Date night with Gabby!

There is another reason I love the holidays... and that's because it's a break from the normal routine. No school routine. No rushing to gymnastics class or swimming lessons. No crazy work requests. Everything just seems a bit quieter.

So, Dan & I usually take advantage of this time to go on a few dates. This year, we decided we'd take each child on a special date with us. For Gabby's date, she chose to go out and get pedicures and dinner. Although, she got a manicure AND a pedicure. And, some very cute flowers were painted on her big toes. Dan and I just got pedi's.

For dinner we went to a fun wine cafe. And, while the big people can have wine flights... the little people can enjoy milk flights. So, Gabby got to enjoy special milk flights served in fancy wine glasses. She tried strawberry, caramel, chocolate and white and I had to remind her to not drink them so fast or we'd be in the bathroom more than sitting at the table during dinner!

She also entertained us through dinner with funny stories from school and with her friends. She is such a fun little girl. She's always full of excitement, and willing to share stories and see what our thoughts are on certain scenarios with her friends, etc. I love listening to her stories and thoughts, and hearing all about her world that we aren't a part of during the school day. And, I'm so glad she shares stories with us. I imagine the day she stops sharing so much is not too far off!

We love you so much, Gabs! Thanks for the fun date night!

Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas holiday was nice. If you celebrate this holiday - we hope yours was also nice!

Christmas Eve Day was busy. We took our toy donation to Seattle Children's in the morning. After that, we went home and started prepping our Christmas Eve dinner... home made lasagna and bread. When Giuliana woke up from her nap we let the kids open family gifts... gifts from cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and Dan & I. Then, we raced out of the house at 4:30pm so we could hopefully still find seats for Christmas Eve mass. After church, we came home and ate dinner. (Well... some of us ate and some of us could not stop playing with our new toys. But, those of us who did eat ate enough for the little people who didn't!)

The kids had so much fun opening gifts. They each seemed truly thankful for every gift they opened... it was cute. Rocco started a routine of opening a gift, yelling out with huge excitement what it was, then yelling thank you, and then holding it next to his face saying "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeese" so I could snap a picture (even if I didn't have my camera ready) and then begging Dan to open it. Also, as Rocco would open gifts, Giuliana would be VERY interested in whatever it was he got (Batman, Spiderman, transformers, whatever...). So, Rocco ended up clearing a spot on the kitchen counter to "safely keep his gifts out of Giuliana's reach". And, after a new gift was opened, he would go throw the new gift up high onto his pile. It was hilarious! He was literally storing all his newly acquired gift stash! Of course, it didn't take long for Giuliana to figure out what was going on or where all of Rocco's cool gifts were... which meant lots of negotiating between an almost 4 and almost 2 year old. But, it was funny all the same. I think Rocco kept his *stash* piled in that spot on the counter for at least the next day and a half. Grabbing what he wanted, as it was needed. Tossing unused new toys back onto the pile. I was eventually able to talk him into allowing us to move the new gift stash to the play room and his bedroom.

Giuliana could have cared less about opening gifts on Christmas Eve. She was much more interested in taking what gifts were already opened that interested her from her brother and sister. This created a number or tantrums and meltdowns between her and Rocco on Christmas Eve, as she was very fast to put claim on Rocco's new Batman and Batman mobile. This girl is in LOVE with Batman!! I'd say she loves Batman just as much as Rocco does, if not more. Matter-of-fact, she had a 45 minute meltdown/tantrum before bed on Christmas Eve because SHE wanted to sleep with Rocco's new Batman. I felt so bad for Rocco because HE wanted to sleep with his new Batman. But, we were eventually able to convince Rocco to sleep with his new Buzz Lightyear toy and give Giuliana the Batman. JEEEEESH!! Anyway... Giuliana did show much more interest in actually opening gifts on Christmas morning. And, now as luck would have it, every day she is trying to sneak open her birthday gifts (which are sitting out with Rocco's). Every day, we find her stealing a birthday gift from the pile and when she's busted with it (about to open it, or in route to take it into hiding for her secret opening) she'll run from us holding the gift and we have to catch her and put it back into the pile. She's already opened two of her birthday gifts completely! This little girl keeps us on our toes!

