the PALLOZZIs

new blogsite!!!!

2011-08-23T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!!!
the past 2 years or so blogger has been good to me... but I am changing from blogger to wordpress...
let's just say there were some better options available.

new website: www.spallozzi.wordpress.com

10 months

2011-08-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

happy 10 months!

our sweet gems is already 10 months old...

happy 10 month birthday!

she is the best baby ever.

i can't believe she will be 1 in just 2 short months!

welcome avery

2011-08-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

gemma is so excited to have a new little girl cousin

eric, gemma and i stayed with the 3 kiddos while ryan and adrian were in the hospital.

the day they came home we thought it would be fun to welcome baby avery home with a 'welcome home' sign.

of course, everyone had to have a sign to hold, even gemma.

we love you avery!

7 reasons why

2011-08-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

why i like mowing the lawn:

*instant gratification... if you wait long enough to cut the grass, it is so long, that the second you swipe over it with the mower it looks 10x's better

*get a nice tan...just slip on a tanktop (not a t-shirt) unless you want a funny tan line

*it is completely mindless work

*the cut grass lasts longer than 5 minutes...unlike housework, dishes, and laundry, the lawn will at least stay short for a couple of days, maybe even a week

*i feel like i get a workout without working out...just pulling on the cord to start the push mower is like lifting 20 pound weights 10 or 20 times (depending on how long it takes me to start it)

*i like to do things for my husband...this usually surprises him and is one less thing he has to do

*it inspires me to do other things around the outside of the house, as far as gardening, to make it look nice

just because i love you

2011-08-10T09:10:00.000-07:00

o sweet gems!!!!!
i am absolutely, positively in love with you!!
my heart is bursting
everything you do just makes my heart melt

guess that attitude?

2011-08-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

eric has been teaching a sunday school class for the last few months

right now he is focusing on Jesus' attitudes. each week he highlights a different attitude that the kids should work on. attitudes like... respect, pride, selfishness, etc...

each week he records a video of himself portraying the bad attitude and then the way he should have handled the situation.

the series is called... 'little boy eric'

he got quite creative with his video for next week...

can you guess the attitude they will be discussing next week??

starring: my hilarious husband (who also did all the editing)

( i am the recorder and the mystery 'mom' voice...which by the way we did eat those leftovers that night right before our recording session)

9 1/2 months

2011-08-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

9 month stats:

weight- 18lbs

length- 26in

her gramm bought her some really fun toys this week.
gemma loved them and when i would take them away from her she kept looking at me and then the toys and would sign 'please'.

she literally signs 'please' all. the. time. for. everything.

and ~~she is just so easy to say no to~~ how can i resist when she is being so polite and cute..... i can't!

anyway one of the toys is a bucket type toy with a mirror in the bottom of it.
the last picture is gemma sticking her face in it so she can see herself in the mirror!

its official

2011-08-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

i never thought it would happen to me but it has...

i have gone crazy.

remember the purple room? since then i spotted some paint in our garage that the previous owners left here.

there were lots of different paints left here...

my favorite?

mandarin orange

i couldn't resist so yesterday i got to work and finished off the laundry room in just a few hours.

so now... even though i still hate doing laundry

at least now i will enjoy going into the room even though what the room symbolizes is no fun.

(this picture of gemma doesn't really have to do with painting,

but i just couldn't resist her sweet face)

our little visitor

2011-08-03T08:42:00.000-07:00

we had a little visitor in our house the other day.

i guess he decided to make our home his

how about a close up

the two fearless lizard catchers, cornered him in the kitchen, caught him, and put him outside to find a different residence instead of ours.

the purple room

2011-08-02T10:06:00.001-07:00

i had a blue room in my house...

it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't my favorite either.

but i needed inspiration. i didn't know what to do with it. then it all came together beautifully.

a friend of ours found a futon that a neighbor was getting rid of... the best price free. how could we pass up this offer? so we went and picked up the futon, bought a new cover and a couple of pillows and the room looked great.

besides a few small details

the room did look great with the futon, but it was still blue and didn't match my newly purchased yellow and purple pillows...so what is a girl to do...

the only thing i could possibly do i bought purple paint, of course, and painted three walls purple. the accent wall is an ivory/cream color which we mixed ourselves with some paint that we found in our garage from the previous owners.

thanks to the help of some visitors this weekend we finished the entire room in less then 2 hours. i must admit... i love it. i never thought i would like a purple room... but i do!!

now i am just going to take my time to either buy or paint a perfect picture for the accent wall.

reading with daddy

2011-07-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

the other day i went to Bible study and when i got home this is what i found...

the loves of my life reading together.

gemma has a new found love for books and

eric and i love to read to her

so it works out quite nicely.

just the 2 of us

2011-07-21T14:32:00.000-07:00

trying to plan a surprise date night with the hubs.

it is kind of difficult...and it is actually more of a date afternoon/evening.

it seems like it has been forever since we have been on a date with just the 2 of us. i heard several times before we had gemma that we need to keep spending 'just us' time together. stuff happens though and schedules get crazy.

i am going to make it happen tomorrow though...

plan so far... drop gems off with aunt adrian and the kids, surprise eric at work (he only works 1/2 day on fridays), have a picnic lunch somewhere, this is the part of the date i am not too sure about yet (any suggestions are greatly appreciated; can you think of anything to do on a hot afternoon with the hubsters?), then for dinner i am planning on going out to eat for an early dinner. then we will head back to pick up gems and actually spend the night at ryan and adrian's. (we are going to a wedding saturday so... jenni and tim are staying the night there as well... we are probably going to stay up way to late and eat too much junk food, but that's what makes 'slumber parties fun, right?!)

so that's the plan...i am also planning on bringing my camera to take some pictures of just the two of us. i was trying to find some today and can't find many so i better make that a priority!!

let me know if you have any suggestions as far as something to do on a sunny afternoon!

kiddie pool

2011-07-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

after a hot morning at play group and a nice walk around the park

of course, after a short nap, quick lunch and some time with grandmama

we finally got around to...

