Naughty or Nice?????

Now, I can't say for sure that a lump of coal will appear under the tree this year, but this little boy is sure doing all he can to live on the edge of that possibility. Avery has suddenly professed his conversion to the Nudist Sect, and generally uses our Christmas tree as the screen to hide his shedding of clothes before he shows up playing with his toys in all his natural glory.

He and Donovan have also taken a great affection to decorating the tree....which was fine the day I put it up, but now 10 days later is not so pleasant. The ceremonious re-decorating that occurs 250 times a day is starting to have a diminishing affect on my ornament stash; luckily I was fairly smart in using my least favorite decor in the bottom half. My tree is devoid of keepsake ornaments, they are all stashed safely away in the Christmas box, and maybe someday I will have a household of tame children who will admire and appreciate such fine things, rather than simply want to see if anything is "inside."

This year I went fruity and floral for tree decorations, with lots of ribbon and sparkly fruits and floral accents.....but alas, the survivors have had to move to the North Pole of the tree....as the South has been under attack. Many a glittery grape has been stipped of its vine, and my precious purple mistletoe has been reduced to a few small sprigs.
So now I have a naked tree from the waist down.....just how Avery himself likes to flaunt about.
O well. The ribbons have been removed today as well, as Donovan was pulling them off to practice is Olympic twirling skills for the 2008 Games. I have somewhat given up the fight, for this year anyway, and have now gone into conservation mode. If we have any company between now and Christmas I may re-attach the ribbons, but for now- as far as this tree is concerned, LESS is MORE.

Little Buffer Boy

Ok, so I am blogging backwards a little, but I forgot I had these photos in my camera!

I failed to take any pictutres of our Thanksgiving festivities, but I DID manage to document the preparations....at least those that involved laboriously waxing & buffing our marble living room floor! Let me tell you I couldn't have done it without help, and as you can see I had a very cute buffer boy to assist me in the long process!

Nemo, Where for Art Thou????

Thanks to a doting surrogate "Auntie" Nadia giving us tickets, Donovan's big adventure for the weekend was spending the afternoon with Daddy watching the entertaining "Nemo On Ice" show that was in town. It was a LOOOOOONNNNGGGG wait for 3pm to come around, and Donovan made it a point to ask "when are we going to Nemo??" once every 10 minutes from the minute his eyes opened this morning until he was at the box office!

According to Daddy, Donovan was enthralled, and thrilled at all the lights and action. They had great 8th row seats and their view of the ornate costumes and crazy characters was terrific.
As luck would have it, Uncle Sam with his little granddaughters was sitting just two rows ahead of them, so they were able to meet up after the show for some exciting Disney loot (thank you, Uncle Sam!!!)...and best of all (for this mom anyway!) an incredibly cute picture of the three excited little people and the celebrity clownfish.

Ruthie, Donovan & Gabby

For the sake of a Christmas Card!!!!!

Its that time of year again, and when November hit I was in near panic that we had yet to take a family picture and there were not many weekends left available for the undertaking. So TODAY WAS THE DAY. I decided so yesterday, which was nice since I only had 24 hours to lose sleep over it.

The time-honored traditional family portrait is an exhaustingly-wonderful-exhaustingly-unpredictable-and-exhaustingly-laughable undertaking. I know from my days as a Bugos girl, the longer we planned for the family portrait session, the more opportunity certian little people had to aquire large strawberry-red-scabby injuries on their HEADS, so in that light, as a mother of boys, springing portrait day on the boys without much notice is A GOOD THING.

