June In Review

Wow, what a great month we've had! So much to celebrate. We had John's surprise 40th Birthday party, Father's Day & Caroline's 2nd Birthday party! The house is still on the market, I found out that I'm being relocated to the Smithfield, RI. office, Caroline started swim lessons and absolutely loves it. Loretta is taking t-ball (with gymnastics on summer break) and a c-section date has been scheduled for Baby Boy. Enough for the quick recap, here are the fun details:

John's Surprise B-day Party
Yes, it was a surprise months in the making. There were actually two surprises, but one has yet to come to fruition. My mom, dad and the girls and I reserved a flight on a hot air balloon for John's 40th the morning of a surprise party at a great local restaurant with awesome outdoor seating overlooking a lake. Me, with my pregnant brain, completely forgot to tell John that he needed to take the whole day off for his birthday festivities so John had to wheel and deal with employees to re-arrange his schedule, all for naught since weather did not cooperate for the balloon ride. We've tried several times since, but anyone in NE knows we've been pretty gypped here weather wise for the last month or so. Anyway, I managed to convince John that this balloon surprise was really all I had in my back pocket for him with the exception of arranging a sleep over for the girls and reservations for dinner. When we got there, so many of Johns friends were able to attend and I think he was genuinely surprised by the get together. Friends from college, new friends, family all made it a great great night. I had a shirt made up, we had a cake with "Lordy Lordy John is 40!" on it and I even made up favors for the guests, little tins with mints that had a picture of John on them (around 9 years old maybe?) and "40 and handsome as ever!" written on them. John had such a blast and I'm just hoping we can get his flight in before this baby boy arrives! We are trying again this Sunday, so we'll see.



Father's Day

Next was Father's day which was so nice, as always. I helped the girls make t-shirts that said "Loretta/Caroline is Daddy's Girl" on them and they wore them for both his birthday and Father's day. Mom and Dad T invited us to lunch at a golf course which was lovely and has become a tradition. Ed and the kids and Ana, Hooman and Aryana we also there. We seem to be the only ones there each year with the exception of a couple of golfers who idle up to the bar so we pretty much have the place to ourselves. I neglected to bring my camera that day so I don't have pictures of everyone at lunch, but here is one of the girls in their t-shirts:

Happy Birthday Caroline!!!

I can't believe our little girl is two years old! She is such a riot, really funny and I can tell she takes after her uncle Paul and Chris because the girl already has a quick wit and loves to make people laugh. I made my first true tiered cake complete with dowels to support the extra weight and a cake board under the top layer so I could separate and server more easily. I'm really happy with how it turned out but I had made a cool 3D fondant butterfly to stick on the top but with all of the rain and humidity it never dried out enough. Speaking of rain, we had hoped to have a backyard party complete with kiddie pool and sprinkler but the weather did not cooperate, yet again, and it ended up being a cooler, misty, driveway party. But all the kids had a great time riding trikes or pushing bikes, doing chalk and getting tattoos. By lunch we were able to move to the back yard where we did "kanada" pinata fun and cake. Some kids took turns hitting the wiffle ball and our little left batter Loretta can really kill it! Caroline loved standing in line and taking turns along with her friends and when it came time for cake and singing she sang the entire birthday song to herself right along with us. After the kids went home and a little rest we opened her gifts and she barely got past her first doll gift from Grandma. The girl LOVES her baby dolls and for the first few days wouldn't bathe without her baby doll coming into the bathroom to be near and every time she ate her baby doll was in her carrier right next to her. She's such a lovey dovey and not just with her dolls. She is my Snuggle Bunny and every morning she wants to lay with me and wrap her little arms around my neck and just gives the best head hugs which last forever. I love every second of it!

Ok before i sign off - a couple of Lorettaisms:

Loretta telling her friends that her Daddy works at a restaurant called "John" Harvard's because everyone there likes him sooooo much.

An ambulance goes by with The Rod of Asclepius - Ancient Greek symbol for healing with the snake and staff (yes I had to google that - hooray for wikipedia) and Loretta says (really sympathetically) "oooohhh Maaannnn, I guess somebody's got snakes in their house".

Next steps for the Tarnuzzer Clan

Well, we are ever so lucky that we'll be spending a few days with Ed, Sharon and the kids down on the Cape again this year. The girls absolutely love playing with their cousins and being at the beach. That's at the end of July. The very next week we get to spend a few long overdue days with the Blakes!!!! Yeah!!!! They'll be visiting at the beginning of August for a couple of weeks and we'll get to spend a few days with them at their farm house. I look at pictures of Dev and Alex and I just can't believe how grown up those boys are! And don't even get me started on Izzy. I saw her at 3 months old and now she's 16 months old and wearing the same size clothes as our Caroline! I'm so anxious and excited to spend some quality time with Meg. After that I think we'll pretty much hunker down and await this baby boy's arrival! By then it will only be 3 more weeks at the most!

That's all for now! Hope you and yours are healthy and happy!

Couldn't be Happier!

I'm quite certain I will not be able to do the month of May justice, but I'll try...

It has been an amazing month. We started off the month in Naples for John's work conference which is always so well done. Mom, Dad and Paul met us down there to help out with the girls and ended up taking them every night OVER NIGHT! What a relaxing thrill! I got to enjoy John's nightly work events worry free and sleep until whenever... It was a dream! Loretta and Caroline LOVED spending time with their Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Paul. Swimming and exploring the zoo and eating yummy treats and collecting shells. Caroline gave nightly serenades to everyone and Loretta (taking after her mother) teased Grandpa and Uncle Paul by clinging to them one second and wanting nothing to do with them the next! A true brat in the making!