gemma's new-to-her-kiddie pool

we got a small kiddie pool from some friends and gemma enjoyed it immensely.

i think we will be spending lots of these hot afternoons there.

my girl

2011-07-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

i've got sunshine on a cloudy day

when it's cold outside, i've got the month of may.

well, i guess you say what can make me feel this way

my girl

talkin' bout my girl

whats the magic word

2011-07-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

it is unbelievable how quickly and how young kids can pick up on things.

eric and i have seen the benefits of sign language with babies...

so we have been working on baby sign with gemma. she is doing really well too. she has 'please' down for the most part (with a little help.)

now we just need to work on 'more' 'thank you' and 'all done'.

maybe we will just name him 'kitty'

2011-07-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

after 14 years...we said goodbye to the family cat. ole' zeus.

it is now time to find a replacement...

cy and nolan, i think, picked just the right one...

he doesn't have a name yet, but he will soon!

(it is either this kitty or another one...i will let you know which one gets chosen)

good morning

2011-07-15T07:57:00.001-07:00

this is the sweet face that i get to see every morning when i go into gemma's room

picture post

2011-07-12T11:41:00.001-07:00

its true

2011-07-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

i knew that this day would eventually get here, but i was wondering just when it would arrive...

gemma really sat up by herself for the first time today!!!!!
she has been working up to it, but until today she has been falling either backwards or forwards.

i thought it was a good day to practice. i figured since she had the sitting up thing down,
(well she does for the most part, besides her falling on her face there at the end)

we might as well work on crawling, she actually didn't do too badly!!

i am so proud of our sweet gemma!! she is getting so big!

blanket time

2011-07-11T06:21:00.000-07:00

there are so many different aspects to parenting that i know nothing about. in fact, i was just telling eric the other day... 'how in the world did we get through those first months with gemma?' i mean we had no idea what we were doing concerning schedules, feedings, sleeping...you know everything involved with babies. not that we have everything figured out now by any means, but it just seems a little easier now that she is a little older.

there are several ideas that we have gotten concerning parenting that i have been trying to implement throughout our days... thanks to suggestions and advice from various people whom i greatly respect and admire their parenting styles.

these suggestions include, reading lots of books, practicing sitting in a high chair (so when we go somewhere she will actually sit in there and we can enjoy our time), swimming tips...

one such suggestion was 'blanket time'.

this includes simply laying a blanket on the floor with a few toys and having gemma stay on it for anywhere from 15-30 minutes. so right now it isnt too effective. she still rolls right off and i am constantly having to put her back on it and say, 'stay on the blanket'.

i know that she will get it eventually, but for right now we are still in the training process.

before & after

2011-07-07T21:27:00.000-07:00

one of the hardest things about moving, besides the huge task of unpacking, is deciding on the decorating and painting and colors.
i have actually finished the painting in the living room and kitchen...i am now trying to decide what to do in the guest bedroom and the master bedroom.
and now the very daunting task of interior decorating... it is so incredibly hard to decide what to decorate the house with.

never mind that tiny wreath on the fireplace... haha... i made it, but still haven't found quite the right place for it... and quite obviously it doesn't quite work on my lovely mantle...which, by the way, i can't wait to hang stockings on this christmas!

so here are the before and after pictures of the living room and hallway... i didn't get a before picture of the dining room, but here is the 'after'.

the pictures with the model are the before pictures

4th of july

2011-07-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

random

2011-07-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

yesterday we went to some friends' house from church. they run a wilderness camp for troubled teens and they have lots of horses. they actually use the horses for therapy type activities.

i dont know why, but i have this strange fear of horses. i used to love them, maybe i have just psyched myself out about them or something...

anyway, they just built this
huge horse arena.
it was amazing.
we all got the chance to ride a horse. (yes, i did make myself ride as well)
i knew i couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a picture of gemma riding, so we put her on a horse with uncle ryan and snapped a few.

that's about all she did. she is still not the greatest sitter, so i knew it was kind of hard to hold her and steer the horse at the same time.

ryan probably didn't care, but did i mention my fear of horses.

speaking of birthmarks

gemma's is getting so much lighter.

if you look closely in the first picture you can see it on her left thigh. i have really begun to notice that, especially in the middle, it is getting more faded.

i found this old picture from my cell phone of it. see how bright red it used to be. doctor's say that it isn't actually a birthmark, but is called a hemangioma (probably not spelled correctly). so supposedly it could fade away in time. since hers is so big they said that it could take up to 10 years.

this might be weird, but i am glad that she has it. i just feel like it makes her unique. of course, when she gets older she might not like it which is fine, but i love it.

we got a ~~new~~ used swing from my parents. so eric and i sanded it, stained it and hung it up on our front porch.

there is a small problem, we don't have a very wide front porch, so when we swing it will be more like we are swaying. oh well, at least it is aesthetically pleasing. i can't wait to go to some flea markets to find some small side tables to put beside it.

i am going to ladies nite tonite at olive garden...yum!!! eric is going to stay home for baby duty.

i don't really know what we are doing for 4th of july. i know that we are going to go watch fireworks, but that is the extent of our day so far. oh, and i cant wait to have gemma wear her 4th of july outfit from her gramm!

hope you have a great weekend.

i had better go do the breakfast and now lunch dishes.

gentle and humble in heart...

2011-07-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

"Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

(Matthew 11:28-30)

WOW! These verses really encouraged me this morning. What an amazing, precious promise.

As I was reading them I sat and remembered all those times when I am mentally beating myself up for some unfaithful act on my part towards the Lord.

Whether it is an act of laziness regarding my personal quiet time or a judgmental attitude towards an individual or maybe some selfish thought about what another person has that I feel I deserve more than they do.

It is after these sinful and unrighteous actions that I begin to 'beat myself up'.
I ask God why He would even consider forgiving me? After all, I commit the same offense over and over again. Why would such a faithful and perfect God 'save a wretch like me'?

Then these verses reminded me...

"...I am gentle and humble in heart..."

Thank You, Jesus.

