I just wanted to say that you are my most favorite Michael Jr and Nicholas in the whole wide world! I love you SO much!

LOVE

Happy Valentine's Day to my little loves! Everyday we tell and show eachother how much we love eachother but today is a special day to do something extra special, never pass up an opportunity to tell someone you love them! And you will learn as you get older and older and fall in love and have a girlfriend and wife someday that they will appreciate (and kind of expect) flowers, chocolate and jewlery on Valentine's day..... so save yourself the argument (ha, ha) and remeber to show them everyday but especially on Valentine's day how much you care :)
Thanks so much to you both and daddy too for my beautiful boquet of flowers and my lovely cards and my oh SO special book... GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU recorded with your voices, it's so special and it's something I will cherish forever and ever!!!! And yes Michael you did make me cry! Thanks for making me so incredible happy, I am so lucky to have you both to LOVE!

Happy Valentine's Day Michael and Nicholas!

GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU????........... TO THE MOON AND BACK

I LOVE YOU, LOVE MOMMY

My favorite Valentine's day present...cards you picked out for me and wrote your names on...I LOVE them, thank you so much!!!

Oh and this one made me cry...a recordable book GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU with daddy's and Michael's voices....LOVE YOU TO THE MOON AND BACK!

My Valentine's

Our Valentine's day craft that we made, it turned out really cute :)

Michael Jr working hard on his owl heart Valentine

Daddy surprised you both with a goodie bag when he came home from work...filled with candy and toy cars, a book and magic towel and lots more candy...you both were so excited and ate sooooo much candy!!!

And daddy surprised me with flowers!!!!! Thanks Mike, I love you so much too.... I am so lucky to have you and the boys!

Tick tock

Just wondering where the time has gone? I am sitting here while you nap and filling out Preschool admission forms and I can't believe you are that old already....seriously where has the time gone? I sure hope time slows down a bit. Sometimes,I wish I had a magic button to press to stop time and just enjoy the moment longer and rewind and relive some amazing and happy moments and maybe even a fast forward button(which I would use very cautiously) to speed up when you are hurt or sad so the pain and suffering wouldn't last long. I never understood when I was little and I would hear grownups say how fast time flies or don't blink because before you know it you'll be all grownup. But now that I have you two,my own little pocket watches...recording and tracking time.... everday I am reminded of how fast time is, each new day you are a little bigger, a little older and a little smarter and I just can't believe Michael you are already 3 1/2 and Nicholas is 18 months old. Since I can't stop time, for now I am just truly enjoying every minute!

I love you To the Moon and Back!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New year to my little boy blues :) Of course I'm excited for 2012 but I'm always a little sad to see time go, and a little uncertain of what the future holds. As I reflect on 2011 I am reminded of how extremly blessed and happy I am! I have so so so many wonderful memories of my family, of you Michael and Nicholas...I have no complaints, no regrets. In 2011 I got to watch Nicholas grow from a little baby to a walking and exploring and almost talking little boy...Michael I can't believe how much you have grown and learned this past year too. In 2011 we enjoyed each other at the beach (one of my most favorite vacation spots)and I loved seeing your faces when the waves touched your piggy toes or when you built the BIGGEST sand castle ever or when you ate huge crab legs....I loved making memmories with you :) I'd have to say one of my favorite highlights of 2011 was daddy getting a new job... not so much for the money (which is nice though) but because of the time he now can spend with us, with his boys and because of all the time in the future that he will be there for... the games he won't miss, the dinners he won't miss, the goodnight kisses he'll be home for.... I am so happy you won't ever remeber his busy season or his absence and I am so grateful for his new job and schedule. As we say good bye to 2011 I am smiling because it was a good year, a year that brought us closer together as a family a year that I will remeber Nicholas turning one and walking and Michael being a smarty pants 3 yr old and the two of you playing and wrestling and tackling each other on the living room floor, I am sure it will be a year down the road that I will remeber and look back on and wish I still had you two so little, still rolling around on the floor and wrestling. Even though I am always sad to see how fast time is flying by I am still excited for the coming year, excited to see what adventures we'll have, what excitements we will encounter and what fun we'll have together! I'm excited to see you both continue to grow and be so healthy and to see what you will learn and say this year. I'm happy and thankful to spend another year with you...everday is a gift and every morning I thank God for letting us still all be together, I will always celebrate and be happy to have another minute, another day, another year....Happy 2012! I love you to the moon and back!

