Bowling!!

One of the sweetest little girls ever turned a big huge 5 years old! And had a bowling party!! The kids loved it! It was their first time bowling. It was hilarious watching all the kids try to get their balls down the lane. Max didn't do to bad, either!













Max and his future wife, the birthday girl!


We will definitely be going back for some more bowling! The Mira Mesa lanes has a great family deal on Thursdays. Check it out!

My 2011 Project

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Sick Baby

Lia is sick. AGAIN. This poor girl has been sick since well before Christmas. Poor thing can't get a break. She now has a raging ear infection that resulted in a burst ear drum, what is probably a sinus infection and a gnarly cough. And through it all she's been a delightful trooper. Just occasional outbursts of "my eeeear hurts!!" or "mama, I sick, I don't feel good." She's so different from her brother. I mean look at her.



And this is in the midst of all her sickness!



Sure do love that baby and her little knock knees.

Dress-Up

I think most kids love to play dress-up. Max is the King of Dress-Up. He has about 4 or 5 different superhero costumes that he wears everyday around the house (including 2 new ones he got for Christmas) and he got this Cal football uniform, too. Lia decided she didn't want to be left out so she put her cheer leading dress on and made us put her pink bike helmet on her.



These kids crack us up! We love how creative and imaginative they are. It's so fun to listen to them play and come up with different games.

Winter Seals

They are back at the Children's Pool! Or maybe they've been there for a while, but there was a point in time when they weren't there. Anyway, we headed down last Sunday afternoon to go check them out. It was getting pretty dark by the time we got there, but we definitely saw some babies! And the sunset was gorgeous. Of course you can't tell because someone had to use their fancy iPhone app to take pictures instead of bringing the regular camera. But trust me, it was gorgeous. Tyler and I pinch each other all the time to make sure that the place we live in isn't actually a dream; it's just so dang pretty.

Our Boy

Lia and I always tease each other about whose boy Max is. I say he's my boy and Lia says he's her boy and it usually ends in a tickle war that I of course win. He's definitely OUR boy. We sure do love him.

Smile!

What happens when I ask him to smile for the picture:



Somehow it's a really upsetting concept.

January

In January we like to go to the park. At the beach. And see lots of dolphins jumping and swimming right off shore. That's how we like to roll down here in San Diego. When everyone else is experiencing massive amounts of snow, we are having fun in the warm sunshine listening to the waves.

















The kids never left the slide. They just went up and down for 40 minutes having so much fun playing together. (Photos taken with the Hipstamatic iPhone app).

Second Christmas at Grammie and Papa's

While I continued on to San Diego, Tyler took the kids up to his parents' house for a few days. I had some photography commitments I had to be home for so Tyler braved it alone with the kids for a while. Well, not alone. His mom is a HUGE help!!  And he got to go snowboarding for the day, too.



The kids had a blast with their cousins for a few days and then spent some quality time with Grammie and Papa who spoiled them with lots and lots of presents and treats and fun.





Tyler also earned Dad of the Year. When we split up in Las Vegas after our 6 hour flight from Connecticut, Tyler got on a plane to San Jose while I went to San Diego. While on the plane to San Jose, Lia decided it was a good time to throw up ALL over Tyler's lap about 10 minutes after take off. Lia was pretty sick for a while and just wasn't her happy little self while she was at Grammie and Papa's. She's doing 100% better and is making up for the days of not eating by eating non-stop all day long. She was so sick she lost 4lbs just from throwing up and not eating! Poor thing. She's much better now though. And luckily, no one else really got sick!

The kids love going to Grammie and Papa's. They were sad to leave but happy to come home after being away from their own beds for 2 weeks. And I was missing my family after 4 days of being alone! Crazy, yes. I did enjoy my time alone, but I honestly missed those crazy kids! And Tyler!





Thanks for taking such good care of my little family Grammie and Papa!

Some of the view from when Tyler went snowboarding. He says it was the coldest it's ever been -- 18 degrees!

Some Extra Christmas Stuff

I had a few more photos and videos I wanted to post from Christmas in Connecticut so here you go, in no real order:

Lia showing some of her yoga skills.




Da and the girls and a blurry Ironman on the right.


Max's snow angel and the snowman they made at my mom's house.




The Return of Ironman!


Snowbaby!

Sad Christmas News

Although our kids enjoyed Christmas (and Tyler and I, too) Danielle and I had an aunt die on Christmas Eve. Our dad called us on Christmas Day to tell us she had passed away in the night. She was my dad's sister. Less than a year earlier her husband had passed away, too. She was only 67. Danielle and I were able to attend the wake while we were there. We got to see our cousins and aunts and uncles, and an uncle I hadn't seen since I was a baby.

