Daddy, this ones for you ...

Daddy, think of the Dragon tales tune .... (Can you tell we have a houseful of little ones??)

Current words:
Emmy wished on a dragon scale and that's what started dragon tales...


Our words:
Addie wished on a hockey puck that her daddy's team would finally win the cup...

Kids say the darndest things!

Our kids always keep us laughing with the things they say. A couple things they've said this week are worthy of a post.

First and foremost - Avery! The twins are very .... complimentary. So when you get them from their room in the morning they'll say, example: Hi Mom, I like your jammies! Or if we're sitting on the couch in the evening and one of them is sitting in our lap, they'll be like I like your glasses mom, I'll say thanks Addie (example). She'll go on to say, I like your eyes, mom. Thanks Addie. I like your shirt, mom. Thanks Addie. I'll say to her, you're very pretty Addie., to which she'll reply ... thanks Mom, I AM pretty. Heeheee!! The other night, Avery was on Sam's lap doing the same thing and she was rubbing Sam's chest - he had a button up shirt on and it wasn't buttoned all the way - and Avery says "I like your feathers, dad!" It was more like "I wike your feathers, daddy!!" How cute is that, she thinks his chest hair is feathers!!??

And today Addison cracked us all up - we have a zillion of the Fisher Price Little People. Look at the first one in the third tube.

She comes down from her nap today with this little person in her hand and brings it to Nana and says "this is you, Nana!" (Mind you - it's the "Grandpa" Little People, lol) and Nan asks her if it's because of the gray hair and Addie says "Yes, and the glasses!!!"
Zach's had a couple of funnies lately too - he and I were walking through the mall today and he said something and I laughed and he said was that funny or was it hysterical? He also says "Wallllll-E" just like the movie Wall-E - and that makes me laugh so hard, he totally changes his voice and he loves to play the Wall-E games on the PS3 - he's actually pretty good, which is funny to see, since he's only 4? It's just humorous watching this little 4 year old with this adult sized controller and he's actually pressing the right buttons and getting the things on the TV to do the moves he wants. Kids are smart these days! I can't believe he starts pre-school soon. (Wahhhh!!!) He's going to love it though, he LOVES learning activities - that and playing sports are his favorite things - so I think he's really going to enjoy it. He's going to be in for a rude awakening though, when it comes to things like taking turns, waiting for the other kids, etc. He shares pretty well, but he's not the most.....patient....of children.

Anyway, you have a great night. We're getting in gear here for Europe! WOOHOO....only three more days!!!! We've got our whole itinerary mapped out and the wonderful places we're going to visit ... I can't wait! Sam's taking me on the Zugspitze on Sunday, which should be really interesting - given the fact that it's 10000 feet up - in a cable car!! :) Keep checking our blog while we're gone, I'm hoping to keep my blog up to date so you can see what we've done!

Tour de Wellington

As you probably know, Zachary is turning four in less than two months (HOLY COW)! And since Nana won't be here for his birthday she decided to get him his birthday present early. Check it out (It's just one more thing for the garage ... LOL!!!)

Note: His big boy bike even has a place for a water bottle, just like his dads!!! He was so good riding around on his new bike with training wheels, I don't think it will be long before he'll want them to come off!



(Note, he asked the girls to give him a push .... and they gladly obliged....he's such a flirt!!! Wonder where he gets THAT from??? Daddy?????)


He did have a few minor mishaps this weekend, though ... but he got right back up and didn't even cry....he's tough!

Of course, Nan didn't leave the twins out, she got them new tricycles, or "crikes" as Addison calls them (you know she can't say the "tr" sound) and they loved riding them!!!

