Ok, stop with the snow already!

Look at these daggers! They are practically blocking our view out the kitchen window now

On Thursday we woke up to yet another snow storm, and I was scheduled to go to work. Mike had the idea of starting to shovel our driveway at 5am... in hopes that he'd at least be at the street by the time I had to leave for work. Well 6:50 rolled by and he was only about 1/2 way done! It's getting harder to shovel because there's NO WHERE to put the snow anymore. So anyway, I had a text from my supernanny that she was on her way and not to worry she wouldn't be late from the snow. So when she got there, and couldn't get in the driveway.. or anyone's driveway... I hopped in the car and she gave me a ride to the train. So I was able to get to work with no problem. Thanks to our nanny! By the time she got back to our house, Mike had carved a spot for her and she took care of the kiddos while Mike worked from home, something I am thankful he can do once in a while. He only worked for a couple hours though, and spent 4.5 hours finishing with shoveling snow outside!!

gotta remember to make a path for the poor mailman!

Umm... where's the front door!

We had some visitors in the woods behind our backyard, they were having fun in the snow

I broke down and bought some snow boots for Zoë (snicker snicker..)

Another Snow Day... and a Chance to Catch Up on Blogs!

So today I should be at work, but due to a sick Nanny I'm home. We are also having yet ANOTHER snow storm so school is closed as well. I'm currently taking advantage of this by having my 11 year old neighbor shovel out our driveway, thanks Joe! The rest of the neighbor kids have been camping out in our family room all day watching what ever cartoon movies I can get on instant netflix. Have I mentioned how much I love our new Blue Ray? I had no idea it could hook up to Netflix! We've gone through a few Thomas Train movies, The Princess and the Frog, Pink Panther cartoons, and are currently watching Scooby Doo chase down a chupacabra in Mexico. Combine this with pizza, popcorn, and hot chocolate.... it's been pretty much a perfect day for kids over here! As for me, I'm getting things done around the house that would have been for the weekend, and I have some time to put up some pics from our fun Disney trip!

We ended up leaving a day late due to the snow storm, BUT... we made it to Disney and had a really wonderful time (and my ears didn't burst on the flight).

We met up with 20 other family members of Mike's... including 8 kids (the oldest of which is 6)

We were able to all see each other the first night, and randomly during the next couple of days, but it's hard with so many people to try and organize the daily schedule! Here's some highlights from our time at Disney:

Dinner at Epcot's Germany, checking out the Oompa band and alp horns

Dinner at Germany was the perfect chance to have Vince wear his super cute top my mom got him during her last trip to Switzerland. Uncle Neal declared that Vince (with his blond hair, blue eyes, and Swiss shirt).... should indeed be named Klaus instead of Vincent. I'd have to agree. That name happens to also belong to one of my mom's old boyfriends in Switzerland too... heehee

Hi Klaus!

Our table at the Biergarten Restaurant. It was Zoë's first time in a high chair too, she did great!

Family photo at the Happiest Place on Earth (Mike would beg to differ)

safari ride at Disney's animal kingdom

Small World (about the only ride Vince wasn't afraid of!)

All of Zoë's cousins wanted a turn at holding her. Here's sweet Bella with Zoë

And of course Noelle and Andrew had plenty of turns

They were very concerned when Zoë lost her binky, thanks Andrew!

Can't forget the Character Breakfast! Zoë got special greetings from Chip and Dale

Goofy showed up to steal some waffles

Everyone took a turn at tugging on Pluto's whiskers

An attempt at getting 7 kids to sit and look at the camera all at once... haha!

It was hard to come back to snow and ice after being in sunny Florida! We look forward to when we can do it again... but that probably won't be for several years.

If you want to see more pictures from Disney, click here

Zoë Turns 6 Months!.... and Other Ramblings on this Snow Day

Zoë, at 6 months: She is getting pretty good at sitting up on her own

oops, falling over!

Close up shot!

Our kids having fun on the snow day

Well, we should be on our way to Florida right now to spend a few days with family at Disney... BUT..... we aren't. We are at home, watching our house become buried in snow! I've never been through a blizzard, and now I can say I've been through two, in a matter of 2 and 1/2 weeks! And what's up with thundering snow storms, that's a first. Our flight was canceled yesterday in anticipation of this snow, and we are hopeful that our flight tomorrow goes smoothly. I would put up pictures of the snow but I'll just refer you back to my previous post of the blizzard of 2010.

As for things going smoothly, that's something that's NOT been happening over here in our household the past week. On New Years Eve Vince started coming down with something. Well, he certainly did. And he spread that something to me and Zoë as well. Miraculously Mike escaped getting sick, which I'm thankful for. It was a downward spiral after my mom left: coughing, sneezing, fevers, stuffy nose, the whole nine yards. We actually celebrated Zoë's day of turning 6 months by giving her a first dose of tylenol and motrin! Happy half birthday Zoë! She got her first fever that day. At least she waited until it was theoretically "safer" to give her medicine. She's on the mend now, with just a lingering cough. As for me, well, maybe it was a blessing that our flight was canceled because I woke up this morning with a completely plugged up and painful ear. I'm pretty sure it's become infected over the last couple days. That should be fun on the plane tomorrow! Well, I'm waiting for Mike to shovel our driveway, but I'm not even sure I could get to a medical office right now anyway. Not sure what I'm going to do...

