Thursday, April 30, 2009

Milestones

One of the greatest milestones in a parents (ahem) child's life is when they learn how to swing themselves. You know, so Mom & Dad don't have to always push them.

This video might bore you, but I had to post of my little guy swinging all by himself - look how high he's going!!! :)



Love,

Rach





Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Our Father.....

I've been working on a new night-time prayer with Zach ...we've been doing Hail Mary and Our Father.

Here's Zach's version of the Our Father (he calls it the bread prayer):

Our Father, who are not in Heaven
Can it be my name
By kingdom come, by will be done on earf as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who tresspass against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver evil.



Heeheee!


Love,
xoxoxo

I'm coming home! :)

Everyone,

In addition to my Mother's Day present of COLDPLAY tickets, my WONDERFUL husband is going to watch the kids the weekend of May 15 so I can go home and visit all my girl friends!

I'm so excited. I can't wait for Portillos, V&V Pizza, Portillos, Emilios (?) and Portillos!!!

Just wanted to THANK Sam again for giving me the time to be with my friends and hopefully some family! And don't worry, I'll be bringing PORTILLOS home! xoxoxo



Love,
xoxoxo

Friday, April 24, 2009

P is for …

Puppy

or P is for ………

pee pee!

On our first official walk with the puppy, we forgot to ask the kids to go potty before we left.  We’re about 2 blocks away and … uh oh…! 

 

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Zach and Ave kept playing like nothing happened, LOL!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Message for Kay and Ben…

Nothing to say…the video I think says it screams it all! :)

 

Tricycle Rodeo

Today at Zach’s school they had a “Tricycle Rodeo” where the kids all got to bring Tricycles or bikes.  Zach brought his bike (the only one in his class that brought an actual bike) and he LOVED it.  He loved showing off for everyone (he rode so hard and fast around the “circle” I KNOW he’s gonna just CRASH tonight!)  His teacher, Miss Sharon, was a wee bit nervous at first with how fast Zach was going and taking the turns.   He looked so serious the whole time he was riding….he thought he was Lance Armstrong or something!  Here’s some cute pictures.

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Zipping by Miss Sharon in the background (below)IMG_6116

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Jordyn (above)

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This is Sydney above … Zach’s got a little bit of a crush on her.  He saved her Valentine card special, and he named our Beta Fish (YES OMG THEY ARE STILL ALIVE) Zach and Sydney.  :) 

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This is Sophia (above) …. I think SHE has a crush on Zach .. LOL ….after the rodeo, she walked up to him and put her arms around him and gave him the biggest hug.  CUTE!

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I’m not sure of her name,  but she is SO cute!

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Juliana 

 

UPDATE:  7:30 PM …. Zach … OUT

Is it summer? Is it summer?

This is what the twins keep asking.  They want to go swimming at the Y and to the beach house.  Every nice day “is it summer?”  LOL!

Here’s a couple of SPRING pictures I took of them the other day.  Spring, not summer – though we’re fortunate to even have a spring … where my Mom lives in Fond Du Lac, WI – they got snow this week.  Seriously, end of April, they are still getting snow.  Can’t say I miss that much!!!  Note: Pigpen (Avery) loves to sit, dig and throw the mulch.  Ahh!

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Monday, April 20, 2009

Exciting times for Kayla!

Well the last few days have certainly been exciting times for Kayla! She had her prom this weekend, and also found out yesterday that she made the U of MN dance TEAM! (We knew she'd gotten accepted into the dance "program" .... but this is the actual dance TEAM!) So this means you'll probably see her if you can tune into any Gophers games next season! WAY TO GO KAY!


Here's some pictures from her prom .... pretty as always!































Love,
xoxoxo




UPDATE: KAYLA TOLD ME THAT THE U OF MN DANCE TEAM IS THE BEST IN THE NATION! AWESOME!!!!!

Friday, April 17, 2009

Twins game (baseball…not OUR twins!)

Sam was able to connect a business trip to Minneapolis with an extended weekend visit with Kay and Ben.  One of the things Sam & Ben did was go to the twins game @ the MetroDome. 

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IMG_6017IMG_6021    IMG_6035 IMG_6043 Ben’s favorite player up to bat …

 

They had a great weekend together and we’re looking forward to taking the whole family out in June for Kay’s graduation!!!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Beach house!

Yay, we rented a beachhouse for the summer again in the OBX.  We loved Carova so much – with the almost private beaches – that we’re going back this year, though not to stay at “Daddy’s Dream”.  This year we’re at Farfrumwerken (haha!) and I even have the whole week off!

My brother & SIL are coming with their kids, Sam’s mom, and we are planning to ask Sam’s sister Donna (we haven’t mentioned it to her yet!)  We’re going over 4th of July week – which I can only imagine the traffic heading into the OBX.  Pray for good weather for us, like we had last year (like no HURRICANES!)

Happy-almost-summer!

xoxoxoxo,

Rachel

Here’s Farfumwerkn:

Beach 1

Here’s some more pictures of the house:

http://www.twiddy.com/homes/4x4/carova-beach/farfrumwerkn.aspx

Just a few photos....

