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The Waltz of the Sugar Plum 3 Year Olds

It has been way. too. long. since we posted to this little blog-o-sphere. It seems that our children usually drive us to post to this little space.  And, here we are... ONE WEEK til Christmas!  And, today is our little ballerina's 3rd birthday!

With the Nutcracker Suite playing in the background, our home welcomed G's little preschool buddies for the Boots and Ballerina Bash for this little 3-year-old to be.

Really, I don't have too many words... just pictures to share.  And, of course, some 3 year old stats.  G is in the 65% for height and 55% for weight (wish I was so lucky).  She's got ALL her colors down and is known in her preschool as the child that organizes the markers and crayons from pink and purple ... to all other colors.  She LOVES dancing and singing - LOUDLY.  Let's be honest, folks, G is no quiet child.  She has a beautiful gift of projection, which she often loves to use with her brother and in the car.  About 3 weeks ago she switched from using "My" to "I"... we are a little sad to no longer hear expressions like "My hungeeyyy", "My hav a go POOOTTTTYYY". She loves to take care of her baby dolls and play with cars and swords, after all, she has an older brother.

This is the Birthday Girl, getting ready for her guests to arrive!

Here we are pinning the tutu and boots on the Ballerina!

And, Daddy reading Miss Lina's Ballerinas to the crew:

And, finally, the cake and singing:

And, one last shot of the Ballerina Birthday Girl!!!

and, let's be honest, this pretty much says it ALL...

All this while the London Symphony Orchestra played Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite.  It was a great day!!

Bye Bye Miss American Pie

You may think this title a strange one for Mother's Day but the song is about saying goodbye and I think moms have to do it a lot. Mommies say goodbye when their little one goes to preschool, kindergarten, and eventually college. We say goodbye to morning naps, crawling, throwing food (this may come later depending on your child :-)) and diapers. Lots of good and natural goodbyes...

This post, however, is for the mommies who are mommies in their hearts. And because they had to say goodbye before they met their little one or they are praying for that day when they get to hold their little one, they wait. And today is hard. Their heart aches only like a mommy's heart can. This mother's goodbye is the one that has struck me most today.

This year, I'm one of these mommies. A year ago this week I found out that we'd have another little one. We would have 3!! Were we rady? Hardly. We were shocked... Shocked at first. But then as the weeks passed and sonogram pictures were printed and heart monitors thumped to the little rapid beats, we grew quite attached to our little person. Baby Choo-choo, as named by his big brother. We would sit and talk about what it would be like to have another tiny baby around. He/she would be born in winter, what would that be like? What would we have? A boy or girl? We had decided we wouldn't find out.

So much hope and excitement thinking about being a mommy again. Then the 16 week appointment came. Our little Choo-choo no longer had a heartbeat. All that hope and promise froze in an instant. And since that day, I have felt like a part of me is gone too. I've talked to quite of few other goodbye mommies. Each has had their unique process to move on. I think part of my process of healing is just to say that I loved that little life and it blessed me more than I can comprehend.

Today, I am proud to be a mommy of 3 with only 2 that I get to hold here on earth. And a deep-soul hug to all you other goodbye mommies out there.

Closing with a photo of my two boys... although we won't know until we meet Baby Choo-Choo in heaven, I think he was a boy. My boys.

Giuliana is almost 16 months

But she is already wearing mommy's shoes. This was taken today. It pretty much demonstrates what we are dealing con nostra prima donna!

Che bella piccolina!

Some updates and videos

It has been a really long time since we last posted a update about our family.

The latest goings on with us are that J has a guitar and makes up songs. It is hilarious.

Here are a couple of Joseph's original songs:
This one is about Jesus in his Palace.


This one is about Jesus and J's imaginary pet kitty cat Singalo... and a pirate kayak.


We can't make this stuff up. He's sooo precious!

When it's too quiet, beware

It happened again this morning. I was in the kitchen, cleaning things. I had just checked on J in the family room playing in his "fort". Giuliana was sleeping. All children accounted for and occupied. Maybe I could clean up from breakfast? Dare to dream.

Then, I realized it was very, very quiet. I heard something in the bathroom.

Yep! It had happened again. J had opened all of my fabric paints and was playing with them in the bathroom. Colors all over the sink.

Now, in truth, if you are going to play with paint when you know you aren't supposed to, playing the bathroom is actually pretty convenient. Because we had to clean up the mess quickly, I couldn't get any pictures. I did get one shot of the paint in the trashcan... Yes, he had paint in the toilet, sink, and trashcan.

Clean up was fine and I think J has learned that he does not touch mommy's paint.