I need a gentle and humble Savior. One who forgives me over and over again. A Master who grants rest for my weary sinful soul. A loving Father who does not condemn me, but instead sees me clothed in the pure white righteousness of His son, Jesus Christ.

So the next time I begin to get down on myself or become discouraged for not spending time faithfully with the Lord or sitting around being lazy instead of cherishing those special times with gemma...

Instead of becoming discouraged I will ask the Lord to, again, gently remind me that He faithfully loves and restores me back to a personal and intimate relationship with Him.

park swing

2011-06-28T13:32:00.001-07:00

every tuesday gemma and i

wake up

pack our bags

and head to play group for the morning.

each tuesday we go to a different location.

whether it is the pool, someone's house, or a local park

this week it was at one of the parks around town. gemma has been to the park before, but before, when we went, she was always too small to swing.

this time i though we should give it a try...

she loved it...

it looked kind of like she was sitting in half of an egg because the swing was so big and she was so small.

i forgot my camera, but thankfully my phone has a camera on it so i got a couple of pictures of her.

anyway, she had a great time and probably could have fallen asleep in there.

we will definitely be making the park one of our frequent places to visit.

family pictures

2011-06-27T14:02:00.001-07:00

we had a great time with family this month...

thanks to a little self timer we were able to take pictures of everyone

you might remember a while ago eric and i practiced with self timer. and we did it again.

the kids did pretty well...considering we took TONS of pictures... and lots of posing and moving and rearranging.

with 8 small children 6 and under you just have to take what you can get.

the weekend not only included pictures, but it also entailed...
bowling and picnics

and...did we go swimming? i don't actually remember, but we did have fun.

oh and mom made the BEST mac and cheese ever. i can't remember what restaurant the recipe was from, i only know that it had lots of cheese and maybe it should be the new tradition... i don't know what the tradition is for: family reunions, get-togethers, or just every time we go to mom's house for dinner.

alright, enough about mac and cheese... how about pregnancy...duh duh dum

i'm not,
but my two sis-in-laws are and we discussed some sort of addiction our family has...
babies!!
we also talked about how every kid in our family is 3-4 months apart from another kid in the family...except for 2. i told you...we are addicted

so having the whole family together was great...i wonder how may more kids will be added to the group for the next get together...either way mom is going to have to make that mac and cheese again... (and with the way our family is multiplying, a much bigger bowl!)

another first...

2011-06-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

i mentioned before that gemma is constantly having all sorts of firsts.

first day at the pool

first time to roll over

first tooth

well this weekend eric and i and gemma all had a first.

since we have been married eric and i had never been camping.

we went this weekend and it was so fun

put together no sleep

bugs

smoke

heat

fire

smores

swimming

and hobo meals

and it makes for a GREAT camping trip.

we can't wait to go again...

we have already made a list of things that we need to do differently next time to help the process

gems from gemma: first time visit to the zoo

2011-06-23T12:16:00.000-07:00

ready to go to the zoo with grandpa, grandmama, and my toliver cousins.
i had never been to the zoo before and couldn't wait to see all the animals.

daddy and mommy went with us too. one of the best parts of the trip was getting to go in the big church van with everyone.

nolie and cy had fun climbing on the fake statues that were scattered all around the zoo. maya and i had to stay in the stroller the whole time so we didn't get to climb on them...
but we didn't mind too much as long as we could hold hands while we were sitting there.

we even got to play in some fountains that we found there.

we got to get really close to some of the animals. they had a few of the animals like... goats, donkeys, sheep, a funny looking buffalo kind of a thing and a camel inside a fence.

it was a little scary sometimes, because i am just used to jack, not these funny looking animals. my favorite was the camel. mom told me that sometimes when camels are bigger people can actually ride them. the camel we saw was just a baby, so she said we couldn't ride this one.

and guess what grandpa and grandmama got for us...

ice cream!!!

i had never had ice cream before, but i just had to have a little bite of it when i saw everyone else eating it.

grandpa and nolan were nice enough to share some of theirs with me. actually i took more than just one bite.. yummy!! i loved it.

after the ice cream maya and i were getting sort of sleepy. i didn't want to leave to go take a nap, but i guess everything fun has to end sometime.

while maya and cy and i were sleeping on the way home, nolie was playing with mommy's camera and they took some pretty funny pictures.
i guess nolie is going to be a photographer when he grows up.

he can even take self portraits.

thanks so much, grandpa and grandmama for taking us to the zoo...

i can't wait to go back again sometime!!

its that time of year

2011-06-22T07:56:00.000-07:00

its time for teeball again. cy and nolan are both playing baseball this year. cy is playing teeball and nolan is starting coach pitch softball.

last night eric, gemma and i went to cy's teeball game. this was also jack's first outing for the summer. we had him in the car with us.
as we were nearing the park, eric realized that he had forgotten jacks leash.
so...

we improvised, i took out eric's shoelace and we used that instead. it actually worked pretty well. nolan had a good time at the game. he played with eric and jack. we sat near a fence...
we all the sudden heard nolan say, 'what is this?' and eric saying 'what is that smell?'
when we looked we saw that nolan had kicked a dead turtle over near us. yuck. it was actually a really big one too.

maya and gemma had a good time as well. as long as they were playing with each other and could keep each other company. which they did a good job entertaining one another.

cy is already getting into the spirit of teeball. it was so fun to watch him get into it. i have heard, as have you, more than likely, teeball as referred to as 'herd' ball. now i know where that term came from.

this is actually the night when gemma really stood up for the first time. as i mentioned earlier. okay, so she didn't stand by herself, but she stood with the help of aunt adrian.

she is getting so big. and i love watching her interact with her cousins. they really are great entertainers. she is constantly laughing at them.

she is also excited about our weekend camping trip. eric and i have never been camping...at least since we have been married. so we are pretty excited too!

contented

2011-06-22T07:01:00.001-07:00

gemma is quite content to just lay on the floor and roll around.
i remember before she started rolling around i wondered if she would ever roll over. now she is rolling around like a champ i am constantly have to peek in on her when she is in the living room to make sure she doesn't roll off the carpet.

