Christmas, 2009

We had such a wonderful Christmas! The kids had a great time opening all of their gifts this year and it seemed as if the little ones (Layla, Lily and Dominick) are finally understanding Christmas. Luca was too cute getting into all of the paper and having fun just watching all of the kids go crazy! Santa was very good to everyone this year and Analisa even got a laptop for Christmas! Either she's been a very good girl all year long or Santa is just a pushover....! We were able to spend a lot of family time together, ate LOTS of yummy food, and made many new memories. We hope that everyone had a very merry Christmas! Enjoy the pics!

I was able to escape to Newport Beach for a quick, two day getaway! My great friend, Colleen, is there visiting her sis and invited me to stay with them for a couple of days. I was welcomed soooooo graciously and with such open arms. Colleen's sister, Sue, is such an amazing hostess. I had a "welcome sign" on the wall, a "welcome basket" with new pajamas, cozy socks, towels, etc. WOW! Colleen and Sue had EVERYTHING planned out for me which was amazing. As my good friends know, I'm always the planner.....it felt soooo good to just sit back and relax.

The fun started immediately when I was picked up at the airport - check out the convertible with the leapord interior!!! Soooo CUTE!!!! Colleen had a mani/pedi appointment set up for us. BUT, I didn't' know that this would be the best mani/pedi appointment ever!!! I literally received a manicure, pedicure, and back shoulder/neck massage ALL at the same time!!! AND, we were even able to drink some wine while all this was going on!!!! AMAZING! We then headed to Sue's for a holiday party that she had planned. The next day, I was able to sleep in - yes, sleep in!!!!! I haven't been able to do this in sooo long!!! Colleen and I then headed to the Montage Resort to have a picnic. Sue and Colleen packed a delicious picnic filled with fried chicken, wine, blankets and dessert!! YUM! A picnic right on the beach....what more could I ask for?! After our picnic, Colleen and I headed out on the town and found a cool little spot on pacific highway....3 thirty 3. We had a great time there catching up, and making some new memories.....









Monday, we were able to have a nice lunch at a cozy restaurant right on the water. Afterwards, Colleen and I headed to the Hyatt in Huntington Beach to share some wine and more laughs together.

I had such an amazing time catching up with Colleen and spending time with Sue and her family. These two girls did EVERYTHING to make my trip so very memorable. I had sooo much fun and was able to relax. I experienced hospitality at its best and thank Colleen and Sue sooo very much for my perfect trip. I love you girls and cannot wait to visit again!!!!! Thank you for everything!!!!

Holiday Party

We had a little holiday party this past Friday!!! It turned out so, soooo well!!! Lots of people, tons of yummy food, lots of fires to keep us warm...a great time for sure. Freddy and I were a bit worried because we knew lots of people were going to show and our house is so tiny! But, we all hung out outside all evening long and the fire pits were more than enough to keep us warm and cozy! It was a great night....thanks to all who were able to make it! Lots of great memories!! Merry Christmas!!!!!

Fall is finally here!!

Yesterday's cool weather made me realize that fall is finally here!!! I was able to get home early from work and made a big pot of chili for dinner . . .yummm!! Freddy made it home a bit earlier than usual as well and we had time to carve our pumpkins and get them ready for the Halloween weekend!





Analisa loved carving her pumpkin . . .although it didn't turn out exactly how she imagined. :) Layla dug right into her pumpkin and she got nice and dirty trying to clean it out! Liliana.....oh, my Lily . . .she was digusted when she tried to clean out her pumpkin and just kept staring at her hands and making this funny noise! She does not like to get too dirty and kind of freaks out, especially when her hands are dirty!! Then, Freddy asked the twins what kind of jack-o-lantern they wanted. Layla said she wanted a "happy" jack-o-lantern" with triangle eyes. . . .so, that is what she got! Lily said she wanted a scary jack-o-lantern with a scary smile and square eyes. Lily's pumpkin did have square eyes, but Lily was NOT happy. In fact, she screamed and cried at the top of her lungs because her jack-o-lantern was not scary enough! She was sooo upset, but I had to take a picture - this will be great to show her later on!!

With all the mess and screaming and some crying, we still had a nice family evening.....seems like these occasions are rare during the week with our hectic work schedules and Analisa's boxing schedule!! It was a fun night with my family....enjoy the pics!

