Tiny Dancers

Well, the twins are big girls now … they attended their first dance class today!  They LOVED it, and didn’t want to leave!  They looked so cute in their little “tu-tu” … :)

 

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Already missing the OBX

Well, we’ve been home exactly a day and a half and we’re already missing the Outer Banks and have decided we could live on Carova Beach forever.  (Does anyone want to support us??)

We had a great week on the beach, in the pool, the hot tub, taking drives up and down the beach and even a few “bear hunts” for the kids at night (thankfully no REAL bears were spotted!!)  Unfortunately Zach, Addie and Avery had colds the entire week (ear infection, fever, sore throats, coughing) so they did what they could and they slept a lot. They liked to be out at the beach a little bit each day, but they were just exhausted from being sick and we’d get back in the afternoon and they’d crash – once Avery even fell asleep before dinner – and stayed sleeping all night long.  For those of you who know Ave, missing out on a meal, dessert and nighttime chocolate milk is NOT normal behavior for that girl!   We had a couple days of bad weather (either rain or cloudy/no sun and cool) so the kids were able to rest more on those days, which helped. 

It was also great to spend time with my brother and his family – I haven’t spent much time with him in the last several years so it was fun to catch up and see each other’s kids.   I got lots of great pictures of the kids, the beach, many pictures of the horses that roam the beach … oh and a couple of “blackmail” shots of Avery…lol.   We did miss Kayla (and Kory) this year … but we understand how much she’s got going on with her dance nationals in Orlando and U of MN dance team.  Anyway, here’s some pictures (none of me as usual, lol) … enjoy – we sure did!

PS:  The house we stayed at this year, Farfrumwerken (http://www.twiddy.com/homes/4x4/carova-beach/farfrumwerkn.aspx) was incredible.  We would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Carova Beach – it was immaculate, with spectacular views of the beach and sunrise from the front of the wraparound deck (not that I saw that – I was lucky Sam let me sleep in EVERY day) – and gorgeous sunsets off the back of the deck each night.  The furniture was beautiful and it had a great pool and hot tub… that we visited each day.  The little kids hadn’t ever been in a hot tub and this one was only set at 100 so it was the perfect temperature and they loved being in the warm bubbly water. 

(Special thanks to Sam for letting me sleep in … a perfect vacation for me!)

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PS:  We did have one scare this week, though …. the kids were all swimming in the pool and my kids had these floatie things on (sort of like a half-lifejacket) that allowed them to actually swim on their own which they loved.   Well at some point, Addison had hers off and decided to jump in the pool.  I was sitting on a chair and looked into the pool and all I saw were her great big blue eyes staring up at me from the bottom!  OMG!  I jumped up to get in but at the same time my brother saw what happened and he grabbed her.   Scared the crap out of me.  (And her – so I don’t think she’ll be doing that anytime soon.)

Oh one other funny and embarrassing moment for one of my children – Zach had his hands in his pants (new infatuation these days) and he says to his dad, “I’ve got little balls down here.  What are they?”  Sam was laughing and couldn’t answer so he asked Mommy who said they’re testicles … and so he went and told everyone he has testicles.  He couldn’t be any more of a boy!  He had no problem picking up dead fish, sand crabs, jelly fish, seaweed, frogs, or killing bugs!  At one point, the caught a toad and they were playing with it (they actually brought it in bed with me to show me what they had – what a way to wake up) and then the girls carted it around in their “purse” for a few hours.  They unzipped it every now and then to check on him and the last time, I said he wasn’t looking too hot so we let him go  - but he was all out of hop.  Poor thing.

Sad day in the Tramontana household ...

I just wanted to tell you all we had a death in the family. Yes, Clark, one of our two Beta fish finally bit the dust. Not sure what happened - he was really, really active earlier and then tonight ... he was a goner - I mean, a floater.

I am making light of it because I never expected them to live this long (a year & half) but I know he will be missed by the kids. Do you think I can go twice as long before cleaning the tank out now? Hmm.