This year there is added pressure since my open for business sign went up as a pro-photog. I had to resign myself to the fact that my Christmas card does not have to be an AD, but certainly it can't be bad either. Of course, to preserve my reputation as a photographer, I also can't just head over to Sears or Picture People for a studio shot. No, no sir. I have to take MY family photo myself. And NO, I can't ask someone to press the button for me because STUBBORN little VAIN me has to get the credit for snapping the shot. The only thing in hindsight that I would have done differently would have been to hire a CLOWN to follow us around to make the kids at least look forward, if not maybe even crack a smile:) Or I guess if nothing else we are going to have to bribe a cousin or two to come and wear silly hats and dance like mad-men to get our boys' attention:)

So that self-inflicted pressure is why I found myself hauling *** back and forth from self-timing-tripod-stationed-camera and back to my family of two hilariously uncooperative little munckins and a daddy who couldn't do a whole lot more than just smile for a 100 photos. Did I mention that the perfect beach-side-overlooking-the-cliffs-city-skyline-background was on a slight incline??? (Hey- there are NOT a whole lot of locations this good in Corpus!) By shot number 10 I was feeling the burn, by shot 30 I was jello. And then we hit the stairs! Shortly into the process Donovan decided that he wanted to join mom in her race to reset the camera timer and so not only was I running back to get myself in position, I was RACING Donovan back to were Joe & Avery sat, then had to tackle Donovan in order to stop him from running past us, then flip him around and into his position, pull the hair out of my face and fake a pleasant smile- say a prayer that the kids were smiling too.....just in time for the shutter to click.

And did I mention that despite the bliss of gaining an our of sleep today when we set our clocks back, me and my blondness didn't factor that into the sun setting and hour earlier so we were really under the gun to maintain good lighting! Lol!!!!

We stayed in the same park but chose three different locations to take the picture. I knew that if we got one good shot out of a 100 we would be doing good. Avery is TOTALLY not into having his picture taken, and even LESS into sitting still while his paparrazzi mom gets shutter-happy. Donovan is getting to the age where he is finally somewhat willing to occasionally follow instructions. Avery meanwhile is just emerging into the fun toddler phase called "a year of opposite days." So that is why the ONLY picture he is smiling for is the one where an airplane happend to fly overhead.

So we made it. And after numerous outtakes (some pictured here!!) we have our Christmas card shot. Its not perfect, but perhaps the imperfections are what make is so perfect- since it truly captures our family in all of our goofy chaotic glory! I really need to learn how to successfully Photoshop entire HEADS from one pic to another....if I could just do digital plastic surgery after the fact, I would get the money-shot every time:)

I have decided that next year instead of just snapping that prize photo we will also have to videotape the process, as it would be quite entertianing, and maybe even award winning for all its unscripted hilarity.

HI HO HI HO ITS BACK IN TIME WE GO!

This past weekend all members of the Torres/Reyes clan headed up to Houston for an exciting weekend getaway....a trip back in time to the days of old where Kings ruled, honor was won at the end of a sword, where goblins lurked & fairies floated midair!
The Texas Reniassance Festival is an annual tradition that has been going on for nearly 40 years and is held for 8 weeks each autumn. It attracts throngs of people to the 37 acre yester-world, complete with Sherwood Forest, the Jousting Arena, and authentic villages of stores and food from around the world. (I must say I am always amazed at how many types of food one can serve on a STICK:) Wenches serve beer from the Ale Houses, and everyone addressed one another as "my lord" and "my lady."
Our boys were enthralled, and were carted around all day in their new wagon....or more than not some doting Uncle or cousin's arms:)
Here's the best shots. I sacrified and took our crappy cam, so the images are not what I would like....But I didn't want to risk damage to my biz cam until I have a backup!!! This year was the family year....next year we are going as just adults...and costumes will be required. I'm not yet sure what I'll be but I want to start working on my costume now!!
Enjoy the photo show!
And when you are done, click on the link to go see a video on the Texas RenFest website that will give you a great taste of all we encountered on our trip!
http://www.texrenfest.com/home.html

Can't Believe we have a Three Year Old

Sweet Self Indulgence

So I had promised myself that as soon as I started feeling better I would treat MYSELF to a delcious pan of death-by-double-chocolate brownies. (Yes, I said MY-S-E-L-F...a word most mothers deny as a part of thier vocabulary, but there are times when MYSELF has to come first and enjoy a little SELF indulgence!) Brownies (and milk) had been forbidden me by the plague of prego yuckies. And today now that I am finally past our hard times and looking towards God's plan for our future, I figured that I was going to make good on my promise, especially after all I had been through, and warm fudgy brownies seemed to be the perfect reward! Sorry God, rainbows are sooooo Old Testament. This modern woman needs CHOCOLATE;)

So I baked MYSELF those brownies, and when they were finally done and gooey-cool, I sat and partook of my delightful delicacy- making sure the boys were occupied so I could enjoy my indulgence in peace.

