Celebration of Life....

There is nothing like the Celebration of Life.....

This Sunday we celebrated our wonderful Mike and Kirsten's little girls 1st Birthday! Lila Louise was born this day one year ago...

We headed to their house for Lila's 1st Birthday party. We were very excited to be sharing in Lila's special day. And check out this adorable homemade cake and adorable cupcakes that Lila's Great Grandmother made for her special day....absolutely adorable! Little flowers and bumblebee's on the cupcakes, the detail was amazing and they tasted very yummy too!

We tried to get a pic of the birthday girl with Dylan, it didn't work so much with smiles for the pic, but aren't they just so cute sitting next to each other! Dylan loves 'baby Lila' to pieces!

Anticipating this wonderful cake she gets to dig in to!And of course we all enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to this special little girl! Happy 1st Birthday Lila. We hope your 1st Birthday was a very special one for you!! Our next Celebration was for Grandma Martin's 80Th Birthday! We headed off to Anamosa for this birthday party. Grandma Martin had lots of family and wonderful friends sharing in her special celebration with her. The kids were very excited to see their Great Grandma and she was equally as excited to see them!

Danielle was dressed to party today! She was such a good girl...all day long!

And as often as we get to celebrate life, one time per year as birthday's roll around....there is occasionally those Celebrations that are a little different.

The Celebration of Life that comes when one passes....the sadness that surrounds us but the celebration of the person's greatest days on earth, with which ones life that has touched SO many.
My Step Grandma Martucci went into heaven on Thursday April 15Th.

A woman who was SO much to SO many.

I believe my mom summed it up saying it the best in these words...

" an incredible woman of God passed today, a prayer warrior that will be greatly missed, she is dancing with her husband and son at the feet of Jesus. The trumpet has sounded. I see her radiant joy for she prepared herself in this life for the anticipation of our king taking her home."

She was a devoted mother....

We have several cards, mass cards dedicated to our children, prayer requests and hand written messages for our children. She would send the kids messages often when they were so tiny and fighting for every breath, reminding them of God's love and the strength they have shown to so many. We will forever cherish these special messages for our children.

Memory....

MARTUCCI Anna P. (nee Paparatto), age 88, of Palisades Park, NJ on April 15,2009. Born in Bronx, beloved wife of the late Joseph. Devoted mother of Jo Ann (Henry) Klein, Joseph (Debra) Martucci, Richard (Kathleen) Martucci, Louis (Jeanette) Martucci, Thomas (LouAnn) Martucci, Ronald (Mary Ann) Martucci, Jeffrey Martucci and the late Christopher Martucci. Dear sister to the late Tino Paparatto and sister in law to Robert Martucci. Cherished grandmother of 23 and 13 great-grandchildren. Anna learned how to speak English upon entering elementary school as her parents only spoke Italian. She was always an excellent and gifted student, receiving a full scholarship to CCNY from which she graduated with Honors and her BS Degree in 1944. A teacher for the Hackensack Board of Education for many years, retiring in 1990. This mother of eight was perpetually involved with Scouting, PTA, Little League, and Sports in general. In later years her life centered around her parish family of St. Michael's; a daily communicant, Eucharistic Minister and Lector, a Rosarian, CCD teacher, the Parish Council and also served as a volunteer teacher in Notre Dame School.

Sailing away in heaven, her memory lives on. Rest in Peace....
We reflect today, we realize what a gift each day is. From celebrating the little life of the 1st year for a beautiful little girl....to the wonderful life of an 80 year old...to the celebration of life a wonderful Grandmother lived and now continues on in heaven.

The Circle of Life is a beautiful thing..we are very blessed.~

I've got a feelin....

That tonight's gonna be a good night, that tonight's gonna be a good good night, oo oooo!

Oh what a night! For 3 years now our friends have organized a Tiny Town Tavern Tour for 2 of our friends birthdays, Taylor and Mike. Due to either having a newborn home from the hospital, or being pregnant or on bed rest we have been unable to attend, until this year that is! Brad and I have not been out for a night like this since way before we had kids. We deserved a night out, we were ready for some Husband and Wife time out with friends, pretending like we were 21 again... and so we did just that! We had a wonderful sitter at our house for the night with the kids, they were tucked in bed and we were off!
We started in Robins at the Birthday Boy's home, Mike and Kirsten's house, Party Bus pickup location #1! We loaded on the bus with friends and favorite drinks in hand. Our cooler was full with a mixed variety, margaritas, Coors Light, Wine and even a frozen Mojito. Oh my!

This party bus was rockin'. We were very impressed. The back of the bus had a huge flat screen TV, strobe lights everywhere, very nice leather benches and cup holders, we were definitely in luxury for our Tavern Tour! The music was cranked up loud and we got the party started!

The next stop was at the Birthday Girl's house, Party Bus pickup location #2! And more friends and a lot more drinks loaded on the bus! Homemade Apple Pie, 2 huge bags of jello shots, champagne and more! Again, oh my! So we headed off for our first stop Agge's in North Liberty.

The laughs started on the way and continued the whole night! In North Liberty we picked up a few more along for the ride. Decided to try a few munchies to fill our belly and after a few drinks we were off to stop #2!
Stop #2 brought some Tether Ball action! Yes, outside this bar had Tether Ball and a volleyball court. The inside ceiling was layered with dollar bills. This place was a log cabin type with the vaulted ceilings and I could not figure out how in the world those $ bills got up there. Did we have to climb?! Well Alyssa was curious also and she found out! So you take a $1 bill and wrap 3 quarters around the middle of it and then just throw it up. Sounds crazy but it worked, we were intrigued. Was there something sticky on the ceiling to make it stick? Who knows....but it captured my attention!

