End of summer update

Hello Blog followers:

This has been a fabulous summer. I got to watch the kids play with friends, enjoy the pool nearly all summer long and blessed with a wonderful family. I was just telling Andy how happy I am with our life. I couldn't ask for anything more. We both realized this is the life we have been trying to achieve for so long and without warning... we've got it.

The questions I ask my sisters is "how do you define success?" Some people say by my bank account, others may say by winning prestigious awards, while a few may say graduation from college or high school. Whatever the answer, everyone has something to define it. Success for me is right now! Right now I have three healthy and amazing boys.

Right now I have a husband that loves and adores me. Right now I have the two best sisters and brother I can depend. Right now I can stay at home to mold my boys into gentlemen. Right now I can say that Dante calls me 'Sonia' and no longer SoSo and even calls me once in a while from his cell phone. Right now my two nieces are both fun and amazing, especially Anelese who always entertains me with her funny commentary.

Right now I am happy with my house and even happier for great neighbors. Right now I am blessed to have so many amazing friends, even if I somehow managed have 50% of friends 50+ years old. (Seriously, a lot of my friends are over 20 years older than me. What does that say about me? Am I an extremely mature person or are my friends extremely immature. I'm sad to say it is probably the latter.) Right now I can go to sleep through the night and not have any worries to keep me up.

Right now I am happy with my life!

So, on with my boys.

Andy
Andy will be traveling to Europe for work at some point this fall. I wanted to go with him, but he says this will probably not be the only time he goes. Maybe I'll tag along for another trip. Still, we have other trips planned over the fall as a family.

I am jealous of Andy, too. He manages to get himself out of bed an extra hour early Tuesday - Friday to hit the gym. He has been doing this for 3 or 4 months. You can tell he is losing weight and has better spirits in the evening.

Keep in up! (I'll get back into the groove once school starts up.)

Andy and I are still working on Andy's wine and my labels. It's a good combo effort.

Giuseppe


Giuseppe starts school in less than two weeks. He will be entering first grade.
I am not worried about him.

Socially he won't have any problems. As a matter of fact he averaged one playdate a week with a kid outside of the neighborhood, not to mention his daily interaction with his neighbor friends.

He has kept up on reading and math and even did a science project with me over the summer.

He stayed active with biking, hockey, roller blading, swimming, etc. He really is a very fit kid.

Vincenzo


Vincenzo starts two preschool programs in a few weeks as well as a weekly hockey class. I have already met with some of the other parents and really look forward to getting to know them as well as I know Giuseppe's friends' parents.

Over the summer we worked on a lot of preschool songs all summer, as well as colors and shapes. He has it all down. His sentence structure has grown. He can easily say 5-7 word sentences on his own.

He also stayed active by trying to keep up with his big brother and swimming. Vincenzo is just as fit as his brothers.

Rocco


Rocco loves the water. At the beginning of summer he use to just float around with me in the pool but now he likes to splash and kick his legs.

At 13 months he weighed in at 23 pounds. He is a meatball. He certainly doesn't look like he is only 13 months, more like an 18-months old.

His new word is 'tada.' Very adorable!

Rocco and I will enroll in playgroup during the school year to give him some interaction with other babies his age as well as some structure to his life.

Save a journalist

I have admired this slogan for several years now.

Arrgg

I married a pirate?

Our way of saying thank you

Operation Injured Soldier Annual Picnic

Last year my son (age 5 at the time) came to me and said "Mom, I have too many toys, so I don't want any presents for my birthday. Instead we should help the army people who come home hurt."

So, I found Operation Injured Soldier located out of South Lyon, MI. I told them what my son, Giuseppe Gottfried, was doing and they were absolutely astounded, as we were.

They came to the party and presented him with a flag one of the injured soldiers got when he arrive back in the USA after being in Afghanistan for several years. Giuseppe gave them a check for $505.

This year he has stepped up his efforts and has raised about $700 to date.

This Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at the annual Operation Injured Soldier picnic, Giuseppe will present his donation collection.

He is a selfless and remarkable kid.

Dance Dance Dance

Gotcha

Here is a smiling Rocco.

Brothers

Just before bathing, these boys let me snap a shot.

Time again

Time for another family update

Rocco

Rocco is now 6-months-old, which is also a reminder to me that I have been unemployed for 6 months. Rocco rolls with ease. Soon he'll be sitting up on his own and then of course we'll have to start putting up the gates to prepare for the crawling.

