Easter Slide Show....

I have finally found the time to upload all the pictures from the 2 Easter Egg Hunts we went to. The first one is from the city's annual egg hunt and the 2nd one is from her Elementary school, the day we picked up Taylor for her Spring Break. Hope you enjoy!

Taylor comes to play........

Yay! Taylor came to visit us over her Spring Break last week. She got here on Friday before Steve's birthday and was able to spend his birthday and Easter with us this year. It's been a long time since that's happened, if ever! The day I picked Taylor up, I took off work to go to school with Izabella to attend her Easter egg hunt and party there and then we left and hit the road. We met Tay about 3 o'clock and then headed back home. We spent the rest of that day and night shopping for Daddy's birthday presents. Then the 3 of us girls went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner. Izabella loves this place because they have the Mariachi band and a big stage that she's always to afraid to get on, but she loves it anyway! Then it was home. Taylor got to go to Izabella's first soccer game which was so cool to Izabella. We think they actually won the game, although there's no real score keeping at this stage. But, Taylor thought it was cute and they ended up in the backyard at least once a day practicing, which was fun to watch. Daddy was in WI and came home on Saturday, his birthday. We had planned on going out to dinner, but he'd had a long day getting home due to weather delays and he wasn't up for going out. So, we ordered in pizza instead and then opened presents and had cake. The cake was fun! I ended up having to make 2 of them because I let Izabella help me and she set the oven too high and I didn't notice it until I pulled out 2 chocolate hockey pucks and knew that meant I had to start all over. This is one of those times where it's nice that Taylor can drive because she was out the door before I could even ask her! I swear any excuse to get behind the wheel! I remember those days......we also started dying a bunch of easter eggs too! We took Soxy to the dog park on Sunday and it ended up being a lot colder that it was supposed to be so we didn't stay too long. We just ended up hanging out at the house and staying up way too late, just talking.

I took Mon, Tues and Wed off so I could spend some time with Taylor since every other time she comes I'm working. The school schedules are different here so everyone was in school. We did a lot of shopping, got my hair done, got our toes done. Oh yeah, we went to check out the high school that Taylor would be going to if she decides to move in with us before next year. She was nervous because this school is much bigger than the one she goes to now. But, it's not too far from our house and we talked to the counselor about all the things we need to get in place and done before the next school year starts. So, now it's up to Taylor to decide what she wants to do, we'll see what happens here but we'd love to have her and I know it would just make Izabella the happiest little sister ever!

On Wed, Steve, Tay and I went to Izabella's school and Taylor read to her class before lunch. We stayed and ate lunch with her and she just loved that. She was sad though when we left because she wanted to go with us, but she couldn't. They eat lunch at 10:21 in the morning so it was a bit hard for the 3 of us to eat school food that early in the morning. But, we managed! I went back to work the rest of the week and Friday night we took the girls to Chili's and then to see Horton hears a who, because Taylor was leaving on Saturday. We didn't get home until about 10:30 which Izabella just loved! But, by the time we pulled up I think she'd passed out in the car, but she was adamant about the fact that she wasn't tired!! Too funny! Doesn't want to miss anything.

I have a ton of Easter pictures from the city egg hunt, the school egg hunt and the one we did at home in the front yard. While Izabella was looking for the eggs that were clearly in plain site, I was telling Taylor about how when David, Carrie and I were little we'd have Easter Egg hunts at Auntie Ann and Uncle Rob's house. That was some fun back then! I remember the house was always decorated for every holiday and Easter was no exception! Anyway, I'll put together a little slide show with all the pictures from Taylor's visit and put them up over the weekend!

Take care everyone! Until next post............

Let the show begin....

Meet the gang... Izabella came home this week with the tiger puppet you see here above. She loved it so much that she asked if we could make some friends for her tiger. She told me what to draw, how to draw it and how her teacher Ms. Robertson taught her how to make these adorable FREE puppets. She instructed me as to every little thing. So, from left to right we have Giraffe (including spots per Izabella), Tiger, Mouse (including ball cap and tuxedo), Mean Ella the Dinosaur, Fox, Hippo, Lion wearing hair bow (Izabella picked all the main colors and told me to draw rectangles of red, brown and yellow, so I did as I was told), Lola the bunny, and the Elephant playing in the water. She drew all the faces and colored all of them. Then she told me that we had to write 5 stories before Daddy woke up so we could put on a puppet show. My goodness we were full of ideas this morning. Typical Izabella, go go go, wants to be playing something 24/7. So, we got to 3 stories that were too cute not to share. Hope you gives you as much joy from them as we did. My, what creativity......these were completely written by Izabella in her own words...

