DEVON CAME TO VISIT!

The boys have all been so excited for Devon to come to town. If you don't follow my blog, Devon's Dad lived next door to us in our old hood and comes to visit on Xmas break and summer. We had a fun time at Deb & Dan's, hanging out eating and catching up! It was just like old times, just in a different hood!!!

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES 2007

Christmas Festivities..in reverse order! When all was said and done, the rush of everything at Christmas time, Christmas performances, parties, shopping, traveleing, all of it, it ended up being a great holiday season! We spent Christmas Eve at Joe's sisters with Joe's parents, Grammy Sue, and lots of Joe's family. It was a great evening, very relaxed, and lots of great food, as usual at Caterina & Dave's! Christmas Day we spent at our house and my parent's, my brother Lance (aka Uncle Pooh) Michele, Kayla & Nyjell all came down. It was fun waking up together Christmas morning and seeing what Santa had left for all the kiddos!!!

Jake with his new "wave" skateboard from Santa....
Joshy and his "Dog that Skates " from Santa.... Santa brought Justin the "iCoaster"
And, HUGE thanks to Momo & Papa for Guitar Hero for Wii!!!
The boys & Grammy Sue on Christmas Eve at Cat & Dave's.....

Joe and his Mom, Shirley, enjoying a little Bagna Caulda... Can anyone guess what it is??? Pop & Shirley on Christmas Eve...
Caterina & Dave...truly the hosts with the mosts!!!
Our gang Christmas Eve....
Jake's 2nd grade Christmas performance...Jake is the "tall" one in the black shirt...that he wouldn't button or tuck in!!!
Jake singing....
All Lexi wanted was a picture with Jake...can he ever be normal????
Decorating the tree....
Okay, long story short, towards the end of decorating the tree and every ornament Joshy opened said either Mom, Dad, Justin/Mom, Dad, Justin, Jake/Justin, Jake....his feelings were a little hurt because he only has a couple of ormaments with his name. Apparently that's what happens when you are the third child?!?!?! LOL!! He was really heart broken about it, so next year I think I need to get about 30 ormaments with his name alone!!!!
And the stocking were hung by the piano with care....since we actually have a functioning fireplace we couldn't hang the stockings on the mantel since we are enjoying fires in the evening!!!

LORDY, LORDY LOOK WHO'S 40...AND FAB-U-LOUS!

Bunco this month was at my house, and instead of actually playing Bunco we had a little gift exchange! It was so much fun to just hang out with my best gals, relaxing, eating, drinking and laughing! Oh, and also Steph turned the BIG 4-0 that same day! Alisa made this cake for Steph, and it couldn't have been more perfect!!!!

JOSHY'S VERSION OF THE SOULJA BOY DANCE

And, if you watch it thru to the end, you will catch a glimpse of the new "Waiter Dance" as created by Joshy! At one point, he even looks like one of the Riverdance/Lord of the Dance dancers!! He really is our free entertainment! Well, it might be free now, but years down the road when he needs therapy we'll be paying!!!

CHRISTMAS CARD PICTURE SESSION

HUGE thanks to Steph, the photographer, and Kim, owner of the camera the photographer used, we got over 400 pictures of the boys. Now, it was almost next to impossible to pick just ONE picture for our Christmas Cards, but as most of you know this is the one I went with. I loved the brick and black/white. But, check out THE REST of the pictures over at my flickr and then you'll see how hard it was for me to decide! Thanks Steph & Kim!!!

JOSHY'S A "LITTLE DRIBBLER"

Everyone, Joshy's on a team! He is so excited to FINALLY be on his own team...and a Basketball team at that! JOshy is officially a "little Dribbler". THe boys, in preschool and Kindergarten, have been practicing hard and can't wait for their first game on Jaunary 12th! It's going to be so cute! We invite everyone to go watch a game at the YMCA in W-Town!

