chef evan

evan is officially a two year old! even though we are extremely tired and worn out, we feel bless and energized to be his parents. GOD sure does work in funny ways. we just got back from our trip, so i will say goodnight. thanking GOD for our extra ordinary boy...evan.
favorite gifts so far, the kitchen set from mima and pipo, and the mega blocks car set from aunt wendy, uncle mark, and aidan...thank you!

Baptism update

Joel's baptism is the Sunday August 23, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at Queen of Peace church in Gainesville, FL. it is the same church where Evan was baptized.
Godfather...Peter Ticola (Matt's older brother)
Godmother...Dianne Beruvides (Daphne's cousin)

On a side note...we've done lots of things this summer. Unfortunantly all the photos are saved onto our laptop. Our router isn't working so I haven't been able to update our blog. I need to blog about Aidan's birthday bash, and our trip to meet baby Lauren. There's so much to show you!

Lately everyone but me has been under the weather. We hope to be all in good health this week for our trip to Florida.

meet me in the garden

Several weeks after our 6th wedding anniversary we were able to celebrate the occasion with a day trip to the Biltmore house in Asheville, North Carolina. We arrived in the Biltmore village and ate lunch al fresco at La Paz, a mexican restaurant. The weather was just perfect for that. We then drove to the Biltmore house where we toured the house and grounds. The house is amazing. Something that rivals homes in Europe, but our favorite was the gardens. Everything was blooming. I felt as if I were in the book "The Secret Garden". We had an early dinner on the grounds at the Stable cafe. The dinner was fantastic, and so was the Century wine! We ended our day with a concert under the stars. Mercy Me is one of my favorite christian bands. Praising God at dusk with beautiful mountains as the backdrop. Words can't describe the sensation. God's creation is beautiful!

Love bash at the Park

On Saturday July 11 we were able to meet some of our neighbors. Our neighborhood hosted a Summer bash with food, games, swimming, and a fire pit with smores.
We met some families with children Evan's age. I'm hoping to host a playdate sometime soon with the new families we met from the neighborhood. Evan had fun running around on the recreation field with his Papi. Joel fell asleep while enjoying the afternoon breeze in the stroller.

The next day we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary with the boys. We enjoyed an early dinner at Outback. Evan and Joel were both on their best behavior. Our waitress kept commenting on how quiet Joel was and Evan kept flirting with the another waitress there. It was like they both knew that it was a special dinner for Mami & Papi, so they were very well behaved!


Our dinner was an early one so we had time to take the boys to a Cleveland park to play at the playground. Evan enjoyed his Papi pushing him in the swing. Then it was Mami's turn to push Evan. He laugh and laughed everytime I grabbed his feet. Joel enjoyed watching his big brother run around from his stroller. Soon enough Joel will be joining his brother.

playmates, food firsts and sweet story time

Every day I am amazed by the growing interaction between Evan and Joel. Plus, the fact that I was never able to experience what they are experiencing is so cool to witness! Whenever Evan is around Joel is consumed with watching him, and now has decided to laugh at his silly big brother. Evan has finally began noticing that his baby brother reacts to him. Evan already has an audiance. I caught Evan pushing Joel around and around in the exersaucer yesterday. I noticed him doing it because Joel was giggling. I keep our camera on the kitchen counter for capturing these quick moments...

Joel had his four month well child visit today. He's a little bit late with it since our move up here put him behind with the well child check ups. He weighed 15 lbs. 13 oz. and measured 26.5 in. long. He's doing so well. He's such a happy and peaceful baby. He loves to laugh at his brother. Yesterday I gave Joel a small amount of cooked rice cereal. He took to it very well. He still has to work on his tongue thrust. It pushes most of the cereal out of his mouth.

Last night I was able to catch Matt reading to both boys before dinner time. They both love when their Papi reads to them. They always stay put when Papi reads to them. I'm always struggling to get Evan to stay put and listen. Although, Evan enjoys looking at books on his own.
Life's so much sweeter with two!