So say a little prayer for Clark tonight ... he's resting in fish Heaven now (AKA the toilet bowl).

Rach

Happy Father's Day!

This is a special note to Sam, wishing him a Happy Father's Day!


My kids are blessed to have such a wonderful dad! Here's two pictures of Sam holding the kids when they were just born ... you could just see the love in his eyes! Big thanks for all you do for them (and me) on a daily basis!





Daddy with baby A & baby B!






















And on Zach's first day!



Love,
xoxoxo

The trip …

Well our trip to Minneapolis is winding down … we’re in our hotel in West Virginia for the final night. We’ve got about 7 hours to go – it was just too much to do in one day.   We are really looking forward to getting home (and having home cooked meals) and getting back into our routine. Plus, Nana will be there when we get home tomorrow!!!   Unfortunately, we both have to work on Monday.  Ugh.

We had a great time in Minneapolis seeing Kay graduate and Ben play baseball … and visiting my family in Wisconsin and friends in Chicago.  (We even have Portillos to bring home…and I had Lou Malnati’s Pizza last night, yeah!)

The kids have been 100X better than we anticipated (thank God to the person who invented CAR TVs!!)  Snacks helped too.  They get a little cranky after about 8 hours, but what’s to be expected, ya know?

The trip wasn’t TOTALLY uneventful … poor Sam got two speeding tickets in Wisconsin – the last one at 1:30 in the morning and only 15 miles from our hotel.  The trooper was a …witch.  With a B.   Funny insert: the trooper asked Sam why he was speeding to which he WANTED to reply “to get there faster, DUH” (but he didn’t say that of course) … and when she wrote him the ticket he tossed it on the dashboard and as we drove away he said “Man she was a b—ch!”  All three kids had just woken up (it was 1:30 in the morning) and they kept saying “man she was a b---ch” until he finally got them to believe he said she was a WITCH.  The (not so) funny thing is that we re-routed our GPS to take us off the highway and through back roads because it was the shortest distance, rather than the fastest time.  Had we not have done that … it’s likely that Sam wouldn’t have gotten that second ticket.  All about choices.

We are afraid Zach’s future might be in the police field – he was the OFFICIAL watcher of the no U-turn signs, no left turn signs, caution signs, are we speeding, etc.  Every U-turn, he was all over Sam about why we were turning around, was there a  no U-Turn sign, etc.  What a goof.

Oh and by the way we got a cracked windshield … just our luck, right, since our car has a cracked windshield too?!   We hit traffic in some areas, but NOTHING like the traffic we hit coming back to Chicago last night … we officially decided there is no way in hedoublehockeysticks could we live with that much traffic anymore.

Just a quick thanks to the friends and family who showed us above and beyond hospitality….as well as our babysitter, Liz, who watched the animals for us this last week.

Well …… Signing out from Huntington, WV ….

Lots of love to all …

Rachel

PS:  Congrats to our nanny Rachel who got married tonight!

Go Cubs!

Well since the CHICAGO CUBS can’t seem to get a win lately, we were fortunate that we got to see Ben’s baseball team (THE CUBS) WIN on Thursday in Minneapolis.

Ben pitched the first 2 innings and had 5 strike outs and only gave up one run.  (Let me clarify – the one run – it was hit by a kid that was at least twice the size of ALL of the other kids.  He was like Sam’s height!)   Ben was walked twice and he stole 5 bases (UNREAL!)

Anyway, here’s some pictures of the future MLB star :)

Family time

On our way back from Minnesota we were able to stop in Fond du Lac, WI to visit my family – we had a great afternoon with a picnic and all the kids had a blast playing together.   I loved meeting my niece who I had never met before, and seeing all my other nieces and nephews!   Everyone has gotten so big …. where did the time go??

 

       

Holy shoot … we have a Marley!

