I'm a princess....

just check out my crown.

Before and After Pictures

This morning I had a laser skin rejuvenation treatment. WOW! What a huge difference in just a few hours. The treatment itself lasted about 20-30 minutes and the pulse of light felt like someone was snapping a rubber band on my face. Some areas were more sensitive than others but I survived. Okay, I took a Darvocet, just in case. Of course, I wanted to track the before and after so here are some pictures. All the "brown spots" will eventually "flake off" to leave a clear complexion; several days to a week. All of the redness in the "1 hour later" pictures represents the sun damage on my skin. The white areas (which are very few) represent the skin without sun damage. Granted, they aren't flattering pictures of me, but I don't care. I will be ready for my 20 year high school reunion this summer. :-)




If you really want to see a close up, click on the picture. I have no shame!

CC Says Her Name

This afternoon while sitting on the backporch coloring and writing with CC, she told us her first and last name.  If you don't know, she refers to herself as RaRa.  So, she said RaRa D. (fill in the last name).  It's so cute the way she says it!

Napping with Mommy

Mommy and Me

Rarely, do I ever get pictures taken with my mommy since she's always the one taking the pictures. Here are a couple of random shots taken by mommy (self-portraits) and daddy.

Silvia's First Birthday

Today, we celebrated Silvia's first birthday. As always, we had a GREAT time! Enjoy the pictures.

Mowing the Lawn

Daddy and I decided that the lawn needed to be mowed. So, daddy got his lawn mower and I got mine. We make a nice team!

I'm Cool

Artist in training?

I turn my back for 5 seconds and next thing I know, CC is drawing a lovely picture on the wall with a yellow crayon. I sure am glad we have extra paint.

Crackerz is Training for an 8k Mud Run

Whose idea was it anyways? For those of you who know me, I DON'T run unless someone really scary is chasing me. And even then, I'd think about fighting before running.

Anyways, while at a birthday party on Saturday, the girls started talking about the local "mud run" that takes place in August. So, we decided to put together a team, "The Dirty Divas." I guess a little motivation is what I needed to get me to exercise. We'll see how long it lasts. One thing about me, I love competition. I hope this is all the motivation I need. To help our team track our training progress (weight loss, too), I created a wiki. If you're interested, go to The Dirty Diva's Wiki. Yes, I put my measurements on my training page, but who cares! See, even more motivation to make those numbers go DOWN!

Do you like our team logo? Pretty sweet, isn't it?

New Kid on the Block

Conrgats to my cousin in Texas.  He and his wife are the proud parents of baby #2, A girl named Isabella.  Another Issi for the family.  Awesome!!  Welcome to planet earth Isabella!

CC Pooped in the Potty

This morning, CC took her first poop in the potty! Yeah!

Ben and CC

Happy Easter!

The weatherman got it all wrong today: I didn't see 50 and raining. Instead, we had a beautiful day and spent Easter with some great friends.

As you can see from the many pictures, we enjoyed the good food and great company; and, the kids enjoyed the Easter egg hunt, bubbles, dirt, trampoline, etc. To see the pictures taken by Tony, go here.

A couple of our "regulars" weren't here today and we missed you: Chris, Larry and Skylar; Auntie Anne; Mindy and Nate; and Bonnie, Todd and Bella.



Happy Easter!

Pee Pee

Yep, Daddy helped me go pee pee in the potty today! I am getting to be such a big girl.  I cannot wait until I can run around without any diapers on.  Summer will be so much more comfortable! 

Bathtime for CC

in the jacuzzi bath tub. While Nutz was away, this is where CC took her baths; she loved it.

Grammy and Papa Visit

Grammy and papa came to visit and CC really enjoyed having them here (so did I). They stayed an extra couple of days to welcome Nutz home from his trip across the ocean. While they were here CC got a new Jeep tricycle and helmet. CC helped papa put it together; she's quite the supervisor. Here are a couple of pictures from their visit. I confess that I did a TERRIBLE job of taking pictures while they were here. Can you say BUSY?

CC at JW Tumbles

Each Monday morning, Ms. Amy takes CC to JW Tumbles for her "gym" class. This past Monday, Nutz and I took her. You can see in the video that she LOVES it.

Wheels on the Bus

ABC Song

If you're happy and you know it...

Why Parents Drink

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonishedto see that his bed was nicely made and everything waspicked up.

Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on thepillow that was addressed to Dad. With the worstpremonition he opened the envelope with trembling handsand read the letter.

Dear Dad: It is with great regret and sorrow that I'mwriting you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend becauseI wanted to avoid a scene with Mom and you. I have beenfinding real passion with Stacy and she is so nice.But I knew you would not approve of her because of all herpiercing, tattoos, tight motorcycle clothes and the fact thatshe is much older than I am. But it's not only the passion.Dad she's pregnant.

