Our Funny Bunny

When Mommy's tired of playing...

...sometimes she has to make her own fun.

And I know I'm not the only mom who gets tired of playing every once in a while.

Happy Easter

It was a lovely weekend.  I felt like I had my act together this year, embracing Lent and preparing for Easter. It sure made the holiday so much more enjoyable.

My parents' neighbor provided Gianna with yet ANOTHER stuffed bunny.  Ridiculous.

We colored eggs which is always fun for the first ten minutes.

I mentioned to Iain that a couples of the eggs had cracked and Gianna said,

"Oh no, Daddy.....the eggs crapped."  :)

After we colored eggs, we had this little discussion:

There were also a couple of attempts at some Easter cakes....

Easter Morning

There was a little bunny parade leading the way to the offerings of the Easter Bunny.

Iain put together a little video of Easter morning...

On our way to Mass to celebrate the Resurrection....

Ahhh.....taking pictures of a two year old.

And when we finally get a sweet shot of her, then her mom looks like she's on drugs.

But my two loves seem to manage to always get a good one of the both of them.

And on a side note....

I can totally relate.

Sending Easter Blessings to all of you.

Year Book Time

Remember that day each year in school when yearbooks came out from the previous year?  Oh, what an exciting day that was!  We couldn't wait to thumb through all those memories and wouldn't seem to tire from all the looking and reminicsing.  Well, our Lewis Land Year Book came in for 2010 and I feel exactly the same way.

Last year I ordered my first Lewis Land Blog Book - encapsulating the first fifteen months of my blog.  We just loved it and were shocked at how much our, then, 17 month old enjoyed perusing the pages. 

Well, I just got in my 2010 Blog Book and I am equally as amazed and proud at this professionally published book.   I love that it's become our family yearbook, documenting the highlights (and some lowlights) of our lives in Lewis Land.  It makes me feel so good as the historian for our family to have this easy and creative outlet to preserve our memories.

I love writing and photography and story-telling, so blogging is a great fit for me.  But there are many times I feel like throwing in the towel.  I know myself - and I know that if I let the blog slide for too long - it would be too easy to give it up completely....which is why I post fairly regularly.  Sometimes that commitment makes me feel a little like a slave to this whole bloggy world.  But alas, as soon as this beautiful shiny book arrives at my door -- I am completely motivated to continue this little labor of love.  It helps me remember that I'm doing this for me and my family --- not for an audience.

Both years that I have had books made, I have used the site Blog2Print.  I do absolutely NOTHING except provide my http address and my credit card.  I give them the range of dates I want printed and voila! I choose my cover theme and picture (there's a nice variety) and that's it.  It's done.  It's just that easy...unlike my Shutterfly Photo Books which take a little more (a lot more) time and effort. 

I am sure that years down the road, these little yearbooks will become even more enjoyable and meaningful.  I'm so grateful for this wonderful little invention.

Once upon a time...

...there was a wonderful library that loved children.

They did almost anything they could think of to help the children to fall in love with reading. 

Even a tea party for a bunch of pre-schoolers, toddlers and babies wasn't too big of a feat to pull off. 

There's one little girl, in particular, who is especially fond of these story times and tea parties. 

It may have something to do with the fact that they let her drink out of a 'real' cup. 

Which seems to be a pretty big deal for a lot of little munchkins. 

* * * * * * * * * *

And they even have special guests come and visit....

...which will certainly help my little girl live happily ever after.

25 Random Things About Me

A while back there was a popular Facebook trend where people shared 25 Random Things about themselves.  It was such fun reading people's creative thoughts and tidbits about themselves.  I saved mine for a day when I had nothing to blog about or no time to blog.

 In light of the fact that I'm having a garage sale tomorrow and an open house on Sunday, and my camera is in the shop - it looks like the time has come. 
 Lucky you! ;)

(On one of the rare days I straightened my hair.)