Holy shoot, holy crud and dang-it are Zach’s favorite new words. Yes, I know. He’s a potty mouth. However, all three apply to what Marley Willy has done to our steps going upstairs. He has not chewed up ANYTHING … except for this. Of course, this is something that can’t just be replaced – it is going to take a major renovation to fix. We really can’t complain though – he has been a great puppy so far – and he even has a few little tricks now, like sit and shake…..if only we can make him STAY that would be good. My poor neighbor Kurt has been dubbed the dog catcher – every time the dog accidentally gets out (which means every time he pushes the kids aside when they open the front door), Kurt sees me trying to chase he comes to the rescue and gets him back home!

Anyone have any idea on how to get him to stop chewing this?

Sweet home Chicago

 

On our way to Minneapolis we were able to make a stop “home”  to visit friends … here’s some pictures from the visit. 

 

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Zach’s first roller coaster!

We went to the Mall of America today since the weather was (go figure) gloomy!  Along with the carousel that the girls LOVE, Zach wanted to go on his first roller coaster, the Orange Crush.  He was pretty freaked out, BUT (surprisingly) he didn’t cry! 

Kay and Kory rode a few of the rides too .. got some great pictures.  We also had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe – and if you have been with my blog for awhile, you’ll remember that last year when we took Zach to RFC he cried and cried because he was afraid of the thunder, and the frog.  NOT this time – he thought it was way cool.  Amazing what a year will do to a kid!

Building race cars at Lego Land – he was so serious! ‘

Can you see Zach below – his first roller coaster!  

Hat’s off ….

After 21 hours in the Jeep, we finally made it to Minnesota!  (Yah!)

Kay’s graduation was yesterday and they graduated more than 400 students in about an hour (amazing right – to those of you who were in the EHS graduating class of 1991 – some 900 students and a several hour ceremony!)

Here’s some pictures of the graduate …

 

 

Kay and Kory … goofs!

 

PROUD DADDY!

It’s OFFICIAL!  

Kay and Kory

Let's hear it for the Dodgers!

Well, Zach has officially completed his first "season" of baseball. The first few games were kind of iffy, if you recall, but he has really gotten into it towards the end. Well, by into it, I mean he's having fun - he still plays with the sand, follows the butterflies, looks at airplanes .... very easily distracted.

He got his big trophy today, and he ate cupcakes with his teammates, where he proceeded to put his whole face in green icing ... to make all the kids laugh. It was so funny seeing him be so social. Him and his friends were making up words in the dugout today - and they were cracking themselves up.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you all know my little guy is growing up. :(

On another note, we're getting ready for a 21 hour drive to Minneapolis tomorrow. (Yes, 21 hours and yes, we are crazy.) Kayla is graduating high school, and it's so expensive to fly 5 people. So please pray that we don't go insane after being in the car for 42 hours. We do get to make a couple of stops along the way - back home for a day on the way to Minneapolis and then to visit my mom, sister and brother in Wisconsin on the way back. So that helps to break up the trip. I've got plenty of batteries for the Vsmile, travel sized doodle-pros, TV's, notebooks & crayons, "magic" markers, sticker books. Hopefully ..... that is all we need. I was talking to Zach today about the "bacation" (vacation) and about how long we were going to be in the car and he said holy crud. I said don't say that. He said is holy crap better? I said no don't say that, try holy cow. The things kids say!

Well good night everyone and I'll post upon our return!

Love,
xoxoxo

Take me out to the ball game … take me out to the crowd …

Well Zach has officially embraced T-ball.   No crying, fussing and he actually has FUN.  Of course, there is plenty of time where he’s picking grass, chasing butterflies, kicking up the sand … but he’s doing so much better – he might even do it again in the fall.  He’s got one more game left next week, then he’s finished the season. 

Here’s some pictures I thought you’d enjoy. (Click slideshow when you open the window – I just downloaded all from my camera tonight).

 

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Fun in the sun …

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Chilling off … Pablo style!

Pre-school graduation

First let me tell you - I'm going to spare you the pictures and the embarrassing video that I know my neighbor took.

