Gabriel, the trickster

Gabe is always, always yelling, "Baaaaaaaaaar. Go?" He yells the first part sooooo loudly and draws it out for about 1 minute, before sweetly asking, "Go?" It's darling, and 99.9% of the time, I have to tell him, "Daddy's at school."

Today, Gabriel used the "Go?" for another purpose. He tricked me.

He was 'hiding' his binky (pacifier, binki, I have no idea how to spell binky) in between his body and his arm, his little arm pressing it down.
G-"Maaaaa. Ki, go???"
M-"Oh Gabe. I don't know, where did your binky go?"
G-pulling his binky out of his arm, "Der is."

He was really proud of himself for tricking me. What an insanely sweet little boy I have here.

He also went into the pantry and got two packages of fruit snacks, bounded out of the kitchen and handed one to Julian.
M-"Julian tell Gabe thank you, he is sharing."
J-"Thanks Gabe." (No enthusism what so ever.)
G-"'Come." (He doesn't say your welcome, he just says, 'come.)

I'm pretty sure that Gabe is much sweeter to Julian, than Julian to Gabe. Gabe has a temper, don't get me wrong, but he's so considerate, even at 21 months. He likes to sneak attack you with kisses or hugs. If you ask for one? No way Jose. He has to initiate it. He is a great dancer with great taste in music. He likes Jason Mraz (who is my new favorite ever), Muse, The Coraline Soundtrack, and loves some Britney. Yesterday at the store, Julian kept singing, "La, la, la, la-la-la-la-la." (From If You Seek Amy.)

My friend Tara posted a few months ago, about something the Army is doing for active duty spouses. They're giving the spouses up to $6000 for a mobile career. I definitely wanted to capitalize on this, and registered yesterday for some photography classes. It's been a loooong time since I was in school, so I'm nervous. I realize it won't be algebra, or English class, but I'm nervous. I'm not sure exactly when I start my classes, but I might need some models, especially as my kids are insanely uncooperative when the camera comes out. (Julian is at least, Gabe likes to pose, the poser.)

Oh, and Kerry, you asked where the pictures of the tree are. Well, right now? The tree has one ornament on it, plus the Gold star we HAD to buy at Hobby Lobby yesterday. Julian watched Barney's Chritmas Star like 3 times on Sunday. It HAD to be gold. OY! Where are the ornaments, you ask? Scattered around the floor surrounding the tree itself. I could take a picture of that, if you want.
Cute picture of Gabe...not so much of me, but he's my little lion-heart.

The Palizzis are CRAZY!

So if you've ever questioned my sanity, good job.

We put up our Christmas tree this weekend. In November. Those of you that know me, know that I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas, in November, or any month that doesn't start with D. OK I do partake of the occasional Christmas in July sale.

For months, Julian's been wanting to put up our Christmas tree. Months. We kept telling him, after Halloween maybe. After Halloween. In November. Then it was Halloween. And November. And I ran out of reasons to put it off. So Friday night, after Barry came home, we put up our tree! It's just a cheap artificial to us, but to Julian? The greatest thing EVER.

I think this is the first year that he really, truly understands everything about Christmas. The tree, sitting on Santa's lap, writing a letter to the big jolly fellow, stockings, or as he calls them, socks, decorating our tree, watching Christmas movies, he loooooves Frosty and watches both movies all year long. We're working on the spiritual aspect. I'm very excited to put up my Nativity scene for the first time this year. It's really special to me. It reminds me of Kristy.

Gabriel is completely amazed by our tree. He comes down the stairs in the morning and says, "Wowwwwww." It's adorable, and sweet, and he's excited for Christmas this year. Baby has no idea what is coming his way!

