"Not Spoiled, Loved"

What do you get when Dominic and Giana run a few errands together? New golf clubs for G. I was told that she is "not spoiled, only loved."

Happy EARLY birthday, Giana!

My Life According to Billy Joel

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Try not to repeat a song title. It's a lot harder than you think! Now I tag all of my blog friends.

I saw this on Facebook and didn't have room to comment so I thought it would be nice to explain some answers and keep track of my own opinions when I look back at my blog.

Pick your Artist: Billy Joel (Why Billy Joel? I love his music. I love country music, too!)

1. Are you a male or female: "She's Always a Woman"

2. Describe yourself: "She's Got a Way about Her"

3. How do you feel: "You're Only Human"

4. Describe where you currently live: "Uptown Girl" (I'm an urban, big city kind of girl.)

5. If you could go anywhere, where would you go: "New York State of Mind" (I love NY but I really want to go to Turks and Caicos!)

6. Your favorite form of transportation: "Keeping the Faith" (Faith...you'll travel far if you have it.)

7. Your best friend is: "A Matter of Trust" (Dominic, Mom, Erin)

8. Your favorite color is: "This Night" (It's actually red.)

9. What's the weather like: "River of Dreams" (It's been a beautiful summer!)

10. Favorite time of day: "The Night is Still Young" (Don't call me too early!)

11. If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: "My Life"

12. What is life to you: "Sometimes a Fantasy"

13. Describe your relationship: "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" (This makes me laugh. So fitting!)

14. Your fear: "Only the Good Die Young" (Yes, I have a fear of dying too young and leaving Giana behind.)

15. What is the best advice you have to give: "Just the Way you Are"

16. If you could change your name, you would change it to: "Laura" (Not really. I wouldn't change my name. I tried to keep my maiden name too, but Dominic didn't go for that.)

17. Thought for the Day: "Don't Ask Me Why" (Again, very fitting with a 2 year old!)

18. How I would like to die: "Goodnight, My Angel" (and God willing, many years from now!)

19. My soul's present condition: "We Didn't Start the Fire" (Don't even get me started here. The Obama administration sucks and I'm afraid for us all!)

20. My motto: "Tomorrow is Today"

Maryland Visit July 2009

The farm was our first stop when we arrived in Maryland. My niece rides horses and this farm has become her second home. The reason we stopped at the farm first was because we had to drop off our cat. The farm has become Wuzzie's new family and she is adjusting really well. Dominic developed severe allergies to the cat over the past year and we were forced to give her up. A picture above shows Giana saying good bye to her kitty cat. So sad but she took it well. I think all of the other fun things to do at the farm distracted her. She fed and sat on the horses, ran around, watched my niece ride and just had a great time. We all did. I personally didn't get too close to the animals (nasty!) but Giana and Katie loved them. Even Dominic, my city boy, enjoyed himself...when he was able to pull himself away from his blackberry. When he had enough of the flies, we found him in the car with the air conditioning on and working on his laptop.

While the guys went golfing, the girls went to a place called "Smooch" and we all made our own lip gloss. It was really cool and something fun and different to do. With Aunt Wendy's help, Giana named her lip gloss "G-Gloss" and I named mine "September Love." The colors turned out really pretty. As a matter of fact, I like Giana's color as much as I like my own...so I've been wearing both!

The giant 25 foot slide! It was so much fun and we all had a great afternoon. My bother in law wiped out at the bottom of the slide and it was caught on camera. I didn't include the picture in my collage but I did add it to my Facebook pictures and tagged him for all to see! We would have played longer but a storm rolled in and we had to leave. And oh what fun it is to catch lightning bugs. Thank God my niece helped Giana because Dominic was asleep and I don't do bugs or barnyard animals. Yuck!

Recent Random Pictures

These pictures above all have some special meaning to me and I wanted to capture them in my blog.

I love the picture of Giana and my mom on the swing. Giana loves my mom so much and they have a special bond. This picture confirms our decision to move back to Ohio to be close to our family.

G's second haircut...I know, it's the first one that counts but I had to take pictures of the second haircut, too. I promise I won't take (or at least post) pictures of her third haircut or her haircut for prom. (lol!)

The pool picture makes me laugh every time I see it. Dominic's Dad filled her baby pool with warm water that he heated on the stove and then gave her an ice cream cone. No wonder she never wants to come home from Grandma and Pa-Pa's house!

And finally, the picture of "bunny" in the Biddy Baby carrier. "Bun" as G calls him, is a staple in her life. Bunny is never far from her and has been around since she was just weeks old. Giana isn't into playing with dolls but she loves the baby carrier. I guess bunny is her baby for now.

A Time of Celebration

Happy birthday America! This past weekend was a time to celebrate our freedom. GOD bless the United States…for it is HE who has his hand on this country and our people.

Our family is also celebrating the recovery of Dominic’s Dad. Last week, he had a stroke and is now slowly recovering. We are so happy that he is doing well. You’ll see him in the pictures below and you certainly would’t know that he is struggling to regain his health. We are excited to see a full recovery from him soon!

The weekend was filled with lots of fun activities including a parade, swimming, cooking out, a trip to the driving range and alcohol. (Is alcohol considered an activity?) I really wanted to take Giana to see the fireworks but she just didn't make it. They started at 10:00pm and she was in bed by 8:00. Oh well...there's always next year!

WOW...look a picture of me! Giana is way more into that water bottle then taking a picture but this is the only family photo I have of the three of us from the parade.

Waiting patiently for the parade to begin.

G waving during the parade...she was so happy that they were waving back to her! She doesn't like rude people and seems to call them out daily as we pass by. I wonder who she gets that from?

Dominic's sister and the rest of our family at the parade...that's Dominic on the back right...typical Dominic...the quiet loner but I suppose that what's makes him special!

My Mom and Giana waiting for the parade to start.

Dominic's parents with Giana at the 4th of July parade.