1. My dad used to tell me they almost named me Cinderella – then I’d be Cinderella Tartamella. (My dad STILL thinks he’s funny.)
2. I can remember some of the dreams I had when I was three and four years old.
3. I love bananas, but dislike anything flavored like banana; I’m not a big watermelon fan, but love anything watermelon flavored. Go figure.
4. Right before I had to give an address to a crowd of 2,000 people, my friend (on the stage) saw a spider crawling on my back. He flicked it off with his program just before I had to speak.  About halfway through my speech, I found out where it ended up…….my cleavage. Aaaaagh! It crawled it’s way out (it’s a wonder it lived!) and I flicked it off for good....during my speech.
5. It took me a LONG time to find my true love…..but it was well worth the wait.
6. I met my husband on a blind date.
7. I had only had one bridesmaid at my wedding…..and ten priests!
8. I saw Pope John Paul II and Mother Theresa in person....each twice.
9. I never knew why they call them “Buffalo Wings” until recently.
10. I love watching the Food Network, TLC and HGTV, but equally enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching trashy reality shows on Bravo and E! (Giving them up was one of my Lenten sacrifices - and I'm happy to report that I really haven't missed them.)
11. I moved to Louisiana from Long Island, NY when I was 11. Was devastated to leave then – don’t ever want to leave now.
12. My dad went on five mission trips to Nicaragua. My husband is originally from Nicaragua. People continue to ask if my dad brought him home for me as a souvenir. (The nerve!)
13. On October 1, 2007 we turned in our adoption profile to our agency. I emailed our friends and family that day to say, “We’re done with our part; now we wait. We consider ourselves officially expecting.” Our daughter was born July 1, 2008…..exactly 9 months later. I took that as God’s sign that she was ours…and He’s been proving that reality ever since.
14. Upon meeting my grandmother’s not-so-couth little doctor, she gave me a head-to-toe glance and boldly proclaimed, “My, aren’t you sturdy!?” (Since then, I no longer use the word 'sturdy' and have banned the use of it in my home….except to quote this crappy little story burned in my memory.)
15. I have an amazing memory – but I often don’t trust it.
16. I love, love, love taking pictures editing them and making digital slide shows and photo books.
17. I used to think I was smart – until I tried a sudoku puzzle…I solved it – just at the pace of a “slow-learner.”
18. My favorite techie invention (next to blogging and FB), is Tivo. Every single day, for three and a half years – I’ve said, “Gotta love the Tivo!” (You can add Netflix to the list, too.)
19. My favorite sound in the universe is a baby giggling….particularly my baby. (A close second, is the sound of a bag of Doritos being opened.)
20. I love to travel – but love coming home even more.
21. Iain and I gave each other a treadmill for Christmas. We can’t wait to use it...maybe before next Christmas. (Gianna uses it as her 'diving board.')
22. I have godchildren who are quadruplets – they're my godquads.
23. I am determined that one day I will go to Italy – it’s my dream vacation.
24. When I was a kid, I dumped an enormous jar of pennies down my shirt….we later discovered
there was $20 worth of pennies in that jar. (This one’s for you, Monique.)
25. I am a great cook, but only once did one of my 'clever creations' made it to my "WHAT WAS I THINKING?" list.  Incidentally, it's the only dish that actually made my dear husband sick...literally.  (And, no - I'm not tell you what it was. :)

Car Chat

Yesterday was a FULL day - in a good way. That morning before we left for church we had to once again 'show ready', we brought our dog, Max, to my parents house since we'd be gone all day...and you never know when someone will call to see the house. (This 'just in case' mode is starting to wear me out....and it's only been 3 weeks.) And of course, no one called to see the house.

After our fun day with our dearest friends, we picked up Max and from my parent's and desperately tried to keep Gianna from sleeping in the car since she had missed her nap and was whooped!  She asked to hold Max (which I usually don't do - for Max's sake) and I obliged. 

It was really comical.  I didn't get the funniest part of the ride on video, but I did manage to flim a little chat.

Mardi Gras 2011

Apparently, I forgot to post about Mardi Gras 2011.  No biggie.  We're not revelers of epic proportion by any means.  We just did the children's parade and that was about it.  Gianna was ripe for the pickin' this year. She was SO excited to be going, but she was a little  disapointed when she discovered that she was not actually marching IN the parade....but she soon got over it.

She caught a precious Mardi Gras Queen doll, and showed it to all the the parade folk, exclaiming....

She got the hang of the jargon fairly quickly...


* * * * * * *

I just came across these pictures of her first Mardi Gras parade when she was 8 or 9 months old.

My heavens - she was so adorable.

Oh how I miss that baby!

G's New Ride

So, last Christmas we considered getting Gianna one of those little battery operated four wheelers.  It was on sale and in our hands and we saw that it was for kids up to 35 pounds.  We figured she wouldn't get much use out of it since she was almost 30 pounds, so we scrapped the idea. (Who knew she's be at 29/30 lbs for over a year?)