Well finally I was done but I noticed that the familiar noise level of our happy home was

suddenly deficient....always a red flag. So I began my search for the cause. Well, it didn't take me long, for I just had to follow the chocolate crumb trail from the kitchen to the boy's room.

And there I found them, SELF INDULGING on MY SELF-INDULGENCE. Shame on them, and shame on me for not sharing but obviously I didn't have to, as Mr. and Mr. Independant had conjured up their own serving utensils to assist them in the devourment of the stolen goods.

Well, after a half-hearted scolding I removed my scouraged brownies and put them safely away in a higher place; I will have to wait for naptime to enjoy them again.

Theresa's Story

Sometimes there just isn't an aswer, and this is one of those times.

Today during my routine 10wk OB visit I was heartbroken to learn that our beautiful little baby has passed away, joining a brother and sister in Heaven.

There is no known cause so far as can be told by the ultrasound, everything appeared to be normal, just very still.

It was a very long and painfully teary day as first no heartbeat could be found...and I clung to the hope that this little one was just hiding deep in my retroverted uterus, but after two anguishingly silent attempts to locate that little heartbeat, I went in for an ultrasound to determine what was going on. I already had a sinking feeling, and my dread was realized by the sonographer's face- she was pulling for me as much as anyone. The ultrasound showed that the baby must have passed 7-10 days ago (around 9wks gestation).

It is amazing what peace FAITH can give one in this situation. I know that no matter what the "reason" for such a short earthly existence was, that our baby belonged to God from day one, and that is a security that dries my tears and gives me the hope to move forward. We now have THREE "angels" in Heaven; perhaps not the winged kind, but they are perfect spotless infant souls, whose mission is to pray for their family on earth. Anthony was our first (2003), Gianna our second (2005), and today (Oct. 1), in honor of the feast of St. Therese of Liseaux, we have named this baby Theresa. St. Therese is nicknamed "the little flower," she is known for her deep yet simple spirituality that may be best summed in her own words: "Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love." She offered every little thing to God; as a mother I find her way of life inspiring, for motherhood is all about the "little things" and there is often a lot to offer up! Through her example I can find fulfilling joy in the sacrifice of even the smallest things like sticky floors, flying food and sleepless nights, and even the pain of miscarriage.

Most importantly, it goes without saying what an impact this little soul had on our family from the minute we found she existed. She was instantly a part of us- instantly ours, instantly a sibling of her two brothers, even claiming space in our house! She was embraced by our entire network of family and friends, all who prayed for her safety and that God's will for her life be realized.

Perhaps that was God's will for her life. She re-centered and refocused our family, and made every other thing in life pale to the importance of her tiny presence within me. Most importantly, as I constantly pondered her miraculous development, she awoke in me a greater awe in the majesty of our Father & Author of Life.

"Theresa" means "late summer." Fitting, as she was the sum total of every last day of this late summer/early fall during her short journey from conception to Heaven. On our minds and hearts and lips, she was even in my dreams.

In fact, I think God may have graced me with a dream that in looking back may have been baby Theresa's farewell to me. It was a simple dream, a vision of little curly haired toddler about 16 months old....I only saw her from the back- tiny brown curls bouncing on her little head, chubby slightly bowed legs wobbling in baby confidence. She was toddling away from me; I never saw her face, just her little body from the back. She was excited and giggling- enjoying the freedom of her movement. Perhaps that was the day she passed away; I would now like to think that she was going towards Jesus. I didn't know at the time that we would be losing her, but now that dream that was so vivid and memorable is something I consider a gift. I have never dreamt about any of my unborn children before, so I am honored to have had that little glimpse.