Vincenzo

Little Chin has been excelling at his playgroup and speech class. He is such a bundle of joy to have, yet he is also a tyrant to try to control. He loves to "get loose" and wonder the world. As a matter of fact, it so happens that he has been lost out of sight during hockey games. Not a good feeling for us, but I am sure it was like FREEDOM for him.

Giuseppe

Giuseppe keeps this family busy. If we aren't going to school, basketball, hockey or religious class we are playing and wrestling at the house. Giuseppe just started basketball for the first time. He is doing very well out there. We are trying to remind him to "get in the game" instead of just playing basketball. He doesn't have the passion that he has for football or hockey, but I still want him to do his best. Even so, he is great at all sports he tries.

Andy

Working hard. Yes, that is the life of Andy. Weekdays he focuses on work and Weekends he focuses on family. I'd like to think of him as a true American Dad.

The boys look forward to the weekend to overload him with fun and stories. Anymore our weekends feel like go go go. I've heard that isn't going to let up anytime soon.

Sonia

Recently I celebrated my "27th" birthday. Yes, I know I am actually not 27, but this will be our little secret. So, if you tell Giuseppe I am anything by 27 there is a good chance he will bop you in the belly. Seriously.

Family business

Andy and I have been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes to make our business fabulous. Stay tune to a new avenue we are going to take.

Arrr

Getting closer to sitting up on his own.

However, Rocco can roll all over when he is on the floor.

2009 Christmas newsletter

Enjoy our electronic family newsletter.

Watch out... you are next

Vincenzo doesn't hesitate showing his love.

You could be next for a unwanted hug.

Merry Christmas

This past Sunday the boys got to visit with Santa at Polo Fields for brunch.

Giuseppe even brought a list of gifts he wanted. We just hope that the three boys stay on the "nice" list.

Ready for the winter

Giuseppe is ready to take on the weather. Here he is ready to wait for the bus after a small dusting of snow over the night.

Pow Wow

Over a month of preparation, Giuseppe's class discussed Native Americans and the Pilgrims with many elaborate projects to accompany the learning process.

Bad weekend

• Andy nearly sliced his finder when adjusting a tension rod. Probably should have gotten stitches.
• Giuseppe's fish, Bruce, died.
• Suburban decided to no start up Saturday morning leading me to...
• ...miss Giuseppe's hockey game in Jackson.
• Vincenzo smashed his finger in a drawer.
• Giuseppe and Vincenzo found the gifts "Santa" brought in my closet under a blanket that led me to telling them an unnecessary lie to cover up my "Santa is the Spirit" of Christmas fib we've been telling them. Why do we lie to begin with?

Time for a new camera, huh?

Giuseppe (age 6) is on fire.

This is his first game of the season. He is the one with the red helmet, #11.

Next game is Sunday.

Football clip

I apologize for this wacky video. It is still fun to watch, but a little funky. Take a look and see why I say that.

Another fun video

Halloween night was cold and windy, yet fun. The boys got lots of candy. Please enjoy a moment in time in our lives during this scary event.

Time for a family update

Andy
It is true that Andy enjoys being outside. He loves yardwork and playing with the boys. Just yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch and picked out pumpkins. Of course, the picked out the biggest ones there.
Andy also coaches Giuseppe's football team. This is his third year of coaching. He has coached soccer, t-ball and football. Next season he will assist as a hockey coach.

Sonia
Getting the boys where they need to be when they need to be there is Sonia's primary job lately. At three-months post-partum and three months out of work, she has finally gotten a loose schedule in place.

Giuseppe
This kid is a true stud. Last weekend he had four touchdowns in his doubleheader. The after his football games he mastered all the drills and plays in his hockey practice.

Giuseppe enjoys school, but mostly he loves the school bus. The other day I told him he could sleep in another 30 minutes if he wanted me to drive him to school. He declined. Instead he jumped in the shower so he could take the bus.

Vincenzo
Does a lot of talking now. He puts two - three words together. He loves his weekly playgroup and the friends he has made there. The class is mostly girls with 4 boys, which includes Rocco.

Rocco
We are happy to announce the Rocco sleeps 8 hours straight at night pretty consistently. He has a routine that sometime he is the only one who is aware of it, but we try to go with it.

He smiles, laughs, grabs our fingers, tries to rollover, watches us as we walk by him. He is doing great.