Gabby got a lot of big girl gifts this year from both us and Santa. Even she recognized that she received less toys, and more "grown-up" gifts (or gift that are more useful). Things like new bed sheets and a new big-girl quilt for her room. Earrings, shoes, board games, crafty stuff, and clothing items she had been asking for. She loved everything and was very thankful for all of her gifts and I was glad to see that. And, she had a lot of fun helping the little kids try out their new toys. She's such a GREAT big sister!

Before bed, we read "T.was the night before Christmas". We tucked the kids in. (That sounds a lot easier than it was - because Giuliana's Batman tantrum made it horrible on xmas eve!!) And, then it was time to start the tricky stealth mission of getting the stockings filled and wrapped S.anta gifts downstairs by the Christmas tree. And of course, Dan still had to build stuff. Every year, he waits until Christmas Eve to do this... and then he'll be cursing and complaining in the next room, and he'll come over and complain to me that he doesn't have the right parts or whatever. And, every year, I suggest he starts this earlier... but no. He tells me it's his tradition. And, of course, he has all the parts... it's just he's probably numbed his stress too much with the b.ourbon to notice. Men... go figure!

Anyway, Santa was very generous this year. He surprised the kids with two family gifts. One was a big holiday train (that sings holiday music and has little elves pumping it along the tracks) that the kids LOVE. We'll pull this out each year at Christmas and have it be sort of another Christmas decoration in the house. The other family gift was another i.Pod Touch (to hopefully stop the iFights and provide sanity on our upcoming trips so each child has their own iSomething). Santa gave Giuliana a new baby doll, a wooden baby crib, changing table and high chair, a tea set and some M&D wood kitchen stuff. She was very happy (although I think she would have been just as happy with getting a B.atman doll!). Rocco got lots of transformers, an Optimus Prime transformer helmet and some more B.atman and S.piderman related stuff. He was in Heaven! Gabby got lots of H.ello Kitty stuff (per her request to Santa) including new H.K. wall stickers (to replace the princess wall stickers! wow - never thought this day would come!), a H.K. wallet, a H.K. i.Pod Touch case, a H.K. vanity/makeup mirror, and lots more H.K. stuff. She also got her very own speaker/docking station to put in her bedroom for her i.Pod, some sparkly hoop earrings (she was VERY excited about her hoop earrings!), and a new 2 wheeled R.azor scooter.

By the time Christmas Day hit... this momma was exhausted!! The culmination of all the errands, shopping, wrapping, getting projects done for work and Matteo's Dream Fund, being a taxi for the kids, having Dan gone traveling for business for 16 days in December, being pregnant, volunteering in Gabby's classroom, prepping/planning for 3 kids birthdays... ACK!! I think I spent November and December in a whirlwind of checking stuff off my lists for the past two months and it was as if my body finally said "I NEED A BREAK!". So, on Christmas Day, my feet hurt, my legs hurt and I felt like a semi-truck had run me over. From the moment I woke up, I knew I needed a day to just sit around and do nothing. And, I didn't need to talk anyone else into that (no surprises there!). So, that's what I did. Nothing. And, let me tell you... I can honestly not remember the last time I did this (I'm too Type A to just sit around. I like to be doing something.) But, it felt GREAT! Everyone should do this at least once a year! The kids had a grand time... they played with their toys all day, listened to music, we played the new board games and Dan helped them open toys and played games on his iPad.

Christmas Day was very quiet. But - it was exactly what we needed and we enjoyed it. We stayed in PJ's all day. We ate leftovers... and just chilled!

We hope you also found some time to just relax over the holiday break!

Toy donation... our new holiday tradition!

We have a new family tradition...