It was a great weekend - we went shopping for the bikes on Saturday then to the mall on Sunday .... trying to get ready for Europe this week. Going to miss our little ones sooooo much, though we do have a FABULOUS trip lined out!!! Some of the places we're staying are amazing and the things we have planned will be just fabulous (such as the zugspitze ...scary??) I can't wait to see the Swarovski crystal museum and of course Paris......hasn't been high on my "top ten places I've wanted to visit" but since I've been researching, I've been getting more exciting ... I'm looking forward to French crepes and pastries ... and drinking champagne at the top of the Eiffel tower!




Anyway, hope you all have great evening! Here's just some random shots of the girls from Saturday after they got their new "crikes!" They're so darn photogenic.....hard to pick and choose which ones to post.






Note: She was mad at mommy in these next two pictures (Addie). Mommy told her to stay out of the dirt otherwise she was going to have to come in. She folded her arms, and gave me "the look." Is that not hysterical???

Awww...........sisterly love!!!

PS: Another big milestone for Zach - he learned to swim, with a life jacket on in the big pool. No swimming lessons, but he can keep afloat and go across - completely across the pool back and forth just kicking his feet and moving his arms with no support with his life jacket! He's thrilled!!! We need to get him in swimming lessons, but that's huge for us - he loves the pool now even more! He's getting so big - he was signed up for his second season of soccer, and I think we're going to put him in a T-ball training league this fall too. He LOVES sports!

Anyway, you all have a great night! I probably won't post that much this week - going to be hectic with Germany/France preparations, we're leaving Thursday. *Yay* But keep an eye out on our blog because I'm going to work on it at night while we're there so I don't forget anything ...... !!

Ciao! xoxo

Rachel

Blankie...Blankie, who needs a blankie?

Kiersten, my 11 year old niece came to visit with her blankie. I thought her coming was pretty normal since Kayla still visits with her blankie (sorry Kay ... smile, lol!!) but when I SAW what Kiersten's blankie looked like (and I was warned in advance) I made it my mission to convince her she was old enough to *try out* a new blankie. So during her visit we searched high and low to find one as close as possible. I took her all over - Dillards, Macys, Target - and we finally got one at WAL-MART! It was the closest to the one she had (thermal). I suggested she get this really comfy smooth, soft thermal one from Dillards, with silk edges ... but it wasn't like her original blankie!! (If it were me, I'd be going for comfort!!!)

We finally found the "ONE" and she and Kayla cut a part of her old blankie and sewed it on to her new blankie so she wouldn't have to give up her old one just yet. Kayla also scrap booked a page with a piece of her old blankie. All I have to say is GOOD JOB Kiersten for being brave and moving on to a new blankie! Woohoo!!!

Here's the before/after!

Good job Kiersten .... and thanks to Kay for helping get rid of "OLD" blankie!!! :) (Smile!!!)

Who's on First?

We've been teasing my niece Sammy for the last few weeks with the whole "who's on first" routine (frankly, I don't even get the humor in it) because it took her forever to figure out "WHO" is on first....LOL. She just always has this look on her face that is so innocent. She always wakes up so happy and comes up in the morning saying "whatcha doinnnn".

I'm so happy I was able to have Sammy and Kiersten here for the last 6 weeks. I've missed them so much and I'm going to be sad when they leave! Hopefully they've had as much fun as I've had!!! :)

Love,
TT

Bad boys, bad boys....

Whatcha gonna do, when they come for you?

Stop singing when they see mommy with the video camera, I guess! Crap.....he always catches me!

Here's a few seconds of Zach singing his "new" favorite song "bad boys, bad boys" (perfect song for this little bugger....dontcha think?)

He's such a ham, but the minute he sees the camera or video - he stops! arrgh, lol! Don't you love the hands in his pockets? Heeheee.....he cracks me up sometimes!

The girl of many suits....

Kayla definitely came prepared for the beach....here's just a couple of her forty seven swimsuits she brought with her. Is it any wonder she got as brown as she did in just a week?

Sisters.....

Kayla might be almost 15 years older than her little sissys ... but can you tell how much they love her?

Addie and Avery

Ok these two never stop making us laugh.