Yesterday, we decorated our tree. By we, I mean Julian. I tried doing it reasonably, you know, actually spacing out the balls, but Julian had other plans. He's decorating still this morning. Which is fine with me. After all, Christmas is about making things magical for him. It's my duty as his mother to make this magical, wonderful, and memorable. If he wants the tree in early November, it's my job to make it happen. If he wants a pony...ha just kidding. The closest thing to a pony my kids are EVER getting, is one of those stuffed ones at Costco.

Yesterday we also had the opportunity to hang out with some awesome people! Katrina is a photographer, and a member of SOS. It's been a year almost since we had family pictures taken by my BFF Stacy Jacobsen. A year, can you believe it? I know I can't. Well, Katrina and I did a little trade. She took some pictures of us, and I (and Barry) of her.

Here are the ones we LOVE that she took!





I actually love this one most of all. Mostly because Gabriel is the only normal looking one. He looks like he's thinking, crazy family. We SMILE in pictures. Cheeeeese.


Then, you know when you're married and you have kids, and then suddenly there are absolutely NO pictures of you and your husband or wife, by yourselves? Yeah, we fixed that yesterday!









Barry took this one of me and Gabe, and I just love it


Seriously. How did I get to live in such a beautiful, picturesque area?


Here are just some other cute pictures of the boys I took.



Seriously the closest thing to LOOKING I could get. 3 is a tough age














If you've seen Yo Gabba Gabba, you know they do a section called "FUNNY FACE" here's Gabe's rendition

November Already?

Really?

I guess it must be so. Christmas music is playing on the television. Baseball's over, hallelujah. But what the heck? November?

In a few short days, I'll be 26. I have a hard time with birthdays. I don't often like to remember that I am getting older. I look at my children, and they're getting older every day. They're different, changing, every stinking day. Gabe? He's talking a lot more. He has also been waking up at 5 am. That's joyful, let me tell you. He loves to scream from his crib, "Maaaaaaaaaaaa. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaa." or sometimes, "Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar." It's cute and annoying all at the same time. I'll be honest, and tell you I like it when he's yelling Bar...(pronounced like Bear/Bare)because that means he doesn't want me!

Julian is constantly sounding out words. He loves to read books and is always asking, "Mommy what turtle start with? T-T-T-, turtle, T!!!!" It's cute. It's crazy how big he's getting. He's like a full blown kid.

Halloween was fun. The boys were dressed as Mario and Luigi. Julian decided months ago that's what he wanted to be. I was excited because it was easy! And they match. Those that know me, know I LOVE matching!

They're at an interesting age. A very uncooperative age. So the pictures I have are funny, and only one is looking.


Lil Luigi


Mario-who wasn't down with the moustache


Mario Bowls


I've read a lot of people that eat chili or soup on Halloween. That's a really fun tradition, we have one of our own. It's called the Lazy Mom's Halloween Tradiation


Papa Murphy's Pumpkin Pizza. I love Papa Murphy's and I'm so happy the new Waukee Papa Murphy's is open! However I didn't realize that that one was open and drove to the West Des Moines one for this pizza. Totally worth it though.

I got a haircut. I went to the Aveda institute. It was amazing. She did an excellent job, and made my bangs, or 'fringe' perfect.


It's going to be Christmas before we know it. Julian's already begging to put up the Christmas tree. We'll see how long we can hold him off!

Deadline

Remember when you were in school, and you had something due, say reading, due tomorrow? If you were anything like me, you waited until the day before the assignment was due, and just got crammed until it was finished. Well, Vampire Academy is due back at the library tomorrow! Eeep! No renewals either, because it's a hot item. So guess what I'll be doing into the late night hours? Cramming, finishing the book before it's due back at the library.

Do you ever...

...look at your child/children and think how did we get so lucky? I had a rough weekend, being sick, coughing, and Barry was studying for a huge Cardiology test. The boys were remarkably well behaved, almost as though they knew I couldn't handle much.

After being cooped up Friday, and Saturday, I decided that we should go leaf hunting. Around here there aren't many colorful leaves (in the complex) so we drove out to Adel, which is the cutest city ever, and hunted for leaves.

