Our very first School Field Trip

Today Tia's class had their first field trip. I was so happy that parents were required to attend (and siblings were welcome) because we went to one of my favorite places here in Huntley, Tom's Farm. They're a working vegetable farm but they do so much for the kids, especially during Fall. We go to their Fall Fest every year.

For the field trip, they took us on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where the kids were allowed to pick one pumpkin, and three gourds.

It was muddy, but boy did the kids all think it was so neat to be traipsing around in a pumpkin patch!

Of course the most important part of any school function is the snack, and this was a very important one to Tia. All week she had been looking forward to having one of Tom's famous Apple Cider Donuts! They are incredibly yummy, and she remembered them from last year. I just had to take a picture of her eating one since she has talked about them so much this week.

After our tour and snack, the kids were allowed to stay and play in the "Fall Fest" area. They had a blast!

This was a big silo full of feed corn that they jumped and rolled around in.
Click on the image to enlarge and see the look of sheer joy on Gia's face!
A lot of fun but needless to say, we had to wash everything once we got home!

Did you know corn is very dusty?

The mountain of hay was another big hit this year.

I took 44 pictures today, and obviously can't post them all. Here are just a couple more that I took and thought were kind of neat.

We all had a fantastic time on the farm, and wish we could have stayed longer. Unfortunately is started to rain so we had to come home and have some hot chocolate!

Tia's Birthday Parts 2 and 3!

Tia's birthday is actually October 12. However, we celebrated last month while my sister and brother in law were in town. Now this past weekend the grandparents were visiting, so we did it all over again.
When we asked Tia what she would like to do for her birthday, she said she wanted to go on a boat. In October?! Well, I went on line and discovered a tour boat company up in Wisconsin, just 45 minutes away. We chose the ice cream sundae cruise, which turned out to be the perfect choice.

Tia wore a Princess ribbon so everyone would know it was her birthday!

Both girls loved the view of Lake Geneva. It was pretty cold out but they were dressed in layers.

A nice lady at the next table offered to take a picture of our whole group.

The captain even added Tia's birthday to his announcements over the loud speaker. Her face lit up with a huge smile as he said "And I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to Princess Tia"! She was so proud. The ice cream and the tour were fantastic. We all had a great time.

Then, the next day, Tia had a couple of her little friends over for a small birthday party. She insisted on getting all dressed up for the occasion.

Party dress provided by Nonna!

The girls made a princess wand to take home.

Tia loved her Princess cake.

You would think after two parties and a boat ride, we would be done celebrating, right? Not exactly. On Tia's actual birthday, D.R. will take the day off from work, and we'll do something special with our family of four. D.R.'s Mom always did that with her kids when they were at home, and now we will continue the tradition for our girls. That will be birthday celebration part 4! Just perfect for a 4 year old.

The Magic of Sesame Street

The other day, out of the blue, Tia counted to 10 in Spanish. Sadly, I was not the one who taught her this! I believe she learned it from Sesame Street videos. Regardless of where she picked it up, I'm so proud of her accomplishment. What a great skill to have!
Now that I see how well she grasps language, I'll do my best to continue to teach her more.
Hooray for Sesame Street!

Once Upon a Potty

Next month Giuliana will be 2 1/2. That's exactly the time we potty trained Tia, and she was ready. Gia, on the other hand, is quite a different child. A few months back we brought out the potty chair. She wanted to try it out, and actually used it once. Since then, it has just sat un-used in the bathroom, and we're not allowed to talk about it. Gia is a very strong willed child. When she does something, it has to be her own idea. She absolutely will not do anything if she thinks someone is forcing her into it. Her favorite word still seems to be "No!".

Gia's all time favorite candy is M&M's, so I brought home 2 bags and showed them to her. I explained that the candy was for little girls who go pee pee on the potty. She walked away, ignoring me.

Last week at the Parent-Tot center, I started to read her a book about going potty. She took the book out of my hand and tossed it acrosst he room. I guess she told me!