And so it is. There is so little that I can say. I am exausted- with that soul-tiredness that comes from overworked emotions. And yet I am not quite sad. I miss our little baby, but I do not regret a moment of her time with us, and I am truly grateful for it. Even though I felt so sick, it was such peaceful time for me. I am glad that she is in God's care now- certainly there can be no better place for her....for while her brothers were eager to meet her....they certainly wouldn't play with her as gently as the angels she now has for company!! And I find strange peace that she is not "alone" heaven, her two siblings Anthony and Gianna have surely welcomed her and are breifing her on their mission....to watch over those two wild earthly brothers who will certainly need all possible intercession on their path to Heaven!!!

Third Time's the Charm

Let me shed some light for all of my faithful blog readers who have been wondering what has kept me away from the computer for so long. As they say, no news is good news so perhaps that is why my absence means GREAT news!!!

Donovan is no longer the ONLY big brother around here now....Avery has stepped up to the plate and is in full training for the blessed day next April when he can adopt the name "big brother."

Thats right folks, we are expecting #3.

I am elated, overjoyed and excited. And yes, of course, I am praying and crossing every finger and toe I have that this one is my GIRL. What God has in store I have no idea, but He really owes me by now, so I am hoping against hope for those xx chromosomes to hold strong!!!! Obviously I will be thrilled either way, for by now I have boys down to a science and we have a track record of making them dangerously cute, so I won't be complaining if the xy's win out again:)

In my case unfortunately, that miraculous plus sign on a pregnancy test heralds not only that angelic soul growing within me, but also a gauntlet of prego yuckiness that is a result of my body's lack of the necessary hormones to carry any baby safely. Before I was able to say "baby" I was being prescribed the hormone supplement of "progesterone" and ever since then I have been a ghost of myself, reduced to carrying around a popcorn bowl to catch those mercilessly random acts of vomit, and endlessly fatigued.

It is quite a comical life I lead right now- and that humor is what I am clinging to along with a lot of "offering up" my present state of life! The hormone prescription gives me giant heaps of all the things a woman in her first trimester dreads- nausea, fatigue, brain fog and moodiness among others. I don't claim to possess the last one, but I am sure my better half would disagree....but come on, if you felt like you had a hangover for 8 weeks, you would be a little grumpy at times too!!!!

The 24/7 nausea peaks in the evenings, but it is a constant battle that is exhausting to keep up with. The irony of the nausea is that in order to keep it at bay I must EAT....no matter how unappetizing the thought is, I must be nibbling on something almost constantly! So while my house is crumbling around me, laundry is piled high no matter if it is clean or dirty, and my kids look like street urchins, I am found either slowly eating something, preparing something to eat, or thinking of what I can eat next. It all sounds like a bad case of gluttony, but let me assure you there is no joy in food these days, it is a necessary evil, and one wrong bite can turn me green, as can even one wrong thought or smell!

We are officially halfway through the ordeal, and within 3 weeks I will be off the medication, and hopefully will return to normal a week or two later. It is a difficult journey to be sure, but the reward is priceless so I am moving forward and faithfully taking that hard to swallow pill each day!!!

Our official due date is April 28th, 2008- which in my case translates four weeks earlier to around the 1st of April due to the impending c-section.

Please keep my growing family in your prayers as we navigate this circus Donovan calls simply,
"mommy sick." I know there is an end in sight and I look forward to that light at the end of the tunnel when I can focus on the fun parts of pregnancy....like the fact that we are getting a baby out of this!!!! I must note that so far this pregnancy has been without the threat of miscarriage....its a danger that looms over every of my pregnancies, but this is the first one not to have had any signs so far. Maybe since we started the progesterone so early we can bypass all of that all together! Oh happy day.

And now I will digress and return to my bucket.

