Travel Bug

Can you say blessed and fortunate? That is exactly how I feel about the year 2010. As a family, we were able to travel to Disneyland, Las Vegas, and Maui. Joe also took an additional trip to Costa Rica with a few of his groomsmen.

We went to Disneyland in February, when Juliana was only 13 months old. It was so fun to see it through her eyes. She just started walking at 12 months so it was a great age to take her. She loved being held, didn't complain in the stroller, and walked/wobbled a little too! We drove down and were fortunate enough to be able to go with and share our trip with my mom, Joe's parents, Joe's sister Jeanna, Joe's brother Jeff and his wife Julie, and their daughter Katelyn, who turned 3 in May. Julie was pregnant with Rylie at the time. Rylie was born in June. We had a wonderful trip and I cannot wait to go back again. Who doesn't have fun at the happiest place on earth?!







Next stop was Las Vegas. We went with the dance studio I teach for. It was a National Dance Competition that our students were competing in. It also happened to be Juliana's first airplane ride! We all 3 enjoyed watching the dancers dance on stage, swimming in the huge pool, and sight seeing down the strip in Vegas. We could only walk the strip in the evening because it was in July and was super hot during the day. Again she was a great traveler and stayed contently in her stroller and people watched with us.





In August Joe, aka Dada jetted off to Costa Rica. He had a wonderful trip and some great male bonding time, and while he was missed here, we kept ourselves very busy. Here are a few pics from his bachelor trip days!






Maui, what can I say except it is a little slice of heaven here on earth! We swam, snorkled, parasailed, walked, talked, ate, watched sunsets, and stuck our feet in the sand as often as we could. We went to Maui as both a family vacation, and for our honeymoon. We were fortunate enough to have Joe's parents and siblings there to watch Juliana for us so we could enjoy some time together as husband and wife in paradise. We also had family time with them, and it was so nice to watch her play with her cousins.







It is a good thing we have no future trips planned because we are moving in January. While traveling was fun and amazing, it will be nice to enjoy time at home by the fireplace!

Dance and Music

Those of you that know me, know how much I love to dance, teach dance, watch dance, etc. Growing up, dance was a way for me to express myself, work through emotions, grow as a person, learn discipline, and much more. I had (have) an amazing dance teacher, Paula, who taught me not only how to dance, but mentored me through lessons which I was able to apply to dance and my daily life. Paula is now my boss, and I now try and instill and inspire the same to my students.

My mom was a dancer when she was younger, and in more recent years, she took adult tap classes and performed on stage. My Dad was one of the most artistic people I know. Both of my parents had (have) a true love and appreciation for the arts. I was fortunate enough to be raised going to Broadway shows, musicals. My Dad and I took a few trips to New York just to see shows and to influence me. I cherish those trips and gift of the arts that they instilled in me.

As a mother, it is now my turn to pay it forward. I plan to expose Juliana to the arts and all that they have to offer. If she falls in love with it and has as deep of a passion for it as I have, then it will be a full circle moment in life. If she doesn't, then that is ok too. She will expose me to whatever her passion is!

Right now, she absolutely loves music and dancing. She cannot sit still when music is on. She brings pure joy to us all as we watch her dance and try to sing along. She will intently watch a show such as Dancing with the Stars.

She took her first dance class at 22 months. Juliana, her dance teacher Andrea, who is my dear friend and co-worker, Joe, and myself all had huge smiles on our face for the entire 45 min class. We didn't have any expectations at her age, and she exceeded all expectations that we could have had. Here are a few pictures so you can see for yourself. I need to figure out how to post videos on this blog, but that will have to be another day and in another post.






She also started attending a rhythm and music class at 22 months. It is pure joy for me to attend these classes with her and watch her grasp, develop, and learn new things. Here are a few pics from that class.

Garbage

Joe's company has been working him a lot this year, and I am so thankful for that. We are both extremely blessed, especially in today's economy, to have jobs which we love and enjoy doing. Joe and I are both hard workers and take pride in our jobs. I am proud of him and I know he is proud of me. His grandfather (his Nonno) was a G-man and both his Dad and Brother currently are, so it is extra special to him to swap garbage stories during family time.

