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!

Analisa - boxing update!

A little update on Analisa's boxing . . .

Analisa has been training one on one with a boxing trainer for close to 3 months now. She is getting great at boxing and gaining a little more confidence each session!! Her trainer just asked me to increase her training sessions by one day. So, now she will be training 4 nights a week. It's a pretty hectic schedule, but somehow we make it work!!! And, her trainer isn't going to increase our payment because of the additional day. He is really hoping to get her ready for a match in December and just wants her available for one more night!!! He is also going to include Analisa's bio on his website soon. On the website, he will have some pics of her boxing as well as a video of her sparring/punching the bag! I'm super excited! As soon as her trainer has this ready, I will let everyone know!!! We are beginning to purchase all the necessary equipment for her boxing matches......of course we had to start with the gloves! Here are a couple of recent pictures!

3 year old pics - FINALLY!

The girls turned 3 in June, but we barely got around to taking some "3 year old pics" of the twins! A photographer that we have used in the past, Jacqueline Phillips (www.momentsinfilm.com) , took some awesome pictures of the girls! Of course, both of them were only cooperative for part of the time. First, Layla was having fun taking pictures, and Lily wanted nothing to do with it. Then, Lily was having a great time and Layla did not want her picture taken! At least we got a couple of the two together. I can't believe how quickly time is flying by . . .here are some pictures of my beautiful twins!

We've had quite a busy week! Monday, Analisa started 6th grade. She still let me take her to school and walk her to her first class - I was secretely very happy about that. :) After I left her in front of her homeroom door, I became a bit teary eyed. She is now with the "junior high" kids and not with the "elementary" students anymore. She is growing up soooo fast. I remember 6th grade as being one of the best and most difficult years in school! I hope Analisa makes some lasting friendships and continues to do well . . .an exciting, but scary time for sure!

The twins had "Meet the Teacher" day on Monday. They were very excited to see their school and meet their new friends. Once we arrived at school, Layla was not scared at all. She began playing on the playground equipment and was roaming around without a care in the world. Lily, on the other hand, was a bit hesitant. Finally, Layla took Lily "under her wing" and she was ok.....

Finally, the first official day of pre-school arrived! Freddy and I took the girls together to school on this big day. Again, Layla was just fine. She put away her little backpack and lunchbox and sat down in her chair and began eating the snack she was given. Lily, on the other hand, was crying hysterically. She was the only child in the room crying! We felt so bad for her! I sat with her and tried to comfort her - Freddy didn't really know what to do. I think he wanted to cry with her. Suddenly, Lily stopped hugging me and ran right into Layla's arms. Layla hugged her and patted her back and kept telling her things would be ok. It was really the cutest, sweetest thing. At that moment, I felt how my two little girls are truly best friends and how they really do need each other. It hit me that they have never really been apart for very long - possibly only twice for different doctor appointments! They take care of each other and need each other very much. My Layla - my little nurturer - was such a big girl at that moment and I knew she would take care of her sister that first day of school (and every day after!). We left the classroom as Layla took care of Lily . . .we both wanted to go back and make sure they were okay, but knew we had to go. It was very hard for both of us! Harder than I thought it would be.

At the end of the day, their teacher told me that they did great. Layla took care of Lily for a while that morning and then she was ok. They were both so excited when we got home - they were marching around, singing songs and telling me about all their new friends. I hope things get easier for Lily. I know things will be easier for me knowing that Layla is there to take care of her sister. As they get older, their "twin" bond definitely becomes stronger. They are so lucky to have each other. I'm excited for this new adventure in their lives!

The Wrigley Mansion!!!

I absolutely LOVE having brunch at the Wrigley Mansion! It's such a treat - unlimited champagne and delicious food. Of course, the company I am with always makes brunch ten times better!!!! Colleen, Megan, Amy and I took advantage of the $35 brunch special at the Wrigley Mansion this past Sunday. We had a great time catching up, remembering old times, and learning about new things in our lives while drinking tons of mimosas!!! :) I love you girls! Thanks for a great Sunday!!!!