Trey is rolling over! It’s official, he’s been close to doing it for the last couple of weeks, but yesterday he did it once and then became a pro. It’s amazing, he seems to be growing up so much faster than Carlos. He’s holding his bottle now, too (another skill mastered yesterday). We’re oh so proud parents.

We took down the tree, not that I’m a scrooge or anything, just had to get the space back in the living room and take down a potential climbing hazard for Carlos. He’s such a daredevil!

Dee’s dad returned home yesterday and we’re sad to see him go. The boys asked “where’s Papa B?” when they got up in the morning. They were excited by all the relatives visiting for sure, just didn’t understand why they are all gone now. Hopefully they’ll be back really soon (hint hint).

Off to get the troops out of bed and start the day…..

We’re starting to come down from the Christmas “highs” and high sugar intake. The boys are back in their routine but are still excited because Papa Benny is here visiting. He’s great with them and always down on the floor playing and coloring and all. It’s nice for them to get the quality time while he’s here. He hadn’t met Trey until last night, so that was a huge event! Trey was giggling so loudly and just loved Papa B.

We’re sad that Todd, Monica and Luca had to return home this morning…Carlos and Luca really had fun together and it was so nice to spend some time with Todd and Monica, too. We had lots of hanging out time, which is the best in my opinion.

Maybe off to the mall (yikes!) this afternoon to do a couple returns. Hate to fight the crowds but maybe I’ll leave the boys home to play with Dee and Papa! Hee hee!

WOW, what a wild last couple of days! The boys had a blast this Christmas, saw lots of relatives and got WAY too many toys. Mamas liked the new clothes for sure, they’re too cute. Carlos had a very Elmo Christmas and Dominic’s was lots of Toy Story. Trey got the wide variety of teething toys, so everyone was happy.

Carlos and Luca are getting along great, it’s so fun to have my brother and the family visit and for the boys to get to play together. I’m not sure what Luca thinks of Carlos, though, as Carlos is always trying to kiss him. 🙂 It’s cute!

Off to grandparents again while Dee goes to pick up her Dad. Should be great, he’ll be meeting his grandson for the first time! We’re all excited to show off baby Trey and get some great time with Dad in town and staying with us for a few days.

Hope the holidays were very merry for all. Be safe on New Years….we’re thinking about having a little martini party if anyone’s interested!

What a week it’s been! Sharon, Alan and Alanna went back to Detroit after a nice visit. We got to spend lots of time with them, which we haven’t done in years so that was great. Todd, Monica and Luca are in town now and the boys are having fun playing. Carlos and Luca are 2 weeks difference in age, they seem to like eachother but really don’t play together at all just around eachother.

Took all ten of us to the Picture People last night to get a family portrait done and it was a fiasco! All in all, the picture turned out well with grandma and grandpa sitting proudly in the front with the kids, spouses and grandkids surrounding them. Luca was screaming, the picture reflects that, but it really did end up nice and it was good to have a group photo taken. Now, if we could only get Dee’s family all together and do the same….

Today is mellow, we’re hanging out and going to try to make Christmas cookies after the boys get up from their nap. Should be fun!

Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas to all! We have loved getting all the cards and newsletter updates. Seems we don’t get out much anymore!

Whoa, what a weekend! Started out on Friday up all night with the 24-hour stomach flu (suppose that’s one way to shed pounds during the holidays, but damn I do not recommend it!) and slept Friday away. Dee played “super mom” and kept the kids out of the bedroom while I caught up on sleep. Fingers are crossed that nobody else comes down with this!

Saturday was our Foster Parent Holiday party and we took the kids out for that. They had fun, lots of activity going on and all so that’s the part they enjoy most. They had a total pedophile-looking scary Santa that I seriously would have been afraid of. Don’t know where they got him! Came home and had the boys sleep awhile then went to my folks for dinner with my aunt, uncle and cousin who are in from Detroit visiting. It was really great to see them, they were just meeting the boys so that was fun, too. Carlos was his typical “mama’s boy” and Dominic and my cousin (who’s 13) Alanna played non-stop!

Sunday was the boy’s and Dee’s baptism and it was a wonderful service. Both sets of godparents were there, my folks and Sharon, Alan and Alanna too! It was touching and the pastor cried, as she does during all baptisms. Makes it really nice, though, to see how much it meant to her and the congregation. A woman got up and thanked us for having the boys baptised that day, since her cousin had just passed away and it was life affirming for her to see this. That really hit home, we knew it was something important to us, but it was neat that it touched someone else so deeply.

