Happy Birthday Sophia Anne!

Sophia turns 2 today! I liked to say the time has flown by but I swear she has been the craziest of the 4 and it seems like she has been "almost 2" for like a year now. She was supposed to be a he. I swore all my crazy signs were there but turns out I was wrong. It's OK we decided to keep her anyway. I told Steve recently she is my bonus baby. See Steve was "done" but I persuaded him to have just 1 more. It's always 1 more isn't it....lol. I think of her as the bonus cause funny enough, as you all know, I end up getting just one more after Sophia and as it turns out now we get the 2nd boy. So my thing is if Sophia was the boy I probably would have really meant it when I said we're done. Luckily she was a she and I got one more being a he. So she's the bonus! Get it ?!?!

She had a bit of a rough start. It's not really clear on what happened. Either she swallowed too much fluid during delivery or her lungs just weren't developed yet. Needless to say shortly after this picture was taken they put her in the NICU for a week. I was in recovery by then but completely unaware of what was going on. Dealing with my own issues in recovery Steve was left in complete control. I am to much of a control freak to not have any but during these few days I was completely incapable of comprehending anything that was going on. Steve was a trooper and handle EVERYTHING. He made sure he told me everything that was going on before any Dr. could and he explained everything to me in a way that Samantha would have understood. When we would sit with her in the NICU he knew what every machine did and what every # meant. When he left me at night to go home an sleep he stayed up and devoured any info he could find on the internet as to what was going on so when he came back in the morning it seemed like he was 1 step ahead of everyone else. He kept me calm and never let me freak out even though I wanted to.



This was the first time I got to hold her. It was almost 2 days after she was born. I remember Steve telling the nurses that they needed to do something because I was going nuts with not getting to hold her. She was a feisty one and had the prime real estate location in the NICU. Because she was the biggest baby there she got to be in the front window. So whenever anyone visited they got to see her. She kept pulling all her tubes out and making the nurses crazy! We were so proud of her for being so bad!



Almost ready to go home now. She still was a bit jaundice and because her future was so bright she needed to wear shades :)



YEAH -After a week we finally got to take her home! This was how she was met for the first time by her siblings. This picture speaks 1000 words!



The motley crew standing outside with the stork sign



Trying to get an announcement picture:


1st bath! No there isn't too much water Virginia - she learned to swim early :)



One of my favorite pictures. It's her toes and I took this for her baptism invite. Steve still makes fun of it and doesn't get it. Look at those teeny tiny toes -


Sophia and Yogi - this is a special picture because it is the only one we have of her and Yogi. He passed away later this night


I always wonder what she is thinking in this one:



Sophia's first christmas

Ready for VT:



goofing around:


I need to get better pictures of her with her"pillars" This is her pillars. She never goes anywhere without one or two. It's the Caterpillar from Disney's "A bug Life". She has never seen the movie and my good friend Amanda just sent it to her for her birthday so she is gonna freak when she see's her "pillar" come to life.




Sharing a moment with her big sister at field day - YES I put shoes on her before we left the house she choose not to wear them after we got to the field. Believe me no one tells this kid what to do:



I don't even need to hear her to know she is telling me to push her or else - look at that look she is giving me



"Come on Daddy hurry up!!!"


She had the first of her birthday parties last weekend. She was the best at opening the presents. Everything down to the wrapping paper made her excited!


She got money and thought that was fantastic!



She got books:


She is reacting to a bubble making gun in this picture



This puppy was a puppet that when you opened the mouth it sang her a song she thought it was the funniest thing!




Happy 2nd Birthday Sophia!!! Thanks for being such a good snuggle buggler :)

Steven Graduates and Samantha dances like a superstar!

We have had a busy week over here. I am trying to keep the days together but its been crazy. I realize that I still need to tell you about our day in the city yesterday and our American Girl adventure. But I am gonna cheat and make you scroll down to see the list of blogs I follow. Click on the one that says Jen's blog. There you'll see some pictures if you can't wait for mine.