A few days ago I reminded her about the M&M's that were waiting for her in our pantry. Her response was "I don't like M&M's anymore"! This kid is stubborn beyond belief. She reminds me of my mother in so many ways.

Last night D.R. decided to use some serious psychology (that quite possible could have scarred our baby for life!). He told Tia to go use the potty, and that he would give her 4 M&M's for doing so. She did, and happily accepted her prize. Gia of course went into a huge fit, knowing the candy was supposed to be for her. D.R. said "Well, I'm sorry but those are only for little girls who can use the potty. If you'd like to go on the potty, then you can have 4 M&M's too". I stood back and held my breath. I know how stubborn this child is, and I had the feeling this could have led to a complete melt down. Well, my genius husband had the right idea. Seeing her sister with candy that she wasn't having got her to finally sit on the potty, and use it!

Now, here's the funny part. Gia informed me that she wanted to use the big potty, not the baby potty chair. OK, so I lifted her onto it, then she said "Don't see me!", so I had to turn my head and not look at her. When I heard a little tinkle, I began to open my mouth to praise her. She immediately covered my mouth with her hand and said "Don't say it Mom". It took every ounce of energy I had to not burst out laughing! I wanted to clap and cheer and dance around in celebration of her potty use. She wouldn't have any of it. We couldn't talk about her accomplishment. She just wanted her M&M's. I asked if we could call Nonna and tell her about it, and of course she said no.

We're learning a lot about our little girl. We have definitely learned that she has to do things her own way, and on her own time, and there's no changing that. We are getting some practice in patience for sure!

What did you do in school today?

Remember when your parents would ask you every day what you did or learned in school that day? The usual answer was "nothin'". I can remember my parents asking how that could be possible, I must have learned something!

Well, that's pretty much the answer I'm getting from Tia these days. Today was a big day. She's going to a Christian preschool. Today was to be their first day visiting the chapel, and meeting the pastor. They will do this monthly as part of their religious instruction. I couldn't wait to pick her up and ask her how it went. Here's an excerpt from our converstaion...

Mom: Tia, did you get to go into church today?
Tia: Yup
Mom: What did you do?
Tia: Nothin'
Mom: Did you meet the Pastor?
Tia: Yup
Mom: What's his name?
Tia: Pastor
Mom: Did he say a prayer?
Tia: Nope
Mom: Did he teach you anything?
Tia: Nope

Well, I'm smart enough to realize that I'm not going to get much more out of this kid. I guess as long as she continues to come out of school with a big smile on her face, that's good enough for me.


In other news, I dressed the girls alike today in outfits that I actually bought. They weren't handed down, or bought by loving family members. That's pretty rare! Anyway, I had to take their picture because I know my days of dressing them alike are numbered. I have to do it while I can!

First Day of Dance

This year both girls are enrolled in dance class, and today was their first day. That must mean it's Fall, but honestly, it was almost 80 degrees again today!

I couldn't resist taking lots and lots of pictures in their little ballerina outfits.

Tia's 4 year old class goes first, and then about an hour later, Gia gets to go. Tia's an old pro, having already taken dance last year. The only problem is that she wants to "help" when it's Gia's turn, especially when she thinks Gia isn't paying attention to her teacher! Next week one of us will go home with Tia after her class is over so that Gia can enjoy herself. Lesson learned.

I told Gia today that when I was little I didn't get to go to dance class, and that she's a very lucky little girl. She asked why I didn't have a purple tutu. Too funny. I'll have to be one of those moms who say "Don't you know how good you have it? I never got that when I was your age"! Didn't we all love those stories from our own parents!?

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Probably the best birthday present I've ever gotten.
Priceless!

She's doing just fine!

