Why me?...or Why not?

This week seems to be flying by, I cannot believe it is Friday already! I'm so siked for this weekend and it's really not that exciting, I just want to be able to share time with my family and friends. I'm so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing circle of support and for that I am thankful everyday. Upon waking up this morning with that cold air nipping at the wrinkles in the sheets, I hap to smile cause Autumn truly is my favorite season and even at these very small signs that it is approaching is just literally a breath of fresh air. Long sleeve shirts, jeans and sneakers, pretty sweaters for Rissa and nice warm hoodies for Nick. I thought to myself as I poured my first cup of coffee this morning and watched the steam swirl away, how lucky blessed I am to be able to enjoy such things. Just to be able to feel that crisp morning air on my skin, to have a sense of smell to enjoy the fragrant coffee, to behold the sight of the steam from my cup and know what it is to see. So many times we take for granted that all these majestic things come from somewhere, from someone. He gave it all to us, surely I try to show my gratitude and praise to him but yet I wonder, how do you say thank you for such immense gifts such as sight, smell, touch.... and those are only to name a few. How do I praise and thank Him for even greater things, like My life my husband, my children, my parents and friends and all of the amazing people and places and things He has given to me!!! ... I know this blog is dragging but there are so very many "?'s" I have... So many times when we hit a rough patch in life we think to ourselves "Why me?" lately I've been on a personal mission to try to ask "Why not me?" What did I do to avoid deserving these rough times? What have I done to deserve any better than this? Who am I to cry "Why me?" Instead I think when life is at it's very best moments we need to stop and say "Why me?" I'm not sure why You chose me to receive such bountiful blessings today Lord, I'm not sure what I've done that You count me as deserving of such wonderful things, but thank You! So today my dear Readers I challenge you, to stop in the middle of some random act, whether it be a success or a failure and say thank you and ask Him and yourself "Why me?"

Until next time my friends....Be Blessed!

(Just a cute fall photo from about 2yrs ago)

GG and the kids (That's my grandmother)

Mischief maker....

It's amazing how much time and thought kids put in to making trouble sometimes. Rissa has made me smile so many times today, but many of those smiles were followed by head shakes nad sighs. She started the day a 4:45am waking me up wanting to add milk to her already poured bowl of "cereal" which consisted of oreos and m&ms. Needless to say we chose something a little more healthy and breakfast like. I am truly blessed however that my daughter is so incredibly compassionate and such a good sharer. She made sure that when sh snuck pears out of the refrigerator she got one for Paige and Alasia as well and when I caught them with the pears she was more than willing to take all the blame. It's been a long hot day, I really can not wait for autumn to get here.

Today out "Little, loving Lesson" was to be greatful for your sibblings. We made cards for our brother/sisters. It was a lot of fun and the girls did great. When Nicky got home we took some pictures cause Rissa was so excited to tell him "Thank you for bein my brudder"

Sweet!

Silly!

Today and everyday is just such a blessing! I am forever greatful for everything I have been given, when all I really need is the Lord himself. I am truly honored to be the one He paid it all for!

~Be Blessed

Some day I'll be good at keeping up with this blogging thing!
Whats new at the DiDominzio Household??? How bout EVERYTHING... Nicholas started kindergarten! He loves it and is doing very well!

It never ceases to amaze me how time flies!

                                    This is Nicholas 5years ago on the same day August 17th!

We enjoyed an amazing summer with friends and family! Kayla was able to spend 9weeks  with us here in TN and we enjoyed every moment of it! She is getting to be such a beautiful young lady. She started the 5th grade this past week and as far as I'm aware she really likes it. Marissa is still Marissa, spirited and full of zest! She is so amazing in how quickly she learns and grows.

She just recently got a big girl hair cut, thanks to Nick who decided one day that she was du for one. I then took her to the local salon and had it fixed and although I'm pleased and she is adorable no matter what, I must say I miss her long hair.

                                    She is quite the looker if I do say so mself! Such a blessing!

Recently Rissa and I have had the joyful experience of helping  family in need and during the week I look after a family friend's two young girls Alasia (3) and Paige (2), it's a ton of work but so much fun. We just this past week started out pre-school worship fun in which we went for walk, car rides, trips to the mall and small kid friendly internet searches to help us find things that God made for us that we need to say thank you for. So sometimes I wonder to myslef, "How much of this stuff does a 3yr old really retain?" Until today when Rissa bowed her head for graceand stated so grown-up-like: "Dear God, thank you for my fishy, the birdies, my mommy, my Nicky, the trees and some food, Amen" I truly am blessed to have such absorbant children! He is suficient!

