Steven made his communion!

2 down and 3 more to go - then we get to start all over again with confirmations.



Steven was very excited - OK more for the party then the church probably but he was excited nonetheless. We had a nice day.



Steven shared the day with his cousin Vincent and it meant a lot to me for them to be together for this. It's one of those childhood connections I didn't have and am grateful my children do



we had some "sun" issues:



A very BIG thank you to Jen for making the banner. It was all sewn by hand and there's a lot of detail. It was the BEST one there:



he looks just like his Daddy:



Steven with Steve's parents:



the line for the cotton candy - these kids were outta control shortly after:



Anthony can't get enough:



see look he's threatening anyone that comes near him:



Steven with my sister (his godmother) and her new beau Joey:



Steven with Uncle Billy and Tara



Steven with his great grandfather:



How lucky is this kid - here he is with his 2 grandmothers and 3 great grandmothers!!!



Steven with his godmother:




these girls are gonna be friends forever!



Hey a decent family shot....



trouble:



my 2 short men!!



the girls:



a nice one with my oldest nephew Frankie



Everyone had a nice day and it was nice of the family that came and stayed to share in my son's day.

Family

Well I tell ya it's not what it's all cracked up to be. On it's best day it's still a hot mess! Lots of personalities and opinions. What's that saying "too many chiefs and not enough indians"...ya that one. Yet that isn't right cause everyone should be equal so scratch that.

Growing up mine was a hot mess. I was moved around more times than I can count. I missed out on making those "childhood friends" so many of my adult friends have now. I have no idea who I went to kindergarten with hell I don't even remember the name of the school. WAIT I just remembered it - I think it was John B. Dey Elementary. Let me google it - hang on.... Well I'll be damned it's there and looks like a pretty good one. Don't recognize any of the teachers but I barely remembered the name of the school.

OK so back to my point - I think I have one - right so growing up was crazy. I was/am the oldest so I ran the show after my parents nasty divorce cause my Mom had to go back to work. So I had to grow up real quick. It's really not that big of a deal and I have never asked or wanted sympathy for it. There were perks! Like being a latch key kid. What kid wouldn't want the run of the house with no parents at home. Got to eat whatever I wanted and watch all the TV I could. Pretty sweet deal. I don't remember my Mom during that time. I think she was trying so hard to just stay afloat and survive the demise of her marriage that she couldn't deal with anything else. That was OK I was plenty capable. I wouldn't go back and change one second of it. Ok maybe the divorce thing just for my sister and brothers sake. They were still young and impressionable so they needed a father figure. I was done and had no use for that SOB anymore. Ummm this is my story and my SOB to call an SOB so I don't want to hear anyone say "you shouldn't say that about your father". I didn't have one of those he was simply the sperm donor. My grandfather, husband, father in law and brother in laws are the only men I know deserving or being called a father.

Ok so then I get married to this man who really is my knight in shinning armor. Well most of the time he is - for example 5min. ago he wasn't when he let me run out of the house with a baseball bat to try and smash the 300 lb raccoon that is destroying the garbage and I must kill it.

So I marry him and he comes with this whole new family for me to be apart of. Well it's been an adventure to say the least. We've had our ups and our downs. I/we could have done without all the "downs" but we've survived and no matter what we are family and there is NO CHANGING that unless of course you....well no nothing could change that since we have children we are in this forever and after that. We are all different and it has taken almost 13 years now to finally know what works. 13 years is the longest amount of time I have worked at anything. My marriage doesn't even require the same amount of work that other relationships I have do. That could just be because Steve and I are like fric and frac or like Buzz and Woody or Bella and Edward - you get my point. I mean 13 years is longer than all my schooling and after seeing some of the kids homework this past year I know now I clearly didn't work very hard during my time of being educated. OK there it is the one other thing I would have changed from my childhood. Seriously how many years could I get away with saying "no Mom we had no homework or test's today". Jeesh - thank god for my street smarts or I'd be screwed!

I guess my point is I've had to work at these relationships. Sure some are better than others but that is just life. You have friends and some you like better than others right? Well it's no different with family. In a perfect world everyone would get along equally. I wouldn't want a "perfect" world - where is the fun in that. Not that " not getting along" is fun - that I could do without. I could do without the "he said she said". I could do without the constant temper tantrums and the screaming fits - I'm telling ya Steve isn't as innocent as he seems :) My sister and I went just over 4 years without speaking. It made for interesting holidays to say the least. I had legitimate reasons and it is was it is. Things are better now and at least we can be in the same room together without killing each other. It requires work from both of us to maintain this "hot mess" but it's our hot mess and we are fine with it. Relationships are like flowers they require constant care to allow them to grow. If you IGNORE them and don't water and feed them they die and shrivel up to nothing. What a cheesy.....what is that called I just did - an analogy. See I remembered something.

At the end of the day I am responsible for my own happiness sure Steve is too but he knows that he needs to keep me happy so I'll keep doing the laundry. I am responsible for my childrens happiness until they drive me completely nuts and I lose my mind. I am responsible to do my best not to lose my temper when it would seem appropriate cause in the end it causes more harm than good but that also doesn't mean I will stand by and not stick up for what's right and wrong. Like Steve says to me ALL THE TIME - I only see in black and white. Maybe at times I could use to see the fuzzy gray but it's easier said than done. I don't care for gray I like black or white - less mess!

If your reading this and your all confused it's probably best :) If your reading this and are between the lines calm down and don't get your panties or boxers in a twist and don't go reading to far between the lines I'm not saying anything earth shattering here.

