Hello Ella!

You may have noticed from yesterday's blog post that there is a new little lady hanging around these parts.  Her name is Ella and she a sweet little peanut. My parents adopted her a few months back and she is spending time with us while they are in Florida.  

The vet is 99% sure she is a Lhasa Apso and is 5 years old.  Her previous owner passed away so my parents swooped in and grabbed her.  They had been tinkering with getting a dog, but weren't sure they wanted to deal with a puppy.  They also took into consideration that both of their grand-dogs, Lucy and Sophie, are not so keen on sharing their attention.  But after meeting this sweet girl they fell in love and now she is part of the family.

James is a BIG fan of Ella and loves to scream out her name when he sees her.  Having her here for a few days has been a huge bonus for him - what kid wouldn't want 2 dogs?!  They bonded pretty quickly and I have a feeling James is going to be very sad when she leaves.

As for Lucy...it's been a slower process.  They were first introduced a few weeks back at the dog park.  Ella's trainer suggested that we bring the girls to a neutral place so there was no fighting over territory.  I wasn't there - but Ed said it went well.  Lucy spent most of the time running around with the other dogs while Ella stayed by my Mom's side.  We took it as a win. :)

The next encounter was at a training session at PetSmart. Ella's trainer offered to give them a private lesson and teach us some techniques on how to socialize them.  They again got along which again was a win in our book.

Last test was at my parent's house and this was the big one.  Lucy had lived there for a few months when we first moved down and felt very territorial about the place.  Per the trainer's instruction, we had them meet out front on leash first.  Next step was to move them into the backyard and let them run around.  Luckily, things went well.  Lucy behaved.  Ella behaved.  James behaved.  All was good.

We took the ultimate plunge this week by having Ella stay with us at our house.  We followed the same formula as we did at my parent's house:  meet outside on leash + run around in the backyard = 2 happy puppies that are not biting each other's heads off.  And it has stayed that way...for the most part.  There have been some angry words over treats and when it is an appropriate time to play.  Luckily they are both small enough that when they do get into a scuffle, we can quickly scoop one of them up and remove them from the situation.  Over all, they are new besties.

I think Ella has had fun being here, but will be very happy when her Mommy and Daddy come home.  She is a huge Mama's girl and loves to lay on her lap.  Ed and I provide a decent substitution, but it's not quite the same.  

I'll tell you one thing, she will miss the excitement and pace of our house versus back home.  We keep her going all day long which is something she is not used to.  I have a feeling that once she gets home, she will sleep for 3 days straight.

Welcome to the family, Ella!!! xoxo

Traditions

The words holiday and tradition go hand in hand much like the words peanut butter and jelly or Sonny and Cher. Whenever the holidays come around - no matter which one - a sense of nostalgia starts swirling through the air evoking memories that we both treasure and sometimes fear (enter 1980's photos complete with flowery dresses and full-on mullets). While many of the Easter Sunday's of my past are a bit blurry, I do have the very vivid memory of Sue and I at church checking out all the horrid snazzy white shoes that were dusted off in honor of this Spring holiday. I promise we paid attention to the important parts. :)

Traditions get tricky when you get married. Not only are you joining your lives, you are also joining your traditions and sometimes those traditions don't always mesh. Take Christmas for example. Ed came from a star tree topper family while I came from an angel tree topper family. The compromise? A Santa hat that has now become our new tradition.

Easter has been a bit tricky in the ways of tradition for us. When we were living in NY, we spent the holiday with Ed's family out in Staten Island. Even after moving to VA, we traveled up to be with the Mangiaracina's for the holiday. Then came James. We stayed in VA for his first Easter since he was so little, but went up for his second.

This Easter Sunday was spent here in VA and for the first time in a very long time, we found ourselves alone. Ed's new job and my wanting to save some PTO prevented us from traveling to NY this year and the Quartuccio's were down in Florida visiting friends and family. So, we decided that it was time to create some new traditions.

The holiday began on Saturday morning with some old fashioned Easter Egg dying. James was a first timer so we decided to cover all our bases which meant a big, thick, plastic table cloth and removal of the fancy chairs. He had a BLAST! It was a messy blast, but worth every bit of dye on the floor and his hands.  

Easter morning started early - what morning doesn't - with an excited little man who got some treats from the Easter Bunny. This kid had a basket full of toys and guess what he loved the most? The freakin' balloon! He did dive into the basket after the excitement of the balloon faded and found some awesome goodies including a chocolate marshmallow bunny, a Jake and the Neverland Pirate ball, bunny cookies, a Cookie Monster and a new dinosaur. Lucky guy.

After a yummy breakfast (thank you very much), we all got dressed and headed to the Easter Egg Hunt at Ticonderoga Farms.  We visited this farm in October during their Fall Festival and had a blast so we decided to give it a try.  We were not disappointed!  We arrived just in time for the egg hunt and James dove right in grabbing egg after egg.  He is a pro, after all, since he recently partook in the Little Rocky Run Spring Fling Egg Hunt.  He even got close enough to the oversized chick to grab a photo!