Back in May D.R. and I started to have some concerns about Tia. Not only was she still struggling with some speech sounds, but her anxiety had escalated to an all time high. I can't call it stranger anxiety, because it wasn't just with strangers. She would cry and retreat into her shell even with family and friends. Over the summer, she freaked out uncontrollably at the sight of my brother in law, whom she knows very well.

We had finally decided to have her evaluated. We consulted our pediatrician who said he would support our decision to have her checked out because he thought she would have grown out of some of her behaviors by this age. The school district in our area does their evaluations in August. We had to deal with her anxiety all summer. For me, since I'm the one home with her all day, things were getting pretty rough.

Two weeks ago we got the letter in the mail stating the school had an appointment for her. At this point she had already started preschool at a private Christian school. We agreed that if she qualified for support services within the district program, we would just have to pull her out of the private school. Lo and behold, about a week before the appointment, Tia just came right out of her shell. She would talk to people, no longer cried at the sight of strangers, and started pronouncing the 'L' sound that she had been struggling with for so long. How can this be?! It was like over night, she became a different kid. I kept the appointment anyway and figured if she didn't need their services, they could tell me so themselves.

Today I got another letter in the mail stating that the psychologist and teacher who evaluated Tia feel that she is developing right on schedule. They saw no problems at all. She performed on an age appropriate level for all categories. YAY TIA!

We are so relieved. At first I really wanted her to qualify for services so she could go to the wonderful district preschool, which is a 5 day program. Then when I saw how much she loved the private preschool, I decided it would be really hard to pull her out. More change for an already anxious kid wouldn't be my first choice.

Here's what we've learned along the way. Tia needs routine, a schedule, and as much predictability as possible. She doesn't deal well with chaos. When her anxiety peaked just happens to be the same time we were going back and forth to NY to see my ailing Mom. As much as she loves to be in NY, visiting our family, it was tough on her. She was more often than not away from her regular routine, her own bed, and her home. That takes a toll on adults, I can only imagine what it was doing to her. We're pretty sure that's where a lot of her issues were coming from. Hindsight is 20/20!

We are so happy that our sweet little angel is doing just fine. We've learned a lot from this experience, most importantly we learned that we will always do what's best for our children.

So many reasons to celebrate!

This weekend was action packed with lots of wonderful happenings. In order to squeeze it all in, this is going to be a long post!

Way back in March I decided that I would train to run the Chicago 5K Lung Run. I've always wanted to run a 5K and since my Mom was sick with lung cancer, this seemed to be the best fit. It happened to coincide with my birthday so we figured we'd make a full weekend out of it. Then to make it even better, my sister and brother in law decided to join us. Talk about excitement! If they hadn't come, we wouldn't see each other until Christmas, so it was great timing.

We stayed in a great hotel close to Navy Pier. The kids were so happy and excited just to be in a hotel. They loved the lobby, the elevators, the beds, EVERYTHING! It doesn't take much to make them happy.

On our first day together in the big city, they gave Tia her birthday presents. Uncle Reggie surprised Tia with a real guitar. She's been making up her own songs ever since!


On Friday we went to the Sears Tower and I was able to check an item off my 'life list'! We all went to the top, and even went out on the glass ledge (sort of). I couldn't go all the way out. My brain kept telling me not to do it. I had to sit on the floor, with my back to the view. As long as I wasn't looking, I could scooch out backward far enough to get a picture.

D.R. and Tia didn't have the same problem!

Then came the big day...race day! After forecasts were threatening rain all week, it turned out to be a beautiful, warm, sunny day. This year was the biggest turn out ever in the history of the Lung Run. The crowd was amazing and full of energy.

Before

I started at the front of the pack with the fastest runners, only because that's where I was able to find a spot to stand. I didn't count on being passed by about 500 people as soon as the horn blew! That was pretty deflating. Then of course as the race progressed I was actually the one passing people. That was a great feeling. I was able to finish the race in 45 minutes. I was hoping for 40 minutes but I guess it just wasn't in the cards. It was pretty hot, there was absolutely no shade, and I got a major cramp in the third mile. I figure I now have a time to beat for my next race, even though I kept saying I never wanted to run again.