recently i have begun to wonder when she is ever going to sit up. she just isn't interested.
yesterday, we went to cy's teeball game. aunt adrian was holding her and she was actually standing by herself. adrian was just helping her to balance.
she hasn't ever been interested in doing that before. she would always just bend her legs and try to sit back on the floor.

i love her contented nature, however, it is fun to see her starting to become more interested in standing and sitting up.

fashion statement

2011-06-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

i absolutely love big and bold headbands. so when gemma's 'gramm' brought this blue flowered headband out!!! i knew that it was perfect!!

we were going out on the town and with all of gemma's new clothes, decided on this 'little number'.

you would never guess that our poor girl has a fever...except maybe by the occasional frown and eyebrow raise here and there. it must just be teething...we are on to tooth number 3.

she is growing so quickly...her last doctor's appointment she was 15lbs. 8oz. (20th %) and 25in long (10th%).

she is constantly learning new things... and i love that each day she does something new!

she is so cute 'i could just chew on her all day' (as my nephew would say)

love you gemma jaye!

another day at the pool

2011-06-14T14:45:00.001-07:00

she's found herself

2011-06-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

eric's parents are here and gemma has been enjoying some time with gramm and pops.

they bought her a new "johnny jump up" toy. she doesn't quite get the idea of the 'jump up' part. she is pretty content to just let her feet dangle and not try to actually bounce in it. she does, however, love the toys on the tray around her.

one of the toys on the tray is a mirror.

when she discovered her own face... i guess she thought it was pretty funny.

swim lessons

2011-06-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

gemma has officially started her swim lessons. thanks to aunt adrian and her helper, cy, gemma got in some good practice.

so excited that summer is finally here and we can enjoy time at the pool and the park.

she loves her aunt adrian...even though she makes her work hard in the pool

she is all tired out, but she is getting more and more used to the water. we will see how she does as the summer progresses.

this is what we have been up to this week

2011-05-23T11:55:00.001-07:00

this is only the beginning...i still need to sort through 600 pictures.

its been a while and i have been busy

2011-05-09T07:01:00.000-07:00

just wanted to post a few pictures from our quick trip to va beach for izaak's graduation.

it was awesome seeing the va beach cousins...gemma jaye had never seen them before, but she got a kick out of meeting them.

she didnt get to see the ocean while we were there, but she got to enjoy the warm weather anyway. no sunburn here
cant wait for the whole fam to get together in just 1 short week!!!!!
maybe i will have the whole house unpacked by then... that's the plan anyway.
eric is going to georgia this weekend for another quick graduation trip so that will give me an incentive to try and have it all finished before he gets back. that and the fact that i will want everyone to hang out here so i need to get it done... and fast! (just keep ~~swimming~~ unpacking)
ahhhhhh... graduation season... we have three in the family this year.
congratulations janelle. eric's sister is graduating from high school saturday. we are still trying to convince her to move up here with us... so far, she hasn't succumbed.

easter photoshoot

2011-04-26T15:57:00.000-07:00

they are so much fun to take pictures of...

very close

2011-04-26T15:48:00.001-07:00

maya and gemma

they might be

what you would call

close...

maybe...

a little too close?

hoppy easter

2011-04-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

here are a few pictures from our Easter...

i must admit however, i am just not in the mood to edit pictures. i knew that i needed to do it before we leave for VA beach though so here are a few from our Easter sunday.

thanks gramm and pops for gemma's first Easter basket.
we just couldn't keep her out of it. =)

gemma had a great first Easter.
we are so excited for her to be able to understand the reason for celebrating Easter.
i have a feeling that it will be here before we know it.

we hope you had a GREAT Easter, celebrating our precious Lord's resurrection!

i want to post easter pictures soooo badly....

2011-04-25T15:08:00.001-07:00

but i am too busy packing...

where's ~~waldo~~ gemma?
can you find her amidst all the packing?

honestly, i turned around and was like, 'where did she go?'

i found these pictures

2011-04-21T09:42:00.001-07:00

okay...you asked for baby pictures. so now... what do ya think?

happy 1/2 birthday

2011-04-20T14:49:00.000-07:00

CANNOT believe that our sweet baby girl, is 6 months old.

its true. she is growing soooo quickly.

sadly, we didn't really celebrate, eric and i just packed up our house while gemma took a nap.

she did however get a surprise call from her aunt jenni, who sang her "happy 1/2 birthday"
gemma loved it. she just stared at the phone and smiled. it definitely made her day.

maybe we will bake her a cake...okay, maybe we wont. even if i wanted to i would have to search all of our boxes because my cake pans are all packed away...as is the rest of our kitchen.

anyway....happy 1/2 birthday to the sweetest little gal on the block!
we love you.

look alike?

2011-04-19T19:02:00.000-07:00

there is an ongoing argument....who does gemma look like.

maybe it isn't a huge argument...but what do you think,
does she look more like her madre or padre

it's too hard for me to tell, so i don't really have an opinion.

quite the little chatterer

2011-04-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

gemma jaye is becoming quite the little chatterer.
she had started talking a while ago, but not very much... then... this morning when she woke up she just was talking up a storm. eric and i were just cracking up.

enjoy gramm and pops.... =)

friends, the park, and the lucky number 200

2011-04-18T12:39:00.001-07:00

i think that spring just might be here to stay, finally.

this weekend my best friend and roommate from college days came down.

sunday afternoon was beautiful so we all went to the park together. when we got there the kids were enthralled by the game of horseshoes that was being played. it was fun to watch.

we were hoping to see a few ducks, but sadly, we didn't see any... i guess we will just have to go back another time and look for some.

we took a couple of family photos...

my mind is drawing a blank.
but before i sign off i will tell you the significance of the number 200...

this is my 200th post. (is 200th, even a word?)

can you read this?

