Sweet Moments

My kids are growing so fast and doing and saying the sweetest, funniest things lately.  Here are a few sweet moments that I have caught.  Todd was reading a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Book to them right before bedtime.  

 

Taelyn and Trent are at an age where they have discovered they each have an opinion and (mostly Trent) doesn't always want to do what the other wants and (mostly Taelyn) gets really upset when things don't go her way. So when I catch them in a moment like this, I cherish it.  They are so sweet when they want to be. 

 Todd caught this moment before he left for work. (Not my most flattering pic)  I don't know what is happening, but since the time change in November, EVERY morning since then, they both wake up at about 6am and crawl into bed with us.  We haven't really done much about it since they don't wake us up or each other, they just crawl into bed and go right back to sleep.  We've actually been able to get a few more minutes of sleep since they are sleeping so soundly with us.  I may not look too comfortable, but I kinda like it.  Todd, not so much, so its going to stop... soon... maybe...

 Before church

Taelyn was being super stubborn and defiant and wouldn't take a nap, so I put her in her room and let her cry it out, while I went downstairs to clean.  I said she didn't have to sleep, she would just have quiet time until Trent woke up.  It got really quiet and I found her in the loft curled up in a little ball, knocked out!  And she said she didn't need sleep... The joys of having a three year old.  She looked so pathetically sweet in the fetal position, I just left her there until nap time was over. 

Some funny things they've said are:
Taelyn: "Mommy, my leg is too scratchy!"
Me: "Do you mean itchy?"
Taelyn: "No Mommy, I mean scratchy because I have to scratch it!!!" 

Trent: "Ate (sister) hurt my feelings."
Me: "Taelyn, be nice to your brother."
Taelyn: "I don't want to hurt his feelings, but he's getting on my nerves!"

Taelyn: "Mommy, baby hurt Jesus's feelings!"
Me: "Why, what did he do?"
Taelyn: "He hit me and Jesus doesn't like that!"
Me: "That's right, he doesn't like that, go tell your brother all about it."
Taelyn, running to tell Trent: "Trent, you aren't supposed to hit Ate because Jesus doesn't like it, He's gonna get you."
Trent: : "Jesus? Ok, Ate, sowwey!"

Taelyn: "Trent, I'm not gonna eat my food, are you?
Trent: "Yes, Ate, I eat it."
Taelyn: "Here Trent, you can eat my food too."
Trent: "ok, Ate."
Me: "Taelyn, you have to eat your food."
Taelyn: "But Mommy, I don't want my food and Trent does, so I gave it to him, I'm sharing!"

So obviously, Taelyn is the mastermind and Trent seems to just go along with what she says, when he does, its bliss, but when he doesn't, Taelyn is not such a happy camper.  Trent used to do EVERYTHING Taelyn told him to do, now that he is realizing he doesn't have to, they have begun to fight a lot and I am not happy with this at all.  Hopefully its just a phase they will grow out of, if not, my lovely black hair will be taken over by white hairs much faster.  I certainly look forward to these sweet moments. 

Its Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas

Since having kids, Christmas decorating has gotten a lot more elaborate.  I would decorate every year, but I never really took it further than our house. I would decorate the Christmas Tree and hang a few other festive things around the house, but that was it.  Now with the kids, they seem to get so excited about everything, I have really gone all out (well, for me).  I took it farther than just the tree. 

 I asked Todd to hang lights outside, we have done it in the past, but for the last two or three years, we haven't done it.  Todd's logic is, "when our house is decorated, we can only enjoy it for a few seconds before we drive into the garage and don't think about it again, BUT if all of our neighbor's decorate their houses, we can enjoy looking at all of their houses from our house." Super lame, that's just him being a Scrooge.  He told me if I wanted lights, I could do it myself, so....

This is me doing it myself

 When I got the lights together and the ladder, nails and hammer together, he said, he'd do it, but at that point, I was already set to go, so I did it. 

 The photo Todd put up on Instagram

 While I was putting up the lights, Todd was raking up the leaves and letting these little ones play in them.  In Todd's defense, he did edge and mow the lawn for the first time in two months...

 The end result of our hard work.  It's simple, but I am totally happy with the way it turned out. 