Stop #3 was a Sports Bar that was newly redone. Very nice and the place was not very busy, until a party bus with 19+ of us showed up! The bartenders were a little shocked, but it was a very fun stop. Lots more laughs to add to the night!

We thought her earring was a goner! HA HA, nope, just taking a break on her shoulder...and then we find it on the seat over an hour later! Hilarious!

Stop #4 we skipped and moved onto #5! #5 brought a lot of karaoke! Funny stuff! A few people who had just fabulous voices, and a few that would have been pretty funny on American Idol! The dance floor was hoppin', Brad was out there bustin' a move. We laughed and laughed and laughed!

CHEERS!

Parents night out!

Then it was stop #1 to drop back off at Taylor's, at this point we got off and hit a cab ride home! We had such a fun night out with wonderful friends! It was a very fun Birthday celebration for Mike and Taylor and we were very happy to join in the fun. Definitely a night that showed our age by the way we felt on Sunday....but for not getting out like this since we had kids, it was okay to snap us into reality and the lifestyle that we aren't missing, we love parenthood! But it was needed for 'us time', and we celebrated with great friends...who could ask for more than that?!'

Happy Birthday Mike

Happy Birthday TaylorThe girls!

Happy Birthday Mike and Taylor! Thanks for letting us 'escape' our crazy life for a crazy night, we had a blast!!!~

Happy Easter...

What a wonderful way to start Easter Weekend 2010....with an Easter Egg Hunt! Saturday morning we headed up to the Springville Football field for a hunt put on by SANSI. It was perfect. They had the hunt set up in 3 different age groups, with the youngest being Pre-School and younger and then the oldest age group being 3rd graders.

We found the pre-school age group and all got in a big circle around the eggs. All in anticipation of the whistle blowing for the big hunt to begin.

Dylan was SO excited and waited very patiently. This was after all, his first big Easter Egg hunt!It was warm outside but the wind was blowing like crazy, making it perfect nap time conditions for Danielle....on daddy's shoulder that is!Dylan had such a great time and got lots of eggs. The best part was that all of the eggs were empty, we took them up to the concession stand and exchanged them for a prize. No matter if the kids got 1 egg or 10 eggs they all got the same prize according to their age group, what a great idea! We turned in the eggs and Dylan got his prize, he was a happy camper!So we headed home for some lunch and an afternoon of fun....coloring Easter Eggs! This was also a first for Dylan, and as you can see by the look on his face, he was SO excited to get his hands dirty! I let Dylan pick all the colors of the eggs. He loved dropping the eggs in the coloring and watching them turn in an instant. He loved to stir the eggs thinking, they needed to be stirred to get the color to stick better. Then he used the dipper to fish out the eggs. Oh the imagination of a three year old!

And after we colored the eggs, put stickers on a few of them it was time to sit and wait for the eggs to dry.And the egg masterpieces!Perfect colored eggs, to add to our Easter Centerpiece!

Easter Sunday we awoke to find....baskets filled with all kinds of joyful things for the kids! The Easter bunny found us, and he went all out for these Holub kids this Easter! They must have been good!

Danielle was a very happy girl, and very happy to show off her new flower headband!

Dylan loved his bunny ears but was very curious as to why there 'is beans in with my carrot?' He just didn't understand the 'beans' aka. Reece's Pieces in the carrot. What a hoot!

Danielle was very happy with what the Easter Bunny put in her baskets! She LOVED the texture of this ball, immediately it went to her mouth!

We attempted to get a few Easter pics, Dylan was not having it and wanted nothing to do with Danielle trying to hold his hand. Poor baby girl just wanted a hand to hold!

He apologized and gave her a little kiss, she loves attention from her big brother!

Mmmm, this dress looks yummy! Silly girl!

Isn't she just the most precious little thing ever?! We sure think so ;)

The remainder of our Easter 2010 was spent with wonderful family! Daddy and Dylan headed up to Prairieburg for a late morning visit to Great Grandma Holub's. Dylan was of course very excited to see his Great Grandma and shed lots of tears when it was time to come home.

For a late lunch Aunt Ellie, Uncle Bill and the Aarhus' came over for a feast! Kim is so festive and made these adorable deviled eggs. They were almost too cute to eat, hence a picture before they were gone!

We all filled out belly's with lots of munchies and grilled food. Perfect for this beautiful Easter Sunday. The weather was perfect, we sat on the deck, opened up the sliding glass door and breathed in the nice fresh air! We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend this Easter!

We also set up an Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard for Dylan and his older cousins. They raced around the yard in search of all 56 eggs! They managed to find all of the eggs and all of the goodies inside!

Dylan was in on the hunt too!

While everyone was resting their full belly's and catching up on great conversation Dylan was having some fun of his own. He found Ellie's scarf and shoes and had a great ole' time with her accessories! Daddy was like 'dude, what are you doing'! We laughed and laughed....

Collin is definitely one of Dylan's favorite boy cousins. He talks about Collin ALL of the time and Collin is very good with Dylan. Playing with him and giving him lots of attention. He took Dylan out onto the deck to blow bubbles. Dylan thought that was the coolest thing ever!

And after a busy Easter Holiday everyone is pooped out! Thank you to our family that shared our wonderful day with us and the kids! And those that are miles away, you weren't far from our thoughts either, WE miss you!

And Dylan is all snug in his bed, with his favorite boots and 10 different toys that must accompany him to bed every night. Oh Dylan, thank you for the laughs and smiles you give us every day. Happy Easter Dalton, Dylan and Danielle, Mommy and Daddy love you SO much!~