited to the rare night out. It's still fun.

2. I hate cheese. Really. Not sure why but the smell makes me sick. This is the worst thing that could ever happen to an Italian. Really.

3. I love to travel. I've been to Italy, France, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Mexico, Japan, China, Australia, Russia, and the Reublic of Georgia. My passport is so cool...it has stamps from all these places, plus two visas with typos (one from China and one from ROG that says I'm "Andrew") along with the corrected visas.

4. I believe that if you are not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. Which is probably why I wind up leading almost every group I join. LOL.

5. I really like the color pink. It may be because I live with three males and I'm overcompensating for the lack of femininity in my house, but I really think it's just that I like the color. It's pretty.

6. I was born in Italy and am trilingual (English, Italian, and Spanish). I'd like to learn more languages if I get the chance.

7. I enjoy doing crafts, even though I'm not great at them. I just purchased a craft table for myself in the hopes that I'll finally have the time to sit down and tackle the many projects that have been piling up.

8. I believe in "carpe diem". I try to make the most of every opportunity that is presented to me and to enjoy every moment as if it might be my last. I also dream of helping to make the world a better place, in whatever small way I can.

I don't know 8 people who blog, so I'm only "tagging" Susan, Sarah & Emily! :)

We're back online! After a move halfway across the US and a month without internet access we are back in cyberworld. :) The move went well, aside from Christian taking a nasty blow to the eye when he hit a coffee table. First night on the road, strange room, strange town...why not visit the local ER? It looked really bad, but, thankfully, nothing was broken. A month later he still has a black eye and a scar...that's how bad it was! He has such a wonderful spirit, though. When I had him look in the mirror, he LAUGHED at his reflection and said, "I only have one eye! I'm a pirate!" He thought it was cool! Here is a video clip that captures his attitude about the whole thing:
http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=157841&cdate=20070721&ctime=140209


Otherwise, the move went smoothly and the boys are enjoying their new home. They've handled the changes very well and have made several new friends in the neighborhood.


Here are some recent pics. One is of our wonderful but brief visit with the Baileys, friends from Okinawa. Another is to show that we brought our boots with us from Texas (that is all Christian will wear!). Then there's a pic from a recent visit by my brother, Johnny (can you guess which city we've moved to?). Finally some fun shots from our visit to the zoo.

We enjoyed a lazy weekend on Lake Texoma this past weekend. We stayed at a cabin on a military recreation facility there and had fun boating, pelting each other with "bombs", blowing bubbles, and just hanging out. I'm not sure whether I want to post pictures because the water was pretty ugly. It's rained recently so the water is brown and the "beaches" are full of wood, so they aren't the prettiest pictures. Still, it was fun. The boys loved driving the pontoon boat we rented, and they didn't mind swimming in the lake...they loved it! I will share this clip made on our first day there, though. Make sure you catch Dominic's reaction when he sees his Daddy. Dominic loves to watch this clip over and over and crack up about it. I thought it might give you a laugh, too. Enjoy!!

http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=157841&cdate=20070525&ctime=115824

It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's sleeping PIRATE COWBOY KID! Christian loves to dress himself, and he always has a hat, sunglasses, boots, or some other accessory on that he has personally selected. He always knows exactly what he wants to wear.

The pics on the swing capture his sweetness and awesome smile.

Tonight was Dominic's soccer party, ending the spring season. He loves to play soccer, and he's a natural at the sport. It's flattering to receive comments from so many people telling us how good he is. I wish we could take credit, but it's nothing we've taught him! The best part about it, though, is that he really enjoys it and has made so many friends.

Happy Easter!