Here's a couple pictures I took right before we left for our trip (the morning of). They are such goofballs - they are getting so big - almost 2 1/2 and they're talking so much now! For the first time this morning Addison said "Avery did it" - I walked in their room and it was a mess (that was her response to my question "what happened in here!") They're so much fun to be around...here's why:

Eating the chocolate only off the chocolate donught ...
Addie is pushing Avery around in the baby strollers that Nana bought them (of course, they weigh so much, they've all but pushed the "stroller" part to the ground!"
Don't know if you can tell, but Ave was using dishtowels to cover Addie up - like a baby!
Umm, sweetie, it works better if you use a ball.

Often, we'll go in their room in the morning and they're snuggling together or just talking - it's very cute. If one is hurt or crying, the other will come up and try to "rub" the other one (is it okay sis?) and they are always giving each other kisses and hugs!! I hope they'll grow up to be the best of friends!!

Beach Bums in the OBX

Well, we spent most of the first day at the beach. The beach in Corolla, NC (which is the most northern part of the Outer Banks) is awesome - since you can drive on the beach here, you can drive right up to your perfect "spot"...unload your stuff and you've got your vehicle there to just pack up when you're done. Our perfect spot was 400 yards from our front door...how great is that?? There are trucks coming up and down the beach every now and then, so you do have to be a little careful, though *most* people are respectful. It's fantastic, though, that the beach is so private ...you don't get that much traffic down where we were and you HAVE to have a 4x4 vehicle to drive on the beach (we saw many people who thought they could "try" to do it in their cars who ended up getting stuck not far past the entrance to the beach!!!) Not that we laughed or anything that they thought they were *smarter* than the NUMEROUS posted signs that said 4x4's ONLY. (snicker!)

Other than the beach, we spent our days in the pool, the hot tub or just hanging around. There are wild horses that roam the beach which is a pretty amazing site to see as well ... they're Spanish Mustangs that made their way to the Outer Banks some way or another (Sam started to read the story in the paper - if you're interested in learning more, Google it, because I don't know the whole story and I'm really too tired to go back and read it and type it.....blah, blah, blah.) <-- smile. They not only come up on the beach but they come up into people's yards - check this out! We did give them one (or two) little baby carrots (even though you're not supposed to!!) but they came right up onto our deck and the screened in porch where we ate dinner most nights! They were shy and a little skittish and they seemed so skinny and me and (Nanny) Debbie kind of felt sorry for them.

So that I can share my photos sooner rather than later, I'm just adding a link to my photo gallery here (Kodak) - I've just basically dumped the pictures off my camera ... so I haven't done any editing or sorting (I'm just warning you in advance....sorry there is almost 350 pictures here, yikes!!) Unfortunately, I had to work the first couple days of our trip (YES, I know, and YES, I did believe it or not!) because with our trip to Germany and Paris coming up in a couple weeks I didn't have the vacation time (the Europe trip is partly a business trip for Sam so he doesn't have to take all vacation time like I do) so I just didn't get a chance to blog. Though I do have to say (again) we're so getting ready for 10 child free days..lol! I can't imagine what it will be like to be without the babies for TEN whole days. When we went to Antigua when Zach was 6 or 7 months old (you know, when we decided to start trying to have another baby...ONE...more baby) we SORT of missed Zach ...but we had such a fabulous time that the "time" flew by.... romantic resort, 100% sunny skies with amazing sunsets out of our bedroom windows ... incredible snorkeling, fancy dinners, drinking freshly made frozen drinks with little umbrellas ... can you blame us for not missing him THAT much?? But we've never really been away from all three of them for any real length of time. I'm sure it will go by fast ... but we'll miss the monsters. (Just kidding!! Heeheee!!!) Please note, however, we did NOT get pregnant at the most romantic Jumby Bay, it took us until the NEXT month during our white water rafting trip for Sam's birthday ...when my egg must have magically split during a class IV rapid. (That's my theory anyway, though I probably don't recall, since I was holding onto his life jacket for dear life while everyone else in the boat was paddling!!!)

