One door closes and another opens

Literally, we closed our old front and side doors for the last time this past weekend. We finally replaced what we liked to refer to as the cricket vortexes. Our originaly doors were just that, original, and they were bowed and had termite damage and probably weren't all that safe and definitely weren't energy efficient. So, with some anniversary money we purchased a new front door and side door. I was nervous, I will admit. Pretty much any time we do a project on our house we run into the same issue, NOTHING is square. Granted, the house is 50 years old, of course it has settled and probably withstood a few earthquakes, but it sure makes hanging a door tough. But Joe did it and did it well! I am so proud of him. We also did some interior things, like replacing some interior doors and painting them, new lights in the kitchen and new trim in a few places. The boys stayed with Joe's parents while we pulled some late nights and got as much done as we could. Anyway, I just wanted to share the pics of the new doors, they are kind of like our new babies at the moment. As you can see, it doesn't take much to make us happy, just having doors that actually shut is enough to put us over the top!!!

Las Vegas and bars of soap

I know they say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but not this time. Our family, Joe's parents, his sister's family and his sister's husband's parents went to Vegas this past weekend. I know, it seems like a lot of people, alot of kids, and what in the world would we all do in Vegas? Well, let me tell you, we had fun. And not the kind of Vegas fun you might think.

It started out with a long drive during which the kids asked about a gillion times, "are we there yet?" We finally arrived after dark which Joe and I thought would be a huge hit, but the lights were not nearly as entrancing to the children as they were to the adults. I was hypnotized from the moment we arrived. The first night was pretty uneventful as we had two babies and a couple of toddlers who didn't have naps that day. The second day held much more. We took the kids to the 4 story M&M store which was a HUGE hit! You wouldn't think there could be 4 stories of M&M merchandise, but surprisingly, there is!!! Even the baby liked it. Although the older two were petrified of the man wearing the M&M suit outside the store. Pretty funny. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe which was again, a huge hit with the kids. They have animoatronic animals that move and every 20 minutes there is a virtual thunderstorm. Very cool, and the food was pretty good too. We went to the Bellagio and watched the fountains, which was so amazing!!

Amidst all the Vegas stuff there was plenty of hanging out and of course, wonderful observations made by the children. The first night a few of us went to eat while Grandma and Grandpa stayed with the kids. Upon returning Grandma told us that Dom had gone to the bathroom at one point and was getting ready to wash his hands and was immediately confused. You see, at our house we use Purell or foaming soap. The hotel only had bar soap. He watched his brother open a bar of soap which, I will admit, did look a lot like a piece of cheese and asked where his cheese was. Grandma explained that it wasn't cheese, it was soap. She told him to rub it on his hands, which he did, all the while looking confused and frustrated. He told Grandma, "it doesn't work." She looked at his hands and realized he was just rubbing the soap on his dry hands. In between the laughter she explained to him that he needed to get his hands wet first. So, he did that, got the soap on them and proceeded to wash his hands as usual. Grandma told him to smell his hands, she said they smelled like oranges. He smelled his hands and said, "smells like cheese." So yes, I admit, my child had never seen a bar of soap before. He has also never seen a cassette tape, but that does't make me a bad mother!

On our last day we went to Circus, Circus and went to their Adventuredome where they have rides and games and kids stuff galore. They played a few games, rode the carousel

and had a great time. Nico slept through most of it. That night Joe and I celebrated our 8th anniversary and hit the town. We had dinner at the Venetian in a restaurant that looked over the canals. We walked around the Venetian and fondly remembered our honeymoon to Italy. Then we hit Caesar's Palace and gambled a bit, ate gelato, and people watched while I rested my achy feet. We were up by about 50 bucks and one point and so we went to the Paris and went to the top of the Eiffel tower, which was so cool! You could see the entire strip AND we got a glimpse of the Bellagio fountains again, albeit from behind a group of very selfish folks who decided no one but them should be allowed to view the beauty from a good spot. We gambled a bit more and ended up on top in the end. So, we headed home and called it a wonderful night.

All in all it was a great trip. The kids had fun, the adults had fun, a good time was had by all.

They DO listen, sometimes

Just wanted to share a little story about Anthony while it is fresh in my mind and making me smile. The other night the boys and I went to Joe's office for dinner since he was working late. The boys love to visit there and see daddy's Cyth office and play with all the cool stuff they have there. One of Joe's employees had a remote control helicoptor. I don't know if you have ever seen these, but they are pretty cool, they kind of hover and they are fairly indestructable. Anyway, of course the boys wanted to play with it and after showing them a few times how to do it they each got a chance. At one point during play time Anthony said, "Wow, thanks daddy for letting us play with this helicoptor." It was cute, and he usually says things like that, but what really got me was what Joe's partner, Andy, said in response. He said, "Did he just thank Joe for letting him play? How adorable." I about started to cry. It made me realize that our kids are learning from us, they are listening and they are wonderful children. When push comes to shove they know the right thing to do. So I must thank my parents and Joe's parents for teaching us the right things to do, for if it weren't for you we wouldn't be able to teach our kids. Love you all.

Pilgrims and Indians

Dominic made indian and pilgrim hats today at school. When I went to pick the boys up he was wearing the indian one while playing on the playground. I asked him if he was learning about Thanksgiving in school and why he made those hats. He said the pilgrims and indians made popcorn and ate it together. Not a bad evening if I do say so myself.



Right now Anthony and Dominic are wearing the pilgrim and indian hats and playing race cars. I love kids.


Nicolas is getting his second tooth and he is not happy about it. He has always put everything in his mouth, but now he gets really upset (see Magoo face in above post) when we try to take something away from him that he shouldn't be chewing on, like old food from under the table, etc. But for someone who is teething he is still fairly pleasant and is sleeping A LOT, so that is a bonus.



