Mazotti Halloween

After listing our house for sale on October 14th (and subsequently being forced to stage our house for pictures and live like a Better Homes and Gardens pictorial could be taken at any moment), we did not get to host our annual pumpkin carving event / contest. When I say "we did not get to" I really mean "I did not want to" because after all the work that we put into moving things out of our house to make it look bigger along with all the projects to make the house near perfect condition, the last thing I wanted was to clean up pumpkin seeds and guts off the floor for a week. And although I may have taken the easy way out, I definitely wanted to "walk the hood" for what I can only assume will be the last time as residents. One thing I will miss about Kit Carson and our neighborhood is Halloween. I have never been to another neighborhood in my life that had more kids than this one. It has provided our kids with great memories as they have grown up.

This year Cienna wanted to go as a Hollywood Tower of Terror bellhop, which meant that I had to get creative. She convinced her friend Azlynn (a fellow firefighter's daughter) to join her, and since her mom is currently pregnant with her 4th baby girl, I decided to volunteer to make both of their costumes. Thank GOD for Goodwill Stores and hot glue guns! Overall, I think they came out pretty awesome!

As for AJ, he was easy peasy. We went to Target and he picked out a zombie football player costume. After applying some zombiesque makeup, he went straight into character with absolutely no problem!

I am not sure if it was all the pizza, juice or candy consumption, but after about an hour of trick or treating AJ doubled over with a stomach ache and needed to go home. After high tailing it home and snuggling on the couch for a bit, he quickly recovered and we headed back out to try to fill the pillowcase. The weather was amazing, the candy was abundant, and it was a great final Halloween in the hood!

Twinsies for Lindsay!

Last weekend I got to fly home to meet Lindsay's twinsies! Born on October 7th, Lindsay's "Japicans" Mario and Kamryn were absolute doll babies. It seemed like ages since I had held an infant, yet it brought back many memories that I had long since forgotten. On one hand I had so much advice that I wanted to share, tips to make it easier (if that is even possible), funny little stories that came back to me. On the other hand I didn't want to be that annoying girl who couldn't stop talking about HER babies and HER experiences and, let's face it, I really don't have a DAMN CLUE what it is like to have twins!

Twins are on another level. I mean, I know what it's like to have one baby who loved the swing and one baby who loved to be held, but not at the same time! Lindsay and her husband got lucky though...they have one chill baby (boy) and one high maintenance (girl) so God gave them a bit of a break. And although Lindsay appears to be a pretty calm and easygoing mom, I can't help but want to drive home how fast it goes by. How important it is to soak it up and relish in the midnight snuggle time because it won't last forever. Just like generation after generation of moms tried to tell their babies when they had kids...we want so badly for them to understand how true it is. But it is futile. It is the nature of the beast. Moms with babies are bogged down by being moms with babies and moms with toddlers are bogged down with trying not to lie down in traffic somewhere, and moms with school aged kids are bogged down with shuttling them everywhere, and moms of teenagers are bogged down by trying to keep them alive, and moms of adults are bogged down with the thought that it all went by too damn fast.

I wish I lived closer. I wish I could pop over and hold them every day until they didn't want to be held anymore. And then I could play with them until they didn't want to play. But for now I will have to settle for daily pictures via text message and stories from 3 states away....

Birthday Celebrations!

Anthony Turns 7!

Where has the time gone? Our little Anthony Michael turned 7 years old today and I can't quite believe it. I mean, it doesn't exactly feel like yesterday that you were born but it certainly doesn't seem possible that you are now 7 years old. I have seen a HUGE difference in you in the last year. Maybe it's the fact that you have completed your first year of "real" school, or maybe you are just growing up. Either way, you have become "quite the little man" as your dad likes to call you. We are so proud to call you our son (which is a good thing because you and your dad share the same name so it would be hard not to want to claim you as ours!)

At 7 years old you like:

-Minecraft, Five Nights at Freddy's and Pokemon
-The iPad
-Anything having to do with Great White Sharks, including toys, movies, clothing, school supplies and pretending that a shark is killing someone in the ocean at any given time
-Legos...LOTS of them
-Drawing pictures in great detail, bringing your sketch book anywhere, having people watch you draw pictures
-Playing soccer, hitting baseballs, grappling, shooting HORSE with the older kids in the pool, learning the game of golf, playing tennis, riding your scooter or bicycle, and jumping on the trampoline
-You LOVE telling jokes and making people laugh. In fact, once you make someone laugh you will repeat the same joke, saying or behavior over and over until they finally tell you it is not funny anymore. Class clown is an understatement.
-Your favorite foods are Smuckers crustless peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, pretzels, goldfish, Gatorade, meatballs, cheeseburgers (just meat, cheese and bun), hot dogs (with sweet relish only), any kind of soup, lots of water, candy and ice cream!
-Your best friends are Aiden, Caden, Evan, Ryan, Christopher and sometimes Cienna

Your the best boy (most of the time) that two parents could ask for. Thank you for being ours!