Love,
Mommy

Banging pots and pans to ring in the New Year!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Our house is decked out in twinkling lights and shiny bulbs and Christmas trees in every corner, you both are anxiously awaiting Christmas day and dreaming of all the presents Santa is going to leave you! Everyday you wake up and run around the house to find our

elf on the shelf "Abra ca dab ra", Nicky you even get excited to find him and you point and scream abbbabababababa..., now you both know he's Santas little helper and he reports back to Santa every night on how you are acting and if you are listening to mommy and daddy and picking up your toys but sometimes I think you don't care, it's just the fun in finding where he'll be hiding tommorrow that gets you excited. Michael you are almost too smart for your own good, you ask how does he move? and why? and how does he "fly" to Santa? and the newest question was today...why does Abra ca dab ra have a tag on him like my toys???? Ummmmmmmmmm!!!!!! Luckily you both seem to like Santa and BELIEVE in him and his reindeers and the magic of Christmas... believing really does make it more fun for me. I just hope with all the elves on the shelves and flying reindeers and Santa and presents and decorations and twinkling lights that you both remeber the true meaning of Christmas... I hope you don't overlook my very important and sentimental handmade wooden manger with baby Jesus and Mary and Joseph and the wise men too, I hope you understand the importance of family and loved ones, I hope you know it is always better to give than to recieve and I hope you always BELIEVE in the true meaning of Christmas!
We have a few fun things planned before Christmas including Disney's on Ice Magical Adventure, a fun cookie swap which means helping mommy bake and tasting cookies too, hoping to get to Kraynak's to see there awesome Christmas display and another visit or two to see Santa (just to remind him how good you boys are and what special toys you want.

Our holidays are always busy and of course Christmas is too! We will start our celebration off with a Christmas Eve mass then dinner and gifts at Grandmas and a visit from santa himself and Mrs Claus too..of course a few exchanges of presents too :)Then we must go to bed so Santa can visit our house (good thing we got the chimney checked by the roofer and its good for Santa to come down,lol) we will leave him cookies and milk and a Thank You note too and you will awake to a mountain of presents and toys and stocking stuffers....I can't wait!!!!!!I am trying to imagine the surprise and happiness and shock on your faces...how fun for me. We'll have a delicious breakfast and then play with all of our new and exciting toys :) then off to visit a few family members and then dinner and presents at daddy's Grandma's too...spoiled!
We have a few more days (10 to be exact) to enjoy the Christmas spirit, the bright lights and shiny decor, the wonderful and cheery Christmas songs, the fun Christmas movies that are only on once a year, the cookies and food too, the shopping and wrapping the gift giving and Christmas card recieving.... we have a few more days to enjoy the magic and happiness of Christmas. Micahel I hope it snows soon for you (I kinda hate the snow but I know you love it) you have been waiting weeks to wear your new snow boots and snow pants too, you actually wore them a few times just because,ha...plus the snow helps it feel more like Christmas (which I love) and Nicholas I hope you get to be the one to find the elf tommorrow, I know it's hard being the little brother and not being able to find it first most days, but I still love how excited you get and how you show everyone and anyone who stops over where the elf is!
Now it's time for me to go wrap more presents.... wish I had an elf or two to help me out :)

Merry Christmas my sweet little boys...you have been very very good this year, I bet you will get MORE than you asked for!

Fall......ing in love!

It's FALL time and it's defiantly one of daddy's favorite times of the year so I too have learned to love it even though it means winter (my least favorite time of the year) is coming too soon! Daddy loves fall so much because its his birthday time and there's always football on and soon it'll be Thanksgiving ( food and football are both close to his heart), even despite all the tons of leaves he has to rake and blow and pick up, he still loves FALL the most, it really is his most favorite time of year!

We had so much fun this fall, we spent many warm fall days playing outside we even went hiking at Mill Creek park.

You boys love love love being outside! Michael you enjoyed the waterfall and Lanteran's Mill and you both loved Ford Nature Center... the animals and reptiles amazed you. Nicholas you loved looking at and collecting the leaves in the park

and I loved spending a beautiful Sunday afternoon outside enjoying my wonderful family, you can never have too many days like that! It has been awhile since we were at Mill Creek Park and I kinda forgot how much I love it and how lucky we are to have such a nice park so so so close to us. Being there with you boys reminded me so much of summers and falls when I was a little girl... my grandmom lived near the park so we always took the scenic way and many afternoons we too hiked and played at Lanteran's Mill and the many playgrounds throughout the park.