JUSTIN-NBYFC ALLSTARS

We were very proud that Justin was selected to play in the NBYFC Allstar PeeWee game. It was a great way to end off a tough regular season. Despite having 3 practices an hour away from home, and his Basketball Coach not happy about it, SORRY Andy!, it was really a great opportunity. The kids all had a great time getting to know each other and playing together, instead of against each other. And, they got a very cool jersey with their number on it and their names on the back. Justin got to play his regular positions, Quarterback & Cornerback. The boys of D-Town.....
2007 NBYFC PeeWee Allstars

END OF CAJ BASKETBALL

It's so hard to believe how fast the 7th grade season went by! The boys all did such a great job and I believe came in 2nd this season, only losing 2 league games. It was a great group of kids, and of course, awesome coaches!!! We truly love watching basketball games and already look forward to DYBL and whatever next year brings!!

The boys, minus a sick TJ, after their last game of the season
Justin got the All Tourney Award, a shirt which I'm sure will still fit him in High School :-), I would have to guess for "TAKING A CHARGE" Coach Andy was so proud!
The 2007 CAJ 7th grade Basketball Team
Bobo Cinco
And, I didn't even notice when I dowloaded this picture from Jean that Joshy somehow weasled his way into the picture!!

OKAY, I'M ALMOST THERE!

I'm getting there folks! About 33% done! Stay tuned...I PROMISE to finish today, but blogger is giving me a headache right now!!!

MICHAEL, THE STUD!

Our nephew Michael (Joes sister Caterina's...and Dave's... son) had an awesome year playing football for his High School. His team went undefeated in regualr season, where Joe & the boys were able to make a couple of the games, and went on the playin the Championship game at the Oakland Colisuem..where the Raiders play! It was quite an experience for the boys to play on an NFL field and even use the Raiders locker room. Michael got to use Justin Fargas' locker! Anyways, we are quite proud of the little fellow and know bigs things are to come in College! He has like 15-20 big colleges wanting him to come play football for them!
Proud parents, Caterina & Dave Celebrating the win at the Coliseum....
Nice tackle #21
He even scored a touchdown at the Colisuem and was on the Jumbotron!

JAKE'S MITEY MITE BOWL & BANQUET

THis is how far behind in posting! Jake's last Football game of the season....The Mitey Mite Bowl. We were a bit bummed when Jake wasn't feeling good and didn't paly, but it was a good game otherwise! We made it thru!
The Defensive Team with their Coach, Eric.

Jake's team had their Banquet at Chevy's. It was a nice Banquet, despite the fact there was SO MANY PEOPLE there! The coaches had nice things to say about all the kids and the Team Moms did a great job putting it together! Thanks!!

THANKSGIVING 2007

So, I know it's like almost Valentine's Day and all and I'm just getting to my Thanksgiving posts, but hey, better late than never...right?!?!? These pistures are in no particular order, thanks to blogger :-) We spent Thanksgiving at Joe's parents house along with Joe's brother Dino, Rose, Anthony & Guiliana. We had a great meal, as usual, and lots of good 'ol family fun! Joe and Dino always love to put on a show for us.... The Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay. We decided to take a walk across the bridge at night, and even though Joshy & I were a bit freaked out it was well worth it! It is so awesome!
Then off to the Downtown to join in the Christmas festivities. The boys even got to see Santa!!!
Taking a little train ride around the tree...even Justin wanted to get in on the fun....

Pop & Dino preparing the Turkey.... Joe, looking at photo albums. We look thru all the photo albums every time we are there!
Rose & I at the Wooden Frisbee Golf Park....
Cousin Fun!
More Cousin fun!

RANDOM PICTURES OF THE PAST MONTH

Okay, so several months back when I went to see Bryan Adams at the Ironstone Winery in Murphy's it just happened to also be the weekend of the "Stomping of the Grapes" festival in Dowtown Murphy's. What an adorable little town it was! I found these iron words (what would you call them??) and just loved them!! I wish I could remember the name of the store to add a link, but can't! I finally got around to hanging them so you see them right when you walk into the family room/dining room/kitchen area!! And, how funny is this?? My brother's girfriend got me this, and in all the Christmas morning craziness I didn't get it...until later when I was cleaning up!!