Now this morning our son graduated from Kindergarten. I would like to say I don't know where the time has gone but quite frankly it seems like he should be further along than this. He has been in school since he was 2 1/2. He has gone to 4 schools now. It's crazy that we are only up to kindergarten. If you saw my previous post than you know he had a great year. I just wanted to add some pictures I got today.

He's off to the bus and I was asking him to smile for me. He was so excited for today and reminded me 100 times last night to not forget to dress him in his "fancy clothes"



I love these moments!!



Here he is getting his diploma :)



My 2 favorite men - he loves it when he dresses like his Dad!



Great picture with his grandparents!



This is Mrs. Herbert - Steven's teacher. I can't say enough wonderful things about her and she can't say enough nice things about Steven. They really were a perfect match! Steven enjoyed her class so much. I know he will always remember her!




OK so now onto the girls.....DANCE RECITAL MADNESS! Let me start this by saying this isn't my thing. I didn't take take dance as a kid and it makes me wonder why I make mine take it. All has been changed after this year. When we moved we had to change dance studios. To be honest I was just about done with our last studio anyway and had had my share of problems so I welcomed the change. Well let me just say I am kicking myself that I wasted so many years at the old studio. What a world of difference in what my kids learned this year. I can't even begin to describe the recital itself because I am still speechless. It was THAT GOOD!!! I don't like asking others to these functions because I feel bad making them sit through it. Well I am kicking myself again for not buying 20 tickets and just handing them out. So I am telling you now - all are invited next year just let me know and I will get you a ticket!

This show was crazy! I swear Steve, his parents and me were blown away by every performance! I seriously could go on and on about this show it was just that good! I can't wait for next year and hope Sam picks more than one class so she is in more of the show.



These pictures of Samantha dancing were from the rehearsal. Let me tell you I had no idea what to expect. Being a 2nd grader this year Sam missed alot of classes toward the end due to her religion class schedule. So I was worried she wouldn't know the routine - BOY WAS I WRONG! You know how you say your kid is the best....I will be the first one to tell you if my kid sucked and she was freaking AMAZING!!! She was the best and smallest one. I think that's why she was the best. Her doing the moves seemed so much more smoother than the bigger girls in the group. She's a 2nd grader and these girls were 5th and 6th graders she was with.



that's her giving the peace sign






I really can't say enough about this recital. If I had known it was going to be this good I would have invited everyone I know. Let me not forget Miss Bella. She was excellent as well. She had a tap performance that went with the Doodle Bops "Wobbly Whoopsie". She was adorable and walked off blowing the best kisses to the crowd. When I brought her back to sit with us she was so excited to tell me that she heard me hootin and hollerin as they were walking off the stage. Steve always get embarrassed cause I am THAT MOM that cheers the loudest and longest (did you think otherwise) but I don't care that's my kid and I want her and everyone else within ear shot to know she just did a great job.

Busy weekend - Sophia turns 2 on Saturday so be sure to check back then for the latest here at Pepe Crazy Central!

What will Steven be when he grows up.....

Steven graduates from Kindergarten today! He has had an amazing year! He has learned more than we could imagine. He learned to read, learned lots of new math including fractions and multiplication. He also learned half of the periodic table - I don't even know that thing. Really what importance would it be as an adult....unless of course your gonna be a rocket scientist. I'm not sad that he is graduating today - I'm so excited for his future and how much he will enjoy next year. He's a little sad because he truly enjoys school and doesn't want to be gone for so long for summer break.

So as I sit there today watching him graduate I can only help wonder what will he be when he grows up? If you ask him he says he wants to be a Dr. a peditritcian to be exact. He has stuck with that for quite some time now. I want him to keep his options open - see he has a few....


He can be an enforcer and work for the mob:


He could be a fairy princess (Steve this picture is staying here so don't send me any emails requesting I remove it this was his princess phase - it lasted all of about 5 min.):


He could be a food taster for like important diplomats:




Oh he would make a cool cowboy:

Maybe a pilot with Nasa:



He could want to work with the circus and be a lion tamer:


Oh a professional bowler that's a good one:



How about a model - look at that smile:


He could be a stunt man:


Maybe George Lucas could use him in the next star wars:


How about the President of the United States! I always wanted to sleep in the blue room :)



Maybe a pro-bike rider:



or he could just grow up and be just like his Daddy! Nothing would make me prouder!