It started last year when we made a big donation to Seattle Children's on behalf of Matteo's Dream Fund.

This year... we did it on behalf of our family because we got SO much out of the experience last year. After last year's donation event, we didn't even need to discuss that we would continue to do this every year moving forward.

It really makes for a fun, meaningful and great experience for both adults AND children. I highly recommend adding it to your list of holiday traditions as well.












We bring the kids to the toy stores... let them shop and pick out lots of toys, markers, crayons, coloring books, dolls, puzzles, games, etc. Dan and I picked out gift cards and iCovers. Then, we drive directly over to the children's hospital with the kids and gifts in tow... and let the kids bring all the bags in to the volunteer office where the toys are being collected for the holidays.

The kids ask a million questions... every "why, who, what, where and how" you can imagine. And, as we're leaving they comment on how they hope the toys and gifts will help make a bunch of sick kids smile and feel loved over the holidays. They talk about it for the rest of the day and it isn't hard to know that they feel really good about it and are more grateful for their own good health and all that they have.

And, it also is an easy way for us to do something good for so many other little kids... in memory of our little angel, Matteo.

'Twas the Season...

Our holiday season sort of spans the time from Thanksgiving to New Year's. And, since I already posted about Thanksgiving... time to post more about Christmas.

We went and chopped down our tree at a local tree farm the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And, we had it up, lights on and decorated by the end of the day. That was a record for us! Usually, we get our tree home and lights on over Thanksgiving weekend... but the decorations don't get put on for a week or two later... mostly because we always get caught up in some sort of chaos.

The kids did a great job decorating it this year. They needed help getting decorations in the higher spots of course, but in general, they didn't bunch all the ornaments in one spot as they used to do. Both Rocco and Gabby were very involved with the decorating and really seemed to enjoy it. Giuliana sort of danced around and played with ornaments, broke ornaments, pulled some off the tree and put some on.









Some of the other *signs* of Christmas in our house were the swirl of colored lights going up our staircase; the baby J.esus in the manger scene; the cranberry, peppermint and holiday scented candles burning throughout the house; the beautiful holiday cards sent to us by so many friends and family; the darling Christmas tree place-card holders Gabby made for our Christmas dinner table; and then of course, the big signal to the kids that Christmas is right around the corner is seeing presents wrapped and under the tree.

And, as always... Matteo is in our constant thoughts. Holidays seem a little jaded ever since Matteo died... and I honestly think that helps keep us a bit more focused on the reason for the season, instead of getting carried away in the consumerism and crazy behavior that can devour people over the Christmas holiday. Gabby had a number of difficult moments that hit sporadically over the month of December. She broke down sobbing on one occasion... just missing her brother so much. It literally rips my heart out to see her hurt so much... and not be able to *fix* it. And, it takes everything in my power to not break down sobbing right along with her.

The first Christmas after Matteo died, a very dear friend of mine gifted us with a number of personalized ornaments with Matteo's photos. The kids always want to put those ornaments up first and they treat them with the utmost care. I included a couple photos of those ornaments here.

Christmas 2010 wrap-up

We spent Christmas at home again this year... the big difference being that we were in our new home.

It was a little strange to not be spending the holiday with either of our extended families. We've celebrated the Christmas holiday with our California family for the past four years. So, it was both relaxing and possibly a wee bit too quiet to not be prepping for and hosting a delicious four course Christmas Day dinner.

And, after a summer of traveling and living like gypsies, we just weren't ready to travel anywhere. We decided we would much rather take this time as a family to finally "breathe" a little and enjoy some quality time together after the whirlwind of chaos that goes along with a big move.

The anticipation of Christmas was almost palpable in our home this year. The kids were SO excited about every single traditional event leading up to the big day. Everything from getting the Christmas tree, to decorating it, putting up Christmas decorations throughout the house, making holiday cookies, picking out presents and wrapping them... you name it - they were SO EXCITED! Needless to say... the anticipation of opening presents was also discussed several times a day.