2011-04-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

no? well, i couldn't read it either.

this is the text that eric sent me this weekend with words under it that said...
"can you read what this says?"

so what does it say?

eric passed his last and final paper... he is completely finished with his accounting classes and now has a 2nd bachelors degree in accounting.

good job, babe!!

untitled

2011-04-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

we had a little pedicure party the other day...of course she slept through her pedicure =)

o dear..... just seeing her smile makes my heart do flip flops

this could be the one

2011-04-06T15:04:00.000-07:00

with only 2 days of house hunting under our belts we have decided on the one for us...

it has some great qualities that we L.O.V.E.

when we first walked into the house we saw a beautiful fireplace and the whole house had real wood floors!!!

there is some great storage space in some cabinets in the hallway and i love the unique shape of the hallway...it curves around to the 3 bedrooms...

it does kind of have an oddly shaped light fixture in the hallway, but we can remedy that fairly easily

the guest bathroom is beautiful...

and the master bedroom....well i love the color, although i might be repainting it anyway, just because i am slightly obsessed with decorating and cant wait to get started redecorating a new house the house is made of bricks and siding and as you can see there is a large backyard with a privacy fence all around it hopefully it will keep little pests out of it... we are praying that closing will be April 29

*the model in these pictures did not receive any payment for her services.*

gems from gemma

2011-04-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

i used to love noises like........ 'yeehaw' ' yahoo'........ *in a high pitched voice*

now, well, this is the new noise that i like for daddy to make.

mama and i took him his lunch today at work. we got to sit outside in the sunshine. everytime daddy would look at me and make this funny noise i just couldn't help but laugh at him.

he is pretty much my favorite!!

i can't wait for him to get home from work so we can play some more!

mean mom?

2011-04-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

our little punkin got her ears pierced today

does that make me a mean mom? that i would pierce her little ears....i couldn't help it, they look so cute....... not that she needs any help in the cuteness factor, but it is just so fun to be a girlie girl!

i am so glad that eric let me do this. i had already told myself that if i didn't do it by the time she was 6 months...i wouldn't do it until she was a lot older. but, eric said that i could.

so gemma and i went to claires today with adrian and the kids and had it done.

the girl who did it was so nice and very accurate. (thankfully)

as you can tell by these pictures taken a couple of hours after the fact, she has fully recovered and is just as happy as ever.

so cute!!!

windy day

2011-04-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

we went to the park yesterday for lunch....

everyone had a great time. the boys had so much fun just running free

we couldn't believe how warm it was

the girls couldn't believe how nice it was either...

the only problem was...........

it was a little windy!!!

awwwww....

2011-04-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

mounds... and i don't mean the chocolate and coconut kind

2011-03-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

we take the term 'mounds of laundry' quite literally around here these days. okay so maybe it isn't just 'these days'. but the mounds just seem bigger than they usually do these last few weeks.

i could make alot of excuses as to why the laundry is piled so high.

excuses like:

i was planning a baby shower for my precious new niece or

i have been busy trying to organize a ladies tea for the women at our church

but of course i would never make excuses for my lack of motivation

or i could always attribute the fact that i have mountains of laundry to the fact that

i had to get a newsletter out for my church this week so i just put the laundry aside.

or i could of course say it is because eric and i have been trying to find a new house and if any one has ever bought a house they know how much time and effort it takes to find just the right one at just the right price. but i would never blame my laziness on those things

and maybe, just maybe it could be because I H.A.T.E. doing laundry!!!!

let me just vent for one second here...

i will sort. wash. dry. and lay neatly in the basket...

but i entirely dislike and completely despise folding and putting away the clothes!!!

(shew...thanks for letting me get that off my chest)

anyway...i had better get off of here, laundry is waiting.

(and we are running out of clean clothes...you think i am kidding...)

blessings

2011-03-30T11:40:00.000-07:00

i am quite taken with our precious baby girl.

she has me wrapped around her sweet chubby finger.

God has granted eric and i such a great responsibility in this small bundle.

i can scarcely believe that 5 months have come and gone since God placed her into our lives.

it was exactly 1 year ago on March 21 that i first discovered she was growing inside me. i never could have imagined how much she would bless my heart.

i cant even remember life without her and would not trade our life with her for anything in this world.

may God grant us wisdom as we raise her to love Him with all that she is.

SUN

2011-03-21T14:09:00.001-07:00

gemma borrowed her friends sunglasses today at the park. this was the first day that we went to the park that it was actually hot outside...i guess that means i need to head to the store and get little g some sunscreen.

spring is finally here...

shopping list:

SUNglasses

SUNscreen

SUN hat

(i love that everything on my shopping list has the word SUN in it)

a whole new world

2011-03-18T13:25:00.000-07:00

my dear, sweet husband... he makes me laugh...oh how i love him!!

happy st paddys day

2011-03-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

gemma and i took a trip to the park today to take a photoshoot for st patricks day.

she was too tired at the beginning so i couldn't get any shots of her smiling.

she was quite pleased later on, however, when aunt a and the boys showed up...

she was then all smiles!

(thanks for the green outfit, gramm)

2011-03-16T14:44:00.000-07:00

cell

2011-03-15T12:12:00.001-07:00

(quite the charmer)

(super girl)

(posin in her sleep)

(a day at the park)

(lovin cousins)

(lil farm girl)

some pics i have taken of our sweet baby girl.... i took them on my cell phone so some of them are a little fuzzy.....but you can still see her pudgy face...... i like to refer to her as our "buddha baby"

4 months

2011-03-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

she was actually 4 months old a couple of weeks ago

but better late than never.

first bite

2011-03-09T13:23:00.000-08:00

having a baby around sure brings around alot of firsts. we have been experiencing new things with gemma every single day.

she had her four month doctor's appointment yesterday.....her current stats are:

weight: 13lb.3oz.

length: 24in.

and two shots in her leg.....so sad. she actually did really well with the first shot, she even smiled, but the second shot did her in.

so we asked the doctor when we could start feeding her solid food, he said anytime.

eric and i tried giving her a little bit of cereal...................

she did pretty well eating it, well she didn't really eat it she actually kept getting some in her mouth and then spitting it out.

can't believe how big she is getting!

we are going to keep trying so she will eventually get the hang of it.

succumbed

2011-03-01T11:37:00.000-08:00

i finally succumbed......

it just wasn't working......

something had to be done.......

this is the way it has to be.......