First to be a Mother, Last to be an Auntie

As it is with large families, certain rites in life come a little askew, as it was with the fact that John Paul, my little brother, became an Uncle at the ripe old age of 14 days old, while I, the big sister of the lot of em, had to wait 24 whole years for someone to arrive who will call me Auntie.

But arrive he did and I am thrilled to announce the birth of my FIRST NEPHEW: Francis Xavier Mamoru Fugikawa

Born on August 7, 2007 at 1:39pm, in Naples Florida,
son of proud parents Jason and Katherine Fugikawa,

Weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and a towering 20 inches in length.

(Easy to remember: 7/8 on 8/7)

New Parents Katherine and Jason are doing great, please keep them in your prayers as they overcome the first days of parenthood. They have done marvelous so far!

For more photos of this new arrival and supreme gift of marriage, please visit:

www.totsites.com/tot/fugikawa

Battery Operated

Well, we are deep in the midst of my mission to potty-train Donovan, and so far he has been pretty easy. Using the time-tested award method (ok, bribery), he has been making it to the potty more often than not. Thank you, M&M's.

Now for the funny part. The other day he had gone to the potty only ten minutes before and already he was running through the house chanting, "don't pee, don't pee".....thats his way of announcing his need for the potty. I was amused since he had just gone, but who am I to stand in the way of a potty-trained man? So I helped him rush to the potty, throw on the "big boy seat" and plop him on the pot. And then he sat....and sat....and sat. Nothing happened. I was of course not surprised, but what did get me was what he said next.....

"I can't turn it on." I smirked, and I asked, "what do you mean?" He said, "I can't turn ON my PEE." He was so matter of fact that I really had to hold back a giggle....then came the zinger: "Mommy, I think I need some batteries!" Oh, then the laughter could be held back no longer, and he watched me in total perplexity as I struggled to regain composure.

I guess in his world, everything runs on batteries, so of course why not HIM?

I tell ya one thing though, he may not be battery operated, but his mom is, and her batteries are LOW!!!!

PS: Mothers of boys, do not leave your cup of life-giving morning coffee unattended while you go to answer the phone. For when you return to write your blog and take a sip of that life giving coffee, you shall spit it out for the taste will be unexplainably rancid. Lo and behold, the empty sippy cup sitting next to it that once contained apple juice, and now look again to see how your half cup of coffee is now full again.

OH BOYS.

Photographer Needs Assistance (AND Assistants!)

I can photograph anyone, anywhere, under any conditions- from frenzied, teary bride to self-conscious senior, to family of six on a hot & humid beach. BUT I CANNOT FOR THE LIFE OF ME PHOTOGRAPH MY OWN CHILDREN.

I decided to start now in August to try to capture that one pic of the boys TOGETHER that will be suitable for our cherished Christmas card. It KNEW very well that it could take me from now until December to achieve that too!

But I am excited to see what that one great priceless image will turn out to be, so I bravely took the boys out (on my own) early yesterday morning to our beautiful historic Heritage Park AND to the beach. I expected it to be a challenge but boy was I in for it as I found myself more than just short handed! I would set the boys up for a pose and before I could back up and even lift my camera to my eye they were either scrambling away or pulling eachother's hair & limbs! When they scrambled, they scrambled.....and mind you I had them shirtless and barefoot for the sake of art, but that didn't stop them from runny down a rocky garden trail or climbing garden trelises (see pics to prove it)!

When I finally did get them to sit still they PURPOSELY made every effort to focus on every other thing around them BUT me...and forget about smiling- it was a day of the orphan look:) I think Donovan's look would serve Abercrombie well, but he is definitely no Gap-boy:)

Now, I had predicted that this would all be the case, but a girl can dream, and I decided to take the risk! Of course I had pumped & coached Donovan about for it all for several days before, and bribed them both like crazy...........but in all reality I need more than two hands for this job!

Nevertheless, I did manage to get some cute artsy frames out of the 200 that I took, but not a single one of them together with anything resembling cuteness or innocence on their ornry faces!!