Oh, by the way, whenever I get him up from his nap he immediately strains his neck and tries to get out of my arms to see his brothers. He knows they are playing somewhere and he wants to be there with them. So cute.



We are getting ready to go to Vegas for a pre-Thanksgiving extravaganza with the family. It should be really fun. The Joe and I get to come home for 4 days WITHOUT the kids, they will go home with grandma and grandpa from Vegas. We plan to do stuff to the house that is tough with three rugrats tearing around. We also plan to relax and just spend some wonderful time together as well.



We hope your Thanksgivings are full of, well, thanks, and that you are reminded of all that you have. And if you are having a particularly tough time this Thanksgiving we pray that the Lord will give you peace and you will be reminded of His presence in your life even amidst the tough times. We are thankful for each and every one of you.

Mr. Magoo and the Heffner brothers

OK, so we got the Mr. Magoo look on film, finally! This isn't even as good as he usually does it, I mean, he gets both eyes totally shut and his mouth wide open. I have also included an actual pic of Mr. Magoo to compare.

Here is a pic of the older two in their new robes. I think we might have some Hugh Heffner replacements in the making.

Kids are amazing

Just wanted to share couple cute things the kids have said and done recently along with a couple new photos of the little rascals. At the moment I am watching the Discovery show "John and Kate PLus 8" about a family with 6 year old twins and 2 year old sextuplets. This show makes me so thankful that I only have three kids but it also reminds me how blessed I am to have three healthy, smart, and hilarious children and a wonderful husband. Yes, even Nico is hilarious. He makes this face now, it can mean he is upset or it can mean he is happy, but whatever it means at the time, he looks just like Mr. Magoo. Pictures will come soon, I still haven't captured this adorableness on film yet.


So, on to the other two. Dom, where do I even start? He is just too funny, absorbing everything around him these days, learning letters and numbers and pretending he can read. Normal three year old stuff but still we think he is a genius. So, first off, we were having a discussion about what we all might want to be for Halloween next year and we decided that all of us would be super heroes. When it came to what I would be I chose Wonder Woman. When I asked Dom later that day what mommy was going to be he answered "Wonder Melon." I like that one better, perhaps I will have to make my own costume. Then at church last week they were learning about Jesus' birth and luckily Joe was helping in his class and heard this first hand. They were talking about Jesus as a baby and what his mother Mary might have said to him. Without thinking Dom replied with "go to sleep!" I had to agree. I am sure that even the mother of Jesus had to remind him it was bed time every once in a while. Out of the mouths of babes.



Anthony, he just amazes us all the time with how much he remembers and how much he already knows. He is reading so well, even getting punctuation and dialogue right, which is just so fun to see. He has been showing a little bit of attitude lately, but that is normal for a 5 year old. He is just trying to figure out how he fits into our little family and what his role is. Sometimes, however, we feel like he sees himself as another parent, at least when it comes to telling Dom what to do. The problem comes when he tries to tell us what to do. But again, normal stuff and often very humorous. But our favorite thing he does lately is recap, well, everything. For instance, if he asks how to put the garbage bag in the garbage can, we will tell him and he will then proceed to repeat, verbatim, what we have said and then he usually adds in some of his own ideas, which are really insightful. Another great one is this morning on the way to church for some reason I was trying to explain to the boys the saying "you can't take it with you" I think because we were telling them they weren't allowed to take their toys into church with them. After I sort of explained the saying Anthony said "oh, so you can't take it with you means that if a toy is too big or your favorite that you can't take it to a place where someone might want to play with it." For now, that is what it means in our house. He is just delicious!

Flu shots

This morning the older boys got their flu shots. I had prepared them ahead of time but of course once the time came neither wanted to go first. I could tell the nurse was getting annoyed so I just picked up Dom, who was closer to me at the time, and put him on the table. He screamed and screamed and then it was done and he got a sticker. In the meantime Anthony is haveing a heart attack watching Dom go through this and all but runs out of the room to get away. I finally got him on the table and tried to hold his arms still, but man, he is strong, especially when scared. So, he screamed and cried and screamed and cried, got his shot, screamed and cried, picked a sticker, cried some more, picked a snack, remembered the whole ordeal and starting crying again. He wouldn't let me look at the shot site like I was supposed to to make sure it wasn't swelling or anything. He just has such a fear of pain, it is really sad. But, he survived and went to school afterwards and all is well.

So, it is a cloudy day here and I want a nap. The dishwasher handle is broken so the dishes that are currently washing in there right now might have to stay in there forever, I don't know. It is a Maytag so I might have to actually call a Maytag repair man, if they even do exist, to come and see what he can do.

Alright, hope this lovely November day finds you all happy and healthy and enjoying this time of year. I love fall, absolutely love it!

The wonderful world of Spinozzi

Hi all. I thought setting up a blog would be a good way to keep in touch with people and fill people in without relying on email. This way you can all login whenever you want or when I remind you to and see what is going on with our little family.

As of today Anthony and Dom are in preschool 3 days a week. Nico and try to get stuff done on those mornings but don't always succeed. The other two I have all three little rascals and some days are good, some days are really good, and some days are really bad. What should I expect with three small children?

But life is good, Joe's business continues to grow, the kids are healthy, we would love a bigger house, or to add on to our house now, but that will have to wait a little while longer. But for the most part we are very blessed and feel really lucky to have a home at all in light of the fires that just occurred here.

This is Nico at 7 months. Still has red hair and blue eyes. He is his own little man.

This is Anthony and his best friend from school, Matthew at their school field trip to the pumpkin patch.

This is Dom at his first school field trip to the pumpkin patch.