little miss miracle

over the summer we were able to make a trip to visit eric and tricia's precious little girl...lauren elizabeth berry. never has there been a couple more deserving of a perfect little doll, and that is exactly what GOD gave them. since before lauren's conception i have been excited to meet this little doll. eric and tricia welcomed all of us into their home for several days. we ate many yummy dinners, made it to the beach, and my highlight was finally experiencing crystal lake. i loved it!
we always enjoy our time with them, and miss them so much when we are away.

Holy waters

On Sunday August 23 our son Joel Alfred Ticola was baptized at Queen of Peace church in Gainesville. Father Jeff McGowan has now baptized both our sons. It was such a touching ceremony. Things went so smoothly, and Joel smiled when the water was poured on his head! He is such a sweet boy. We had so many of our family and close friends in attendance. It meant the world to us that they were there to celebrate this once in a lifetime ocassion. After the ceremony we had a lovely luncheon courtesy of Joel's Mima and Pipo at the Ivy House in Alachua. Both our friends Peggy and Champ took photos of that day for us. Below are just a few of the photos that Champ took. Just a few, cause there were 78 in all.

Evan's favorite kingdom

As many of you know Evan loves animals, so for his birthday his Pipo and Mima treated us to a day at Disney's Animal Kingdom. We arrived around 11 A.M. and stayed till it started to rain around 4 P.M. Evan had a blast and he was a trooper. We rode several kid-friendly rides with him, and Matt and I got to ride an adult ride alone. Whenever we go to a theme park we just take it easy. No rushing or pushing to get things done. If we don't get to do something, that is alright. There is always next time. We ate a fabulous lunch at the Yik and Yak. It was Asian-inspired food. It wasn't your typical fast food lunch that you get at a theme park. It was sit down and relax in the air conditioning. It was awesome! Even Evan ejoyed eating his lunch there. We got to meet some Disney characters too. Seeing Evan interact with Pooh and gang was priceless.
A huge THANK YOU goes out to Aunt Wendy who watched Joel for us that day!!!

7 month old photo shoot

I really know that my blogging is lacking lately. I promise to update the blog with our July and August travels when I get back into town next week. We are headed south to Montgomery, AL. to stay with our good friends Heather, Stan and their son Lucas.
Sheli took amazing photos of Joel at our last session. To view the photos click on the link...
http://www.shelideratophoto.com/Proofs/joel8mo/

Disney's Animal Kingdom, baptism, party, and lots of milestones to come in the next blog! here's a tease...Joel is crawling all over the house. It is hard to keep up with him.

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.