Yesterday, I picked Gabriel up. When I did, he made a kissing sound, and it totally melted me. I started thinking, how can I ever think about having another one? My boys are amazingly sweet, will another one work? We're not TTC, but thinking about thinking about TTC.




This picture impresses me. I was holding Julian above my head in a tree with one hand, somehow managed to focus and take the picture with the other!






This picture I like to call, Christmas Miracle. Both of my kids are looking at the camera, Julian is smiling, and they're not fighting. Definitely a Christmas Miracle.

Five Whole Years...

...Five years ago I started this lifelong/eternal journey called marriage. Five years ago I had no idea we'd be living in Iowa, away from all of our friends and family. Five years ago I had no clue I'd be blessed with the most adorable, sweet, and curious boys ever. Five years ago I had no idea how incredibly lucky I was to be marrying Barry Palizzi, my first and only love. OK maybe I had some idea about how lucky I was.

Five years ago the weather was shoddy, not entirely unexpected in Washington, in late October. Barry had skipped school, for probably the first time ever.

We were sealed by a Palizzi family friend, and it was amazing to be surrounded by so many loving people. Here we are on the temple grounds...the rain held out just so...


I really loved my dress


Our reception was the following day. I'd always dreamt of having my reception at the Japanese pagoda in the Point Defiance Park. It was available for the day we wanted.





I've been so lucky over the past 5 years to have such an amazing, supportive and caring husband. He is the best dad to our crazy, cute boys. And we are all so lucky to have him. I'm so lucky to have found someone that doesn't just put up with my crazy, he actually likes it!

Who knows where the next 5, 10, or 50 years will take us. All I know is that as long as I'm with him, we'll be perfectly fine.


Then...high school sweethearts




And a little more recent, Christmas last year (Taken by the most talented photographer I know, Stacy Jacobsen)

We're on a break...

...Me & Hulu that is.

Let me give you a little history. I used to LOVE Buffy the Vampire Slayer. LOVE. (My dork is showing, I know this) I also used to LOVE Angel from Buffy. So, I'm sure you can guess how excited I was when I found out the first season of Angel was on Hulu. Our love affair was glorious, wonderful, and completely perfect...until they took off all but the first 5 episodes. :( Now I'm waiting on Netflix to send me the next disc of Angel Season one. Oh Hulu, you have broken my heart.

In other news, we went to the World Food Festival on Saturday with some folks from SOS. It was really fun, and we had some yummy eggrolls. Not so much fun was the barely above freezing temperatures, plus my two whiny children. Ok, I take that back, Gabe didn't whine. He slept pretty much the whole time. Julian? Whine City and he's the mayor. Julian was mostly excited about the Asian food market we met up in front of. He got some M&Ms minis. Yep. That's what he chose at the Asian food market.

We also went to Smash and got Barry an early birthday present, and my dad's Christmas present! SO excited. Seriously, check out their site. The most clever and fun Tshirts ever!

All in all it was a fun day. I'm still in denial that it's Tuesday already. I spent the majority of yesterday engrossed in a book. Not one from my list. One that my friend Jenn has written and is now editing. I can't wait for it to come out. I will share when it does!

Here are some pictures from this weekend.

1. Julian and Gabriel both looking at the camera. They were about to go outside and play. For those that think Gabe is huge, I'll have you know he's wearing his 18 month snow pants for year #2.


2. Julian now thinks it's Christmas time. And is curious as to when we'll put up our tree. We keep explaining that it's still fall time, and we have to have Halloween before we can even think about putting up our tree.


3. When the whining started. Notice he didn't have his coat on. Bad mommy moment.


4. How Gabriel spent our time at the Food Festival. Seriously, he didn't eat anything! I know, I was shocked too.


5. See how Julian's much happier, wearing his JACKET? Yeah filed that little snippit away for the next snowy day.