The kids also LOVE our somewhat new Elf on the Shelf tradition. Dan and I love it too, actually. We just wish we could use the Elf threat throughout the year... you know, the "you better be good... Elf is watching and he's going to fly back to the North Pole tonight and tell Santa what you did!" It snaps the kids in line every time. Love it! Some of my high school girlfriends gifted us with this last year. I swear... it's the gift that keeps on giving! ha!

The kids had so many more questions about Santa this year... everything from where does he live to how does he get inside our house? Will he know we moved? How does he get to the mall? Where are his real reindeer when he's at the mall? Why does the mall only have fake reindeer? Where are his elves when he's at the mall? Etc.

We also got the three kids to SIT NEXT to Santa for a photo this year and not one child was crying! This is a miracle!!! I am 99% sure it was because this year's Santa photo included some of their pals. So a group of pals all put on their brave faces and sat with Santa. Granted, my children didn't say one word to him... but that's ok. We got a Santa photo with no screamers! Yay! Santa photos from Christmas' past are worthy of winning "worst Santa photo ever" contests. And, I'm not kidding!! Check Gabby out in this photo from 2006... you'd think she just saw a ghost. And, here's Gabby and the twins in 2008... and yes that's me, holding Gabby down on my lap. So funny!

And, of course, they were so excited about opening presents. We'd get the "can I open one present?" question at least once a day for the 3 weeks leading up to Christmas. Only because for once in my life I happened to be somewhat organized with my gift purchasing and did a majority of it before Thanksgiving when the toy store had huge deals. I was shocked that they never actually opened a gift early... yes, they were sat on, thrown, used to build forts, and dragged and dropped throughout the house. But, not one was intentionally opened early! Such good little kidlets!

On Christmas Eve, we went to mass so we could say "Happy Birthday" to baby Jesus, and listen to and sing along with the beautiful Christmas music. Giuliana slept through the first half of mass. Rocco spent most of the service playing in the basement with Dan and then proceeded to fall asleep ten minutes before church ended. And, Gabby was alert and asking questions throughout the service... she was so excited to go home and rip through some presents. Dan made a delish lasagna and we ate until we were stuffed and then ripped through all of our family presents. It went shockingly fast and Gabby was VERY quick to help Giuliana open all of her gifts.

Giuliana really couldn't have cared less to open any of her gifts. All she wanted to do was hold the gifts that Gabby and Rocco opened... and she thought that was the best job in the house. She was all smiles every time something new was opened... she'd walk over and pick it up and next thing you know she'd have the world's biggest smile on her face.

Rocco loved opening all the gifts and seeing the new toys. The Nerf guns seemed to be his favorite gifts of the evening. It cracked me up when he opened a few gifts with clothes in them... becuase he wouldn't even react to it... rather... it's almost like the clothes were tissue paper. He'd pull the sweater out of the box, drop it with no facial reaction or comment and move right on to the next gift. So funny!

It's such fun to be a parent at this time of year. Christmas is so magical and full of anticipation for the kids. And, I love making it magical for them... creating traditions, putting up lights and decorations, making the house smell like cinnamon, spices and cranberries, and buying gifts I think they'll love.

This year was Giuliana's first Christmas. It was also our second Christmas without Matteo. I think we recognized both appropriately by adding a new tradition to our holiday. It was incredibly meaningful to us, and taught our kids one of life's best lessons... GIVING to those less fortunate. Thanks to the Matteo Tate Martino Memorial Fund, we were able to donate a LOT of toys on behalf of Matteo's Dream Fund to a local children's hospital. While I had tears in my eyes and was on the verge of crying the entire day, it was such a feel-good thing for all of us. Good medicine, really, at a time in the year when we need it most. We are already looking forward to doing it again next year!