But Zachy 'graduated' pre-school this week. He's officially going to be a Kindergarten student in a few short months! I swear to you all it seems like he was just smaller than Sam's hand .... and now he's a big boy in baseball and going to KINDERGARTEN.

I say that I'm going to spare you the pics because all of them have Zach covering his eyes. He has the WORST stage fright. I mean, his teachers say that he sings in class, plays, etc. - but get him in front of 200 parents and WHOA ... it's too overwhelming for him. He also doesn't like when you cheer for him at T-ball....when I'm there I have to hold back not to cheer him on but he just doesn't like the "attention" or the spotlight on him. He's pretty strange (: that way.

Anyway, just thought I'd tell you Zach officially graduated pre-school and his teacher says he's definitely ready for Kindergarten (sniff sniff). Can anyone tell me where the time went?

Hope everyone is well ...... we are good, just enjoying the 3 day weekend. The kids are already in bed asleep (it's 8:00) ... amazing what a day at the pool will do to a kid. They were seriously falling asleep in their pasta tonight (funny!)

Love,
xoxoxo

My flowers are dead ...

But life goes on ....

Look what "killed" my flowers in the hanging basket in the front of our house. They just hatched yesterday, they're the babies of a teeny, tiny purple finch. So just FYI, it wasn't me who killed the plant. I've got to name these two little birds...they're so tiny.







Love,
xoxoxo

And …. Wrigley!

Hollie and I went down to Wrigley on Sunday (after being up until almost 4:00 in the morning talking!!!) and had a blast going from bar-to-bar having drinks and watching the Cubs (lose) and the Hawks (lose)! Not a great sports day in Chicago.

Here’s a couple pictures from yesterday, and one or two from today with the girls in their CUBS t-shirts I brought them home. I have to say I felt like a TOURIST with my camera, taking pictures of things I’ve seen a million times…but have missed incredibly!

Sears tower from the car

These are the names of our invincible (THEY WONT DIE) Beta fish (Addison & Clark.)

At the Cubby Bear

Rut row, cubs are losing….

Round 2 …

Dinner at Francesca’s and then martini’s at Loris!

 

I’m “home” …

I’m “home” in Chicago visiting my girlfriends and yesterday we went to Emmett’s Pub in W. Dundee … and it was so great to see my friends.  Thank you Sam for making the trip possible, I appreciate it more than you can know!!     Here’s some of the pictures I took: 

 

And for those wondering.  WHAT IS PORTILLOS.  Here’s a picture of lunchtime near a Portillos.  They actually have police direct traffic EVERY DAY of the week to get in/out. 

 

My Mother's Day...

Let's see, it started off with me sleeping in. Like really sleeping in...Sam even came in to retrieve a little one from the room when he came in to wake me up. They were too excited to give me their "Mother's Day" card!!

A little while later, they all came in and jumped on the bed to give me their card. It was so cute - a picture of them on the front and when you open it, it was their voice saying "Happy Mother's Day ... we love you Mom!!!" So I came downstairs to wonderful pecan Belgian waffles (my FAVORITE) ... with blueberries, strawberries and hot syrup. I lounged around a little while we pondered what to do today - a breezy 75 degree sunny and perfect day - and we came up with the zoo.

The kids haven't been to the zoo since last year and now they really seem to "understand" going to the zoo means seeing cool animals and riding the train, etc. They had a BLAST! Each new animal brought ooohs and ahhhs ... and the Norfolk, VA zoo is the perfect size for small kids - we did not bring the wagon, they walked the whole park (could be why they were asleep tonight by 7:15 and I mean SLEEPING at 7:15).

Anyway, it was a great day!

On another note, Kayla and Ben continue to excel in their sports. Ben is playing for the CUBS in his baseball league (he's the pitcher) and Kayla just got first place overall at her latest competition for her solo, Seduces Me. Here's some pictures of her dance yesterday - her mom sent these to us..... and they're incredible.

Love,
xoxoxo