Last week, she and I walked over to our neighbor's house they have a 7 and 2 year old boys with a YARDFUL of fun cars, trucks, four wheelers, etc.  Gianna was in a sweet little embroidered dress and her rainboots.  When she saw those little vehicles, she kicked off those boot and sloshed threw the mud as fast as little once-white socked feet could carry her.  She hopped on the four wheeler like it was horse and she was gone.....giggling as hard as she could.  She aimed for the biggest mud patches she could find and squealed with delight as I tried to redirect her. She had a BALL!

When Iain got home that night I told him that our four wheeler call last Christmas was a mistake.  It just so happened that the next day we saw a sale ($40 off) and thought it would probably be worth the investment.

We were right!!!!!

Here's a little taste of her big fun...

And a few other shots thrown in for good measure.

Happy Spring, Y'all!

A Page of Favorites

A Page of Favorites

You may have noticed that within the last year, Blogger has introduced the ability to add separated pages to one's blog.  I've seen some of you taking advantage of these pages too.  I use them mostly to organize things so I can find them more easily and have them all on one site - my family blog.

I already mentioned I keep my Jelly Book on a separate page, our Photo Books from Shutterfly, a bit of our adoption story, etc. I also added a page called G's Faves where I linked up little 2-5 minute videos of songs, music videos, movie clips, etc that Gianna loves to watch.  It's been a tremendous hit for her and help for me. If I'm trying to cook or clean or take a phone call, I can put a quick little video clip on to divert her - without having to put a 30 minute video on the tv. 

If you want to add pages to your blog, just go to your your dashboard
1. Go to the place where you customize settings (like beginning a new post.)  This will give you the tabs: Posting, Settings, Layout, Monetize
2. Click on Posting.  This will show 4 choices (as hyperlinks)  New Posts, Edit Pages, comment moderation. Click on  Edit Pages
3. You will see a blue button that says New Page.  Click on this to create your page.
4. Voila!  You have your page.
5.  Now you can go into Layout (big tabs) to figure out where you want to put the page.

An appropriate name, indeed!

An appropriate name, indeed!

from Living in Lewis Land by Maria

Sweet Hunter is 6 years old and I had the privilege of caring for him for most of his first three years of life while his parents worked.  He had prayed and prayed for Iain and I to have a baby and was shocked and hugely delighted when we received Maddie (4) and Collin (2) three years ago.  He had instant playmates and was so happy....until their stay with us abruptly ended.  Hunter was devastated and he was pretty mad at me after that. (He couldn't understand what was happening and surmised that we just 'gave them away.')  So sad.

He was equally excited when Gianna joined our family, but was a little put off that she couldn't play with him.  Every time I talked with him on the phone, he would ask,  "Hey ReRe, is Gianna a kid yet?"  He was always exasperated by my answer.

This past week Gianna and I spent some time with Hunter while his mom had an appointment. He could not have been more precious and sweet to Gianna and was very attentive to her.  He referred to himself as "Bubba" to her. 

"Don't be afraid, Gianna, Bubba will help you."

It was really just the most precious thing to witness - and Gianna was in HEAVEN (although I'm pretty sure she was confused by the whole Bubba thing.)

When I mentioned to Hunter how special I thought it was that he treated Gianna so wonderfully, he replied,  "Well, ReRe, that's cuz she's finally a KID!"

* * * * * * * *

Hunter is a lover of all things outdoors and since he was a baby loved catching any living amphibian or insect he would find outside.  Anytime there was an intruding lizard in my sun room, I'd send 3 year old Hunter to fetch it and free it for me. (He wasn't big on freeing anything he caught but we convinced him that the captives really needed to go find there mommas.)

When he knew Gianna and I were coming to stay with him the other day, he made sure to catch a few creatures for Gianna to entertain and teach her.  Even though I've managed to squelch my mini freak outs regarding lizards, frogs and the like - it is interesting to watch G's reactions to them.  She's very much interested in seeing them and even wants to touch them, but when she gets close - she freaks out just like me. 

He first caught these poor caterpillars to show us.

They didn't move much and he was certain they were sleeping.

I was certain rigamortis was in full swing!

Gianna got a kick out of the capture cage.  She liked the idea of being close, but not too close.

And finally, Hunter had the idea of  bringing G to go hunt for turtles.  She squealed with delight and he quickly fetched 2 nets and headed up the street to a destination to which we never arrived.

I was so glad I had my phone on me to take this picture.

What a lovely memory.

Hunter...

....an appropriate name, indeed!