Let Freedom Ring (bluegrass style)

Matt and I were commenting that yesterday's fourth of july festivities were truly what fourth of july is all about. We've never really experienced a day quite like we did yesterday. Just real Americans who are proud of who they are and where they are from. Eating, eating, and eating. Listening to bluegrass music being performed by their fellow neighbors, enjoying the fabulous weather (not sticky), and watching fireworks that seemed to never end. We got to accompany our friends and their two girls to a local farm in Greer, SC. which puts on this celebration every year for a few of their friends (400 plus). We had no idea what to expect, so we were pleasantly surprised by the great Southern hospitality, and amazing home-cooked foods. The farm has several buildings that have been specially built for these functions. One building housed the bbq pork sandwiches, and chicken with all the yummy fixin's like corn on the cob, beans, salads, ect. The other building housed the desserts. I certainly had my fill!!! Cookies, brownies galore, tons of cakes. It was an eye opener to see all of this food. All of this was free, and put on by this family...the Bruces'.
We arrived around 6 p.m. and the kids were able to last for there first fireworks display also put on by the Bruce family. There was a beautiful full moon, and the mosquitos took the day off. We sat around there pond watching the fireworks light up the sky. There were a few tears, but those subsided. Joel fell asleep, and big brother Evan watched in wonder while Matt held him.
Needless to say we enjoyed our South Carolina Fourth of July.

Joel on July 3rd at Falls Park in downtown Greenville.

Beach buds

What a lovely beach! Matt and I took the boys a couple of weeks ago to Topsail Beach, NC. It's near Wilmington, NC. Our close friends Tony and Susie were staying there for the second time with their family for the week. Gabby our goddaughter was celebrating her 2nd birthday, and we wanted to meet the newest member of their adorable family, baby Sophia. We rented a duplex from vrbo.com for two nights. It makes so much more sense to rent a condo or home when you have more than one child than to stay in a cramped hotel room without a kitchen. I highly recommend that website for all your accomodation needs.
Tony has the sweetest family! They ALWAYS make us feel so special and so welcome whenever we see them. We've told them many times that we wouldn't mind them adopting us into their family if they are looking for more. They are too sweet to say, NO WAY! :) We were so surprised by Evan's reaction to the beach, because he absolutely hated it. Matt and I are both fishes, and love the beach. Naturally, we thought Evan would be the same. We are hoping that this is will pass, or maybe he's more into mountains. If that's the case he'll be thrilled when he realizes where we've moved to.
Here are some photos from Gabby's Minnie Mouse themed party. With matching t-shirts and all! Susie is just the best when it comes to things like...EVERYTHING!

High Above the Sky

On Memorial day we drove to Simpsonville another suburb of Greenville to attend Freedom Weekend Aloft 2009 at Heritage Park. The festival is every year and it lasts all weekend. They have concerts, like Sister Hazel, carnival rides, and food. The highlight of the weekend is the launching of the hot air balloons. Evan loved seeing all the different colored balloons in the sky. It also gave us a chance to explore another area of the Upstate. The park was awesome. We will be returning just to play there. They also have a small train that gives rides for $2.00 a person.

In between time outs

So here we go. Let the updating begin, and boy do we have a lot to add to the blog.
Time out break.
We've had a lot going on since I last blogged. We celebrated our first Easter up here by going to mass with the boys. It seemed like forever since we had been to mass with Joel's birth and the move. It was good to go.
Time out break.
We then headed to Alpharetta to have lunch and an easter egg hunt. As always we had a fabulous time with our family. Evan was non stop that day. He gets so excited when he sees his cousins.
Time out break.
Here are the photos from Easter...




Soon after Easter we had a visit from Pipo and Mima. While they were here my Tio and Tia came for a visit from their home in Atlanta. We had such a nice barbeque on the deck. The weather cooperated great.



In May my oldest girlfriend came to visit me. Cintia and I have been friends since the 5th grade, so for 20 years. It's really amazing to be able to say that. It was so refreshing to have an old friend visit us in a new place. We had a great time together, and she was such a huge help with the boys. I'm not sure it was a relaxing time for her.

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