Anyhow, off to start another Monday….Alice is coming to play and the boys will be up soon. Then it’s off to the mall to try and finish up the Christmas shopping. Arrgh! At least I get to take Alanna with me for company this year! Yeah!

Went to court this morning to show our dedication to Dominic and all went fine. It wasn’t a big deal, just the judge saying all would be reviewed in 6 more months (if he hasn’t been adopted by then). Grandma watched the big boys and I took Trey with me, so it was nice time for them to spend with her.

Faith is over playing (or sleeping right now) with Carlos so we’re having fun with her. Just trying to get ready for the holidays and keep Carlos from climbing the Christmas tree! We decorated last night, and the boys love it! It’ll be so much fun to watch them grow up and see the changes each year.

Not too much to report…life gets crazy here starting this weekend with the holidays! Hope all is well with everyone!

What a weekend…we have been trying to lie low and get ready for the chaos of the season to start, and wouldn’t you know we all ended up with this cough! The boys have been miserable (as well as the moms, but we didn’t get it so bad at least not yet) and crabby all weekend. We tried to go as a family on Saturday to get a tree but had to limit it to me and Dominic since Carlos was throwing fits and it wasn’t working. We did get them down to see Santa and I think we got a good picture, even though Dominic kept looking at Santa saying “I don’t want that”.

Today I did my weekly shopping with Dominic and the little boys stayed home with Dee to rest before our outing to see the Christmas Ship in Eagle Harbor. It was fun, although Carlos was out of sorts. Can’t wait til he gets over this cold and gets back to his normal happy self.

Off to watch the finale of Survivor!!!! WOO HOO!

Still waiting to hear about the verdict came in (that’ll be at 1:30pm). Had Ann and Lori stop in with lattes to hang out and chat with us and keep us calm! The kids all have coughs, so we’ve been spending the last few nights up numberous times with them. WE ARE TIRED! Glad the weekend’s coming, although we still have 3 sick boys. Hoping to get a Christmas tree and get Santa pictures done. I have some shopping to do but other than that we’ll be mellow.

Did get a cute tub picture of the boys when my folks were over for dinner last night. Papa was pulling the curtain back and doing peek-a-boo and they loved it. They got all clean, then Gramma and Papa put lotion on them and they got into their pjs and read stories. It was a good night (until the not sleeping due to coughing came to play)!

The waiting is killing us…we will know the verdict tomorrow at 1:30pm from the termination hearing for Dominic. We know it could go either way so that makes us more stressed out than ever. Regardless of how the judge rules, it will still be a long road for permenancy for Dominic. I’m just glad he’s too young to really know what’s going on.

Onto other things. I just got done programming (yes, programming) two “Know Your Name” Elmos. They are really cool, you plug them into the computer with a USB cable and basically download into the stuffed animal the kid’s name and favorite things and daily schedule. Should be neat! My mom got them for Carlos and Luca (my nephew) since they are both such huge Elmo fans. Carlos calls Elmo, “Momo” and Luca calls him “YaYa” (like the theme song…la la la la, la la la la Elmo’s World). Too funny.

We’re trying to figure out getting our Christmas tree and then how to keep the boys out of is as well. I think this weekend we’ll take them down to see Santa, and then the Christmas ship comes to Eagle Harbor for carols so that’s always lots of fun, too.

I’m off to get some laundry done while all the kids are sleeping! Good times!

The Men’s Choir Concert was GREAT! We had a nice evening out to dinner with Patti and Jeanie, got a couple free tastes of Cold Stone Ice Cream’s new flavor on the walk from the waterfront to Benaroya Hall and then sat and enjoyed the concert. What an impressive theater, and the Men’s Choir was hilarious. They sang Christmas carols and some non-traditional songs but also made it their own comedy show. DEFINITELY something we’d go to again. We’re feeling old, though, as we came home around 11pm and barely got up this morning.

I had 3 extra kids today (as part of the drop-in childcare service I’m doing) but they all played well together and the day went by quickly. Dee and I even got our Christmas cards mostly done, whew!

Guess I better get some sleep….tomorrow comes early! Oh, the picture is from the Zoolights, Dominic and Carlos got these cool light saber things that they were using to swordfight with. Well, they were doing that at least until I got a picture…then we made them stop. We’re meanies for sure! Bad picture, but it’s kinda cool too. Also a couple more from the “Christmas Picture From Hell” series!