Rissa and Alasia on one of our Blessed outings.



Blessed be the brand new day!
We have tried many new things in the past, one of our most recent attempts at new things was a puppy. She's 9weeks old and she's absolutely adorable. She's sweet yet feisty and the kids really seem to like her. She's a little bit nippy and she makes lots of noise! Harley's not thrilled about her at all, and so unfortunately we're probably not going to go forth with keeping her. I really do love her she is pretty precious, but I'm not willing to put an already concrete member of our family (Harley) at risk. Hopefully her previous owners will understand and maybe even be able to find the perfect home for her. she really deserves tons of love and attention!
Yesterday, I'm prod to say was fairly uneventful. We pulled out the Dora memory game and I was pleasantly surprised that both kids did extremely well at taking turns and comprehending that if they got a match they were allowed another turn and so on. We made dinner together, a luxurious spread of macaroni and cheese and hand breaded chicken tenders. The kids had soo much fun getting their hands all dirty will egg and bread crumbs and the meal came out rather homemade looking.
I took on the challenge of hairdresser yesterday and cut Rissas hair myself after having brought her to a children's salon and they just didn't accomplish what I thought was necessary for her hair to be how we liked it. I think I did a pretty good job. I think my fabulous sister in law to be (who's a hairdresser) would be dare I say, proud of me. Rissa indulged in chocolate yogurt as I snipped away....

....yup she's still the same old Rissa she gets a little more in her mouth now a days but the remains of what she eats is always there. All and all it was a pretty quiet day, we napped....

....we smiled ....

....we laughed and played....

After bath we danced around the room while listening to kids tunes and the kids really loved that. After bath though Nicky noted something... "Hey mom with Rissa's new haircut, she looks like Dora" he the proceeded to call her Dora till the nights end.

At the end of this day I feel fulfilled. I feel like my mothering skills reach new goals everyday. I truly adore my blessed motherhood. I wouldn't trade it or my family for anything in this world. So with that said I'll leave you with this.

-Kids will make you scream when all you want to do is laugh, smile when all you want to do is cry. But they will always hold your heart together when it breaks apart. ~Anonymous

So until next time!

Be Blessed!

So today is a new day! We will start fresh and attempt to get something productive accomplished!

So as I have been gone for quite some time I figured a semi full update for everyone....

So we spent from the end of September till December 27th in Connecticut with my parents and it was soooooo much fun!

The kids were able to enjoy the fall foliage of Connecticut!

We picked flowers daily and Marissa really liked the flowers....

We spent a lot of time outside, the kids helped Papa clean up the yard to prepare for winter....

We took many a walk to get our energy out and be able to enjoy the gorgeous fallen leaves....

The kids really loved the crisp cool autumn days where they were able run and play outsied togetether, they really get along so well most of the time....


There were times when roles reversed and Nicky needed a ride and Rissa ended up being the driver, if only they would give mommy a turn....

We did tons of shopping with Noni in preperation for the holidays, we really had a lot of fun spending quality time together although I must admit it tired some of us out more than others....

We made a trip to the mall which usually is chaotic, but nonetheless we had a blast, we visited the disney store which had to be a favorite on our list, the kids just loved the display of "my size" stuffed characters......

The highlight of our trip was the wedding of our dear friends Pat and Lisa, where Steve was a groomsman, I was a bridesmaid and our little man was the ringbearer and he did such a great job....

Here's him and Gunk Dan enjoying the reception together....

(There are many other amazing photos of this truly awesome day, that I will post at a later date)

The time we were in Connecticut was a wonderful time to reunite with old friends and of coarse visit with Auntie Lori, Uncle Eric and Kenzie. We were also overjoyed to learn that they will soon be blessed with yet another member, a bouncing baby boy is due mid May of 2011!

We went to the park with Auntie Lori, Kenzie and a dear friend of mine and Lori's from high school Becky and her 2 beautiful little girls Abby and Emma, it was sooo much fun.

Here's 4 out of 5 of the kids from top to bottom it's Nicky, Kenzie, Rissa and Emma...

Holidays were great and the surprises kept coming, my amazing baby brother Daniel is going to be a father! I can't believe how surreal it is! I'm just amazed at how much of a man my brother has grown to be. He is truly an amazing person and Sarah is such a lucky girl. This baby is going to be sooo blessed to have such wonderful parents to watch over, guide and protect him/her. We will find out in less than a week whether its a going to be a boy or a girl. As long as he/she is healthy thats all that matters. The kids really loved spending time with "gunk" Dan nad Sarah. Rissa named him Gunk Dan. What kid wouldnt love time with them though, they are awesome, and Daniel is just a big kid himself....