Running a 5K was also on my life list, so in one weekend I was able to check two things off!

After!

Sadly, my Mom didn't make it to see me finish this race, but she knew I was training for it and that I was doing it for her. She was my inspiration and motivation. She thought I was crazy for taking up running in the first place, but I know she was smiling down on me. Ironically, the race was on the 12th, exactly 3 months after her death. She would have been proud, and she told me so before she died.

On a lighter note, we took the opportunity to celebrate Tia's birthday while Aunt Kimmie and Uncle Reggie were in town. She even picked out her very own cake.

Then, can you believe after all that exercise I got from running, my family had me out walking around Chicago for the rest of the day?! Here are some pictures of what we saw along the way.

It was a nice mini-vacation. I'm so glad we did it. It couldn't have been a more perfect weekend.

School days, school days.

Today was Tia's first day of preschool! She woke up this morning, came out of her room and announced loudly "OK Mom, I'm ready for school!". She all of a sudden seemed so grown up to me. The morning went smoothly. She had her breakfast and got dressed without incident. D.R. went into work later than normal so he could be here to see her get ready and keep me focused and calm. He knows what a big baby I am when it comes to our kids!

We took lots of pictures for the big day.

Tia wasn't thrilled with her school bag because it is so large. I explained to her that it was provided by the school, and it wasn't my idea. She finally agreed to carry it.

This was the last picture I could take and then the parents had to leave.

The biggest surprise of the day was that I didn't cry! I almost did, but turned and left, and was able to hold it together. Gia however wasn't so strong. She cried all the way to the car because she thought we forgot her sister. She's never done anything without her, so this is quite a change.
Because it was the first day, the kids only stayed for an hour and a half. They normally go from 9-11:30. At pick-up, parents pull in the loop in front of the building and the teachers walk the kids to the car door. It's a great system. Even though I left the house way earlier than I needed to, I was the last in line! I was so anxious to see how she did. When it was finally our turn, all I could see was her HUGE smile. She was so happy and proud. I almost cried again. The teachers all said she did great and Tia said she had a lot of fun.
I still can't believe my little girl is already a preschooler!

Isn't it Ironic...

When Tia was a new born baby, my best friend gave me bags and bags of girl clothes. They had belonged to her daughter (my God Daughter), who is now 12 years old. I remember telling one of my new friends here in Huntley that almost all of Tia's clothes are 8 years old. She said something like "Well, aren't you concerned that they won't be in fashion by the time she wears them?". I laughed inside and asked myself what planet this woman was from. All of the clothes are in excellent condition (she wouldn't have given them to me if they weren't), and I'm not one to get caught up in fashion trends.

Well, the other day I went "basement shopping" again, picking out size 4 fall clothes. I found this shirt that ironically has '09 on it.


Keep in mind that it was probably purchased when the year was 2001! How's that for keeping up with fashion? Some things are built to last.

Moving on, Growing up

This must be the week for toddler beds! I have 2 other friends who moved their kids out of the crib and into the "big kid" bed. Here's how our story goes...

On Monday morning I heard a blood curdling scream coming from Gia's room. I ran to investigate and found that her door was locked. I was able to get in with one of those little metal poker things. She was sobbing and shaking. Apparently she had gotten out of her crib and locked the door, then she freaked out when she realized she was trapped. When it came to nap time, she refused to lay in her crib, and started climbing out right in front of me.
I figured it was time to transition her to the toddler bed. I let her nap on the living room floor on Monday and Tuesday, then I made the switch on Tuesday afternoon. I can't believe I actually saved all the hardware and instructions for her crib. Impressive!
I was trying to prolong that move as long as possible. Gia is the kind of kid who doesn't stay put. I just knew once she wasn't confined to a crib, she would be all over the place! My prediction was right on that first night. She kicked and screamed the whole way upstairs. First D.R. tried to put her down, even staying in her room with her for a while. Then I took over, singing and rocking for a half hour. Nothing seemed to work. So, I decided to try tough love and let her cry it out. I closed the door and listened to her cry for 45 minutes! She finally gave in, or passed out, and slept about 8 hours. Her norm is 11, but not bad for a first night.
I was fully expecting a repeat performance last night. I was totally shocked when I brought her up to bed and she actually let me lay her down and cover her up. I think she was totally exhausted and had given up the fight, because she slept about 10 hours before we heard from her this morning. Ahhhh. Maybe she is growing up and this won't be so bad after all. Fingers crossed!

