My 1st Mother's Day

Every Mother's Day is special because we honor all our Mother's hard work. Well this year was my turn to be honored. It was kinda surreal to be the one honored for the first time for being a Mommy. I woke up to my little Ili handing me a sweet card saying how appreciative she was for all my "hard work". It spoke of all the times I wake up to rock her back to sleep, the walks I take her on, for singing her lullabies and for all the snuggle time; best of all is that it was addressed: Oh how I love my Mommy! It was just the sweetest card I had ever read.

For some time now I have been researching on how to take better pictures. As my Mother's Day gift, Philip enrolled me in my first ever Photography class! I am so excited to be going. To add to the excitement, behind our ficus tree was a little box. Inside this box was my first ever "professional" camera. WOW!! It is so high tech and fancy, no wonder I am being enrolled in a class.

This is a pic of my new Nikon DSLR D40. Pretty cool, huh?


Here are a few pics of My Mommy using my new camera.

What a blessing it is to be a Mommy. :)

Easter Help

Every year I like to make Easter baskets for all my nieces. This year I made Easter baskets for the 5 nieces and added 2 more to my list, Trey's and Ili's. I carefully organized ALL the eggs by color and then by chocolate type. Each basket was to have the same amount of eggs and candy.

I personalized each basket with a theme to match each kiddo. For Brooke I made 2 scrapbook layouts to match her newly decorated room; purple, black and neon green. For Daisy I had a lot of hair products to give her that soft, frizzy-less hair she so desperately wants. For Kelley I made a clay pot and decorated it for her new pink and white room and bought her a paint kit to decorate their newly landscaped yard. For Madison, I made a clay pot and included lots of gardening tools, gloves and a magnified lens cup for her exploration days outside. For little Jenna, the theme was Princess, so lots of stickers, and books for learning to write the ABC's (she can already identify all the letters!) Then came the baskets for Little Ili and Trey who was 3 days old. For Ili we bought her a big pink bunny, a chewable book (she learns by osmosis!) and blocks. Trey's basket had a little rattle and then tons of munchies for the parents to eat while at the hospital.

I tried to go with a more healthier approach to filling the baskets. I bought just a handful of candies for the Easter eggs and then filled the rest of the basket with 100 calorie packs of cookies. I think WE ALL enjoyed that better! Guilt Free!!!

While it is quite a task to make all the baskets, it is so much fun. The girls love to get the baskets and see all the stuff I made for them. Each basket is different and personalized to their taste. As for my little Ili she loved the plastic cellophane more than it's contents, go figure!!

Below are pics of my little helpers:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Ili's Latest Tricks

Ili will be 9 months tomorrow and we are happy and sad about her growing changes. With these changes we see her more and more verbal, independent, determined, and dying to play with her cousins. We are sad to see how quickly she is leaving the infant stage and racing into the older baby stage. In the last few weeks she has reached giant milestones. *sniff, sniff* Take a look!

She first learned to "drag"
herself into the smallest crevases.

Then she learned to pull
herself up ALL by herself.
Then she learned to "crawl and pull"
herself TOWARDS ChaChi. Notice the his face of dispair.

Her 1st birthday party is already in the works. Can you guess the theme? ;)

Bairnsfather Baby Shower

This past Saturday we threw our friends Ofie and Herbie their final baby shower. It was a Couples shower and with the help of some dear friends it turned out to be a lot of fun. Our friends Lidia and Henry made some exquisite fresh floral arrangements. They were absolutely beautiful! The main center piece was 3 ft. tall! I made the invitations, a diaper cake and some of the decor. We had a fantastic time playing some of the silliest games. It was so nice to see our friends get showered with so much for their little bundle of joy. I can't wait for him to be here!

This is the invite mailed to the guests. Their theme is a jungle/safari theme.
Does this mean he is going to be a crazy animal? If he's like his father, he is! ;)

Here is that beautiful floral arrangement.
I am still amazed!
I made this jungle diaper cake for them.
This was a lot of fun to create.
Game Time
Every wonder how guys would look like pregnant? Yeah, me neither. Anywhoo the guys had to try and tie their shoes without popping their baby out.
Look at my hubby rubbing the belly! Priceless!!!
The wives feeding their babies. Winner got a bottle of Patron Tequila and a shot glass, a mini bottle that is. Every parent should have one!

He's not even here and already being corrupted.

S...N....O...W!

What do Texans do when they see snow? Why make snow angels and run out of restaurants without coats to feel it on their skin, that 's what! Yes my friends, I ran out of the restaurant to see that beautiful, white, fluffy precipitation touch my face.

We were at Black Rock Oyster Bar & Grill enjoying the most delicious oysters and seafood ever when all of a sudden we see "rain." After realizing what it really was I just couldn't contain myself and ran out to get a better look. I know, I know...what a bozo!

There are 3 types of oysters here.
Can you tell?

We finished our delicious meal and took Ili out to see it for herself. We soon drove around to enjoy the view. When we arrived at Uncle Chris' house we ran out to play in the beautiful white snow.

What a wonderful experience for Ili.

Ili's 1st Visit to NYC

During our stay in Connecticut we took a train to visit our favorite city in the world. It was pretty cold but we still managed to visit most of the tourist spots. We took a double-decker bus through the city. It was pretty fun and gave us another perspective of the city. I always wanted to get on one to hear all the silly little facts of the city. Finally Philip agreed being that carrying a little one around the crowds can be pretty tedious. Ili enjoyed the trip just as much as us. There was so much for her to see. She liked looking at all the yellow cabs, dogs and street vendors.
Enjoy!

Grand Central Station
Ili's looking at the clock.

Buying the tickets for the double decker bus.
"Make sure we are getting the right change, Dad."
Ready to take on the city in the arms of her Daddy.
The Swarovski Crystal ball shining for 2009.
Not the best pic of the School of Design in NYC.
You want Gucci, Prada or nada?!

"Okay, I am done!"Times Square!

The Zales Valentine's Day Heart.

Mourning the Infurchia Way

We recently took a trip to Connecticut for Philip's grandfather's memorial service. All the family came in from all parts of the world. While I only got to meet him once, I can see why he can still bring so many together. While everyone grieves in their own way, it was amazing to see how a family came together to Celebrate his accomplishments.

The memorial was pretty emotional as you might have guessed. It was held on Feb. 14th at the church where Granpa Infurchia had wed his wife. Aunt Eileen did a fantastic job of organizing the entire event. She made sure that most of the family play a part in some way. My father in-law gave a beautiful eulogy telling funny stories of growing up and just how special a man Grandpa was. What a moving eulogy he gave! Not a dry eye in sight.

After the memorial service we all went up to Uncle Chris's home for an Infurchia feast, music, dancing and reminiscing to old family videos and photos (don't worry Nikki, I promised not to post you dancing away!)

Uncle Chris, Uncle Fred and Cousin Michael Moffa

Nikki Wyatt, Jessica Infurchia, and Aunt Eileen
Some family competition of football.Little Jenna playing with "boy toys."
Gloria Infurchia and Mrs. Moffa

Jenna and Kelley waiting patiently
for the memorial service to begin.