......at least until we move.....

this arrangement......

......just wasn't working........

at least not for naptime.

gemma has always been a great sleeper, but she was having so much trouble taking naps in the middle of the kitchen. so i moved her to our bed for naptime.........

it worked!!

happy birthday to nana

2011-02-28T15:46:00.000-08:00

gemma wanted to wish nana....her GREAT grandma a very happy birthday!!

head banger

2011-02-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

g was sporting another new headband the other day. i am now in love with these headbands with the homemade felt flowers on them. being a blog jumper i found this on a blog the other day...... and instantly fell in love with them.

total......jenni and i made about 12 headbands a piece. the price for everything was probably about $8. not bad for so many headbands.

needless to say, gemma will never be in need of a headband to match an outfit.

this expression is crackin me up....................................................' what you talkin bout willis?!'

and i might be mistaken......but doesn't little g look a lot like her cousin brynna?

that's what i thought when i saw these pictures anyway.

gems from gemma

2011-02-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

mama and i just got home from our trip to visit my very newest cousin sydney jade and my aunt jenni. mommy told me that sydney was just as little as i was when i was born....i don't know if i believe her though.......she feeds me so well i can't remember really being that light.

sydney and i took a nap together, we wanted to have some bathtime too, but mama and aunt jenni got too distracted talking and making us new headbands to give us baths. o well, maybe next time.

we did get to go to sydney's doctor appointment with her and then we all went shopping together. i can't wait till sydney and i can run around and play together.

the night before we left we all watched murder, she wrote. mommy gave me the best seat in the house. i am trying to learn how to sit up....mama says since i haven't rolled over yet, i better get with it and sit up instead. i am working hard though. i have almost rolled from my back to my stomach several times. mom is trying to get it on video, but i am going to trick her one of these days and get her without her video camera. =)
i did sit up by myself for a little while. mommy took a picture with her phone and sent it to daddy since he was back in branson.

i had so much fun....but all that chattering with my cousin wore me out.

another first

2011-02-21T09:54:00.001-08:00

gemma jaye's

first trip

in her stroller

without

the carseat.

we were there too...

but it's really

all about this cutie

she had a great time.

but all good things must come to an end.

can't wait

2011-02-18T12:28:00.001-08:00

gemma jaye and i are so excited to go and visit this little darlin'....sydney jade.

she was the size of gemma when she was born and it is so hard to believe that g was really that little.

gemma and i are going up to kc to visit her and her mommy, jenni, next week!

we are going to have some awesome girl time together!

gemma can't wait to play with her cousin sydney!!

(and take a few hundred pictures together, i am sure)

conversation

2011-02-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

gemma jaye is becoming quite the conversationalist!! and we love it....i think that she has just discovered her voice

a day at the park

2011-02-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

basketball boys

2011-02-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

here are some quick videos of the boys playing basketball.

watch the difference in their attention spans....hilarious!

winter daze

2011-02-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

it looks like the harsh part of winter may finally be over........well at least for now.

we did take advantage of the snow last time and went out to play in it for a while. it was the perfect day for it. the snow was perfect for packing and the sun was out, so it wasn't too cold.

i didn't realize that snow was so heavy....we were trying to roll up the three seperate pieces of
the snowman and were struggling. it was pretty funny to watch though.

then, instead of the usual pieces that snowmen are made out of, like carrots and coal, we used different pieces that we found either in the yard or in the burn pile.

hence the funny looking coil that we used for his nose.
after the snowman was officially finished, we played fox and goose, snow baseball and had a good ole' snowball fight. as we were just finishing up all of our snow games we went to check on the snowman and discovered that our creation had already fallen over.....at least we got pictures.

you might be wondering what our sweet snow bunny was doing during our adventures in the snow.......

well, she was bundled up snuggly inside taking a nap.

take 1 or take 2

2011-02-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

eric has the knack for making gemma smile....maybe it is his endearing voice....no matter..........

here are a couple of videos that eric took the other day while i was at the grocery store.

let me know which one you think is the best...

"take 1"

"take 2"

preview

2011-02-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

here is a preview of our lil valentine...she got the most ADORABLE outfit from her gramm and i just had to try it on her the other day...

i am trying to make myself wait until valentines day to post all of her pictures with the outfit on. what a cuddly valentine she is!!

fun in the snow

2011-02-02T19:35:00.000-08:00

erics art work

2011-02-01T20:54:00.001-08:00

all you need is a little bit of mustard, some leftover tortilla pieces, and some shredded cheese...

then you can make a lovely masterpiece like the one eric made with our leftover midnight snack!

blizzard of 2011

2011-02-01T14:18:00.000-08:00

everyone was frantically shopping yesterday as i made my usual monday afternoon grocery shopping trip. i even saw a picture of all the bread on the shelves....gone!! of course with all the predictions, we thought we could get up to 14" of snow...yipes!

so far maybe 4-5 inches. i know that we are supposed to get some more tonight and into tomorrow a little bit, but i am convinced that branson has a bubble surrounding it and we don't usually get all the snow that everyone else around us gets.

it was nice though, eric and i got a snow day together...so we decided to be productive. i gave him a much needed haircut.

i'll be honest, i like his hair a little longer, but he likes me to chop it as short as posible so i won't have to give him another haircut so soon. oh well, that's the way it goes, i guess.

after the haircut, we watched singing in the rain. i know i said that we decided to be productive, but you have to do a little something fun on a day when you don't HAVE to do anything.

i finally convinced myself to go out and take a few pictures of the blizzard. you know i even heard that this storm is supposedly going to affect 1/3 of america...crazy, huh!

well, it was gorgeous, but extremely windy!

it was fun to get out in the blowing snow for about 10 minutes...but my fingers about froze off very quickly so we went back inside...