This is the second time this has happened to me. When the kids are too quiet, don't assume they are "playing nicely". Here is what happened the last time I left them alone thinking they were in the playroom.
First look:
Taking it all in:

Close up of the KIX:

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

As most people have seen all over the news, global warming is effecting us in new ways this winter. It's bitterly cold and there is a lot of SNOW! Now, when we knew we were going to move to New England, we were excited for the change of seasons and we were thrilled to have some of the white stuff. Were we really ready? Um...

You might think that my next statement is going to be some disparaging comment about snow and all things cold and winter. But not here! We love it. I mean, it's a lot and after the snow storm we are going to have next week, who actually knows HOW MUCH snow we will have accumulated in our backyard. I can honestly say, bring it! We have built an igloo out of our giant mound.

It is practically a small mountain. In fact, since I am from Florida, I think it IS a mountain. It's over my head and in Florida that's a mountain :-)

You might wonder how such a mountain forms in our petit jardin? Well, here's some video footage of our AWESOME plow-ers! We love them!

We are so extreme, yeah right...

We are so extreme. That's us... the Extremes. I mean, so what that we moved to Arizona in the middle of July and we moved to Boston in November. Now, November is not an extreme month in which to move to NE. In fact, it is really a lovely time to move up to the Boston area. The trees were multi-colored and the bushes were lovely shades of red. And even Christmas week was lovely with a few inches. All in all our winter here has been quite beautiful. Now, my definition of a beautiful day involves sun. When the sun is shining I am happy girl no matter what the thermometer reads. So here's to all of our sunny abodes... from Out West to the NE!

A photo capture of our weather extremes:
- Summer 2009

- And then, today...


I also have to admit that I wasn't sure that the temp reader in the car read as high as 122, but it does. And, this morning for the moment that it sat at 0, I wondered if it would go into the negatives. It did. Car thermometers have quite a range.

Boston: Our New City... #6 Un-friendly City in US

Yesterday, or maybe the day before, MSN released the most unfriendly places to live in the US. Boston ranked in at #6. Part of me was not surprised by this but part of me was... and here's why:

1) Never have I lived somewhere that the drivers are so conscious of pedestrians. What I mean is that I have almost rear-ended a few of my fellow MA drivers while in town centers, etc... because the car in front of me will suddenly stop to let some one pass.

2) In the same vein, never have I lived somewhere that when I am walking with the kids, cars will stop even when they have green lights to let me cross.

3) At least in West Medford, the gas-tank fillers, tellers, and grocery clerks are cordial. You might not get a full-out smile but you will get a hello and a thank you, which I think it better than nothing (like places in DC).

4) Let's face it, no matter where you live - "friendly" or "un" - the DMV is never the most fun thing. But, my MA DMV experience was actually quite nice. The whole process was organized and efficient. The tellers I went to were willing to let me come back, not wait in line, and bring back the right paperwork. Now, this occurred the third week we lived here and I was blown away.

5) Overall, when we found out we were moving up here I was really nervous. I thought people would be really, well, yankee. Now, when I say this I am not exactly sure what I mean. But, I grew up in "the South". I went to school in Atlanta. I married a Virginian. I can openly say that I have yet to meet anyone openly rude or even curt.

All that being said, I have also observed that people are less "inclusive" than people in the DC area. And I think this is mainly because in DC, most folks are in a state of transition. It seems that every, of 2-4-6 years, there are exoduses in and out of the city. Whereas in the more residential areas of Medford, etc... people have been here for generations and plan to be for many to come.

As an example, J goes to a Preschool in Woburn. We live in West Medford. As the crow flies there is only about 7 miles between the two. But, it is about 2 towns away. The moms in J's class are amazed that I drive 20+ minutes one-way to bring J to and from school. Of course, to me 20+ minutes is nothing... especially since the average speed is 35 and it's through two, adorably quaint town centers - Winchester and Woburn.

In closing, I have to give a big BOO-HISS to MSN for listing Boston at such a rank. I whole-heartedly disagree. Here's to BOSTON and it's neighboring towns! Thanks for welcoming us in the dead of winter. We can't wait for spring.

Here are some shots of our wintry welcome to the NE:

OCTOBER already?

And, not only October but practically the end of October! Where in the world does the time go? Oh! That's right? We moved from Phoenix 3 weeks ago. Mike started his new job in Boston two weeks ago. The kids have been with me visiting family and friends until we can move into our new place in west Medford on October 31.

I wish I could load up some pictures of how much the kids are growing and changing, but that would require a camera and it's cord, which are currently in the "big white box" with all of our stuff traveling across the country.

So, who else thinks it's pretty funny that we love extremes. We moved to Phoenix in July and we are moving to Boston in November. We can't wait for a white Christmas and four full seasons! We are thrilled to be heading back to the east coast and the adventure a new city offers.

We will post pics of the now 10 mos. old Giuliana and the practically 3.5 year old Joseph!

Love to all our sweet family and friends that read this!
The Vagabond Gretos.