Santa worked VERY hard on Christmas Eve again this year to make sure certain toys would be sitting out under the Christmas tree. I know this because I heard lots of grumbling, grunts, and the occasional naughty word coming from our office until almost 2am. I think the bourbon helped ease the pain and stress of the situation though. You'd think Santa would have learned his lesson last year after he stayed up until 3am putting together the train table. But nooooo... not even Mrs. Claus could convince him to start his prep work early. Maybe next year?

This year, the kids asked Santa for:
Gabby: a sleeping bag, a pogo stick, and a new doll house for her Barbi.e dolls
Rocco: a big red mean fire truck with a big tall mean ladder, a really fast car, and shooter guns
Giuliana: mamamamama

This photo was taken just minutes after Santa came:

These photos were taken Christmas morning, shortly after the kids came downstairs and discovered that Santa visited during the night with some toys.

If you asked the kids what their favorite gifts from Santa were, they would tell you
Gabby = Grandview Dollhouse (taller than her!)
Rocco = his "motor" (as he calls it)... basically a mini-ATV.
Giuliana = Little People car ramp (almost as tall as her)

The gifts that didn't last 24 hours? That would be the slinkies Santa left for the big kids in their stockings. This is a photo of two slinkies... somehow mangled and twisted together and left for little Giuliana to discover as she was doing her penguin walk around the house.

On Christmas Day, we basically just relaxed in our PJs all day and played with all the new toys. Matteo never far from our hearts or thoughts as we found ourselves imagining what he would have enjoyed most about this holiday, and what toys would have peaked his interest this year. I would give anything to have been able to see Rocco and Matteo driving around on their own mini-ATV's together.

I can't possibly describe how difficult holidays are since losing Matteo. Every day is obviously difficult. Holidays accentuate that degree of difficulty as everyone you know is spending the day with their families and their children. There is always an innate feeling that something is missing. Matteo is missing. Every minute of every day for the rest of my life, he'll be missing. My mind knows he is gone, but every single part of me wishes he was here. So, it's not even possible to put a feeling like that in the back of my mind. I'm quite certain this feeling will never change. Rather, I'll just have to find a way to live with it.

Christmas Cookies!

Christmas cookies are a MUST every year for several reasons:
1. It's a great tradition to do every year with the kiddos
2. Who doesn't LOVE cookies... especially butter cut-out cookies!
3. It makes Dan absolutely crazy and stressed out (and I get so many laughs out of this - I love it!)

So, this year we decided to make the butter cut-out cookies, the colorful kaleidoscope cookies, and gingerbread cookies.

Well, I must be getting old... because we only got to baking the butter cut-out cookies on our first cookie night. The kids had a ball. Highlights included
* Giuls being covered in flour
* daddy getting stressed with kids getting flour everywhere
* daddy getting stressed with kids sneaking and eating the dough (Giuls was the worst, grabbing chunks of dough at every chance and stuffing them in her mouth!)
* Rocco taking the cookie decorating very seriously... and then at the end, he ended up dumping a pile of brown decorations all over one cookie
* Gabby spending more time eating the red-hot candies than decorating her tray of cookies (she was the last to finish)
* Giuliana really enjoyed putting sprinkles on the cookies and took to the task much faster than I expected her to. She too ended up dumping an entire bottle of sprinkles on one cookie though... but hers were different colored flour shapes.

The next night I made one batch of the kaleidoscope cookies (the green/mint), one batch of the white/almond and I ended up burning the red/peppermint batch. Good times. Then, when I started to melt the chocolate to frost all the cookies with, I think I overcooked the chocolate too.

I ended up throwing out the gingerbread cookie dough because we had mountains of cookies sitting around already... and well, I didn't want to food poison anyone (yes, I totally forgot I had left the dough out for an entire day because I kept getting distracted by kids and work and life in general). Great excuse to not create anymore temptations though!

Our au pair, Michalina, even made a batch of her grandma's butter cookies with a lemon/egg white/powdered sugar frosting. They were also delicious!

And now... it's time to lay OFF the cookies! :))