3 Little Monkeys at the Zoo

My best friend Sarh and I took our little monkeys to the

zoo a few weeks ago and had a MARVELOUS time!

In just a matter of 5 hours we were able to throughly

exhaust ourselves (not including the kiddos - they

were ready for more - AMAZING).

Aunt Sarah treated the girls to 3 consecutive

rides on the carousel. Needless to say they

were a like weeble wobbles when they walked off.

Bella feeding the birds.

Cristiano took bite of the bird food

too. He will eat anything!

Bella and Sydney acing like monkeys


... kissing a catfish that's bigger than they are

... and of course, posing for the camera

Finally... one little monkey takes a snooze

(for 15 minutes)

Then off to the water park we went!

A great end to a great day

Art Show

We enrolled Bella in a 2 week art class at a local

Art museum and these are a few pictures from

her 1st ever art exhibit. She had an incredible

experience and can't wait to go to more summer

sessions next year. We are so proud of our little

girl.. she just may grow up to be an artist afterall.

This is her 'reuse/recycle' rendition of a chinese

house (pink structure). She also created a cat

plate for our beloved Kobe.

More of her artwork - it took 2 large grocery bags and

assistance from her art teacher to get all her

masterpieces into the car. Above is a swan made

of paper mache. C wanted to take a lick (of course).

An indian pencil holder and (my favorite) a

mummy. She was also able to make

some clay beads!!

Working with clay. A few of Bella's creations.

From left to right: Mermaid in lagoon, bowl, mommy

(lovely), cat plate and penguin.

I had to add this little pic. She wanted to be sure that I had enough snacks during my workday so she quickly wrote me a note and left some goodies at my desk. So SWEET!

Summer Fun

We spent the last few weeks in South Bend, IN and Chicago

with family, celebrating my sister's wedding and grandparents

60th anniversary. I forgot how much I missed my family

and GOOD food. Mark (our new brother in law) and

Abbie spoiled us with great dinners and we splurged

on Walker Brothers and Lou Maltanti's pizza.

Isn't she lovely.... Congrats Abs! We are so

happy for you and love our new family.

It was HOT while we took these pictures so you'll see

a lot of eye squinting. C kept trying to take all

his clothes off and we caught Bella lifting her

dress quite a bit trying to catch a breeze... needless

to say, the stockings flew off as soon as we arrived

at the reception hall.

Shawn and B waiting to take more pics.

Marka, Bella and Catrianna

These girls had so much fun - sleepovers, playing

and shopping. BFFs for sure

Our 'baby' girl. Abbie treated the girls to having

their hair done for the wedding. We're still

finding glitter on her pillow :) - she loved

her princess look

Kisses for daddy. C loves giving kisses, but only to

daddy. AND he loves playing with Shawn's

blackberry. He's able to unlock it and loves

using the track mouse.

Bella and Papa (my dad) sharing a dance.

Too much fun for our little one. These are the moments

I love to capture.

Mark was able to get us a VIP tour of the Notre Dame

Stadium. We got to see the football locker room,

tackle each other on the field, and run around in the

presidential box.

C pulling grass... thank goodness he didn't

put it in his mouth (this time).

This is the wall that the players touch for luck

before going out on the field for each game.

C in the footlocker...

The girls decided to put on a show for us. They danced

for a good 20 minutes. I think they were runway models

turned ballerinas in the story. Matching outfits

compliments of Abbie.

Abs and Mark surprised the kids with pony rides IN

THE BACKYARD.

In front of the Crown Royal car at Mark and

Abs store.

Bella finding out she was going to the

American Girl store in Chicago!!!!

She made out like a bandit... we could

barely fit our luggage in the car. Good

thing we drove.

Carriage ride in downtown Chicago.

Bella fell asleep on the ride within 5 minutes.

Guess all that shopping wore her out.

Mom and Cristiano at Grandma and

Grandpa's anniversary party.

Happy 60th Anniversary Grandpa and Grandma!

Happy Birthday America

A visit to Dry Gulch...

We spent the 4th of July (afternoon/evening) out at Dry Gulch and enjoyed almost all it had to offer. Bella was so excited to see her friends from school. The fireworks were AMAZING although I don't have any pics... I ran out of battery! grrr

Shawn and Cristiano at the playground.

C loved to watch the kids play.

Amazingly enough he fell asleep during the

firework show... and stayed asleep througout

the night. WOW!

To my surprise Bella wanted to tackle the zip

drive... and she LOVED it!

Yep - that's her in there...

Bella on the way home. She was so tired she

couldn't hold her head up.

The day after...

C loves to climb daddy - his own personal playground

This is me the day after...

I'm out like a light on the couch.

Pillow covering compliments of my

little girl.

Reading Rewards...

Bella's big day

The day has finally arrived. Bella reached her goal

(which was to read 1 book all the way through

by herself) -- and she actually read 3!

Her reward was to get her ears pierced. She

has eagerly anticipated this day and played

out several scenarios in her head on how it would go.

She did fabulously well.

Pre-pierced ears...
C wanted a last minute kiss

B wanted to hold mommy's hand (I love that)

and C was interested in the accessories

Here we go!

The ladies at Claire's did her piercing at the

same time to minimize pain.. thanks girls!

Cleaning the area ;) -- almost

a tear but she held it in.

All done!


Of course, our little girl picked out the biggest

bling available for starter earrings. They

look great on her.

Our Bella Grace