We DID have a good time though, especially at the beach, and though we came home soggy and tired, the pics below were well worth it....but that prize Christmas card shot will have to come from another brave effort....next time with a few helpers in tow:)

See these images and more of my latest work at www.bellezzaphotography.com

Touchdown!

First off, sorry for the lack of blogs- but summer it taking its toll on this momma, especially getting ready for the move, then add nine puppies and two toddler....I'm in a tailspin! But here's one to pacify those of you who are pining for an update.

Joe & I were invited by Joe's brother Sam to take the boys to a Corpus Christi Sharks Arena Football game on Saturday. Always a little hesitant about such outings, we were excited, but didn't know how long the boys would hold up, or if they would even be interested. We were lured by the promo that the first 1000 kids get free jerseys, so we took the bait. Lets just say that as it turns out these boys are definite football FANS! I think that Donovan might even fall into the SUPERFAN category. We got there and HOUR before they even opened the doors (sans Joey- he was stuck behind dealing with a frustrating install of our new dishwasher, he showed up in the 2nd quarter). The boys behaved well in the line (I was the one crumbling holding Avery all that time!!). Finally we got in, got all our free loot- the noisemakers, the foam #1 pointy finger, and those sought after JERSEYS. Donovan was wearing his instantly, and Avery tried but it rather swallowed him so we put it aside:).

Once we got our seats, we settled in to watch the visting players warm up on the field. Donovan & Avery watched in a mezmerized awe. When our Sharks entered the field for their warm up, the music cranked up and Donovan left his seat never to return. From that point on (with the exception of the lights-out-lazers-and-fog opening ceremony) Donovan was in the aisle dancing, clapping and shouting for the rest of the game. His little blue jersey down to his ankles, he was bee-bopping to all the hip hop & rock music that filled the stadium! I got it on video when he first began during the warmups, little did I know he would continue throughout the entire game!

He was so cute dancing non stop that he was even shown on the stadium Jumbo Screen
and got a big round of cheers and applause!

Avery enjoyed the first half and made it all the way to the 3rd quarter, but at that point he decided that it was far more fun to scale the stadium seating than to watch the game, so Joe and I spread out with two seats between us, holding them down with our knees so that Avery could enjoy this new jungle gym. Good thing he wore his bib overalls so that Joe and I could each hold a strap while Avery risked his life (as boys do 24/7/365).

I guess the boys were good luck charms, as our Sharks took a serous bite out of the visiting team, coming away with a win.

Below is the video of Donovan dancing during the warmups....I wish I had more because once the game picked up he was just hilarious! But by that time I was juggling popcorn, hotdogs & boys bopping eachother with those noise makers!

STORK DELIVERY CONFIRMATION

Okay, first of all, my apologies to my dedicated blog-watchers for the complete lack of updates this month. We hit a few life-snags that slowed us down a bit. Donovan poured Orange Juice in into the vent of our computer (directly on top of the hard drives) and I rushed it in to be professionelly cleaned only to learn that the owner of the shop has a bad habit of dissappearing for weeks at a time, and so I guess we were lucky to have gotten it back at the end of 2 weeks rather than 2 months. But for those two weeks I was completely lost and braindead without my computer! St. Anthony thanks for answering my prayers and bringing it back!

All is now back on track and this momma is ready to spill it all....

As you can see from the picture above, I motherhood has found me AGAIN, but this time by adoption the old-fashioned way...the stork STILL DELIVERS. Lets begin this tale of tails....

May 23rd, I am walking to our mailbox (a block away, a community safe-box) when I spot a little brown dog that from even my distance showed signs of a serious maternity crisis. Her belly was practically dragging with pups (she looked a lot like a pygmy goat:) and I could tell she was desperately searching for a place to whelp her pups. On closer inspection my suspicions were confirmed by her bloody discharge and I knew that time was short. So being the farm girl I will always be no matter how big a city I live in I did the only thing I knew to do, I scooped her up and carried her home. Her brown eyes glowed with relief. I was glad too, for the storm drains in our neighborhood were all open for repairs and I knew that cave-like holes would be attractive to her but dangerous.