Stacy said that we will be very happy. She owns a trailerin the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter.We share a dream of having many more children. Stacy hasopened my eyes to the fact that marijuana doesn't really hurtanyone.
We'll be growing it for ourselves and trading it with the otherpeople that live nearby for cocaine and ecstasy. In themeantime we will pray that science will find a cure for AIDSso Stacy can get better. She deserves it.

Don't worry Dad. I'm 15 and I know how to take care of myself.Someday I'm sure that we will be back to visit so that you canget to know your grandchildren.

Love, your son John

PS: Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at Tommy's house.I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in lifethan a report card. That's in my center desk drawer. I love you.Call me when it's safe to come home.

"My Daddy"

Tonight, I pointed to Nutz and asked CC, "who is this?" She promptly stated, "my daddy." Very cute!

Daddy is home!

This afternoon, our beloved Nutz, returned home after a six-week stay across the pond. As you can tell from the photos, CC was extremely excited to see her daddy. When she spotted him walking down the concourse, she ran to him (top photo). And, since it's an action shot, it's blurry. :-) Poor Nutz, had been awake for over 4o hours (actual travel time 15 hours). Needless to say, he was exhausted but needed to adjust to our time schedule. So, CC helped him out by demanding his undivided attention until bedtime. During the bedtime process, she proceeded to climb on his head, kiss him, hug him, etc. Yep, she wasn't ready for daddy to go to bed. I'm not sure how the poor guy kept his eyes open.

Nutz, we're glad you're home and we love you BUNCHES!

Sunday with the Pino Family

Today, CC and I spent a nice afternoon with the Pino family! We had a delicious lunch and CC loved playing with Ben and the "baby" (aka Nate).

Thanks for having us! Pictures (nice bags under my eyes) courtesy of the Pino camera since mine was at home. :-)

Daddy shares lunch with Cupcake

Well ok, I watched her eat lunch over the web. As you can see daddy lets her get away with everything. Only thing that cupcake was missing was a cold beer to go with the chips!! Daddy did have that.

CC and Friends

If you click on the picture, you'll see that the girls have red and blue glitter in their hair. They thought they were the prettiest girls ever.

Hanging Out - My Bedroom

I love the pantry.

Mommy, can I PLEASE have some honey?

Making a list..

I like to make lists for mommy so she knows exactly what to do for me...

My Many Faces

I love sticky notes.

I'm cute...

just ask my mommy and daddy! :-)

From March 2009

From March 2009

Snow Day

It snowed most of the day and boy was it cold! Here are some pictures that mommy took.

Bedtime

Another bedtime ritual that daddy will have to "break" when he returns home. After working all day and being a single parent in the evening, I just don't have the energy to fight with a toddler. As a result, CC has slept with me every night since Nutz has been gone. By the way, she's a bed hog. In fact, the other night, she rolled right off the bed. Oops! Again, no mother of the year award for me but we're in survival mode at this point. All of you who have the urge to tell me that I'm only doing CC a disservice by letting her sleep with me, don't. Feel free to keep it to yourself or talk about me behind my back; I'm okay with that.

Eating

Other than Thursday night, I don't think CC eats in a chair anymore. For whatever reason, she's become a "grazer." She has her stool, or what used to be the kitchen stool, that she uses to belly up to the bar and "snack" on food. I continue to try to get her in her chair but I only have so much energy so I haven't fought it too much.

As a baby, she was a GREAT eater; I don't think there was anything she wouldn't eat. Now, I can barely get her to try anything new. If it weren't for dairy, I don't think she'd eat. Yogurt, cheese, milk, cottage cheese...that's pretty much her diet. I am able to get her to eat fruits: banana, apple, apricots. And, she loves PRUNES and raisins thanks to her daddy. It's the cutest thing when she tells me she wants a "pruh." CC is also NOT a vegetarian. She loves to eat pork, chicken, meatballs, and steak. In fact, I have to limit how many pieces I give her. If not, she has all of them in her mouth at one time which isn't very ladylike. :-)

Oh well! She's on a multi-vitamin so I hope that takes care of anything she's missing from a well-balanced diet. I'm sure I won't win mother of the year but I'm doing the best I can. So, if you have an opinion about my mothering skills, feel free to keep it to yourself.

Bathtime

Bath time with mommy is a little different than with daddy. Because of my back, I have a hard time leaning over the tub to bathe CC. So, since daddy's been gone, CC and I have been taking jacuzzi bubble baths each night. She loves it! When I ask her if she's ready for a bath, she says "mommy bath." Needless to say, I've become CC's bathtime playmate. If nothing else, it's quality mother-daughter time.

Happy 29th Birthday, Uncle Wormy!

Animal Sounds

Tonight while eating chicken alfredo, I told CC that we were having chicken. She proceeded to put the piece of chicken in her mouth and make chicken sounds. Is she smart or what? :-)

Bathtime Pictures

Saturday morning with CC

CC is a morning person like me so she's bright-eyed when she wakes up in the am. This was her on Saturday morning. :-)