Todd's mom is coming to visit for Christmas and so the whole day, Taelyn kept saying, " I see all the Christmas stuff, but I don't see Oma anywhere, she is supposed to come for Jesus's birthday and she's not here yet!"  It really was cute, and kind of sad because she just knew that once we put up the decorations, Oma would just pop up from behind something.  We explained she would be here just before Jesus's birthday and so she wasn't really satisfied, but she quit asking about it.  Until then, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in the DiMillo home and I love it!

Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving is always such a great time to be with family.  I LOVE having the holiday's at my parent's house.  Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on what we are most thankful for and for me, it is my family.  I don't know what I would do without any of them.

I have the most supportive, understanding, compassionate, helpful, loving (I could go on and on) husband.  He makes me happy on a daily basis, he is an amazing provider and my kids are so fortunate to have a daddy who loves them so much.  He does all of this when he's not getting on my nerves, (which is also daily.)

Taelyn is such a joy.  She has a presence about her and an infectious laugh.  She is the light of our lives, she is our entertainment, she has the wittiest personality, which sometimes gets her in trouble, but I don't know where I would be without this crazy little performer, my miracle baby. 

Trent is my Tank, my not so gentle giant.  This boy is so affectionate, always wanting to hold my hand and give me extra kisses and hugs.  He tries to smother his not so affectionate sister, to her dismay.  I love that he loves her! He is a lover, almost to a fault.  He hurts us sometimes because he doesn't know how to control his strength.  He has given me bruises and bumps on many occasions.  Trent is adventurous and is not really afraid of anything,  The good Lord knew what he was doing when he gave us Trent.  I need him in my life.  Oh, how I love my loving boy.

We seriously took about 20-25 pictures trying to get a good one and this was the best I could come up with. There was not one single picture where we all looked decent.

I adore my family and they are what I am most thankful for on Thanksgiving and everyday.  We had so much food and fun, Trent refused to take a nap, ended up passing out on the floor where he was playing with a floaty and a cash register. 

Taelyn found him and called us to tell us he was sleeping.  No, we did not tell her to do that for the picture, she did this all on her own. 

I am sad to say, I didn't get a good picture of everyone together, this is less than half of the people who celebrated with us. 

Thanksgiving day was wonderful, spent with the ones I'm most thankful for. 

Chiefs, Food and Wine, Oh My!

On Sunday's Todd watches football ALL. DAY. LONG.  He is a die hard Kansas City Chiefs fan.  He and his friends went to Kansas City in 2010 (when Taelyn was just 6 months old) for a game and he brought back this 18 month cheerleading uniform for Taelyn.  He figured she could wear it for the next football season.  Well to our surprise, Taelyn has been able to wear this Cheerleading uniform for THREE seasons now.  I am amazed that it still fits! Boy did he get his money's worth with this thing.  At the time of this picture, the Chiefs were winning 9-0, now they are 9-3, not too shabby for a team who only won two games last season and Todd just so happened to be at one of them, against New Orleans, when they beat the Saints.  (Lucky Him)

 

 What a difference a year makes

 

 Daddy's rally helmet

 Silly Trent

After spending the morning with my family, went to Beverly Hills with one of my oldest and dearest friend's, LaQualia.  Her brother has a wine bottling company and invited us to the Beverly Hills Food and Wine Festival. 

 Frenemies!

 We were being way too silly

 It was such a nice day date with my friend.  We went hungry and sober, we left full and with a nice little buzz.  The different wines were amazing, not to mention all of the free samples we got.  We filled our bags to the brim with so many random things.  It was fun, fun, fun!!!

My Crazy Couch Obsession

I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, but never got around to it.  So I don't know if this is considered an obsession, but I did change couches three times in a matter of three months.  When we moved into our house in 2007, I was so picky about what couch I wanted.  We searched for months since we were waiting for our house to be built.  I found the PERFECT couch.  I LOVED it, I told Todd that I wouldn't EVER want to have another couch.  Well, then came bed rest when I was pregnant with Taelyn.  I spent sixteen weeks living on this perfect couch.  Every time I looked at it, I was reminded of bed rest.  After having Trent, I decided that I just couldn't have this couch any longer.  I was shopping at Costco and I made an impulsive purchase.  I bought a new couch because in my own words, "I just can't stand looking at this couch for ONE MORE DAY!"