Speaking of medical offices, Zoë had her 6 month app this week, her stats are looking good: her head is a little big in the 70th percentile, but her height seems to be slipping a bit (to be expected with parents as tall as us-not). They skipped her vaccines because she's still recovering from whatever Vince gave us. Otherwise, she's doing pretty good. Vince, on the other hand, managed to turn Zoë's 6 month appointment into a virtual sh*t show. It was a comedy of events that cracks me up to think about. Poor kid, he thought he was the one that had to be examined and ran around screaming and trying to get as far away from the doctor as possible (while being in a tiny exam room). After taking several minutes to calm him down and help him realize it was for Zoë, well then he proceeded to entertain himself with whatever he could get his hands on... or stand on. He jumped on and off the scale so many times I think the thing broke, and managed to get into the trash without us noticing (not a good thing at a medical facility-or anywhere for that matter). Perhaps the highlight was when he announced he was hungry. I pulled out a cereal bar for him to eat. He's had them before, likes them, no problem. Well as the doctor and I were finishing things up, he kept coming over to us with a huge smile saying the bar 'is stuck in my mouth'. He was laughing and appeared to be still chewing and swallowing, so we didn't think anything of it, I just handed him his sippy cup to wash it down. Well, it apparently was stuck on the roof of his mouth and before long he started gagging (both my kids have amazing gag reflexes) and out comes not only the cereal bar, but all the dried apples, cheerios, waffles and eggs that he ate for breakfast that morning. I was somewhat impressed by how well his little body was able to get everything out! He didn't stop until everything was out. I try to catch it in my hand while holding Zoë, and the doctor jumps up and grabs paper towels. In the end it looked like a war zone, and Vince was covered in his breakfast. In any case, we high tailed it out of there just as they were rounding up maintenance to come clean up. It'll be a story that gives me giggles for many years....

ok, it's now 5 hours since I started this post. We had a power outage while I was writing. Luckily it wasn't very long (only about 1 hr). I was able to get out of our driveway (thank you husband!) and get my ear checked out. No infection, just LOTS of fluid. We'll see how the flight goes tomorrow!

Happy New Year!

So, it has kinda become our annual family tradition to do New Years Eve at our house with our friends the Ottavianos and the Bentzels. I mean, we did the same thing with the same friends last year so it's legit that we call it our 2nd annual New Years Eve get together right? It is a drastic change to how Mike and I used to spend New Years Eve (short pause for reflection……sigh) but so fun to have friends over!! Just like last year, we were able to wait until midnight to watch the ball drop, but shortly after we all headed straight to bed (again, short pause to reflect on how New Years used to be.... sigh).

This year the kids were as CRAZY as ever, making it till midnight right along with us! Well, Vince was getting sick so he didn't make it.... but Ramona and Aaron, watch out!

Some serious squabbling going on here about who sits in which chair

Little Lucy is a crawling speed machine!

Chris hangin out with the girls

Zoë didn't make it till midnight, that's ok little lady!

The next morning was followed again by a tasty breakfast of pancakes and sausage, and then settling in to watch the Rose Parade. Ok, maybe I was the only one freaking out about watching the Rose Parade.... it's my time to get a bit homesick for California as the parade route was just over the hill from where I grew up. Mike just puts up with me and keeps the Mimosa's coming.

Christmas Day and the Blizzard of 2010

On Christmas morning Vince woke up to find new surprises under and around the tree. Santa had come! First up for exploring was his new play kitchen! Too big for Santa to wrap; it's complete with microwave, fridge, stove, sink, and oven. Santa also added all the cooking and eating utensils, along with all the food a 2 year old would need. Needless to say, since Christmas we've all been served plastic hot dogs and french fries at one point or another.

good morning!

the play kitchen got ditched once he opened his new Thomas trains....good thing Santa got the kitchen second hand ;). Here he's getting Donald and Douglas.... you know them of course, right? The Scottish twins?!

Zoë fell asleep before getting through her stocking

The place quickly became a disaster area of plastic food and wrapping paper.....

Vince won $100 on his scratch ticket!

It was a very special Christmas being able to have it at home, while also having my mother and Mike's parents there as well! Who knows if/when that may ever happen again. We really enjoyed being able to have our parents with us at Christmas. Mike's parents showed up around 10:30am... and we started in on the rest of the presents, here's to the second round of Christmas morning!

Nonna brought all the fixings for Manicotti, and Mike had prepared the delicious sauce the day before.... so we were able to have a lovely Christmas dinner.

Eating is a lot of work! Nonna means business (sorry Nonna! couldn't help but put this up)

Vince actually ate some Christmas dinner too

hey who stole the bah humbug hat!

Nonna and two of her babies... Maxi was a happy doggie

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and napping

THEN...... it started to snow.....and snow. And it didn't stop until there was about 20 inches on the ground. My mom's flight was canceled, our power was interrupted, our trees were so heavy that branches fell off.

Luckily our wonderful neighbors let us borrow their snow blower

It took about 3hrs to completely clear the driveway

then it was time to snuggle up and get warm back inside the house