Anyway, back to the beach .... we truly had a fantastic time, with no major accidents or mishaps ... and nothing can say it better than the pictures, unless you were there because it was 83 and sunny...with a mild sea breeze. So .........here they are, the pictures. I'm going to put the whole sha-bang here and like I said I'm going to blog a couple of the photos over the next few days. I still have the pictures off of Donna's camera to download and she's got some fantastic shots of Sam on his kayak - I'll post those tomorrow!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/tramontana/main/beach_house_-_corolla_nc_2008?UV=27943049742_636949478306

Enjoy!

xoxoxo.........rachel

And they're off....

When the Tramontana's take off for a couple days, they pack the house. The whole house. I mean, we can't even leave the hula hoops behind.

We were a SIGHT to seen traveling down to the OBX in 2 huge SUV with luggage, coolers, boogie boards, skim boards, beach chairs....two hula hoops.....Sam's new kayak, and the piece de resistance strapped to the back of the truck...........

People were actually - literally (not joking)

• Pointing
• Pointing and laughing
• Pointing and laughing and taking pictures. (SERIOUSLY).
  

We looked like the Griswolds on vacation, all we needed was Aunt Edna on top. Sam had all the bigger kids in our Jeep, I had mom, Nanny Debbie and the twins in the Tahoe that we borrowed from a friend that Sam works with ... and there was so much stuff in my truck - Addison who was sitting ALL the way in the back looked like ET in the scene with all the stuffed animals. You knew she was there ---- but you could hardly see her ... though she thought it was great fun. In our defense, we WERE packing for 15 people. 10 kids, 5 adults. 12 of which were coming with US. WOW.

It took us about 2 hours to get there, and when we rounded the corner and got onto the beach ....OMG, it was worth every minute of the last 45 minutes of stop and go traffic. The beach is GORGEOUS. It had been pretty windy, so the waves were at least 8-10 feet high - it was amazing. We had to drive almost 8 miles down the beach (30 minute ride) to get to our house, and when we finally got there, it was great!!! The unpacking took forever but we got it all worked out and we finally ate dinner around 9:30 PM. (Smile!) Cute story: When we got there, Addie said "this is so so so great!"

We got up Sunday and went in the in ground pool and checked out the beach - everyone had a great time! We are so fortunate and lucky that everyone is happy and healthy and that we had the chance this year to do this. We also bought a kite - one of those huge ones made out of fabric with the spinning tail - it was so windy that it just stayed up tied onto the truck. Stay tuned for the first couple beach photos. I am going to warn you, though, I'm just going to do a Kodak Gallery - I have so many photos (400+) I know our families and friends want to see so I'm just going to basically dump them off my camera and get them out here on our blog --- rather than picking and choosing through them...or even photo-shopping them like I normally do to get the red eye out or center them (gasp!!) I'll probably go through and blog about a couple of them, otherwise, you know me - I love taking photos so I was (as usual) camera happy and of course in none of the pictures (though Sam did take a couple of me ---- in my bathing suit, so of course I won't post them here....ugh!! LOL!!!)

Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading our blog! :)

Love to all ...
Rachel

PS: I promised Sam I would give him special kudos on my blog ... (smile!!) He packed the car on the way out there so perfectly NOTHING fell or broke, even after driving for 8 miles on the bumpy sand! And if you see the pictures above, you can only imagine how much STUFF was packed in, strapped down, tied on......! Literally, he had everything packed so well that of the three dozen eggs we brought, we only broke one. Not dozen eggs...we broke one single egg. Amazing. We did lose the strap that was holding the Kayak and some luggage at the VERY end of the beach road and as Sam was turning into our sand "driveway" (our beach/mile marker) two suitcases stuffed with food slid off the top rack and onto the beach. But believe it or not, we didn't break anything. Not the 3 jars of pasta sauce, the jar of Goobers pb&j, or the jar of pickles that was in the suitcases. Great job hun!