What's wrong Hippo?
By: Izabella Mingolla Illustrated by: Momy Mingolla
(lion) helo mouse
(mouse) helo lion, hipo has a problem.
(elephant) why don't we go see her and tell her mom what's wrong.
(lion) first we have to find out what's wrong.
(mouse) what's wrong hipo?
(hipo) i have a lose tooth and another one and it hurts
(elephant) we can help you pull it.
(hipo) no!
says hipo
(hipo) the more you pull it the more it hurts.
THE END

What's for lunch?
by: Susan Mingolla (really Izabella, she just wrote this) illustrated by: Izabella Mingolla
(Stela/giraffe) What's for lunch guys?
(Lola/bunny) I want a sandwich!
(Mean Ella/dino) NO! I want the last sandwich.
(Lola/bunny) and carrot's.
(Stela/giraffe) I want soup & fruit.
(Mean Ella/Dino) NO! I want fruit juice!
(Lola/buny) You don't have to be mean ella!
(Mean Ella/dino) I did not know that. You know what for now i ella will be nise.
THE END

and LAST ONE......

Joke's joke's jokes
By no man By a girl
(Fox) wy did the skelatin go to the Bank! why becase he had many, get it mAny, not mOney..
he ha hahehe!haha!
(wolve) why did't the skelatin cros the rode. why becase he had no BODY to cross with
haha!hehe!haha

Hope you all have a good week, love and miss you all!
-Susan

Check out my Slide Show!

1st place... Miss Stuffy, Mr. Lamb & Le' Frog........& Furniture

And 1st place goes to.........(drumroll please.......) Ms. Izabella Mingolla! This was her winning Valentine's Box project. We all worked on it and I think it just turned out great and I guess the whole office staff did too since she won. She was VERY proud of herself and so were we!

Her favorite sticker on the top was the one that says

"Kiss me, you fool!"

The Best of Friends!

Saturday morning when Izabella and I got up, she gathered all of her favorite friends to join her for a morning of watching Qubo. So here they all are....Ms. Stuffy, which was a Valentine's present from Christina. Mr. Lamb, still her all time favorite from granny & Granpa Tom years ago. He sleeps next to her every night and must be tucked in just as she is with hugs and kisses, of course. And Le'Frog which is her newest addition from Grandma and Papa for Valentines Day. She has allowed this to be Mr. Lamb personal "baby" so that he isn't lonely and all is fair.

Gotta love her!!


So, here it is finally after 4 months!

YES, I know the couches are White! The really make the room look completely different. When James saw them he thought they looked better in our house than they ever did in his....


We got the ladder bookshelf for the DVD's so that Izabella can get to them herself and it gave us a lot more room......

Had to get something new for the mantel and I've always loved the reds and golds and I think it looks really pretty with the chocolate wall. It makes the white marble around the fire place really stand out, don't you think?

We bought the brown suede chair and ottomans once we got the furniture in because we just needed some kind of chair and "coffee table" The ottoman fits both needs perfectly........

And we have tried everything to keep Sox off of this one, but to no avail. We gave up and have made this her bed, but I got her a bed and a nice blanket that match the colors and that way she won't mess up the material. She has to look out this window to see what's happening in the neighborhood and to be the lookout........

Hope you all like it!

Don't mess with Daddy... or Uncle Steve to some!

Izabella had started to take a drama class last year at school and during that time, I came home one night to something that Daddy had taught her. Well, at Christmas he got Cheradyn and Jill involved. I thought you all might enjoy the acting skills of the Mingolla family.

Enjoy!
(no children were hurt during the filming of this video...........promise!)

Trying to catch up!

I have been so bad lately with trying to keep up with everything. I don't have a picture to post right now (I'm at work) but I can at least try to fill you in. Let's see, last post was Dec when Izabella lost her first tooth. Since then, we went home for Christmas and had a great time seeing everyone. Shortly after we got home, Izabella lost her 2nd tooth on the bottom next to the first one that came out. She's working on her two front teeth, but they seem to be holding on pretty well. Tay went home and everyone got back to school and back to the grind. Work is work, nothing much changes there.

Last Friday when I went to pick her up from school, she was in the nurses office when I got there, had a terrible fever and I could just tell from her voice that it was strep! I should have been a nurse. Anyway, the next day, sure enough the Dr. said it was strep, so we got a shot and all is better now. She was brave with the shot, even though it was one of those thick ones that really hurts, she still has a little bruise on her cute little hiney. But, it sure beats fighting with her twice a day for 10 days with the liquid medicine. That's the tough part. So, as much as she hates them, I think we have actually covinced her that the shot is the way to go. Good thing because I think she's in for a series at her 6 year old checkup. Did I just say that? 6 years old? My goodness where does the time go.

For Valentines Day, we had a family project to make a box to hold Izabella's valentines in, it was a contest, so me, Daddy and Izabella worked for about 4 days on her box, which turned out so cute, I wish I had a picture, and she won 1st place. She was so proud of herself. Her and Daddy surprised me at work with Tulips and cards and she stayed the rest of the day with me and when we got home, we handed out Valentines to all of her friends that live on our street. She had so much fun. Then we had a nice special family Valentines dinner and it was off to bed.

We are signed up for Spring Soccer that starts on March 1st. We're excited to see if she's playing with any of her old teammates this time around. Christina opted to do gymnastics over the summer instead of soccer again. Now, of course, Izabella wants to do the same thing. We'll see....can't do it all at once, one thing at a time.

Hopefully, I will be better at keeping this up than I have been over the past few months, that's my goal anyway. Hope you all have enjoyed the update, next one will include pictures.

We love and miss everyone!