Grease!

My sister and I have been fans of "Grease" as long as we can remember!!!! We absolutely love that movie!!!! I still watch it as often as I can! LOL! A group of my co-workers got together to see the play this past weekend and my sister also came along. We both wanted to get up and sing and dance along with the actors, but we soon realized we were NOT at a concert, but at a play! Marissa's "Pink Lady" jacket was a definite hit!!! The show was very cute and we had a great time. Afterwards, Taylor Hicks was signing autographs and taking pictures!! We stayed and took a picture with him! Kinda cheesy, I know, but I like Taylor Hicks!! :) It was a good time and a memorable night!

Overnight with Dominick and Luca

This past Saturday, we headed over to Jen's and DJ's to watch Dominick and Luca. We spent the night there and Jen and DJ spent the night at our place! Worked out great! The kids did so well - especially little Luca!! He is soooooooo adorable!!!!!!! It was so fun having a baby around all day long again.....seems like the twins have just grown up so fast and they are such big girls now. Having three 3 year olds all day long was quite interesting - tattling seems to be a hot topic with this age group! LOL! But, there were also plenty of laughs and hugs and kisses throughout the day and night.

Here are a few pics of our fun time together! Looking forward to the next overnight!!!!

Analisa - video clip

Analisa continues to do very well with her boxing training!!! Her trainer, Chris, recently sent me this video clip of her training. I have to say, I was quite impressed!!!! I'm so very proud of her dedication and committment to this sport. She has found something she really loves!

When Analisa saw me watching this clip, she specified that this was about a month ago and that she is much better now. :) Copy the link below into your browser and check her out!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SAQ9OO_Lac

Playdough

It seems as if every day is busier than the last. It even seems as if we have to schedule days to just hang out and relax! Luckily, today was one of those days! Since we had no where to go or anything to do, I thought I would try to make some home-made playdough with the twins. I didn't care how messy they would get or the mess I would have to clean up later. We used a simple recipe (water, flour, salt and food coloring) and made green play dough. Layla loved it! She dug her hands in with me and had a great time making the play dough. Once Lily saw the green food coloing all over our hands, she wanted nothing to do with it. She just stared at us and asked me to get the "real" playdough" out. :) The girls played together with all the playdough for quite a while. It was a nice and fun afternoon with the girls! :)

San Francisco - 2nd trip this year!

Our friends Moone and Roman invited us to tag along on part of their trip to San Francisco!!!! How could we have turned down that invitation?! :) Another quick trip to our favorite city, but every minute was a party!


Saturday we spent the day/night at Union Square. We had some great, crazy people watching at a little bar right on Powell Street. It seems as though every time we go back to San Francisco, there are more "interesting" people walking around the city. Later, we met up at The View Bar/Lounge at the top of the Marriott Marquis hotel (where we got to stay!) and then headed out to dinner! Later, we went to The Boom Boom Room for some blues and then ended up at our favorite pub, Lefty O'douls!!! Freddy had a great time at Lefty's making some new friends (imagine that!). We all had fun singing around the piano and just laughing the night away!

Sunday was a great day together! We took the trolley down to the wharf and had a yummy lunch along with some great bloody mary's! We decided to take a sailboat ride - it was awesome! It turned out to be almost a private tour - we were the only ones on the boat except for one other guy. The Golden Gate Bridge was covered with fog that day, so the captain took us around the south side of San Francisco. We had never been to that side on the water so it was great to see different sites. And, the sailboat ride was all you can drink!!! How great is that?! We decided to have dinner in Little Italy that evening - it took FOREVER for us to find the restaurant I had made reservations at, but it was soooo worth it! The restaurant, Franchino, was a tiny, little family owned restaurant and it was absolutely delicious! We decided to stay in North Beach for the evening and found a little bar where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the great weather. Then, somehow, we ended up at my favorite pub again! :) We closed the pub and then finally headed back to the hotel.









It was definitely a quick trip, but soooo much fun. Again, thank you, Moone and Roman for inviting us! We hope you had a fun time with us showing you the city in 2 quick days! :) And a BIG thank you to everyone that helped with the kids!!! Jen, DJ, Marissa, Alex and Colleen - We couldn't have gone on this trip without all your help and love you all tons!