More posts to come shortly ........

Not a good day! :(

Today was not a good day! Boohoo. Need to vent.

I started to get a toothache on Friday -- just hurt a little. Got a little worse on Saturday (daytime) and a lot worse Saturday night. By Sunday it was intolerable. This morning, I couldn't take it. So I called a dentist, and I got in...............I had to get a root canal! Not only that it's a two part root canal. Do you guys have any idea what a root canal cost these days? You think gas is expensive, try getting a root canal! Our insurance pays for about 50%, but it's still going to cost us about 950$ out of pocket between the two parts of the root canal, plus the crown (it's on a front tooth). HOLY CRAP! And he said the tooth would feel better by the end of the day, but it doesn't. CAN I GET A LITTLE SYMPATHY HERE? (Smile!) Could be the 5 shots of Novocaine that I got because the tooth was hurting THAT bad.

Not to mention, apparently tropical storm Bertha, has turned into what they're saying is a Cat 3 hurricane. Please pray for us that it changes paths or fizzles out or something, we rented a beach house on the NC shore this coming week (we leave Saturday). And we didn't get the trip insurance. Lovely day!!!

Hope tomorrow is better............ :)

xoxoxoxo

Rachel

I got it, I got it!

After 2 months of:

Waiting in line at Best Buy, Circuit City and T-R-U before they opened, after about (literally 20 phone calls a week to Target, Wal-Mart and Blockbuster) ......I finally got the WII FIT! WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Me and my neighbor Jen went to Toys R Us this Sunday morning at 9:15 because when I was there last week (waiting in line) they told me they were going to have them this weekend. So we got there at 9:15, even though they didn't open until 10:00. Apparently they had 16. We were 16 and 17. Of course, Jen is the one who called me to wake me up and we get there and I couldn't take the 16th one - I would have stil been sleeping if it wasn't for her! So I pick up my Blackberry to dial Target to see if they got a shipment and I got an e-mail from the people who bought our crib and changing table (the husband is the manager at Best Buy) and when I mentioned I was looking for the WII Fit they said they'd let me know when they came in. So I am about to dial Target when I see a message from this gal and it says they're going to have them at Best Buy on Sunday (same day we're at Toys R US). Best Buy didn't open for another hour and 1/2 so I called Sam, he rushed over, and was the first in line! And I GOT IT.

Although me and my new friend the WII FIT are NOT on speaking terms. Basically it told me I'm fat and have no balance so I probably fall down a lot, oh and that my WII age is a lot older than my actual age of 21. So we're not speaking. I mean, it's true, but it just met me it could ease into being so nasty, ya know???? (SMILE!)

I'm just happy I got one!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Kiersten the Rockstar

We had some people over this weekend and of course Rockband was brought out. Kiersten ventured downstairs after she had all the kids to sleep (in a tent - a real tent - that we borrowed from our neighbors) that was set up in Zach's room and the kids thought they were going "camping" --- it was very cute --- even the girls slept in the tent and were so excited to be part of the camping trip!

Here's some pictures of the "next American Idol??" LOL.....I'll get some of Samantha next ... we set it up the next day so she could try but I forgot to grab my camera.

Here you go Kiersten...a couple blackmail shots (you better be nice to me, these were the best of the bunch, I saved the really goofy ones - you know with your eyes closed, mouth open, etc.) in case you're really bad. (heeeheee!!!)

More baseball pictures

Ok, I know, I know.....I just a have a "thing" for my hubby in his baseball uniform. I think it looks good on him! He's all hunched over, looking so serious (2nd base this week), everyone counting on him..........here's a couple pictures of the last game. My niece came to the game - she and the kids made a sign for Daddy, but it ended up being so hot that the little ones had to stay home with Grandma (as a matter of fact, their pitcher, had to be taken in an ambulance - he collapesd from heat stroke!) So just Kiersten and I went to cheer him and his team on!