Just complete randomness in my current thoughts

Thankful for my 5 healthy, beautiful and amazingly kind children. I would like to be forever judged by them. I might not have gotten a lot "right" in life but man am I doing something right with this crew. I am amazed daily by their random acts of kindness they seem to bestow upon whoever may need it. Samantha made me drive her to her best friends house this morning before she left for the hospital to begin 5 straight days of chemo so that she could give her her ipod. She doesn't need it anymore since her brother made sure she got a new one when he did. "It's only fair Mom" Steven said - Sam bought me a gift when she made her communion and I want to buy her one now.

I can't wait to see these kids as adults cause they are gonna be amazing!

I've made some new friends recently that have come just at the right time and I am very thankful for them!

My husband still gives me butterflies like a teenager with a crush!

American Airlines and American Express are going to be the death of me - but I'll be damned if they will win. I will continue to fight the good fight until I win! Add 1 Ms. Crowley to my "hit list". Let the fun begin!

Holy crap Mothers Day is on Sunday and I thought I had another week.

Baseball starts tomorrow and life as we know it will be over until mid-June.

Samantha will take very big tests over the next 3 days and I will pray like I've never prayed before that she does well. Feel free to join me on this one!

If Amex and American Airlines doesn't kill me then Anthony will. This kid is nuts! He covered himself with an entire bottle of Elmers Glue today. NO there are no pictures cause I had to act fast and threw him into the tub completely clothed. His curls were glued together. He laughed at me as I tried to wash if off.

It's a bit chilly in the house but I'm too lazy to move to turn the heat on

I demand to see Bin Laden's dead body now! I need the proof. Oh isn't that nice that we respected his religion with a proper buriel for him?!?! Let me be president for just 1 week so I can implement my "eye for an eye" way of life

I broke my nail pretty bad and it is killing me oh and I thought I broke my toe on vacation but then it got better and now it looks like an alien again

RSVPing! Just do it! If you get an invite RESPOND yes or no it's as simply as that. If you don't want to give an excuse as to why it's no then don't but at least say NO I'm not attending. It's very easy. Leave a voicemail message, text it, facebook it, email it, hell tweet it - like Nike says "Just do it"

In addition to actually responding it's understandable that there could be an emergency the day of the affair in which you said yes to then at the last minute you can't come and that's OK. What's not cool is responding yes and just not showing up at all. Or responding yes for say 5 people and only coming with 3 people. Here's one - responding yes then coming in the last 5 minutes. If it's a party in a home that's one thing but if it's in a restuarant and there is a "per head price" that's when it's not cool. Most balances are paid within the week of the affair and that should be kept in mind when canceling on the host.

I think this is all I got for now..... I'll have pictures from Steven's big day from the weekend. It was his communion and I must say he was so handsome in his suit!

OK here's part 2

Here's Tara and the kids:



the cheesballs:



Bella and Sophia getting ready to limbo:



caught a sunset on camera the last night:



Oh Anthony eating his ice pop:



Uncle Louis buried Bella:



a rare moment:



the kids over looking the pool:



Anthony just happy cause he is:



Oh Frank and Steven you do know I will use these in the future:



The kids and the count - Anthony is MIA cause he is running around like a maniac:



Yea for Bert and Ernie:



another attempt at a family picture:



cousins!



We ate at the Hibachi restaurant. Had a great time



this kid had the best time



Sophia hanging around:




Everyone had a great time! The kids ate all week the adults drank lots! Some got plenty sunburn - ok just me really. Aside from a slight snafu (really not a snafu and more like a major catastrophe but that is for another post) with the airlines coming and going the vacation was pretty great. The weather was nice and hot. It was windy though more so than I anticipated. The resort was full to capacity but you would have never known it. There wasn't hoards of people everywhere. We never had to wait to be seated to eat. The kids got the lay of the land pretty quickly. Anthony made sure he got his daily cotton candy fix.

I'm here I'm here.....

I know I promised to be here more but life has been slightly hectic. OK here are photo's from our recent adventure. We took the kids to Turks and Caico's for Easter Break. We had a blast and can't wait to go back next year.

Let me set the scene for you:



is this better



we took the kids snorkeling and to visit iguana island:



can you find him:



was he was spotted we called for the kids (and Steve) and they came running:



OMG Steve put the blackberry down!



The Pepe kids - this is like our token shot:



I'm gonna jump around a bit here so bare with me - Anthony finishing off his drink:



Sophia and I going snorkeling:



There is Tara and Bella:



A cute one of Gin with Vincent and Sophia:



the girls hamming it up:



Aunt Gin Gin giving Sophia a ride:



Hey there's Steve:



We surprised the kids with a bedtime story read by ELMO:



attempting to get a family picture:



the kids and Anthony was NOT cooperating:



last try:



Love this one!



Proof I was in the sand:



Steve getting ready to jump in:



Sam striking a pose:





Bella working it:



the firecracker:



I love this one - look at Sophia's toes



Great one of Sam flying down the slide:




Enjoy these and I will get up more

ughhh I know

I know I said I would be here daily....lol Clearly that isn't working out to well for me. I have some great pictures from out last trip to Rocking Horse Ranch but I am unable to get to them as my office is in shambles while it is getting renovated!!!! AHHHHHHH I am so excited for the new use of space!!!

Currently my office has spilled into Steve's office, the kitchen and hallway. Hopefully before Steve gets home tonight it will all be put back together. I will post the before and afters once it's done.