NJ Meets NM!

Last week our friend Joy and her 8 year old twins Benny and Gianna flew out to NM for the first time. They were excellent sports considering we don't have a guest room and were happy to sleep in whatever little nook that we could find for them. We wasted no time showing them what New Mexico is all about, which meant that we all slept very well each night. Our first stop was the Route 66 Diner, followed by a trip into Old Town where we stocked up on all things Native American and desert scenes!

We could not let them come all the way to New Mexico without a trip to the Santa Fe Plaza, the Saint Francis Cathedral (complete with authentic southwestern wedding and mariachi band), and our newest (and greatest) tourist attraction Meow Wolf. It was hot, hot, hot but we didn't stop!

No trip would be complete without a visit to our favorite fire station to see our favorite fire fighter! The kids had a blast learning about the trucks, equipment, trying on the gear and even watching the jaws of life create a "taco quarter" for each of them as a souvenir.

We took them to an indoor trampoline park, down route 66, ate at Frontier Restaurant, and spent a TJIF at the country club pool. The fun didn't stop!

Our last day before saying goodbye we spent at Cliff's Amusement Park riding rides and playing in the water park. We made the most of every moment and were able to squeeze in more fun in a week than my kids have in half a year! It was a fantastic trip!

The New Jersey / New Mexico Gang!

A (Very) Belated Birthday

As you may or may not know, Cienna Elise's 9th birthday party was postponed indefinitely due to her ski team commitment in the winter. After telling her for months that we would figure out a weekend that we could celebrate (and then having every single one of those weekends filled with commitments or trips) we FINALLY came up with July 16th as the ONLY weekend the entire summer that we would have available to celebrate the half way point between childhood and legally becoming an adult. God Help Us All.

With only 7 days noticed we managed to obtain a 100% attendance rate from 8 of her closest friends for a belated day out. Inspired by a presumably very rich little girl from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, we were able to employ our good friend Mr. Lanny Ross to pick up the girls (and AJ) in his limousine, deliver us to the movie theater to see "The Secret Life of Pets", followed by an arrival at Bahama Buck's shaved ice company and then back to our house for departure.

We arrived at the theater and immediate dread came over me when I saw a sign posted stating that the movie was sold out. OK, plan B. Get tickets for the next show and go to shaved ice first. As I stepped up to the window I was told that the next show was sold out as well. Damn it! Plan C. Pick a different show. BFG it is! I got all 10 kids nestled into their seats and ventured out to get some popcorn. Being that I am (slightly) budget conscious, I decided to get 2 large tubs of popcorn because I could get them refilled once each. Only after I broke out a level of crazy on the theater manager that I am sure he has not experienced before, he graciously reluctantly gave me 10 large plastic bags that I could distribute the popcorn evenly in. 45 minutes later I returned to the theater to pass out the popcorn and 10 smuggled in water bottles along with 1 napkin each. Perfection.

I maybe should have done a little research about the shaved ice place before arriving with 10 screaming kids who were allowed to pick up to 3 flavors each with 50 flavors to choose from. It was about this time that I was hoping I still had a pocket shot in my handbag that I could dump into my sno cone. Unfortunately for me, I did not. Unfortunately for Cienna, we will never be going back to Bahama Buck's due to my PSD that has been clinically confirmed.

I Love Emerica!

We spent the 4th of July one man lady down while Cienna was working on her tan in CA with Granny. It was her first flight by herself and there were a few tears between she and AJ before she left us for greener pastures. I tried to bribe them with Kiva Juice (Jamba Juice for all you Californian's reading this) but it did little to help the emotional toll saying goodbye for 8 days would have...for 5 minutes! As she boarded the plane she gave AJ a hug and a kiss on the cheek which he returned by hooking her neck and yelling in front of all of the A boarding group "No! On the lips Cienna!" It got quite a laugh from everyone.

As I watched her plane taxi out to the runway all I could think was, "Boo yea! 1 child for a week!"

Once we knew she arrived safely we could finally allow ourselves to have a bit of fun. We headed up to the cabin for traditional Emerican 4th of July festivities such as rafting while drinking cheap Emericanbeer....

Throwing our body on the ground for good ole' Emerican sugar in mass quantities...

And legally bought Chinese fireworks brought illegally across state lines! It's the Emerican way!

Although AJ did not want her to return, Cienna did come home just 2 days later. Word has it that UC Santa Cruz is now on her college list!

And my mom may just invite her back!