and obviously...come rain, come shine, come sleet, come snow....the mail must go through!! good for them!!

and as much as i wanted to get some cute pictures of gemma in the snow...i refrained and made a makeshift snow scene on the couch!!

our sweet little snow bunny

all smiles

2011-01-31T14:45:00.000-08:00

gemma seems to be all smiles these days.

it is so fun to see her face light up when we talk to her. she is really starting to be aware of things going on around her.

she isn't, however, the only one who is all smiles these days.
eric, as some of you may know, has been taking classes on-line to get his bachelors degree in accounting. he has also been working at a mexican restaurant here in town for the past two and a half years.
both of us have been praying for the past year that the Lord would provide a job for him in the accounting field.
it seemed, however, as though the Lord was having us wait for something, but what?

about two weeks ago the Lord began to do some incredible things. (not that he isn't always, but this was a definite answer to prayers =)

a man from our church who is also a cpa and has his own firm in town pulled eric aside after church. he and eric have been meeting together for the past few months just so he could give him advice on accounting things.
anyway, two weeks ago or so, the cpa pulled eric aside at church and told him that he wanted to meet with him. they mey later that week and he offered eric a fulltime job with him starting in april!!

eric and i couldn't have been more excited!! this is just the kind of opportunity that we had been praying for. we have been making plans to make a more permanent home here and are getting very excited to see all that God has in store for us while we are here.

so as i said before, smiles are running in the family as of late!!

leg warmers

2011-01-27T14:57:00.000-08:00

so i have been looking like crazy online to find inexpensive leg warmers. let me just say...it is impossible to find them!!

the cheapest pair that i have found is $7.50/ pair. okay that doesn't sound outrageous, but if i want more than one pair, then that is just too much to spend.

the other night i was looking online again and found the perfect site...it explained an easy and inexpensive way to get leg warmers...

make them yourself.

now i am anything but a seamstress... (oh contrar...i know you are shocked since i was a home ec major, but it is true)

but, yesterday i sat down with the tutorial and began the step-by-step process.

i started with a pair of my knee socks...

cut off the toe and the heel...

turned the foot part inside out and in half...

put the ankle part into the folded foot part...

sewed the raw edges together...

and voila!!

a pair of peg warmers!!

well, as i said before, one pair just isn't enough...so i grabbed the other pair of knee socks i had in my drawer and began the process again...

two pairs just isn't enough, especially since they hadn't cost me anything yet...so i went to target and bought more knee socks for just $2/ pair.

isn't that a great deal?! so instead of paying $7.50 - $12/ pair i only spent $2!!

gemma was pretty excited about them...she is quite fashionable!!

parents prayer

2011-01-25T21:35:00.000-08:00

makes me laugh

2011-01-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

gemma loves her daddy...he makes her smile SOOOOOOO big!!!!

me and my girl

2011-01-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

gems from gemma

2011-01-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

mommy and i had so much fun in kansas city with uncle tim and aunt jenni.

after getting 9 hours of sleep, mommy and i left bright and early tuesday morning.

when we got there i got to go see some pictures of my new cousin. i am so excited for her to come out and play with me...it is only going to be a few more weeks and then i won't be the youngest cousin anymore. i can hardly wait to have another little girl cousin to play with.

it was fun to look at her on the funny computer screen, mommy told me that they could see lots of hair on her head just like me. maybe mommy will let me buy her a few headbands so we can wear them together!

my aunt jenni sewed a new little wrap so she can wear her baby around, she let me try it out. i liked it alot and could have stayed there all day, except i had to get out so mommy could give me a bath.

that is my favorite part of the whole trip...i love getting baths. aunt jenni took lots of pictures while i was taking a bath. i tried to smile for her the whole time, except when they took me out of the tub... i wasn't very happy then. they just don't understand that i would rather stay in the nice warm water instead of getting out and being cold.

but uncle tim came home and held me for a while and that made me feel better. he sure is funny. he made some pretty funny faces and made me want to laugh out loud...the only problem is i don't quite know how to laugh out loud yet, so i just gave him the biggest smile that i know how.

i can't wait to go back up and visit them when aunt jenni has her baby!!!

we are going to have so much fun together

3 months

2011-01-17T20:28:00.000-08:00

our baby girl is getting so big...

i can't believe that she is 3 months old already. actually gemma was 3 months wednesday, but her procrastinator mother didn't get her pictures taken or posted until tonight.

she got this adorable outfit from her aunt cara. she loves it! okay, well, i love it and i love that the bib actually has her initial on it!!!!

her last doctor's appointment she weighed 10 lbs 5 oz... did i already tell you that

(can't remember, i must be getting old)

well, she is getting to be quite a chunk.

...but, obviously, we can't get enough of her.

she is really starting to smile at us and it just melts our hearts when she does. she is a real charmer.

she and i are leaving in the morning to go on another road trip to visit her aunt jenni and uncle tim. it is just going to be an overnighter, so it will be pretty quick, but she is super excited to visit them... can't you tell.

our little girl is growing fast and we love her more all the time!

uh-oh

2011-01-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

birthday boy

2011-01-16T14:02:00.000-08:00

so eric's 25th birthday was last week.
eric and i went out for dinner while adrian watched gemma for us. i wasn't going to do anything else, but decided since it was his 25th birthday i should do a little something.

so i made dinner and took it to ryan and adrian's house for everyone. it was kind of a surprise.

i was going to wait and have the surprise after dinner and bring out the peanut butter bars while we sang happy birthday...but... when we got to the house cy came up and said, "you have to wait to open your present" so we just sang happy birthday right away.

even though we turned 25, i only had 24 candles...i mean, i would have gotten 25, but there was a pack of 24 candles for $.88 and i didn't want to buy a whole other pack just for 1 candle.

here was one of his presents...well not really, but the boys had fun getting wrapped up and then popping out and surprising eric!

happy birthday, birthday boy!

pastime

2011-01-14T15:45:00.000-08:00

gemma's favorite pastime (besides eating, of course) is sucking on her fist.

