Tonka

Where to begin? Tonka is gone. My dog is gone. After weeks of wondering, analyzing, researching and praying about the slightest changes in her behavior, Thursday it slapped me right across the face. It was so sad to watch such a stoic, brave, loving dog deteriorate right before my eyes. To know that she no longer had the capability of enjoying her life. To know that it was probably breaking her heart to show us her vulnerable side. She protected us for so many years. She attacked anything with fur or feathers and every vacuum she ever came across. She made us laugh. She watched TV. She barked viciously at Tony when he put his arms around me. She avoided the kids like the plague. She showed us pure, undeniable, loyalty and love. She was amazing. I will never forget my crooked teethed, bug eyed, arthritis limping, furry butted big girl. Ever.

Shhh...Don't Tell Zeus But You Were Always A Better Swimmer From The Start

Literally Swimming Laps Around Zeus in Dallas

My Sleeping Companion When Daddy Was At The Fire Station

The Only Way We Could Repay Her For All Her Love Was To Hold Her Until The Very End

RIP Tonka 5.3.05 - 11.22.13

Goin Back To Cali

Last week we made a much needed trip back to our homeland...California. No trip to California would be complete without at least 3 trips to In-n-Out Burger and 1 trip to Disneyland. Thankfully we were not disappointed!

Because Disneyland was not our top objective, we did our shortest visit there...2 days. It was a whirlwind of fun, especially since AJ could ride all sorts of thing that he couldn't before (I really need to stop feeding him). I think that Tony, Cienna and I had the most fun seeing the look on AJ's face when we took him on rides like Splash Mountain and Hollywood Tower of Terror for the 1st time. We are so evil!

People often ask me why we do Disney so often. This picture says it all. When was the last time anyone saw a true, genuine, loving life smile on AJ's face? Priceless!

Dancing Like No One Is Watching

Yea...They Look NOTHING Alike

I would live there if I could. After visiting with our good friends Justin, Tamara and Cameron Stallings we headed out of southern California but not before going to see my grandma in Studio City. She showered me with Christmas presents including (I couldn't make this up if I tried) a leopard print Snuggie and eye wrinkle cream. Some things never change!

We headed up to the Bay where we visited many of our friends and family who continue to graciously let us drop in at a moment's notice, mess everything up in their homes, and then disappear for another 9 months. A true testament to the ones we love!

Tony and his Grandma Betty

The Family with Auntie Marion (who despite the fact that she was nursing a broken hip was running things in the rehabilitation center!)

Sadly, we received shocking news when we were in California. Our good friend Joe's (who passed away last October) only sibling was killed in a single vehicle car accident just outside Albuquerque on his way from Georgia. 13 months after he said that he did not think he could go on without his brother, he joined him in heaven. Rest In Peace Gabriel. There truly are angels among us....

Less Is More

I have come to the realization that when it comes to blogging...less is more. I realize that the less I blog means the more that my days and nights are full of family fun. October has been a fantastic mix of festivals, sporting events, and weekends packed with family time. In fact, there are so many thing happening that I am not sure how we are keeping it all together!

AJ began the month with a field trip with his preschool class to daddy's fire station. You might think that AJ would be beaming and on his best behavior. Not the case. AJ was naughty and kept asking when we could leave. I guess when you spend Christmas and your birthday at the fire station the novelty has worn off. My mistake.

The Start of the Pouting

Tony Getting a Group Hug

AJ Got It Together!

Our first soccer season started in October as well. My observations are: Cienna is afraid of any sport that contact may happen. She likes sports where glitter is incorporated in some part of the uniform (i.e. cheer leading / gymnastics). She can run fast, but soccer does not appear to be her thing.

AJ could teach a seminar to professional soccer players on how to sell an injury to a ref. He is the king of flopping on the ground and writhing in pain if the ball gets taken away from him. Once we gave him a pep talk he turned it around and surprised us with total domination on the field.