Don't forget the teachers!!!

Even if you only send a thank you card do something - as Steve would say "do something resembling anything". The teachers work hard all year and they get little thanks. I am sure they would appreciate it!

My thanks this year came courtesy of Jen. Fantastic idea with a bit of trouble implementing it but worth it in the end. This is my cricut machine. I use it to cut paper and more paper into shapes and letters. Jen came up with the brilliant idea of cutting self sticking vinyl and sticking it to tubs and making "summer baskets"



I ran the vinyl through and this is what it looks like after the letters are pealed off:



Here are the tubs:



Tada! Here is the tub with the finished name



It was a fantastic idea until I realized I needed to make 17 of them. Jen had to only make 4! They are "summer" related it's filled with a sudoku book, lollipops, pencils, water bottle, sun tan lotion, those little packets you mix with the water to make lemonade.


Here it is wrapped and ready for delivery...


So go on now....go do something nice for the teachers in your kids lives!

Complete randomness

I just wanted to post these 2 pictures that have nothing to do with each other but have been sitting on my desktop and I just keep forgetting to fit them in somewhere.

Just a little brotherly love - Steven is so good with his sisters but is always extra good to the smallest at the time. He cracks Sophia up all the time and she gives him the best laughs. I found them sitting like this the other day watching TV. He sat like this with her through 2 episodes of Dora - awwwwww!



Bella had her school pictures taken recently and I am so happy with how it came out. Not happy with the 2 nails of nail polish but I didn't think to check. Luckily this scanned in well cause I didn't buy any. Her school switched photographers and the new company actually thinks charging $14 for each sheet and not offering a package is normal. So I cheated and scanned it in and will print them on my own. Go ahead report me - remember I'm married to the right kinda attorney to defend me on copyright infringement. I'm sure I can persuade him to take me as a pro-bono case :)

PepeMania I

OK so here's the deal. As most of you know for many many years Steve's parents threw HUGE 4th of July parties. It went on for years and years. In addition to the 4th of July parties there was graduations parties and parties that I am sure my in-laws had no idea of. Recently a good (well sometimes good) old friend reminded us of these parties and felt it was time for the torch to be passed down to Steve and I. He is coming back into town and would like a re-creation of these events. You all know we are always ready for a good party. The thing is this dear friend is looking to re-live his youth and well quite frankly I remember those parties from back in the day and I love my home to much to let that happen. So we'll have the grand party just in a more law-abiding way. Plus there are no bushes here for me to pass out in.

Here is the guest of honor:



Let me introduce you to Mr. Vinny Dallo. If you know Vinny you have your own story. There are 2 that come to mind of my own. One that I really can't share here seeing how it wouldn't be appropriate and I still have nightmares from it. The other story that comes to mind would be a few days prior to my wedding. We received a phone call from a friend who asked that Steve come and get Vinny from the bar they were at. Confused by the request Steve went and when he pulled into the parking lot Vinny was shoved into the car. Steve drives him home to our house. He calls me from the driveway because he can't move Vinny from the car. What the hell am I supposed to do?? So we decided to leave the door open and hope if he wakes in the middle of the night he doesn't try to climb in bed with the neighbor. Luckily in the end Steve was able to get him into the house and we left him passed out in the living room. He woke the next morning completely unaware as to how he got there. After that night Steve's Dad on the morning of our wedding threatened Vinny within an inch of his life not to even LOOK at a bottle of alcohol. I think Steve said that was the first time he had ever seen Vinny scared sober.

So that brings us to today. Steve received a card and this picture in the mail from Vinny.



This is the boys in their younger days.....much younger days. See they still all have hair. For the most part these boys have all stayed close through the years. They are all up to no good in this picture - the good ole days. Now the most trouble these boys get into is getting yelled at from their wives for forgetting the milk.

OK so this picture was in the card Steve got with the following message:

Please use this photo to promote "Pepemania I" on July 11th.
Scan it and post it on facebook.

