Time for Celebrating!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

I hope the holidays treated everyone wonderfully & that you're now settling back into life as we know it.

We had a GREAT Christmas. The kids got way too much as usually, but they were lots of fun. Gino was at a really fun age where he loved ripping into all his gifts. Dominic could hardly wait to open his either. When he got up in the morning (bright & early). I asked him if Santa had come & he said "yea, I peeked & the cookies were gone!" Though Santa left one because Dominic gave him too many :) We had to wake Gino up because he was up too late at the Guidetti's Christmas fun the night before. It was nice seeing family that came home for the holidays too. My cousins Luke & Mark on the Kamp side were both home as well as Andy's brother Tom & his new bride, Alisha.

Here's all the cousins....it's always a challenge getting this many kids to pose for a picture. They're doing much better the older they get though.

Gino hit a HUGE milestone this week. He said "bye-bye" to his pacifier (aka bebe). Last week he saw a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Racetrack he really wanted in the Fisher-Price catalog. I told him he could get it if he gave up his bebe for good. He said "ok". I was thinking, "yeah, right". Well, on Monday we were getting ready to go to Wal-Mart & he mentioned the Racetrack again. I reminded him he had to give me his bebe first & he handed it to me. I decided I better go with it, the time had finally come.

So, we went to the store....darn them Wal-Mart was out, so we headed to K-Mart. Luckily they had one left. So I explained to him again that he wasn't going to get to use his bebe anymore & he said "otay". So, we bought it.

Since than he's only asked for it a couple times :) He's gone to bed just fine too. I'm so glad it's gone now...but of course a little sad too because my baby is growing up. He went from calling himself a baby last week, to a big boy this week. Funny how things just click in their little brains all on their own. Dominic gave his up the same way. He was also very helpful this week. He explained to Gino all about when he said "bye-bye bebe" & about the toy he got. If Gino ever mentions his bebe we just remind him of the Racetrack he got instead & he's all happy again.

The SNOW. Wow! We've been having sooo much fun sledding. Not this week of course with the negative temperatures we've had. But last weekend we were out 3 days in a row. I've created snow monsters. Gino didn't want to have anything to do with snow last year, but this year he can't get enough. You mention sledding & his eyes light up. He loved being pushed down the hills in the pasture. He'd walk right back up all by himself like a little trooper. Dominic was flying down himself. He's always loved playing in the snow.

Our friend Jamie, also brought his 3 kids over so we had a hill full of children! It was fun. What more fun can a parent have than to put their children on sleds & push them down big 'ol hills? :)

This was Gino wondering where his feet went in all the snow. Dominic got to have his Christmas program after all. I'm so glad they re-scheduled it. The kids had all practiced so hard for it & they did a GREAT job. I got it all on video of course. He enjoyed the break from school. But hasn't had any problem settling back into the routine. He's trying to learn his address & phone number, but told his teacher "I just can't learn my phone number, my mom gave me too long a name & a long address!" Poor guy! haha Good thing he's a smart kid, he shouldn't have a problem!

I got to make a free photo book on Shutterfly recently. It turned out so cool! I highly recommend it to anyone. They would make great gifts too. Here is a link to my site if you'd like to see it: http://myitalianfamily.shutterfly.com/ .