He's #1 In Our Book

October also brought the Balloon Fiesta and as a result, lots of family visits. First we saw Tony's Uncle Tim and Aunt Donna. Cienna and Donna quickly became besties...

Next came a visit from Tony's brother Chris, his lady love Wendy and her daughter Breann. It was total awesomeness!

We rounded out October with the neighborhood Harvest Festival (which aparently I am now completely in charge of!) with little orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks,

trick or treating on Halloween night with Annie and Spiderman,

and a Dia de los Muertos celebration!

Best. Birthday. Ever.

I would have never imagined that my 34th birthday would be such an event. Leave it up to my amazing husband to plan something so special that even though they say "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" I simply cannot resist retelling the weekend!

Thursday morning I woke up to Tony telling me to pack my bags because we were going to Vegas...but not just to sit poolside and take in some shows...we were going to the I Heart Radio Festival! I am a huge fan of all types of music, and it is not uncommon for me to tell my kids to pipe down in the car so I can listen to a song. I must have gotten this from my father (although my mom has rocked out in the house a time or two!) because I remember going to his office at Wells Fargo bank with him sitting in his little cubicle with the radio cranked up. Co-workers would always be telling him to turn the music down, but he never did. This weekend would have made him proud!

We arrived in Vegas late Thursday night and made our way to the hotel. After grabbing a quick bite to eat we called it a night. The weekend was young. We needed to pace ourselves. Friday morning we did the unthinkable. Exercised. What had gotten into us? Was 34 fast approaching suddenly making me responsible? What was this feeling of total self control? It was foreign to me and it would not last. Since our last bazillion trips to Vegas have been with the kids we decided to go to a museum to get our knowledge on. Mind (museum), Body (exercise), Spirits (uh we will get to that later.) I am not sure they meant the kind of spirit that you can ingest but I like being a trendsetter anyway. We arrived at The Museum of Natural History The Mob Museum where we learned all about bribing, extortion, jury tampering, racketeering, and murder. My kind of history lesson! I highly recommend to anyone who has a demented side.

A Crime Of Fashion

After acquainting ourselves with the mafia's choir boys we decided to get acquainted with the Las Vegas public transit system. i.e. the bus. This is of significance because a self-proclaimed unemployed man who helped us buy a bus ticket called me a goddess, which I have reminded Tony of every 30 minutes since then. For anyone who thinks that only crazies ride the bus I refer you back to the fact that one of them called me a goddess. I think they are all geniuses!

We arrived at MGM to pick up our tickets for the festival. After a little mix up (don't they know who we are???) the tickets were in our hot little hands. And all that standing around and making small talk with the common folk was actually a good thing. Some nice billionaire gave us special bracelets to get into the VIP lounge both nights! It pays to know people for 5 minutes in line!

Score!

After scarfing down a pizza and cleaning up we were finally on our way to the big event! Whoot whoot!

Is That...Helen Hunt?

The highlights of the first night were: Robin Thicke opening with "Blurred Lines", Fun, Muse, Keith Urban, Katy Perry, Chris Brown, Elton John and Queen. Amazing!

After getting home around 4am, we finally made it to brunch around 1pm. We needed a nap. Stat. Even though it was my birthday it didn't really count until I could see straight. We awoke around 4:30 to do it all again, starting with a fabulous dinner at The Palm thanks to our gal Phyllis from Philly. What a treat!

Cheers to 34!

The highlights of the second night were: Bruno Mars, Justin Timberlake, Tim McGraw, Drake and Paul McCartney. Actually Paul McCartney was the highlight of the entire weekend. What a show!

No Twerking Involved

Post show I decided to check another item off of my bucket list. Because my kids will read this someday I will not elaborate too much. However, if you have a Facebook page you probably already know. Let me just say that it was everything that I thought it would be. Which is exactly why I am glad I went with my man instead of him going on his own. When men say they go there to look and not touch...they are LYING! BIG FAT LIARS!