I walked in the front door with my arms full and to my surprise Joe (talking on the phone) whispered at first "that dog is not staying in here" then I just said "she's having puppies" to which he surprisingly answered "Oh, ok." As if bringing in a whole family of dogs somehow was more acceptable than just one. I just kept walking through to the backyard, thanking God that I overcame that hurdle so easily.

I plopped her in our newly fenced kennel area and went back to get things to help her feel more at home.

May 24, 7:30am....Trying to beat the heat, I took both boys with me to the backyard to help me build a whelping box. Momma dog was holding those puppies in since the conditions were not right yet. So an hour later I had a deluxe box built that looked as if I had PLANNED for this.

May 24, 7:30pm....We had been a our nephew's bday party only to come home and discover 5 puppies in every possible color all nursing blissfully with Momma Dog. I figured she was probably done, but 2 hours later 2 more puppies appeared in the box. By midnight there was another and when I awoke in the morning there were 10 all-told. One didn't make it through the night, probably got stuck behind one rotund female that stuck out like a sore thumb. Wow. 9 puppies. 5 females, 4 males.

May 25, Early morning flash flood downpour turns my deluxe puppy box into Noah's Ark and so I am rushing back and forth dodging lightning bolts with fistfulls of puppies to the shop for a much needed location change...and there they have stayed ever since, perfectly situated right by the doggy door which is great for Momma Dog.

LATER THAT SAME DAY: It finally dawns on Joey that we are puppy parents and he utters a single profound question: "Explain to me just how did we go from owning 2 dogs to 12???" I pleaded the 5th.

PRESENT DAY...the pups just opened up their eyes and ears and are now starting to play with one another. Joey walked in this morning with one in his hand and surprised me by saying with a bit of REAL enthusiasm, "Wow, Kateri, they are actually getting cute!" Okay, I know- for all of my husband's good qualities, he was completely deprived as a child from anything that had fur or 4 legs, so you have to understand that for him it is legitimately surprising to discover that a dog, which falls under the category of animal, can actually go through a cute stage. He will get a good education in doggy cuteness now! Then he decided to test the ingrained theory of puppy scents and buried his nose in the ball of fur and took a big whiff.......I think the puppy didn't look quite as cute after that, as he just made a funny face & handed her off.

As of now, we are keeping Momma Dog (I know, I know, she really needs a name!) AND pick of the litter pup. Donovan & Avery are already doing the groundbreaking pup socialization, by the time these lil guys are ready to go to new homes they will be very tolerant:)

Precious Moments

How to Melt a Mom

No money can buy this type of Mothers Day gift. I tried to read his poem out loud, but I only got to about the 4th line before I had to have Joe take over. Absolutely divine!

-A proud mom.

NANA COMES TO TOWN!!!!

What a splendid weekend it was for us all! Nana Bugos flew in for a relaxing Thurdsday through Monday visit. We had not seen eachother since Katherine's wedding in October, so this trip was long overdue! It was not a time for sightseeing or events, but rather a time for Nana to immerse herself in all things Donovan & Avery. She got a very real look at our munchkins in their natural habitat:) Since she was on a solo mission, it was the first time ever that she didn't have any rightfully jealous "son-uncles" to fight over her lap with the "grandbaby-nephews", and so she delighted this time in great games of hide and seek, and snuggles with napping babies. I of course enjoyed the time immensely, as it provided lots of priceless mother-daughter time, a great gift for both of us just before Mother's Day. Of course now we are all pining away at the distance between us, and the boys still wake up each morning and from each nap uttering the question, "were's Nana?" With that Donovan always answers himself, "Nana-airplane-whooosh-Oklahoma!" He gets it!
Hopefully we will stick to our plan of making sure Nana gets a solo visit at least once a year, for it was a priceless bonding experience for the boys and her!!! We love you Nana!!!

Splish splash...cuteness takes a bath

The only time the boys are ever really still enough for mommy to take as many pics as she wants is when they are contained in their aquatic paradise:) Today Avery was my muse.