I want to publish a book about Joe's work stories (except they are better when he tells them because he acts them out). Joe wants to put a video camera in his hat to record his work on his routes. Can you say new reality T.V. show?! Some of his stories are really funny because they involve people, while other stories are just plain gross. For example, he was recently working in China Town and he ran into a woman holding a tray with a live RAT on it. The rat was squealing, so Joe looked over, and the woman was cutting the back of the rat's neck with scissors! She was trying to kill it and it worked. EEWW! Can you say gross and disturbing?! Joe thought the woman was gonna cook it for dinner. That is only one of many stories he comes home to tell me about.

For the last 3.5 years, he has been working in the position called a Floater. He floats from route to route depending on who is sick, injured, on vacation, etc. He is considered on call. He has to call in daily to see what route he is on, or the dispatchers can call him at anytime to come into work. He gets a little frustrated at times not knowing what route he is on, or where he is going that day, but it always works out in the end. Please pray that someday soon he will get a route he can call his own!

Since a lot of the time he works odd hours, or not in the safest neighborhood, it makes it difficult for Juliana and I to meet him for lunch or come surprise him on his route. Instead, we try and participate in all of the many parades he and his company are a part of throughout the year. He is on the drill team. Their job during the parade is to pump up the crowd. They have a few routines they do with cans. Here are a few photos from our parading adventures.

Potty Training

Juliana will turn 2 in January. Some people say to begin to potty train kids at 18 months, and others say to wait til they are 2.5 or even 3 years old. There are so many books and websites giving people advice on how to begin and successfully potty train your child. I love to read and hear their advice and opinions, and I do try to apply it as much as possible, but sometimes you just have to throw the advice aside and go with your gut.

Did I mention she is almost 2, so she knows how to use the word "NO" in the correct context. Juliana is beautiful, funny, happy, and smart, but she is also independent, strong willed, and stubborn. I can guide her to go potty but I can't hold her down and force it out of her, or go for her myself!

Needless to say, there is never a dull moment around here. She says, "potty potty" and runs in the bathroom. You have to take her diaper off then she wants her pants, shorts, skirt off too. Oh and socks too! She can't have any socks or shoes on to go potty! So funny. After you get her situated, sometimes we have success and it is very exciting and we have a celebration and sometimes she says "oh No" and gets off the toilet and runs out of the bathroom naked giggling because it probably feels good to be free of the diaper for a minute. It is the cutest thing ever to see her sitting on her potty reading a book, or running around with her little naked behind! TMI, I know.

Enjoying Life's Little Blessings...

A rose from our garden that bloomed the week she was born. (It bloomed in the dead of winter, and her middle name is Rose!)

Tiny Toes...

Her sock, my sock, and his sock...Need I say more? It's the simple things in life that melt my heart!

Our background

Many of you already know our background, but for those of you that are new to our lives, or new to our blog, here is the short version of how we got to where we are now. Joe and I went to middle school and high school together. We knew eachother in high school, but were 2 years apart and never dated until many years later. We recconected on MySpace and began dating in May of 2007. Our beautiful daughter Juliana Rose was born on January 4, 2009. We were engaged for Valentine's Day in 2010 and got married on September 4, 2010. Pictures and stories to follow on all three of those major events in our lives.

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome to our blog! We created this blog so our dear family and friends can keep tabs on us! I am so bad about making phone calls, sending letters, or mailing current photos, and I used to be so good at it all. I vow to myself and to all of you that I will resolve this in the New Year. I have never had a New Year's resolution, and now I do! I post hundreds of photos on Facebook, but believe it or not, not everyone has a Facebook. For those of you who could care less about stories and ramblings from our daily life, or current photos of our rapidly growing daughter, then don't bother to read this blog. For those of you who do care, pull up a chair, put your feet up, grab a glass of water, wine, coffee, or hot tea, and enjoy. I hope to entertain you, but if I don't then this blog will simply serve as a journal, a place to keep our memories alive, or cheap therapy for me!