Last game of the year so these are the last pictures you'll see until next season! :(

This is the sign the kids made for Daddy ... but the kids couldn't come it was too hot so Kiersten brought it anyway! It was too sweet and Uncle Sam took Kiersten for ice cream afterward!

Jack and the giant weedstalk ...

Yes you read that correctly. Weedstalk. Not beanstalk. We're creating new fairy tales around the Tramontana house. This giant WEED was growing on the side of our house - behind a bush (which is why we didn't see it sooner) and it was in the neighborhood of 10-15 feet tall. The root, if you can see it, was maybe 2 - 3 feet long and had to be 12 inches around. I asked Sam if he was SURE it wasn't a tree of some kind and he and the neighbor definitely confirmed - it was a weed! Have you ever seen such a gigantic weed in your life? Amazing! When Sam broke the stem, it was full of this foamy looking stuff. Anyone know what kind of weed it was? Just curious since I had no idea a weed could/would even grow so high - it's not like we use miracle grow or anything and frankly most of our flowering bushes didn't even produce flowers this year (you know, my green thumb and all!) I can't get simple azaleas to bloom, but I get a 15 foot weed. Nice.

WAY TO GO KAYLA!

Everyone - we have VERY exciting news!

Now you know that Kay's been dancing since she's been three, right? She's won different National Competitions - as a matter of fact, her group won the whole thing last year here in VA Beach. However ...for the first time ever, her SOLO dance won the overall best dance at a NATIONAL competition in St. Louis, MO! Yes, that means, the judges thought her dance was the best over all the other hundreds of dancers there! INCREDIBLE (not surprising, but incredible!!)

I couldn't find any online video of her solo dance, but I did find several links to some of her current dances, which I'm going to post here. She's with a new studio this year, Northern Force Dance Company and it must be working for her!! If you have seen Kay dance you can likely pick her out of the small group ones. The picture is small on the large group, so I'm not sure exactly where to tell you to look but the dance is beautiful.

WAY TO GO KAYLA, WE ARE VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!!


This song is Storm by Lifehouse in case anyone is wondering (I LOVE IT!!!)



This dance is The Moment I said it (Kayla is the one that was in the chair)



This dance is Come here boy - Kay is the dancer that starts out on the left.



If you want to see some more dances, click on this link. There are three dances of hers you can watch, she's in: Summertime, Parachutes and our personal favorite (9 crimes)

http://www.halloffamedance.com/halloffame/viewarchivedregional.aspx?id=128

Hope you enjoy the dances, she's truly a gifted dancer ... we're sure you will!

My mom, the drug smuggler??

What do you get when you try to bring a bag of Tastefully Simple beer bread mix in your carry on luggage at BWI airport that is out of the box? You get to spend a half an hour with the Drug Enforcement Agency while they test "said" bread mix to see if it's really bread mix and not some "other" white powdery substance. Ahem...I don't know about my Mom, people. She turned 55 and now she's smuggling stuff through security? I think she just wanted the pat-down by the uniformed police officer...what do you think?

Smile Mom, it wasn't that bad! Just make the bread when you get home (minus, of course, what they tested to be sure it wasn't cocaine) ....it will be worth it when you try it with the marijuana oops, I mean spinach and herb dip that I sent with you too. That is of course, if you get the whole thing past your second stop in Chicago. Heeheee!

Seriously (giggle giggle) I didn't think they'd REALLY stop you (giggle giggle) - it's in a cake mix bag for crying out loud (giggle giggle) and it's not even really WHITE, it's more yellowish (giggle giggle!!) So ... I really am sorry for your troubles (GIGGLE GIGGLE!!) Though you have to admit, nothing like that has ever happened to you before!!

xoxo love you and thanks for coming out - hope you enjoyed your visit out here, and we appreciate your help with the kids!

Rach