I also took a summer camp at Ford Nature Center ( I was surprised to see the place looked almost exactly as I remembered it from when I was 8).

And I remembered the many sunny afternoons daddy and I used to go to the park and hike, before you boys were born we also loved and enjoyed being outside.. we would hike all through the trails and go to tthe Lily Pond and Rose Garden and we would enjoy each others company while enjoying the beautiful sights of nature and it was so nice to now add another memory of Mill Creek Park.... sharing the beauty and fun with you Michael and Nicholas!

Pumpkin patch, apple cider and blueberry donuts.... yup I'm talking about White House Fruit Farm. Another one of my favorite fall memories as a child that I now can share and enjoy with my family ( I am smiling right now thinking how lucky I am ). Michael you picked out one of the

biggest pumpkins I ever saw and you even helped Nicky get a huge fat pumpkin too!

You both enjoyed the free apples as we shopped through White House and the apple cider too and we bought lots of yummy donuts and food too.

Then we went outside to enjoy the playground and petting zoo and Michael you went through a fun worm bouncy thing and you had so much fun!

Both of you loved the petting zoo (again reminding me how much you boys would enjoy a pet.....someday) and you weren't afraid to touch any of the animals... I kinda think the turtle and bunny were your favorites. Oh what a fun Fall day with my family.... enjoying the last bits of sunshine, the fresh fall air ,and lots of yummy treats ( I am starting to get what daddy loves so much about this time of year!)

Party Time... we celebrated lots of birthdays this fall too ( having such a huge family it seems like we never miss a month without a party but we have a lot of birthdays this time of the year) We celebrated daddy's 30th I mean 29th birthday ( I am still working on trying to convince him to be older than me ). I had two of the best little helpers to help me decorate for daddys birthday, you boys even made homemade wrapping paper and a card too. We had fun sigining to daddy and celebrating what a wonderful person he is, and the icecream cake wasn't so bad either! Other birthdays we celebrated were Uncle Jon's, Krista's, Uncle Eric's, and still to celebrate we have Gaga's, Uncle David's, Brendan's very first birthday, Allison's first birthday and baby Dom Dom's first birthday too plus Grandpas and Uncle Dom's birthdays are coming up in a few weeks.... I sure hope I didin't forget anyones special day! So as you can see we are always celebrating someone's birthday (you never can have enough cake, right!)

Happy Happy Halloween!!!! I just have to say I have two of the cutest little boys ever and most defiantly the cutest policeman and the sweetest little criminal!

It really is so much fun celebrating any holiday with you guys, you really know how to get into it and celebrate. Michael you wear that policeman costume like you really are a policeman ( I think you think you really are one, lol) and the hat and the built in 6 pack crack me up!

Nicholas you are such a good sport and the best little sidekick to your big brother.... you really made is costume better...hahaha! I love how excited you both get to put your costumes on! We had a few times to celebrate for Halloween which was nice since you boys aren't in school yet and we really weren't invited to any Halloween parties it was nice to get a few chances to wear the costumes and to PARTY. We wore them to Barnes & Nobles halloween storytime which was fun, we heard halloween stories and made a halloween craft and sang halloween songs and ate snacks and

saw other kids in their cute costumes, which was fun! And we wore our costumes to celebrate Krista's birthday and we had a chance to see some of your cousins in their costumes and to exchange a few tricks and treats too! Then we had fun going to Aunt Tt's school and passing ourt candy to all the little kiddos and see their parade and you boys got another chnace to dress up and yet again get more candy and treats!

Yum! And finally on Halloween night we went trick or treating in our neighborhood.... my little police man and criminal in their awesome real police car crusing up and down the street collecting candy and treats... oh what fun!

And while tick or treating we saw a real policeman passing out candy and Michael he let you sit in the car with the flashing lights on...wow..... that beats candy any day! You loved it!