After the egg hunt, we spent time roaming around the farm enjoying all the attractions.  Some of James' favs included the log cabins, the many, many chickens and roosters, the jumping pillow, and the huge slides.  This time, we went on the hay ride and got an insiders view of the farm.  James' favorite part was when it went into the water.  He kept screaming "Water! Water! Water!".  

We also encountered the giant bamboo wind chimes for the first time.  O. M. G.  He loved them!  I think Ed may need to figure out how to build these for our backyard because the kid couldn't get enough.

Fun on the farm was had by all and was followed by a quiet afternoon and yummy dinner at a local Italian eatery. We missed our families, but were able to create some new traditions that James and a future sibling (some day!) will look back on with a smile.  I can't vouch that their fashion will hold up twenty years from now, but I can say that the time we spent together was filled with love.  Happy Easter!

Our 4nniversary

It's become a bit of a tradition to highlight our wedding anniversary on the blog so why should this year be any different.  This year is our fourth and what an awesome, crazy ride it has been thus far.  Each year, we celebrated in a different way.  Our first anniversary found us back at Bethany Beach - the site of our engagement.  Year two found us escaping to a dinner out (Rays the Steaks if I recall) as we were in the throws of being new parents.  Our third anniversary was our biggest yet complete with a road trip to Charlotte, NC and Charleston, SC sans the little man who spent the long weekend with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Sue.

    

This year, we are back to a low key celebration with dinner out in Warrenton at Claire's at the Depot. Life is crazy hectic these days so we are excited to get a night off to enjoy each other's company.  It will be an added bonus that we won't have to cut up food into small bits and sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" 5+ times during the meal.  :) 

It's amazing how things have changed, but neither of us would want it any other way.  It's so fun to look back on life together and remember all the experiences we have had together - both good and bad.  Having a ridiculous amount of photos and a blog that is going on 4 years helps keep the memories fresh in our brains.  Happy 4th Anniversary, honey.  I love you with all my heart and can't wait to see where this roller coaster ride takes us! xoxo

Spring is Flinged!

We took full advantage of the gorgeous weather this weekend by spending 80% of it outside.  Whether at the playground, at a BBQ or a Spring Fling, we fully embraced the warmth and luckily, the over-abundance of pollen in the air did not affect any of us (yet).

Saturday morning started out with a quick trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house where James played with Lucy and Ella in the back yard.  You may not believe it, but our Lucy is not always a fan of other puppies - especially when they take the attention of Grandpa away from her, so we have slowly been socializing these two lovely ladies.  After 3 successful puppy play dates, we are in the clear. The girls had a blast playing and running and James had an even better time watching them.

Later that day, after a much-needed nap, we headed to the annual Little Rocky Run Spring Fling.  Apparently, this event happens every year at the rec center just down the road from us. 

Never noticed it.  

So sad, but luckily, our neighbors clued us in and we had the chance to bring our little man.  We took it one step further and invited his buddy Rafa to join in on the fun. 

I have to tell you, it was a pretty awesome Fling!  There were pony rides and a small petting zoo, a moon bounce, face painting, an Easter egg hunt AND a real live bunny ready to pose for pictures.  Who needs to go to the mall and pay when you can do it at the Fling!  Of course James was petrified of the oversized bunny, but that didn't stop him from stalking the poor thing...at a safe distance of course.  Rafa does not suffer from the same bunny-phobia that James apparently does.

The boys also participated in the popular Easter egg hunt.  I'm not so sure the boys knew why they were gathering eggs off the ground, but they both seemed to enjoy doing it!

Since the Fling took place at the rec center, the boys also had the chance to play on the playground and James NEVER passes up the chance to go down the slide. 

All in all, it was a great Fling and a great way to kick off Spring.  Later that day, we headed over to the Newlands to break in their new deck with a BBQ.  James was so cute trying to keep up with the older boys - especially Conner.  They both thought is was hilarious to tackle me and use me as a trampoline.

Happy Spring!

Ladies Man

There are no real words to describe what you are about to see. But before you press play, let me set up the scene.  We are at a restaurant having our post-hair cut pizza and James caught the eye of two very pretty young ladies.  Take a peek:

Such a flirt!  If this is an indication of what he will be like when he is a teenager, all I have to say is fathers - watch out for your daughters!

It's Done - Finally!

We are happy to announce that we are finally finished with the basement!  Well...92% finished, but we are finished enough that we are ready to show it off.  We are so, so happy with how it all turned out - especially since all of our own blood, sweat and tears went into making it happen.  Take a peek:

We love the cozy feeling that now exists in the basement and it's so great to add a functional area to the house.  Our storage has diminished greatly, but we have come up with creative ways to hide our junk (aka hide things in the basement shower!).  The important part is that James loves it down there and I think he will enjoy it for many years to come.  Happy Basement!