It was so nice spending some quality time with the family and I'm so glad the girls got some alone time with them and they got to see just how they have changed over the last year. They both took right to my parents and Paul - all the phone conversations and pictures helped Caroline to feel right at home with Mom.

Next major event was Memorial Day weekend. We spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa T's on Sunday where the kids had an absolute blast rolling down the hill and eating hotdogs and watermelon.

John had to work on Monday, but the girls and I attended the town parade, got to see the big fighter jets fly over and then had some serious play time in the pool. Loretta can be such a great big sister when she wants to be. She really has a good heart and loves her little sister, who trusts her completely with her safety... Now, trust her with a toy, oh no, but her life... SURE!

Last, but certainly not least, was Loretta's 4th Birthday Party. What a wonderful day. We had fantastic weather, tons and tons of great friends and family, sprinkler fun, pinata fun, hot dogs, tattoos, cake, water balloons, it just went on and on. Both girls were absolute troopers. Caroline hung tough and never got over tired. Loretta was a perfect little host giving her friends chips and dip and more chips and dip. We may have sent a few adventurers home with poison ivy, but what can you do??? Seriously though, we couldn't have asked for a better day. After the party (and failed nap attempts) we actually took the kids to the park where Loretta ran into a friend who couldn't make the party and learned how to jump off the moving swing! All in all it was a pretty perfect day. Thanks to everyone who shared in Loretta's big day.

Love to all!!!

Catching Up!

This spring is flying by, which is fine by me! So much to tell over the last month or so and a lot of pictures to share. I'll start off with the fact that we had our big ultra sound on April 2nd and found out we are having a BABY BOY!!!

Let me tell you this baby is ALL BOY too. He was trying to show us his goods in every picture! We are so very thrilled and I just can't wait to meet the newest man in my life. You have to know I've been lucky to have many wonderful men in my life. First there is my Dad (of course), next there is my nephew Jordan who I don't see enough but whom I love more than any Aunt can and I'm so proud of the man he is turning into, next there is my husband and now I'll have another little man to love and watch grow!

Next on the list...Easter which included our annual pancake breakfast with the T's, Ed and Christian and the Hodjats. We had a wonderful time as always. Loretta adored the Easter Bunny, as always. Caroline loved him from afar. So much so that even when he was all the way across the room you could hear her saying "Hi Easter Bunny, Hi, Hi Easter Bunny" over and over but as soon as he started to head in her direction it was "By Easter Bunny, By"! But by the end of the morning we got a picture with her and the Bunny and convinced her to give him a high 5. She had tons of fun hopping like a bunny with Aryana too.

The girls both got their faces painted and enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa T. Later the next weekend we dyed Easter Eggs, had an egg hunt and had a wonderful Easter lunch over at the Hodjats.

What else has been going on with the Tarnuzzers.... Let me see if I can recap:

• Loretta advanced to Ray swim glasses and begins with her best girl friend Ainsley next Saturday
• We celebrated several friends' birthdays including Christian, Aryana and Alex
• Loretta learned how to do the monkey bars all by herself and also turn flips on the bar above the slides - much to the chagrin of the other parents who I can tell think Loretta is teaching their kiddos bad things...oh well!!!
• Caroline has begun speaking in this really low scratchy possessed sounding voice on occasion and grabbing your head and turning it towards her and saying "look at me!" It's really hysterical
• The girls had their finger prints taken and got to dance with a cow
• We celebrated my birthday (no I'm not 29 again, I'm 35 and I'm ok with that!)
• The house is still on the market and we are having the outside painted
• John had a couple of big work events which went very well
• We experienced a few 80+ days in April, eating picnic lunches and dinners outside and even ran through the sprinkler on one day
• The Red Sox swept the Yankees in a 3 game match up and Ellsbury stole home base!!!

And what's next for the Tarnuzzer family you ask??? FLORIDA!!! We are so excited to be going to Naples next week and visiting with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Paul. The only two things that could make it better would be if John didn't have to actually work (boo) and if Chris and Trish and Jordan could come too.

Ok, I'm sure there is more to tell, but I'll let some pictures do the talking for me. Enjoy!

One for Uncle Paul!

ABC it's easy as 123!

John is doing well and so are the girls. Caroline, in the last couple of weeks has really started communicating in sentences and having little conversations with us. I’m pretty smitten with her right now. Loretta is doing awesome too. She now takes a Lil sports class, gymnastics and swimming and every single night when she goes to sleep it’s “what are we doing after rest mommy?”.

Thought you might enjoy a bit of singing!

We actually have some exciting/scary news. We are going to put our house on the market. We’ve met with a couple of realtors, both which feel we can get more for the house than we originally thought. So, if we can sell our house at a decent price and trade up for a larger house a bit further out, we’ll be in great shape. Needless to say, if we don’t sell the house fairly quickly we’ll just take it off the market again as I get closer to my due date. I’m excited about the idea of a larger house, but nervous too. We LOVE our yard and our wonderful neighbors, but with one more on the way we are definitely beginning to feel the squeeze. Wish us luck.

Oh, mom's been experimenting with her creative side again and quite successfully if I do say so myself. I don't actually have permission from the artist to post this, so don't tell her ok??? But isn't it great?!?

My dad got to get back on the racing track this month. He got to drive Dale Earnhardt's car. I don't have any pictures YET, but as soon as my neglectful brother sends some up I'll post them too.

So, last but not least, we've decided to find out the sex of this baby. I should say I've decided and John has sportingly agreed to whatever I decide. Our big ultrasound is April 2nd, so wish us luck for a healthy strong baby who is not shy and has her/his legs wide open!

That's it for now. Love to all!