Happy Birthday Jesus!

I woke up this morning and asked Mommy if we were going to Jesus' house. She told me that we needed to get ready to go so we could continue His birthday celebration! So, we were off to 7:0 mass at our church. After mass we came home and I opened presents from Santa and Daddy and Mommy.

Then we prepared our dinner for Grandma, Grandma, and Uncle Mikey. We ate nice and early so that we could have the whole day together. Then we opened presents again. I still don't understand this concept of getting presents at all. Uncle Mikey got me a GeoTrax train and Grandma and Grandpa bought me a Mr. Potato Head, some books, and lots of neat wooden musical instruments.

I have been playing with Uncle Mikey all afternoon. I could careless about eating or anything else. I've got my Uncle here playing with me and that's fabulous fun!

Christmas Eve 2010

What a picture perfect Christmas Eve this was. Snow is falling from the sky and I am tucked in warm and snuggly in my bed. Many many years ago at this point, Mary and Joseph were traveling on the donkey, and there was no room for them in the inn. Baby Jesus was born in a manger and our world changed forever.

Today, we celebrated a great Italian tradition with Mommy's family. Every year Grandma "Ba" plans and puts together a Feast of 7 Fishes for our family. She has been doing this for 40+ years and took over for her Mom who once did the same. It's a month long process of checking off lists, more lists, and more lists. There is shopping to be done, a basement to get ready, and plenty of food to prepare.

Uncle Peter took Grandma shopping at the Fish Market downtown to get some of the fish a few weeks ago. Mommy took Grandma shopping this week to get the produce and the rest of the fish. Cousin Rusty went shopping this week and got the capitone. He and his family came to Grandma's house this morning and got to frying and cooking the fish and pasta.

We enjoyed every bite of it. There were many of us in the basement tonight, filled with love and laughter. We shared our story from Luke's gospel of Jesus' birth, enjoyed our pasta for the primo piato and then all of the fish. After a break for the raffle (all our money raised and canned goods collected went to the Leyden Township food bank) we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and blew out the birthday candles, and then enjoyed cannoli, hello dollies, cookies, and cartellata, for dessert.

A good time was had by all. Thank you Rosie for the fabulous foam number puzzle!

Life as I Once Knew It...Returns

YAY! I remember that day back in August when Ms. Melanie came to stay with me and my mommy walked out the door. I was screaming, Mommy was crying, and something just wasn't right. It seemed that these were going to be the longest 4 months of life. Well, we survived. :) Very early mornings, little sleep, burning the candle at both ends of the stick, but all back to normal again.

Yesterday, mommy and I had a blast of a day. We played and read all day long. I took a nap around 2 and when I woke up I just wanted crayons. Mommy and I ventured out to get some of those big jumbo ones that I can't break. I was so happy! We came out of the store and it was snowing!! We laughed and hopped to the car. I insisted that Bunny come along for the ride. After mommy got me in the car again to head home, I looked at her and said, "So....um....what?" Haha! Such a stinker I am!

Looking forward to more fun today!

Snow Weekend

It was a blizzard of a weekend here in Romeovile. We are rounding the bend of Monday morning and it's not much different. I'm snoozing still with my daddy while mommy posts for me. I spent Friday night at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the city and had a great time...so much so, that I didn't want to leave on Saturday morning. My mommy reminded me that when she was little she didn't ever want to leave her grandparents' house either. There's a special bond between grandchildren and their grandparents that can't be explained. She told me I'd be back again on Tuesday and Thursday this week for mommy's last week of work. Hooray! The semester I thought would never end is almost over! I can't wait to have mommy back home again. Back to a normal schedule...

So here I am playing around by the Christmas tree AND sweeping up the kitchen in mommy's shoes. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Well, another weekend is in the books. The first one of my 2nd year! We did our annual meal out at The Cheesecake Factory to remember Daddy and Mommy's last meal before my arrival. We went for lunch this year instead of dinner, figuring I'd be a little more attentive.

Then, on Sunday, my actual birthday, we went to see Santa in the University Dinning Room here on campus. Then we went home and Grandma and Grandpa came over. Look! They bought me a Magna Doodle!! Mommy and I had a lot of fun with this today. We made lots of shapes, and I had fun tracing my hand and mommy's hand too!

Today is St. Nicholas' Day. I had fun taking out all of the fun books and the Enjoy Life chocolate bar from my stocking. Daddy cut up half of the bar for me to enjoy tonight after dinner. YUM!

6 more days...2 more weeks...and Mommy can be home again with me all the time. I can't wait.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

We have a lot to be thankful for again this year. God is good and we praise Him for His goodness. Mommy and I thought about many things today that we are thankful for. Some are so simple: waking up, being able to speak, see, hear, smell, taste, and touch, the food on our table, and being able to learn and grow. We are also thankful for our faith, our family, and our friends. We enjoyed a table full of food for dinner yesterday and had plenty of time to play and relax with Grandma and Grandpa before they went home. Uncle Mikey stayed for the night cap and spent the night here with us in Romeoville. They played Blokus and Phase 10 while I enjoyed the videos of myself on Mommy's phone until I finally fell asleep.

Look at me enjoying the cookies that my Grandma made me! 100% ALLERGEN FREE!!

Birthday Celebration!

Today we celebrated Uncle Rick's 60th, Auntie Mary Faith's 50th, and Auntie Stephanie's 40th birthdays all at Grandma "Ba's" house. My Bapa had to work, and he was the only one missing. Auntie Mary Faith brought chicken, parsley potatoes, fresh mozzarella and tomato salad, broccoli, and hawaiian bread for lunch (dinner). They had birthday cake, french silk pie, Auntie Mary Faith's peach cobbler, and cupcakes for dessert (I had my chocolate chip cookie bars). We sang to everyone and then we played all kinds of games.

I had such a good time playing with Peter, Mark, Rose, Megan, and Luke. What a great day! Thank you Uncle Paul for putting this all together.