Everday I seem to fall more and more in love with you Michael and Nicholas, it seems impossible to think I could even love you more but I do. Some days you'll say someting so cute or smart or funny and I love that about you other days you'll be such a good brother or friend or cousin and I think wow how sweet you are and I love you more for it. I love watching you grow and watching you change and mature and I love seeing you learning new things, I love making new memories with you and seeing your face when you see new things! Fall time is a time of change and preparation and everyday I am reminded how much you boys are growing and changing and learning and I am the one who is preparing you for the rest of your life.... for school,for church and religion, for sports, for fun, for a job someday, for college, for a wife, for a family, I am preparing you for life! I love how we are enjoying each new day together and we are taking the time to stop and enjoy each new change not only in ourselves but also in the world around us! Fall time is a time for fun, family and football and I love that it's daddy's favorite time of year because those are 3 wonderful things to celebrate and enjoy!!!


HAPPY FALL TIME!

ABC's and 123's

Michael when you turned 3 I figured I should start figuring out when was a good time to work on your letter and number recognition and writing and how to go about teaching you how to write your abc's and how to recognize them and how to teach you to write your numbers and add and which is more or less and count and know the number of objects in a group and which group is biggger... etc etc... it seemed so overwhelming at first ( I didn't want to mess up, to teach you the wrong way) I knew I'd need a plan, and time and patience so I thought we'll wait until you're 3 1/2, maybe do it in the winter when it's cold out and we are forced to be inside..... well you got a few Pre K and K math books from gaga for your birthday and you wanted to do your "homework" and you wanted to learn and you wanted me to teach you.

So a few days after your 3rd birthday early one morning when Nicholas was still asleep after you ate breakfast you asked " Mom can we work on my Math homework now, please please please???" So I said ok ( a little nervous) so at about 7:30 am we started with page one... I read the directions and you listened ever so closely and then you didi it, and you did it right so on to page two and you didi it... you knew which number was which and you knew which group had 3 apples then you drew a line to the number 3 you and I counted the objects and we matched pairs and we colored the correct number of things like the directions asked and we compared which was more or less, bigger or smaller, what number was the 5 and color in the 5 objects ( You amazed me... how did you know all of that! I knew you could count to, I don't know a lot, but I thought I was going to have to teach you the numbers and what they looked like... but you knew them and it amazed me. I know you're smart and I know you have an awesome memory and I know you love to learn but you still AMAZED me that morning!) After about a half hour or so I heard Nicholas getting up so we had to stop and put the math book away ( because it is not a scribble book, it is a learning book you do with mommy) and I looked down, we were on page 24!!!! WOW! I couldn't believe that you sat and did 24 pages that morning and you did them right and you did almost all of them by yourself and you enjoyed it and you were learning and having fun and you were doing MATH... math that is for pre K and K.... wow! That whole week we would do 10 or 12 pages here or there, in the mornings when Nicky was still sleeping or after nap when Nicky was eating his snack or before bed when daddy could play with Nicky. You and I worked for about 2 or 3 weeks here and there a few days a week and before we knew it we finished both of the Math books!

You were so proud of yourself and I was so so so proud of you too! You did the best with knowing which group had more or less and you counted the objects perfectly, you followed directions great and circled or drew lines exactly where you were supposed to.... you truley are so smart, I know you're going to be a great student ( I hope you always try your best and put school work first). Some places where you still need improvement and work are drawing / knowing a pattern, like what comes next in the sequence, money and the clock pages were hard for you too..... so we will defiantly work on those! Now that we have a good start on our 123's its on to our ABC's. I know you have the A perfected! So we started working with letter tracing book and going over what the letters look like and how to write them, we are on letter L in our ABC book... you are doing good... you love your homework books and you really want to learn, I can see that writing the letters takes more patience from you and me both and more work from you. So we will continue on with the alphabet and go over each letter and then this winter we will take each letter and explore it more with a Letter of the Day. Then we will really practice writing the letter, tracing the letter and learning words and objects that start with the letter.... the letter of the day will include a fun art project and snacks that include that letter too! I know you will love this and we'll have so much fun together learning! I hope this year we continue to learn.. we continue to teach each other important things.... I hope to have you prepared for preschool next year. And I hope I am teaching you important life lessons... not only your 123's and ABC's but I hope I am showing you through example how important family is and love and I hope I am teaching you values and morals, patience and understanding, I hope I am teaching you to share and to be compassionate and I really hope I am teaching you to be a good person, a kind and caring and loving person.... if I can teach you that then I have succeeded!