Happy Birthday Kids!

In the frenzy of the holidays we make birthdays a priority! Olivia turned 5 on November 30th and Jacob turned 8 on December 15th. Both kids had fun friend parties and family parties too. Here are a couple quick pictures from our family celebrations.

Olivia chose Tinkerbell Fairies for her cake.

The big gift...an American Girl Doll that she named Flower.

Jacob picked football for his party theme!

Here he is on his brand new bike!

School Started

Well it's been a month but it's still important. School started August 23rd and this year Olivia and Jacob are both with Mom at Jamacha. Jacob started second grade and Olivia began Kindergarten. Both are off to a great start and love school.

Out the door and heading for the car. One quick picture before you go!

Olivia finally gets her picture on the sign.

Where does time go?

Here are the boys! Jacob, Jack, Kai and Thomas - when will they stop growing?

Olivia is in Mrs. Cajka's class, just like Jacob was.

One last hug for Mom before we all start our first day. Mom's teaching second grade this year.

This is Jacob's desk.

Mrs. Gates (aka Auntie Cheryl) is his teacher.

This is Olivia's desk.

She settled in with no problem.

Kindergarten parents stay for awhile on the first day so we have some nice pictures of Olivia getting into the routine.

Story time on the carpet.

Olivia's first art project.

Putting paper Olivia onto the wall!

The Home Makeover Continues

I need to stop watching HGTV....my home projects are snowballing. We have now painted the living room and bathroom. We bought the house almost seven years ago and I swore the wallpaper in the bathroom would be the first to go. It finally went yesterday. Yea! I'm still trying to figure out why we felt the need to do all the painting in one day and right before going back to work but I'm glad we did. The simple idea of putting a little paint on the wall has now turned into a new bathroom mirror, light fixture, towel bar, and toilet paper holder. It has also created a need for a whole new window shade (on the largest, most expensive window in the house, yikes). That has progressed into the desire for new carpet which is leading into a new kitchen and then a new master bath. Of course you won't see that blog until probably 2020! For now enjoy the pics of some hard workers and don't call CPS for breaking any child labor laws. They really begged to help out.

HGTV Inspired

So I finished planning my 20 year high school reunion and found myself at a loss for what to do next. (Yeah right, there are thousands of things that need to get done around here) I've been addicted to HGTV this summer and started looking around the house at all the things that needed to get done. Number one on the list was a new set of kitchen chairs...then I figured out what they would cost. So on to plan two I would get them recovered...then I figured out what that would cost. On to plan three...thanks to HGTV...I'd try it myself. That's what happens when you are a teacher on summer vacation without a paycheck.

Olivia and I dropped off Jacob for a playdate and headed to the fabric store. Olivia found a color that looks pretty good with our couches and hopefully will be durable. For $35 we left with enough fabric to cover all six chairs and some extra just in case. After a quick lunch we decided to get started on the first chair and here's how it went.......

Fourteen years and two kids later this is what the chairs looked like. This one isn't even the worst of the bunch.

I got the seat off.

There were at least 50 staples holding on layer one.

Finally all three pieces are apart.

After an hour and a half here is the finished chair! Much cleaner but I'm not happy with the corners. Not bad for the first one. Just five more to go!

More Wedding Pictures

It was fun to spend the day celebrating with Michael's family! Here are a few family pictures.

Tony and Marina's first dance.

Aunt Linda and Grandma Dottie

Michael's cousin Jeannie and her husband Donald

Donald and Jeannie's son Christian

Jeannie and Christian

Tony and Marina's Wedding - June 26, 2010

Michael's brother Tony got married this weekend to Marina! It was a beautiful wedding at Marina's aunt's house. Michael was a groomsman, Olivia the flowergirl, and Jacob was the official greeter. Jacob made sure everybody signed the photo of Tony and Marina and even made announcements during the wedding in case anybody forgot! Here are a few pictures of my beautiful family. More party pics to come later as well as pictures of Grandma Dottie and the rest of Michael's family.

The proud Catanzaros!

Here is the back of Olivia ...

and the front!

Jacob was very responsible at the front door!

Olivia at work.

Marina and Tony

The new Mr. and Mrs. Catanzaro

Looking good Michael!

Michael and Jacob

The first dance

Mischievious Olivia getting more M & M's.

Dancing with Daddy

Hawaii - Day 4

December 29, 2009

I'm going to be selfish and do Day 4 in two separate entries. One with kids and one without! For my Christmas/birthday present Michael booked a photo tour for me. I love to take pictures and have wanted to learn how to better use my camera. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Auntie Brandie and Uncle Sean I was able to send the kids away with them and focus on my pictures. I got to spend the entire day with two professional photographers, Ken and Mary Goodrich (www.hawaiiphotoretreat.com). I learned so much and had a fabulous time taking hundreds of pictures. A little north of Hilo are the Hawai'i Tropical Botanical Gardens where these pictures were taken.

Ken and Mary