shout-out

2011-01-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

gemma wants to give a shout-out to all of her AWESOME aunties:

jenni, adrian, anneke, aimee, cara, and janelle...

you all are the awesome-est!!!

gems from gemma

2011-01-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

uncle izaak, aunt anneke and my virginia beach cousins gave me a Jesus storybook bible for christmas this year. every night either my mommy or daddy read to me from it. we started at the very beginning and are reading through the entire Bible.

i love it when my mommy and daddy read to me. last night it was my daddy's turn to read. he read to me about moses and the burning bush...wow, what a story... i think that it is my favorite story so far. i sat there and listened really quietly, well, most of the time i sat there quietly, but i wanted to stop in the middle of it so mommy could feed me.

mommy and i prayed together this morning because i have to go to the doctor this afternoon and get some shots. i am a little nervous, but mommy said she would stay right there in the office with me and it wouldn't take too long.

shew. all this typing has taken all my energy. i am going to go take a nap so i can be ready to meet aunt adrian and my branson cousins at the library later this afternoon.

gemma jaye

the christmas competition

2011-01-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

adrian and i were privileged to direct the Christmas play again this year. it was such a different experience than the last two years.
in the past we have done a huge production with anywhere from 15-25 kids ages 4-12 years old. they have all been musicals and lots of lines. although the kids musicals have been so much fun, they take hours of preperation and are very time consuming.
this year we still wanted to have a christmas play, but didn't want to have to put all those hours into it.
so.......to make a long story short (or is it too late for that?).............we decided on a play that only has adults in it. all adults equals a lot less man hours.
we had so much fun. everyone was hilarious and adrian and i were blessed to have all of them help us out.

the play was called 'the christmas competition'. it was about two families who tried to outdo one another in regards to christmas....and as one of the lines in the play said...'the only two man made structures that can be seen from outer space are the great wall of china and our two houses.'
the whole play was filled with hilarious antics and witty quips. everyone played their parts beautifully. my darling husband is quite a character.......... he played the part of one of the husbands who was trying to have the most decorations........of course, the only way to play this part was with a strong new jersey accent that had people in stitches.

so all that to say, the play was a success and adrian and i are excited about next year!!

georgia christmas preview

2011-01-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

we had a great christmas in GA. lots of family around...they were excited to see us too...well maybe i should say that they were excited to see gemma.

they were somewhat excited to see us, but gemma is now the center of attention and we wouldn't want it any other way.

she got to meet both her great grandparents and her aunt cara, aunt aimee, and uncle bill.

she also met her cousin jackson and several other great aunts and uncles. she got lots of christmas presents from everyone and we actually were able to fit it all in our luggage for the plane ride home.

she did a great job on the plane. on the way there she slept about half the time... on the way home she slept the entire time. what a great girl.

we're leaving on a jet plane

2010-12-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

our bags are packed

we're ready to go

we're standing here outside the airport door

we had to wake up early to say good-bye.

we kissed her, she smiled for us

and she said she'd be good for us

i'll hold her in my sling during the flight.

cause we're leavin on a jet plane

be back come next saturday

oh baby, she's really ready to go.

2 month update

2010-12-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

she is already 2 months old!!!

things have been quite crazy around here...that story is for another post...right now i am just enjoying being with my growing girl!!

she hasn't had a doctor's appointment in a while so i don't have any stats, but, eric and i will probably weigh her ourselves before we head to georgia for christmas.

she has started to be able to follow our voices and she is focusing a lot better. i have her in 0-3 month clothes already. and she is awake so much more than she used to be. (of course, these pictures wouldn't prove that she is awake more)

eric and i are having so much fun parenting gemma...

first road trip

2010-12-10T15:57:00.000-08:00

sarah took a road trip with gemma to visit aunt jenni and uncle timbob. They had a good ol' time helping jenni register for her baby shower. While they were gone I was able to get some work done and also went to my work's christmas party.

this is probably my favorite picture of gemma so far!

christmas photoshoot

2010-12-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

time for a photoshoot!! ryan and adrian and eric and i decided it was a good time for a photoshoot for christmas cards. okay, so a and i thought it was a good idea...the boys needed a little convincing.

untitled

2010-11-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

more swagbucks

2010-11-23T10:58:00.000-08:00

you might remember when i posted this certain picture a number of months ago... there is a great search engine called swagbucks that allows you to search through them just like google and they give you bucks. after earning a certain number of bucks you can go to their store and buy any number of things.
eric and i choose to buy amazon gift cards...this is what we bought several months ago...

...and this is what we just got in the mail with all the other swagbucks that we earned.

total we have spent about $212 except we got the money for free.

want to try it... http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/spallozzi

now that's what i call progress

2010-11-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

(cake: courtesy of Ryan)

four week photoshoot

2010-11-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

i cannot believe how FAST time goes by...it literally seems like i just found out that i was pregnant and now gemma is already one month old!!!
she is growing so quickly!!

another weigh-in

2010-11-11T19:03:00.000-08:00

drum roll please....

playing catch up

2010-11-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

it has been a while and there has been a lot going on in this household!! not to mention gemma's first appearance at church...

eric, the proud daddy, got to hold her up in church and introduce her to everyone...and dad, the proud grandpa was able to announce her...our church always has new parents stand up and introduce their new little one...it was very strange having the little one being introduced be ours!!!!

she wore the beautiful sweater that her aunt cara made for her...she is growing so fast i had to make sure that she wore it before she outgrew it!!

today, being veterans day gemma and i went to a museum with adrian and the kiddos!!! the admission was free. i wasn't too sure how the boys would like it, but let me tell you they LOVED it!! two of the three floors had tons of stuffed animals, everything from grizzly bears to zebras. maya and gemma however, were slightly uninterested.

i am already beginning to see what a trooper gemma is. she was really hungry, but i had her in a sling and gave her a pacifier and she was very content just laying there, even though she was an hour past her feeding time!!!

i didn't take any pictures of gigi, but i will have to take a few in her sling...i had to bring the sling along so adrian could help me figure out how to use it exactly...thanks a!!!