Papa and Noni are really looking forward to being grandparents for a 3rd time!

The Holidays came and went and they were enjoyed by all....

We hope your holidays were just as blessed as ours were....

Then it was time to make our way back to Good Ole Tennessee, but not before we enjoyed on good snow storm....(18+")

It was well worth the trip, we truly are Blessed to have such an amazing Lord and Savior to Bless us wit hsuch awesome friends and outstanding family!

Until next time may you lives be truly blessed!

Well what a day it has been!

The Lord is my strength and its a good thing he is cause thee isn't a force other than Him with enough strength to handle the type of day I've had.

It all started at 7:09am when I was waken by Rissa bending over holding onto her ankles with her tush in my face. As she exclaims "Mom, I got a butt" thats when I think to myself "So do I but I dont see you jumpin out of bed to wipe it" Of coarse I don't say anthing like that I indeed do jump out of bed and change the poor girl's butt.

By 10am I had done absolutely nothing productive and decided it was probably time that I get to work, with tons of laundry to be sorted and dressers to be organized I needed to get a move on. But 1st let me throw in there that the insurance guy showed up to take measurements and pictures of the front and rear of the property today for insurance purposes. So of coarse as he did so Harley was to remain indoors which was fine as it was raining out. As soon as I knew the coast was clear I let Harley out to investigate the fact that there had indeed been a stranger in his yard. So I then started simply by loading the dishwasher (@9:27pm the clean dishes are still in the dishwasher where they will stay until tomorrow morning) and attempting the unknowingly tedious job of defrosting 2small pork roasts to be put in the crock pot. So i plugged the sink turned on the warm water and placed the roasts under the running water in order to defrost them. I then decided to make a lap around the downstairs to find any straggling sippy cups that may have lost their way to the sink, and as I passed the front window I happened upon a large black dog sauntering across the road. Upon closer look I then realized said dog belonged to yours truly. Realizing the nice insurance man must not have latched the gate properly, I then had to carefully place my children on the couch in front of a show that I knew would captivate them for a alotted period of time, and snaek out the front door to capture said dog. As Harley and I re-entered the house both a tad damp we walked into the kitchen just to find that we were not the only things that were wet casue as I mentioned previously I had began the attempt at defrosting the pot roasts by running water over them and yes it was indeed all over my kitchen floor. So I then hurridly cleaned that up, finishe loading the dishwasher, fininshe preparing the crock pot roast and turned in a sigh of relief that I was fininshed with theses tasks. Just to find my 2yr old stark naked dancing in the living room. My little moon child!

So needles to say this was the beginning to what promised to be a long day! I have yet to do any sorting, organizing or cleaning but I did manage to get both children bathed and actually enjoyed a lovely meal with my amazing sister in law Stefanie, who treated me to Red Lobster as a late birthday present and it was truly a blessing!

I am exhausted now and going to bed! So until next time Many Blessings!

Well Hello there! Miss me? Good! Well I'm back....sorry for the lapse in time between posts I suppose you could say I've just been very "un-bloggy" lately.
That asside, I have so much catching up to do! My last blog was in late April and it's now January!
So we made it through the awfully hot summer, I sware we didnt see a day under 90 degrees from May till September it was on the verge of awful! But we prevailed with good air conditioning and through God's good grace we indeed made it through! We spent a lot of time at the community pool which was tons of fun! We also took a trip to Westminster South Carolina to see "G.G. and G. Pa" (my grandparents) where we also spent time in the pool, Nicky learned to swim with no flotation device and prided himself on jumping off the "jumpy bored" into 11ft of water! He never ceases to amaze me!

Marissa is still Marissa, ever-tryin, ever-learing, ever-destroying little bugger that she is. She is now 2, as of July 5th (as is 1 was terrible enough) She still keeps me on my toes in fact now more than ever. Her vocabulary increases daily and she speaks rather well for a 2.5 year old. In fact she comes up with some pretty outrageous things. Such as "Mommy I hurt my pants when my shoes are off" and "Mommy Harley needs a time out he drank all the toilets" ( Harley is our loving family pet) ahhhhh yes Marissa the Magnificent, she sure is a tricky one that girl. None-the-less I wouldnt want her any other way!

Trying to ride a bike, and hide from the camera at the same time!

So Holidays are now over with which is sad cause it truly is my favorite time of year, and it was a great Holiday. We spent the majority of it in CT with our families and friends! The kids are spoiled rotten, and they love it!

All is right with my life I truly am blessed!

So until next ime....God Bless!