I will never forget my magical birthday weekend and all of the love and support from everyone who helped make it happen. Without great friends and amazing family (who are willing to watch your kids for 3 days while you pretend you are 21 again) it never would have happened. Tony definitely knows how to show a girl that she is truly loved. Even at 34.

Auntie Lindsay

One of my best friends made the trip out to New Mexico last week to see the kids and be reminded how crazy our life is. Lindsay and I have been friends since she was in 6th grade and I was in 7th. Yes...I am 361 days older than her, which was awesome when I was younger and is not so awesome now that I am in my 30's. But I digress. We wasted no time putting Lindsay to work starting with our order of El Faro burritos from the Bay. She flew with 20 lbs of burritos and 10 lbs of toys in her carry on because she is the bestest friend a girl (and Tony) could ask for!

We spent the next few days doing kid things, putting her to work at our newest project (update to follow), hosting a boxing party at the house, going to the state fair and farmers market and treating her to the most rain that NM has seen in over 50 years. She received her first ever iPhone flash flood warning text message and experienced Tony in his element...which is on one phone call after another from firefighters and task force members asking if he was ready to act if someone was trapped in the swift water. It was quite a weekend!

Just Like Old Times...But We Are Not Wearing Pink Bike Shorts!

After our amazing awful experience at the fair, I vowed never, ever, ever, to go again. Never. So these will be the last fair pictures that you will ever see from me.

Just Swingin'

I Was So Tempted To Buy This And Put It In The Backyard

Lindsay went back to CA yesterday and we will all miss her dearly. She is a great house guest, a good sport and so much fun!

AJ Turns 4

It has become customary in the Mazotti household to celebrate a birthday for several days and AJ's 4th birthday was no exception. His actual birthday was August 28th and unfortunately his dad was scheduled to be at the fire house that night. So after his favorite dinner (Velveeta Shells & Cheese or as AJ calls it "Seashell Rackaroni") we brought the party to the station complete with cake, ice cream and presents!

Because of school starting and Labor Day weekend, we postponed AJ's birthday party a few weeks and kept the tradition of multiple birthday celebrations alive with a fun-filled day at Peter Piper Pizza with 12 of AJ's bestest friends. After an hour of playing games and gathering tickets, AJ got to make his very own birthday pizza which had nothing but sauce, pepperoni and 3 tiny pieces of shredded cheese. As I would suggest other toppings he just kept insisting that all he wanted was "pepperoni!" and he "didn't like cheese!" When it's your 4th birthday you can do what you want...so I gave in and then when he walked away I dumped the rest of the cheese on top. I win!

Next came the cake...and boy was it time consuming! Not because I baked it or anything...but because he agonized over a "Planes" and "Cars" cake for what seemed like an eternity. After a very exhausting deliberation where I almost just left him in the shopping cart and walked away, he finally based his decision on the amount of plastic toys that came on top. Cars won. Long gone are the days where you get to pick what color frosting you want and the candy lettering in the baking isle...thanks to Pinterest you have to spend some money to get a smile like this!

AJ got very thoughtful gifts from all his friends and even sent him home with this signed t-shirt so he would always remember who was there. It was a great success. Happy Birthday AJ!

At 4 years old you love:
Bugs, Slugs, Spiders and Butterflies
Any container you can keep a bug in
Cars and Planes
Your iPod Touch (especially the Despicable Me game)
Your favorite movies are The Nightmare Before Christmas, Monsters vs. Aliens, Annie
You only like to check out books about monsters, dinosaurs and scary things
You sit in a booster seat now but still cannot buckle yourself in
You can get dressed but can't put on your shoes (unless they are your flip flops or rain boots which you love!)
Your best friend at school is Duncan
You also love Ryan, Caden, Amelia and Aiden
You eat a portable apple sauce and Go-Gurt every single morning
You are funny, have great funny faces, love your mama and have a great tan.
You are so much more than everything above but I can't list it all. You are an amazing little guy!