Not much going on in the Tramontana household (unless you consider a fluke fever with Zach for two days - it was even up over 105 at one point!)

but here's just a quick post with a few photos.
We've been skipping "naps" during the day and the kids get 'quiet time' instead. Yesterday, they must have needed the nap more than they thought, both girls totally fell sound asleep where they were:























Oh and I also have a clone warrior or snow trooper or storm trooper (SOME TYPE OF TROOPER??) living with us. Zach's all into Star Wars, can you tell? He got the gun because he was so brave when they did the blood test ....I had to get him something. He was not happy about that and told me it was the worstest.


Anyway, have a great night, and I'll catch you all later in the week!

Love,
xoxoxo





Saturday, April 11, 2009

A boy and his dog …

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Sit Willy sit!   LOL!  The kids are having a blast with the puppy and they think it’s so great when he actually “SITS” (that’s all he knows right now, but he’s workin’ on it!!) 

He’s such a loving puppy … and very, very cute.  And he still hasn’t chewed up TOO much.  Just a cord to Sam’s laptop and a few carpets … LOL… (Just like a kid. You buy ‘em a million toys and they want something else…like the BOX the toy came in.  Willy does NOT play with his toys, instead he likes the kids toys, lol!  Had to be expected!)

xoxoxo…..Night!

PS:  We realized now with Willy … that we have “Will and Grace” for pets.

Why didn’t I think of this sooner?

So with puppy came a nice big crate where he sleeps at night and if we’re not home.  So essentially, we’re “crate training” him.  It is supposed to be a good method of training because dogs are pack animals and they’re used to being in close quarters, as well – we’re not setting him up to fail (like chewing up a piece of furniture or something we left behind on the floor).

Well, guess who thinks getting in the crate is cool?

 

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Yes, the kids.  I mean, they’re like animals at this age (most of the time anyway) so it makes sense that ALL THREE like to go in the cage and close the door. Hmm.  Kiddie crate training?     Think that would fly?  Yeah, I guess not!

Friday, April 10, 2009

Tiny Dancer

Well, she’s tiny and she’s a dancer … here’s a picture of Kayla that I robbed off her Facebook page :) .  As you can see – she’s in perfect position as always!  I am not sure if I posted it earlier or not, but Kayla made the dance team at the University of Minnesota where she’ll be going to college in the fall!  (Her high school graduation is June 7th!!!)

 

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You can probably see why she’s usually front and center and sailed through the U of M audition!

Way to go Kay!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

My little models….

Ok so every time the girls see the picture of them when they “modeled” for Tailored Tadpole, they say “we’re famous!”  (When I first got the sneak peak, I said look girls you’re famous – they now associate that picture with “famous" and “modeling.”)

When we were in Cali last week, we went into this little children’s boutique in the Haight-Ashbury district, and we saw these dresses.  Never mind what they cost (gag) but look how cute they are in them. OMG.  They’re called Apron dresses, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the way they tie in back – and there is lace and pearl buttons …they are so cute.  You’ll probably see them in lots of pictures this summer because we can’t afford to buy them anything else after these (heehee, just kidding!)  I did happen to see the owner of Tailored Tadpole (at Petsmart!!) and told her that I need to order the girls “modeling” clothes.  They each want the outfit they wore for the pictures, they don’t want to match, which is RARE, they usually always want to match. I think that’s cute!! :)  If you get the chance, stop by Linde’s website www.tailoredtadpole.com and go under “collections”. And even if you don’t have little ones, pass her website on to those that do.   Her stuff (like these) are such high quality and handmade ORIGINAL designs.

Ave is the “model” for most of these pictures.

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Our little Willy …

Well everyone, the moment you thought would NEVER be here....we got a puppy!   (I think Sam was satisfying my urge for a (gasp) 'nother baby everytime I see one these days.)

So .... we got Willy.  I'm not too keen on the name, but Sam thinks it fits him and well, I guess it does.  He knows his name so I guess we can’t change it, but he looks more like a “Buddy.”  The girls have taken to calling him Dog.   "Come here dog", "sit down dog", "dog, here's your treat."  I think that's funny, Dog.  Maybe we should go all Randy Jacksonish and just change his name to "DAWG".  LOL!

Here's some pictures of Willy.  He's 4 months old - bulldog and lab mix.  He's going to be a big boy...his paws are huge.  The kids positively love him - Zach's new "job" is to feed the dog everyday.  I think I'm going to make him a chore chart and pay him a small allowance (1.00??) for his "chores."  He thinks it's pretty cool that he gets to feed the "dog".  

Here’s some pictures of our new four legged friend.  And before you even ask – he slept in his crate without barking, crying or yelping … ALL NIGHT LONG.  He goes to the door when he wants to go out, and he does not jump or beg.  He has not chewed anything up (yet!!)  And when he wants to rest or get away from the kids, he just goes to his crate and lays there with his head out.  Ummm,  yeah.  We’ve got the world’s most mellow cat and now the puppy to match….we sure lucked out.  (Speaking of the cat, Gracie isn’t too happy about Willy.  She does not freak out as much as when Moxie is here – maybe because he is so much bigger? – but she definitely gets AIRPLANE ears when the dog is by her.   When they first met, Willy just went up and licked her.  I think she didn’t know WHAT to think!  I’m sure Gracie is walking by Willy’s crate in the night meowing to herself “nah nah….I’m out here, you’re in there”!!)

Here’s some pictures of the little guy:

 

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