Invite all of the following people:

1. Anyone in this photo
2. Anyone who knows anyone in this photo
3. Anyone who wants to hook-up with anyone in this photo
4. Murrry Kahn, Patrick Wasson, Mr T. and Randy "Macho Man" Savage

So here is where the "rules" of this party come into play. First I will happily post this photo on facebook cause it's memorable. I am not announcing this shindig to all of facebook land. By posting this here we have control over who see's it and who ultimately gets invited.

Vinny we love you but your crazy if you think I am gonna have a billion people running around my house. No worries it will be plenty crazy and you may be half in the bag before you even get here so you'll never know who actually showed up.

For the rest of you the details are still sketchy but we are set for July 11th most likely around 3pm. If your reading this because you know us then you know where we live and we hope you can make it. If your reading this because you stumbled upon my blog somehow and have no idea who we are then your not invited. If you plan on following request #3 then maybe leaving your significant other at home would be best. Your kids are welcomed but remember the only babysitter that will be provided is Dexter. There will be no liquor fed to the fish or the dogs. No gummy bears for any of the animals either. No holes will be left in my walls unless you plan on repairing it right then. No skinny dippin before 9pm. Oh and once inebriated you will not jump the fence and try to take down the coconuts off our neighbors trees - they are not real!

More details to follow......

I survived!!!

Thank goodness it's June 1st! That means I survived the month of May and lived to tell about it. Why you ask was that such a big goal?? Well if you see the below calendar you will understand better. That mainly represented the schedule of just 2 of the 4 kids and it also was really just their sports.

I was at my checkup recently and I had Bella and Sophia with me. Those 2 are usually with me for my appts. unless it's a school morning for Bella and then it only leaves me with Sophia - which is really no break seeing how Sophia is the crazy one. So I had a 8:50 appt. and didn't get seen until almost 10am. That really isn't bad and my OB is worth the wait. So anyway the kids are doing there thing and being crazy but the nurses love them and find them funny and they always have some sort of candy for them. Just what they need - more sugar. Anyway, I finally get into the exam room and now we are confined in a small space with little for the kids to do but they seem to keep themselves busy. My OB comes in and asks how things are going and how I'm feeling, blah blah blah. Same questions and I always give the same answers. All is fine, baby is moving, getting rest (which always makes her laugh), eating healthy (except for the all the chocolate) not doing any heavy lifting....lol or so she thinks. The whole time I am getting drilled Sophia and Bella are just being crazy but I don't even realize they are there and the Dr. is trying to concentrate on me but she is distracted by the kids. Finally we are done and this lasted all of about 10 min. tops. The Dr. reminds me to take it easy and I laugh and tell her no problem and as long as I can catch my breath all will be good. She turns to me and says "you don't give yourself enough credit". I'm confused because I am not sure what I need to give myself credit for. She goes on to explain how I am having my 5th child and my only complaint is not catching my breath. Well that's really my only complaint right now....and not getting the ice cream man to my house daily was my other issue but I didn't think she needed to hear that part. She says I should have been complaining about my breathing weeks ago. She say's "I don't know how you do it?"

If I had a penny for everytime someone said that to me I would have a nanny for each of my kids along with a chef and driver. I honestly don't see what the big deal is. I (I mean "we" cause Steve was there for his part) wanted these kids and they are for a good part of the days my responsibility to take care of. Sure I treat some of this as a job but there is no way I could keep up with all of them without some order. This isn't rocket science it's being a Mom - sure it's not for everyone but for me this is all I ever saw myself doing. A lot might not agree with my parenting or how I do things but you know what I (we) have 4 amazing kids to show for it. They are polite, kind, happy, healthy, smart, funny kids so I (we) must be doing something right.

Now looking at this calendar and seeing I made it through the month of May with little help makes me want to give myself just a little pat on the back. So for this one time I will give myself some credit....in the form of a stock of snow cones from the ice cream man who finally showed up tonight! I am still smiling at remembering the look he gave me when I said "1 dozen snow cones please"