"My Perfect Couch" 

I called Todd at work and told him I found the greatest couch ever and made him leave work to pick it up from Costco.  He was not happy about this at all, but he did it, to make me happy.  I needed a new look.

 "My Impulse Couch"

And it did make me happy, for about a month, then I started to realize this couch is not so comfortable and it is not all that it was cracked up to be.  The couch had seven sections and each section would separate when you sat on it and there were dips where the sections were so laying across the couch was not comfortable at all.  I wanted it gone.  I started missing my comfortable Island.  When I told Todd, I didn't like the couch anymore, he told me we had to have it for at least two years before we could replace it.  He was not going to budge on this one, he was going to make sure that we got good use out of it.  I kept telling him that since it was from Costco, we could return it and get a couch that I really wanted.  He said no repeatedly.  So a friend of mine posted that she was selling a couch so, I told her I wanted it.  I bought this couch, (also on an impulse).  I won't go into detail about how I got it or what I did with the other couch because to this day it STILL makes Todd mad.  Lets just say I did it all by myself, with Todd's truck, unbeknownst to him.  So when he came home and was surprised with this couch, it was not pretty....

 "My I Lost My Mind and Got This Ridiculously Small Couch"

So after dealing with that, we are still married and still quite happy, (considering I am a little impulsive and cooky).  He wanted to get a new couch. (Mission Accomplished) So I was now on the hunt for a new couch that I promised we would have for at least five years. It took me about a month of back and forth, sitting, laying and jumping on many couches.  I finally found "The ONE."

"The One"

Its been about two months and I am still happy with it, the kids love it and Todd loves it.  It is comfortable, it's large and in the color that I wanted, I'm happy with it...... for now. 

Disneyland, UCLA and USC

After our trip to the zoo, the next day, we went to Disneyland.  We spend the entire day at California Adventure.  This is something we have never done before.  It was so nice just going to one park and not having to rush through it.  We met Buzz Lightyear.  Trent was super excited to meet him and as soon as it was our turn to take a picture with him, Trent FREAKED OUT!  This was the best picture we could get. 

 We rode on the carrousel

 I got to go on a roller coaster with Deitric

 We met Lightning McQueen!

 Disney Junior Live is one of my kid's favorite thing to do at California Adventure

 This was the first time we saw a parade on the California Adventure side and the kids loved it!

 The park closed at 8pm, so it was nice to head back to the resort a little early.  It was only Tuesday, but we felt like we already had a full week. 

On Wednesday, we headed out to LA to visit UCLA and USC.  My cousin Deitric is interested in possibly going to a college out here, so we showed him the colleges.  He really loved the UCLA campus, they got some really good information on what he should do in preparation to attend such colleges.  He is ahead of the game because he is only in eighth grade.  My kids had fun seeing and playing in the water fountain at USC.  It was a fun day with a lot of walking since both campuses are huge!  Lots of information, lots of fun!

LA Zoo

Last week, my cousin, Jennifer and her two kids, Deitric and Cecilia came for a visit from New Jersey.  We had a FULL week!  We tried to do everything we possibly could do in a weeks time, so every single day they were here, we went somewhere.  They got in late Saturday night, so early Sunday, we went out to Dessert Hot Springs to visit Jennifer's best friend.  We spent the whole day there with friends and family. 

Monday, we went to the LA Zoo. 

 Trent was a little under the weather, as you can see in the picture above. 

This was first time my kids have ever been to the zoo. Although Taelyn was really excited to see all of the animals, she kept saying, "Mommy, it's too stinky here!"

 My poor chunk was a clingy man all day. 

 For some strange reason, this black jay was obsessed with me, it kinda creeped me out.  He followed me and got a little too close for comfort.

Cecilia was helping Taelyn up to see the Elephant

 Jennifer was able to pet the elephant

 Despite his crabbiness, he had fun riding an alligator

 The kids riding on a elephant

 Todd wanted to ride a camel

 I can't take this guy anywhere!

 Cecilia and Trent on the camel

 I think Trent liked the camel

 Sassy Cecilia

 Such a sweet moment captured

Fun day at the zoo!