It's hard to say the right words when it comes to an unexpected premature death. It must have been her time because how else can you explain it? It makes me wonder how some people are meant to experience and work through so much loss in their lives. My cousin Anthony, one of my aunt's sons, has seen his wife, his father and his mother pass on. He must be stronger than me because I'm not sure how I'd bounce back from that.

My Aunt Anna was a wonderful cook. A compassionate caretaker. She was a seamstress for a long time while we were little and she would make us beautiful coats and dresses. I wish I had gotten around to seeing her before she died while we were there, but I have great memories of her to keep with me. My heart is with my cousins who are now parentless (grown up, but none-the-less, parentless). I'm hoping their grief is short. I'm glad I have the knowledge that families can be together forever.

Here is her obituary:

Anna Maria Infante

August 12, 1943 - December 25, 2010

Anna Maria Sanzari Infante, 67, of Glen Haven Road, East Haven passed away Saturday, December 25, 2010 at her home. She was the wife of the late Antonio Infante. Born in Benevento, Italy on August 12, 1943; a daughter of the late Salvatore and Anna Iacobucci Sanzari. Anna Maria had worked as a sewing machine operator for the former Robby Len Co. and later had been working for National Filter Media. Mother of Massimo (Angela Belli) Infante of North Haven and Anthony Infante of East Haven. Sister of Raffaele (Francesca) Sanzari of France, Maria (Vincenzo) Terlizzi of Benevento, Nicola (Carmela) Sanzari of Cheshire, Dolores (Bruno) Ferrucci of West Haven and Domenico (Margaret Amore) Sanzari of Clinton. Also survived by many nieces and nephews. Her Funeral Procession will leave the North Haven Funeral Home, 36 Washington Ave., Wednesday morning at 9:15. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Michael’s Church, New Haven at 10:00. Entombment will follow in the All Saints Mausoleum. The visiting hours will be Tuesday from 4 to 8 pm.

Happy 5th Birthday!!

We actually got to spend Mattie's birthday with her this year! The big 5 years old! I seriously can't believe she's 5. I remember the day she was born. I remember holding and rocking her when she was a fussy little baby. I remember watching her learn how to walk. I swear she was more like my own baby than my little sister. It's so fun to be able to watch a sister grow like this, something not many siblings get to have.

Mattie is as sassy and smart as ever. She's already in kindergarten and loving it. She's pretty popular among the neighborhood kids and the boys at school (watch out!).  She's smart and beautiful and girlie and funny. I miss her so so sooo much!! She's really tall, too! I swear by the time she's 10 she'll be taller than me. Easily.

After my failed attempt at making Swiss buttercream frosting (in my defense I tried to whip it by hand because my mom didn't have a mixer. Epic FAIL.) my mom went and bought her a cake with roses. Mattie also wanted to put some little animals on the cake like she had seen at her friend's birthday.















I'm so glad we got to spend her birthday with her!

Blizzard of 2010!!

We survived the Blizzard of 2010!! Barely though! I swear, I am not cut out for snow and cold and ice anymore. California has made me soft. We stayed overnight at my Grandma's house on Christmas. Tyler and I had a lot of fun staying up late and talking with my Uncle Paul and my Grandma. The next morning when we woke up it started to flurry and then the snow started coming down. We were supposed to spend the day in Branford and with my dad, visiting my aunts but because the snow was coming we didn't want to get stuck down there so we packed up quickly and headed back up to my mom's house. SLOWLY.


(My grandma's house in the snow).




I-91 in the snow!

How cold it was outside on the way home!


It snowed and blew like crazy all day. It never let up at all. The wind was wild! And after naps that night the kids just couldn't wait any longer to get out and play in it. Max especially. He had been looking forward to snow since we told him we were going to CT for Christmas! I thought Lia would hate it but she had a TON of fun!






Sledding down the middle of the road!





Tyler learned what it really means to be a New Englander in a blizzard. He woke up the following morning at 5:30 to go out and shovel for my parents. He shoveled for over 3 hours, without stopping. I guess we should have told him how to actually do it! He did a great job though. But I'm thinking this kind of solidifies us crossing Boston off our list of places for residency!





It continued to snow and the wind continued to blow. But the kids had to go play one more time. And build a snowman of course! The snow was perfect powder, but not great for snowman building. I think they did a pretty great job considering!




He has a mohawk of pine needles.




Max pretty much thought the point of snow was to throw snowballs and go sledding. Tyler would pull them down a tiny little hill across the road. They LOVED it!












Making snowballs and trying to throw them!





The kids loved the snow. I thought it was a bit cold, but still beautiful. It had been a long time since I got to listen to snow flakes falling and it was still as magical as I had remembered it. I'm still trying to figure out how I survived when I was a kid. Did I just now feel the cold as badly? Because wow, it was frigid. I'm glad the kids got some snow before we left though. And I'm glad we got to come back to California and the sunshine and the 65 degree weather!