Going Bananas!

I was shopping at Caputo the other day. It's my favorite place to go for fruits and vegetables. On my way through the check-out, a clerk asked me if I'd like to take home a free case of bananas. I'm not one to turn down free stuff, so I said "SURE!". I asked why they were giving them away, and the kid just said "customer appreciation". I got home and looked at the bananas and understood why the store was giving them away. They were all perfectly ripe already. There's no way they could sell them all before they went bad. I was suddenly stuck with the same issue. Do you know how many bananas come in a case? I can tell you...LOTS. I can't believe I accepted an entire case of ripe bananas. My first thought was "what the heck am I going to do with them before they start attracting fruit flies?".
I was able to fit 4 bags in my freezer, and give 4 bags away to neighbors. This didn't even make a dent in my loot! Today I looked up a recipe for easy banana bread, and quick banana muffins.
The kids were more than happy to help me bake. It was a fun project, and used up a whole 10 bananas. Yikes!
I could have made more but I ran out of vanilla, and I was sick of the smell of smashed bananas.

You see those bananas behind Tia in the fruit bowl? Those are the ones I bought at Caputo BEFORE they offered me the free case! I felt duped.

Here's our finished products of the day. I'm going to try to give some more bananas away to neighbors today (I'm sure they all think I'm a little flaky!). Tomorrow I just might try to make something else. How do I get myself into these things?

Our NY visitors

My niece Jennifer and friend Sheila came to visit from Rochester. They've been here all week. In the days leading up to their visit, Gia kept saying she wanted to "jump on Aunt Sheila".
Well, she sure did, several times!

They were stuck together like glue all week!

Tia kept saying she was going to play with Jennifer the whole time. She got her wish too. Jennifer was more than happy to play dress up, kitchen, and baby dolls with her 3 year old cousin. They are best buddies.

We also went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago and our local spray park. Of course we went out for Chicago pizza too! It was a fun and busy week. We've all enjoyed the visit, but no one more than my kids. I can just imagine how sad they are going to be tomorrow when they wake up and our friends/playmates are gone. I guess they'll have to settle for their boring old Mom!

A Little Summer Fun

I love this picture of the girls. They were looking at ducks at the Randall Oaks Barnyard Zoo.
I've been trying to do fun things with the girls this summer, especially since we didn't get to take a vacation this year. Next year will be different.


A couple more shots of them enjoying the beautiful summer day at the park. It was a great day.

My niece and friend are due to arrive tonight, and I have a whole week worth of activities planned for them. It's sure to be very much like a mini vacation. We can't wait!

More pics are sure to follow.

It's the 12th

Today is August 12. That means so many things right now...

It means that Tia is 46 months old (October 12)
It means that Gia is 28 months old (April 12)
It's been 2 months since my Mom died (June 12)
And it's one month until my big race (September 12)

When Tia was born, we always knew the 12th would be an important day for the rest of our lives. Then exactly 18 months later, her sister was born. Even more reason to celebrate the 12th!
Now, with the passing of my Mom happening on the 12th, it won't always invoke happy thoughts. I guess from now on it'll just be a very significant date in the history of our family.

Do something significant today. It's the 12th!

These are the Moments

I try to take the time to savor the little things with my kids. I know they don't stay little for very long. Yesterday Tia asked if we could have a movie night in our living room and pretend we were at the theater.
We agreed to let them have popcorn (normally no eating in that room), and the kids loved it. We watched Cinderella (for the 80th time!). It was one of those sweet little moments that made my day.

Celebrating 5 years

Last night we celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We already had our romantic overnight get away without the kids, so it was time to let them in on the fun.
D.R. brought home 3 bouquets of flowers, so each of them could give me one. Gia was convinced it must be my birthday and kept running around the house yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!".


We decided it would probably be best to have dinner at home due to the girls ages, as well as it being a work night. They love it when we have "fancy dinner" in the formal dining room. They both wanted to get dressed up for the occasion. They were so excited!

Then I just had to take a picture of the food because I kept thinking "I wonder what we would pay for all this at a restaurant?". I know the answer to that question, TOO MUCH!

I tried to get the whole piece of fish onto the platter without breaking it, but it didn't quite make it. Oh well, it was still delicious! I paired this with a loaf of wheat bread and some edamame (Gia and D.R.'s favorite). Of course Gia ate everything we put on her plate, and Tia only had bread and yogurt. Part of being a preschooler I guess.

To further Gia's belief that it must be someone's birthday, I let them have birthday cake for dessert. It had been in the freezer since Gia's birthday in April. I figured that was long enough. D.R. and I shared a bottle of champagne for our dessert. The end result was, the kids were hyper on a sugar high. The grown-ups were mellow and tired from the alcohol. Not a good mix!

We talked about how much we've done and how far we've come over the last 5 years. We had two beautiful girls who have been such a blessing. We've had career changes and address changes. We know there's probably even more of that to come, and that's OK. We consider life to be an adventure and we accept the things that come our way as part of that. We're both so glad to have each other, and our girls, to go through this journey together.

Five years down, 50 to go!

We just had the most wonderful weekend. This week is our 5th wedding anniversary. D.R.'s folks (Nonna and PaPa) came in for a long weekend to help us celebrate. We all had a great time, especially the girls.
Nonna brought the girls new night gowns, and they were so excited about it they couldn't stop dancing around. Here's a quick video clip of their excitement.





They also helped us plant a lot of new flowers in our garden. Extra man power was key in getting so much work done.
Here's Giuliana smelling her new favorite flower.

The extra man power also gave me a break from pushing both girls on the swings!

On Saturday D.R. and I got a night out without the kids. We went shopping for new sneakers (real romantic, I know!). Then we went out for a fantastic sushi lunch, which was really our dinner. The sushi was amazing, and it was nice to just enjoy each other without the distractions that go along with taking two young children out to a restaurant. It was so nice. We sat there for a long time, not wanting the time to end. After our HUGE lunch, we headed over to our hotel for the night. We stayed at the Embassy Suites, and the room was great. We were on the top floor, and here's a picture of what the inside of the hotel looked like from our room.

We shared a bottle of champagne and toasted our 5th year as husband and wife.
Later in the evening we made our way over to Ravinia Festival for an outdoor concert in the park. This was our first time at the venue, and I must say we were both impressed. We agreed that we must go back again next year, for a concert of music more our style. The act was a violinist who I'm sure is great at her craft, but played very dark and depressing music. We left at intermission! We enjoyed the rest of the evening at the hotel. It's funny how we wanted so badly to get away without our kids, but spent the majority of the day talking about how much the kids would have loved to be there!
We both got a great night sleep, and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to get back to our girls. After a quick work out and a nice breakfast, we headed home. The kids were happy to see us, but I definitely got the feeling we missed them more than they missed us! They had a blast with Nonna and PaPa, and never asked about us once.

So, our overnight experience taught us a few things. We learned that we need to do these kind of things once in a while to rejuvenate our relationship as man and wife. We also learned that right now, one night away from our girls is plenty! We missed them like crazy.